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Satinwood

Q: Is Satinwood natural or synthetic?

. Extraction: No standardised satinwood essential oil is commercially available for perfumery. The note is reconstructed synthetically..

WOODS AND MOSSES / woody · creamy · warm

Satinwood

Category	WOODS AND MOSSES
Subcategory	woody · creamy · warm
Origin
Volatility	Base Note
Botanical	Chloroxylon swietenia
Appearance	Pale yellow to amber viscous liquid
Odor Strength	Medium
Producing Countries	India, Sri Lanka
Pyramid	Base

Smooth, warm, faintly sweet wood with a golden, silky quality. Satinwood (Chloroxylon swietenia) smells like its name -- polished, luminous timber, warmer than maple, less resinous than cedar.

Scent
Terroir & Origins
The Full Story
Fun Fact
Extraction & Chemistry
In Perfumery

Scent

Smooth, warm, golden-sweet. More polished than raw cedar, less creamy than sandalwood, with a luminous, silky quality that reads as clean timber rather than forest. A faint coumarinic sweetness gives it a hay-gold edge. The smoothness is the defining feature -- no roughness, no splinters.

Evolution over time

Immediately

Smooth golden-woody warmth, faint sweet edge

After a few hours

Creamy-woody depth, coumarinic hay-sweetness

After a few days

Soft, polished woody warmth, quiet and persistent

Terroir & Maturity

Indicative 2025 wholesale prices.

The Full Story

Satinwood refers to several unrelated tropical timbers known for lustrous, golden-yellow colour and fine gra in -- primarily Chloroxyl on swieteni a (Sri Lankan/Indian satinwood) and Zanthoxylum flavum (West Indian satinwood). The wood has a mild, warm, sweet-woody arom a with a characteristic smooth, almost creamy quality that mirrors its tactile silkiness.

No commercial essential oil of satinwood is widely traded in perfumery. The note is reconstructed as a smooth-woody accord: warmer than birch, less resinous than cedar, less creamy than sandalwood, with a particular golden-sweet character. Constructi on may use cedryl acetate (smooth woody), santalol or Sandalore (creamy warmth), and a touch of coumar in (golden-sweet edge).

Functionally, satinwood works as a smooth-woody base note. It provides clean, polished timber warmth without the roughness of raw wood or the heaviness of oud. The note works in clean-woody, restrained, and golden-toned compositions.

This note in Première Peau. Nuit Elastique · Albâtre Sépia. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.

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Related: Almond Tree · Ambrox Super · Amburana Wood · Amyris · Blonde Woods · Caoutchouc · Cashalox · Cashmir Wood

Did You Know?

Did you know?

Sri Lankan satinwood (Chloroxylon swietenia) was so prized by 18th-century English furniture makers that it was known as 'the golden wood of Ceylon.' A Regency-era satinwood writing desk could cost more than the house it was placed in.

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method: No standardised satinwood essential oil is commercially available for perfumery. The note is reconstructed synthetically.

↑ See Terroir & Origins for origin-specific methods.

Molecular Formula	Complex mixture (no single formula)
CAS Number	68917-24-8
Botanical Name	Chloroxylon swietenia
IFRA Status	No known restrictions
Synonyms	Satinwood tree, East Indian Satinwood
Physical Properties
Odor Strength	Medium
Appearance	Pale yellow to amber viscous liquid

In Perfumery

Satinwood is a smooth-woody base note providing clean, golden-warm timber character. Built from cedryl acetate (smooth wood), Sandalore or santalol (creamy warmth), and coumar in (golden-sweet edge). Less rough than cedar, less creamy than sandalwood. Works in clean-woody, restrained, and golden-toned compositions.