By S Bin Shaheen, Fragrance Expert at Perfumeo. We stock both fragrances in this guide and have handled the sealed bottles; where we have not wear-tested something ourselves, we say so.
La Beauté Paris launched its Privé Collection with two ouds named after two cities, and the question we get asked about them is always the same. Which one? The short answer: Oud of Dubai is the sweet one, built on saffron, rose and tonka, and it follows the structure of Montale’s Arabians Tonka closely. Oud of London is the dark one, opening on incense and smoke and finishing on patchouli and vanilla. Both come as 85ml Eau de Parfum, both are unisex, and both are made in the UAE.
The long answer is the rest of this guide. Because almost nothing has been written about this house in English beyond copy-and-paste retailer listings, we have laid out everything we know: who La Beauté Paris actually are, what each fragrance smells like stage by stage, how honest the Arabians Tonka comparison really is, and how to decide between them for your own wardrobe.
Who are La Beauté Paris?
The name suggests a French house. The reality is more interesting. La Beauté Paris is a Middle Eastern brand, manufactured in the United Arab Emirates and distributed by Deraah, one of Saudi Arabia’s largest fragrance groups. The French name is a marketing choice in the same tradition as French Avenue or Maison Alhambra: Gulf-made perfumery presented with a European accent.
The wider range leans on British and romantic naming. Duke of Edinburgh and Duchess of Edinburgh, Juliet Loves Romeo, Revenge, Violent, Poisonous. Most sit at the affordable end of Arabian perfumery, with 90ml and 100ml bottles priced to compete with Lattafa and Afnan. The Privé Collection is the house stepping up a tier: heavier patterned glass, a rigid black presentation box, and compositions built around a single serious oud accord rather than a crowd-pleasing sweet blend. Oud of London launched the collection. Oud of Dubai followed as its counterpart. Together they form a matched pair, and the house clearly intends people to own both.
Oud of Dubai vs Oud of London at a glance
| Oud of Dubai | Oud of London | |
|---|---|---|
| Character | Sweet, rosy, gourmand oud | Smoky, resinous, incense oud |
| Top notes | Bergamot, saffron | Oud, musk, incense |
| Heart notes | Bulgarian rose, Nepalese oud | Amber, dark woods |
| Base notes | Amber, tonka bean, brown sugar, white musk | Smoky patchouli, vanilla |
| Inspired by | Montale Arabians Tonka (8 of 9 notes shared) | No stated inspiration |
| Best for | Dates, gifts, compliments, first oud | Evenings, winter, oud enthusiasts |
| Size and strength | 85ml Eau de Parfum | 85ml Eau de Parfum |
Both pyramids are the brand’s own published lists. Neither fragrance has a community-verified entry on Fragrantica yet, which is worth knowing before you read any retailer’s confident claims about longevity.
What does Oud of Dubai smell like?
Golden is the word that keeps coming up when we describe it at the counter. Everything about Oud of Dubai is warm-toned, from the bottle to the base.
The opening
Bergamot gives the first minute a flash of citrus, then saffron takes charge. Saffron in Arabian perfumery has a particular signature, warm and leathery with a faint metallic edge, and here it sets the tone immediately. The opening is confident without being harsh, and it lasts long enough to matter.
The heart
Bulgarian rose and oud share the middle, and the balance between them is the composition’s best trick. The rose reads jammy and lush rather than fresh or soapy, closer to rose preserve than a cut flower. The oud beneath it is smooth and polished, a woody resinous hum rather than the medicinal or animalic oud that puts newcomers off. Neither note dominates. That restraint is rarer than it sounds at this price.
The base
Tonka bean and brown sugar arrive together and turn the whole thing gourmand. Creamy, caramel-edged, cosy. Amber adds a low glow and white musk pulls the finish close to the skin, so the sweetness sits with you rather than filling a room. By the end of an evening the rose is a faint memory under a sweet tonka blanket, which is exactly the trail people mean when they ask what smells so nice.
What does Oud of London smell like?
If Dubai is golden, London is charcoal. Oud of London was the house’s first Privé release, and it makes the more uncompromising statement of the two.
The opening
Most ouds hold the agarwood back until the base. This one leads with it. Oud, musk and incense arrive together, and the first quarter of an hour has a temple-smoke quality: dry, mystic, faintly churchy. It is a bold way to start a fragrance and it will divide a room. Our advice is always to give it fifteen minutes before judging.
The heart
Amber and dark woods soften the edges. The smoke does not disappear, but it rounds off and gains warmth, and this is the stage where most people who were unsure at the opening change their minds. Balsamic, resinous, glowing.
The base
Smoky patchouli, earthy and slightly bitter, meets vanilla. The vanilla is the surprise. It arrives late, sweetens the patchouli into something closer to a dark gourmand, and leaves a trail that is far more approachable than the opening promised. The distance between the incense start and the vanilla finish is the whole personality of the fragrance.
Is Oud of Dubai an Arabians Tonka dupe?
