It hasn’t escaped my attention that Yusuf Bhai, the master perfumer in Dubai, has been going viral on TikTok of late. When I first visited his store back in 2023, he’d already amassed a little cult following, so it’s not really a surprise that this has snowballed into something bigger. Usually when something starts to go viral online though, I lose interest fast. The flash-in-the-pan nature of hype, faux-shock and “mouth wide open” reactions is tedious and offputting.
Regardless of all that, Yusuf Bhai deserves his moment in the sun and the recognition that comes with it. Unfortunately, with great hype comes great responsibility, and typically the level of service tends to drop off as that increases. More on that later.
Who exactly is Yusuf bhai?
Yusuf Bhai is a master perfumer, based in Dubai, who has risen to global acclaim through Tiktok. His unique selling point is the ability to create an almost perfect replica of any fragrance within 15-20 minutes.
As you may expect, he can also create custom fragrances just for you, and in store he has an extensive library of scents ranging from typical fragrances like Rose and Amber through to some pretty wacky ones like Mortuary and Coins. In case you’re wondering, I had a quick sniff of both of those – coins did indeed smell like a pocket full of change, and mortuary smelled clinical, metallic and slightly earthy. Very unusual indeed.
Yusuf Bhai himself comes from humble origins – a fishing village in Kerala, where his family had a long history in the local fishing industry. He didn’t really want to follow in his father’s footsteps, something many of us South Asians can relate to. Instead he wanted a different life for himself, moved to the Middle East, toiled quite a bit and eventually became the master perfumer he is today.
His main stores are in Dubai – several in Deira, one in Jumeirah and another in Bur Dubai – as well as an increasing presence in India. A quick Google search indicates that in India, there are several imitation-looking stores springing up, and I can’t help but enjoy the irony. The imitator is now the imitated!
Yusuf bhai before the TikTok hype
As I mentioned above, he’d already began to build up a cult following of his own, long before blowing up on Tiktok. He had established himself as a trusted source amongst South Asians and Arabs over a number of years, mostly for recreating the scents we all love so much. You might think that this is a bad thing, but consider this: the second time I visited his store, he was recreating a discontinued perfume for a guy who’s wife was upset that her favourite bottle of perfume was about to run out.
I myself stumbled upon him after a trip to Oman. I’d bought a small vial of an artisanal perfume oil – by an Omani woman who made fragrances in her kitchen for family and friends. It was a perfume oil that was truly unique, and I’d never came across anything like it before, despite my ever growing collection. I regretted buying just the one, as I ran through it so fast, and nobody else seemed to know of anything similar.
Until Yusuf Bhai.
I’d read a few reddit posts and watched a few videos about this ‘magician’ in Dubai, who could seemingly recreate fragrances, to a tee, from just a quick sniff. I was intrigued. Even if he couldn’t match what I needed exactly, it seemed like a fun thing to experience anyway.
I’d already booked a trip to Dubai in 2023, so I figured I’d drop by.
My trip to Yusuf bhai in Dubai
I actually got very lucky. I’d booked a cab through the Careem app to take me to his store, but the app only had the main one on the map. As we were driving towards it, down a narrow little street lined with perfume shops on either side, I looked out and saw a very small ‘Yusuf Bhai’ sign above one of them, looked down, and there was the man himself in the window!
The store was actually empty at first, so I handed him my perfume oil and asked him if he could replicate it for me. He took a sniff, dabbed some on his wrist and confirmed that he could. He whipped up a quick sample of the fragrance, to make sure I was happy with it, and voila! A perfect match, if not a little stronger than the original.
I then had a few options:
- Stronger or softer scent – I could either make the fragrance softer or stronger than the original, to my taste. I like my perfumes strong though, so I opted for that.
- Perfume spray or oil – he could either make it a fragrance oil, or a perfume. Of course I chose both!
- Perfume colour – at the time, his bottles were transparent, and he’d make the perfume any colour you wanted. He actually suggested pink, to match my hair at the time. So I now proudly own a pink coloured perfume.
He made the perfume right in front of me, in what looked like a mini chemistry lab at the front of the store, whilst also saying hello to everyone else that came into the store. It was getting busy.
Once my perfumes were made and mixed, he recommended that I store the fragrances in the fridge for 5 days. He advised it will make the perfumes even stronger. I walked away with enough oil and spray to last me years, and all relatively inexpensive too.
The cost of the perfumes
The perfume spray Yusuf bhai created for me cost under £20, and the colouring of the fragrance was free of charge.
The perfume oil I bought was a 60ml bottle, which is pretty huge for an oil, and I can confirm I am still using it in 2025! I actually can’t remember the exact price, but it was affordable.
Longevity of Yusuf bhai perfumes
This actually caught me by surprise, even more so than the exact match he’d concocted. The longevity was fantastic. It lasts all day on my clothes, and the sillage is strong too. It doesn’t come across as a cheap fragrance at all, it smells like luxury, and hangs around with you throughout the day.
I’m aware that there are claims now that his fragrances are not long lasting. I can’t really answer to that, as the last fragrances I bought from him were in 2023. Everything I’ve ever bought is still going strong and extremely long lasting.
Would I recommend Yusuf bhai perfumes?
Absolutely. Based on my experiences with Yusuf Bhai’s services and the perfumes he made for me in 2023, I would recommend him.
But there are caveats to that recommendation. When I first visited, I got lucky to have the full ‘Yusuf Bhai’ experience. He was well-known, but he wasn’t viral or mainstream at that point, so he could easily strut between his three stores in Deira without getting much attention. Now that the empire has expanded though, things are different, and you are much less likely to meet the guy.
I went back in 2024, and I got to meet him again, but this time he was unable to recreate the perfumes in front of me. He had too many customers to satisfy, and his team said that he needs time to recognise the elements that go into each fragrance. My guess is, it’s probably quite draining having to act as a spectacle for tourists. I did actually leave my samples with his team to pick up replicas a few days later, but they never got back to me, and presumably they either still have them, or binned them ages ago.
If the quality has gone downhill in 2025, which i cannot say for sure whether it has or hasn’t, I think perspective is required. One, he’s gone viral and made himself successful. There are always people who want to tear you down, or who have wildly unrealistic expectations. And secondly, assuming the quality and the service has dropped off, that’s just what happens as businesses formed off the back of a singular personality do – it’s difficult to sustain across a growing empire.
Nonetheless, his fragrances are affordable, much more so than the originals he recreates.
Can I buy Yusuf Bhai fragrances in the UK or worldwide?
Yes, you can. Yusuf bhai has a website called Yusuf Bhai fragrances and he ships worldwide, even to the UK.
The website sells fragrances that smell similar to popular fragrances.
His website can be found HERE.
