Khadlaj: Behind the Scenes of TikTok's Most Viral Fragrance Brand

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]So, a lot of people want to know what's behind this viral sensation of a brand and a fragrance. I have to admit, you have probably, I would say, one of the top three most viral TikTok brands. And so, in today's video, we're going to be taking a deep dive look with you as to how you guys make the famous Island Dreams. Mr. Asif, thank you for having me. So, right now we're talking to the Aromatics family. Everybody that's watching has been watching for a long time, I would hope. I would love if you could introduce yourself.

[00:00:27]>> Hi, everyone. Assalamualaikum warahmatullah. I'm Asif Iqbal, managing director at Khadlaj Perfumes. So, Asif, first thing, just some basics. How long have you been with the company? I joined my father in 2006. My father founded the company in 1997. We started in the old Dubai, that's in Deira. Okay.

[00:00:45]And he used to mix his perfumes. He used to make mukhallats and bakhoor in his shop, right where we sell the perfumes.

[00:00:52]He used to mix here and there oud, musk, and amber, and other stuff. Interesting.

[00:00:56]>> And alhamdulillah, then we started the factory in Sharjah, first in Sharjah.

[00:01:00]And then alhamdulillah, in 2013, we are in Al Hamra right now. Wow, awesome. And yeah, for context, we're here in Ras Al Khaimah or Al Hamra. Al Hamra in Ras Al Khaimah. Al Hamra in Ras Al Khaimah. And it's crazy to think that where you came from, the '97, you said, right? The mixing, hand mixing oils into now a super viral, hyper trending brand on TikTok. And And a lot of people would think, right, like hyper viral, trending TikTok, usually it's just a cloud of like puff, and it's it's not real. But this is one of the brands that have consistently put out quality, and especially at the value. For me, and especially when I'm talking about certain value brands, which I definitely place you in a in a high category value brand, it's not like you're selling an expectation that's exceeding the value, right? You're giving people, or I personally believe that something like Island Dreams is giving you a let's, for example, a quality at the price, which obviously exceeds, right? I mean, they're doing really well. I think that the hype and trend, sure, it does come and go, but when you have a consistent quality that's proven, when people discover this hype, if it stays consistent, then there's something behind it. And I truly believe your brand to be one of those. Uh can you tell me a little bit about your most popular fragrance? Well, Island Dreams.

[00:02:16]>> Island Dreams.

[00:02:16]>> Yeah. Took quite some time to, you know, I wouldn't say create, but yeah, go behind this fragrance, find it find the perfect mix that would do justice to the name and and the story. The thing is that uh apart from the you know, you you you you're creating your own brand, but apart from the fragrance itself, we have our own basis, you know, we have our own my my father has his own signature masks that he's created and and a lot of other ingredients that we have that we have prowess over. That that actually help uh to create a fragrance what this is actually. Okay. Plus the alhamdulillah our factory uh is a ISO certified and alhamdulillah all we have all the European certification standard uh so maceration and the filtration and all the other uh the processes which are necessary to create a good quality product. So, we do that and alhamdulillah this this is the result. Amazing. Amazing. The other thing that I have noticed and it's something that you kind of touched up on and I I believe a lot of my audience know about this is that unique factor that really does live in a brand and it's what differentiates in a world of so many, let's be real, inspired bys or in a similar direction or etc. It's usually the brands and more specifically, I mean, I'm going to you know, say it like it is. I'm going to address the elephant. I make clone wars, okay? Everybody knows about my clone wars. But the one thing that I've noticed and especially more recently, the one that usually stands out the most is the one that has something that's very signature different. And in the case for Khadlaj, it has been consistently the musk. And I've recognized this from Shiyaaka, from the red to the blue to this to even now the newest, one of the newest launches, which is Icon. And I feel like you're very fond of this one more recently. And and I smell this on you also right now.

[00:04:00]Sure. So, why this one specifically?

[00:04:02]Well, I I smell something which was similar and you know, matching our heritage. The incense in the blue shower gel. Sandalwood. That's also very important ingredient. So, I pursued it, my father's sandalwood and his base is really helped a lot and the result is here. To me, it smells like a blue shower gel with some luban bakhoor.

[00:04:24]>> Yeah, incense. Exactly. And that's what we're used to. And um it's very mass appealing. It's a very entry-level style of incensy bakhoor scent, which I personally love. Let me ask you something. Has this juice been macerating for a while? Oh, yes. It's been macerating for more than, I guess, 21 days now. I ask this for a reason.

[00:04:43]The sample that I have is from the show.

[00:04:46]Okay. That was a hand sample. Correct.

