The Magnifique Podcast
Hi guys! Welcome to Magnifique, your favorite fashion lovers podcast.
My names Gabrielle and I’m a fashion industry newb, though I’ve loved playing dress up for as long as I can remember. The fashion industry is an intimidating space, filled with elitist know-it-alls, it's hard to feel invited to learn about the rich history behind modern-day fashion.
I started this podcast because time after time, I've tried to find podcasts to learn more about hmm: how Gilded Age fashion influences modern-day attire, or Marc Jacobs being the reason for Louis Vuittons ready-to-wear line, OR how Levi Strauss pioneered Western Denim…and I'm met with a graveyard of results. I can't find anything! So I guess if I want something in this niche, I must do it myself. I invite you to join me as I expand my knowledge of the fashion space. Together we'll kinda be geniuses of fashion.
The Magnifique Podcast
Episode 17 - Scents of Empowerment: The Magic of Kayali Perfumes and Mona Kattan
Can a scent transport you back to a cherished memory or inspire a new chapter in your life? The heart of this episode is dedicated to the mesmerizing world of Kayali, the perfume brand founded by the dynamic Kattan sisters, Huda and Mona. We’ll explore the development of their most popular scents—Vanilla 28, Citrus 08, and Musk 12—and Mona Kattan’s heartfelt journey from co-founding Huda Beauty to crafting perfumes inspired by her Middle Eastern roots.
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Hi everyone and welcome to Magnifique, your favorite perfume podcast. I'm your host, gabrielle, and today we talk about my new favorite perfume brand, kayali. But first, how are we feeling? It's finally September, the wind is blowing, the sun is on our side, only a few 90 degree days left in our future, and I'm pretty stoked about that. I feel like I could do anything. Happy Fashion Week also.
Speaker 1:That started on Friday. I will have a full Fashion Week recap episode in a couple weeks, just wanting to take everything in before rushing an episode out, but I am loving what I'm seeing on the runway so far. I feel like a child, like just waiting for Christmas. It's truly my favorite time of year and I will share all of my thoughts at a later date, after everything has been presented to us. So, oh, oh, just some housekeeping Not really, but like slightly. I put out a short and sweet fall fashion guide on Substack, so be sure to check that out. It's in the link that we share in all of our episode notes. You just click that. There we are, and this week I also plan to do a fall perfume guide. So she's getting wacky on Substack. She's really just trying to find her way.
Speaker 1:So last week I shared some grievances that I had with you from the week. I just have one grievance to discuss and then we can swiftly move past Just another week of being pissed at the patriarchy. What's new? First off, this is a girly pop safe space, so I'll be cautious since I know the girlies don't want me to utter the word. But Thursday was really rough for me and I won't be having a good time until February because my ears just keep getting assaulted by the F sports slur and respectfully and sexistly I'm a girl, I don't want to hear that. Don't tell me anything about the sport. That's not for me, I don't care. But then my husband really loves it so I have to like it because it makes him happy and I like anything that makes him happy. So it really is just a really hard time for me and I would like February to be over now. I also have another reason why I'm annoyed at the patriarchy.
Speaker 1:I went to a women's conference on Friday and it really was amazing. Women's Conference on Friday, and it really was amazing. But I couldn't help but be furious the entire time Because most of what was talked about was innovations that had been made in reaction to the patriarchy and how awful some men can be at times and things that women have to do to uphold these patriarchal standards. Really, yada, yada. But they were also just going into very explicit details of the examples of how men were awful to them. And no, I agree and I felt what they were saying, but I couldn't help but notice that there were 15 men in a sea of 500 women and I don't know. I just felt were 15 men in a sea of 500 women and I don't know. I just felt like more men needed to hear the message so as a collective, they could do better and be better, so that maybe these extreme innovations don't need to occur. Although, let's be clear, innovation's awesome. I'm not expanding on that part. I'm not defending that more than I already have. I love innovation. My thing is, men should have been there to hear women's experiences with other men so that they can, like I said, be better, do better Anywho.
