Make your way with the Mini Puffer Dopp.

This mini-me of our dapper Dopp Bag is made of pillow-soft, water-resistant nylon and opens wide with a zippered top that makes it super spacious. It neatly nestles and organizes ten bottles in protective padded slots with room for more! At last, a perfectly pocketed, and protected way to carry and organize essential oil collections for home and away.

THE ICONIC ANOINT OF THE ANCIENT WORLD

The canonical, classic Carterii Frankincense (Boswellia carterii) is the ancient olibanum, the biblical botanical, the timeless and treasured tree honored for its opulent oleoresin since antiquity. Frankincense essence is a fortifying tonic that has blessed ceremonies, been crushed into pharmacopeia, and ushered into unguents to beautify the body. Gracing the eternal airwaves with its warm balsamic Boswellia breeze, the consecrating chrism of Frankincense has baptized and revitalized, deepened the doors of perception and blessed many receptions. For centuries, among the arid climes and mid-altitudes of the rocky highland slopes of the Horn of Africa, heritage groves of Carterii have thrived. The tree’s organic, milky sap is tapped during the searing summer drought, when the tree exudes resin as a self-protective barrier to seal in moisture and cushion its bark against solar saturation.

Our Boswellia carterii hails from the arid highland slopes of Somaliland, where trees are deeply entwined in the region's traditional pastoral communities and families have stewarded specific wild groves for generations. The traditional harvesters who tend these wild groves hold such affection for the trees that they know and name each one. Once gathered as golden tears, the resin is extracted using ambient supercritical carbon dioxide to gently draw forth the complete spectrum of the oleoresin.

Living Libations Carterii CO2 Frankincense emanates a deep, reassuring balsamic base, topped with soft, camphorous-citrus cues and a fragrant fixative depth. Reminiscent of a sunlit balsam fir forest, the Carterii variety is characteristically classic Frankincense, the quintessential go-to for daily skincare, respiratory fortitude, and spiritual solace. Rich in vibrant monoterpenes led by alpha-pinene (26%), limonene (9%), myrcene (5%), and sabinene (2%), this full-spectrum extract expands into bio-active diterpenes (serratol, incensole) and replenishing triterpenes (amyrins) to offer a pale-golden, pourable elixir that brightens complexions and resurrects the spirit.

We offer two distinct extractions of Boswellia carterii: our classic steam-distilled essential oil and our supercritical CO2 extract. Which liquid gold to behold? Both illuminate the skin and spirit, and both emerge as pale-golden, perfectly pourable elixirs with a forest-fresh levity. Yet beneath the surface, their phytochemical alchemy diverges. Our steam distillation yields an ethereal distillate supercharged with mighty monoterpenes (over 50% alpha-pinene), ideal for immediate atmospheric elevation and daily pore clarification. In contrast, supercritical CO2 extraction gently draws forth the resin's broader lipophilic canvas, capturing subtle, denser constituents of diterpenic serratol, incensole, and trace triterpenes, delivering an expanded full-spectrum extract for deep Frankincense fortification.

In classical mythology, Frankincense sap was revered as condensed solar light, a physical materialization of divine nectar linked directly to the golden warmth of Apollo, the sun god. The ancients recognized Boswellia as a photodynamic elixir: a resin born of heat, alchemizing desert sunlight and sap into a restorative balsam for body, mind, and spirit. As Ovid writes in Metamorphoses, Apollo soaked the earth in heavenly nectar to transform mortal life into an enduring tree of life, declaring, "Yet you shall reach the sky!" At once, the maiden’s body, steeped in dews of sweet nectar, dissolved into the soil, where "slowly from this a sprout of frankincense takes root... bursting through the dirt until its top pierced the air with sweet balsam," forever releasing its sun-drenched sap into the atmosphere.

