JOURNAL OF COSMETIC SCIENCE 162 product’s intended use, quality, or target consumer profi le (7). Alternatively, some cos- metics rely on the use of scents to mask the disagreeable smell of base formulations. A previous study (8) showed that female consumers of anti-aging creams assigned higher overall liking scores to samples with a mild, pleasant fragrance than to those perceived to have a disagreeable smell. According to these results, the sensory and hedonic perception of creams was strongly infl uenced by the product’s fragrance. Interestingly, the results of the study suggested that consumers’ overall liking and the perceived quality of a product may be strongly affected by the product’s fragrance. Thus, the inclusion of a fragrance selection step in the development of anti-aging creams may be key to the success of a marketing strategy. In further previous work conducted with the aim of selecting suitable scents for incorpo- ration in olive-oil-based cosmetic emulsions for body, face, and hand creams (9), consum- ers tended to associate olive-oil cosmetic creams with negative attributes, such as “food odor,” “disagreeable smell,” and “strong smell.” In selecting a cosmetic product’s fragrance, it is worth studying the degree of liking or dislike that different fragrances cause in consumers and further details of the attributes with which the fragrances are perceived by consumers. Check-all-that-apply (CATA) questions can be conveniently employed in market research to reduce response burden (10). Presented with a multiple choice question consisting of a list of attributes, respondents select those that apply to a given sample. A major advantage of this type of question is that it allows multiple options to be se- lected, instead of limiting respondents to selecting only one answer or forcing them to focus their attention on evaluating specifi c attributes (11). CATA questions can include not only attributes related to the sensory characteristics of samples but also consumption frequency, purchase intention, and affective variables (12). CATA questions have been used for the sensory characterization of various food and cos- metic products, and have been reported to be a quick, simple, and easy method for assess- ing consumer perception of the sensory characteristics of several products (8,13–19) The aim of this study was to use CATA questions to gather information on consumer perceptions of fragrances, with a view to determining the essences worth considering in the development of olive-oil-based cosmetic creams. MATERIALS AND METHODS PRELIMINARY STUDY Choice of fragrances to be incorporated in creams, on the basis of fragrance names. A preliminary study was conducted to select fragrances to be incorporated in cosmetic creams. In view of the sense-exhausting character of fragrances, the preliminary study was done with the mental images evoked by the names of fragrances alone, which refl ect consumers’ experi- ences, imagination, and expectations (2,20). The study was conducted in Montevideo, Uruguay, using convenience (opportunity) sam- pling. A total of 134 female respondents aged between 18 and 60 were recruited randomly

SELECTION OF FRAGRANCE FOR COSMETIC CREAM CONTAINING OLIVE OIL 163 in shopping areas, universities, and other public places. Respondents were asked to select up to 3 of 28 fragrance names that they considered most appropriate for each of three cream types. The list of fragrance names covered a wide range of notes generally associ- ated with cosmetic creams, such as fl oral, fruity, citric, herbal, and spicy notes. The cream types were hand cream, body cream, and facial cream. The fragrance names were odorless, apple, azalea, blueberry, cherry, coconut, fresh fruit, honey and lemon, jasmine, kiwi, lemon, linden and magnolia, magnolia, melon, olive and sage, orange, orchid, peach, pear, pineapple, pink grapefruit, rose, rose and lemon verbena, strawberry and blackberry, tropical fruit, vanilla, white fl owers, and wild strawberry. Frequency of mention was determined for each note and the six notes mentioned most frequently overall were identifi ed. On the basis of these six fragrances, essences that would contain the notes mentioned were screened. Lariales S.A., a local company, kindly pro- vided the essences used in this study, as well as advice on their selection. Six essences mentioned in Table I were selected, as containing the most representative notes named by the consumers. On the basis of these fragrance names selected by consumers in the preliminary study, essences were compounded and incorporated into a cream base, and were then subjected to an olfactory test using women consumers. OLFACTORY TEST WITH WOMEN CONSUMERS Samples. A cream base was prepared with acrylate–acrylamide copolymer, Picual extra virgin olive oil, propylene glycol, methyl and propyl paraben, aqua and butylated hy- droxytoluene. The fruitiness intensity of the olive oil used was below 3.0 on the IOC scale (IOC/T.20/Doc. no 15/Rev. 4, 2011) (21), according to Gámbaro et al. (22). The emulsion was prepared by mixing all the ingredients followed by 5-min stirring (Servodyne Mixer Head Model No. 50003-45, Cole–Palmer Instrument Co., Vernon Hills, IL) at 500 rpm. Fragrant essences were added to this emulsion to a fi nal concentration ranging from 0.4% to 1%, following the supplier’s instructions. The six cream samples were labeled as CE1– CE6, where C indicated the cream type used. Table I Essences Selected for This Study Code Principal note Other notes E1 Vanilla Lime, sweet orange, bitter orange, cocoa, caramel, coconut, and ambergris E2 Lemon Lime, bergamot, orange, jasmine, violet, pineapple, musk, and vanilla E3 Fresh fruits Orange, bergamot, peach, green notes, musk, and vanilla E4 Jasmine Violet, white fl owers, vanilla, and sandalwood E5 Rose Silver wattle, violet, vetiver, sandalwood, ambergris, and musk E6 Linden/magnolia Herbs, gardenia, musk, and cedar