New fragrance app asks: what's your flavor?

(Estée Lauder)

Are your favorite fragrances citrusy, woody, or floral? Really haven't thought about that yet? Ascent might be able to help: the new iPhone app by Estée Lauder is designed to give you practical advice while you're shopping at the beauty counter.

According to Women's Wear Daily, the beauty house's Aramis and Designer Fragrances division has developed a tool - currently being tested in department stores worldwide - that will find the fragrance that's perfect for you with just a few questions; your preference of chocolate or wine, for instance.

And while some of your replies might change according to your mood, the quick, on-the-go questionnaire was developed based on scientific principles spanning aromachology, psychographics and kinesthetics. For Trudi Loren, vice president of corporate fragrance development worldwide for Estée Lauder, the goal is a higher awareness of your personal preferences when shopping for something as defining as a fragrance.

"What is ‘fresh and clean' to one person isn't necessarily to someone else,"she told WWD. "These questions, images and sounds tie into how scent and emotion work together, and allow people to discover fragrances they might not otherwise try."

The Ascent app - which naturally only features Estée Lauder products such as the Michael Kors or Donna Karan fragrances - is available in ten languages and can be tested in international department stores in the UK, Germany, Spain, Russia, South Africa, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Hong Kong, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates, as well as in travel retail. A US launch is planned for the end of May.

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