Design of a Sensorial-Instrumental Correlation Methodology for a Category of Cosmetic Products: O/W Emulsions

The validation of a cosmetic product is performed by physical analyses and sensory assessment. However, the recruitment of panelists takes a long time and is expensive. Moreover, to apply the product on the skin, microbiology analyses and safety are required but may not be not enough to avoid inflammatory reaction on the skin. The solution could be the substitution of sensory evaluation by instrumental measurement to predict the sensory profile before the panel. For the study, thirteen different skin care emulsions based on their composition and texture were carried out simultaneously by 12 expert panelists with a quantitative descriptive sensory evaluation profile and by rheological and textural methods. A statistical methodology was the applied to find correlation trends between both data sets. The methodology confirmed that the correlation between sensory assessment and instrumental parameters is a good solution to save time. The multiple factor analysis (MFA) showed the correlation between firmness with no visual residue attribute and the cohesion with sticky 1 min, which are evident but this methodology could be used for finding more complex correlations not found in literature.