Most of us have a few perfume bottles enough to fill a vanity. Mona Kattan has a closet full of clothes. Hundreds of bottles neatly line the shelves of a walk-in fragrance library at her Dubai home. “I started collecting fragrances when I was 14,” she tells BAZAAR.com. “Fragrances evoke so many emotions in me; it’s like a magical bottle of moods.” Kattan founded the Kayali brand with her sister Huda in 2018 as a result of her obsession with scents. Kayali’s massive fragrance collection not only serves as inspiration for her, but it’s also a place for her to wear, layer, and stash samples of upcoming releases. In a nutshell, it’s a perfumer’s paradise.
One such new launch is the Kayali Vanilla Royale Sugared Patchouli 64. “It takes our cult-fave juice, Vanilla | 28 to a whole new level. There are a lot of gourmand lovers out there just like me and I feel like I have poured my heart and passion into this bottle,” Kattan says. “I’ve been calling it Vanilla | 28’s boujee big sister because it’s just as delicious but much more intense and sexier—especially when we’ve added notes like golden rum, crème brûlée, and royal oud.” Consider it your new favorite scent if you’re addicted to all things vanilla.
For Kattan, her perspective on fragrance shifted dramatically when she moved from America to Dubai as a teenager. Her current collection is the perfect blend of classic fragrances like Chanel No. 5, popular fragrances like Billie Eilish, and scents you can’t find anywhere else in the world. “Kayali itself has been inspired by my Middle Eastern heritage, the rituals of fragrance layering, and the name Kayali translates to ‘my imagination’ in Arabic,” she says. “I want my fragrances to ignite people’s imaginations and transport them to new places every time they spritz.”
With hundreds of bottles to sniff, spray, and layer, Kattan says her fragrance closet has been the perfect escape over the last few years. “During the pandemic, I relied heavily on fragrance to transport me to various locations and memories. It was my mode of transportation when we were all stuck at home! I’m having a lot of fun discovering and rediscovering fragrances now that the world has opened up to me “she claims “Vanilla Royale has recently become a go-to for sexy date nights with my husband or a big event we’re attending. And I enjoy experimenting with different layering combinations to achieve the look I want on any given day.”
