The other Kardashian
Huda Beauty founder Huda Kattan shares with Aznim Ruhana Md Yusup the secret to the brand’s success
HUDA Beauty has been widely influential in the makeup scene ever since its launch in 2013. Starting with false eyelashes, the brand has expanded to include various beauty items, including its bestselling liquid matte lipsticks and eye colour palettes. The brand specialises in the maximalist approach to make-up — full-coverage foundation, highlighted cheeks, big lips and multi-coloured eyelids capped by those long, glamourous eyelashes.
The look is best exhibited by the founder of Huda Beauty, 35-year-old Huda Kattan. You might say she shares the same beauty aesthetics as Kim Kardashian.
Kattan was born and educated in the United States to Iraqi parents. She now lives in Dubai, where Huda Beauty is based. The company, valued by Forbes at US$1 billion (about RM4.2 billion), is very much a family enterprise, with her husband Chris and sisters Mona and Alya involved in different aspects of the business.
Kattan’s foray into beauty was first documented in her blog in 2010. She was already working as a make-up artist at the time, and the blog, her YouTube tutorials and social media posts all helped create an online presence that was instrumental to the instant success of Huda Beauty.
She’s still very active online as the face of Huda Beauty, with 28 million followers on Instagram, 2.5 million subscribers on YouTube and a reality show called Huda Boss on Facebook. Bilingual in English and Arabic, Kattan is gregarious and full of enthusiasm.
Following the release of Huda Beauty in Sephora Malaysia, Flair catches up with Kattan in this exclusive e-mail interview.