Speaker 1:Oh, this week I have found the nail polish that I want to buy every single bottle of and I want to wear for every single year for the rest of my life. I kind of explained on TikTok, but I've already sent you to Substack, so I'll tell you the story here so you don't got to go a million different places. I went to Sally's Beauty for a nudie pink a your nails, but better look. And I asked the Sally's Beauty Worker for suggestions. You know I should have gone in there with a plan, but you know sometimes I don't want to. So I didn't. But a homegirl was scaring me. She was showing a bunch of different options that weren't really my style, weren't really what I asked for, but at the end of the day I asked her for help. So I chose one of her recommendations Because it's just nail polish. I am not going to die if I hate it. So I didn't really care that much. But I trusted her and I went with Bare my Soul by OPI. That Sally's Beauty Worker deserves a kiss on the mouth or something consensual, because I will be wearing it for the rest of my life. I've caught myself staring at how good my nails looked so often that my husband has started to notice me doing it. I love this shade. I love the Sally's Beauty Worker. I want nothing but good things to happen to them.
Speaker 1:Anywho, today we talk about Kay Ali, a brand that I have grown to be incredibly fond of. I have tested a handful of fragrances from their line and every single time I do I'm blown away. In early episodes of the podcast, you may remember me finding and absolutely gushing about the fragrance Yum Pistachio Gelato. I still love her dearly. In fact, I'm wearing her today. Mixed with Juliet has a Gun, not a Perfume. It makes the most delicious marshmallow-y musky scent that I could one day decide that I want to be buried in. Lots of burying me today in this episode. So far. Sorry about that, but let's hold hands. Let's kind of just dive in to Kay Ali and what the brand is, what they stand for, yada, yada.
Speaker 1:So Kay Ali as a brand started in 2018. There were six years of preparation that went into the foundation of the brand, be it marketing, really the perfume itself, formulations, just all of the above and it was founded by the Catan sisters, both Huda and Mona. The above and it was founded by the Catan sisters, both Huda and Mona. Mona Catan speaks to Vogue India about the six years of preparation and that it took so long because they wanted to launch only when they felt like they had absolutely created some of the best scents that the market could offer. She partnered with the Geneva-based perfume house Firminic to create her first line of scents and truly they still work together. So all of their scents. Firminic is a world-renowned perfume house with some of the best noses in the world. At the time of Cayeli's conception, working with this house was, and continues to be, a testament to how much thought and care goes behind each fragrance.
Speaker 1:The name Kayali comes from the Arabic language, meaning my imagination. Now I will talk about this more when I dive deeper into Mona Katan, but they are Arabic. Into Mona Katan, but they are Arabic. They live in Dubai. They have really set up shop in Dubai and really lean on the Middle East for influence in their fragrance and how they view perfume. Jesus, why did I sound so out of breath there, anyway? So the name Kayali is Arabic, meaning my imagination, and as we get into this episode, you will see that we owe everything to Mona's imagination. She is a star as well as and in addition to the name. The bottle design of the scent remains consistent along the entire brand and it's an ode to the Middle East as well. The diamond-shaped bottle in the decorative bottle cap is the modern twist on ornate, fine jewels. Now Mona Katan describes the brand as being playful, luxurious and approachable, using her creation to encourage her community to take a little breather a little pause, some may say and indulge in an act of self-care through scent.
Speaker 1:A huge selling point of Kay Ali is that the fragrances are meant to be layered and mixed to create the wearer's most uniquely tailored scents, and one of the core points is layering their scents. Each fragrance in the company's catalog is made to make a statement, while also playing kindly with others and to blend beautifully together. That's not to say that you can never just wear one fragrance of the collection on its own I very often do but that's just so. You have options, which is refreshing to see from a fragrance brand. The first product drop happened in 2018, and it consisted of four unique scents Vanilla 28, citrus 8, musk 12, and Elixir 11. Elixir was intended to be a signature scent, a base, if you will, for the layering powers of the other three, to kind of play off of. For the layering powers of the other three, to kind of play off of. Elixir can be described as kind of a strong, feminine scent incorporating notes of jasmine, rose, petal, apple really just all around beautiful, a good base ground for the layers.
