How Product Benchmarks Guide Texture Feel and Performance

A reference product can make a formulation brief easier to understand. It gives a brand and a development team something physical to discuss. Its value depends on identifying the attributes that matter rather than treating the entire product as a formula to reproduce.

“Something like this” is an opening conversation. A working brief needs more detail: which part of the experience should the new product share, which part should change, and what commercial or ingredient requirements will be different?

Describe attributes before deciding preference

People often use words such as luxurious, nourishing or lightweight as if they have a single meaning. In practice, they can refer to different experiences. Lightweight might mean a fluid texture, easy spreading, little tack, quick absorption or low residual weight on hair.

Descriptive evaluation separates those attributes so they can be discussed. Formal sensory profiling is an established discipline; ISO 13299 provides guidance for establishing a sensory profile. A brand’s informal sample discussion should not be represented as a formal trained-panel study simply because it uses a scoring sheet. [1]

For development, the first task is a shared vocabulary. Ask what happens as the product is dispensed, applied and used, and how it feels afterwards. That sequence is more informative than a single overall score.

A skincare reference can answer several questions

For a cream or serum, consider the dispensing behaviour, spread, drag, absorption, residual tack and finish. Does the product need to sit comfortably within a particular routine? Is the benchmark’s fragrance part of the desired experience, or something the brand wants to change?

An illustrative brief might say: “Retain the reference cream’s easy spread, reduce the residual shine and use a different fragrance direction.” That is more precise than asking for the same cream with different ingredients. It also makes the potential trade-offs visible before the laboratory begins.

Haircare needs its own evaluation sequence

A shampoo’s experience includes distribution on wet hair, lather, rinsing and the feel of the hair afterwards. For conditioners and masks, relevant attributes can include wet slip, detangling, rinsing, softness and residual weight.

The intended user matters. A rich conditioned feel may be welcome on one hair type and excessive on another. The amount applied, contact time, previous products and water conditions can also affect what the evaluator observes. Record relevant conditions so a change in the trial does not get mistaken for a change in the formula.

Keep comparisons consistent

Use identifiable sample codes and an agreed evaluation method. Where feasible, compare the same amount under similar conditions and record immediate observations before discussing the result with other evaluators. This can help separate individual impressions from a group’s shared conclusion.

A simple development worksheet can use four fields: attribute, observation, desired change and priority. “Low slip during application; increase; high priority” gives the team a clearer task than a low satisfaction score with no explanation.

Such feedback supports product development. It does not independently prove a marketing claim such as improved hair strength, clinical hydration or a stated duration of protection. Claims need evidence appropriate to what is being said.

Priorities matter when attributes compete

A benchmark may have been designed for a different price, packaging system, market or ingredient policy. Requiring a different base, fragrance or set of exclusions may change the experience. The formulation team needs to explain those implications rather than promise that every attribute will remain identical.

For example, a hypothetical brand may want a richer conditioning feel and less residual weight at the same time. The useful question is how much of each matters and under which use conditions. More ingredients do not automatically resolve that tension.

Benchmarking does not establish formula ownership

The publicly available ingredient declaration can help describe a product, but it is not the complete quantitative formula or manufacturing procedure. A commercial reference also does not grant permission to reproduce another party’s protected material or proprietary technology.

Nesta uses the benchmarking discussion to define a desired performance direction for the agreed development work. We do not treat a reference as a promise to supply an identical formula, fragrance or test result.

What to send with your reference

Name the product and identify the specific attributes you like. Explain what should be different, then provide your target market, packaging, quantity, budget and essential ingredient requirements. If several references are supplied, explain the role of each instead of asking the new product to match all of them completely.

To begin that discussion, share your brief through Nesta Botanicals. Clear sensory priorities help us assess the appropriate formulation direction.

Reference

[1] ISO 13299:2016 — General guidance for establishing a sensory profile. Cited for the scope of sensory profiling, not as a claim of Nesta certification or compliance with a particular study protocol.