The present invention is directed to resins made from cashew nutshell liquid and vinyl hydrocarbons and processes for manufacturing the resins. These resins exhibit lower viscosity than the phenol-based homologs. They also exhibit good compatibility with a wide range of solvents, mineral and natural oils, epoxy curing agents, liquid epoxy resins, and polymers, which make them suitable additives as non-reactive diluents for solvent-free coating formulations; tackifiers for structural adhesive, pressure sensitive and hot-melt adhesives; stabilizers for lubricants, fuel and polymer formulations; plasticizers for thermoplastic polymers and processing aid for rubber compounding and stabilizers for respective rubber artifacts. These resins are also valuable precursors for the manufacture of epoxy resins and polyols for coating, adhesive and composite formulations exhibiting ameliorated performance in water repellency, anti-corrosion, and fast hardness development during cure.