From Mood Boards to Bottles: What the AI Scent Scanner Is
Jo Malone London’s AI Scent Scanner is an AI fragrance discovery tool on Pinterest that reads users’ saved visual content—such as colours, textures, rituals, destinations and aesthetic themes—and turns those cues into personalised Jo Malone fragrance pairings, creating a custom “fragrance wardrobe” without asking for written scent descriptions. Built by the Estée Lauder Companies with Pinterest, Scent Scanner builds on Jo Malone’s earlier AI Scent Advisor, which relied on typed scent prompts rather than images. With user permission, the Scent Scanner links to selected Pinterest boards and analyses what people already pin for inspiration and self-expression. The experience is initially available to Pinterest shoppers in two markets and sits at the intersection of digital fragrance shopping, AI-driven personalisation and mood-board culture, aiming to make perfume discovery feel more intuitive, emotional and aligned with everyday aesthetics.
How Visual-First AI Fragrance Discovery Works on Pinterest
Scent Scanner replaces questionnaires and note lists with visual scent recommendations that start from a user’s own Pinterest boards. Instead of describing whether they like citrus, woods or florals, users allow the tool to read imagery that reflects their taste: travel photos, interior design, fashion, or daily rituals. The AI looks at patterns in colours, textures and themes to infer an aesthetic profile, then proposes Jo Malone London fragrances and pairings that match this mood. According to the Estée Lauder Companies, Scent Scanner “draws inspiration from imagery, colour palettes, textures, rituals and aesthetics” rather than language prompts. This aligns neatly with Pinterest’s image-led interface, where people already plan weddings, wardrobes or home décor through pins. The result is a digital fragrance shopping experience that speaks in the same visual language users rely on for inspiration and purchase planning.
Why Estée Lauder and Pinterest Are Betting on Aesthetic Data
Estée Lauder’s partnership with Pinterest is framed as a move from asking shoppers what they want to understanding what they already love. Aude Gandon, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer at Estée Lauder, said that personalisation in beauty used to mean direct questions, but the “bigger opportunity” lies in meeting people where their taste already lives. By linking AI fragrance discovery with Pinterest’s high-intent planners, Jo Malone London aims to turn inspiration into purchase with fewer steps and more emotional relevance. The collaboration also supports Estée Lauder’s wider “Beauty Reimagined” transformation strategy, in which AI tools connect creativity and commerce. The companies plan to discuss their approach at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, signalling that Scent Scanner is not a one-off experiment but part of a broader push toward data-informed, visually driven retail journeys.
A New Standard for Multisensory Digital Fragrance Shopping
Fragrance has long been hard to translate to screens, but tools like AI Scent Scanner point to a new standard for multisensory digital fragrance shopping. By turning Pinterest aesthetics into visual scent recommendations, Jo Malone London reduces guesswork for premium fragrance buyers who cannot smell before they buy. The experience also invites users to think of fragrance as part of a wider lifestyle mood board: a scent that fits the same universe as their interiors, travel dreams or daily rituals. Jo Dancey, Global Brand President for Jo Malone London and Lifestyle Fragrance at Estée Lauder, describes fragrance as “one of the most personal choices an individual makes,” and Scent Scanner is designed so the scents “feel chosen for them, and unmistakably their own.” In a landscape where L’Oréal, Fenty Beauty and Douglas Group are deploying AI advisors, Jo Malone’s visual-first approach positions Pinterest as a key channel for immersive, personalised perfume discovery.
