As most women will tell you, the process of shopping for makeup is daunting. Faced with countless products and shades in the makeup aisle it's very easy to get overwhelmed. The creative idea is to replicate the experience a woman has at a department store cosmetics counter as closely as possible. This version of CoverGirl.com, the 4th I oversaw over many years working on the brand, builds on previous successes to take personalization to new heights, using cutting-edge tools and features to provide relevant product and shade recommendations on virtually every page.

The look and feel developed for the site uses clean simple layouts and a neutral palette of white, silvery grays and muted tones to keep the product photography, shades and beauty visuals at the forefront.

Because CoverGirl releases many new products throughout the year, the homepage needed to accommodate multiple promotional areas while retaining big, bold product and beauty images. The solution was to use multiple user-controlled windows in the central space, with smaller supplemental callouts below.

Unregistered users are led throughout the site to get colormatched, a "beauty consultation" that personalizes the site and provides accurate product recommendations.

Once a user has been colormatched, her appropriate shade recommendations are featured on every product page, simplifying the selection process.

The key utility on the site, the Makeup Mirror, is a virtual makeover tool with a significant difference: once a user uploads her image, shade recommendations for every product can be "tried on." The products used and the resulting looks can be saved, shared, added to shopping lists or purchased through online retail partners. Best of all, CoverGirl consultants, who are available via real time live chat, can access a user's Makeup Mirror and offer additional suggestions and refinements.

A mini version of the Makeup Mirror, accessible in a pulldown under the logo, is always available site wide. Users can click any shade on a product page, or try on a total look, and see it appear on her image.