Fragrances can be essential even for personal care products: they are integral to consumer experience, offering emotional, psychological, and wellness benefits that influence purchasing decisions and brand loyalty. Virginie Pierron Arnault from Givaudan gives insights about the importance of scents and how Givaudan creates fragrances that offer a special moment for the consumer.
Have you ever noticed how many health and beauty products we use in our daily routines? Let’s think about a typical day: I wake up, take a shower (using soap or shower gel), wash my hair (shampoo, conditioner, mask), shave (foam, cream, aftershave), moisturise my body (cream, oil, or lotion), hydrate my face (serum, cream, sunscreen), apply deodorant, style my hair (cream, gel, wax), apply makeup (foundation, lip care, powder), and finish with a few drops of cologne, body mist, or perfume! Have you realised that all these products contain fragrances? How do these different scents coexist harmoniously? How can we create fragrances for personal care products that not only enhance the product’s benefits but also create moments of real pleasure?
Each Category Has Its Own Rules
First and foremost, the end-use of the product is crucial. Unlike perfumes and colognes, which are alcohol-based, personal care products consist of a wide range of formulations. Some are designed to be rinsed off, like shower gels, soaps, and shampoos, while others, such as body lotions, face creams, and deodorants, stay on the skin or hair.
Clearly, we don’t expect the same type of fragrance for a cleansing product versus one that remains on the body all day. Each category has its own rules–from the nature of the fragrance itself to its sensory experience at different stages of use. What kind of impact or long lastingness is expected? What level of fragrance intensity is acceptable, and at what point? What is the “magic moment” for the consumer–during the wash, on dry skin, or a lingering scent the next day? Understanding these key moments allowed Givaudan to launch recently “BloomfulSplash” and “Bloom Drops”, two new revolutionary solutions crafted to enhance the olfactory perception of hair and personal wash products.
As you can see, creating fragrances for toiletries is quite complex.
Understanding the Users
Another important question is: Who will be using the product? Knowing the final user is fundamental. Based on our department of CMI (Consumer Management Insights), we have access to many studies and trends, helping us to target key questions and understand the consumer’s expectations. Is the product intended for the whole family? Just for babies or children? For men, women, or both? If you use a baby product fragranced with a strong, masculine fougere note, it’s unlikely the mother will buy it again. In addition, is the product targeting a specific age group? How about the user’s lifestyle or socio-economic status? What is the geographical market? Will it be sold globally or only in specific regions? An urban teenager in Tokyo likely has different olfactory preferences than a senior living in rural Australia.
Imprinting and Iconic Scents
Some scents are familiar to us because we grew up with them–like cologne in Spain, lavender in France, or osmanthus in China. These are known as “imprinting” scents, and they shape our olfactory preferences based on our country and culture. The Nivea blue tin, for example, has a high level of familiarity in many countries, while others grew up with the powdery scent of Johnson’s Baby. Iconic products often become part of our childhood memories or are associated with special moments, like holidays. Just think of your suncream’s scent, and you’re instantly transported to your last holiday.
The hedonic of a fragrance is crucial; it provokes emotions that go beyond the product’s function. If my skincare cream had a sweet-like, sticky scent, I’d likely feel nauseous and doubt its efficacy. The brand’s credibility and the product’s performance would be compromised. In contrast, for a skincare cream, I’d expect a light, caring fragrance that makes me feel protected and pampered. Depending on the brand’s positioning, you could incorporate natural or high-tech elements into the scent. The fragrance intensity should be subtle and perfectly balanced.
The Role of the Perfumer
The perfumer takes a different approach when creating a fragrance for a sensitive skin moisturiser, a baby powder, or an ingredient-inspired shower gel. Their expertise lies in balancing the functional aspects of the fragrance–its fresh and clean profile–with the more pleasurable and comforting elements. In some cases, they also need advanced technical skills to ensure the fragrance interacts well with the product base, masking any off-notes that might appear over time or under harsh conditions like heat or sunlight. The challenge becomes even more apparent with the latest vegetal bases, which often carry fatty aromas that pose a significant hurdle for perfumers. When compounded with complex regulatory requirements, as is frequently the case, the task becomes increasingly intricate. The Givaudan palette offer to the perfumer’s unique captive molecules or technologies that will provide customised solutions to our clients.
In certain instances, the base of the product can play a positive role, such as the unique creamy scent of the Dove soap which is part of the fragrance experience. In these cases, the fragrance is designed to complement the base rather than mask it, contributing to the nourishing sensation during use. Often, the most successful products are those with a cohesive mix of brand identity, product claims, formula efficacy, and fragrance signature.
Fragrance Evolution in Grooming Products
Over the years, the fragrances used in grooming products have evolved significantly. Early 20th-century products were dominated by soaps and talcum powders, but today’s consumers face an endless variety of products, either targeting specific parts of the body or specific consumer groups. New brands emerge daily, trying to stand out in an increasingly fragmented market. A memorable and unique fragrance is certainly a way to stand out from the crowd.
Initially, fragrances emphasised the functionality of products with notes like cologne, floral green, fougere, or floral powder. However, the market has evolved alongside societal and lifestyle changes. Baby shampoos were introduced in the 1950s during the baby boom, while deodorants, shower gels, and body lotions targeted younger generations in the 1960s and 1970s. The democratisation of hygiene products in the late 1970s and 1980s brought about a boom in shampoos with the first fruity, straightforward notes.
From the 1990s, the rise of the Asian market, especially J-beauty and K-beauty, began influencing global beauty trends. By the 2010s, perfume shampoos and hair oils led to a shift in fragrance types, with stronger connections to fine fragrances and a wider olfactory palette, including woody notes, opulent oriental accords, and chypre compositions.
Throughout these decades, fragrance intensity has also increased, a trend that is likely to continue.
The Emotional power of Fragrance
Given all this, it’s no surprise that fragrance is a key factor in product repurchase. Not only does it reinforce the product’s benefits and efficacy, but it also highlights key ingredients, embodies the brand’s DNA, and strengthens its olfactory signature. On top of that, fragrance is aspirational, highly evocative, and has a powerful emotional impact.
I’ll always remember a home visit I made in the Philippines, where a woman described her shampoo experience, saying, “It’s the best moment of my day. When I wash my hair and smell the fragrance, I feel young, I feel beautiful, and the world is mine.”
Virginie Pierron Arnault
Personal Care Category Director Europe,
Consumer Products Development, Givaudan, Argenteuil Cedex, France,
www.givaudan.com