Get Ready to Pay for That Beauty Splurge With a Selfie

(Photo: iStock)

Thanks to MasterCard, selfies might be the future of online shopping.

Forget the days when we used our fingerprint for payment methods (so over). Now, e-commerce companies are always looking for new ways to make our online shopping excursions more secure. Thanks to MasterCard, a quick selfie is all you need. The company is taking online security to the next level with “selfie pay.” Re/code is reporting that MasterCard’s new app will incorporate facial recognition technology to verify your payments through a selfie. Intrigued yet?

This is how it works:

Let’s say you are finally going to buy the MAC lip pencil you have had your eye on for a while. It’s simple. Complete your payment information as you normally would at checkout, then move the screen toward your face for a quick picture. Once MasterCard verifies a match (a picture of your face is stored with your account information), you will be set to go. The only thing stopping you from your next purchase is you.

While this is great in theory, I’m sure we all have questions like, “What happens if you decided to be experimental with your makeup routine? Will you be locked out of making purchases?” While MasterCard has yet to comment about temporary changes makeup and hair can make to our appearance, the company has stated that the new feature’s “special algorithm” will prevent someone from using a picture in place of a real person. Movements like blinking will be necessary for the program to detect if the person on the other end is legit. However, you might want to nix the dramatic cat eyes and plumping your pout on shopping days.