Panasonic Smart Mirror Tells You What’s Wrong With Your Face, Then 3D Prints the Makeup to Fix It

This woman looks much happier than I do when looking in a mirror.

I’ve heard it said many times – no one judges you as harshly as you judge yourself. That’s hard to remember sometimes, though, when you’re looking in the mirror and every flaw seems to stand out like a neon sign. I have some unfortunate news – the mirror is judging you, too. But it’s judging you constructively so it can give you the means to fix things – at least one mirror is. Panasonic introduced their Smart Mirror last January at CES, but they just unveiled the latest version at CEATEC, and it has an important new feature – an attached 3D printer so you can print your way to perfect skin.

So how does it work? Basically, you stand in front of the smart mirror, which scans your face and then informs you where the flaws are. It apparently detects everything – wrinkles, zits, redness, enlarged pores, and even invisible sun damage beneath the skin, which could actually be a helpful thing to know, health-wise. Once you’re thoroughly discouraged about your skin, the mirror will not only suggest products that will conceal those trouble spots, but it will print them out for you on a customized palette.

The makeup printer will print out the exact amount of makeup you need, so there’s no waste, and it will match your skin tone perfectly, according to Panasonic. That’s a concept that has taken hold with a few other cosmetic companies, such as the Adorn makeup printing pen, but the Smart Mirror takes it a step further by letting you know exactly where to apply the makeup.

It’s not a perfected product yet. The makeup is printed as patches that are applied like temporary tattoos and then smoothed out to blend with your skin, and at this point the patches still take about a day to dry and set before they can be applied – so if you’re going out on the town, it’d be better to check your face the day before and hope that no new zits pop up in the next 24 hours. It’s still in the prototype stage at the moment, though, so presumably that won’t be an issue once the mirror is finally on the market.

It may not end up being targeted towards individual consumers, either – right now, Panasonic is marketing the device towards makeup counters and stores, so that customers can buy the products the printer customizes for them.

The Smart Mirror also gives users some control, too, rather than just telling them what to put on their faces. If you’d like a particular eyeshadow look, you can actually draw it on a connected tablet, and once you’re satisfied, it’ll print the makeup you need and instruct you how to apply it. There are also several pre-designed makeup looks you can try out virtually in the mirror before printing them – and men need not feel left out, either, for the mirror also offers several facial hair options to be virtually tried out. (Presumably the men need to grow those themselves, though.)

Panasonic hasn’t given any indication of when the Smart Mirror might be on the market, or what the cost will be; they’re still working on developing it further in hopes that it may be useful in covering up scars and tattoos eventually, too. You can take a look at the current concept below:

Discuss this at the 3D Printed Makeup forum at 3DPB.com.