Encens Tranquille A resinous and meditative woodsy incense scent composed with indulgent amounts of wonderful natural oils, many imported from specialty companies in France. A lovely frankincense CO2 extract, a dusky labdanum absolute, and a heavenly incensy cistus fraction help make this a delicious choice for frankincense lovers. Essential oils and absolutes of woods, myrrh, patchouli, oakmoss, angelica root, orris, and elemi complete the natural incense theme. A specially constructed sandalwood accord in the base complements the natural resin and incense notes.

Vintage Asian Temple Incense Burner

Perfumer's Comments: I didn't experience incense in church while growing up, so I didn't discover my love for incense notes until I began to sample essential oils. The first time I smelled olibanum essential oil (frankincense), I was truly enchanted. I loved it at first sniff, which was interesting since I had no prior association with it as so many people do. I wanted Encens Tranquille to be a very natural-smelling fragrance that highlighted olibanum, enhanced by resinous notes, sandalwood, and labdanum/cistus.

Fragrance Notes: frankincense CO2, myrrh EO, labdanum absolute, cistus oil, natural oakmoss absolute, aged Indian patchouli heartnote fraction, sandalwood, cedar, ambergris, orris, angelica root absolute, elemi EO, vanilla absolute. Released August 2007, updated in Jan 2010.

sap is collected from gnarled incense trees

Frankincense and myrrh are two of the first materials that come to mind when thinking about incense, but labdanum, agarwood, cedar, pine, sandal, copal and other woods and resins are often components of incense too.

I’ve used the finest frankincense I can source for this fragrance; it is a CO2 extract rather than a steam distilled oil and is especially long-lasting on the skin. It’s rich, complex, resinous, and woodsy. The myrrh oil has a warm, sweet drydown that adds richness to the base. I also use a special cistus fraction that is quite different than regular cistus; this one is similar to labdanum but has wonderful incensy and smoky aspects. The cistus combines with the warm, sweet labdanum absolute to make a delicious resinous base accord.

frankincense resin tears

Photo shows 34 ml bottle with box. To purchase Encens Tranquille bottles or samples, please return to the Fragrance page.