As one of the world’s top beauty influencers and founder of Huda Beauty, Huda Kattan has built an empire on social media. Now she is looking at a new field.
“I’ve never been so excited in my life. I’m more excited about NFTs than social media,” she said.
Joining celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Snoop Dogg, Kattan is one of the growing number of influencers who collect NFTs and publicly evangelize their value. Using the World of Women Collective NFT as a profile picture on Instagram and Twitter, Kattan posted a YouTube and IGTV explainer last month sharing her enthusiasm for collecting artwork created on the digital blockchain. increase.
“I’m crazy about NFTs. That’s all I talk about. Whenever I talk to someone about NFTs, I get it. And if there’s no moment, I make it. I will try, “she said.
As female artists make up an estimated 5% of NFT sales, more and more influencers and celebrities are promoting NFTs created by women. NFT companies are also aware that women are an overlooked sales market and are working with beauty influencers and celebrities to increase their appeal to female viewers.
Kattan has emerged as the most prominent beauty influencer to collect NFTs. She currently lists 273 NFTs in her NFT platform OpenSea account from collections such as the World of Women, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Alpha Girl Club and Soul Cafe.
Her introduction to digital art began seven months ago when her husband, Chris Goncalo, bought from expensive collections such as Crypto Punks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and Doodles and started collecting them. Her first NFT was a World of Women work presented by Goncaro.
She was skeptical at first.
“I was.” Thank you for this photo. But it looks like graphic design. It doesn’t look like something really valuable, “she said. However, her appreciation for the woman in her work increased.
“She looked like me, and she wore the dress I would wear. She was wearing the makeup I would wear. She had a little olive skin color and this I had a cool little straight hairstyle, “Kattan said of her NFT avatar. “I started to understand a little about how people identify themselves within NFTs.”
Currently, she frequently posts videos on YouTube and Instagram channels discussing NFTs as an investment, stating that NFTs can be a tool for women’s financial empowerment.
“Women are not involved in finances. They usually go to husbands, and if they want to buy stocks, their husbands will actually buy stocks for them. And I’m really angry with it. I set it up, “she said. “They don’t get the opportunity to invest the way they want to invest. There isn’t enough education there.”
And her husband said, “I actually stopped giving me a gift altogether. He just gave me an NFT.”
She didn’t say how much she paid for the NFT in total, but Kattan said the NFT was a major investment for her these days.
“My husband and I sold Bitcoin and joined the NFT,” she said. In addition to the artwork, the couple bought a sandboxed NFT real estate. Currently my favorite NFT in her collection is the purple World of Women’s “Night Goddess” avatar that I use as my Twitter profile picture. OpenSea states that another buyer bought it for 20 ETH ($ 75,870 at the time) and transferred it to her account two months ago.
“I’m crazy about her and I love her. I think she’s beautiful,” Kattan said. In addition to its aesthetics, it does not undermine the value of her work. “She was expensive, and of course she got her value up after a week. Since then, I think she’s probably tripled, even quadrupled, and even more. . ”
Kattan is the only public figure to visualize the World of Women collection, backed by heavy hitters in the entertainment industry who are driving the hype of 10,000 randomly generated digital images on the Ethereum blockchain. Not. Like the Bored Ape Yacht Club, the World of Women Expression It was publicly promoted by Reese Witherspoon and Eva Longoria after purchasing the work from the collection by Madonna and U2 Manager Guy Oseary.It’s just Signed a contract We have signed an entertainment contract with Reese Witherspoon company Hello Sunshine, which includes feature films, television and live events.Within the past month, World of Women’s work price Over $ 600,000.
“Celebrities play a role in fully supporting the NFT space. LA co-owner Jacquelin Napal said: Based Gallery Art Angel. Gallery focused primarily on physical art. Is known for celebrity clients such as Kylie Jenner, Drake, and Beyoncé. Recently, NFT has been launched.
