The Morning After The Night Before: The Fragrance Awards of Arabia 2016

Fragrance Awards of Arabia 2016, Dubai, UAE

We are still in the aftermath of the fantastic Fragrance Awards of Arabia, 2016 – which was a wonderful event, held at the esteemed Burj Al-Arab in Dubai, UAE on the 22nd November 2016. The event was filled to the brim with top players and leaders of the regional fragrance industry. The winners here were many of course, with Arabian Oud being brought well back into the spotlight, with their fantastic new range, winning awards left, right and centre! In the category of ‘Fragrance of the Year’, three fragrances by Arabian Oud, and three fragrances by Coty led the way, whilst other spots were taken by Interparfums USA and Oud Elite. Two of Arabian Oud’s winning fragrances, are

The Winners

fragrances for Men – Signature and Solid Black, with Solid Black only being available regionally, and not in Europe. But the shining Ladies fragrance, was the beautifully light Madawi…to call it an elegant sophistication, is an understatement! It isn’t a typically oud fragrance at all – surprisingly, with its beautiful very Arabic packaging, one would be led to think that a fragrance packaged like this would be oud galore. Not. 

Madawi, by Arabian Oud, Fragrance of The Year winner, 2016

On opening, the powerful note of the wonderfully juicy Peach reminded me of a wonderful summers day, sitting in a green grassed, highly manicured park with fruit trees swaying in the horizon, with a picnic of fruits on a bed of the wonderful middle note of pineapple blossom which is beautifully blended and punctuated by the top note of the apple blossom. The rose dry down is a wonderful melody interwinding with the earthy musk and patchouli notes, providing excellent sillage. This fragrance, although targeted to women, can be worn confidently by men who appreciate an elegant fragrance. Not surprising, then, is it, that this wonderful fragrance won a spot as Fragrance of The Year!

Ladies' Fragrance - Winners of Award, Fragrance of The Year, 2016

Another wonderful fragrance that bagged the prestigious Fragrance of The Year award, was a fragrance by a smaller regional house – Oud Elite. Oud Elite is a wonderful niche fragrance house, that operates only within the Arabian Gulf region and are not currently available in Europe or North America. Their fragrances are treasures of the East, which

have not been conquered yet, giving them an aura of exclusivity along with regional perfumery quality and excellence. But their award-winning fragrance, which I had the pleasure of sampling also, was a fantastically well composed scent – truly like the notes of a musical, the fragrance, Pure Black for Her is an utterly beautiful perfume which take a pride of place in the company’s offerings. 

The top opening notes are a wonderful bouquet of grapefruit,

bergamot and mandarin, complementing that ever so slight bitterness of the grapefruit. The bergamot acts as the fragrant bridge over which we across to be greeted by the base notes of slightly dense almond and black apricot, providing a sweet-woody refreshing pick up on my skin. I

Pure Black, by Oud Elite, Fragrance of The Year winner, 2016

can also get a wonderful blast of white florals towards the dry down, going into the more woodier notes of cedar wood, amber and a warm vanilla. This is a very uniquely wonderful fragrance, with a beautiful aura and exquisite-ness about it. 

These were my favourite picks, from the small selection of eight fragrances that won the Fragrance of the Year award… and these fragrances certainly deserved their spots!!