Speaker 1:Now for inquiring minds, the k-alley brand has named its scents and adds a little number at the end. So vanilla 28, citrus 8 and this is because it's an indication of how many versions or modifications that were made in the process for each scent until they landed on what they deemed to be the perfect formulation. Like I said earlier, the Catan sisters crafted these scents in France, with world-renowned noses, while leaning on Middle Eastern influences for specific scents and specific notes. So I'd like to kind of talk about the core scents that they first launched with. And then I have one of Mona's favorite scents and we'll talk about that as well. So I already talked about Elixir 11. So let's talk about Kayali Vanilla 28.
Speaker 1:This is the highest grossing and most profitable scent from the catalog, so let's just talk about it. As the name indicates, there were 28 versions before the scent was released. This scent is very warm, very sexy. It gives winter vanilla scent. It's warm with vanilla, orchid and Brazilian tonka bean, all wrapped up beautifully with just like a spritz of brown sugar. And then we have Citrus 08. Again, it implies that there were eight different versions Very light, very refreshing, the obvious citrus accord, with hints and layers of rhubarb and pink pepper. It feels very energetic. And then we have Musk 12, which was the last layering scent of the first collection. Again, it implies that there were 12 modifications made before it was deemed perfect. She's light, she's airy, with lotus flower, jasmine and sandalwood. It gives skin scent, but so so much better.
Speaker 1:So then, sorry, I feel like I'm just throwing a bunch of notes at you. That's fine, I know, hearing people talk about notes is much different than smelling them on your own. I'm not sure if you can conceptualize what I'm saying, but real quick, let's talk about one of Mona's most favorite scents Sweet Diamond Pepper 25. This scent was inspired by Mona's fascination with pink pepper as it's sacred to the Middle East. It took her three years to develop and it was conceptualized only after visiting her perfumers at Firminic in France. In the notes-smelling session, mona Catan became entranced by pink pepper and its complexities. Catan became entranced by pink pepper and its complexities.
Speaker 1:The perfume is a modern take on pink pepper, adding florals and woodsy notes. Like I said, I know me listing notes probably means nothing to you. So, essentially, this modern take on pink pepper adds some depth of florals think maybe a flower shop mixed with some romantic and muskier scents, think elevated unisex section of bath and body. It's a lot of sandalwood. It's a lot of musk. Are you picking up what I'm putting down? Mona says that she loves to wear this mixed with either Vanilla 28 or Musk 12.
Speaker 1:You've heard me talk a lot about Mona Katan. Who is she? Well, let's take a journey, come on. Mona is the sister of Huda Katan, the face of Huda Beauty, the brand, and while the sisters worked together on this brand, and while the sisters worked together on this brand, mona Katan realized her dreams of perfume creation and sought out her desires to create this masterpiece. We now know as Kay Ali. Huda Beauty is a million, perhaps billion dollar beauty and makeup line that Huda Katan is the face of and, truthfully, I think I could make an entire episode on that. That's why I didn't really go too much into Huda Beauty here, but just to let you know, there was Huda Beauty and from Huda Beauty we have now branched to Kay Alley.
Speaker 1:Mona has been obsessed with fragrances for her entire life. She claims that her most sensitive sense was her smell, creating deep connections with scents. Throughout life, she's loved fragrances so much that she started purchasing them as soon as she had her own money. She says that her first ever paycheck went to two new perfumes, which just further fueled her obsession. And, as I mentioned, she and her sister co-founded Huda Beauty, kayali, and also Wishful, which is a skincare brand. Huda Beauty is Huda's baby. Huda Beauty is Huda's baby. Kay Ali is Mona's baby, though they both dip their toes in each other's brands to help out where necessary.
