Category: perfumery

The Ultimate Guide to Perfume Design

Are you in the early stages of designing a new perfume? Or maybe looking to brush up on your perfume design skills ? Our perfume creation guide will cover the main areas of perfume selection, formulation, packaging design, filling and marketing your perfume. The Ultimate Guide to Perfume Design – Perfume ingredients Perfume ingredients can either be synthetic or natural. Natural ingredients can vary from one harvest to another, so fragrances with a very high percentage of natural ingredients may result in small variations for each production batch. Natural essences are derived from plants, spices, barks, grasses, animal products and mosses which are naturally occurring. Do synthetic ingredients cost less than natural ingredients? Not necessarily, as there are some very sophisticated and expensive synthetic ingredients available. Some very interesting nuances of natural smells using synthetic ingredients can be created. It can be argued that synthetic perfumes are a more sustainable and planet friendly option. Many people are talking about the negative aspects of some synthetic ingredients, that they are ‘endocrine disruptors’. IFRA – the International Fragrance Association – has strict rules about the ingredients of fragrances and how much of the allergenic ingredients can be safely used in each formulation. It rigorously tests ingredients to ensure safety and sets guidelines about how much of a certain ingredient can be used. All allergens must be mentioned on the outer packaging of perfumes in most regulated countries. An allergen is a chemical which it has been proven to cause an irritation when applied to the skin. It is worth noting that essential oils (natural perfumes) can also cause allergic reactions and that IFRA is currently considering adding some essential oils to the list of known allergens. Your perfume supplier will be able to provide an allergen list for the fragrances you select. The Ultimate Guide to Perfume Design – Perfume formulation What is better – a formulation with or without alcohol? In ancient times perfumes were made without alcohol using waxes or oils to hold the perfume. Nowadays most perfumes are made with a combination of distilled water, ethanol alcohol and perfume oil. Of course the decision of which formulation to use depends on the market you work in and who you are targeting. In a highly muslim population country a non alcoholic perfume may work better. Alternative carriers such as water, oil, wax or resin can be used to dilute and mix the perfume oils. In a market where alcoholic perfumes have been traditionally used, it could be difficult to change consumer behaviour. Formulations containing alcohol allow the top notes of a perfume to open up quickly. At the point of sale where consumers trial new perfumes this could pose a challenge for non alcoholic perfumes. Often buying decisions are made based on the first ‘hit’, if the top notes are strong or powerful enough. The Ultimate Guide to Perfume Design – Fragrance concentration How much perfume should I put in my formulation? The amount of perfume that you put in your formulation will depend on the market where you are selling it, what is the norm. Some markets like Saudi Arabia love a very high concentration of up to 25 or 30% fragrance oil, but the UK market will usually prefer a lower concentration of maximum 15% fragrance. A very high concentration can be irritating for the nose in markets which are not accustomed to heavy fragrances. The price you pay per kilo may also be a consideration of how much to add. For high price fragrances adding one or two percent more fragrance oil will add a lot to the product cost. Eau fraiche has 3% or less fragrance oil. Eau de cologne has 2 to 5% fragrance oil. Eau de toilette contains 10% usually. Eau de parfum has 8 to 15% fragrance oil. Soie de parfum has 15 to 18% fragrance oil. Parfum has between 15 to 30% fragrance oil. The Ultimate Guide to perfume design – Fragrance notes A perfume will undergo different phases after being sprayed onto your skin and a perfume consists of different ‘notes’. Each phase will last for different lengths of time. TOP NOTES are the first notes which give a burst of smell right after spraying the perfume and typically last for 10-15 minutes. These notes are usually more volatile and they are often citrus, fruity or floral. MIDDLE NOTES are also called heart notes and these take 15 to 30 minutes to fully develop on the skin. They usually contain florals and aromatic plant notes and are the notes by which the fragrance is classified. BASE NOTES last the longest and help to slow down the evaporation of the more volatile molecules. Typical ingredients for a base note are woody, vanilla, musk, cedar and sandalwood. A perfume which does not change from initial spray to its final dry down is a linear perfume – it does not contain top, middle or base notes. The most popular linear fragrance at the moment is Baccarat rouge by Francis Kurkidjan. There is a recognised classification system of perfumes which was developed by Michael Edwards. The main types are floral/ amber/ Woody and fresh with sub classifications for each type. Check out the Michael Edwards fragrance wheel online if you wish to know more. The Ultimate Guide to Perfume design – wholesale and retail trade Understand the dynamics of the wholesale and retail trade for perfumery in your country. A detailed retail survey of the market place would enable you to have an idea of market size and what is selling. It is vitally important to understand the wholesale and retail margins in order to be able to calculate the price at which you need to sell your product in the market and to establish if you can actually make any money out of it. The Ultimate Guide to Perfume – Consumer knowledge It is important to think about how best to describe your perfume and market it to buyers. But first you need […]

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15 Luxury Middle Eastern perfumes

What are the noteworthy arabic perfumes?

