Sensory Evaluation of cosmetic products

Product innovation in the cosmetics world must meet this challenge: bringing to market cosmetics that are adapted to the needs and desires of consumers. To meet these expectations, product performance must integrate efficacy, safety and sensoriality. The first two criteria, which are assessed through in vitro or clinical tests, are not always immediately perceived by consumers. Sensoriality, on the other hand, is expressed from the very first contact with the product.

The cognitive process that takes place when the consumer interacts with the cosmetic product can be summarized in two key stages.

• stage 1: the consumer uses his sensory system to perceive the organic properties of the product, such as its color, smell and texture;

• step 2: information is integrated to generate a perception that can give the product a symbolic value.

The evaluation of products by the sensory system is therefore a prerequisite for their acceptability or rejection.

Companies that are capable of both designing products that are discriminating in sensory terms, and carrying out the appropriate studies to address these issues, can create a competitive advantage and increase their chances of success. Sensory evaluation, the study of the organic characteristics of cosmetic products by the human senses, has thus become the framework for product development. By comparing and quantifying the sensory descriptors of products and assessing consumer preferences, it helps translate expectations into clear specifications for a given cosmetic product.

Sensory evaluation uses different methodological approaches, depending on whether it focuses on the consumer (hedonic) or the product (analytical). Consumer expectations are assessed through preference tests with panels of users of this product category.

The information that discriminates or characterizes the sensory qualities of products is obtained with a panel of experts trained and validated for the method used. These analytical methods can be broken down into two categories to meet different objectives.

Conventionally, the quantitative descriptive profile method is the most widely used to characterize the sensory universes of cosmetic products. Its performance enables us to qualify the visual, textural and olfactory sensory images of cosmetics, using appropriate lexicons. The sensory profile is often the guarantee of compliance with specifications during development and throughout the product's life. However, other, so-called alternative methods can be used for initial sample sorting (free sorting), to quickly compare products with one another (flash profile,...