Speaker 1:Mona has further proven her love for perfume by letting us into what she calls her fragrance library, and she gives us a tour on YouTube of her Fragrance Library, which contains over 3,000 bottles of perfume. I think I trust this woman's opinion when she tells me what does and does not smell good. Um, fun fact about the katan sisters they moved to dubai when mona was 17. She says that people in dubai used perfume as part of their daily lifestyle, almost ritualistic. She owes her growing perfume obsession to moving to dubai.
Speaker 1:Middle eastern culture runs deep in her blood. She's wanted to incorporate Middle Eastern influence in her line, while still being a brand that other people could connect to throughout the world. She opened up to Glossy Daily about not wanting her brand to be quote-unquote too Middle Eastern, only that she wanted to share its richness and its depth through the sense of smell. She notes that fragrances and the general sense of smell can almost act as a bookmark of your life, linking memories to scents. She says that she chose very specific fragrance notes to highlight, based on the feelings and memories that they evoke. Vanilla is one of those notes. It reminds her of childhood and birthday cake. Consequently, vanilla plays an integral part of the Keali DNA.
Speaker 1:I felt this part of my soul wholeheartedly believe that fragrances act as kind of a time capsule. As a child my favorite child, I mean like middle schooler my favorite scent was Bath Body Works Black Amethyst. I haven't smelled it in years, but every time I did it brings me back to eighth grade, meeting my at the time favorite singer in the Fitz's dining room for a meet and greet. He signed my hoodie. It was one of the best days of my life. And then another memory rocker is YSL Leib. It's one of my top three fragrances of all time. But every time I smell it I'm immediately transported back to Florida and my Florida vacay back in 2021, I had just gotten the scent. I wore the crap out of it during my vacay. So now I associate Leap with Florida. And then one more I specifically wore MFK's Baccarat Rouge 540 on my wedding day, to tie that memory to a scent. Many people choose a wedding day scent, a scent that holds on to the memory and something that you can be transported back to every time you get a whiff. But back to Mona, back to her, back to her story. Mona creates mood boards to use in her creative process while working with the perfume house, and she tweaks and modifies each scent until it appropriately matches her inspiration and kind of the vibe of the mood board.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about what makes a brand so appealing to customers. Number one, I think they are very accessible. In their discovery sets, they have, I want to say, like four brands per set and you can smell a wide variety of fragrances in one purchase, which I think is fabulous. But I also agree that most other brands do the same thing. But how are they so successful? They launched 20 fragrances since their launch in 2018.
Speaker 1:What makes people so drawn to this brand and feel so strongly toward the sense itself? The brand also almost exclusively started from the internet, selling via TikTok, instagram what have you? And selling perfume online is incredibly difficult without smell-o-vision, she told the Telegraph. You have to explain to people how it makes you feel because there's really no other way that you can inspire somebody to purchase your goods. The power of feeling is incredible and I'm very susceptible to buying things due to how they could potentially make me feel. I bought Yum Passaggio Gelato because of how it made me feel. And how it made me feel was I've never smelled anything like this before in my life and if I leave this Sephora without getting it, I might as well jump off a bridge Like I can't live without this fragrance. Maybe overreaction, but also that's my business.
Speaker 1:But to briefly talk finances, kay Ali went from pulling in 1.5 mil in 2018 to 39 mil last year, in 2023. And they were the fourth highest earning perfume brand last year, with a 128% growth, behind YSL, dossier and Dior TikTok. Of course, tiktok was instrumental in garnering new customers. They had a 406 year-over-year spike in TikTok, new customer traction last year, me included. The perfume girlies got me. I was susceptible. I am part of that 406%.
Speaker 1:But I believe and in just my opinion, I think that Kay Ali is so influential and so and is able to garner these rates. Well, one, because the Catan sisters have a background in selling, in marketing, in conveying a message to their core audience. They've been there, done that. Kay Ali is their second brand. They know how to sell. But also these products are easy to talk about on social media because they're fun. They're fresh, with fragrances that get people excited, like Yum, pistachio, gelato or Vanilla 28, which alone brought in nearly 10 million.
