Afnan

Founded 1980 · Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Afnan is among the Gulf houses with the most careful presentation: heavy bottles, rigid boxes and a finish that blind would pass for European at three times the price. Its catalogue splits between the traditional oriental and rereadings of Western niche, and 9PM is its big name.

History

The house started in Dubai around 1980 as part of the fabric of perfumers growing with the city, and for decades worked the regional market. Its international leap came with 9PM, a sweet amber launched last decade that became one of the best-selling Gulf perfumes outside the Gulf, and with Supremacy, its line of niche rereadings. It now exports to more than seventy countries.

Iconic models

9PM
A sweet amber with apple, cinnamon and vanilla. The house's best seller and among the best sellers in the whole catalogue.
Supremacy Not Only Intense
Its reading of the blue-spiced niche genre; a heavy bottle at a third of the price.
Rare Carbon
From its Rare line, the most carefully presented.

Worth knowing

An Afnan bottle weighs more than those of many European niche houses, and it is no accident: in the Gulf the bottle is part of the gift, not its packaging.