Attention Vanilla Girls, this one’s for you. KAYALI is serving up another way to satisfy scent-based sweet tooths with rock sugar-inspired Vanilla Candy.
Known for their mastery of the gourmand category, KAYALI and founder Mona Kattan have been playfully preparing fragrance lovers with hints on the new launch and even handled an annoying leak with humor and grace.
With lavender-hued everything and delicious notes, this launch is certainly good at drawing attention.
But will this latest addition measure up to the brand’s already cherished vanilla offerings?
Or is Vanilla Candy the cherry on top of the product portfolio?
According to the pre-launch reviews, it’s currently coming in at about 4 stars across retail partners Huda Beauty, Sephora, and Cult Beauty.
Reddit user DaniLashes describes Vanilla Candy in the FemFragLab sub as “very sweet and almost boozy, but in a playful way. Once it dries down, I get so much bubblegum! It’s mixed with rum and candied pear, but as time goes by, it switches from candied pear, rum, and bubblegum to bubblegum and tonka.”
The new KAYALI drop currently retails at:
$138.00 for 3.4oz /100ml
$100.00 for 1.7oz/50ml
$32.00 for 0.34oz/10ml
Fragrance Family: Warm & Spicy
Scent Type: Warm & Sweet Gourmands
Key Notes: Candied Pear, Rock Sugar, Vanilla Cream
This release was inspired by Kattan’s “love for candy and mouth-watering notes.”
The bottle features a cotton candy iridescent pink with the signature diamond shape and crystal topper that pay tribute to traditional Middle Eastern oud bottles.
And fun fact about the number on the front: the “42” means that’s how many times it took to get the scent just right.
KAYALI is beloved by its fans. One look in the comments section on IG and you can see that this is an audience that is genuinely engaged (so take notes, marketers) and down to interact across platforms. Fans share that they look forward to the brand's creative promo videos and photoshoots, and the slew of supporting content that goes along with each new fragrance launch.
The fragrance category is the poetry of the beauty industry. While we don’t get the yummy texture swatches found in cosmetics and skincare, we’re left with something more whimsical. Fragrance is where fantasy comes into play, and copy and visuals are essential to tell the story right – and of course, precise formulation of a scent that people want to wear.
Mona Kattan’s social presence is just as curated as KAYALI’s and not in a bad way. The alignment between founder and brand feels authentic and helps to facilitate that deeper connection with an audience so many crave.
Kattan brings us into her magical world, teaching us how to layer perfumes in order to achieve a completely personalized scent, introducing us to experts, sharing her culture, smell good hacks, and more. It plays along with the KAYALI grid that features a more product focus as anticipated.
The way KAYLI launches a new scent reminds us a bit of how Taylor Swift unveils each new album. It’s a whole production and a new era, if you will. And as we know, that’s a strategy that can be highly successful when done well.
We’ve touched on the importance of not neglecting existing products in a brand’s portfolio after the new launch hype simmers down, and KAYALI is a great example of how to keep an assortment of items top of mind simultaneously. You’ll see the brand shares multiple videos on how to layer Vanilla Candy with their hero Vanilla 28, for example.
In addition to collabing with influencers and producing their top tier campaigns, the whimsy continued during the decked out launch event where Mona thanked all in attendance for helping her to “live her sweetest fantasy,” (the scent tagline).
Vanilla Candy Rock Sugar officially launches on May 2 and yes, we want it for ourselves.
Will you be trying this new KAYALI drop?
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