[00:04:49]That was That's what happened. Because this smells a little different, actually significantly different. So, the one that I have has like a more green undertone that I'm not getting with this. So, This is purely zest, musk, ginger.

[00:05:02]So, what that was that was a hand sample. And 100% there is a huge difference between when when something is macerated and also the filtration and all the stuff really helps a lot. So, this we have is the perfect version as it's supposed to be.

[00:05:18]And so, I ask this question to Sossy, it's only right that I ask you as well.

[00:05:21]Okay. The difference between maceration and maturation. When does it macerate and when is it maturing? Well, maceration is a process of keeping the bulk and mixing it and keeping for a certain period of time.

[00:05:36]And much maturity is when all the ingredients are mixed together and they and they come out really well. I'll give an example. We have a product called musk musk blend which has in that musk blend there are orange blossoms, you know?

[00:05:48]The the essence of orange blossoms. So, when we keep it for a certain period of time, because it's natural, so the the the juice itself turns a bit yellowish. That happens because of the maturity of orange blossom. Exactly.

[00:06:05]>> Along with other ingredients. So, that's maturity. So, that's it. So, I would say that it narrows down to the one keyword that you said, mixing. Correct. Anytime that it's still in the mixing process, it's in maceration. The moment that it's done mixing, correct me if I'm wrong, is the moment that it starts to mature.

[00:06:20]That's that's how I would say it's that's right. You guys heard it here first. Asif, I love this fragrance, but before No, let's go see how it's made. And then stay tuned to the end, because in the end, we're going to talk about new drops that they've never seen before. Never [music] seen before.

[00:06:44]>> [music] >> This is a leak detection machine, which helps us to find out whether there is any leak in the bottle or something like that. So, we check it before it reaches the consumer.

[00:07:27]So, there's a pressurized system over here. We can find out whether the there is actually a leak or a technical fault in the bottle and the crimping. That's awesome. So, once it's crimped, and it should ideally have no pressure that escape.

[00:07:41]Or certain amount. The because it's it's a metal that is crimp.

[00:07:45]So there is always a chance that there could be some leakages but maybe because of the movement. So we every time and again we use this machine so we find out that there if there is any leak so you have less chances of faulty products reaching the customer customer customer body.

[00:08:00]>> Amazing. Awesome. I had a blast.

[00:08:03]Alhamdulillah. Thank you. I'm I'm glad you >> Seriously. And this is now mine. Yeah.

[00:08:08]I don't know. I I I was tempted to just grab like 50 of them.

[00:08:11]>> No problem. I want to give my my members a little bit more value in some of my favorite ones but I also want to arrange a giveaway. Can we do that? Can we make that happen?

[00:08:19]>> Okay. So let's do a 10-person giveaway.

[00:08:22]Is that cool? Let's do it.

[00:08:23]>> All right. Awesome. So 10 people down in the comment section, I need you to put #khadlaj and just give me your top Khadlaj fragrance of all time. This is going to be limited to USA only because right now I feel like it's the most affected region well even though globally we're affected and we'll talk about that here in a second and we're going to send out a Khadlaj Island Dreams to every single one of those people. And all you have to do is make sure to follow share the video it helps subscribe and #khadlaj with your favorite fragrance in it about five to five days let's say, we'll announce the winner on the community tab. Speaking of which how is the current situation with the straight being closed affecting things in Khadlaj? Well um I will say yeah of course it's a this this the situation is impacting everybody.

[00:09:12]Um of course us as well. The logistics is kind of a bit of a mess. Yeah. Very expensive for us and even for the customers. Mhm. But alhamdulillah we are we are trying to make sure that we are still available trying trying hard to make sure that we are still available and alhamdulillah the demand is not gone down. The main thing is the challenges in logistics. That's the main thing.

[00:09:35]Right. It's also the you know beauty industry, it's the imported good in it's literally everything because everything is imported.

[00:09:43]>> True, of course, of course, that's true.

[00:09:44]That's true. How many things I'm sure you know somebody who has a business that's importing into the states that's not perfumes? Right. Things are going to get expensive. The logistical time is going to be long the lead time is going to be very long.

[00:09:57]Double at least I I can say. But yeah, that's that's a challenge. That's it's it's a challenging time and alhamdulillah I think the UAE is doing the best to overcome all this and stay afloat.

[00:10:10]>> Okay, so are you facing an increase in cost for in things that are also coming in here for production?

[00:10:16]>> Yes, yes, of course, of course. The the shipping lines are putting more surcharges. That's the major thing.

[00:10:22]Um the most important port being closed.

[00:10:25]So there are alternate routes which are coming. They're their charges are high, too. Do you foresee an increase in pricing in the near future for Khadlaj?

