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Browsing by tag: sandalwood

Up to 30 years

Posted by Robin on 4 April 2025 Leave a Comment

Sandalwood, with its oblong light-green leaves and twiggy branches, is a semi-parasitic plant that needs a host tree. It can take up to 30 years for it to be ready for perfume oil extraction. The modern perfume industry originally used sandalwood from India, but starting in 1974, unbridled and unsustainable harvesting practices caused a precipitous drop in supply, likely driving up the cost of the wood. “There was a time when it had basically disappeared for perfumers,” [perfumer Frank] Voelkl says.

— Read more in The Scent You Smell Everywhere Almost Disappeared Forever at Elle.

Miller Harris Myrica Muse, Scherzo & Peau Santal ~ fragrance reviews

Posted by Jessica on 20 April 2023 16 Comments

Do you remember a time around 2005 when only a handful of “niche” perfume brands were available at most department stores? In my recollections of that era, Miller Harris was one such entity that had been granted generous counter space at the Saks Fifth Avenue flagship. I was intrigued by Miller Harris’s British identity, its interpretations of various botanical themes, the little strips of gray grosgrain ribbon that were used instead of paper blotters, and the vintage-looking illustrations on the fragrances’ bottles and boxes. As much as I admired perfumer Lyn Harris’s style however, I never found a scent from that line that quite suited me.

Any number of things can happen over a decade or more: personal tastes shift, brands change ownership (and creative direction) and perfumers keep evolving in their work…

Read the rest of this article »

Re-purposing it to create incense products

Posted by Robin on 17 June 2022 Leave a Comment

Spent charge, also known as sandalwood residue, is the exhausted biomass created during the oil distillation process when obtaining sandalwood oil. This residue has traditionally been known as an industrial by-product that was simply discarded as green waste or boiler feed after the steam distillation process.

Instead of disposing of the exhausted biomass, ongoing research and innovation by Quintis has unlocked the potential for grouping this as spent charge. By re-purposing it to create incense products, Quintis has been able to reduce waste and, more than that, continued to add value to sandalwood operations.

— Read more in Turning Indian sandalwood waste to incense: Upcycling a precious ingredient at Cosmetics Business.

All the way through to the value-added process

Posted by Robin on 8 September 2020 Leave a Comment

Mr Mulder said the business is the culmination of Mr Farmer's father's vision: "to bring equity and ownership into the sandalwood industry for the Indigenous people from the central desert".

"Currently, the Dutjahn Custodians are the only Aboriginal or Indigenous Business involved in the sandalwood industry that are actually actively out there harvesting and seeing their product all the way through to the value-added process," he said.

It is a business model that has proven enticing to buyers like mega beauty company Estee Lauder.

Read more in From the Gibson Desert to New York, these sandalwood harvesters are winning over the perfume market at ABC News Australia. Hat tip to Sara!

Something you could live in forever

Posted by Robin on 29 April 2020 5 Comments

When my daughter was born, I would place tiny dots of sandalwood oil behind her perfect little ears and in the folds of her delicate neck. She was the best smelling baby around; the combination of the natural scent of infant and sandalwood was heady, divine, something you could live in forever. It’s an unusual thing, to perfume babies, something that runs counter to today’s heightened wariness of unnecessary exposure to chemicals (though the perfume oil I used was natural, with no additives or preservatives).

— Read more in Perfuming my daughter: The scent of sandalwood was a way to connect with my culture and home— I followed its roots to learn more at This.

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