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1www.adriant.com

Cosmetics and the 5 senses :Perception & Description

Agns Giboreaugiboreau@lesensolier.com

Your contact:

Hlne AZOEUF, Sensory Dpt Directorh.azoeuf@adriant.com Tel +33 169 534 302

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The questions addressed today

IntroductionWhy controlling sensory properties in cosmetics?

Biology

How does the body reply to the cosmetic world?

Language

What kind of words are cosmetic sensory attributes?

Description

How to define attributes for cosmetics' description?

Conclusion

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Introduction

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Consumers are emotionally attached to

their cosmetics

Sensory characteristics could create an

emotional link between the consumer

and the product / packaging :

Positive stimulation of one or many senses

Increase the perceived quality of the

product and its emotional content

Optimisation of the sensory characteristics of

the product / the pack

Appearanceof the pack?

Material?

Perfume?

Taste of thelipstick?

Sound whileclosing?

Cosmetics

Why paying attention to sensory in cosmetics?

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Why controlling sensory characteristics in cosmetics?

Facing the high demand of the

cosmetic industry to base

the marketing mix onsensations

It is necessary to know how to

control sensory

characteristics

Sensory descriptive studies represent the

most useful and the most used tool to

achieve such a control.

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The solution: Sensory descriptive methods

Objectives :

Measuring all sensations a product provides to a consumer

at various stages of usage all along the product life

Considering the link to consumer liking,

sensory profile is used :

For a watch on competition

To know consumers expectations

through sensory strengths and

weaknesses

To define the sensory optimum profile

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Biology

How does the body reply to the world?

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How defining a sense?

A "sense" is a faculty by whichoutside stimuli are perceived.

SENSE (broadly acceptable definition )

"a system that consists of a sensory cell type (or group of cell

types) that respond to a specific kind of physical energy, and

that correspond to a defined region (or group of regions) within

the brain where the signals are received and interpreted."

(Source: Wikepedia)

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Sensory receptor

Structure that recognizes a stimulus in the internal or external

environment of an organism.

Touch & Hearing :Mechanoreceptors

responding to physicalstimuli when membranesare physically stretched.

Smell & Taste :

chemical receptorsactivated by interactingwith the molecule

Sight : Photoreceptorstransducing the

physical energy of lightinto electrical signals.

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Sight

Certainly the most important sense as being the

source of information for most instinctive action

The most immediate sense

The one that drives all other perceptions

Appearance directly linked to symbolic interpretation

And in cosmetics?

Many visual characteristics of both PACK and

PRODUCT are involved in consumer choice,consumption and liking.

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Hearing

Also a crucial sense as it is the main channel to oral

communication, essential human activitySound environment : central in human well-being

Acoustic stimuli perceived from their source, their

function, or a specific causal event

And in cosmetics?

The main issue concerns the PACK: Sound

produced while opening and closing

But also the PRODUCT: hand interaction withhair or skin

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Olfaction

The third distal sense

Hardly recognized by consumers and implicitly

memorised

Highly linked to emotionStrongly influences mood and individual judgment

And in cosmetics?

Large role in cosmetics

Reinforcement of the liking level of a given product or a

given brand

In luxury brands or personal care : symbolic impact

sometimes as high as a visual property

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Touch

Proximal sense, needing contact.

And in cosmetics?

Major sense for cosmetics products : Graalsoftness,packaging handling, skin-hair-body contact, hand

perception and so on.

TactSkin

KinesthesiaMuscles and bones

Thermal

captorsHeat transfers

Pain

sensationsTrigeminal nerve

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Taste

Intimate sense

In-mouth sensations

Taste buds only responds to water soluble

compounds, salts, acids sugars, peptides..

BUT : In the consumer mind : also refers to other

sensations occurring in-mouth : aroma (through

retronasal perception : strawberry, vanilla) &

mouthfeel sensations.

And in cosmetics?

Critical for Oral care and lip sticks

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LanguageWhat kind of words are

sensory attributes for

cosmetics?

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Linguistic ressources

What linguistics resources are available to

describe sensations?

- Morphology (lexical form):

Noun, adjective, verb or constructed form?

- Semantics (meaning)

Focus on the object or on the subject?

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Sensory adjectives

Adjectives

A lot specific sensory adjectives

Vision : e.g. dark, small, rough, green..

Somesthesia : e.g. heavy, tough, thick,

smooth, harsh..