[00:10:36]I hope not. Inshallah, I hope not. I hope not either. Inshallah. We we we alhamdulillah we're not uh a temporary brand or a short short-term brand. Alhamdulillah we are here for the long term. Mhm. We know inshallah this this this the situation is not going to be long term. It's going to be short term and we we will sail through.

[00:10:53]Inshallah. To kind of also give them right now, I want to tell you my most enjoyed and I have to admit when this first came out, Zayan Gold, this was something I freaking love. You know, my first batches or bottles, I swear there was like this buttery iris that I wasn't getting from like this La Male style of scent. And as it aged more and more, it definitely gets closer to that tonka bean and something that's pretty youthful, playful, but still sexy. Let me ask you, would you wear this? 100%.

[00:11:24]Have you and do you? Yes, of course. I have this on my dressing table in my room. Alhamdulillah I do wear it. Even my son wears it. Alhamdulillah. He loves this fragrance. One of my recent favorites, one >> that you can wear to the gym and it smells like a super expensive but classic fragrance that's all about musk, citrus, and peppers. How do you feel about snow? Yeah, alhamdulillah, snow as well along with the island series, the shiyaka line, and especially snow, especially snow it popped up during the beauty world, alhamdulillah, and and after that also it it's been doing very good, masha Allah.

[00:11:57]>> very good name and a very very beautiful fragrance, yeah.

[00:12:02]Cafe latte, nuclear. Allahu Akbar.

[00:12:05]Nuclear. Coffee, amaretto, very sexy, and extremely unisex. Alhamdulillah. Is this a direction that you guys like to take, more gourmands? We like to take whatever the customer likes. We like to do whatever the customers like.

[00:12:18]>> Asif, I have to ask you before we leave.

[00:12:20]Okay. I just noticed three fragrances and I've never seen them being released.

[00:12:23]Either A, they're old or they're new releases. They've been worked up on actually right now.

[00:12:28]>> They're Okay, so this one's not even launched? No, no, no. This this one is one that we we were developing.

[00:12:34]>> vanilla one? It's so underrated and I don't know why it didn't get the love that it deserves, but this How do you pronounce this? Suar? Suar fleur delicieux. Fleur delicieux. Masha Allah, my man's been taking lessons in French.

[00:12:48]This is a very floral fragrance with hints of raspberry and it's got a hint of vanilla, too. Vanilla. Yeah, and it's beautiful.

[00:12:56]>> I love raspberry and vanilla combination. I just freaking love it.

[00:12:59]So, this one's going to be more leaning towards the feminine? Yes, yes, of course. Okay, cool. Tell me about this.

[00:13:03]This is from Lafi. It's called Atoms, yeah? Atoms Atmos. Atmos. Oh. Yeah.

[00:13:09]Atmos. What can you tell me about this?

[00:13:11]Atmos, I tried to give a very spa kind of feel to It's got another brother to Atmos Ocean at Atmos Blue.

[00:13:19]>> This one's Atmos Ocean, yeah. So, give a very spa because you know people when they go to the spas and go to the these kind of places, it's very soothing, very calming. So, giving a very and refreshing. So, you would call this in a marine Yeah, kind of marine-ish, fresh, aromatic, yeah. Well, okay. Cool. Awesome. And when is this expected to release? Hopefully June, inshallah. Inshallah. Awesome. Awesome.

[00:13:43]And the last one, this. What is this?

[00:13:47]Hadlaj or Regalia? Regalia. Okay. What can you tell me about this? It's going to be a niche masculine leaning fragrance. Or unisex, I can say more unisex fragrance. But niche, it's going to be it's going to have touch of a bit of oud, a lot of musk.

[00:14:02]>> Awesome. I love it. I'm looking forward to it. Thank you so much for having us.

[00:14:07]Me and my family appreciate you taking the time to show us some hidden gems that are coming, inshallah. But you know I always keep it real. So, of course I get it if I don't like it. I'm going to give it the respect, but we always say our honest opinions. Alhamdulilahi.

[00:14:19]Thank you guys so much for everything that you do in the community. Hadlaj is one of the, I would say, powerful brands, masha Allah, because of its own doing, of giving excellence, giving quality, always improving. Not because, "Oh, you're powerful." You know, you and I, I never I always say like no man is greater than another, right?

[00:14:37]Alhamdulilahi. We're all blessed with opportunities to be here. I thank God every single day. I'm sure you do too.

[00:14:42]You're one of the most humble I've met.

[00:14:44]And just keep striving for excellence.

[00:14:46]Masha Allah. Thank you so much. I love you guys and I love you guys also. Make sure to hit that subscribe button. We'll see you in the next one.