Get personal with the nicest niche brands

For years, we had to scout traditional perfumeries and secret boutiques around the world for that exclusive beauty find. Until now, ‘hard-to-get' was a desired attribute when we whispered about the luxurious niche cosmetic brands. But as consumers become more discerning, and with a growing demand for ‘something different', niche brands have started to become available closer to home. In fact, thanks to more people seeking undiscovered, individual labels, niche brands are managing to sustain themselves in an industry where even luxury products are dominated by corporate bigwigs. These lesser-known brands are often helped by celebs publicly proclaiming their preference for them, because of the personal touch. Small and privately owned - often family run - the common vision niche brands share is to evoke the image of a one-of-a-kind product. With their USPs ranging from fine-quality ingredients and tales of tradition to innovative packaging and environment-friendly practices, niche brands usually cater to a small, yet extremely loyal, clientele. Niche brands consciously keep their labels exclusive with limited stocks. And the main reason for this is that raw materials are too difficult or unviable to source for mass production. But this translates into a huge benefit for the customer, namely, better quality control. "As a niche brand, our production runs are much smaller than those of commercial luxury fragrances and that's why we can afford to select and then work with the finest raw materials," says Enzo Galardi, the owner of Bois 1920, who inherited this niche perfumery from his grandfather. From gulfnews