Saudi Perfume Brands

One Omani luxury house sells widely through upmarket shops in Riyadh and Jeddah. Its chief executive told Arab News that customers increasingly want stronger concentrations and long-lasting perfumes made in limited runs, and want to know the story and origin behind a scent rather than simply buy a perfume. He sums up the Gulf's codes as layering, bakhoor and oud, handed down through generations.

Oud is still made the traditional way, an adviser at Arthur D Little told Arab News, but its supply is changing. Saudi oud makers and exporters are expanding to meet rising demand abroad, building supply chains with partners in Southeast Asia, and some large perfume houses invest directly in agarwood plantations overseas. At home, a project launched in Madinah aims to grow agarwood trees on Saudi soil.

Taif supplies the roses. Families pick them in the early morning through a harvest of thirty-five to forty-five days from March, then sell them at market or distil them at home, and the roses and their rose water are given as gifts to family and friends. Taif is also busy making traditional attar; the oil of the Damask rose has long been worn as an attar in the Middle East. UNESCO added the cultural practices around Taif roses to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2024.

Incense belongs to the same daily culture. In most Arab countries bakhoor, scented chips or blocks, is burned on special occasions and on Fridays and passed among guests as a gesture of hospitality.