More than a scent: Sandalwood skin care brand highlights benefits of ingredient beyond ‘smelling nice’

The gender-neutral brand was launched in November. About Time We Met is the company’s first commercial skin care range that features Indian sandalwood oil and powder as the hero ingredient.

Indian sandalwood, or Santalum album, has historically been used as a premium ingredient in fragrance. However, in recent years, Quintis has been gathering data to show that it has various skin benefits.

For instance, the firm’s scientific review found that Indian sandalwood oil has more scientifically-proven benefits compared to CBD oil, making it a good alternative in cosmetic applications, especially in skin care.

In addition to matching CBD with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and wound healing properties, Indian sandalwood is known to have more properties, including anti-microbial, anti-blue light, anti-pollution, and skin brightening.

One of the chief reasons Quintis developed the range was to raise awareness of the many skin benefits of Indian Sandalwood.

“We know that sandalwood was used centuries ago as a skin care ingredient, but it's now used today more in fragrance. So, we really wanted to show people how you can talk about it,”​ said Vanessa Ligovich, chief marketing officer at Quintis Sandalwood.

Speaking to CosmeticsDesign-Asia​ about a week after the launch of About Time We Met, Ligovich said the company had gleaned a lot of information in a short amount of time.

“We have learned that there is a huge interest in Sandalwood as an active ingredient amongst consumers. Everyone thinks it is a lovely scent, but people couldn’t believe it did stuff for your skin. the interest in the consumer media space has been fascinating. They're absolutely baffled.​

“We've now gone through the experience of creating a range and putting ourselves in our clients’ shoes. We understand how you go about creating a skin care range and what we want to show clients is how you do that with sandalwood. So, the learnings have been enormous.”​

As fragrance becomes more intertwined with wellness, the company believes the market is primed and ready to learn more about sandalwood as an active skin care ingredient.

“When you look at the trends in skin care, and coming back to functional fragrances, the importance of fragrance outside of personal fragrance and the ability of fragrance to do something else than just smell nice is absolutely gaining traction. So, it’s really good time to look at functional fragrances and for us to expand with this line,” ​said Ligovich.

Developing the line has also provided the firm with important insights into formulating with the ingredient.

“Working with a contract manufacturer and having them work with the ingredient and provide their feedback was really invaluable.”​

For instance, the company has a better understanding of how Indian Sandalwood works in various concentrations, and the ingredients it works well with, such as alpha-hydroxy acids (AHAs).

At the moment, About Time We Met is available direct-to-consumer via its online website. It already has had interest from local distributors and is also setting its sights on the international market.

Additionally, Quintis is also exploring the potential of the ingredient beyond the skin care category.

“We do want to expand into other areas. When you think about this range as being a showcase of what Sandalwood can do, the options are endless. We started with a skin care brand and we can do a lot more there,” ​said Ligovich.

On the research front, Quintis is diving deeper into the aromacology – the study of fragrance effects on emotions – of sandalwood.