Kayali

The first fragrance Mona Catan designed on paper sold out globally inside 90 days of launch. Fragrance launches of that scale are almost always backed by a couture house. Kayali had no couture house. Mona Catan is the younger sister of Houda Catan and co-founded Houda Beauty with her in 2013. Mona ran distribution and operations through the early years and collected centred oils as a personal obsession. Travelling through markets in Oman, Catan and Saudi Arabia, buying atars from small perfumers. In 2018, she spun out a separate brand called Kayali, built around the Middle Eastern tradition of cent layering. The hero launch product was Vanilla 28, a rich gourmand vanilla with hints of brown sugar and cardamom. Most luxury fragrance today is developed in perfume houses in Grass, France, bottled through licensed manufacturers in Italy and sold under house names.