Styrax (or more correctly storax) resinoid is a sweet and delicate material which blends wonderfully with the other classic perfumery resins; it works well as a fixative (especially for iris notes). These days most extracts on the market suffer from a pronounced styrene note (the plastic smell of polystyrene) which, being far from the genuine odour of styrax, more closely resembles the smell of an old mechanic's shop. As pleasant an odour as that may be for some, it has no place in the scent profile of styrax. This styrax resinoid is sweet, cinnamic, vanilla, subtly spicy and enticing. It is extracted from the raw balsam of wild Liquidambar styraciflua trees (commonly known as American sweetgum or hazel pine) using just-warm alcohol (hence the EAL designation in the name). This produces a “resin absolute” as opposed to a true resinoid or absolute. However, the market has generally taken to referring to these styrax materials as resinoids and so we are using the name of the manufacturer. The proper naming conventions for all balsams is: Crude Balsam → Steam Distillation → Essential OilCrude Balsam → Non-Ethanol Solvent Extraction → ResinoidCrude Balsam → Ethanol Extraction → Resin Absolute [and sometimes resinoid] While a resin absolute is often wrongly referred to simply as an "absolute", the correct use of that term within the balsams category is for an alcohol extraction of a previously extracted resinoid (usually produced with hexane or other non-alcohol solvent).Resinoid → Alcohol Extraction → Absolute Our wild harvested styrax resin absolute is the finest extraction on the market. Nothing else comes close. This is so good you will start looking for opportunities to feature it in a fragrance. NOTE: This is IFRA compliant styrax resin due to the absence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: None detected [limit of detection: benzopyrene < 2μg/kg & benzanthracene < 6μg/kg]Country of Origin: HondurasCountry of Manufacture: FranceVariety: Liquidambar styraciflua L.Part: Tree exudateMethod of production: Warm (30 °C / 86 °F) alcohol extraction
