Cosmetic affinity indexing

A method of helping a consumer make a cosmetic purchasing decision, the method comprising:

• maintaining information about compatibility between cosmetic products and personal characteristics of a plurality of subjects;
• collecting personal characteristic information from the consumer;
• comparing the consumer's collected personal characteristic information with the maintained compatibility information;
• based on comparing, determining a compatibility level of the consumer with at least one of the cosmetic products;
• displaying a representation of the at least one cosmetic product;
• and
• associating with the representation an indicator of compatibility between the at least one cosmetic product and the consumer.

A method of classifying cosmetic products, the method comprising:

• maintaining in a data structure information based on the use of a plurality of cosmetic products by a plurality of subjects having varying personal characteristics;
• maintaining in the data structure information reflective of at least some of the personal characteristics of the subjects;
• maintaining in the data structure information reflective of a degree of compatibility between at least some of the cosmetic products and the personal characteristics of at least some of the subjects;
• prompting a consumer to provide personal information reflective of the consumer's own personal characteristics;
• comparing the personal information provided by the consumer with the personal characteristics information contained in the data structure;
• and
• causing at least some of the plurality of cosmetic products to be classified by a predicted degree of compatibility with the consumer.

A method of prescribing cosmetic products, the method comprising:

• maintaining in a data structure information based on the use of a plurality of cosmetic products by a plurality of subjects having varying personal characteristics;
• maintaining in the data structure information reflective of at least some of the personal characteristics of the subjects;
• maintaining in the data structure information reflective of a degree of compatibility between at least some of the cosmetic products and the personal characteristics of at least some of the subjects;
• prompting a consumer to provide personal information reflective of the consumer's own personal characteristics;
• comparing the personal information provided by the consumer with the personal characteristics information contained in the data structure;
• and
• causing a display to the consumer of representations of at least some of the plurality of cosmetic products prioritized by degree of predicted compatibility with the consumer.

A system for helping a consumer select a cosmetic product, the system comprising:

• a data structure containing information about personal characteristics of a plurality of test subjects, the data structure further containing information reflective of a degree of compatibility between at least some of the cosmetic products and the physical characteristics of at least some of the subjects;
• memory for at least temporarily storing information reflective of the consumer's own personal characteristics;
• and
• a processor for comparing the personal characteristic information provided by the consumer with compatibility information contained in the data structure and for associating with at least one of the plurality of cosmetic products a classifier indicating a degree of compatibility between the at least one product and the consumer.

A computer-readable medium containing instructions for causing a computer to perform a method of helping a consumer make a cosmetic product purchasing decision, the method comprising:

• maintaining information reflective of compatibility between cosmetic products and personal characteristics of a plurality of subjects;
• collecting personal characteristic information from the consumer;
• comparing the consumer's collected personal characteristic information with the maintained compatibility information;
• based on comparing, determining a compatibility level of the consumer with each of a plurality of the cosmetic products;
• presenting to the consumer an indication of at least one of the plurality of cosmetic products;
• and
• associating with the at least one presented product, an indicator of predicted compatibility between the at least one presented product and the consumer.

A method of helping a consumer make a cosmetic product purchasing decision, the method comprising:

• receiving, from a cosmetic service, a request for personal information from the consumer, the personal information including at least one of personal characteristic information and preference information;
• sending the personal information to the cosmetic service, wherein the cosmetic service compares the consumer's personal characteristic information with information reflective of compatibility between cosmetic products and personal characteristics of a plurality of subjects, determines a compatibility level of the consumer with each of a plurality of the cosmetic products, and associates with at least one of the cosmetic products, an indicator of predicted compatibility between the at least one cosmetic product and the consumer;
• receiving the indicator of predicted compatibility from the cosmetic service;
• and
• displaying the indicator of predicted compatibility with an indication of the at least one cosmetic product.

An apparatus for helping a consumer make a cosmetic product purchasing decision, comprising:

• a memory including a program that:
• maintains information reflective of compatibility between cosmetic products and personal characteristics of a plurality of subjects;
• collects personal characteristic information from the consumer;
• compares the consumer's collected personal characteristic information with the maintained compatibility information;
• determines, based on the comparing, a compatibility level of the consumer with each of a plurality of the cosmetic products;
• presents to the consumer an indication of at least one of the plurality of cosmetic products;
• and associates with the at least one presented product, an indicator of predicted compatibility between the at least one presented product and the consumer;
• and
• a processor that runs the program.

An apparatus for helping a consumer make a cosmetic product purchasing decision, comprising:

• means for maintaining information reflective of compatibility between cosmetic products and personal characteristics of a plurality of subjects;
• means for collecting personal characteristic information from the consumer;
• means for comparing the consumer's collected personal characteristic information with the maintained compatibility information;
• means for determining, based on the comparing, a compatibility level of the consumer with each of a plurality of the cosmetic products;
• means for presenting to the consumer an indication of at least one of the plurality of cosmetic products;
• and
• means for associating with the at least one presented product, an indicator of predicted compatibility between the at least one presented product and the consumer.

An apparatus for helping a consumer make a cosmetic product purchasing decision, comprising:

• a memory including a program that:
• receives, from a cosmetic service, a request for personal information from the consumer, the personal information including at least one of personal characteristic information and preference information;
• sends the personal information to the cosmetic service, wherein the cosmetic service compares the consumer's personal characteristic information with information reflective of compatibility between cosmetic products and personal characteristics of a plurality of subjects, determines a compatibility level of the consumer with each of a plurality of the cosmetic products, and associates with at least one of the cosmetic products, an indicator of predicted compatibility between the at least one cosmetic product and the consumer;
• receives the indicator of predicted compatibility from the cosmetic service;
• and displays the indicator of predicted compatibility with an indication of the at least one cosmetic product;
• and
• a processor that runs the program.