The active compounds are boswellic acids. They do not survive steam distillation — which means they are not in the essential oil nearly every brand uses.
Frankincense has been in skincare for as long as there has been skincare. That is not the interesting part.
The interesting part is that almost none of it contains the compounds the research is about.
Boswellic acids are heavy, non-volatile molecules. Steam distillation carries the light aromatic fraction over and leaves the boswellic acids behind in the still. The oil smells like frankincense. It performs like a fragrance, because that is what it is.
Getting the boswellic acids out requires extraction, not distillation. It is slower, it is more expensive, and it is why we do it two different ways.
The species used in the published research
Standardized to pure boswellic acids at 0.5% of the finished balm. Not 0.5% of a resin. Not 0.5% of an oil. 0.5% boswellic acids in the jar you put on your face — the same figure used in the clinical study below.
Royal Green Hojari · Dhofar, Oman
This one we extract ourselves. We grind the resin fresh and infuse it into our botanical oils for weeks before straining. It is the rarest frankincense in the world, and it is the reason the balm is green and smells the way it does.
Because the hojari extract is house-made, we don't standardize it — so we don't count it. When we say 0.5% boswellic acids, that is the floor, not the total. The real number is higher. We would rather state the one we can measure.
Boswellic acids are difficult to work with. They are barely soluble, they oxidise, and they do nothing at all sitting on the surface of the skin as undissolved powder. Most of the rest of this formula exists to solve that.
The boswellic acids go into solution before they ever meet the rest of the batch. We hold that phase until it runs clear — if it isn't transparent, it isn't dissolved, and the balm doesn't get made.
Skin's own lipid, in its stable form. It's the reason a balm this rich absorbs instead of sitting on top — and it carries oil-soluble actives down into the stratum corneum rather than leaving them on the surface.
Occlusion. Boswellic acids aren't volatile — they don't evaporate, they just need to stay in contact with skin long enough to work. Tallow keeps them there overnight.
Three antioxidants, doing an unglamorous job: resin actives oxidise, and an oxidised active is a former active. This is also why we make in small batches weekly rather than in bulk.
Chamazulene calms skin by a different route than boswellic acids do. Two mechanisms converging on the same outcome is worth more than two ingredients doing the same thing twice.
The traffic runs both ways. A balm that is a third tallow and a fifth squalane ought to be a difficult proposition for oily or breakout-prone skin. The sebum finding below is the best explanation we have for why it isn't.
In 2009, dermatology researchers at the University of Brescia ran a randomized, double-blind, split-face trial. Fifteen women applied a base cream containing 0.5% boswellic acids to one side of the face and the identical cream without boswellic acids to the other, once daily for 30 days. Neither the participants nor the assessors knew which side was which.
Each face was its own control. Same person, same routine, same climate, same everything — one variable.
Measurements were taken at baseline, at 30 days, and again two months later. The treatment was tolerated throughout, with no adverse effects reported.
Pedretti A, Capezzera R, Zane C, Facchinetti E, Calzavara-Pinton P. Effects of topical boswellic acid on photo and age-damaged skin: clinical, biophysical, and echographic evaluations in a double-blind, randomized, split-face study. Planta Medica, 2009.
Our balm has not itself been through a clinical trial. What we can tell you is that the active it is built around has been — at the concentration we use it, on the species we use. We did not choose 0.5% by accident.
We pulled every Restoration Balm review we have — 122 of them — and sorted them against the study's endpoints to see what people were reporting on their own. Four of the five lined up.
The study: significant improvement in tactile roughness at 30 days.
The single most common thing customers write about, by a wide margin — 42 of 122 reviews mention it unprompted.
I am noticing a texture and tone difference in my skin.
Morgan C. Verified buyerBest part is how even my skin texture becomes and minimal appearance of wrinkles.
Miranda M. Verified buyerThe study: significant improvement in fine lines at 30 days, sustained at the two-month follow-up.
I use this balm both day and night. My wrinkles are softening.
Linda B. Verified buyerThe wrinkles and indented scars on my face, while still there, are less deep.
Whitney Verified buyerThe study: measured improvement in skin elasticity.
Elasticity is a lab measurement. Nobody writes "my elasticity improved." They write this instead.
My skin has never looked so clear and firm.
Marissa M. Verified buyerIt leaves my skin feeling firm and smooth without an oily residue on my combination skin.
Katie S. Verified buyerIt's like your skin doesn't feel greasy or tacky, but it has that bounce, that hydration.
Sarah Recorded interviewThe study: a measured decrease in sebum excretion.
It is a tallow balm. Every instinct says it should sit heavy and congest. That is what people tell us they were bracing for — and then the reviews read like this.
Honestly I expected this to break me out. It's done the opposite.
Whitney Verified buyerI love this balm! My skin drinks it up. It's also cleared up my blemishes.
