When Kayali officially entered China on October 15, the Dubai-born fragrance brand arrived with the kind of retail footprint many international beauty companies spend years trying to establish. Through an exclusive partnership with Sephora, the brand launched across more than 300 stores and the retailer's digital channels, backed by an eight-year global relationship spanning more than 30 countries.
Yet founder and CEO Mona Kattan sees the launch as the beginning of a much longer journey. "We're starting from scratch," she told BeautyMatter during an interview in Shanghai, where she was visiting for the brand's debut. "It's going to be a challenge for me and the team, so that excites me."
Kattan was referring to the task of building a community in a market where the social platforms and consumer preferences differ from those that helped Kayali establish its international following. While the brand arrives with a recognizable identity and considerable retail reach, connecting with Chinese consumers requires a fresh approach.
"I want to learn. I want to take our time. I really want to do things the right way," she said.
For Kayali, China represents an important step in its international expansion. According to the company, the brand has recorded high double-digit growth across Asia over the past two years. The China launch follows two years of preparation, with Kayali aiming to become one of Sephora China's top three fragrance brands.
That ambition comes as China's fragrance market continues to evolve, with growing interest in independent perfume houses, distinctive scent profiles, and more personalized fragrance experiences. For Kattan, whose passion for perfume predates her entrepreneurial career, the opportunity is as much about introducing new consumers to the pleasures of fragrance as it is about expanding Kayali's commercial presence.
Kayali's development is closely tied to Kattan's identity as a fragrance enthusiast and content creator. Long before launching the brand in 2018, she amassed a personal collection of nearly 1,000 perfumes and created fragrance content when the category attracted relatively few dedicated influencers.
Her years as a collector shaped Kayali's positioning. Having spent considerable sums on niche fragrances herself, Kattan wanted to offer high-quality perfumes at more approachable prices. She also believed the industry made fragrance unnecessarily difficult to understand, often relying on specialized language and descriptions newcomers couldn’t comprehend.
As a content creator working with fragrance houses, she recalls being given a few notes and elaborate French descriptors to explain perfumes to an English-speaking audience.
"I was like, but my audience isn't really French. If I use these words, no one's going to relate to it," she shared.
At Kayali, most fragrances are named after a recognizable hero note, from Vanilla | 28 to Eden Juicy Apple | 01. The brand's emphasis on layering, inspired by Middle Eastern fragrance traditions, encourages consumers to experiment with different combinations rather than treating each perfume as a fixed composition.
For Kattan, fragrance education and accessibility have always been closely connected. She believes fragrance content creators helped shift consumer conversations beyond traditional perfume advertising, which often emphasized attraction and seduction, toward the emotions and experiences associated with scent.
"It's not something you wear for a date. It's not something you wear for other people. It's for yourself first," she said.
This philosophy has shaped Kayali's playful identity, from its colorful presentation and gourmand fragrances to its emphasis on layering and experimentation. Translating that approach to China, however, requires navigating a different digital environment.
Kattan has opened personal accounts on major Chinese social media platforms WeChat and Xiaohongshu, known internationally as RedNote, and is familiarizing herself with the platforms. At the time of the interview, she acknowledged that she had not yet begun posting regularly, but was eager to explore their content and connect with local fragrance enthusiasts.
"I'm still in the education phase, so I'm still just learning how to use the apps," she said.
She is particularly interested in Xiaohongshu as a source of creative inspiration, seeing it as an opportunity to discover new ideas and perspectives beyond the platforms she already knows. For a founder accustomed to communicating directly with an international audience, learning how Chinese consumers discover, discuss, and engage with fragrance is becoming part of Kayali's next stage of community building.
Kayali's exclusive partnership with Sephora gives the brand an established retail platform through which to introduce its fragrances to Chinese consumers. Beyond distribution, the partnership creates opportunities for in-person discovery and experimentation.
The initial assortment includes global favorites such as Vanilla | 28, Yum Boujee Marshmallow | 81, Musk | 12, and Eden Sparkling Lychee | 39, with nine additional fragrances scheduled for introduction this month. The launch also includes Kayali Café activations in selected Sephora stores, beginning with the retailer's Shanghai flagship on West Nanjing Road, alongside dedicated fragrance displays and layering experiences.
