Which are the noteworthy luxury Middle Eastern Perfumes?
The per capita sales of luxury Middle Eastern perfumes has always been big and it is still growing.. Euromonitor predicts MENA region market growth from 5.7 billion USD in 2018 to 8.5 billion USD by 2021. Strong demand in luxury perfumery in this region has encouraged many perfumery companies to create new interesting perfume concepts.
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.
Ahjaar – UAE
Paris Gallery created this perfume 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. The company 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.
Amouage Silver Cristal – also available in gold colour.
The brand has managed to reinvent itself as a sleek luxury brand with sophistication and wide appeal. This is largely 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 despite this they are very popular the world over. Amouage has achieved great success from Russia to Australia, a success emulated by many.
Amna al Habtoor, UAE resident from a prominent local family, has recently launched Arcadia perfumes by Amna. The theme of their perfumes is oriental nostalgia and each perfume comes with a booklet explaining the story behind it.
More niche luxury Middle Eastern perfumes
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 inspiration of the new collection WATAN (nation) is 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 perfume packaging, complete with perfume bottle refill stations at certain point of sale. The brand is remarkable, as the bottles are refillable and the packaging can be sent away for refurbishment.
Ghawali – UAE
Chalhoub group launched this relatively new niche brand together with a range of body care and perfumes. They distribute these products mostly in their own bespoke retail outlets located in areas heavily frequented by local Arabs.
These are true Middle Eastern perfumes using combinations of ingredients popular in the region to create unisex creations. Ghawali’s simple perfume packaging is elegant and understated.
Kayali – UAE
Kayali perfume is a recent entrant to the Middle East perfume market.
Launched by the Kattan sisters Dubai based cosmetics company Huda Beauty, Kayali launched exclusively in Sephora retail outlets. The concept centres around perfume layering principles, you need more than one to build up your fragrance and match your mood. The collection of fragrances comprises perfumes such as vanilla, white flowers, musk and citrus.
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. Hind al Oud, the Hilal Group has now entered the luxury spray niche perfume market. This brand will also be on sale in the new luxury concept stores HOB where new colour cosmetics ranges will also be available.
Majan Perfumes – Oman
The perfume packaging design is similar to The Fragrance Kitchen, as all perfumes are in similar round tall bottle. However, these perfume bottles are more pretty and oriental than the Fragrance Kitchen design.
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. They have contemporary notes such as fresh smelling bergamot, orange blossom and grapefruit. The perfume packaging is minamalistic and ultra modern. Odict has used the region’s heritage of pearl diving as an inspiration for its brand imagery.
Oman Luxury – Oman
A relatively new entrant into luxury Middle Eastern perfumes which Rasasi developed in collaboration with french perfumers and Hamid Merati- Kashani from Firmenich. The old perfume bottle design was a square tall bottle, but the new bottle is more round and the cap is now quite similar to the one made by Ghawali.
Rasasi – UAE
Rasasi have been specialising in mass market high quality products until the last few years when they launched products such as Boruzz oud collection and La Yuqawam. Now that the luxury Middle Eastern perfume market has grown and become more attractive, they have added some very attractive luxury perfumes to their product lines.
The Fragrance Kitchen – Kuwait
The Fragrance Kitchen has a funky, modern perfume packaging design, it is the brainchild of the Emir of Kuwait Sheik Majed al Sabeh. The perfumes are largely unisex and draw on middle eastern themes and use traditional ingredients which are unique to Middle Eastern perfumery. This niche perfume brand is enjoying success overseas in urban cosmopolitan areas such as London and New York.
The Spirit of Dubai
Nabeel perfumes, who are better known for their mass market perfume creations, developed The Spirit of Dubai . They created this niche perfume concept to cash in on the prestige, glamour and luxury of the Dubai name. Each perfume has a different theme relating to the luxury world of Dubai from horse racing to tall towers, falconry and local bedouin heritage.
The Shamukh perfume which means ‘deserving the best” is said to be the world’s most expensive perfume. It is priced at $1,295,000 for three litres of perfume. It comes in an Italian Murano crystal bottle which is adorned with horses, roses and a globe and Fontaine’s 3,571 diamonds. There are 38.55 carats in total, giant pearls and 2.5kg of 18 carat gold and 5.9kg of silver. They only made one piece of this one off perfume and nobody knows if anyone has bought it yet.
Widian niche luxury perfume
Widian is a relatively new entrant to the luxury niche middle east perfumery scene with beautiful, yet simple packaging. The motto of the owner is ‘If you like it, wear it’, which stems from a middle eastern belief that there is no such thing as a male or female fragrance. Widian perfumes are a mix of Eastern and Western influences.
Online sales penetration is still quite low in the Gulf region compared to Western markets. Hence the retail experience for luxury Middle Eastern perfumes is vitally important. Clients want to try and experiment a lot before they buy. For this reason Widan are setting up new small luxury boutiques in areas heavily populated by local Arabs. This makes sense because Arabs are high consumers of high quality perfumes.
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