YouCam Makeup: Face Editor

Review by eFreeware

If you take a lot of selfies and want to see how a lipstick shade, a hairstyle or a slimmer jawline would look before committing to it, YouCam Makeup is built for exactly that. It is a free photo and video editor from Perfect Mobile Corp. that puts makeup try-on, face and body retouching, hair changes and AI image tools in one place. The appeal is breadth: instead of juggling a beauty camera, a retouching app and a generator, you get a single editor that covers all three.

The numbers suggest a lot of people have tried it. It has passed 100 million installs on Google Play and holds a 4.0 average across more than four million ratings, with over 90,000 written reviews. It has been on the store since August 2014, so it is not a new experiment, and the latest update arrived on October 1, 2026. That history matters less than what the app does today, which is a wide set of editing tools aimed at casual creators rather than professionals.

Makeup try-on before you commit

The makeup side is the heart of the app. You can apply lipstick, foundation, blush and similar products through filters, then choose between natural daily looks and heavier evening styles. A virtual try-on mode lets you see how a look sits on your own face. For anyone who has stood in a store wondering whether a shade suits them, that preview is the obvious draw.

The developer has also added an AI stylist layer. You can talk or type to an assistant for beauty advice, get outfit suggestions matched to your photos, and apply makeup, face, body or outfit edits through voice or text prompts. You can also upload your own garment, and pick from over 100 outfit styles. I would treat the styling suggestions as a starting point rather than a verdict, but they lower the effort of trying combinations you would not have picked yourself.

The most recent update adds nail try-on, which follows the same logic. You can preview over 100 nail colors, designs, patterns and shapes, including classic nudes and cat-eye finishes, by uploading a photo of your hand. It is a small addition next to the makeup tools, but it rounds out the idea that you can test a look before you buy or book anything.

Retouching that stays on the natural side

The face editor covers the usual ground and a little more. A face shaper slims the face, reshapes the jawline and highlights cheekbones, while the skin smoother targets pimples, wrinkles, spots and dark circles. There is a teeth whitener for brightening a smile and a blemish removal tool that the developer pitches as a way to get clean skin without the over-edited look. An AI facelift option aims to soften the appearance of age while keeping features recognizable.

For lighter entertainment, an AI age feature shows past and future versions of a face through six different filters. That is the part of the app I would expect people to share rather than use for a profile picture, and it sits comfortably beside the more practical retouching tools.

The body tools go further than most selfie editors. You can slim the waist, legs and arms, refine proportions, lengthen legs to add height, and adjust the chest with sliders. These are the kind of edits that divide opinion, and the app does not pretend they are documentary. Used with restraint they can tidy a photo; pushed hard, they produce the stretched results anyone who has scrolled a social feed will recognize.

Hair changes without the salon visit

Hair is treated as a first-class feature rather than an afterthought. There are more than 250 preset hairstyles covering short and long cuts, waves and bangs, so you can cycle through options quickly. A custom try-on mode goes further by working from a reference photo, and it now includes the option to keep your natural hair color while changing the style itself. That combination is useful if you like a cut you have seen but do not want to lose your own shade.

Going the other way, it recolors hair in natural or bold shades. Trying a copper tone or a pastel before a dye appointment is the obvious use, and the presets make it fast enough to browse several options in one sitting. Between the two tools, you can separate the question of shape from the question of color, which is harder to do with a single filter.

Generators, collages and the AI extras

Beyond editing existing photos, the app includes an AI image generator that turns text prompts into images across more than 50 styles. It draws on several image models, among them Imagen 4, GPT, Seedream and Nano Banana Pro. A separate image-to-image mode restyles an existing photo through more than 30 looks, which is the more predictable route if you want something recognizably yours rather than a fresh creation.

There is also an AI video generator that turns photos into animated clips, including effects such as AI Dance for animated selfies. The collage maker, added in the latest release, builds layouts from up to nine photos using text or image prompts as guidance. These tools lean on the same assistant, so the app is trying to be a single place for making and finishing social-ready content rather than just a retouching utility.

The breadth is genuine, but so is the sprawl. Someone who only wants to clean up a portrait may find the generator and video options irrelevant clutter, while someone drawn in by the AI features may spend most of their time in the makeup and retouch tools.

What it asks of you

YouCam Makeup is free to download and supported by ads, with in-app purchases available. The developer lists a premium tier that includes exclusive makeup palettes, lipstick shades and contouring tools, advanced retouching for skin, eyes, nose and lips, expanded hairstyle and hair color collections, finer adjustments, and editing without ads. That is the shape of the offer: the core editor is open, and the paid layer adds more variety and detail. I would not assume the free experience is thin, but anyone who wants the full range of palettes and hairstyles should expect to pay for it.

The other consideration is the nature of the results. Expectations vary enormously, and heavily edited photos are not to everyone's taste. The tools here are designed to change how you look, sometimes considerably, and the app makes no secret of that.

The latest update added Croatian and Swedish language support alongside the nail try-on and collage maker. That is a modest but welcome sign that the app is being maintained rather than left as it was.

Suited to quick edits, not studio work

This is an app for people who want to experiment with their appearance on a phone and share the result. If you enjoy trying makeup shades, testing a haircut before booking one, or tidying a selfie before posting it, the combination of try-on, retouching and generation covers a lot of that ground in one install.

It is less suited to anyone who wants precise, layer-based photo editing or who prefers images that look untouched. The body and face tools are built to reshape, and the AI generators produce images that are clearly synthetic. For a casual creator that is the point; for someone editing a portfolio shot or a product photo, the same features get in the way.

The free download with ads and paid extras makes it easy to judge for yourself, and the install base suggests plenty of people have found a use for it. I would go in expecting a beauty-focused editor with a large toolset rather than a general-purpose photo app, and treat the AI styling advice as a suggestion rather than a rule.

A broad beauty editor worth trying

YouCam Makeup earns a recommendation for anyone who wants to preview beauty looks and edit selfies without professional software. The makeup try-on, hairstyle and hair color tools, face and body retouching, and AI image and video generators add up to an unusually wide set of options for a free app, and the recent additions of nail try-on and a collage maker show the developer is still building on it. The 4.0 average from more than four million ratings reflects a large, mostly satisfied audience.

The caveats are the ones the app itself implies: ads and paid extras sit alongside the free tools, and the whole point is transformation rather than realism. If you want a quick way to test a look or polish a photo, this is a sensible place to start. If you want untouched images or fine manual control, the app's priorities will not match yours.

What's new

Discover our latest feature to upgrade your beauty game! ✨ 💅 AI Nail Try On: Try 100+ nail colors, designs, patterns, and shapes instantly. From classic nudes and whites to trending cat-eye, upload a photo of your hand for an ultra-realistic preview. 📸 Collage Maker with AI Agent: Create trend-forward collage layouts showcasing up to 9 of your best photos with image references or text prompts. New Language Support: Croatian, Swedish Love the update? Review us and share the glow!