It is not all about the smell: How drop-in technologies are changing the perfumery market with scientifically proved claims
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Presented by: Thamile Luciane Reus
INTRODUCTION
The coronavirus pandemic has caused economic and health uncertainties. In addition, it has raised stress levels by depriving people of maintaining social interactions that are indispensable conditions for human association. This scenario encouraged consumers to seek for cosmetic products focused on holistic approaches, that besides of improving their outward appearance, also delivers emotional benefits.
Considering that smell is the most related sense to emotions, perfumes have the power to unveil different kinds of feelings and sensations. Nowadays, the industry of perfumery has sought to deliver technologies that add scientifically proven emotional and physical responses benefits to their products: functional fragrances that goes beyond the smell.
Drop-in technologies are quite interesting, as they have a wider range of applications without being necessarily linked to the hedonic of the fragrance. Grupo Boticário developed a fragrance with an unscented plant-based technology that combines Coleus Forskohlii Root Extract and Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract. This technology showed in previous clinical studies the power to increase androstadienone production in 105% when used at a 1.2% concentration in perfumery products. Androstadienone is a testosterone derivative compound, and both are linked to sexual characteristics and have an impact on human behavior and psychophysiological events (such as attraction).
Focusing on consumer’ resocialization needs and on the innovation opportunities in the fragrance category, the aim of this work was to prove how a developed male fragrance with this technology can deliver not only a biological effect, but also real emotional and physical tangible benefits to consumers, using explicit evaluation by questionnaires and implicit technique from neuroscience.
METHODS
The unscented drop-in technology, developed by Provital, was added to the formulation of a male perfume and evaluations were carried out. To prove the emotional effects of the technology, a blind placebo-controlled clinical trial using an implicit research method was conducted in Brazil, with 27 men from 25-35 years old. Participants were divided into two groups: (i) product with the technology; (ii) placebo, both groups applied the product in a standardized way and after 8 hours from smelling the fragrance, the evaluations were carried out: IAT and a self-evaluation questionnaire. The implicit association test (IAT) is a measure of implicit bias based on the principle that if a congruent association between two concepts (e.g., a product and a sentence) is readily accepted as true by the rater, then the reaction time for categorizing such associations will be very quick.
RESULTS
The IAT methodology showed that the product with the drop-in technology was highly associated with the concepts: "sexually confident", "more confident", "with sexual desire" and "attraction", when compared to the placebo group (p<0.05). This proves that the drop-in technology can affect not only biological mechanisms, but also unconscious responses as emotions. On the other hand, the self-assessment questionnaire showed similar results for both groups, showing the limitation to access emotions by explicit analysis, and the importance of neuroscience techniques in this context. The surprising in vivo neuroscience results have proved that when included in fragrances' formulations, this specifically unscented plant-based drop in technology is capable to improve humans opposite sex interactions by triggering emotional sensations.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
The results demonstrate that the active ingredient was the only responsible for bringing the desired sensation and physical reaction into the users. This type of technology is still a novelty within the perfumery and cosmetics market and could be the beginning of a new path in the field of sensations and emotions within the cosmetic sector.
The coronavirus pandemic has caused economic and health uncertainties. In addition, it has raised stress levels by depriving people of maintaining social interactions that are indispensable conditions for human association. This scenario encouraged consumers to seek for cosmetic products focused on holistic approaches, that besides of improving their outward appearance, also delivers emotional benefits.
Considering that smell is the most related sense to emotions, perfumes have the power to unveil different kinds of feelings and sensations. Nowadays, the industry of perfumery has sought to deliver technologies that add scientifically proven emotional and physical responses benefits to their products: functional fragrances that goes beyond the smell.
Drop-in technologies are quite interesting, as they have a wider range of applications without being necessarily linked to the hedonic of the fragrance. Grupo Boticário developed a fragrance with an unscented plant-based technology that combines Coleus Forskohlii Root Extract and Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract. This technology showed in previous clinical studies the power to increase androstadienone production in 105% when used at a 1.2% concentration in perfumery products. Androstadienone is a testosterone derivative compound, and both are linked to sexual characteristics and have an impact on human behavior and psychophysiological events (such as attraction).
Focusing on consumer’ resocialization needs and on the innovation opportunities in the fragrance category, the aim of this work was to prove how a developed male fragrance with this technology can deliver not only a biological effect, but also real emotional and physical tangible benefits to consumers, using explicit evaluation by questionnaires and implicit technique from neuroscience.
METHODS
The unscented drop-in technology, developed by Provital, was added to the formulation of a male perfume and evaluations were carried out. To prove the emotional effects of the technology, a blind placebo-controlled clinical trial using an implicit research method was conducted in Brazil, with 27 men from 25-35 years old. Participants were divided into two groups: (i) product with the technology; (ii) placebo, both groups applied the product in a standardized way and after 8 hours from smelling the fragrance, the evaluations were carried out: IAT and a self-evaluation questionnaire. The implicit association test (IAT) is a measure of implicit bias based on the principle that if a congruent association between two concepts (e.g., a product and a sentence) is readily accepted as true by the rater, then the reaction time for categorizing such associations will be very quick.
RESULTS
The IAT methodology showed that the product with the drop-in technology was highly associated with the concepts: "sexually confident", "more confident", "with sexual desire" and "attraction", when compared to the placebo group (p<0.05). This proves that the drop-in technology can affect not only biological mechanisms, but also unconscious responses as emotions. On the other hand, the self-assessment questionnaire showed similar results for both groups, showing the limitation to access emotions by explicit analysis, and the importance of neuroscience techniques in this context. The surprising in vivo neuroscience results have proved that when included in fragrances' formulations, this specifically unscented plant-based drop in technology is capable to improve humans opposite sex interactions by triggering emotional sensations.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
The results demonstrate that the active ingredient was the only responsible for bringing the desired sensation and physical reaction into the users. This type of technology is still a novelty within the perfumery and cosmetics market and could be the beginning of a new path in the field of sensations and emotions within the cosmetic sector.