Mona Kattan launches Kayali fragrance

We’ve been following Mona’s inspiring journey from the very beginnings of brand Huda Beauty, pre-eyelash launch, in fact, we can go as far to say we’ve been there from the start. We hit like on her very first Instagram post, a selfie, cheekily captioned ‘Mirror Face’, tagging her sister Huda, back in 2012. Today, she’s the global president of brand Huda Beauty, has a cult following of 1.8 million on Instagram and has recently spearheaded the launch of Kayali, a new fragrance line and pillar to the Huda beauty empire. In this exclusive interview with Emirates Woman Mona opens up on what it’s like running a family business, her first fragrance memories and the journey to Kayali

What does Kayali mean? It’s pronounced Keeyah-li, and it means my imagination. We chose this name because we really feel that fragrance has a lot to do with imagination and emotions. People can really use fragrance to create memories and also go back to old memories and emotions. How involved where you in creating the fragrances? Very involved. It was kind of more my navy. Huda helped a lot, and she was super involved in the creative aspect and packaging the bottles, but in terms of the development and finding the manufacturers, and all the resources, hiring our team etc, I kind of went ahead with this project. So, you have a separate team that works for this project? Yes, we have a separate development manager and we are now building the rest of the team as well. We just hired a director of branding communications, they haven’t joined yet but we are working on filling the rest of the team. Our manager is amazing and she does so much. Do you have an all-female team? Yes, but Xxxxxxx xxxxxx not on purpose. We just happen to find really incredible women. What inspired you to create a fragrance? Well, I’ve always been obsessed with perfume since I was a child, and I’ve always really, really loved perfume. For me, a good smell makes me feel happy, excited and energized. I just love what it can do to you, and all those emotions it can create. I wanted to help use kayali to change those emotions and create memories for everyone. When you get a new perfume you’re literally creating a bookmark into your life, so the first time you smell that perfume, you’re always going to remember that moment. I think that going into that memory aspect of perfume is important and I want people to be more excited about fragrance because I feel like cosmetics are really having their moment, and now fragrance needs a moment. It’s nice to be highlighted and energized, and be excited about what fragrance can do. What’s the first fragrance you ever bought? The first fragrance I bought, gosh that was a long time ago. My first job was when I was fourteen years old and when I got my first paycheque I bought my first fragrance which was Curve. It wasn’t that I wanted it, it was just that I could only buy perfume from the pharmacy, because we only had small stores in my home town. We only had Walmart and pharmacies, we didn’t have department stores or anything like that. There weren’t many options. So, I bought Curve, and also Lancome. They were my two favourites and I wore them for years What’s so unique about the Elixir fragrance? Elixir is really special. It is, I think both of our favourite perfume from this collection. We felt it was different because the rose is very special as it’s super rare. It’s only grown in two fields of the entire planet. We mixed it with red apple, and I feel that this combination is nothing like I’ve ever smelt before. That was something really important for us when we were creating the fragrances. We want to create something that’s different. I think the worst thing would be for someone to say “oh it smells like”. They’re all super unique, and with the Elixir it was the most unique out of all of them and the combination is so sensual and powerful, but so soft at the same time. They’re like my children. They’re all special in their own ways but we couldn’t just call it a rose perfume because the apple is so strong, it’s just special. Why did you decide to put the modification numbers on each bottle? These numbers recommend the amount of modifications it took to get to the final result. The vanilla took a very long time to get there, but the citrus was a lot faster. It does typically take a long time to get to where you want to end, so 28, that’s like sending the bottles back 28 times, It doesn’t seem like a big number, but it actually is because of the distances, and because they are coming from New York it’s a lot of back and forth and time to get to the final result. You also need to see how you feel when you wear it, and smell it on your skin throughout the day. It’s really hard to test it as you need to see what kind of lotions and shower gels you are wearing, it’s not a process you can rush at all. What’s it like working with your sister Huda, do you ever fight? Yes, in fact we were fighting just now. We are complete opposites, but in a great way. To be honest, its challenging because we are so opposite but I appreciate her so much because where I’m weak she is strong, so I source her and I’m so grateful for her. If I didn’t have Huda, I don’t know what I would do, we balance each other out. Myself, Huda and my other sister Aaliyah are all so different and I think that’s the best thing as partners. Everyone adds so much value but it is hard working with your family, but amazing at the same time. We’re stuck together for life. I say things they don’t want to hear, and vica versa, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.