Chapter 7 Our Products

Our PRODUCTS

Our Products

Our Indian sandalwood trees thrive through a botanical collaboration between host plants, foresters, and the ideal soil conditions. We craft our Indian sandalwood products from the aromatic heartwood, which is the oil-bearing core of the tree. When the tree reaches maturity, we harvest and process each tree with care to begin a new life as globally certified oil, chips, heartwood logs or powder.

Tracing the origins

Every Indian sandalwood product has an origin story – for each product we can tell you which trees make up the supply. We can even tell you the date the trees were planted and where they grew based on unique job numbers applied to each harvest. Provenance is vital in a global economy and understanding the legitimacy of our supply gives our clients a direct channel to connect with land and culture.

This chain of custody extends to our production phase where job numbers translate into batch numbers. These batch numbers follow every sample and order dispatched to the client ensuring legitimacy and providing traceability at every stage. Working with the Forest Products Commission (FPC), we can also ensure the legitimacy and origin of our Australian sandalwood oil products. The FPC regulates the growth, harvesting and replanting of this native resource. As part of its regeneration program, each year the FPC disperses more than 5 million seeds across approximately 20,000 hectares of land using a natural dispersion process inspired by the native woylie, an animal known to collect and hoard Australian sandalwood seeds, burying them in shallow diggings.

The FPC also engages Indigenous Australian contractors to plant these Australian sandalwood seeds across various locations.

Calms the autonomic nervous system

Protects skin against blue light and pollution

Balances circulatory, digestive, respiratory & nervous systems Reduces anxiety

Reduces signs of ageing

Brightens and soothes the skin, and evens skin tone

Reduces the appearance of skin conditions Increases alertness

Assists with sleep quality

Purifies the mind

Harmonises vital internal energies

Enhances meditation & connection with the divine

Evokes nostalgia

2 Francois-Newton, V., Brown, A., Andres, P., Mandary, M., Weyers, C., Latouche-Veerapen, M., Hettiarachchi, D., 2021, ‘Antioxidant and Anti-Aging Potential of Indian Sandalwood Oil against Environmental Stressors In Vitro and Ex Vivo’ Cosmetics, 8(2), 53 More than just a fragrance

Most commonly known for its soft woody fragrance, Indian sandalwood oil is also a multi-functional ingredient with therapeutic benefits. It has been proven to calm the mind, and protect and nourish the skin, due to the high presence of alpha and beta santalols.

Indian sandalwood has been used traditionally in cultures across the world including Traditional Chinese Medicine, aromatherapy and Ayurveda, due to its ability to heal a diverse range of skin and medical problems. Some cultures attribute spiritual significance to sandalwood, used by Buddhists in incense to promote focus during meditation and by Hindus who apply sandalwood paste as a means of purifying themselves.

Studies show that Indian sandalwood oil has antiinflammatory, anti-tyrosinase and anti-microbial properties. And in 2021, research commissioned by Quintis found that sandalwood oil is a more potent antioxidant than Vitamin E in protecting against the effects of blue light and pollution.²

Indian sandalwood oil captures the essence of the tree itself: hearty, grounding and complex. It has distinctive aromatic characteristics that are irreplaceable. With over 125 constituents, every single one – even the most minute – is naturally created, giving the oil its signature woody, creamy aroma.

Our Indian and Australian sandalwood oils are steam-distilled, locking in the oil’s most potent volatiles. The anatomy of sandalwood consists of three layers of wood. The outer layer, or the sapwood, encircles the transition heartwood, which surrounds the aromatic heartwood in the centre.

We are proud to offer natural and certified pure Indian sandalwood heartwood logs worldwide. We grade our sandalwood logs according to colour, form and size. Pure heartwood is ground to a fine powder to unlock its rich fragrance. The powder contains over 3% pure sandalwood oil which is considered to have therapeutic benefits.

In cosmetics, Indian sandalwood powder reduces the appearance of fine lines, mattifies and evens skin tone. It feels luxurious on application and provides a soft and powdery non-tacky feeling on dry down. The powder is also used as a flavour enhancer and to create incense sticks to be burned in rituals and religious practices. Throughout centuries, different cultures have used sandalwood chips for various therapeutic and religious purposes.

These natural sandalwood chips are created from pure Indian sandalwood heartwood and can be created according to specific size requirements.

Our wild-harvested Australian sandalwood oil is Australian Certified Organic and COSMOS Certified, meaning it is free of human-made fertilisers, pesticides, growth regulators and GMOs and meets exacting national and international standards.

SANDALWOOD POWDER, A WATERLESS COMPANION

Look on the back of a skincare label, and the first ingredient is likely to be 'aqua'. Water makes up an estimated 80% to 95% of skincare products due to its cost-effectiveness and the way it facilitates smooth application, hydration and dissolving water-soluble actives. But with the United Nations predicting that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries with water scarcity and two-thirds will be water-stressed, there is a gaining movement toward ‘waterless beauty’.

Enter powdered products. These products have no water, but they also have no preservatives, emulsifiers or stabilisers, which reduces waste. The contents are also smaller, minimising packaging and, without liquid to contend with, allows for more environmentally and carbon friendly packaging options. In the Quintis labs, our researchers are developing Indian sandalwood powder for use in cosmetics, an ultra-fine form of heartwood ideal for powdered products. “We’re really excited about this product,” says Andrew Brown, Head of Research and Development. “It caters to the consumer’s desire for water-free products, and it is functional. It adds a nice velvety texture to a formulation, and preliminary research results indicate it can also reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and reduce sheen.”