"The Phoenix does not live on fruit or flowers, but on frankincense and odoriferous gums."
— Ovid

"I was standing on the edge of the escarpment overlooking the Gulf coastline and the ancient groves of frankincense trees, Boswellia carterii. As we ascended the pass, we entered the ancient groves of Frankincense trees that had been owned and harvested tribally for millennia. Thousands of the Frankincense carterii variety with their bulbous-based trunks grow out of solid conglomerates. With their flaking and thick stems, I thought I was standing in a perfumed garden of delights." — Living Libations Distiller 

THE DARK BALSAMIC FRANKINCENSE OF REPLENISHING RESTORATION

Musky, dreamy Dakkara Frankincense (Boswellia neglecta) opens the doors of perception with the fine, spirited scent of deep connection. Thriving in the arid, sun-baked bushlands and savannas surrounding the Great Rift Valley, this Frankincense tree features rugged bark, sparse foliage, and delicate white blossoms. When harvesting Boswellia neglecta resin, the trunk is never tapped; its sap oozes naturally in response to internal osmotic pressure pushing resin through bark fissures and micro-channels made by wood-boring beetles. Gathered sustainably by local Samburu women who collect only what the tree freely yields, these fresh, tar-like exudations harden under the savanna sun, reacting with bark tannins and iron-rich volcanic mineral dust to form dark, charcoal-colored tears. Known traditionally as "black frankincense," these resinous tears weather the elements to concentrate their protective plant lipids. When hydrodistilled, this obsidian resin transforms into a crystal-clear, deep balsamic essence with rich woody undertones that smell dryer, richer, and sweeter than classic Boswellia carterii.

Dakkara’s distinct terroir dictates a singular phytochemical evolution. Where cliffside species like frereana cling to soilless limestone walls to produce gum-free, velvety thujene, and West Africa’s dalzielii drinks in monsoonal rains to forge a glowing-green resin, neglecta must endure severe drought, scorching heat, and savanna insects. To defend its trunk in this extreme environment, the tree alchemizes a rare 8% share of terpinen-4-ol—a naturally clarifying monoterpenoid alcohol rarely expressed in other Boswellia species, save for its East African grassland sibling, rivae. This unique constituent lends leathery, drier balsamic notes while delivering purifying protection. Supported by a robust 55% foundation of alpha-pinene alongside a harmonious, skin-clearing monoterpene matrix, Dakkara excels at sweeping away stagnancy and balancing the complexion.

Ever enthusiastic about this ancient ecclesiastic’s earthy, amber-incense edge tinged with cordial-camphor, our dashing Dakkara is a cleansing, clearing chrism in any context. It finesses focus, sentinels the skin, and consistently connects us to an inner core of valor. Dakkara’s aromatic and inner distinction is that it resides upon the doorsill of dawns; it takes one into dusk, into night, and through seasons short on light.

"And so he would now study perfumes and the secrets of their manufacture, distilling heavily scented oils and burning odorous gums from the East. He saw that there was no mood of the mind that had not its counterpart in the sensuous life, and set himself to discover their true relations, wondering what there was in Frankincense that made one mystical."
— Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray 

An abundant apothecary in a bottle, Frankincense First Aid is a concentrated chrism of potent plant power that cleanses, sutures, soothes, and pacifies skin that is calling out an SOS. Together at last, the best botanicalbiotics are blended in to this First Assist Friend. Each essence in this mighty elixir has been hand-picked for its proven powers: Frankincense fortifies, Peppermint calms and cools, Lavender lulls, Oregano shields, and Thyme tidies up. Apply a drop to resurrect the serenity of your skin and bring the body into balance.

Cool, calm, suture, and soothe your skin with just one little drop!

Formerly, Frankincense First Friend - new name yet the formula remains the same.

SACRA FRANKINCENSE: THE SACRED BALSAMIC BOSWELLIA OF ANTIQUITY

Sublime Sacred Sacra Frankincense (Boswellia sacra) is the balsamic Boswellia that started scent trails and buoyed human history for over five fragrant millennia. Mentioned on clay tablets in Mesopotamia, anointed by Pythagoras to prophesy, distilled by Avicenna to “strengthen the wit and understanding,” sent by Sheba to serenade Solomon, and revered throughout the materia medica of the Egyptian Ebers Papyrus, Sacra is the Frankincense of aromatic amphoras, brimming in alabaster jars for cosmetic balms, burial embalming, and royal anointing.

