There’s a particular kind of confidence that comes from knowing your craft personally. For My Perfumes, that confidence was bottled in 1993 when Mr Firoz Baugwala opened the doors in Dubai and set out to compose scents that felt both grounded and restless. It was rooted in the Emirati love for rich, oriental notes, restless in the way they reached beyond borders.
A City That Forged the Brand
Dubai was the perfect stage. A city where souks meet skyscrapers, it influenced the brand’s aesthetic. Textures of oud and amber were threaded with French florals, packaged in bottles that read as jewellery rather than commodities. From day one, the house aimed not just to scent skin but to suggest character. To give people an olfactory shorthand for who they wanted to be that day.
What followed wasn’t overnight fame so much as steady craftsmanship. The company learnt about its customers by listening. What notes lingered, which bottles were displayed on dressing tables, and which accords sparked compliments. That attention to people, not just trends, informed product choices and design. It’s why My Perfumes’ lines feel personall rather than assembled.
A Portfolio Built on Contrast
The portfolio that emerged reads like a careful study of contrasts. Arabiyat and Arabiyat Prestige tap the region’s soulful DNA. Smoky ouds, resinous ambers, and dense, warm bases designed to unfurl slowly.
Le Gazelle and Otoori answer a different call. Lighter, more playful, sometimes sweeter. This allows the collection to move smoothly from an Arabic majlis to European nights. The My Perfumes Select boutiques added another dimension altogether. A curated, hands-on experience where customers find concentrated palettes and discover personal combinations rather than picking from a standard shelf.
Innovation That Speaks Softly
Innovation at My Perfumes rarely showed itself as flashy gimmicks. Instead, it arrived through smart refinements. Complex compositions that feel like layering in one bottle. Some alcohol-free formulations for sensitive skin. A renewed focus on raw materials.
Behind the scenes, the labs invested in quality. Refined oud, clean absolutes, and long lasting bases made sure the perfumes behaved well on real people in real climates, not just on paper testers.
Taking Dubai to the World
Brand partnerships and licensing deals pushed the Dubai house further onto the world map. Collaborations opened doors to new audiences, while retail expansion and a Made in UAE identity positioned the brand as a global ambassador for a desert city shaping modern luxury conversations. Boutiques and distribution across multiple countries turned curious travellers into repeat customers.
If there’s a quiet achievement to celebrate, it’s the balance between reverence for tradition and practical business sense. The ambition was never just to export aromas. It was to create perfumes that respect the ritual of wearing them. The pause before an evening out. The preparation for a meeting. Those rituals became commercial milestones. Award wins, retail rollouts, sustained international demand. Yet they always felt like outcomes of something more human.
Final Thoughts
Three decades in, My Perfumes reads less like a corporate success story and more like a family of fragrances that grew as people did. The founder’s early clarity, that a scent could belong deeply to its place and still travel generously, remains the guiding idea.
Today, these perfumes live on dressing tables from Dubai to distant cities. Each bottle carries a trace of the place where oud met Mediterranean rose, where tradition found its modern line. This is not nostalgia. It is a continuation. An ongoing evolution of scent, form, and conversation with the wearer. Thirty years on, My Perfumes still does what it set out to do. Craft perfumes that speak gently and confidently about identity.