Yazhini ManimudiThe Emirates Perfumes and Oud Exhibition, held annually, began this year on the 3rd October and will end tomorrow, 12th October. The vast halls of Expo Centre Sharjah were elevated by fragrances from all over the world and my only regret after my visit on Friday was that I hadn’t gone earlier. But there is still today and tomorrow left for you to delight in the fragrances available at the exhibition.
The exhibition held stalls of fragrance companies and retailers from a variety of countries including the UAE, Kuwait, Turkey, India, and China. The event may only have the perfume and oud names in the title, but there was a variety of fragrance offerings including fragrance oils, hair mists, and home fragrance products like scented candles and diffusers. I particularly enjoyed stalls by Twaaq, Lootah, Anfar, Perfumane, Une Nuit Nomade, and H.O.B.
Perfume Brands at the Exhibition
Ahmed Al Maghribi showed off the popularity of their newly released Marj and Niswah (the 43 note perfume).
Marj is a deep, multi-faceted fragrance with the richness of leather, agarwood, a bouquet of white flowers, sandalwood, comforting synthetic cashmere wood, and so much more. Niswah, I was skeptical about at first with its 43 notes– we have all heard the saying about too many cooks spoiling the broth. But they blend together beautifully for a bold and feminine fragrance.
Lootah, UAE’s homegrown brand, wowed with their perfumes, perfume oils, bukhoors and ouds. They also displayed their impressive customizable gift sets starting at around a thousand something when it’s usually at two thousand something Dirhams.
I was thoroughly impressed with their perfume oil Amirah, a simple yet magical composition of bergamot, labdanum, and patchouli. A 3 ml vial will have you AED 390 short, totally worth it for how powerful the fragrance is. My second favourite from them is Al Rams Dust, a blend of saffron, cardamom, patchouli, sandalwood available for just AED 230 for 150 ml. This is something I’m keeping in mind to go buy a bottle for myself later.
Une Nuit Nomade is the brand I’m happiest to discover at this event. They’re a niche French fragrance company notable for their destination-based fragrance collections (Oman, Bali, Cape Town, Montauk).
I got to try their bestseller gourmand leather fragrance Sugar Leather from their Destination Oman collection, a leather topped with sweet caramel and cinnamon. Cinnamon is quite dominant at first and I wish I could tell you how it dries down, but I was too drenched in other fragrances to tell you what was what. This perfume was a reminder that I’m beginning to develop a partiality towards leather perfumes.
I thought this would be my favourite of theirs, but that idea was quickly scrapped when I got a waft of Estrella de la Mañana from their collection of highly concentrated Extraits de Parfum, Extraits de Voyage. It was all smooth vanilla goodness with a burnt touch and a smoky leather base (there’s my love for leather again). A dark, alluring fragrance at a high concentration available in 50 ml and 100 ml bottles.
Parfumane is a Turkish brand that centers their fragrances on the history and culture of perfumery. Their attention to detail and commitment to this philosophy even in their displays is what attracted my attention to their booth among all others at the exhibition.
It’s the very charming vintage spray bottles of the Dolmabahçe Palace Collection that I gravitated towards. Rather than having everyone spray perfume on a test strip they would eventually throw away, Perfumane went for cotton rounds soaked in perfume notched inside elegantly designed cones that you could invert to uncover each fragrance. Finally, I don’t have to smell paper when I test a fragrance.
Their Nostalgia Cologne Collection is quite nostalgic with their bottles resembling some of the first cologne bottles that remind you why we say ‘a splash of cologne’. The Lavender cologne with a vetiver base and cardamom top amazed me into entering the booth instead of hurrying over to the next.
Here, I fell in love with Black Sea Tobacco from their Turkish Rose Collection of colognes. It’s the perfect representation of the breezy airy ocean with the mysterious character of tobacco and an elevating citrusy fresh element. I was torn between Black Sea Tobacco and another mysterious cologne aptly named Mysterious Black Tulip. While I liked both, I couldn’t bear to leave the former behind. For AED 80 (discounted from AED 90), the fragrance came home with me in a beautifully designed bag.
I smelled so many fragrances by the end of the day that I left unable to pick up the last of the perfumes I tried. I slept content last night bathed in a plethora of fragrances that somehow didn’t clash, making me feel like I layered them intentionally.
There is time yet to visit the exhibition and discover fragrances you wouldn’t otherwise find in the UAE.
Yazhini Manimudi