Sacra Frankincense trees, cherished as godly gifts, have historically been encouraged to grow wild rather than be cultivated. As roots cling to rocks, hearty Boswellia sacra hails forth from dry limestone cliffs and desert crags; even amidst enduring drought, its tenacious roots reach deep beneath ancient wadi-beds to drink from hidden, subterranean water channels, nourishing sparse, feathery foliage and perfumed, pastel yellow blossoms. While East African species like coastal-cliff frereana, highland carterii, and inland-savanna rivae are harvested in searing summer heat, yielding essences with a classic camphorous edge, Sacra sap is tapped across the Arabian Peninsula during the cool winter months, yielding an opalescent oleoresin that emanates a woodier, deeply balsamic resonance rounded with soft cistus cues.

Sacra’s phytochemistry is marinated in a rich monoterpene foundation replete in alpha-pinene (over 50%), a significantly higher saturation than serrata or carterii, harmoniously balanced by limonene and myrcene. This tri-constituent monoterpene-matrix gives Sacra a character composition that is warm and woody, like smelling a sweet boreal-coniferous forest dappled with the lightness of soft green-citrus. This exceptional alpha-pinene saturation blesses Sacra with skin-restorative virtues ideal for clarifying complexions, with the side benefit of being solace to the spirit, exuding a halo of harmony that balances body and mind with a dynamic duo of fortification and restoration.

"Frankincense oil is a mobile liquid, pale yellow or pale amber greenish in color. Its odor is strongly diffusive, fresh terpeney, almost green-lemon-like or reminiscent of green, unripe apples (peel) but not terebinthinate. A certain pepperiness is mellowed with a rich, sweet-woody, balsamic undertone. Depending on the method of distillation of the oil (time, vapor pressure, etc.) the odor is tenacious with an almost citrus-like, ambre-like, balsamic dryout note. Frankincense oil is used in fine perfumery… It gives delightful effects in citrus colognes where it modifies the sweetness of bergamot and orange oils. A similar effect is obtained in rather difficult “fresh” perfume notes such as verbena, citrus, etc. where Frankincense and citral form useful bases for further modifying work. Frankincense in itself is a base for all “incense” or “Frankincense” type perfumes and specialties, and it is an important ingredient in many spice-bases, ambers, “powder type perfumes, floral perfumes, citrus colognes, spice blends, violet perfumes, “men’s” fragrances." — Steffen Arctander, Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin, 1960 

THE VENERATED FRANKINCENSE OF AYURVEDA FOR BODY AND SKIN REJUVENATION

Serene Serrata Frankincense (Boswellia serrata), also known as Indian Olibanum, is the venerated foundational resin at the heart of Ayurvedic wisdom. Known in Sanskrit as Shallaki and praised in classical texts as Surabhi, meaning "divine fragrance," this noble oleoresin offers a direct ancestral connection to the sacred saps of early India. Grown in the dry, sun-drenched mountainous regions of India, the tree is wild-harvested and cured through a unique traditional process. After the bark is gently tapped, the fresh, still soft resin is gathered and stored in the shade for a full moon cycle in specially sieved bamboo baskets. This allows the excess liquid, known as ras, to drain away naturally, leaving the rich resinous residue to slowly cure and dry into golden, translucent salai-guggul tears.

Extracted into a flawless supercritical essence, Serrata radiates a spicy-sweet, resinous-coniferous charm with an airy balsamic undertone. It contains classic Boswellia monoterpenes anchored by a generous canopy of myrcene alongside robust alpha-thujene, alpha-pinene, and the rare terpene hashishene, which bestows this Boswellia with an earthy-herbaceous, sun-warmed scent. Serrata sets itself apart with spicy-balsamic accents forged from rare phenylpropanoids only found in this Frankincense, including methylchavicol and methyleugenol, which aromatically define Tulsi, Sweet Basil, and Clove. Subtle sprinkles of sweeter sabinene, limonene, linalool, and diterpenic alcohols such as cembrenol, cembrene, meta-camphorene, and trace incensole soften Serrata’s botanical bouquet into a velvety, nuanced elixir.

