© KAYALIdd - KAYALI
Beauty 'influencers' often get something of a bad reputation. Flogging product via social media to Gen Z, right? Not in the case of the Kattans, who have roots in business and have built a following of millions off the back of their very good make-up products through the brand Huda Beauty.
Mona Kattan, 35, is the co-founder, alongside her sister Huda. When the brand launched in the UK back in 2012, they didn't just gently dip a toe in the world of make-up on social media; no, they utilised the power of Instagram to explode onto the scene and, consequently, into our make-up bags.
Sure, the Kardashians have had a huge influence on the cultural shift of how beauty products are used (and are singularly responsible for the revival of contouring) however the Iraqi-American Kattans, who were born and raised in America but have lived in Dubai since 2002, are the driving force behind getting those trends onto our faces. Aside from the Huda Beauty range which she runs with her sister, Huda, Mona launched her own fragrance range in 2018, called Kayali (which means "my imagination" in Arabic).
The fragrance range could quite easily have been a vanity project for Mona, who has always been 'obsessed' with perfumes. 'I've been into perfumes since I was around 8 or 9, smelling my mum's collection, and loved how they instantly transformed how I felt,' she tells me over video call. 'At 14 I got my first job, and I had money to buy perfumes. All my money from then to now goes on perfumes.' That's no exaggeration: Mona has amassed a collection of 3,500 perfumes and counting, all neatly stored at her home in Dubai.
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'I recently renovated my home so my perfumes have a real place of pride. I probably should throw some out but if they're going to end up in landfill, I'd rather keep them,' she tells me.
Her obsession led her to collaborate with some of the best noses in the world and pre-lockdown frequently travelled to the fragrance capital of the world, Grasse in the south of France, to develop her juices. As a self-professed 'emotional and sensitive' person, Kattan creates detailed moodboards of her scents, and even soundtracks to 'capture the vibe' and a focus on the general feeling of a fragrance, rather than just the specific notes.
As a social media-savvy millennial launching into the luxury world of fragrance, I ask her if she encountered any snobbery. 'Oh, yes of course. But what I wanted to do is create high quality fragrances that were still attainable for everyone.' Kattan sees perfume as important as a power lipstick or a power suit.
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She may not be a perfumer, but the Kayali perfumes are beautiful. There's a real focus on 'feeling', such as warmth and cosiness (which you get in droves with her bestselling Vanilla scent, and my personal favourite, Musk) and her latest creation - Sweet Diamond Pink Pepper 25 (£79 for 50ml edp) - is a joyful burst of pink peppercorn, saffron and vanilla. It's not everyone's cup of tea (what is, really?) but the quality of juice is unlike any other 'celebrity' perfume I've smelt.
Were her 2.3 million followers chomping at the bit for a piece of Kayali in 2018? 'Well, it's hard to sell perfume through social media,' she admits. 'You have to explain how it will make you feel, you can't show any obvious "before" and "afters" like you can with make-up or skincare. It's a big learning curve but I want to get to a point where we see fragrance as part of our daily routine.'
So how does she wear perfume herself? 'I have a trolley of fragrances next to me, I am testing non-stop,' she laughs. 'If I'm just going out, I layer 15 to 20 fragrances each - I keep going until my clothes get a little damp until I think I need to stop.' As for her top tip for wearing perfume, Kattan says to focus on the elbow area, as that acts like a diffuser of scent. I'm sure they'll be legions of fans doing the same.
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