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Benzoin

post #1 of 16
7/4/09 at 11:53am
Thread Starter 
Compiled from the Note Identification Project thread:

Siam Benzoin, Southeast Asia Fascinating note. Sweet, nutty, vanillic, with almond-cherry undertones.

Siam Benzoin - This is an exceptionally buttery sample of this material. It is butterscotchy with its vanillic notes creating a burnt sugar aroma. Mine had a more pronounced almond-cherry note. This one is gourmand.

Siam Benzoin: sweet, light vanilla, resinous, grape juice

Benzoin Sumatra resin grains: smoke, wood, vanilla, incense--lovely stuff!

Benzoin tincture (siam): dark vanilla

Benzoin Have you smelled Santal de Mysore by Serge Lutens, I think it's a benzoin monster.

Benzoin, natural crystals, origin Siam, tinctured in ethanol, ratio approx 1:1 in volume: I found out I am definitely a benzoin lover. This resin has a warm, comforting but at the same time sensuous smell. Deeply vanillic with sweet citrus accents. Sweetly smoky but devoid of any incense facet. The crystals were yellow/brownish and were crushed fairly easily to a thin powder which dissolved completely in the alcohol. Also highly fragrant in their uncrushed state.

Benzoin, resins in jojoba oil - Crushed them slightly, covered with oil, and then put the bottle in a bowl of hot water for 90min. Poured out the oil and it smelled just like Friar's Balsam without the medicinal notes. Kind of a weird vanilla-ish, not sure how else to describe it.
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post #2 of 16
9/4/09 at 10:22pm
Can you identify the Benzoin in the Santa Maria Novella Armenia Papers? They claim to have more notes than just Benzoin, but people always say that the papers are soaked in Benzoin.
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post #3 of 16
9/5/09 at 7:13am
Thread Starter 
Silk, I am not familiar with the papers. Perhaps another member will chime in on this one!
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post #4 of 16
2/28/10 at 1:36pm
Benzoin resin is derived from the pierced bark of the Styrax species (shrubs or small trees native to Asia). This resin has been burned as insense and used as an air freshener since the Antiquities in the Middle East and it is in this form that Europe has adopted it and named it 'Papier d'Arménie' or Armenian Paper, which is basically styrax (or benzoin resin) soaked in paper which is then burnt.

So essentially styrax (Armenian Paper) and benzoin are the same thing. They do not smell exactly the same though due to the fact they're employed diffrently and in different forms. I have benzoin essential oil that has a more vanillic, burnt sugar and woody quality while the Armenian Paper is more resinous and insense-y.
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post #5 of 16
3/20/10 at 2:44am
I find that almost all of my favorite fumes have benzoin in them.
By now I am convinced that benzoin is something of an aphrodisiac. Is it the vanilla-ish note?
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post #6 of 16
3/20/10 at 6:42am
I love benzoin in perfumes too - and have you ever seen it? It is a dark-brown, tarry mess that smells like vanilla beans only better!

reine
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post #7 of 16
3/20/10 at 7:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by reine View Post

I love benzoin in perfumes too - and have you ever seen it? It is a dark-brown, tarry mess that smells like vanilla beans only better!

reine

Ma chére Reine: we are too sexy; enuff said.
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post #8 of 16
3/20/10 at 8:02am
I smelled some benzoin resin (it looked like "rocks" of resin) at the Guerlain shop in Montreal. It smelled to me like sweet, vanillic sweat - very, very interesting. The tincture however, (also on display) smelled more like vanilla, but a softer texture and an ambery feel. Both forms smelled great.