Revered in Ayurvedic texts as a premier Rasayana (rejuvenative botanical) and Medhya (mind-clarifying remedy), Serrata cleanses atmospheric energy while nourishing vital life force (Ojas). Its distinct phytochemical matrix creates a Frankincense essence that excels in circulatory serums, breast care blends, and scars on the mend. Whether applied as an effective skincare consecration, massaged over muscles, or inhaled to imbibe the serene vibe, Serrata is Surabhi. 

THE PHARAONIC FRANKINCENSE OF EMINENCE

Resplendent Royal Hojari Frankincense (Boswellia sacra) rises from the rocky limestone slopes and misty, monsoonal sanctuaries of Oman’s Dhofar Valley. In this green oasis where coastal mountains catch the Indian Ocean's moisture, schizogenous gum oleoresin reservoirs vein the tree's inner trunk. When gently incised by master harvesters, the trunk exudes a milky emulsion that indurates over sunny days into solid, opalescent tears of sap. Royal Hojari essential oil represents the hydrodistillation of these milkiest, cardinal-quality Boswellia sacra pearls, the most sacred and sought-after grade of Frankincense on Earth.

Holding the wisdom of millennia, this supreme grade of Hojari is as coveted today as it was in the court of Queen Hatshepsut. In ancient Egypt, vast quantities of Frankincense were esteemed for chewing and spiritual purification, while the highest-quality tears of solidified sap were reserved exclusively for royal cosmetics, crushed into Kohl with charcoal for eyeliner, and calibrated into Kyphi temple incense. As an early arboriculturist with a passion for aromatic oleoresin, Pharaoh Hatshepsut organized a legendary two-year naval caravan to Punt, known as Ta Netjer, the "Land of the Gods", to retrieve an array of oleoresins and a living treasury of 31 Frankincense trees. These specimens were replanted at her architectural marvel, Djeser-Djeseru, meaning "Sublime of the Sublimes," where temple walls display detailed reliefs depicting their innovative transportation. The carvings reveal six men supporting long wooden poles to carry each tree, its earthen root mass carefully bound in woven wicker baskets while the leafy canopy of Boswellia stretches overhead.

Hydrodistilled into an exquisite essential oil, Royal Hojari yields a masterful monoterpenic profile saturated with alpha-pinene. While sharing the resinous, amberous-pine warmth of classic carterii, Royal Hojari is crowned by bright, dulcet green-lemon top notes anchored by sabinene, limonene, camphene, and beta-pinene. Trace oxygenated monoterpenes add subtle complexity that calms and fortifies. Upon inhalation, this pharaonic Frankincense clears sluggish energy with balsamic embers of elation. Whether inhaled as fragrant fumes or worn as precious perfume, Royal Hojari has long elevated the senses. In kind, its resinous nectar brings a fresh dawn of botanical balm to soothe and satiate the skin.

"Frankincense resin in most ancient cultures was also an important aromatic in perfumery, hygiene, skin care and medicine. Resins such as myrrh, galbanum, and frankincense saw widespread secular as well as sacred applications, which included extensive individual and social fragrancing… Frankincense was an important component of Kyphi, the temple incense burnt in Heliopolis every sunset to honour the setting of the sun."
— Peter Holmes, Aromatica 

THE WILD-GATHERED FRANKINCENSE OF PURIFICATION

Riveting Rivae Frankincense (Boswellia rivae) is a robustly resinous aroma with fragrant dimensions that feel like a timeline to the divine. This formidable Frankincense effuses a fragrance of balsamic earthiness enveloped in a honey-like sweetness that bridges worlds and aromatic blends. Rare Rivae Frankincense arouses all the olfactory fascination of classic Frankincense with a daring dollop of earthy incense notes that amplify Rivae’s resinous, woody-cypriol scent.

The trees grow in wild thickets across the arid lowland drylands of the Ogaden region in Ethiopia. What sets Boswellia rivae apart from other Boswellia varieties is that the trees are never tapped for their sap. While traditional resin harvesting incises the bark to draw forth exudate, wild Boswellia rivae trees naturally weep their amber-hued oleogums directly onto the bark, where they harden into glistening resinous pearls, known locally as Mirafur, under the searing summer heat. These precious pearls are hand-gathered by a cooperative of local villagers and nomadic pastoralists, generating vital fair-trade support for indigenous communities before being hydro-distilled into a liquid elixir. Deeper, sweeter, less citrusy, and subtly leathered compared to other Frankincense essences, resplendent Rivae restores resoluteness to the mind and radiance to the skin.

