Oud runs through both Layla and 11:11, but the company it keeps changes the direction of each fragrance. In one, it sits alongside jasmine and vanilla; in the other, black pepper, cardamom and saffron. That interest in contrast gives shape to Shifa, the five-fragrance collection that Noudar founder Noor Alfardan has introduced in collaboration with her sister, Najla Alfardan.
Announced in Doha on 29 September 2026, the collaboration brings Shifa into Noudar’s world of jewellery and personal adornment. Its five compositions move between woods, spice, flowers and sweeter gourmand notes, offering several expressions of the sisters’ shared connection to Middle Eastern scent traditions.
From jewellery to a daily ritual
Noor launched Noudar in 2012. The Qatari jewellery house draws on Arabic and Islamic visual culture, including Omani mosaic patterns and henna designs. Her interest in watch mechanisms has also informed the way its jewellery accommodates movement and flexibility. There is a useful connection here: both jewellery and perfume are experienced in close contact with the wearer, becoming part of the small gestures of getting dressed.
Najla’s starting point was her interest in the senses and wellbeing, which she began exploring during the pandemic in 2020. In the launch announcement, she describes wanting to create “scents that invite you to pause, breathe and tune into yourself”. That intention gives the project its personal register, with fragrance conceived as something to return to in everyday life.
According to the brand, the perfumes were developed and refined over more than two years and are produced in small batches. The breadth of the collection allows that shared idea to take different forms, from a spice-led composition to the lighter character of fig and musk.
Five ways into scent
The collection’s published notes place Layla at its warm, richly layered end. Vanilla and jasmine are joined by oud, amber and cedarwood, bringing floral and woody elements into the same composition. 11:11 takes the oud theme towards spice, pairing it with black pepper, cardamom, saffron and vetiver. Read together, the two profiles show how a recurring note can be given a different setting.
Kenza follows the gourmand route, the perfume vocabulary associated with edible impressions. Its praline and vanilla notes are paired with sandalwood. It is a concise trio within the collection’s stated palette, with a sweet-to-woody emphasis that separates it from the more densely spiced profile of 11:11.
Skin To Skin introduces ginger, fig, white musk and soft woods. The brand describes it as fresh and light, making it a counterpoint to Layla’s richer construction. Men in Grey brings another floral dimension: jasmine and tuberose appear alongside orris, with pink pepper and cardamom completing its listed notes. Across the five, spices and flowers recur without becoming a single repeated formula.
The language of adornment
The campaign makes the connection to jewellery tangible. Ringed hands cradle the square bottles; close framing brings glass, fabric and skin into focus. Rather than illustrate ingredients, the photographs dwell on the gesture of holding and wearing fragrance. It is a fitting visual expression of the collaboration: Noor’s established language of adornment meeting Najla’s interest in making scent a considered part of the day.
