Anfasic Dokhoon are one of those fragrance houses, created by entrepreneur Mohamed Hilal, who also happens to own the likes of Hind Al Oud and Khaltat, other powerhouses of perfume in the United Arab Emirates.

Shay Oud by Anfasic Dokhoon has easily been my most worn scent of 2023 and I’ve had countless people stop me to ask what the hell I’m wearing. Projection is *insert fire emojis* and will quite literally fill up a room as you walk through it.

As with most of the best things in life, finding Shay Oud was a happy accident. I purchased an unbranded perfume oil with the same name in Muscat back in March, thinking very little of it. However, I quickly fell in love with the scent so much, that I searched for it high and low but could not find anything remotely similar to it in spray format.

I could detect notes of Oud, along with frankincense and honey, so I searched online for fragrances with these notes, and came across Anfasic Dokhoon’s Shay Oud, which I purchased immediately whilst still in Muscat. Honestly, it smells nothing like the perfume oil that inspired my purchase, but my god, I love it.

Shay Oud is a beast. It's a smoky amber, incense-heavy perfume. Think 'walking through a medieval church, with smoke hanging in the air, amidst the burning of frankincense, on a bed of sultry oud' and you end up somewhere close.

I don’t detect any notes of honey specifically, but there is the faintest hint of something just a little sweet. I do get some leather - which I usually avoid - but it’s incredibly subtle and blended in well. It's not the kind of leather that has you choking and trying to escape the room to get away from it.

In my opinion, this scent is not for the faint hearted. She is the IT girl, she is classy as hell and embodies quiet but loud confidence (think Miranda Priestly), she is the moment, you will smell her coming and she will be known as soon as she walks into the room.

That being said, I think it can be worn by anyone who loves a heavy-hitting perfume, my husband wears it too.

Why am I talking about makeup in a perfume review? Well, I’ve found myself wanting to do minimal makeup when I wear this scent - freshly moisturised skin, groomed brows and mascara but it needs a bold, red lip to match the attitude it brings. No blush nor eyeshadow is needed. The fragrance IS the makeup.

The projection on this is outrageous, which was truly unexpected. Two sprays, perhaps a maximum of three to four, is more than enough to project like no other scent I've ever come across. And yes, I include Dior's Oud Ispahan in this. It beats it hands down on projection.

In fact, I went for brunch with Sheenie a couple of weeks ago and a member of staff approached me to say “your perfume is too strong, I can smell it from the other side of the room!” He then went on to ask for the details of the perfume, of course.

I've had similar incidents at a work do, where I spritzed on three sprays in the morning. Yet somehow, in the evening I got comments “girrrl, you smell freaking incredible!” and “I could smell that perfume from across the room!”

So to summarise, the projection and sillage is fantastic and I’ve found that it will linger on your clothes for days and days, which is just fantastic for coats.

It's fair to say that Shay Oud is unique, particularly over here in the west. I haven't came across anything remotely similar from the designer perfumery brands who are all flocking towards Oud and various other Middle Eastern fragrances, and charging ridiculous amounts for the privilege. Although, the sales rep at Anfasic Dokhoon did mention that many of their scents have been copied, or duped, by the likes of Dior. Think about that next time you take a pop at Aldi...

Something that I also look out for is high oil content within the perfumes - this tends to make them longer lasting, and a little more powerful. For Anfasic Dokhoon, their fragrances are in the 30% to 40% range, which again is something the designer brands like to charge extra for - but in the Middle East, this is just basic.

Anfasic Dokhoon Shay Oud is their number one selling scent in the UAE and I can see why. It is the Middle East in a bottle.

Anfasic Dokhoon Shay Oud comes in a 75ml bottle and will set you back 415 DHS, which comes to roughly £88. It's widely available to purchase only in the Middle East, however there are Middle Eastern sellers who will ship it to the UK at a premium but please do your research to ensure its authenticity.

My only complaints are that I wish it came in a bigger size, and that it were slightly easier to get hold of. However, I am fairly certain that in the next year or two, we'll see a trend over here in the UK and the west, leaning towards Middle Eastern fragrance houses with original scents. We already have the likes of Amouage (from Oman) and Arabian Oud (from Saudi Arabia), so it's only a matter of time that the rest will begin to follow.