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Mona Kattan has been in talks since her debut in Dubai Bling season 2. Even though most viewers were familiar with her brands, Huda Beauty and Kayali, the faces behind them were only made popular by the show.
Kayali is a sister company to Huda Beauty, both co-founded by the Kattan sisters. Kayali, meaning 'my imagination' in Arabic, is a perfume brand that captures the scents of the Middle East. Mona founded the fragrance brand Kayali in 2018 after the booming success of Huda Beauty, which was founded in 2013.
Everything about Kayali, the brainchild of Mona and Huda Kattan
Mona first set the gossip mills churning when she put out the hint about an upcoming fragrance brand on Huda Boss on Facebook TV, as she was filmed at the perfume hotspot of Grasse, France, in July of 2018. Soon after, in November 2018, the brand launched itself.
In a conversation with Vogue India in 2018, Mona Kattan was asked how long it took her to come up with the brand. Her answer was very telling of the sister's dedication to the launch of their businesses.
"We've been working for nearly six years to develop Kayali. It's taken us so long because we really wanted to launch the brand when we felt absolutely confident that we had created the best fragrance we could offer."
It launched with four fragrances: Citrus 08, Vanilla 28, Musk 12, and Elixir 11. The numbers behind each of these scents resemble the attempts it took to perfect them. It was the post the brand made when it got featured on Cosmopolitan.
Also, when Vogue asked them about their reason for launching these scents as their firsts, Huda replied:
"The entire collection was inspired by the heritage of the Middle East. After falling in love with our concept, we decided we wanted to work with the best noses in the world to bring it to life."
All their fragrances were designed to be layered or worn independently. Today, the brand sells more than 20 fragrances. Their four signature scents have one main scent: Elixir 11, and three scents to layer it with: Citrus 08, Vanilla 28, and Musk 12.
Elixir 11 has notes of red apple, rose centifolia, and jasmine. Citrus 08 has hints of bergamot and grapefruit for that fruity, fresh citric smell. Vanilla 28 has notes of Madagascan vanilla for fans of gourmand fragrances, and Musk 12 has a bit of masculinity with hints of lotus and jasmine that exude confidence.
The rise of Huda Beauty a pillar for Kayali
Huda Kattan used to work in the finance sector, although she quit her job for the love she had for makeup. She started working as a make-up artist and a vlogger on her YouTube channel called Huda Beauty.
One day, she went to buy false eyelashes but couldn't find any, so she started her brand, Huda Beauty, which sold false eyelashes at Sephora. With the help of her sisters Mona and Alya, she made Huda Beauty into a company in 2013.
Slowly but steadily, without any advertising, her brand grew into the giant it is today, with close to 100 different products on the racks and a following of 54.1 million on Instagram. It was only fair for the sisters to pour their love into another brand, which is now flourishing as Kayali.
