Sensory evaluation is used to measure, analyse and interpret characteristics of materials as they are perceived by the senses of sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing. While initially used for foods and beverages, the techniques are also applicable to all products, including cosmetics and personal care products, soaps, detergents, households, etc. In developing a cosmetics product, recognized tests have to be carried out. Some of them are instrumental, e.g., pH, viscosity and rheology, while others are sensory, e.g. appearance, feel on the skin when applied and in time (minutes or days later) aroma, etc. While the former type of evaluations is necessary to understand the physico-chemical behaviour of the product, the latter are perceptive characteristics that cannot be measured by instruments and easily quantifi ed. Thus, sensory perception has to be resolved by sensory analysis.

Main Research: Rosnah Ismail