Which are the noteworthy luxury Middle Eastern Perfumes? How are they capitalising on the growth of the local perfume market? The  Middle East has been a market with high per capita consumption of luxury perfumes since time immemorial and the figures continue to grow. Euromonitor predicts Middle East and Africa perfume market growth from 5.7 billion USD in 2018 to 8.5 billion USD by 2021.  The strong demand in niche luxury perfumery sales in this region has encouraged long established and new local perfumery brands to create new interesting perfume concepts. The Saudi, Omani and UAE markets are more traditional in perfume choice, whereas Kuwaitis are more experimental and enjoy East meets West fragrance partnerships. There are many more perfume houses targeting the Middle East market with oriental creations who are manufacturing abroad. Such as the House of Oud, Amouroud, Xerjoff, Sospiro, Memo, Nejma, Montale,  and Frederick Malle, to mention but a few. Due to current consumption rates, the Middle Eastern perfume market continues to be a highly attractive proposition. In this blog post we focus  only on the local oriental brands born and bred in the Middle East.  It is surprising, given the relative size and consumption of the market, that the Saudi market has not developed any noteworthy luxury perfume brands. Arabian Oud is a noteworthy fragrance company making quality perfumes, however its activities have not yet been focused on the higher priced luxury market, more mid luxury. Ahjaar – UAE   This is a product creation developed for Paris Gallery to sell exclusively in their luxury perfume retail chain. Its simplistic yet luxurious packaging approach revives memories of Guerlain’s Encens Mythique d’orient. Amouage – Oman Amouage is a long standing perfume house with the backing of the Omani royal family. Amouage has gone from strength to strength to place its brands in the most luxurious exclusive points of sale the world over over the last twenty years. At the early part of the 2000s Amouage was still very much a regional player with a very oriental approach in packaging and presentation. I recall buying Cristal Gold by Amouage in the late 1990s. Despite the beauty and opulence of the old style packaging, it is doubtful that Amouage would have achieved such wide appeal if it had not changed later to a simpler ‘East meets West’ style of packaging and presentation. The brand has managed to reinvent itself as a sleek luxury brand with sophistication and wide appeal thanks to the expertise of Christopher Chong who was their in-house marketing expert until 2019.  Each new range has a clear story behind it and the fragrances have mostly oriental notes, yet are very popular the world over. Amouage has achieved great success from Russia to Australia, a success emulated by many.  Arcadia – UAE Amna al Habtoor, UAE resident from a prominent local family, has recently launched Arcadia perfumes by Amna.  The perfumes are based on oriental nostalgia and each perfume comes with a booklet explaining the story behind it. Anfas  by Assim Al Qassim  – UAE A creation of Assim al Qassim, a nostalgic approach to niche oriental perfumery, combining old trusted ingredients with some unexpected notes such as mango. The new collection WATAN (nation) is inspired by endless love. Designer Shaik – Bahrain The brand Chic Shaikh brand is only widely available in the Middle East region and some limited distribution in other countries. It has created truly innovative packaging unlike any perfume in the world, complete with perfume bottle refill stations at certain point of sale. One of the great things of the brand is that bottles are refillable and the luxurious packaging can be sent away for refurbishment to maintain its beauty. Ghawali – UAE  This is a relatively new niche brand owned and launched by Chalhoub perfume distribution group with its own range of body care and perfumes. The products are largely distributed in their own bespoke retail outlets located in areas heavily frequented by local Arabs. The perfumes are based on Middle Eastern heritage using combinations of ingredients popular in the region to create unisex creations. Its simple packaging is elegant and understated. Kayali – UAE Kayali perfume is a recent entrant to the Middle East perfume market. Launched by the Kattan sisters of the huge Dubai based cosmetics company Huda Beauty, the brand has been launched exclusively in Sephora retail outlets. With fragrances such as vanilla, white flowers, musk and citrus, the perfume is based on layering principles, you need more than one to build up your fragrance and match your mood. Khaltat blends of Love – UAE This is a niche luxury perfume brand sold mainly in private luxury kiosks in the most popular shopping malls. It is the creation of the Mohamed Hilal group. Not satisfied with the success of its  oriental oil perfumes – Hind al Oud, the Hilal Group has now entered the luxury spray niche perfume market. This brand will also be sold in the new luxury concept stores HOB where new colour cosmetics ranges will also be on sale. Majan Perfumes – Oman The packaging  of the brand is slightly reminiscent of the Kuwaiti brand The Fragrance Kitchen, as all perfumes are housed in the same size round tall bottle. However, the decoration is more pretty and oriental than the Fragrance Kitchen which prefers a more modern, illustrative style for each bottle.  Odict – Kuwait Odict is a collaboration between two friends of Saudi and Kuwaiti descent. Inspiration comes from typical Middle Eastern ingredients such as oud, frankincense, amber and saffron and are mixed with contemporary notes such as fresh smelling bergamot, orange blossom and grapefruit. The packaging is minamalistic and ultra modern. The brand has used the region’s heritage of pearl diving as a starting point for the creative inspiration of its brand imagery. Oman Luxury – Oman A relatively new entrant into niche luxury perfumery which was developed in collaboration with french perfumers and Hamid Merati- Kashani from Firmenich. The old perfume was […]

