What Are Resins?
This journey started from a dream about conifer trees, and plant resin became the foundation of our work.
But what exactly are plant resins?
Are they the same material used in resin casting art?
The connection between humans and plants stems far back into the ancient world, and recent discoveries have shown the content on tablets (In fact, the earliest forms of writing in the form of tablets, from ancient Mesopotamia and Africa, heavily involved tracking inventory and records for trade. Through their use as medicine, perfumery, or even as a currency, plant resins like frankincense and myrrh have been significant to human beings for thousands of years.
Here at 7Resins, we utilize 7 different plant resin types:
Norway Spruce
(Picea abies)
One of the most recognized conifer trees that grow in the Hudson Valley. Native to Norway, norway spruce have acclimated well to the New York landscape throughout the years, as noted by the abundant resin that drips through its trunk after being punctured. Because the resin is mixed in with gum, we isolate this botanical through distillation and other extraction methods to produce a number of ingredients used in the majority of our tallow soaps, in some of our perfumes, and in our other skincare products.
Click Here to learn more about this tree resin.
Frankincense
(Boswellia)
Perhaps one of the most popular botanicals of our era. The boswellia tree family has been used in perfumery and medicine for thousands of years, and in some period of history, was worth its weight in gold.
This tree produces an oleo-gum-resin, meaning, all components of this botanial requires a number of processes before it can be used for soaps, perfume, and medicine.
Our Desert Mystery soap and Memphis fragrance contain all three components of this botanial, producing wonderful skin benefits as well as releasing top, heart, and base notes.
Click Here to learn more about frankincense.
Eastern Red Cedar
(Juniperus virginiana)
A member of the Juniper family, this tree rarely produces resin that drips freely like other conifers. We take a direct approach in botanical extraction, both through alcohol extraction and distillation of the heartwood for the essential oil.
As a perfumery ingredient, this botanical has sharp, somewhat pencil-like, balsamic, and somewhat suave notes, all the while releasing a top note remiscent of gin.
We're excited to release a number of fragrances that include this ingredient in the near future.
Myrrh
(Commiphora)
Similar to frankincense, myrrh has an extensive history in the world of medicine and perfumery, both in the Middle East and throughout Asia. Some parts of the world still use this tree resin for its highly effective dental health benefits, which has still be shown to provide these same benefits even today. In perfumery, this botanical adds dark, rich, and seductive base notes in formulation.
There are a number of fragrances we've formulated using this botanical that we're excited to release in the near future.
Indian Sandalwood
(Santalum Album)
A precious, fragrant wood well known by those who have a love for incense. The sweet, buttery, balsamic wood and essential oil of this tree has been well sought out very much like Agarwood, serving as a key ingredient for famous Eastern perfumes like the rose attars of the nobles of the past and present day. The growth in demand of sandalwood over the decades almost caused the extinction of this tree, resulting in a long pause in exports from India. Conservation efforts eventually fixed this problem, as well as opening up the market to close alternatives such as Australian Sandalwood.
While we rarely include sandalwood into our soaps, we include Indian sandalwood in our Hudson Musk formulations.
Labdanum
(Cistaceae)
Thus far, one of the most unique, dynamic, and wondrous botanicals we've ever worked with.
Native to the Mediterranean, labdanum is extracted from the Cistus plant (also called Rock Rose) through a number of processes which include beating the resin off the plant stalks to release the collected resin.
This tar-like resin releases fresh, flowery, balsamic, sweet, animalic notes. Some have described its smell as a bouquet of flowers, precious wood similar to sandalwood and oud, and even gasoline.
This botanical is the key ingredient in our Allure fragrance, which is quickly becoming our most popular oil-based fragrance.
Agarwood
(Aquilaria)
A rare and precious wood, agarwood is and was one of the most desired fragrant botanical in history.
Also called aloeswood, aloe wood, and oud, agarwood has been sought out by the royals, upper class, and even priest classes in a number of civilizations throughout history. The intoxicating fragrance that this tree produces in the form of thick, black grain within its wood, is produced after exposure to a specific fungal infection. The result of distilling this wood produces a thick, tar-like resin, which releases aromatics rarely found anywhere else in the perfumery world.
Depending on the tree in the Aquilaria family, you can expect to smell complex aromas such as bubblegum, barnyard notes, gasoline, a freshly cut tropical fruit medley, wet soil, and an entire chorus of notes that brings your mind to the vastness of the Himalayas (according to some Agarwood entheusiasts).
Here at 7Resins, we take the sourcing of our agarwood very seriously, as the increased demand of this botanical resulted in this tree becoming a part of the endangered species list.
Nonetheless, measures have been taken in order to protect this species.
We're very much looking forward to launching several products that contain agarwood in the near future.