A sublime jewel in our Frankincense collection and a must-have for Boswellia enthusiasts, Rivae stands out for its hearty, woodsy-balsamic monoterpene foundation and an unusually rich triterpenic alcohol profile. This unique botanical arrangement endows Rivae with a vibrant vesper of purifying monoterpenes; its tenacious and terreux aroma remains intricate and unforgettable from start to finish. 

THE KING OF FRANKINCENSE FOR SKIN FORTIFICATION

The crowning king of all Frankincense, Frereana (Boswellia frereana) hails forth from coastal limestone cliffs along the Horn of Africa. Reaching to the sky, the tree grows up to forty feet high with crimped green and silver foliage and papyrus-thin layers of golden bark, somehow thriving anchored directly into the sides of the soilless cliffs. To survive this sun-bleached, high-altitude precipice, the tree directs its metabolic energy into pure, lipophilic lipid formation, whereas soil-rooted lowland Boswellia trees channel moisture into water-binding oleogums, yielding a legendary oleoresin unencumbered by the polysaccharide matrix typical of classic Boswellia species.

Revered throughout antiquity as the "King of Incense" and the sacred aroma that wafted through ancient Coptic Cathedrals, Frereana’s unique resin, known locally as Maydi, melts cleanly over embers, yielding a luminous, honeyed-balsamic scent without smoke. Hydro-distilled into an exquisite essential oil, Frereana naturally inverts the classic Frankincense biochemical blueprint: where species like carterii and sacra are anchored by a balsamic, coniferous-crisp alpha-pinene, Frereana crowns its volatile composition with abundant, skin-fortifying alpha-thujene and rare pentacyclic triterpenes like lupeol that shape Frereana’s aromatic profile into a velvety-balsamic, resinous warmth accented by soft citrus-spice nuances. Free of the oleogum matrix, Frereana yields a highly lipophilic, low-Dalton distillate that effortlessly delivers replenishing alpha-thujene and lupeol directly to the epidermis for skin resilience.

Harvesting Maydi remains an honored tribal tradition where both the specialized cliffside craft and individual trees are passed down through generations as an ancestral inheritance. Born of limestone bluffs where the mountain meets the sea wind, this royal resin is a molecular melody of liquid light, an embrocation that safeguards the dermal matrix, replenishes radiance, and aligns with the divine mind. 

THE CELESTIAL FRANKINCENSE OF CALM CLARITY

Gleaming Green Hojari Frankincense (Boswellia dalzielii) grows in the grassy, rainfall-rich savannas of West Africa, adorned with pale green foliage, fragrant white blossoms, and propitious paper-layered bark that peels back in delicate sheets. Differing from its desert (Boswellia sacra) and cliffside (Boswellia frereana) cousins, which endure extreme drought stress, causing them to channel their metabolic energy into dense defense lipids, dalzielii thrives on monsoonal wet seasons that feed the tree with fertile soil nutrients and fuel photosynthesis activity. While traditional Frankincense trees are tapped through bark incisions during the high heat of dry droughts, dalzielii requires only the lightest of surface incisions just before the transition into the dry season. Monsoon-charged root pressure propels the sap to ooze out naturally while vitality is at its peak, capturing fresh, chlorophyll-adjacent plant lipids and volatile terpenes before the intense savanna sun oxidizes them to golden-yellow. The result is a luminous, chartreuse-sea-green sap that clusters into resinous, celadon-tinted tears.

This esteemed tree holds deep roots in regional folk medicine. Revered in traditional Hausa healing as Ararrabi, the tree that heals, savanna communities have turned to its fragrant bark and resin for generations, brewing bark decoctions for oral health while burning the resin to cleanse home air and uplift spirit. Though cherished in West African herbalism for centuries, pure hydrodistilled dalzielii essential oil is a recent marvel in modern clinical aromatherapy, made possible as artisan distillers brought traditional copper alembics to the savanna to release its elusive volatile compounds. Hydrodistilled in small batches, this balsamic resin emanates an airy essence reminiscent of pine sap, soft camphor, with a subtle whisper of sweet lime-mint.

