Sterling Perfumes to highlight travel retail exclusives at upcoming TFWA Asia Pacific

SINGAPORE. UAE fragrance company Sterling Perfumes is set to showcase its key collections at the upcoming TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition on 11-15 May (Basement 2, E26).

The presentation also highlights the company’s vision of bringing what it calls the “next era of luxury-accessible perfumery” to life.

Since it was established under Fakhruddin Holdings in 1998, Sterling Group has grown into a leading name in beauty and fragrance innovation, with products available in over 132 markets.

Launched in travel retail in 2022, the company has rolled out brands such as Armaf, Risala, Flavia, Jenny Glow and Just Jack, driven by a commitment to setting new benchmarks in beauty.

Armaf will be among the company’s key highlights at the show, known for its sleek packaging and focus on making luxury more accessible.

With a diverse scent portfolio, the brand has featured collaborations with popular perfumers such as Christian Provenzano, Arturetto Landi and Olivier Cresp and celebrities including UAE actor and media personality Saoud Al Kaabi. Two of these scents will make their travel retail debut at the Singapore event.

Sterling Group Chairman and CEO Dr Ali Asgar Fakhruddin said, “As the travel retail and duty-free sector continues to evolve rapidly, scent – as one of the most powerful emotional connections a traveller can make – remains constant. Our aim is to offer travelling consumers a journey scented with discovery, indulgence, and unforgettable storytelling.”

Setting its sights on premium yet accessible growth, Sterling is targeting high-traffic locations while focusing on digital integration, premiumisation, limited-edition exclusives, launch activations and omnichannel growth.

Building on its strong Middle East presence, the company noted its aim to deepen consumer engagement through experiential retail and immersive brand experiences.

Dr Fakhruddin said, “We are looking forward to the TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition as an opportunity to not only showcase our market-leading fragrances but also to strengthen our partnerships. We want to create and offer unique customer experiences across all touchpoints of the consumer’s journey.

“In the Asia Pacific region, fragrances can be seen as a status symbol and the demand for exclusive, even collectible scents is at an all-time high. That said, travel retail exclusives offer a golden opportunity to offer travellers products that are not available elsewhere.

“The opportunities to succeed in the duty-free space are many – storytelling, scent pairing and increased engagement to name a few – and we are determined to own that space. We have an exciting collector’s edition in the making, along with new listings in key locations. Expect something exceptional from Sterling as we continue to set new benchmarks in the fragrance category.”

Spotlight on Armaf at TFWA Asia Pacific

Set to be showcased in Singapore, the ten-piece Club de Nuit (CDN) Mini Gift Set offers a sleek, easy-to-carry packaging option.

The Club de Nuit Your Travel Buddy White & Black is a stylish, practical and sustainable case that holds two refillable pods – one roll-on oil and one eau de parfum. Designed for both men and women, it offers a travel-friendly version of Sterling Perfumes’ most popular scents.

Featuring a woody-spicy fragrance, CDN Intense Man opens with lemon, pineapple, bergamot, blackcurrant and apple top notes. Its heart includes birch, jasmine and rose, leading to a musk, ambergris, patchouli and vanilla base.

With a floral and fruity character, CDN Woman offers orange, bergamot, grapefruit and peach top notes, followed by a heart of rose, jasmine, lychee and geranium, finishing with patchouli, musk, vanilla and vetiver base notes.

Club de Nuit Maleka is another floral and fruity scent, capturing  the essence of “women who rule without permission”. It opens with bergamot, lychee and pink pepper, blended with middle notes of orris on a sandalwood, praline and ambrox base.

Armaf has extended its Club de Nuit line with CDN Maleka (Arabic for queen), embodying the spirit of woman “whose presence feels like prophecy”, described as “cloaked in silk and sugared defiance”.

The fragrance features bergamot and lychee top notes, a floral orris heart, and a ambrox and praline base.

Armaf Odyssey Mandarin Sky Elixir features a distinctive oriental-woody profile, starting with the freshness of mandarin, orange, clary sage, lavender, cardamom and black pepper. The heart deepens with incense, patchouli, caramel and tonka bean, leading into a vetiver and vanilla base.

The Odyssey Dubai Chocolat blends oriental and vanilla accords, featuring coffee, pistachio, knafeh, praline and hazelnut as top notes, layered over a heart of chocolate, vanilla and cardamom, with an amberwood and tonka bean base.

In addition, the TFWA Asia Pacific showcase includes the Armaf SHK 1 & 2, in collaboration with Saoud Al Kaabi.

Crafted for a global audience, the two unisex EDPs draw from Saoud’s personal travels. These are bergamot from Italy, cedarwood from Lebanon, peach from the USA, vetiver from India, saffron from Morocco and oud and musk from the Emirates. The fragrances express his vision of celebrating cultural diversity through a single unifying scent – One World.

SHK-1 is oriental and woody, opening with bergamot, followed by cashmere wood, pink pepper and vetiver at its heart, and base notes of white musk, cedarwood and amber.

SHK-2 blends bergamot, peach and rose with saffron, jasmine, caramel and oud as heart notes, finishing on a patchouli, vanilla, leather and musk base.