Resin

Incense

Note Profile

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Also Known As

Incense resins, soft incense, subtle incense, white incense

About

Incense is the smell of aromatic resin burning in a censer. It is resinous, dry and smoky, with a cool, church-like air. In perfumery it is an accord, not one material. Olibanum, also called frankincense, is its core.

Scent Profile

Incense smells of resin burning on charcoal. Olibanum gives it a bright, lemony and peppery opening over a warm, balsamic body. Smoke runs through the heart and the dry-down, though its strength varies from one perfume to the next. A cool, mineral, church-like air and a waxy note carry into a long dry-down.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeBase · ~24h lasting

Family Amber · Musk · Leather, Woody & Earthy

Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.

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ScentArt

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Materials That Can Make This Note

Perfumers can build Incense around this material.

Natural extract Olibanum oil resinous · balsamic · terpenic

Smell words come from published sources.

A given perfume with this note may use some of these, or something else.

Origin

Incense is a built accord, not one raw material. Its core is olibanum, the gum resin of Boswellia trees from Arabia, the Horn of Africa and India, used as an oil, a resinoid or a CO2 extract. Myrrh, benzoin and labdanum often join it. Woody and synthetic materials add the smoky, mineral side that the resin oil alone lacks.

Usage in Perfumery

Perfumers use incense primarily in the heart and base of compositions to impart depth, mystique. Incense can serve as a central theme or as a subtle accent to add complexity.