Huda Beauty’s Sales Fall On Sephora’s Website Amid Backlash Over Anti-Israel TikTok Video

Huda Beauty’s sales on Sephora’s website in the United States have fallen following a controversial TikTok video in which founder Huda Kattan promotes anti-Israel conspiracy theories to 1.8 million followers of her personal account on the platform. 

According to data from beauty e-commerce agency Navigo Marketing, sales of eight out of 10 of Huda Beauty’s bestsellers slipped online at Sephora during the week of Aug. 3 after Kattan’s posting of the TikTok video on July 27. TikTok reports it took down the video because it violated the social media network’s community guidelines, although Kattan has said she removed it. Sephora has stated it’s reviewing its relationship with Huda Beauty. 

Sales of Huda Beauty’s $25 Lip Contour Lip Stain and $21 Faux Filter Tinted Jelly Lip Oil, which both launched this spring, declined 2% and 45%, respectively. Sales of the brand’s $31 Faux Filter Brightening Under Eye Color Corrector decreased 19%. In contrast, sales of Huda Beauty’s $39 Easy Bake Loose Baking & Setting Powder were up 2%. Sephora refutes the data provided by Navigo Marketing, but declines to share sales numbers for Huda Beauty.

A steep reduction in advertising could be responsible for the faltering sales. Per Navigo, sponsored activity for the brand cratered on Sephora’s site last week from 2,400 keywords to about 150, indicating that paid placements were abruptly halted. The advertising pullback happened in the wake of Kattan’s anti-Israel video.  

Sephora has faced pressure from some consumers and nonprofits like The Anti-Defamation League to exit Huda Beauty, while other consumers pledge to boycott if it cuts ties with the brand. Sephora has severed relationships with scandal-plagued brands in the past. In 2014, it exited makeup brand Lime Crime after old photos of founder Doe Deere dressed as Adolf Hitler for Halloween surfaced. 

In its statement to CNN, the retailer said, “Sephora is driven by its mission to create a welcoming and inclusive shopping experience for all. We recognize that comments from one of our brand partners have raised concerns and want to be clear: promoting hate, harassment, or misinformation does not align with our values or code of conduct. We take this matter very seriously and can confirm we are actively reviewing this issue internally, including working with the brand.” 

Margarita Arriagada, founder of makeup brand Valde Beauty and former chief merchant at Sephora, emphasizes that it’s important “for Sephora to be objective in their due diligence. The level of sales the brand generates does not matter. Sephora stands for inclusivity and that is not negotiable.” 

Huda Beauty has a significant sales presence. Last year, it was projected to hit $450 million in sales. This year, Kattan regained full ownership of Huda Beauty from private equity firm TSG, which acquired a stake in the brand in 2017. Huda Beauty has been a breakout success in Sephora Dubai, where it launched in 2013, generating $1.5 million in sales in its first year and $10 million the next. It expanded to American Sephora stores in 2015. Outside of Sephora, the brand sells at Harrods, Nykaa and Tira. 

According to data from consumer insights firm YipitData, Huda Beauty holds an approximately 4.6% share of Sephora’s gross merchandise value in makeup year-to-date through July, an increase of around 1.4% year-over-year. The data reflects omnichannel sales in the U.S. In the same period, the brand’s Easy Bake Loose Baking & Setting Powder ranked as the fifth top-selling makeup product at Sephora U.S., ahead of products from Charlotte Tilbury, Benefit, One/Size, Urban Decay and Dior. Kayali, which is run by Kattan’s sister and Huda Beauty co-founder Mona Kattan, is one of Sephora’s fastest-growing fragrance brands. 

In the first quarter this year, Huda Beauty topped online beauty platform Cosmetify’s ranking of the 10 most followed beauty brands, with a combined Instagram and TikTok following of 67.6 million, an average Instagram and TikTok engagement rate of nearly 1,096% and 823,000 Google searches during the period, a 22% jump from last year. Fenty, the Rihanna-affiliated brand under the umbrella of Kendo, the incubator owned by Sephora parent company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, ranked second, and NYX, Dior and Rare Beauty rounded out the top five.

This month, Huda Beauty’s site traffic this month dipped 16,700 to 742,300, according to web data resource Ahrefs. The traffic is slumping as prestige makeup overall has been soft. Market research firm Circana estimates that sales in the category decelerated 1% in the first quarter on a dollar basis.  

Kattan has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s war in Gaza and a longtime advocate for the Palestinian cause. Last month, Huda Beauty collaborated with Palestinian singer Saint Levant on a shade of its product Faux Filler Jelly Lip Oil, with the proceeds benefiting Palestinian agriculture and cultural preservation. Kattan’s position is in line with Huda Beauty’s demographic sweet spot of women 18 to 34 years old, only 9% of whom approve of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, according to poll by the organization Gallup in July. 

Discussing her advocacy in a video posted to TikTok in December 2023, Kattan said, “I am speaking on behalf of humanity, and I will not be intimidated. I am willing to risk my entire business, everything that I have on that, in search of the truth and justice.”

In Kattan’s controversial July 27 video, the Dubai-based Iraqi-American entrepreneur falsely claimed Israel was the chief orchestrator of World War I, World War II, September 11th and Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel. She also accused Israel of hiding pedophilia and covering up its crimes on Meta. “Are they behind every world war? Yes. Behind September 11th? Absolutely,” said Kattan in the now-deleted video before adding, “Everything is going to come out.”

A Change.org petition started on Aug. 3 that demands Sephora remove Huda Beauty in response to Kattan’s controversial video has garnered over 18,000 signatures. Well before the video, a Change.org petition from October 2023 calling for Sephora to cut ties with Huda Beauty in reaction to Kattan’s pro-Palestinian activism racked up over 30,000 signatures. 

Kattan addressed the recent backlash in a TikTok video from Aug. 8 in which she says her anti-Israel video was “misrepresented” and “misused” and a smear campaign had been launched against her, including influencers being paid to badmouth her and her brand online. So far, the video has been viewed over 10 million times and received 1.3 million likes. Referring to accusations of antisemitism, Kattan says, “I would never condone any hate of any kind. That, of course, includes Jewish hate…people try to twist your words and turn things into something they’re not just to force you into silence.”  

Huda Beauty’s fans have flooded Kattan’s Aug. 8 video with supportive comments. A TikTok user with the handle Dr. Lena Alia wrote, “If Sephora drops you, you’ll make more money because we’ll just buy directly from you.” A user with the handle Sab responded with, “EXACTLY! She’s already on the map. She doesn’t need Sephora.” Another commenter with the handle Wh____at wrote, “If Sephora will stop selling Huda beauty products, WE ARE BOYCOTTING.”

This article was updated on Aug. 13 to mention that Sephora refutes the sales data provided by Navigo Marketing.