From Louis Vuitton’s master perfumer on his love of oud to a UAE brand evolving into wellness, Day Two had the conversations the fragrance world came to Dubai for.
- Louis Vuitton master perfumer Jacques Cavallier Belletrud told the story of his lifelong love for oud
- Oud is now the second most trending fragrance note globally on social media in 2026
- UAE-born HAMIDI evolved from fragrance house into a full beauty and wellness brand
- The Beautyworld Dubai Awards 2026 crowned Huda Kattan with the Beautyworld Icon Award
Beautyworld Dubai 2026 arrived at its second day with the kind of concentrated focus that only happens when an entire industry is genuinely excited about one conversation. The 30th edition’s Day Two belonged to fragrance, from the craft decisions made inside one of the world’s most revered luxury perfume houses to the supply chain farmers who have never smelled the finished product their jasmine and patchouli eventually becomes. At Dubai World Trade Centre, the halls smelled exactly as you would expect from the world’s largest beauty trade platform at its most fragrance-forward. Every direction you turned, there was something worth stopping for.
The morning opened with Hani Jabbour of Chalhoub Group delivering what became the day’s most quoted observation: that the Middle East is no longer following global fragrance trends but actively creating them. Oud, the region’s most beloved note, is now the second most trending fragrance ingredient on social media globally. For the hundreds of buyers, distributors and brand founders packed into the Next in Fragrance conference, that number landed with the particular satisfaction of having your lived reality confirmed by data.
Few moments on Day Two carried the weight of Jacques Cavallier Belletrud, Louis Vuitton’s Master Perfumer, taking the Next in Fragrance stage to speak about creation, collaboration and the experience that first drew him toward oud. The story he told was personal and specific: his father had encountered a synthetic oud in the 1960s that convinced him the real thing was inaccessible, almost mythological. It took a visit to a factory near Mecca, guided by a man he deeply admired, to show Cavallier Belletrud what genuine oud actually was. “The history, the culture, the rituals were so strong, so inspirational,” he said. “The beauty of perfume there felt endless.” For a room full of regional perfumers and fragrance professionals, hearing one of the world’s most celebrated noses describe his love of Middle Eastern scent culture in those terms was quietly extraordinary.
The afternoon’s Gen Z and Alpha Decoded session brought a different but equally urgent conversation. Perfumers from Givaudan and brand voices from OMANLUXURY gathered to examine what younger consumers actually want from fragrance now: gender-neutral formulations, credible sustainability, discovery through social media and the sense that a brand is telling them something true rather than something polished. The session felt less like a trend report and more like a pressure test for every house in the room.
Rebecca Kirchmeier of Düllberg Konzentra gave perhaps the most technically intriguing talk of the day in The Rise of Neo-Gourmand, making the case that the category has moved far beyond sweetness. Modern gourmand, she argued, works with contrast, bridging savoury and sweet, and should be completely unisex. “It doesn’t need to be edible or soft,” she said. “It can work with materials you usually wouldn’t use.” Several buyers in the audience were visibly taking notes.
On the show floor, UAE-born ARMAF continued The ARMAF Hour with the Day Two debut of Club de Nuit Bling Gold Edition, opening on heliotrope and neroli before settling into Madagascar vanilla and Mexican Palo Santo. The flacon itself, cut in sharp geometric lines and set with diamond-like stones, embodies the brand’s “fragrance couture” positioning. Born in Dubai and now distributed across more than 140 countries, ARMAF used the expanded fragrance floor to connect with the global buyers that Beautyworld Dubai concentrates in one place each October.
Fellow UAE-born house HAMIDI stepped into a broader identity at this year’s edition, presenting itself as a full beauty and wellness brand built around clean, 0% alcohol formulations. Its Scent Rituals concept layers fragrance across an entire personal-care routine, while the Dubai Delights Gourmand Collection offers concentrated perfume oils inspired by Middle Eastern desserts. HAMIDI is now in 65 countries. That is a number that would have been hard to predict when the brand launched, and it landed here with appropriate confidence.
The Natural Notes panel brought the day’s most grounding perspective. Aayush Tekriwal of PT Van Aroma said something that stayed in the room long after the session ended: most farmers who grow the jasmine and patchouli that end up in the world’s finest fragrances have never smelled the finished products their crops become. He called for partnerships where everyone in the supply chain, including those at the very beginning of it, gets to experience what they help create. It was the kind of observation that reframes an entire industry in one sentence.
On beautyLIVE, Mounir and Josh Lamonaca drew professional crowds for headline hair masterclasses, with Lamonaca summing up his entire philosophy in three words: structure, balance and precision. Day Two closed at Le Meridien Dubai Hotel and Conference Centre, where the Beautyworld Dubai Awards 2026 presented its Beautyworld Icon Award to Huda Kattan across 17 categories of excellence.
