The Story of My Perfumes goes back to 1993, when Firoz Baugwala opened a small door to a large desire. Dubai was not yet the global metropolis it is now. It was a junction of merchants and migrants. From this junction, the brand learnt a grammar of scent that mixes the mystique of the East with the polish of the West. For three decades, the house listened to the hum of the city as it gathered momentum, visual identity, colour, and personality. In a lot of ways, My Perfumes took the vibe and personality of the city, full of boldness, belief, and ambition. Each perfume pays homage to this beautiful city of dreams.
In Marwa, it found an ode that sold itself. Close to 5 lakh bottles and counting. The customised bottle in silver matte finish epitomised the glamour of the city, while the potion is an assertion of substance, roots, and ambition. When someone puffs on Marwa, they are not announcing a mood but recording one.
Behind The Name and Fame
Names have pulse, and Marwa’s beats with layered meaning. In Arabic, Marwa primarily means “flint stone” or “quartz”, stones that produce fire when hit against each other – symbols of warmth and power. Marwa is also a holy hill in Mecca, one of the two places that pilgrims visit during the Hajj, a journey of faith and determination. Marwa is a fragrant plant too, tying the name to the world of aroma itself. Every interpretation points to the perfume’s personality. The flint suggests resilience, and the sacred mountain brings spiritual mooring. The fragrant plant grounds it back to its sensory core. That is the quiet brilliance of calling this scent Marwa. It is not titled for decoration but direction.
What makes Marwa more than a well-composed mix is how it channels a cultural palimpsest. Buyers bring ceremony into shopping with them, wanting something that respects lineage. Marwa answers that demand without nostalgia. It borrows old codes but rewrites them into a new temperament. There is craft behind the velocity. The perfume’s sourcing reads like an evocative travelogue or a lesson in geography. Tea from China. Woody notes chosen for their particular smoke and citrus, which cuts clean. Each ingredient is an olfactory syllable, together weaving a symphony of hope and desire. Marwa is about arranging a chorus where every note counts.
Under The Cap of Marwa
Marwa becomes the elegy to Dubai. It epitomises the spirit of fresh ambition and fearless clarity, blending citrus-spice brightness with smoky, woody depth. The aesthetic behind Marwa’s aroma feels as if the perfumer were sketching a morning that quietly prepares for a decisive afternoon. You can almost smell the fog thinning under a lamplight; see the tea steam rise, a folded map waiting, and a passport still hungry for stamps and a mind full of possibilities.
The top notes arrive like a confident opener. Bergamot gives a citrusy geometry. Petitgrain adds a green, slightly bitter edge. Ginger brings the push that says, "Go!” The heart beats unexpectedly. Chinese black tea appears as a thread of worldly restraint. Geranium offers both rose and leaf. Incense breathes smoke into the center so the scent does not become polite or predictable. The base is where Marwa makes its lasting case. Guaiacwood brings resinous depth, and Ambroxan gives that amber shine, which turns memory into muscle. Musk sits under everything and binds them together. Overall, Marwa is a trilogy of the three most desirable male aspects taking centre stage - character, confidence, and emotional intelligence.
Final Thoughts
You can call Marwa a commercial triumph, and you will not be wrong. Hitting near five lakh orders in eight months is a metric of scale, but the signal is more nuanced. The perfume succeeds because it delivers more than a perfume. It delivers desirability, it delivers strength and purpose, and it delivers hope and ambition. It’s that spray of confidence before a meeting, the spray of purpose as you start a new day, a new project, the spray of dependability and success.
People return to it for continuity and because it behaves predictably well when everything else around them seems speculative. There is also a sensorial honesty at play. Many fragrances sell escape, but Marwa bestows alignment. It does not claim to transform you into someone else. It suggests the person you are trying to be and then just amplifies it. That is why the scent lands with such integrity. It fits like a good metaphor or a well-chosen suit.
If My Perfumes is a merchant with an ear for a city, Marwa is the product of listening. The brand took its decades of observation, its knowledge of markets, and its access to ingredients, and made something that does not try too hard to be interesting but simply is.
