I saw an ad for Reflect.com I think in Entertainment Weekly, which I am somehow subscribed to "courtesy" of CDNOW. How odd. And even odder that I'm skimming it. The last movie I saw in theatres was Pokemon with my little nephew and before that was probably Gross Pointe Blank.
Anyway, being someone always on the lookout for good or bad e-businesses that I can review for you guys, I decided to try them out. The site has a really nice design, or choice of designs; the site background, fonts, and colors are customised based on your responses to a questionnaire. Multiple choice questions will make you feel like you're being interviewed by Barbara Walters, but you will not get to disclose what type of tree you'd be. What image is most visually pleasing? Which animal am I most like? What kind of home would I have? What kind of fashion do I like? What's my life like? Well, luckily, one of the multiple choice answers is: confident, well-respected, married, and no kids. It's like they know me. :) Meanwhile, all of these questions are just to customise the look of the site for me; at the end of the questionnaire, you are told that the system is customising images, colours, and fonts to create your "personal Reflect.com site." Imagine this in the tactile world: a store changes its chairs, wall coverings, and lighting because YOU walked in and you happen to be a(n) ______ kind of person. I love the internet!!!! :)
I also found the site pretty easy to use. Alex, a female picture and voice at least, explains what the site's main four icons are. But even if she didn't, the icons mouseOver to explain themselves every time you hit them. I call this idiotproofing, but again, they are just arranging the shopping aisles and the like to make your experience easy, and users remember this. Many of the links I clicked opened up a new small window, and eventually I ended up with a screen full of random small windows I was no longer "using," but that I had to close manually. That's probably my biggest complaint. :)
Reflect.com lets you personalise beauty products for hair and skin including makeup. In each area, the type of personalisation is different. I decided to get myself a conditioner and a lipstick (the last time I wore lipstick....). The hair area asked about my hair colour, length, and condition as well as a question I was happy to hear: what one thing would I most like to change about my hair? Well, you can't see me, but I have dark brown wavy hair nearly to my waist... and I wish it wouldn't get so frizzy at times. That was my final answer; I wanted a conditioner that would keep my dry hair moist and get rid of some of those flyaways. The makeup area asked more about my skin tones, colours I like, texture I prefer, how long-wearing did the lipstick need to be, and another great question: what one family of lipstick colours would I never wear. I picked orange. In the end, I picked a pinkish light colour that's long wearing, and I have to say it really looks nice. The free gift of "frost," which turns your lips into a disco ball, was really neat too.
