If you didn't get an aromatherapy session the last time you put on blush, or a heated facial treatment the last time you washed your face, try visiting a cosmetics store for the newest products that pack an extra-sensory punch.
Many cosmetics manufacturers are putting in their products an extra shot of something that tickles any of the five senses: touch, taste, smell, hearing and sight. For example, there's Estee Lauder's Idealist Micro-D Deep Thermal Refinisher, a scented facial exfoliant that heats up while the user rubs it into her face. Then, there is DuWop's Blush Therapy, a creme blush topped by a lid filled with lavender and other aromatherapy oils. Urban Decay makes several shimmering body powders that not only smell like edible substances, but taste like them, too.
And try starting your day with a coffee-and-cream shower scrub, which comes from the Sephora product line.
"Practically every brand that we have has something with a different sensory booster in it to give more of a multisensory feel to it," says Emily Ingoldsby, a product expert and specialist at Sephora in Shadyside.
So, instead of just covering the skin with foundation, for instance, consumers can also cool or calm the skin with the same product.
"You're getting more out of just one product," Ingoldsby says.
Cosmetic manufacturers are catching on to the need for extra pampering and emotional connection in our hectic world, an analyst says. Think of how much the senses are connected to emotions and memories: the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, for instance, may fill someone's heart with warm memories of their grandmother.
"We are packing every product with as much sensorial data as we can -- vision, sound, texture, smell and taste," says Karen Young. She is the owner of The Young Group, a New York City marketing company that works primarily in the beauty and cosmetic industry and tracks trends.
"Each of these can be programmed into the product, and each of these sends the consumer a message," says Young, who teaches seminars called "Sensorial Tutorials" about such sensory-rich products. "They don't just sell stuff; they sell an environment."
In an impersonal world, a sensory connection serves as the perfect quick emotional connection, at least with products, Young says.
"Because the world is so fast-moving, we are so detached and so isolated we look more and more for these kinds of emotional connections," Young says. "Consumers are hungry for something that is warm and touchy-feely because we're all sick to death of computers, cell phones and cyberspace. We look for things that require us to slow down long enough to use our senses."
Lauren Hilton, spokeswoman for Los Angeles-based DuWop, agrees.
"People want to feel pampered, but not everyone has the time or the money to go to a spa," she says. "I think people really want to find something they can do in their own home."
Besides the Blush Therapy, a good example is DuWop's first product, called i-gels. The little discs of gel -- infused with botanicals, collagen, Vitamin C, scents and more -- go directly onto the eyelids.
"We call it an ultra-sensory experience. ... It's like a spa treatment in your home."
Whether the extra-sensory ingredients actually make products work better than their simpler versions is questionable, Young says, but consumers sure feel like the products are working better -- and enjoy using them more -- when more senses are engaged. For instance, Coty's Spatherapy Active Anti-Cellulite Treatment, from The Healing Garden line, shoots out of the can as a gel, then bursts into a fragrant, ice-cold, dense foam that makes a crackling noise as the user rubs it in.
"The coldness and the crackling are telling you that the product is active, and therefore it's gobbling up your cellulite," Young says. "The sensory stimulation is telling the consumer that something is going on.
"The more pleasant the products are to use, the more compliant the user is," Young says.
