Huda Kattan knows her way around a high-shine formula, but when it comes to life, she doesn’t gloss over a thing. “I don’t have it all figured out and I don’t always feel great,” she admits when we connect. “I think it’s important as human beings that we admit to and are okay with that.” It’s a philosophy she has always held – just as likely to open up about difficulties in her marriage or body insecurities, as she is about product development and brand building. Now she is extending this ethos even further with a new podcast. Huda Hotline, launched this year, offers a bare-faced look at the highs, lows and hard-won lessons behind her success and opens up the floor to her audience for agony-aunt style advice.
The podcast drops alongside Ube, her latest collection – an electric lilac range designed for tan-to-medium skin tones, offering the kind of intentionality and shade precision long gate-kept by the beauty world’s lighter defaults. “You usually can’t make a big moment unless you produce something for lighter skin tones, and I think that’s bullshit,” she says. Kattan’s approach to beauty is as deliberate as her stance beyond it, built on instinct and a willingness to push back against industry norms. One of the few high-profile beauty executives to openly advocate for Palestine, she has taken a stance that carries real stakes in a domain where cautious silence is the safer bet. With Huda Hotline, she’s doubling down on transparency, tackling topics like ambition, failure and the politics of beauty.
In this conversation with Dazed, Kattan opens up about the focus of her podcast, normalising uncertainty, her new collection, and the drive that comes with owning who she is.
What’s the focus of the podcast? Is this a space for a personal reflection, discourse on beauty, or something more interactive? Is the space to embrace your place as everyone’s ‘Big Sister?’
Huda Kattan: Yes! Even as a mom, I have such big sister energy. Which is not always necessarily nice, I’m not always the sweetest; I’m a kind person but I’m harsh, direct, to the point and tough. I think that’s also part of being a sister. And also when I had friends – because I don’t have as many friends as I used to – when I was young, I always took on the big sister role. I was always that ‘tough love’ kind of person. So I think there’s an element of that but also I want to connect with people. Self-reflection is also definitely a big part of that.
But it’s also going to be a space of vulnerability. I think it’s really important to share the fact that I don’t have it all figured out and I don’t always feel great. I always share all of this pretty, happy stuff on Instagram, and I [only] feel that way 20 per cent of the time. The other times I’m feeling lots of different emotions; sometimes I feel motivated, sometimes I’m in a good spot, but sometimes – many times – I feel confused. I feel sadness, frustration, and I just think we don’t see enough of those emotions from people and it sucks because we feel bad about it. For the longest time I felt bad about that, and I would’ve felt better had I known that the people I was looking up to and watching were feeling those things too. So it’s kind of about creating that connection and realness, too, because nobody’s life is perfect. Nobody has things figured out, even when they seem like they do.
For your first drop promoting the podcast, you spoke about Palestine – a topic you don’t shy away from. What’s driving you to use your platform like this, and does it ever come at a cost?
Huda Kattan: It’s definitely something that has come at a cost for a long time. I’m so grateful now because I feel like I can speak more about it without being so afraid, thank God. But I was inching towards being a more political person… I’m not a political expert, and I think there’s always been this narrative that you shouldn’t be political because you’re going to scare people, but I don’t believe or agree with that at all. I think somebody made that up to make people not speak up.
I believe that I’m here to elicit change. Huda Hotline will definitely be a political space for sure. There’s a lot that I want to say right now… there definitely needs to be a space for that. I’ve been shadowbanned on my main page, so that’s made it tough for me, but hopefully now with multiple platforms and networks I can try to make a change somehow.
Ube is a lush, lilac, lavender explosion. You mentioned that this collection was created with medium-to-tan and olive undertones in mind?
Huda Kattan: I liked the fact that this was more for medium-tan, specifically really good for tan skin tones. Because you usually can’t make a big moment [in the beauty industry] unless you produce something for lighter skin tones, and I think that’s bullshit. That’s always the communication that you’re told, that the bigger moments are for the lighter skin tones, medium is also a big segment, but never when it gets to tan-to-rich. So I was like let’s make something big out of this tan moment, and we did, and I’m so happy. I did get a lot of people with lighter skin tones trying it and loving it and working it. We’ve also seen people with richer skin tones using our lighter shades and loving it, which I love. But this is specifically for tanned skin tones and I love that it became a big moment, because but it’s important for the industry to see that too, that you can make big moments out of many skin tones.
I just love Ube. I want to give some love to my team, many of whom are from the Philippines and who actually gave me the inspiration for this and created this project. We were just so inspired by the culture and the love for ube [the yam]. A lot of our shades have different names from different cultures, like our ‘kunafa’ power and our ‘dolce delice’ foundation. I just love to bring in all these different cultures.
What’s your secret sauce when it comes to creating and marketing the perfect product?
Huda Kattan: This is going to sound really lame but it’s all in your gut, your intuition. I think the secret sauce is making sure that you are excited about it. I never want to do anything that I feel like somebody else is doing… Transparently, I’ve seen a lot of brands actually replicate the exact colours we have and I could never do that. But I also think it’s important to have a point of differentiation; that’s what keeps the industry rich.
It’s scary because as companies, there’s always so much pressure to make more money than we did last year. I always tell my team that I don’t want them to think about that. That kills innovation. As a company and as a whole, I hope we do better at the end of the year, but I’m not going to look at it week-on-week because that just kills innovation. And when it comes to product development, I rarely put on my business hat. If I had, I would have never done Ube, because I’d be like ‘this is too big of a risk, bad idea.’ My secret sauce is always going to be coming to it as a consumer-first and asking: am I excited about the product? That’s what creates innovation.
You’ve built a billion-dollar brand, re-invented yourself multiple times, and still find new ways to surprise us. What fuels your creativity and ambition?
Huda Kattan: Of course, I’m inspired by my community and my industry as a whole, which is so amazing. My community is incredible. But I’m going to say something a little more self-centered here. I think that the more I feel comfortable with embracing who I am, that’s what really fuels my ambition. I had to stop being so afraid of other people’s opinions and fitting into a box, which is really hard by the way.
I spoke about it on the podcast, but I was really scared about speaking up for Palestine and really facing everyone, but there was a moment where I was like ‘I just don’t care anymore.’ And then I was like, ‘why have I cared my whole life?’ It’s done the opposite of fueling my creativity, it has actually controlled me. So I think the sooner you can get to embracing yourself and letting go of other people’s opinions – which, again, is so hard – the sooner you can start to be who you are and really innovate and create or just be. You don’t even have to do any of that, just be. That is amazing, because we’re always assimilating and I want to just be me, you know?