Huda Beauty

Huda Beauty is a cosmetics company founded in 2013 by the makeup artist and blogger Huda Kattan together with her sisters Mona and Alya Kattan [1]. Built and operated out of Dubai, it grew from a single false-eyelash release into a multi-category brand spanning makeup, fragrance and skincare, and is widely cited as one of the first beauty businesses to scale on the strength of an online following rather than traditional advertising. The company remains active, with regional e-commerce stores (including a Nordic en-se site), ongoing product launches and a large social-media presence.

The business is closely tied to its founder, a Hollywood-trained makeup artist who began publishing tutorials online in 2010 before turning the audience into a product line. In 2025 Huda Kattan bought back an outside investor's stake, returning the company to full founder ownership [2].

Huda Kattan was born in Oklahoma City in 1983 to Iraqi parents, studied finance at the University of Michigan, trained at a Los Angeles makeup school, and moved to Dubai around 2006 to work as a makeup artist. In April 2010 she launched a beauty blog called Huda Beauty, encouraged by her sister Alya; by 2015 it was among the most-read beauty blogs in the Middle East.

The product company followed in 2013, co-founded with sisters Mona and Alya and funded by a $6,000 loan from Alya [3]. The first product was a collection of false eyelashes, sold through Sephora in Dubai in 2011 and released in the United States in 2015. Sources differ on how the founding team is counted: Wikipedia's infobox names only Huda and Mona Kattan as founders, while CNBC and other editorial accounts credit all three sisters, noting that Alya provided the founding loan and managed the brand's social media [4][1]. Mona Kattan later founded the sister fragrance brand Kayali.

After the 2013 launch, the line expanded quickly across eye, lip, face and complexion categories. In December 2017 the California private-equity firm TSG Consumer Partners acquired a minority stake, reportedly at a valuation of around $1.2 billion [5]. The portfolio broadened with two sister brands: Kayali fragrance, launched in November 2018 and founded by Mona Kattan, and Wishful skincare, launched in 2020.

A leadership transition followed. According to a business-analysis account, Huda Kattan stepped back from day-to-day operations around 2020 and appointed an external chief executive, before announcing her return as CEO in late 2024 [6]. In 2025 the company said it had become fully founder-owned after Kattan bought back TSG's stake [2]. As of September 2024 its reported annual revenue was about $75 million.

Following the 2025 buyback, Huda Beauty describes itself as independent and fully owned by its founder [2]. Its earlier outside investment came from TSG Consumer Partners, which held a minority stake from 2017 until the founder repurchased it.

The company's headquarters is recorded inconsistently. Wikipedia's infobox lists the United States, while editorial profiles and the brand's own origin story place it in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where the first product launched and the business was built [7][4]. The company also maintains significant operations in the United States. Alongside Kayali and Wishful, the brand has at times listed Beauty Works hair extensions among its related brands.

Huda Beauty positions itself around the founder's voice, presenting her as an authentic beauty insider and, in the company's words, "Your Go-To Beauty Big Sister." Its stated core belief is that "Makeup is more than skin deep—it's art, identity, and unapologetic self-expression." The brand describes its personality as "fun, fearless & always 100% real" and frames itself as a source of no-nonsense beauty knowledge and tips. It is sold at prestige price points, both direct-to-consumer through regional online stores and through retailers such as Sephora.

Makeup is the core of the range, which the company describes as spanning more than 140 products across complexion, eyes, lips and cheeks, alongside fragrance and skincare. The false eyelashes that launched the brand remain part of its identity. Among its best-known products is the #FauxFilter Luminous Matte Foundation, which the retailer Cult Beauty files under a "Why It's Cult" heading and describes as a full-coverage, fragrance-free formula offering up to 24 hours of waterproof, transfer-proof wear [8]. The Easy Bake Loose Powder and the Liquid Matte Ultra-Comfort Transfer-Proof Lipstick are also positioned as signature items.

The brand and its founder have received industry recognition. Huda Beauty was named Digital Innovator of the Year by Women's Wear Daily in 2016, won a Best False Lashes award from The Knot in 2017, and received Glamour's Women of the Year "Entrepreneurial Gamechanger" honour in 2021 [9]. Huda Kattan was named to Time's "25 Most Influential People on the Internet" in 2017 and has appeared on Forbes lists of top beauty influencers and of self-made women. CNBC profiled the business under the line that she "turned a $6,000 loan into a billion-dollar business."

The brand and its founder have drawn criticism on several occasions, all reported by Wikipedia. In 2015 an acne-scar shaming incident prompted backlash, and in 2017 the brand faced allegations of copying foundation shades [10]. A 2018 blog post on genital lightening was widely criticised. In 2022 a lawsuit over prohibited ingredients was settled for $1.93 million.

Huda Beauty remains active. It operates e-commerce across regional stores, including a Nordic en-se site, and continues to launch products. Following the founder's return as chief executive and the 2025 buyback, the company is one of the larger founder-owned beauty businesses still in private hands.