I noticed too that Cologne pour le Soir by Francis Kurkdjian employs lots of benzoin, however it also has some soft powdery notes that I didn't get when smelling the resin or tincture.
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post #9 of 16
6/27/10 at 6:35am
My bottle of benzoin does not state it's source. To me benzoin at low concentrations is just generically sweet. At higher concentrations, it reminds me of labdanum (though much weaker). Not a strong note at all, even at high concentrations.
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post #10 of 16
9/25/10 at 2:24am
This is my first visit to the single note area. I want to learn fragrances better and I thought one note at a time would be a good way. Where/how does one find, for example, benzoin? Where can you buy it to try it out? And can you wear it like cologne?
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post #11 of 16
9/26/10 at 5:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by flashpoint321 View Post

This is my first visit to the single note area. I want to learn fragrances better and I thought one note at a time would be a good way. Where/how does one find, for example, benzoin? Where can you buy it to try it out? And can you wear it like cologne?

You can find benzoin at sites like perfumersapprentice.com
You wouldn't want to wear benzoin like a cologne; it's very thick and sticky. Besides, it doesn't have much smell to it.
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post #12 of 16
9/18/11 at 8:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LillyBee View Post

So essentially styrax (Armenian Paper) and benzoin are the same thing. They do not smell exactly the same though due to the fact they're employed diffrently and in different forms. I have benzoin essential oil that has a more vanillic, burnt sugar and woody quality while the Armenian Paper is more resinous and insense-y.

That's fascinating. Had no idea they were that different.
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post #13 of 16
4/3/12 at 6:20am
There are a number of things to remember also: an amber accord or base is created with the use of vanilla, so vanilla is in there. When perfumes are created certain molecules are often selected rather than the entire complex of an oil or absolute being used. So, particular facets of an ingredient are emphasised or enhanced. There is also the question of quantity; smelling benzoin direct from a 5ml bottle of absolute or tincture will give a different odour impression than that of 0.5% dilution. Siam benzoin has a different smell to sumatran benzoin, the second being more cinnamony. Finally true benzoin is not a resin at all and is not derived from styrax but bitter almond. It is a benzolaldehyde rather than an acid and smells like almond. So depending on what's used and how it's used it can be resinous, medicinal, spicey even mulchy, but it is frequently vanilla like.

By the way, when I mention almond, cinnamon and vanilla etc, I am not referring to the processed varieties coupled with sweetening agents.
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post #14 of 16
9/6/12 at 10:28pm
I've purchased some Benzoin essence from PA and to me it smells like sweet, powdery liquid wood. If there were such a thing! Not totally natural, actually a bit of synthetic nature to it. Strange and good!
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post #15 of 16
10/15/12 at 11:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by miclsa View Post

Finally true benzoin is not a resin at all and is not derived from styrax but bitter almond. It is a benzolaldehyde rather than an acid and smells like almond. So depending on what's used and how it's used it can be resinous, medicinal, spicey even mulchy, but it is frequently vanilla like.

By the way, when I mention almond, cinnamon and vanilla etc, I am not referring to the processed varieties coupled with sweetening agents.

I'm afraid this is completely and absolutely wrong. Benzaldehyde or Bitter Almond oil as it is often called (in theory implying natural origin, but in practice that is often misleading) is a totally different product. If you follow the link it will take you to a blog post in which I've explained in detail the origins, components and safety considerations for bitter almond.

I've put together another blog post explaining the naming conventions (often confused and mis-used) for the various types of Benzoin and the species from which they are derived under the title Styrax / Storax.

There is more on benzoin in the Notepad entry for Storax-Styrax as well.
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post #16 of 16
11/5/12 at 10:29pm
Benzoin - Siam styrax benzoides, Hard Resin

Pale caramel coloured chunks resembling tree bark and quartz. Completely unrefined and not chemically extracted by the appearance of it. Straight up vanilla essence hint of mothballs and exotic wood. Not as sweet as expected but I can see why this is used as a vanilla note.

Benzoin - Sumatra styrax ?

Dark brown\\black crystals light weight and chunky. Only slightly vanillic, heavy dry wood, peppery, cola and burnt beeswax. Balinese teak furniture store. Smells quite like oils used on unvarnished woods. Entirely different to the siam so much so you would not know they are related. But I think this one is actually more versatile and useful in perfumery because it has a strong woody note and would support floral\\wood perfumes much better than the siam.
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