Best Valentino Perfumes in the UAE
Article Summary: The best Valentino perfumes in the UAE are the Born in Roma family: Uomo Born in Roma, the 2019 vetiver eau de toilette; Donna Born in Roma, its jasmine and vanilla sister; and the two Intense editions of 2023 that had their world premiere at Dubai Duty Free, Uomo Intense on Bourbon vanilla and lavandin, Donna Intense on vanilla, jasmine and benzoin. L'Oreal, which has held the Valentino fragrance licence since 2019, counts Born in Roma Donna and Uomo among the fifteen biggest fragrances in the world. Valentino is the most searched fragrance brand on the MOJ list in the UAE, about 9,000 searches a month. MOJ interprets the two Intense editions as Roma M Intenso and Roma W Intenso from AED 32, all sizes available on October 16, 2026.
- Valentino was founded in Rome in 1960 by Valentino Garavani, who died in January 2026 at 93; the house belongs to Qatar's Mayhoola, with Kering holding 30 percent since 2023, and Alessandro Michele has been creative director since 2024.
- The fragrances are made under licence by L'Oreal since January 2019, after Puig from 2011 and Procter and Gamble before that.
- Uomo Born in Roma (2019, eau de toilette) and Uomo Born in Roma Intense (2023, eau de parfum) are by Antoine Maisondieu and Guillaume Flavigny; Donna Born in Roma Intense (2023) is by Amandine Clerc-Marie and Honorine Blanc.
- UAE prices at Faces and Ounass on October 16, 2026: Uomo Intense AED 445 for 50 ml and 605 for 100 ml; Donna Intense AED 555 and 740; Donna Born in Roma AED 555 and 740; Uomo Born in Roma AED 405 and 540.
- Roma M Intenso and Roma W Intenso are AED 32, 42 and 69 for 30, 50 and 100 ml, and every size of both was available this week.
| Original | Year | UAE price | MOJ version | From (AED) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uomo Born in Roma Intense | 2023 | AED 445 / 50 ml | Roma M Intenso | 32 |
| Donna Born in Roma Intense | 2023 | AED 555 / 50 ml | Roma W Intenso | 32 |
| Uomo Born in Roma | 2019 | AED 405 / 50 ml | - | - |
| Donna Born in Roma | 2019 | AED 555 / 50 ml | - | - |
Who makes Valentino perfume
L'Oreal, since the first day of 2019. Valentino is a Rome couture house, founded in 1960 by Valentino Garavani with his partner Giancarlo Giammetti; Garavani died in Rome in January 2026 at 93, and the house has been owned since 2012 by Mayhoola, the Qatari investment group, with Kering buying 30 percent in 2023 for 1.7 billion euros and holding an option on the rest that both sides pushed back in September 2025, so the ownership does not change before 2028. Alessandro Michele, formerly of Gucci, has been creative director since March 2024, after Pierpaolo Piccioli's twenty-five years. None of those people composes perfume. The fragrances were made by Procter and Gamble until 2011, then by Puig, which launched Valentina and Valentino Uomo, and since January 2019 by L'Oreal Luxe on a long-term licence announced in May 2018. Every Born in Roma bottle is a L'Oreal product, and L'Oreal has been telling its shareholders since 2024 that Born in Roma Donna and Uomo sit among the fifteen biggest fragrances in the world, its own ranking, and that Uomo drove its men's fragrance growth in Europe in 2025.
Why that matters to a buyer here: Valentino is, by Semrush's UAE data, the most searched fragrance brand of any MOJ interprets, about 9,000 searches a month across the brand name and Born in Roma, more than Prada, Hermes or Dolce and Gabbana. There is no Valentino Beauty store in the UAE, online or physical; the line is sold by Faces, Ounass and Bloomingdale's, and the Intense pair below had their world premiere not in Rome but at Dubai Duty Free, in January 2023, two months before the rest of the world. MOJ reads the two Intense editions in our designer inspired perfumes collection. The usual rules apply: every fact is stated where two or more independent sources agree, prices are from Faces and Ounass as listed this week, and no reading of ours is presented as the original.