Kayali's arrival coincided with Sephoria Shanghai, held October 23–25 at the historic Zhangyuan complex. According to Sephora, the 3-day event attracted more than 4,000 attendees, bringing together over 60 beauty brands and more than 40 masterclasses under the theme Beauty Metropolis. Kayali participated with fragrance discovery and layering activities, while Kattan hosted a masterclass introducing the brand's inspirations and Middle Eastern fragrance heritage.
The Sephoria format plays to Kayali's strength in encouraging consumers to experience fragrances firsthand. Rather than relying solely on product descriptions or online content, visitors could explore scents and experiment with layering through direct interaction.
Kattan was particularly impressed by the playful visual presentation she encountered during a Sephora store visit in Shanghai, including the incorporation of Chinese cultural references. She also noticed how seriously Chinese consumers approached learning about beauty products, which resonated with her own experience as a fragrance collector.
Yet when asked what she most wanted Chinese consumers to understand about Kayali, her response was less about mastering fragrance knowledge than enjoying the process of discovery.
"Just experiment. Don't think too much about it, just play."
Smaller formats and discovery sets, she explained, offer consumers opportunities to explore different fragrances before committing to full-size purchases. Kayali has developed several such sets with Sephora, giving shoppers multiple scents to sample and combine.
For Sephora China, Kayali's accessible fragrance language, gourmand identity, and emphasis on experimentation complement the retailer's experiential approach to beauty discovery. The brand's arrival also broadens how consumers engage with fragrance, whether they are established enthusiasts or relatively new to the category.
The next stage will be building on those initial encounters as Kayali develops its local community and learns how consumers respond to its portfolio.
China's fragrance culture is becoming increasingly diverse. The growth of independent and niche perfumery has encouraged greater interest in ingredients, creative concepts, and distinctive scent profiles, while gourmand fragrances are gaining traction among consumers exploring food-inspired compositions and familiar sensory memories.
Kayali is already well known internationally for its sweet, dessert-inspired creations, but Kattan's earliest observations in China suggest that consumers there may discover different favorites within the portfolio.
"Funny enough, it's the bestseller here so far," she said of Musk | 12, a gentle, clean musk fragrance that was leading Kayali's local sales at the time of the interview.
The early results provide only a preliminary glimpse into Chinese consumer preferences, but they have sparked Kattan's interest in learning more about the market.
She is also finding potential creative inspiration beyond the perfume counter. During her Shanghai visit, Kattan sampled local sweets and fruits, discovering unfamiliar flavors and taking in the city's natural surroundings.
"I'm definitely taking notes," she said.
Asked whether these experiences might eventually inspire fragrances developed specifically for China, Kattan was enthusiastic. "For sure. Absolutely."
She also acknowledged that any such development would need to meet practical production requirements, including minimum order quantities. "We just need a big enough demand to meet the MOQs [minimum order quantity]," she explained.
The comments offer a glimpse into how Kayali might approach future localization. While Kattan is interested in exploring Chinese ingredients and sensory references, any market-specific development would need to be supported by sufficient demand.
For now, she appears more interested in listening and discovering than committing to a defined product roadmap. That curiosity also extends to China's homegrown fragrance industry. During her visit, Sephora introduced Kattan to Meng Zhaoran, founder of Documents, a Chinese niche fragrance house known for its distinctive storytelling and creative approach.
Kattan was impressed by the brand's packaging, fragrance variety, and entrepreneurial energy. She was equally enthusiastic about the potential for Chinese fragrance brands to reach international audiences.
"I think his brand should go global," she said of Documents, suggesting that Sephora could one day help bring Chinese fragrance brands into more overseas markets.
The encounter reflects the openness with which Kattan is approaching China. Alongside introducing Kayali to a new audience, she is discovering local creators, ingredients, and ideas that could inform her own perspective on fragrance.
While the company's ambition to become a leading fragrance brand within Sephora China is clear, Kattan is approaching the market with patience. Rather than expecting immediate results, she hopes to build a community around fragrance discovery and experimentation, much as Kayali has done elsewhere.
"We're going to build ourselves up slowly here with Sephora," she said. "This is a long-term decision."
For a founder whose business grew from a lifelong fascination with fragrance, the prospect of discovering a new market seems to be part of the appeal.