Abstract
Well-being is an essential concept in cosmetics, but its complexity makes it very difficult to measure. The goal of the present study was to use electroencephalography (EEG) to compare the emotions induced by the application of two cosmetic products, and to offer to the experimenter a real-time representation of the participants’ emotional state. Fifteen female subjects participated in a cross-over study. Two cosmetic products of similar consistency were compared and applied from the dominant hand to the non-dominant hand. During the application, the neural activity of each participant was recorded with EEG. We found that the most appreciated product was the one that induced emotions with the most positive valence and the higher arousal, as recorded by EEG. Moreover, the videos recorded of each participant allowed us to attest to the differences in emotion processing for each product in real-time. This exploratory study shows that EEG can be successfully used to assess the emotions induced by the application of a cosmetic product, and in real-time. This technique could be a useful adjunct to other methods of examining emotions, such as observational experiments, surveys, and questionnaires.
Highlights
Well-being refers to the experience of health, happiness, and prosperity
Three participants spontaneously reported being bothered by the smell of the products when they were applied. They reported having difficulties in filling out the questionnaires and judging which cosmetic product was preferred. This was confirmed by the recording of their cerebral activity, with large negative emotions recorded for both
Because the smell may have prevented the participants from feeling the emotions related to the application of the products, analyses were performed on the 12 remaining subjects
Summary
Well-being refers to the experience of health, happiness, and prosperity. There are many examples of well-being, such as having good mental health, high satisfaction with life, and a sense of meaning or purpose. Well-being is a long-term asset for cosmetics. Several studies have demonstrated the positive emotional influence of cosmetics on wellbeing and self-esteem [1]. An increase in positive and a decrease in negative emotions have been observed in women after professional hairdressing [2]. The main reason consumers use cosmetics is to feel good, and wearing make-up or applying a cosmetic product are sources of positive emotion.
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