Scrolling thorugh Mona Kattan's Instagram, you can find out a lot of things about her: She's obsessed with all things beauty, is a sucker for a good meme, and loves her sisters (aka the other two members of the Huda Beauty team) more than anything in the world. Through the little snapshots into her life, the most important thing Kattan's Instagram tells us about her is that she's real. Which is why it's no surprise that even though Huda Beauty has totally revolutionized the lip game with their matte glosses and contouring kits, she's willing to speak openly and honestly about the fact that she uses lip fillers.
"I still do filler," she tells me point blank over lunch outside of her Dollhouse Spa in Dubai (FYI — she's as amazing IRL as she seems online, which isn't always the case). "I don’t like to fake it. I feel like I’d rather be honest." She started getting treatments when she was 24, after going to an appointment with her older sister Alya who's 12 years her senior. "I was that younger sister who was like, 'Yeah, yeah me too!" she says.
Kattan's older sister Huda (yeah, that Huda) has also spoken openly in the past about her own experience with fillers, and this transparency seems to be a huge part of why people respond so favorably to the women's brand. Through Huda's blog and her, Mona and Alya's social media account, they work to share their personal beauty experiences and the knowledge they've gained from them with their followers. "Why not just be open? I think it’s also a part of what we’re doing," says Kattan. "If you do something, share it. It might help someone out. Maybe tell people what not to do with filler."
Considering how many celebrities and influencers choose to hide the fact that they use beauty enhancers of any kind, Kattan's honesty is both refreshing and important. "When you have so many people looking up to you as a beauty icon or someone who’s going to inspire them to do things, you have to be honest because you don’t want to give them unrealistic expectations of what you can do with the product," she says. "I don’t want girls to think ‘Why aren’t my lips that full?’ I had help!"
For Kattan, it's important that her followers, as well as Huda Beauty customers, understand that they won't be able to achieve her level of lip-fullness using only the brand's matte gloss and contouring pencils (though those certainly help). "I don’t want girls to feel bad that they don’t have something that I have, after I’ve had work done," she says. "It’s only fair for them to know that it’s not completely natural."
Kattan's honesty about her lip fillers is an important step in the right direction to de-stigmatize cosmetic treatments and let women know that it's okay if they weren't born with perfectly full lips (or high cheekbones, or wrinkle free foreheads)... Most people aren't. If women want to change or enhance their appearance, we shouldn't shame them into feeling like they need to keep it a secret. The more openness there is surrounding cosmetic treatments, the better, and Mona's transparency gives us all yet another reason to love her realness. (And FYI — She's as real IRL as she is online).
Images: MonaKattan/Instagram
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