Kayla D. Verified buyerSo moisturizing, has helped my dry acne prone skin so much — and I deal with deep cyst-like acne.
Shelby L. Verified buyerFor almost 2 weeks I didn't use the R-Balm because I was running out. In those 2 weeks I had more than usual break out along my chin line… it got here 2 days ago and all of my acne has significantly gone down.
Jamie C. Verified buyerA rich balm that leaves skin less oily is a strange thing to claim. It is less strange once you know a sebum reduction is one of the things the trial actually measured.
The study: well tolerated throughout, no adverse effects reported.
Nineteen of our reviews come from people who describe their skin as sensitive, reactive, rosacea-prone or barrier-compromised. Including one from a professional.
As a licensed esthetician… this product is the best to re-establish a healthy skin barrier. If you like to do chemical peels, microderm, lasers and anything in between, you will likely have a compromised skin barrier. This product brings my barrier back online within a week of use.
Holly S. Licensed esthetician Verified buyerThe neck is thin, under-moisturized by most routines, and it is where people notice age before they notice it anywhere else. It is also where two of our customers decided to document what happened.
Individual results vary. These photos were shared with us by customers unprompted and are shown with their permission. Neither is a controlled trial, and neither should be read as one. The controlled trial is the one referenced above.
The second before-and-after used both products, so we will make that easy rather than pretend it didn't happen.
Restoration Balm at night. Dew Glaze layered underneath it. It is the most common two-product routine our customers build on their own.
Restoration Balm contains no water at all. Dew Glaze is mostly water, carrying hyaluronic acid, tremella, betaine and glycerin. Humectants pull moisture in and then lose it again unless something holds it — which is the job the balm is already doing.
Studied for inhibiting the enzymes that break down collagen and elastin. The boswellic acid trial found ultrasound changes in dermal structure. Different ends of the same problem.
Shown in vitro to increase elastin synthesis. Elasticity was one of the five endpoints the study measured. Two routes toward it beats one.
Dew Glaze finishes near skin's own pH and absorbs before the balm goes on, so nothing is competing for the same layer. Serum, then seal.
Discount applies automatically at cart. Stacks with your welcome code.
Because boswellic acids aren't in it. Steam distillation carries over the volatile aromatic fraction and leaves the boswellic acids behind in the still. Essential oil is a legitimate ingredient for scent. It is not a delivery method for the actives the research is about.
At least 0.5%, from a standardized Boswellia serrata extract — the same concentration used in the clinical study. Our house-made Royal Hojari (Boswellia sacra) extract adds more on top of that, but because we make it ourselves and don't standardize it, we don't count it toward the number.
No. The active it is formulated around was, at the concentration we use. We think that distinction matters and we would rather draw it ourselves.
The study measured its endpoints at 30 days. Most of our customers report a change in softness and texture inside the first week, and the line and firmness changes later. Both of the before-and-afters on this page ran four weeks.
It is the single most common worry we hear and the single most common thing people come back to correct. Decreased sebum excretion was one of the trial's measured outcomes. That said, skin is individual — the 90-day guarantee exists for this reason.
[Use the standing site answer — do not draft a new one.]
It is cheaper, it is available by the drum, it smells almost the same, and nobody would have known.
We grind resin instead, and infuse it for weeks, and pay for a standardized extract on top of that, because the compound that does the work is the one that doesn't come over in the still.
Tallow, Squalane, Jojoba Esters, Rubus Idaeus (Red Raspberry) Seed Oil, Octyldodecanol, Adansonia Digitata (Baobab) Seed Oil, Myrica Fruit Wax, Rice Lipids, Acacia Decurrens (Mimosa) Flower Wax, Phoenix Dactylifera (Date) Seed Extract, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Camellia Oleifera Seed Oil, Punica Granatum Sterols, Tocopherol, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Lecithin, Tanacetum Annuum (Blue Tansy) Flower Oil, Boswellic Acids, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Boswellia Sacra Oil, Ascorbyl Palmitate.
No water, no emulsifiers, no preservatives — an anhydrous formula doesn't need them. No synthetic fragrance or colour; the green comes from the hojari resin and the blue tansy. Made fresh weekly in small batches.
Aqua, Pentylene Glycol, Tremella Fuciformis (Snow Mushroom) Extract, Ectoin, Lactobionic Acid, Propanediol, Saccharide Isomerate, Betaine, Trehalose, Glycerin, Colostrum, Phenethyl Alcohol, Phenylpropanol, Silk Peptides, Sclerotium Gum, Carnosine, Sodium Hyaluronate, Punica Granatum (Pomegranate) Fruit Extract, N-Acetyl-L-Glutamine, Sodium Phytate, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract.
Finished at skin-compatible pH. No synthetic fragrance or colour. Made fresh in small batches.