Frankincense Oil: Ancient Wisdom in a Modern Skincare Bottle
Some ingredients feel trendy. Others feel timeless.
Frankincense oil is timeless.
Used in rituals, medicine, and beauty treatments for thousands of years, frankincense has always carried a kind of reverence — for its grounding aroma, its healing properties, and its ability to calm both skin and spirit.
At Queen Cannabie, we include frankincense essential oil in formulations where skin recovery, emotional restoration and deep nourishment are the goal. You’ll find it in products like our Spa-Facial Serum and Canna-Oil, where it brings balance, anti-inflammatory power, and a warm, grounding experience you can feel on every level.
What exactly is frankincense oil?
Frankincense essential oil is steam-distilled from the resin of the Boswellia tree, native to parts of the Middle East and North Africa. The trees exude sap, which hardens into amber-coloured tears — and when those are distilled, you get a potent, aromatic oil rich in monoterpenes and boswellic acid, known for their soothing, anti-inflammatory and skin-regenerating properties.
It’s often referred to as “liquid gold” in aromatherapy, and once you’ve used it on your skin, you’ll understand why.
What it does for your skin (and why it’s still used after 5,000 years)
Frankincense oil may have ancient roots, but its benefits are more relevant than ever. This one ingredient supports your skin holistically — from calming visible inflammation to easing the kind you carry beneath the surface. It’s gentle, effective, and incredibly multi-functional.
1. It calms inflammation and irritation
Frankincense is rich in natural anti-inflammatory compounds, particularly boswellic acids, which are known to reduce redness, swelling and skin sensitivity. That makes it a go-to for anyone dealing with flare-ups from acne, rosacea, eczema or even sun exposure. It also has antimicrobial properties that help keep your skin clean and supported without stripping its natural barrier — making it ideal for stressed-out, reactive or over-treated skin.
2. It supports skin healing and regeneration
If your skin is recovering from scarring, sensitivity, or just needs a little extra love, frankincense can help speed up the process. It promotes the regeneration of healthy skin cells, improves tone and elasticity, and may reduce the appearance of fine lines, scars and discolouration over time.
Unlike harsher anti-ageing ingredients like retinol or glycolic acid, frankincense works without causing irritation — making it a beautiful option for maturing or sensitive skin types that want visible results without the sting.
3. It helps tighten and refine pores
Frankincense has a subtle astringent quality — meaning it helps tone the skin and minimise the look of enlarged pores. This contributes to a smoother, more refined texture, and a soft “blurring” effect that makes skin look calm and even. Unlike alcohol-based astringents that can strip or dry the skin, frankincense supports balance and hydration at the same time.
4. It grounds and calms the nervous system
This is where frankincense goes beyond skincare and into full-body wellness. Its warm, resinous scent has been used for thousands of years in spiritual rituals, meditation and emotional healing. Inhaling it — even subtly, through skincare — can help regulate the breath, lower stress hormones and bring the body out of fight-or-flight mode.
When included in facial rituals, massage oils or bath-time products, frankincense transforms your routine into a moment of stillness — where your skin, mind and breath are all working together toward calm.
A quick history of frankincense: sacred, soothing, and still relevant
Frankincense was once more valuable than gold. Ancient Egyptians burned it in temples, added it to their embalming rituals and used it in beauty treatments. It was one of the three gifts brought to Jesus in the Christian nativity story — alongside myrrh and gold.
In Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine, frankincense (also known as “olibanum”) is used to clear energy blockages, improve circulation and reduce inflammation. That legacy has carried through into modern aromatherapy and natural skincare — where it still delivers.
Where we use it at Queen Cannabie
Frankincense shows up in our most skin-calming and emotionally grounding formulas:
Why we love it
Frankincense is one of those ingredients that does more than one job — and does them all well. It soothes irritation, helps skin repair, tightens texture, and calms the body and mind in one go.
When paired with CBD, it creates a synergy that amplifies both ingredients. You get skincare that works deeper, feels better, and supports your overall wellness in a meaningful way.
Fun Fact
Frankincense was once so valuable that it was used as currency, traded like gold and silk along ancient desert trade routes. These protected paths, known as the Incense Roads, stretched from the mountains of Oman and Somalia across the Arabian Peninsula, through the Middle East, and into Europe and Asia.
Caravans of camels would carry precious resin for months across harsh terrain, guarded by soldiers and merchants who knew just how prized it was. In fact, at one point, the demand for frankincense in the Roman Empire was so high that it nearly caused ecological collapse in parts of southern Arabia due to overharvesting.
Beyond its role in commerce, frankincense held spiritual and medicinal value in nearly every ancient civilisation, from Egyptian temples to Indian Ayurvedic texts and Chinese herbal traditions. It was burned in sacred ceremonies, used to treat wounds, and added to skincare and perfume formulas for royalty and healers alike.
Even today, some of the highest quality frankincense still comes from Boswellia trees in Oman, where harvesting is done by hand — scoring the bark so it “weeps” fragrant golden resin.
So when you see frankincense oil in a Queen Cannabie product, know this: you’re experiencing a small piece of history — a rare, natural gift once considered worthy of kings.
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