August 7, 2026 · Fragrance knowledge
Frankincense and Myrrh: The World's Oldest Fragrances
Two resins older than perfumery itself, and still irreplaceable.
2 min read
Before there was perfume, there was incense. Frankincense and myrrh were traded along caravan routes across Arabia when Egypt was still building pyramids. The Latin word for perfume, per fumum, means "through smoke", and it refers to exactly that. Both resins remain in use today, and both achieve something in modern compositions that no laboratory molecule has ever fully replaced.
How the resins are harvested
Both originate from small, resilient trees in arid regions: frankincense from Boswellia, myrrh from Commiphora. The bark is incised, allowing the tree to exude resin that solidifies into droplets upon contact with the air. These droplets are harvested after one to two weeks. The process has remained unchanged for millennia, and it places a strain on the tree if repeated too frequently.
What frankincense smells like
Dry, resinous, slightly citrusy, with a cool, almost peppery clarity and a hint of smoke. The common association with church is misleading: burnt frankincense smells distinctly different from the resin used in a composition. There, it acts more like cold, clear air over a warm base.
What myrrh smells like
Darker, more bitter, more medicinal. Myrrh has an earthy, slightly leathery sweetness with hints of aniseed and mushroom. It is the more challenging of the two notes and incredibly powerful in small quantities, lending a fragrance age and gravity.
What they achieve today
Both resins act as fixatives, slowing down the evaporation of the notes above them. Above all, however, they provide a dryness that grounds sweet compositions. An amber without resin is merely warm; with frankincense, it gains definition, as in Scent No. 66 · Savona. This is precisely what our article on structured amber describes.
In brief
Does frankincense in perfume smell like church?
No. When burnt, it smells smoky and sweetish, whereas as a resin in a composition, it is rather dry, clear, and slightly citrusy.
What is the difference between frankincense and myrrh?
Frankincense is brighter, drier, and more citrusy. Myrrh is darker, more bitter, and more medicinal.
The upshot
Frankincense and myrrh are the oldest tools of the perfumer's art, and they remain the most reliable when a composition requires depth without sweetness. They are primarily found in the oriental and woody families, myrrh especially in Scent No. 101 · Monopoli.
