For Kayali founder Mona Kattan, fragrance is not merely a profession. It’s also an obsession.
“If it were up to me, we’d be launching 100 fragrances a year, because we have that many ideas that we’re dying to launch,” Kattan told Glossy. But even increasingly hungry fragrance consumers can only handle so many launches a year.
When it comes to new fragrances, Kayali is putting its focus on the gourmand category. On Wednesday, Kayali launched Yum Boujee Marshmallow 81 to global consumers, following its launch on the Sephora App on Tuesday.
Created by Firmenich perfumer Gabriela Chelariu, the decadent marshmallow scent is a follow-up to 2023’s hit Yum Pistachio Gelato 33, which is now Kayali’s third-best-selling scent. Vanilla 28 has remained the top seller since the brand’s launch in 2018, followed by Vanilla Candy Rock Sugar 42, launched in May. But Kattan expects Yum Boujee Marshmallow to crack the top five of the brand’s roughly two dozen scents.
“When we do have a successful launch, the idea is to expand onto it — because we know that people like that type of scent, and we can build onto it easily,” said Kattan. “Yum Pistachio Gelato was a huge hit when we launched it last year, and even before getting results, we already had ideas around launching more dessert-inspired juices.”
There’s good reason for Kattan to put high hopes on the Yum franchise. The gourmand fragrance trend shows no signs of slowing, both among Kayali’s consumers and across the fragrance market. From niche lines like Liis and Arquiste to mass players like Glossier and Claire’s, brands are leaning into sweet, edible scents. For Vanilla Candy Rock Sugar 42, Chelariu developed a signature accord exclusive to the Kayali brand that features gourmand notes like praline and vanilla. It will appear in all subsequent launches, including Yum Boujee Marshmallow.
“The relationship to happiness is why vanilla is performing really well, too,” said Kattan. “There’s so much science, in terms of the vanilla note and how it affects our feelings and our emotions. It makes us feel good, it makes us feel safe. Gourmands are definitely the most happy scent profile.”
When Kattan first launched Kayali at Sephora in 2018, fragrance was still a sleepy category. Now, fragrance is the fastest-growing category at Sephora and a bright spot amid slumping sales for luxury giants like LVMH. Kering has been rushing to scoop up niche fragrance brands since it formed its beauty division in 2023, investing in rising brands like Matiere Premiere and established hit Creed.
Kattan likens today’s fragrance explosion to the excitement around color cosmetics in 2016, which helped give rise to a bevy of indie makeup brands like Huda Beauty, founded by Kattan’s sister Huda Kattan in 2013. In both cases, beauty influencers and online communities have played a major part in familiarizing consumers with — and encouraging them to fill their shopping carts with — new brands and products
“Similar to color, the industry just started becoming disrupted,” said Kattan. “[Fragrance] was so boring and forgotten about for a very long time. And a big part of the disruption came from this rise in content creators, which happened after Covid.”
In acknowledgment of that power, Kayali featured fragrance influencers including Olivia Olfactory and Koosha Nouri in the launch campaign for Yum Boujee Marshmallow. The brand will also host a launch event on Wednesday in Dubai, where Kattan is based.
Influencers have also encouraged more men to experiment with fragrance, with a new generation of teen boys flocking to the perfume counter in recent months. Kayali’s demographic remains predominantly female, however, with women ages 25-44 making up roughly 65% of its consumer base. Kattan said Pistachio found more success with men than usual, however.
Kayali is expanding its footprint IRL as well as online. While the brand has its roots in Middle Eastern perfume culture, Kattan is looking to Latin America for the next phase of growth. The brand expanded to Mexico this year and it will arrive in Brazil next year via Sephora, Kattan said. Kayali will find new consumers in the region and also increased competition. Fragrance brands including Kilian and Le Labo have also expanded to Mexico in the past year, and, for the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, Coty reported a 15% sales bump in growth engine markets, which include Brazil and Mexico.
But Kattan said Kayali has room to be agile to address changing consumer needs.
“That’s the beauty of being a smaller indie brand. You can take more risks. You can have those moments of trial and error,” she said. “When you’re too big, you have too much to lose if you fail.”
