Sandalwood has such a warm, sweet, woody aroma, and it’s an amazing essential oil for skin care. It’s a favorite oil for many Aromatherapists, and I personally adore it.

That’s why I’m so excited to introduce you to my friends at Summit Vanuatu!

Summit Vanuatu is the second largest resource of sandalwood in the world. They’re located in the South Pacific on the island nation of Vanuatu, and they have a large plantation of cultivated sandalwood trees—over 110,000 trees! The species they cultivate is Santalum austrocaledonicum.

On their website, they explain how they’re helping local farmers to grow sandalwoodto help improve the local economy:

“[We are] also supplying genetically superior seeds and advice on top of quality cultivation methods free of charge to growers in the islands. This is good news for the economic development of this small South Pacific nation as well as for all those millions of devotees around the world who know and love real sandalwood.”

They produce and sell lovely sandalwood products, including essential oil, aromatic heartwood from the trees, hydrosol, and powder. Their sandalwood powder is an amazing ingredient in loose incense recipes, or to just burn alone on charcoal. To burn it, just light a charcoal tab, set it in your incense burner (or on a heat-safe surface), and sprinkle the powder onto the charcoal.

I am a fan of their sandalwood hydrosol. It’s great for making facial care blends, body products, or just to use on its own.

You can make a soothing, toning facial spray with sandalwood and rose hydrosol. Try it in a 4 oz (120 ml) glass spray bottle. I recommend making this product fresh every few weeks.

Sandalwood Rose Face Mist

• 3 oz (90 ml) Sandalwood hydrosol (Santalum austrocaledonicum)
• 1 oz (30 ml) Rose hydrosol (Rosa damascena)

I feel so honored—they have my book, Essential Living, featured on their “Recipes” page! It’s so much fun to see my book featured on their beautiful website.

I’m going to have the chance to visit my friends at Summit Vanuatu next year. I can’t wait to tell you all about it and show you pictures! Until then, you can see pictures of their beautiful distillery on their website here. Be sure to look at the pictures of their gardens and the sandalwood plantation too. (Go up to the “Visit” tab at the top of their website.) The images make me feel like I’m already there.

In order to use Sandalwood with the respect it deserves, I want to mention that at United Plant Savers they have vital information about the Sandalwood trees, and how vulnerable they are to overharvesting and risk of extinction. The tree takes more that 40 years to mature, and harvesting involves taking the entire tree. I recommend their website to learn more.