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How online perfume sales affect retail in the Middle East

Smelling Perfume in a retail store

Do we know how online perfume sales affect retail in the Middle East? In the Middle East we have some really impressive perfume retail stores. We are spoilt for choice by having access to all the world’s perfume brands in some beautiful locations. The Middle East is well known for its love of perfumes and heavy consumption and consequently every brand wants to be represented here. Big international retail stores such as Galeries Lafayette and Bloomingdales have a presence, as well as Sephora and Harvey Nichols. Paris Gallery, the local luxury chain, is also represented in all Middle Eastern key markets. Boutique niche brands also have their own stores in many of our flagship malls. Unfortunately the overheads of running a retail store in the Middle East are extremely high. The combination of high retail rents, plus ‘hidden taxes’ for the various government approvals required or even mall approvals make it a very expensive place to operate. People often buy well known designer perfumes online to save money or time. The same perfumes can be up to double the price if you buy them in your local mall, so it can be a huge saving and also extremely convenient to have something delivered right to your home. It’s also an easy way to get hold of hard to find products which might not be stocked everywhere. Frequently we see people in the region who buy perfume online from online sites posting on forums in facebook to ask the advice of others whether it’s safe to buy online. if the goods are really genuine and what’s the catch for the lower prices.  The truth is that we don’t always know for sure what we are buying online, if it is a very good fake from Turkey or China or if it is just a good bargain. The fake copying companies are now so good at copying that one might not ever know its a fake unless the purchaser knows the perfume character intimately and notices that it performs differently to the original. The perfume essence will have undergone a GC match and tweaking by the perfumer to ensure it matches the original as closely as possible. And great efforts go into ensuring that the packaging is identical. The biggest online retailers often do not warehouse the majority of the items they sell on their portal, so they are not able to physically check the item or check its provenance by means of purchase receipts. Only the ones which are fulfilled by the big online sites have this guarantee. So how is online and in store business for perfumes developing in the Middle East? In 2017 the perfume market in the United Arab Emirates alone was worth $403 million in 2017 and is estimated to grow by 9% compound growth year on year to 2023 to $685 million by 2023 (IMARC  group report). This trend is repeated in other Middle Eastern countries. Middle East consumers are increasingly buying perfumes online, year on year online sales are growing in most categories and last year in the UAE online sales accounted for 10% of all sales.  This is growing fast year on year. Look how this compares to the figures shown in the Bain from 2014 below . But lack of trust could alter things  –  if consumers became more aware of the lack of authenticity checks by these sites, it could slow down growth. Bettermethods of guaranteeing authenticity should be implemented in order to maintain trust levels if this sector is to grow significantly. What about the future for retail stores if online business continues to grow?  There will always be a demand for retail stores where you can go and try a perfume and see how it smells, online stores can never provide this luxury. But will people buy it from that outlet after trialling it, will they just go and buy it online afterwards at a lower cost?  How can retail stores encourage more purchase in store?  There are a few main factors here I believe which can influence this :  Better client service and understanding of client needs in store. Most staff in perfumery retailers do not have a good understanding of perfume and cannot help the clients effectively to select fragrances. Sephora has tried to address this issue through the introduction of the Fragrance IQ machine in some of their stores, but it doesn’t make up for a lack of well trained and knowledgeable sales staff. I have heard from many people in this region stories of being chased around the big luxury perfume stores store by over zealous staff who are constantly spraying the client with irrelevant new perfumes with ‘try this’ and ‘try that’. Many of us are actively discouraged from entering those stores due to this frequent occurrence. Some clients need a bit of time to browse and collect their thoughts about their needs before discussing their needs with a salesperson. More promotions and offers to entice trial/ repeat purchase. Better loyalty schemes to keep clients loyal to the store. Most of the big stores have loyalty cards to collect data on consumers which allow the collection of precious consumer purchasing behavior. However, there is very little customer reward for shopping frequently at the same store and signing up to these loyalty schemes. More positive experience in store. More displays to make the essence of the brand more understandable. Merchandising and display in store which makes it easier to find the perfume you need. A more experiential approach to perfumes.  If the experience is more positive and creative and gives a better understanding of the perfume, people will not mind paying more compared to online. More fun and play and creativity is required instead of rows of displays of perfumes displayed in store according to the designer brand name. The use of Artificial Intelligence and other technology could help to bring brands alive and make the experience more immersive. If some stores were set up […]

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