The Incense Note in Modern Perfumery: How Frankincense, Myrrh and Benzoin Are Built

The incense note in modern perfumery is not one material but a constructed accord, typically built from three resins: frankincense (olibanum), myrrh and benzoin. Frankincense, tapped from Boswellia sacra and related species in Oman, Somalia and Ethiopia, gives a cold, resinous, faintly citrus-pine opening carried by monoterpenes such as α-pinene and limonene, deepening into the balsamic warmth of incensole acetate. Myrrh, from Commiphora myrrha and related species of the Horn of Africa and southern Arabia, adds a darker, medicinal-bitter facet built on furanoeudesma-1,3-diene and curzerene. Benzoin, the balsamic exudate of Styrax benzoin from Sumatra and Styrax tonkinensis from Laos and Vietnam, supplies sweetness, tenacity and fixation through benzoic acid, cinnamic acid and vanillin. Perfumers layer these three, often alongside labdanum or styrax, to build the smoky, resinous-sweet accord recognized across church-inspired compositions and modern amber orientals as incense.

What does an incense accord actually smell like?

A well-built incense accord unfolds in stages rather than presenting a single smell. At the top, frankincense contributes a cool, almost citrus-and-pine brightness that can read as slightly medicinal before it warms. Through the heart, myrrh’s darker, resinous-bitter character takes over, often described as smoky or tar-like, a quality tied to sesquiterpenes rather than the lighter monoterpenes of frankincense. In the base, benzoin arrives last and stays longest, laying down a sweet, vanilla-and-balsam cushion that softens the smoke and slows its evaporation. The overall effect — cold and pine-like, then dark and bitter, then sweet and resinous — is what most people mean when they say a fragrance “smells like incense,” even when no actual smoke or combustion is involved. For a broader look at how resins function across categories beyond this specific accord, see Resins in Perfumery: Base Notes, Fixatives and How Perfumers Use Them.

The three resins behind the note

Frankincense (olibanum) comes from several Boswellia species tapped for their milky exudate, which hardens into translucent tears. Boswellia sacra from Oman and Yemen is prized for a cleaner, lemon-forward profile, while Boswellia carterii and Boswellia papyrifera from Somalia and Ethiopia are more commonly used in commercial perfumery and incense.

Myrrh comes primarily from Commiphora myrrha, harvested in the same Horn of Africa and Arabian range as frankincense, often from the same trading routes historically. A softer, sweeter relative, opoponax, comes from Commiphora guidottii or the unrelated Opopanax chironium and is used where a gentler, less bitter myrrh-like note is wanted.

Benzoin divides into two commercial types with distinct chemistry: Sumatra benzoin from Styrax benzoin, rich in cinnamic acid derivatives, and Siam benzoin from Styrax tonkinensis, higher in coniferyl benzoate and reading closer to vanilla. The differences between the two are detailed in Siam vs Sumatra Benzoin: Origins, Chemistry, Scent and Grades.

How is frankincense different from myrrh in a formula?

Frankincense and myrrh are frequently paired historically and in fragrance, but they occupy different positions in a pyramid. Frankincense volatilizes faster and reads early, thanks to a relatively high share of light monoterpenes; it is the resin most responsible for the “smoke” impression, especially when the actual charred, pyrazine-like top notes of burnt olibanum are approximated with smoky aroma chemicals rather than the raw resin alone. Myrrh behaves more like a heart-to-base material, with heavier sesquiterpenes that give it staying power and a rounder, less sharp profile than frankincense but with more bitterness. Used together, frankincense supplies the initial “cold” impression people associate with a censer, while myrrh supplies the duration and depth. A side-by-side comparison of the two, including their traditional pairing in liturgical incense, is covered in Myrrh vs Frankincense: The Classic Pair Compared.

From resin to bottle: resinoids, absolutes and tinctures

None of these three materials is used in perfumery as raw crystallized resin. Frankincense and myrrh are most often converted to essential oils by steam distillation, or to resinoids by solvent extraction, which captures more of the heavier, non-volatile balsamic fraction. Benzoin, having very low volatility on its own, is almost never distilled; it is used as a resinoid, a further-refined absolute, or a simple alcohol tincture, a method still practiced by small perfumers and historically documented in preparations such as Friar’s Balsam. The practical differences between these extraction routes, and when to reach for which, are laid out in Benzoin Absolute vs Resinoid vs Tincture: Which Extract to Use and How to Tincture Resins for Perfumery: Ratios, Alcohol, Time and Filtering.

Benzoin’s job: sweetness, fixation and the amber bridge

Within the incense accord, benzoin rarely tries to smell smoky itself. Its role is closer to a binder: it slows the evaporation of the more volatile frankincense and myrrh components, extends the accord’s life on skin, and adds a sweetness that keeps a heavy resinous composition from reading as purely bitter or medicinal. This same fixative function is why benzoin appears constantly alongside labdanum in the construction of amber accords, a pairing explained step by step in How to Build an Amber Accord: Labdanum, Benzoin and Vanilla. Because labdanum itself carries ambery, slightly leathery facets from compounds such as sclareol, blending it with benzoin and a whisper of frankincense produces the warm, church-adjacent amber base found in many oriental fragrances, distinct from the marine or synthetic ambers built around ambroxide.

Where the incense note appears in perfumery

Incense-forward perfumery runs from literal reconstructions of church censer smoke to abstract, distant references. Guerlain’s Shalimar (1925) leans on benzoin and vanilla with only a suggestion of resinous smoke, while compositions built explicitly around olibanum, such as Comme des Garçons’ Avignon, foreground raw frankincense with minimal sweetening. Chanel’s Coromandel sits between the two, pairing patchouli with benzoin and frankincense for a warmer, less austere effect, and Serge Lutens’ Ambre Sultan builds its amber almost entirely from labdanum and benzoin. A broader survey of how benzoin specifically shows up across fragrance families, independent of the full incense accord, is available in Perfumes With Benzoin: Where the Resin Shows Up and How It Reads.

Sourcing and restrictions worth knowing

All three resins are wild-harvested, mostly by smallholders tapping trees by hand, which ties fragrance-industry demand directly to the health of Boswellia and Commiphora populations and to the livelihoods built around them. Overtapping has been documented as a pressure on wild Boswellia stands in parts of the Horn of Africa, a subject explored in Are Aromatic Resins Sustainable? Frankincense, Benzoin and the Smallholder Problem. On the regulatory side, benzoin and related cinnamic-acid materials are subject to IFRA usage limits because of their sensitization potential, which perfumers working with the resin in fine fragrance or leave-on products need to account for; the specifics are covered in Benzoin Safety: Allergies, IFRA Limits and Sensible Use. None of this changes the resins’ central place in the incense note — it simply means the accord, like the trees it comes from, has to be managed with some care.

• perfumery
• incense
• frankincense
• myrrh
• benzoin