Speaker 1:Personally, what draws me to this brand is the passion behind it. I know I'm getting a quality product and I feel safe investing in the brand because we've seen and Mona has proved that she uses her products quite possibly more than any of the rest of us combined. See a brand who gives a shit and cares about the quality of the products that they're distributing, not just trying to make a quick penny which obviously they are making pennies, they are making millions, but it's just nice to know that there was thought behind it. So what's to come from k alley? What is happening?
Speaker 1:Well, this year they put out two so far new fragrances Vanilla Candy, rock Sugar 42, which you guessed it is very sugary, very vanilla, very candy-like. That took 42 rounds of modifications to perfect. And then we also have Maui in a Bottle, sweet Banana 37, which is very just, island vacation, very serene coconut banana. Brazil tonka bean, you know, very aquatic resort. I actually haven't smelled it so. So I'm really just talking, just talking to talk, and that took 37 modifications to perfect. I will be needing to seek that out, though. Just give it a little sniff. But this was a short episode and for that I apologize. But also no, I don't because Kay Ali has been an incredible brand to research.
Speaker 1:Mona Katan is an inspiration to not only follow your passion, but immerse yourself in it and its world to create the best possible outcome, working with the best possible people that you can find, really getting your knowledge up and not being afraid that if things take longer, that's just an opportunity to get better. Really, I find her passion for these fragrances to be a large reason why people keep coming back and trusting her opinion on fragrances. So, in short, what have we been talking about for the past 30 minutes? In short, what have we been talking about for the past 30 minutes?
Speaker 1:Kayali is a brand founded by the Catan sisters in 2018, driven by Mona Catan's lifelong passion for scents, partnering with some of the best noses in the fragrance game. That also intertwines her Middle Eastern culture with the brand name, meaning my imagination in Arabic. Mona had a clear, creative vision with Kay Ali's fragrances designed for layering, offering a personalized scent experience from blending the Middle Eastern influences with modern-day luxury. Since its launch, kay Ali has captivated customers worldwide, growing significantly through social media and becoming one of the top-earning perfume brands. I sincerely cannot wait to keep following the brand's journeys, see what they have in store for the future. It's truly an inspirational ride and maybe one day we'll cover Huda Beauty and Huda Katan, who founded her entire brand off of one blog. So one blog, one dream and a lot of work. But that was Kay Ali the perfume brand.
Speaker 1:Like I said, I truly enjoy their work. I really do love their fragrances. They are like anything I've ever smelled in my entire life. I highly recommend getting into a Sephora or buying a Discovery set and really just experiencing it for yourself. I also really like Eden. That is their sweet apple scent Gorgeous, it is so gorgeous. Highly recommend that as well. But yeah, I hope you enjoyed hanging out with me. We had a lot of fun. Question mark no, we did, but if you enjoyed, don't forget to rate the pod on any platform that you're currently listening and I hope to see you back next week. We're going to talk about denim and its influence on modern day fashion. Okay, make sure to follow us on all of our links. Like I said, those are in the episode notes and head on over to Substack. We're going to get real active over there.
Speaker 1:She is in her Sex in the. Oh. I started watching Sex in the City for the first time ever, kind of annoyed that it took me 25 years to find it. But here we are, we're in our Sex in the City era, and perfect timing too, because I just started posting on Substack. So now I kind of feel like Carrie Bradshaw typing away on my computer, except I'm nothing like Carrie Bradshaw and I don't really think I'm anything like any of the four girls. But we'll see, we will see. I'm only on season two, so they'll have to grow on me a bit more, but they're all not like me. I'm just not like other girls. No, um, kind of true, but also not in that way, not in a pick-me way. I just don't feel real sometimes. And with that I bid you adieu. Goodbye, guys. See you next week.
