Huda Kattan — The Beauty Founder Who Bought Herself Back

In the beauty world, fairy tales don’t start with glass slippers and they don't start with false lashes. They never start because there is no fairy tale and no fair play just a hardline vision and hard work that teeter on delusion. Few stories shimmer quite like Huda Kattan where even celebrity beauty brands like JLos have failed despite massive funding and star power. Huda started with feathery to-die-for false lashes that blossomed into full beauty empire.

Once a Dubai-based beauty blogger with a camera and a dream, Huda flipped tutorials into a billion-dollar empire, turning Huda Beauty into the kind of brand women stash in their clutch alongside their favorite lipstick. Out of the craze of Ben Nye and the Banana powder, she made makeup feel glamorous and editorial with equal parts artistry and commerce.

But here’s the twist: in 2024, she didn’t just launch another eyeshadow palette or viral lip kit. She staged the chicest comeback of the decade — she bought her company back.

Ownership: The Ultimate Status Symbol

In a city obsessed with Birkin bags and rooftop brunches, real power isn’t in the accessories. It’s in ownership.

Huda didn’t reclaim Huda Beauty for more money, or to relive the hustle. She did it because owning your brand is like owning your soul. Once you give it away, you are never quite the same. Her words? “This was about getting back to the heart of why I started Huda Beauty in the first place.” Translation: no more boardroom whispers dictating what shimmer shades should be called. Just vision, freedom, and a reminder that the best glow comes from within — especially when you control the lighting. However, is Huda's story about having enough equity to buy back your brand or just being powerful enough to stage a complete and insiduous takeover?

Why Every Female Founder Is Watching

The fashion and beauty industry has always sold to women, but rarely been owned by them save Chanel or Schiaparelli.  Huda’s buyback was more than business it was a rebellion dipped in rhinestones. Huda consolidated her social media, reclaimed her community, drove up multi-million revneue and ventured on her own to get back what was hers. While, most business models outline an exit strategy that includ being bought by a corporate monotlith, Huda struck a re-entry strategy by buying herself back completely.

She didn’t just reclaim a brand. She reclaimed the narrative. And in doing so, she reminded every female founder sipping matcha in a co-working space: you can scale, you can take investors, and when the time comes you can still take it all back.

It’s not just beauty. It’s carefully curated checkmate. Owning your own business means full equity and control — and the cherry on top is its worth millions. 

What’s Next for Huda Beauty?

Now that Huda has the keys to her own empire, expect a return to everything that made her brand a cult obsession: we expect inclusivity that feels fresh not forced with products that are true to undertones. Makeup staples that can be found in every starlet’s clutch. Finally, expect campaigns that don’t need approval from the “suits” with less corporate gloss and more unapologetic glamour. A beauty brand that can runs the way it was always meant to be: by a woman who knows her worth.

The Chic Lesson in All This

Here’s the takeaway for the 20-something year old female founder building their own empire:  protect your vision like it’s your last pair of Manolos and compromise only it is valuable to you.

Never confuse validation with valuation because equity is not the same as visiblity. Finally, never underestimate the power of buying yourself back. 

Huda Kattan's power move isn’t just the hottest dewy setting spray or a blush matte powder,  It’s ownership. And nothing quite looks more expensive than that. So here’s to Huda Kattan, the blogger-turned-mogul who proved that sometimes the most iconic glow-up isn’t a contour trick, but a buyback. In the cosmopolitan world of beauty, that’s the kind of power move worth a standing ovation (and maybe a martini). So again here’s to Huda Kattan, the woman who turned lashes into billions and then turned billions into freedom. Because if power had a signature lipstick shade, it would definitely be called Ownership. xxxxx

Follow The Cult Chic Dossier for more stories of female visionary beauty founders, fearless creatives, and industry rebels shaping the future. Read about Sofia Lucas, the first female editor-in-chief of Vogue. 

Written by Editor-in-Chief, Jennifer Youngmann 

Jennifer "AJ" lives in Paris 7 with her partner, Louis and oversees the all-female editorial team. When she is not running around central Paris covering luxury brand trunkshows, indie designer showrooms, runway shows;  she loves to take long walks around the Seine, write music and binge watch silly sitcoms.

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