This is the question that will bring most readers to this page, so here is a straight answer built on the notes rather than on marketing.
Fragrantica lists nine notes for Montale’s Arabians Tonka: saffron and bergamot on top, oud and Bulgarian rose in the heart, and tonka bean, sugar cane, amber, white musk and oakmoss in the base. La Beauté Paris’s published pyramid for Oud of Dubai contains eight of those nine. The only note missing is oakmoss. Sugar cane appears as brown sugar, which is the same idea under a different label.
On paper, that makes it one of the most structurally faithful Arabians Tonka alternatives on the UK market. The missing oakmoss suggests a cleaner, less earthy dry down than the Montale, which some wearers will actually prefer, since the mossy bitterness in the original is a common complaint.
Two honesty notes. First, a shared pyramid is not a wear test. We have not sprayed the two side by side, and until we or the Fragrantica community have, we will not claim they smell identical. Second, Oud of Dubai is not the only contender. Community consensus on the closest Arabians Tonka clone has long favoured Riiffs Momento, with Zimaya Taraf Black praised for pyramid accuracy, so Oud of Dubai enters a crowded field rather than an empty one. What it brings that those do not is the Privé presentation and a rose that reads noticeably more polished. Our Inspired Fragrances collection gathers the other candidates if you want to compare.
What is Oud of London inspired by?
Nothing that the brand or any retailer has stated, and we are not going to invent one. The oud, incense, amber, patchouli and vanilla structure belongs to a broad family of dark Arabian ouds rather than to a single designer original. If you are looking for a specific niche reference, Oud of London is not that product. It is a house composition, and it should be judged as one.
Which one should you choose?
Choose Oud of Dubai if any of these apply: you have never worn oud and want a gentle way in, you want compliments rather than respect, you are buying a gift and cannot test it on the recipient, or you already love sweet saffron-rose compositions and want the Privé version. It is the easier fragrance to live with and the safer blind buy.
Choose Oud of London if you already own a sweet oud and want its opposite, if incense and smoke are notes you actively seek out, or if you want a fragrance that reads serious in a room full of gourmands. It rewards patience and it rewards cold weather.
Choose both if you like the idea of a matched pair. The house designed them as day and night, and plenty of buyers treat them that way: Dubai for dinners and dates, London for late evenings and the depths of winter.
Longevity, sillage and how to wear them
We will not quote hour counts we have not measured, and neither fragrance has enough community data yet to borrow from. What we can say is structural. Both are Eau de Parfum concentration, and both are built on dense base materials, tonka and sugar in one case, patchouli and vanilla in the other. Compositions like that tend to last a working day on skin and considerably longer on clothing. Our guide to perfume strength levels explains why concentration matters less than base density when it comes to staying power.
Two or three sprays are plenty for either. Oud of Dubai turns cloying past that in a warm room; Oud of London turns overwhelming. Both belong to autumn and winter. In July the incense in London feels dense and the sugar in Dubai feels heavy, so if you are reading this in summer, buy now and wear from October. For anyone who enjoys layering, a single spray of London under two of Dubai gives the sweet fragrance a smoky spine, and it works better than it has any right to.
Where to buy La Beauté Paris in the UK
La Beauté Paris is not widely stocked in the UK, and where it does appear the listings are often thin or copied from one another. Buy from a specialist retailer that sells sealed boxes and can tell you where its stock came from. Our guide to buying authentic perfume online lists the checks worth running on any Arabian fragrance purchase, and our La Beauté Paris collection holds both Privé fragrances as genuine sealed stock with free UK tracked delivery.
If you are still deciding whether oud is for you at all, our roundup of the best oud perfumes in the UK puts these two in context alongside the Lattafa and Afnan classics most people start with.
Frequently asked questions
Is La Beauté Paris a French brand?
No. Despite the name, La Beauté Paris is made in the United Arab Emirates and distributed by Saudi fragrance group Deraah. It belongs to the same tradition as French Avenue and Maison Alhambra: Gulf perfumery with a European name.
Are Oud of Dubai and Oud of London unisex?
Yes, both are marketed and worn unisex. Oud of Dubai leans slightly sweeter and rosier, which some men read as feminine on paper, though the saffron and oud give it plenty of backbone on skin. Oud of London leans darker and more traditionally masculine.
Which La Beauté Paris oud is sweeter?
Oud of Dubai, by a clear margin. Its tonka and brown sugar base makes it a gourmand oud. Oud of London is only sweet in its final vanilla stage.
Does Oud of Dubai smell like Arabians Tonka?
Its published pyramid shares eight of the nine notes Fragrantica lists for the Montale, missing only oakmoss. That makes it structurally very close, though we have not wear-tested them side by side and would not call it a clone without doing so.
What size are the bottles?
Both Privé fragrances come in 85ml, an unusual size that sits between the 50ml and 100ml most Arabian houses use.
Can I wear them in summer?
You can, but neither is at its best in heat. Both are cool-weather fragrances, and both reward waiting for autumn.
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