Product Overview
Our premium Sandalwood from Australia has a little lighter character than a typical Sandalwood essential oil and displays warm, fresh notes and deeper, woodier undertones than our New Caledonian Sandalwood oils. Sandalwood is beloved for its sweet, warm, woody and rich aroma and is a world-renowned and highly desired ingredient in body care, skin care, natural perfumes, and incense for its sensual qualities and incomparable, calming fragrance.
In Australia, Sandalwood (including its lumber, seed oil, nuts and powder) has been used for fodder, fuel and fragrance, in aboriginal art, and in religious and spiritual practices for thousands of years. Santalum spicatum is native to Western Australia, where the Forests Products Commission (FPC) manages the sustainable harvesting of Sandalwood forests.
The Sandalwood essential oil most recognized is distilled from Santalum album in the Mysore region of India. It is an alarming fact that Mysore Sandalwood has endured severe population decline and genetic impoverishment (i.e., become nearly extinct) due to decades of over-harvesting, mismanagement of forests and illegal poaching – all driven by lucrative global demand. This is good news and bad news. The bad news is that high value plus harvesting restrictions are powerful incentives for the development of synthetics and the routine adulteration of genuine Sandalwood oils.[1] The good news is that this near tragedy created a new industry in other regions for cultivating various species of Sandalwood (including S. spicatum) using more sustainable practices – a successful strategy for redirecting market pressure away from this precious botanical. Sandalwood, an exquisitely fragrant and praiseworthy tree, like the majestic elephant, has been nearly loved to death. May your usage of Sandalwood be mindful, and may you be present in the magnificence of every application.
Eden Botanicals sources a wide variety of sustainably harvested Santalum species from reputable suppliers in different geographical regions that we are sure will enchant and delight even the most discriminating Sandalwood lovers and natural perfumers. Sandalwood oil is beneficial in targeted skincare preparations and facial serums to improve the appearance of aging, dry, or congested skin. The divine aroma inspires an ambiance of peaceful contemplation and lends elevating and centering properties to meditation and incense blends.
1 Turin, Luca. The Secret of Scent: Adventures in Perfume and the Science of Smell, 2006, p. 77.