The Born in Roma family, sorted by year
Born in Roma is a family of two pillars and a long tail of editions, and the names confuse people, so here is the order. The pillars arrived in 2019: Uomo Born in Roma, an eau de toilette by Antoine Maisondieu and Guillaume Flavigny on violet leaf, sage and smoked vetiver, with a mineral salt and ginger edge, and Donna Born in Roma, an eau de parfum on jasmine sambac, cashmeran and Bourbon vanilla, both in the pyramid bottle studded like the house's Rockstud shoes, with Anwar Hadid and Adut Akech in a campaign shot by Inez and Vinoodh and a film by Harmony Korine. Faces lists Uomo at AED 405 for 50 ml and 540 for 100 ml, and Donna at AED 555 and 740; Ounass agrees on both. Then the editions: Yellow Dream in 2021, Coral Fantasy in 2022, the Intense pair in 2023, Green Stravaganza in January 2024, Extradose in January 2025, the Ivory limited edition in September 2025, Purple Melancholia in early 2026 with Colman Domingo as the face, a set of hair and body mists this summer and a Ruby edition for the coming holidays. MOJ reads only the two Intense editions, and we would rather say so than card a product that does not exist.
The two we make, with the MOJ versions
1. Uomo Born in Roma Intense, read by Roma M Intenso
The men's Intense is an eau de parfum, where the original Uomo is an eau de toilette, and it is the one Faces tags as its top seller for the house. Maisondieu and Flavigny kept their own smoked vetiver base and put Bourbon vanilla on top of it, lifted by ginger, with lavandin in the heart; the brand calls it an ambery fougere and sells it as a night in the Eternal City, a tribute to Rome and its sunsets, in the Rockstud bottle lacquered black. It launched in February 2023, after its January premiere at Dubai Duty Free. Faces and Ounass both list the 50 ml at AED 445 and the 100 ml at AED 605; the 100 ml was unavailable at Faces when we looked.
Our Roma M Intenso follows the same three steps: vanilla first, soft and creamy, lavender as a clean aromatic heart, vetiver as a dry, earthy finish. Three sizes at AED 32, 42 and 69, all available this week, which makes the 100 ml about a ninth of the Ounass bottle. Evenings and occasions in the cooler months, for a man who wants vanilla without the sugar; its sweeter cousins are in our guide to the best gourmand perfumes, and it sits in our perfumes for men collection.
- Top: vanilla
- Heart: lavender
- Base: vetiver
2. Donna Born in Roma Intense, read by Roma W Intenso
The women's Intense is an eau de parfum by Amandine Clerc-Marie and Honorine Blanc, the pair who also composed Voce Viva, and it is the one Ounass tags as most desired. It opens on Bourbon vanilla brightened with bergamot and a blackcurrant accord, puts jasmine in the heart and benzoin resin at the base, a floral amber the brand describes as a bold, intense floral for the night, in the same black lacquer bottle as the men's. It launched alongside Uomo Intense in February 2023. Ounass lists the 50 ml at AED 555 and the 100 ml at AED 740, and Faces shows the same on its brand page, with a slightly lower price on the product page itself; the 100 ml was unavailable at Faces when we looked. It is the most expensive Born in Roma pillar in the UAE, AED 110 more than the men's for the same size.
Our Roma W Intenso opens on Bourbon vanilla and amber, rich and golden, gives the heart jasmine and closes on benzoin, soft and resinous. Three sizes at AED 32, 42 and 69, all available this week; the 100 ml is less than a tenth of the Ounass bottle. Everyday wear and date nights in the cooler months, close to the skin, for a woman who likes vanilla warm and creamy; the rest of that school is in our guide to the best vanilla perfumes, and it sits in our perfumes for women collection.
- Top: bourbon vanilla, amber
- Heart: jasmine
- Base: benzoin
The older house, and which to buy first
Before Born in Roma there was Valentina, Puig's first Valentino perfume in 2011, by Olivier Cresp and Alberto Morillas; Valentino Uomo in 2014, Olivier Polge's eau de toilette, still sold at Faces at AED 405 and 540 and still tagged a top seller there; Valentino Donna in 2015 by Sonia Constant and Antoine Maisondieu; Valentino Uomo Intense in 2016 by Sophie Labbe; and Voce Viva in 2020, the Clerc-Marie and Blanc eau de parfum with Lady Gaga as the face, AED 415 and 600 at Faces. None of the five appears on Valentino Beauty's own international fragrance page any more, though Faces still sells Valentino Uomo and Voce Viva. The newest pillars are Vendetta Donna and Uomo, launched in July 2026 with Dakota Johnson and Alexander Skarsgard, and the Anatomy of Dreams collection at AED 1,455 for 100 ml at Ounass. MOJ reads none of those.
If you want one Valentino, buy Uomo Born in Roma Intense if you are a man who wears vanilla, and Donna Born in Roma Intense if you are a woman who does; the originals are the two that L'Oreal, Faces and Ounass all point at, and the readings at AED 32 are the cheapest way to find out whether a sweet vetiver or a creamy jasmine is your thing before paying AED 445 or 555. How a reading is built, and what it does and does not promise, is set out in our explainer on what inspired perfumes are.
