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Ingredient Spotlight: Champaca

Posted on July 20 2018

Our beard goods are crafted from all-natural ingredients, with scent compositions inspired by the seasons and built upon the tenets of natural perfumery. In this series, we shine the spotlight on the ingredients that make Dragonsea beard oils, balms and waxes so intoxicating.

Botanical Name: Michelia champaca

Origin: India

Process: CO2 Select Extract

Plant Part: Flowers

Note: Middle

Aroma: Rich, velvety, suave, vanilla-sweet floral with warm, dense, peach/apricot-like notes and spicy tea- and hay-like undertones; the rich, sweet floral and tea/hay notes remain in the long drydown.

There is a special magic to flowers of the magnolia species, of which Champaca is one of over 200, and part of a genus that is at least 20 million years old, arriving on this earth before even the bees. 
It is thought that their scent is so strong and sweet, and their petals so tough because they evolved to encourage pollination by one of the winged insects on hand at the time, beetles. In more modern times, they are havens to butterflies and hummingbirds. 
Champaca is popular among humans for the same reason the small creatures of the animal kingdom enjoy it. In Southeast Asia, Champaca flowers are made into garlands, worn in the hair, and floated in bowls of water, imparting their beauty and intoxicating scent to those that cross their paths. 
This ancient flower has been used in meditation and worship at temples for centuries, often used to make an ‘attar,’ a holy fragrance, distilling Champaca oil from the flowers directly into Sandalwood essential oil. Champaca’s history with the spiritual would explain why legends tell of finding enlightenment under the canopy of the Champaca tree.
Michelia Champaca is native to the Philippines and the Indonesian islands, but, as with so many plants, is grown in other places of similar climates, such as India and Madagascar. The plant is prized for the scent contained in its deep yellow orange flowers, but also for its fine grained, deep olive brown wood, beloved with fine furniture crafting.
The variety of Champaca we use in our Dragonsea beard oil is a CO2 extraction, far richer and truer to the flower than a simple distilled essential oil. While every oil we use in the blend plays an important part, Dragonsea would not be Dragonsea without Champaca.

Explore the World of Dragonsea Collection and experience dragonfire come to life.

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