Impact of facial cosmetics on automatic gender and age estimation algorithms

Recent research has established the negative impact of facial cosmetics on the matching accuracy of automated face recognition systems. In this paper, we analyze the impact of cosmetics on automated gender and age estimation algorithms. In this regard, we consider the use of facial cosmetics for (a) gender spoofing where male subjects attempt to look like females and vice versa, and (b) age alteration where female subjects attempt to look younger or older than they actually are. While such transformations are known to impact human perception, their impact on computer vision algorithms has not been studied. Our findings suggest that facial cosmetics can potentially be used to confound automated gender and age estimation schemes.