Kayali's Eden Juicy Apple Is the Brand's First Bright, Sweet Scent

One of my favorite fragrance brands, Kayali, has recently released a new scent inspired by apple, and they are leaning all into the folklore surrounding the forbidden fruit. Eden Juicy Apple 01 not only nods to the book of Genesis but brings back the nostalgia of iconic apple fragrances of the early aughts, like Ralph by Ralph Lauren and DKNY's Be Delicious.

I love a sweet, fruity scent, but so often in fragrance, that means either red berries or citrus. The apple is a really fun note to play with because it can be sweet, tangy, bright, tart, sour, or mellow. Kayali is known for its rich, sweet, and spicy fragrances. They're some of the best and most accessible scents on the market, but Eden Juicy Apple 01 is something entirely new for them.

The fragrance is bright, tangy, and, yes, juicy. The sweetness is accented by blackcurrant, pink grapefruit, and lychee at the top, making it much more than just a one-note apple scent. In the middle, you'll find berries, raspberry blossom, jasmine, and rose. At the base, there is vanilla, amber, moss, and musk. The sweetness is balanced by the rest of the notes around it, so while it's very fruity, it never gets headache-inducing.

Everything about Eden Juicy Apple 01 fascinates me, from the name to the scent profile. I was lucky enough to talk to Kayali's founder, Mona Kattan, about the new fragrance. Keep scrolling to read everything she had to say.

Eden Juicy Apple 01 is different from anything Kayali has ever done before. What inspired this shift?

I wanted to create a true, fruity floral fragrance that would channel a fun and youthful mood. Eden Juicy Apple 01 creates the ultimate nostalgia, and it reminds me of those scents we wore when we were younger, but a more elevated version with a luxurious touch to it.

How would you describe the fragrance?

In three words: vibrant, playful, and juicy. Eden is our first fruity floral fragrance, and the hero note in this scent is the red apple. It is a refreshing, mouth-watering ingredient, especially when mixed with lychee, jasmine, wild berries, vanilla, and musk. When you smell it, it's almost good enough to eat.

Eden is an everyday fragrance and is an especially great way to start the day. It's super crisp and energizing, just like taking a bite out of an apple. It's been said apples are even better than coffee when it comes to waking you up.

Many Kayali scents are so spicy, dark, and heady. What was it like creating a scent like Eden Juicy Apple 01?

I try to mix things up with every juice and make sure we're hitting a different mood and scent profile. With this one, I wanted to channel my '90s high school self. Back then, I was into the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears and wanted to smell like Cher from Clueless. It was a treat to step into this time capsule to create this juice.

How did you make this apple scent stand out from the ones that came before?

We've used the apple note before in Kayali Elixir 11, but with a deeper, more floral profile. Eden uses apple as the hero note, so it's much more vibrant.

For Eden, we focused on bringing out the juiciness of this note and making it youthful and fresh, which is why you see a lot of other fruit notes, like the exotic and luscious lychee, sparkling pink grapefruit, and tart wild berries.

Tell me about the name. An apple scent with a name like Eden... there's symbolism there.

We decided to call this juice 'Eden' because it was inspired by the first juicy apple that was so tempting. Another reason we chose this name is because it was our first modification of the juice.

Each of our juices at Kayali has a number at the end of the name. For this fragrance, the number is 01. This means even after all of the modifications we made to the original juice—and there were many—we decided to go with the original scent. This is a first for Kayali, so for me, Eden represents a beginning.

Kayali Eden Juicy Apple $118.00

Shop

Did you think taking a scent with the symbolism of Eden to the mass market was a risk?

I honestly hadn't thought of that being a risk at all, though I love to take risks when it comes to Kayali. As an entrepreneur, risks are absolutely necessary to learn and grow. The focus was mainly on the apple note and the tempting, desirable facets it brought to the juice. We've received so much incredible feedback on Eden from our fans and friends alike, and I couldn't be happier with the outcome.

Who is the Kayali customer?

The Kayali customer loves to play around with fragrances and try new things. Something central to what we do is layering fragrances. It's a practice that's been done in Arab cultures for centuries, and the Kayali customer is someone who is interested in trying that out. While each fragrance is beautiful when worn on its own, our scents come alive when you layer them.

What is your mission with Kayali?

I want Kayali to make our consumers feel super special and luxurious. I want to give them the space to experiment with fragrance. Historically, the fragrance space has felt super intimidating, but at Kayali, we want to break down those walls and encourage people to have fun with perfumes.

Kayali means 'my imagination' in Arabic. I want people to use their imagination to create their own unique scents by layering different fragrances, which is at the heart of what we do with Kayali.

2021 was a pivotal year for Kayali. What direction can we expect the brand to take this year?

In 2021, we were able to put out so many new juices and formats that we've been working on for ages. It was such a relief and incredibly rewarding to release those juices last year as we—like many other businesses—had a bit of a slow down due to the pandemic.

This year, you can expect to see new fragrances that will delve even deeper into different fragrance families and some new and unexpected formats. We love to keep our community on their toes, so expect the unexpected.

The Bottom Line

Eden Juicy Apple 01 is a sweet outlier in the Kayali catalog, but by the sound of it, it won't be for long. If the alluring apple perfume is any indication of what's to come, the brand will continue to gift us with fruity scents just as wonderful as their signature spicy fragrances.

Typically, I'm not into layering fragrances, but Kayali was literally created to be combined with other scents. It's got me wondering how Eden Juicy Apple 01 would mix with my other favorites from the brand, like Vanilla 28 or Invite Only Amber 23. I guess you could say I'm a little tempted.