Snapchat’s AR filter can now paint your nails

By Mia Sato, platforms and communities reporter with five years of experience covering the companies that shape technology and the people who use their tools.

Snapchat's newest AR filter will paint your nails for you — or at least give you an idea of what they might look like.

The new AR lens applies color and other 2D designs to a Snapchat user's fingernails, allowing them to virtually "try on" colors or designs before purchasing a bottle of nail polish. The new AR nail segmentation technology is launching in a partnership with OPI, a drugstore and nail salon mainstay. Snap is adding an AR filter featuring a handful of OPI colors as part of the partnership.

The filter itself is fun to play around with and at the very least approximates what a new shade might look like on your nails. In my experience, some colors looked more realistic than others — a frosted light blue looked chunky, like I had dipped my hands in frosting, but a mauve shade looked pretty good. The filter also tended to get glitchy when my hands were placed in certain ways.

Snapchat has added a slew of try-on features for everything from beauty products like lipstick to clothing and accessories that use its camera. Some have a direct shopping push, like a recent partnership with Amazon that lets users try on and buy sunglasses. The OPI campaign doesn't have an e-commerce element — users who like a nail color will need to go find it themselves — but is in line with other Snapchat collaborations and the company's larger ambitions around AR shopping. In March, Snap announced the launch of its new business, AR Enterprise Services, aimed at brands and retailers who want to add AR try-on features like what exists on Snapchat.

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