Less specific sensory adjectives

Taste: e.g. bitter, acid

Audition: e.g. loud

No specific sensory adjectivesSmell: No specific sensory adjectives in

olfaction.

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Sensory nouns and verbs

Nouns :- Exist for all sensory modalities

- Can refer to different levels of

conceptual elaboration of the stimulation

- e.g. lemon smell, velvet touch Nominal adjective: e.g. fruity

Verbs :- Encountered in all fields

- Related to the effect of stimuli on the subject = effect

as well as to the impact of subject actions to produce sensations

in an interactive process with the object = usage

Verbal adjectives: e.g. tingling, resistant,

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Linguistic resources for sensory cosmetics

+effect

+gesture,effect,usage

+effect

+effect,sound

making

+light,

effect

Verbs,verbal

adjectives

++source,

concept

++source,

concept

++source,

concept

++source,

concept

++source,

concept

Nouns,nominal

adjectives

+++substance,

Texture

0+sharpness,

clarity,loudness

++color,

shape,size,texture

Simpleadjectives

TasteTouchSmellHearingSight

Semantics- Object descriptions

- Subject feelings

Morphology

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What is the best form for a sensory attribute?

Its function ?

To provide a certain value (= quantification )

of a given quality (=property).

Preferred form:

Adjectives

Adjectival form constructed on nouns or verbs

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Description

How to define attributesfor cosmetic products?

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What does trained panel mean?

12 or 15 subjects

Recruitment : Recruited onmotivation, availability, logical, scaling

abilities, sensory general sensitivity

Training (10-50 hours) :(1) General sensory knowledge

(2) Attribute generation & selection

(3) Attributes learning

Once trained, the panel is able to measure

sensory characteristics of products.

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Training

A. Descriptors generation

Wide range of products representing the products on the market

Individual work: description of the perception for each product

Debriefing with all the panelists in order to group the generated descriptors.

B. Training on sensory characteristics

Once the list of attributes is worked out the group goes through:

- the recognition of the attributes,

- the quantification of the intensity of the attributes on a structured scale

At the end of this training, the panelists are able to recognize and describe the

sensations composing these products.

+ Checking of the panel performances

(sensitivity, homogeneity and repeatability)

C. Scaling : Test of the products

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How to select attributes?

- discriminate

- non redundant

- relate to consumer acceptance/rejection

- relate to instrumental or physical measurements

- singular

- precise and reliable

- consensus on meaning

- unambiguous

- reference easy to obtain

-communicate

- relate to reality

(Source: Lawless & Heymann, 1998)

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How to write definitions?

- be lexically homogeneous (the definition of an adjective

starts with an adjective or a pronoun

- Avoid circularity as it brings no information (same

etymological family)

- Favordescription: analogy, paraphrases, synonyms,

antonyms (explicit information, complement of the

attribute)

- Illustrate with reference to products as a complement

and specification of the definition (example)

(Source: Giboreau et al., 2006, Fd Qual & Pref)

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Example of sensory attributes : Essenso Cosmetics

Stroke the skin with the whole handWhich leaves a heavyresidual film

Thick

Gently touch the skin with 3 fingers andremove hand

That needs strength toremove fingers

Sticky

2 min afterapplication

Spread a small amount of sample within a4cm diameter area on the forearm andevaluate the sensation after 3 rounds.

Which reminds thetexture of butter

Greasy

Spread a small amount of sample within a4cm diameter area on the forearm andevaluate while applying

Which does notoppose resistance tocover the skin

Easy tospread

Atapplication

Press a small amount of sample betweenforefinger and thumb and gently separate

fingers

Producing a long andthin ribbon

ThreadingAt pick up

Bend the cup to allow the product to flowand observe the product movement

Which moves easily inthe cup

FluidIn the cup

ProtocoleDefinitionAttribute

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Sensory profile

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Crme A

Crme B

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Conclusion

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Conclusion

The 5 senses

All 5 senses are involved in cosmetic industries.

The importance of each sense depends on the product type,

with a large impact of usage conditions.

The methodsThe sensory know-how coming from Food Sciences and statistics

has been successfully transferred to cosmetic areas.

Psycho-linguistics know-how allowed fine tuningof descriptor lists and definitions.

Current methods show good performances.

The cosmetic applicationsWide range of applications from

Quality control, to R&D and Marketing projects

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Thank you for your attention

Any question?

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