Nurtured by savanna rains, Boswellia dalzielii’s soil chemistry synthesizes a softer, singular aromatic profile. While it retains a fulsome alpha-pinene foundation, what sets it apart from all other Frankincense is how its monsoon environment fosters an uncommon synergy of monoterpenes and esters, including carvone, bornyl acetate, alpha-campholenal, and trace incensole. This imparts the scent of a refreshing, resinous breeze sweeping across sun-warmed grass. Green Hojari’s verdant edge is peerless in botanical perfumery, shining as an incandescent top note that breathes luminous vitality into floral, fougère, and chypre compositions. Harmonized by alpha-thujene, myrcene, sabinene, and soothing trace constituents, this phytochemical matrix offers an ancient aromatic portal of pure liquid light, infusing a breath of fresh air that elevates body, mind, and spirit. 

"Whenever we look in historic writings, myrrh and frankincense have been consistently employed for ritual, healing, transition, and transcendence."
— Kurt Schnaubelt, Advanced Aromatherapy 

THE HIDDEN FRANKINCENSE THAT SINGS TO SKIN + SEALS MOISTURE IN

Once hidden, now revealed, fascinating Occulta Frankincense Essential Oil (Boswellia occulta) has come to light. This ancient, yet newly discovered, deciphered, and distilled variety of Frankincense has emerged from the depths of time to eternalize introspections and consecrate complexions with what will surely be a Frankincense cult-classic.

Aptly named Occulta from the Latin occultus, meaning hidden, the "Hidden One" remained obscured from modern botany for centuries, hiding in plain sight among harvests of Boswellia carterii. For generations, local harvesters in the arid Ceel Afweyn district of Somaliland hand-gathered its resin, known locally as Mohor Madow, right alongside classic Carterii. While the botanical world assumed these trees were synonymous, local wisdom and the nose knew otherwise. Landmark phytochemical analysis finally distinguished Boswellia occulta as its own distinct species, uncovering the first-ever plant presence of rare methyl esters (methoxyalkanes), specifically methyl decyl ether and methyl octyl ether. Diverging strikingly from the classic pinene-and-terpene characteristics of other Boswellia species, these remarkable constituents are typically found in nature within insect cuticles and waterproof spider silks, where they function as a biological raincoat to prevent water saturation. The naturally sweet, fresh-air scent of Occulta’s aromatic, enigmatic methyl esters is evident in this Frankincense’s aqueous, etheric fragrance best described as the perfume of petrichor: the scent of life-giving rain falling upon dry, ancient earth.

In the scorching heat of west-facing limestone boulders across these arid, sun-bleached highlands, Boswellia occulta evolved these specialized ester lipids as a natural phytochemical shield to seal its resin and protect the plant from desert desiccation. When smoothed onto the skin, this molecular raincoat forms a breathable, moisture-locking barrier against transepidermal water loss (TEWL), trapping hydration, fortifying the lipid barrier, and reviving complexions. Visually, the tree itself stands apart from its Boswellia brethren with its smooth grey bark, distinct wavy, pinnate leaves with a terminal leaflet, and delicate white tubular flowers that transform into small, pyriform fruits.

Occulta Frankincense is a fortifying tonic, a fragrant-pharmacopeia of phytochemistry, and a new-ancient ablution to beautify the body. Savor its scent and soothing, moving effects with satisfying salt pipe inhalations or diffusing to muse creative forces. Apply as a pure face toner, dab neat on bumps and blemishes, or drop into serums to tap into trapping skin hydration with the extra emollient and singularly splendid methyl esters of this newfound Frankincense friend. What a blessing to find fresh strands of these ancient Frankincense telegrams!

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.” — Roald Dahl

"Sweet Bliss. This is my favorite type of frankincense! It has a sweet, soft scent that smells less medicinal than boswellia. A drop mixed with castor oil immediately eases the pain of achy feet. Did I say how awesome it smells?!" — Alex A.

"Captivating! I love all of the Living Libations frankincense essential oils, but when I smelled this one, something just clicked! I love to wear it as a perfume, it has a grounding and invigorating effect on me at the same time." — Maaria T