RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SENSORY ASSESSMENT AND RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF COSMETIC CREAMS

One hundred and forty-four untrained judges ranked O/W creams on consistency, spreadability, and stickiness or tackiness, and the results were correlated with rheological characteristics obtained from flow curves. The ranking order for consistency corresponded, for all practical purposes, to the ranking order for shear stress needed to break down the internal structure of the sample (shear rates of 44 s^-1 or less). The ranking for spreadability was related to plastic viscosity at 26-32°C. The judges showed poor agreement on the ranking for stickiness (tackiness) and no clear-cut relationship could be obtained between this property and rheological parameters. Consumer preference favored the sample with the highest consistency.