Beauty's Billion-Dollar Boss

Last year, one woman out-earned Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian. Her name: Huda Kattan, a make-up artist from Tennessee, who, quite simply, has single-handedly changed the way women look…

- Martha Hayes

Guys, she’s just passed the millennium wheel… she’s 15 minutes away!” announces a senior member of Huda Kattan’s team. The 50 or so young women and men who stand before me fizz with corresponding excitement: jaws slacken, hands clasp over open mouths, legs turn to jelly. They have gathered here, at the top of London’s “Gherkin” building, to have an audience with their idol. Or, another way of putting it: their boss. You see they are all Huda Beauty make-up artists (none older than 30, I notice) who have come from make-up counters across the land. A platter of pastries and fresh fruit on cocktail sticks goes untouched. They are too excited to think about breakfast. Some of them have been up since 4 AM to be here. Not that you’d know. Their heavily made-up faces – plump matte lips, thick, defined eyebrows and cheekbones that glow with highlighter – eradicate any whisper of tiredness. They also do something else: they all… look. Exactly. The. Same. Carefully contoured and expertly airbrushed, they have what is known as “Huda Face” – an almost avatar-like complexion that is so flawless, it’s like an Instagram filter come to life.