Senior Research Executive Izzy discusses the importance of transparency for a brand’s success.
Anyone that knows anything about the beauty industry is probably familiar with the brand ‘Huda Beauty’. Founded by makeup artist Huda Kattan in 2013, this small makeup line quickly took off and became one of the main players in the cosmetics game. Famous for its high-quality, long-lasting products, Huda Beauty promotes innovation and inclusivity for all skin tones.
At its peak, Huda Beauty grossed over $200 million in 2019. Sadly, this growth wasn’t sustained as Kattan decided to step down as CEO in 2020, leading to an increase in product complaints, ingredient controversies, and ultimately, a decrease in revenue. After 4 years in the backseat, Kattan has recently decided to take back the wheel in an attempt to regain the trust of her customers, stating the change was “one of the biggest regrets of [her] life”.
As a makeup enthusiast myself, I’ve been following Huda’s journey. She’s now pursuing a rebrand to kick Huda Beauty back into action, alongside releasing an impressive new line of products. The ‘Easy Blur’ range has caused a huge stir online, consisting of a primer and liquid foundation, that claims to give a ‘weightless, real-life filter that’s ultra blurring and smoothing for an easy airbrushed finish’. And from what I’ve seen, it delivers just that – skin appears to be photoshopped without the use of any filters. But what has interested me the most about this launch is how incredibly transparent she has been throughout the process with her customers – something that will help rebuild that trust that her brand may have lost.
Before the range was released to the public, Huda was keeping her 10 million TikTok followers informed of issues she was experiencing before the launch. She explained a problem with the shade ‘Lava Cake’, which she discovered when samples were sent to influencers, and one person couldn’t find a colour match. This confused her team and led to an investigation where they found that during the 2022 reformulation, the shade codes weren’t checked, meaning shades had been labelled incorrectly. Huda fully took accountability for this, saying it was her fault that she didn’t triple-check the codes and that the error was absolutely “not okay”. She even swatched all the shades next to each other to show the discrepancy between them. Huda then explained how all the ‘Lava Cake’ shades already sent to stores had been recalled immediately and renamed – plus, she added an email to contact just in case you were to receive the wrong shade, to get the right one sent out to you.
This upfront transparency and honesty resonated extremely strongly with her audience – comments read “this is how you inform your customers, absolutely amazing” and “this is why you are so successful”, amongst many others. The one that stood out the most to me read “I don’t own any Huda Beauty products. That is going to change! So impressed!”. This is proof that brand transparency can directly translate into sales. Not only that, but it shows Huda’s authenticity after taking back control is shining through.
After the Easy Blur range launched, there was some slight controversy around the packaging of the products. Some reviews online discussed the luxury of the packaging, the size of the product and compared it to other brands who opted for glass packaging. Again, being completely transparent, Huda addressed the concerns of her customers, posting an explanation video that compared the pricing of her products to higher-priced competitors and providing context to her audience behind the brand’s decision-making. However, Huda noted how her and her team have taken the comments into account and are now going to work to make the packaging more beautiful moving forward. She said she wanted to address this issue early in the product’s launch, so customers felt seen.
Again, this was met with extremely positive comments, such as “this is exactly why I ADORE Huda Beauty” and “[you are] the only one who actually cares and takes her time to explain”. Customers appreciate it when brands listen to feedback and address concerns directly. This honesty and clarity around issues allows customers to trust the brand and feel genuinely cared for as a consumer. It shows respect towards the customer, and this would all translate to higher levels of commitment and spending to the brand.
Huda’s mission to regain customer trust and affection extends to her marketing campaigns, too. She makes it crystal clear that Photoshop and Facetune are not used in her campaign photos, and even goes as far as pointing out her nose hairs and wrinkles one of the brand’s main advertising photographs in a Tiktok video. Presenting herself as a woman, unfiltered, warts and all, not only makes her more likable and relatable but also simply demonstrates that her products work. You can see the makeup doing its job on the skin, and it looks great – which is a fantastic way to build trust and gain revenue. I think there are important lessons to be learnt from how Huda Kattan addresses issues and communicates with her customers. She is real, upfront, and doesn’t try to hide anything from her audience. This honesty and transparency is so important in getting consumers to trust a brand and spend their money with them. Talking candidly about any issues or concerns shows she respects her customers and puts their interests before sales – and yet this can translate into more sales, because people want to spend their money with a company that genuinely cares for them. If other brands take a leaf out of her book and became this transparent with their customers, it could positively impact their brand’s success in the long term.