The L’Oréal group continues to explore cutting-edge technologies for creating new beauty experiences. On the occasion of International Fragrance Day, L’Oréal, French cosmetics and fragrances giant, has announced a strategic partnership with Emotiv, the leading neurotechnology company, in order to help consumers make accurate and personalised choices around their fragrance desires.

The intersection of neurotech, AI, and science is an exciting next step. The science of choosing a fragrance is very complex. This partnership promises innovation for the entire beauty industry as this is truly the first time that consumers will have access to a state-of-the-art, in-store experience that uses neuroscience to provide personalized, precise fragrance advice,” says Guive Balooch, Head of L’Oréal’s Technology Incubator.

In-store experience

L’Oréal hopes to renew the experience of choosing perfume in stores, through a multi-sensor headset based on electroencephalography (EEG) that connects neuro responses to fragrance preferences. The headset uses machine learning algorithms that interpret EEG, while consumers experience proprietary scent families, to provide the ability to accurately sense and monitor behavior, preferences, stress, and attention in real-world contexts.

The aim is to help consumers determine their perfect scent suited to their emotions.

Indeed, according to L’Oréal, people connect various emotions, including happiness and relaxation, to their scent preference. Indeed, according to L’Oréal, many consumers want their fragrance to bring them emotional benefits (77 percent) or choose a fragrance based on their mood (more than half of consumers ages 12-34).

There are thousands of fragrance options, and we know it can be challenging for consumers to navigate the vast number of scents and make a choice that’s right for them,” says Stephan Bezy, International General Manager at Yves Saint Laurent Beauté. “Through this immersive system, we were able to get 95% of people the right fragrance personalized to their needs and desires, which is enormously higher than without this technology. It’s a huge first step in this category. Once we know which scents make people feel happy, energized, or other emotions, we can customize fragrances even more - the potential is boundless.

The experience will be available worldwide in Yves Saint Laurent flagship stores in multiple countries later this year and through 2023.