I designed and built sensory AR experiences to visualise scent for Sephora France in collaboration with Meta. Perfumes were able to be worn as a series AR filters that I created. I collaborated with a super talented Facebook Creative Shop team including Becky Owen, Jane Han, Josefine Billström and Calle Sjoenell, and also supported the underlying research. 3D models for this project were created by Roman Bratschi at Nerd Productions.

Sephora’s recent DO NOT DRINK project is an experiment in digital deliciousness. The pandemic caused a unique problem for beauty brands, with many people unable to visit physical stores and try products. Perfume, for example, has a unique sensory element that previously required people to try it in person. However, the boom in AR on social media platforms gives a new, personalised, social approach to trying on a perfume.

Sephora’s DO NOT DRINK project uses AR filters on Instagram to give a digital sensation of a perfume. The filters use neuroscience and psychology research to inform the creation of digital objects, colours, and textures which surround the user and are playfully ‘consumed’. The AR filters use theory on mirror neuron networks, and supernormal stimuli to generate a sensation that aligns with the actual perfume. There is no depiction of the actual perfume ingredients in the filter, and there is no perfume bottle shown. Instead, the digital objects are abstract representations of real ingredients, designed to evoke a stronger scent memory.

The Sephora perfumes are based on edible/ food ingredients, and because flavour perception involves both taste and smell, we looked at sensory perception research to inform the colour and texture of scent. Shape was also important, as it is known that angular shapes are associated with bitterness and saltiness, whereas rounded shapes are associated with sweetness. Sensory descriptive words strongly associated with flavour were also considered, as in the case of the green tea component of the Matcha and Mandarine perfume. 

Célia Bardy, Head of Digital at Sephora Collection, describes the success of the digital fragrances: “The launch is amazing and above our expectations. We’ve reached top ranking in every country which have launched the fragrances. We feel there is a high expectation from young consumers to have different ways of talking about a perfume. In this way, the work we did with Facebook and creators (both Jess Herrington & Roman Bratschi) was absolutely in line with the breakthrough concept.”

Facebook published a study about the success of this project here.