Base note · Woods & Resins

Benzoin

Styrax tonkinensis

Benzoin is vanillic, balsamic and warm, with a soft, sweet glow. A tree resin from Laos, used in ambers, gourmands and soft florals.

What does benzoin smell like in perfume?

Benzoin smells vanillic, balsamic and warm, like a soft, golden glow. It adds sweetness, warmth and longevity to a fragrance.

What Is Benzoin?

Benzoin is a resin from Styrax trees, collected from cuts in the bark.

Benzoin Scent Profile

Here is how strongly each facet of benzoin comes through, from our own smelling-strip notes.

How Perfumers Use Benzoin

Perfumers use benzoin to sweeten and fix a fragrance, rounding the edges of florals and adding warmth to ambers and gourmands.

Growing and harvesting benzoin

Siam benzoin comes from Styrax tonkinensis, a fast-growing tree of northern Laos and Vietnam, and is the most prized for its creamy, vanilla-like scent. Growers cut the bark, and the tree bleeds a pale resin that hardens into tears, which are collected by hand. Sumatra benzoin, from Styrax benzoin, is darker, with a more cinnamon-like, balsamic smell.

The molecules behind benzoin’s scent

Siam benzoin is rich in coniferyl benzoate and holds free vanillin, which gives its vanilla-like sweetness. Benzoic acid adds a soft, slightly powdery note. The resin is solid, so perfumers dissolve it with alcohol or another solvent to make a resinoid they can blend.

Natural or synthetic benzoin?

Benzoin itself is natural and has no synthetic copy. Vanillin and synthetic benzoates are sometimes used to suggest it. Natural benzoin has a resinous depth that those materials lack, and it carries more of a balsam than a dessert.

Benzoin in history and tradition

The name comes from the Arabic lubān jāwī, “frankincense of Java”, which became benjoin in European languages. Benzoin has long been burned as incense in temples and churches, and it is the main ingredient of Papier d’Arménie, the scented paper burned in French homes since the late nineteenth century. Benzoic acid is named after it and was first obtained from the resin.

How to smell benzoin yourself

Benzoin is easiest to smell as a resinoid on a smelling strip. It starts faint and slightly sharp, then grows into a warm, vanilla-like sweetness that lasts for days. Smell it beside real vanilla: benzoin is drier, more resinous and less creamy.

Smell Benzoin in Prosody London Perfumes

For benzoin at its most expressive, try Paper Flower Fan. Benzoin softens a warm base of vanilla and ambrette seed beneath ylang ylang and clove. You will also find benzoin in Neroli Nuance, Oud Octavo and Pizzicato Bliss.

What Blends Well With Benzoin?

Questions About Benzoin

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