Lightning Review: GirlTech Stylin’ Studio

The Gadget: GirlTech Stylin’ Studio, a drawing pad with built-in webcam and bundled PC app to give virtual makeovers to yourself, your friends, your enemies and even—as you can see below—Gizmodo staff co-workers.

The Price: US$60

The Verdict: The results speak for themselves. I’m shocked at how much fun I had giving my co-workers beautiful new lady looks, so I can only imagine how much a girl who actually was interested in makeovers could get out of it.

The program was easy enough for youngins to use but still kept some important features like zooming, rotating and adjusting the size of add-on accessories, while also being able to import your own photos. I did find the available styles to be somewhat, well, homogeneous. The program promises downloadable updates, though, so hopefully they will add more diverse hairstyles and accessories.

Sadly, the hardware component isn’t that great. The built-in webcam took blurry pics. The drawing pad wasn’t very responsive and I didn’t really find the need for it. Then again, I’m not used to putting on makeup.

All in all, it’s a fun computer program and an okay gadget, not to mention a fantastic new way to imagine Jason Chen as a surfer chick. [GirlTech]