#BEAUTYSELLS
Only two days to go. And I would have to say I’m not buying much. Not at all. I’m transitioning I suppose. At least I was until about one o’clock this afternoon.
I had a normal morning went to the gym, came home, showered and went to the office and worked.
Until I got a text from Lucy
“i read on refinery 29 the highlighter sells once every 6 seconds in Dubai”
The second I saw that I went into overdrive.
I sent back ten !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! followed by ?????????
Now you might be wondering what highlighter? Why Dubai? And who cares?
For those of you not on Instagram, one of the biggest and fastest growing industries that flourishes in Instagram is beauty. There are endless beauty bloggers and makeup specialists and industrious individuals who understand how to contour like a pro and they have masses of videos and endorsements and become big beauty stars with millions of followers.
At the top of this puffy pyramid sits a woman in Dubai named Huda Kattan who started out on her own and now has a following of 19.9 million people. To put it in perspective the fashion house of the moment Gucci has only 14.9 million.
I don’t remember how I found my way to Huda’s site, her makeup and style are not really my thing. Lips too big. Colors too dense. Too much sparkle and cat’s eyes for my taste and way too much contouring. But her videos are something to behold. They are like the makeup of the future come to life. You literally must see them to understand what I mean.
So, yesterday I was with Lucy at the doctor waiting to find out if she needs her tonsils out and I wanted to get her mind off it, so I asked her if she knew of Huda. She didn’t. I put up one of the videos and she was totally transfixed and an instant fan.
It was a video of huge lips, being painted in gold and silver and dripping with golden flecked oil. They are almost porn. And I’m sure if you are a girl in Dubai dying to cut loose they are totally porn.
We made plan for Friday, my last day to go to Sephora and check out Huda’s makeup line along with one last lap around the beauty emporium.
But Lucy loves to know things and I guess during some downtime at school she started googling Huda and that’s when she found out Huda sells her highlighting palette every 6 seconds in Dubai and she has a new one coming out soon in the US. But right now they are impossible to get.
Now all I need to hear are several things to make me proceed to purchase or search something down until it’s mine; even if I might not want it. They are “impossible to get” “this is the last one in your size” “sold out here, check another location.” “limited time only.” Tell me I’m about to be shut out and I will bang the door down until I get in. Even if I don’t know where or what it might be.
I immediately jumped on Huda’s Instagram, turns out she has this new palette that is outselling the first palette. It was released at Sephora in the UAE and then last week at Harrods in London. All gone. They just flew out. Clearly, it’s not only the girls in Dubai proceeding to purchase every six seconds, it ‘s global.
Something took me to her webpage where there is a shopping section and the highlighters were there, including the new one, the 3D, the one only for sale in the UAE and London. The highlighter of tomorrow available for me today.
I stuck three in my cart. I figured if I don’t like it, I can sell two on eBay and Lucy gets the other one.
Then they had her famous eye shadow palette. Not my colors, the purple is too deep, the brown too heavy, and then there are sparkly, spangley colors you are supposed to mix in for that 1977 Disco Glam via the Emirates look. But I took two anyway, one for Lucy, one for me. I also got a few lip liners Lucy sent me links to.
Then I proceeded to purchase. And the site told me while I was shopping my eyeshadows became unavailable.
WHAT? The Dubai girls are really fast and it was the middle of the night there.
I kept trying to put them back in the cart and kept getting the same message.
This made me want them so badly I started to ache. Come on, they were there. I put them in my cart. And they did not give you a timer like Gilt Group or One Kings Lane does. They were just gone. Shoved into someone’s cart in Qatar.
After fifteen minutes of trying I decided to proceed to purchase our highlighters before they too were taken from us.
I got all my info in and Huda (smart chic) only takes PayPal. Fine, typed in go to my PayPal and I was redirected back to her site. NO. NO. NO. This cannot be. They could not process my order. What do you mean? Of course, you can. I kept trying, the little Huda ball kept spinning as it tried to process. But it couldn’t go through. I was literally watching the website crash from the volume of shoppers placing orders.
I am clearly so not the only one with a shopping issue.
I texted Lucy, it looks bad. No highlighters either, the site is crashing from the orders.
But I kept trying.
I sat there for an hour just pushing purchase, then getting redirected back. Pushing purchase – no go. It was a great metaphor for what I’m about to begin.
But come on I can’t come back here in a week when you restock if I don’t get it now, I don’t get it.
I don’t know if the universe heard me say that, and if it did and it paid attention it should be ashamed. Universe, cure cancer, go impeach Trump don’t fulfill my HudaHighlights order, but it did. Finally. It went through.
We sadly still have cancer and Trump but Lucy and I are one with the hip girls of Dubai and have our highlighters.
But, for me that was not enough. The land of more… I wanted the eyeshadow palette. Neither one of us loved it. I know Lucy didn’t as she said let’s get one and we will share it. When Lucy and I love something, we don’t opt to share we opt for our own.
Sephora online had them. Lucy and I have our Sephora date on Friday. But on the way home like a magnet I was drawn there.
I wandered in like a zombie I asked the first person I saw who worked there, WHERE IS HUDA? She pointed me to a corner. I said do you have the eyeshadow she said no, totally sold out only the lip-gloss.
So, I tried on this too purple, too thick lip-gloss that turned cakey that made me feel like I couldn’t open my mouth.
Then I went around Sephora with cakey eggplant lips feeling like I was cheating on Lucy. I promised I would go there with her. Here I was looking at Two Faced. NO, don’t do that. Lucy loves Two Faced. No Kat Van Die. Nothing.
I didn’t want to come home empty handed so I got us each a very tasteful eye shadow palette that has the unfortunate of name of Buxom.
I guess they must really work hard to try and get the business away from Huda Kattan.
But it doesn’t seem like they will be able to do that even with breasts as their motto. The Dubai girl is killing it.
P.S. The tonsils are coming out.