To reach potential female collectors, NFT marketers are increasingly looking to the world of beauty and asking influencers to create NFT sponsored posts, just as they do for beauty brands.
Persona Cosmetics founder and beauty influencer Sona Gasparian recently shared a post on a sponsored IG story for the new winter sports champion NFT Pack. Created by Marvel Studios visual artist Anthony Francisco, the NFT was created in collaboration with Olympic athletes.
“It was comfortable to advertise because it was reasonably priced,” she said of the collection and helped “give back to the athletes.” She was contacted about her promotion after posting about her personal interest in collecting NFTs. She currently owns eight, including the official Disney NFT.
Influencers also add cash to an exclusive community formed among wealthy NFT collectors. NFT Company after party Frequent NFT minting parties studded with fascinating influencers in Hollywood mansions, announcing new NFT owners on Mike, and sharing news on Instagram. Photos of recent NFT parties on Instagram accounts show Charlie Jordan, Helen Owen, and former “Bachelor” contestant Christina Schulman creating a new NFT.
“If you have one, two, or three [celebrities buying in], They talk to their friends. They said, “I also want to participate.” Thibault Launay, CEO and co-founder of Exclusible, a luxury NFT and Metaverse real estate market, said. “This is what happened with the boring apes,” said Paris Hilton, Snoop Dogg, JAY-Z, and Eminem. He said the same thing is happening with Metaverse Real Estate.
Exclusible will visit 25 luxury private islands in the Sandbox on February 16th with model Sara Sampaio, Paris Saint-Germain FC star Marco Veratti, tennis players Ana Ivanovic and Stanislas Wawrinka, and FC Basel co-owners. Announced that it was sold to sports stars such as Dan. Holtzmann. The total value of private islands totals 910 ETH, or $ 2.5 million.
“It’s kind of interesting, but in a way nothing new,” said Launay, a hype in the NFT and digital real estate markets. “That’s how the luxury world works. If you go to a cool club or a cool restaurant, you need to know someone. It’s just the continuity of the digital world.”
Celebrities and influences are also in touch with each other about which NFT to buy. Kattan shares tips in group chats with celebrities focused on NFTs, but refuses to share participants’ names.
Not all beauty influencers are enthusiastic about the world of NFTs. In late January, nail influencer Cristine Rotenberg, who holds the handle @ Nailogical, shared screenshots of some suggestions received from NFT companies. On twitter“You may not know exactly what an NFT is, but you need to know that every celebrity / influencer who promotes an NFT has received such an email. The email comes from a company proposing to help create her own NFT, one stating that there are “millions of potential returns.”
Critics of NFTs claim that celebrities are using major platforms to hype NFTs for self-concentration and criticize the environmental sacrifice from the energy needed to mine cryptocurrencies. I am. The value of NFTs can increase if the work is published by a celebrity or if the price of Hollywood –World of Women “surges” when Oceany is announced as the manager of the collection. Critics call celebrity public support for NFTs “extremely anxious” and “matches in hell,” such as Paris Hilton discussing boring apes at Jimmy Fallon.
Kattan disagrees with critics, citing money that can be returned to the original artist when the work is sold.
“Many people see it and they say,” Oh, that’s a scam. The rich get richer and richer. “And” What the hell, why am I missing this? That person Are you making $ 10 million? I couldn’t do it? Or could I do it? Ah, it must be a scam. “So many people Is a little worried. I disagree. When people get over the learning curve and hump, it’s actually life-changing. She said her husband bought the work from a prominent Elderly Housing-based NFT artist.Lucky grandmaI made thousands with her artwork.
The World of Women NFT also allows owners to monetize their ongoing profits for some versions. For World of Women’s “Royalties Club” NFTs, royalties are paid from secondary sales. Kattan estimated that he paid about 155 ETH to one of the World of Women’s Royalties Club NFTs.She refused to confirm the exact valueBut he said, “It was a lot.” Her account, World of Women’s Royalties Club NFT, was last listed as having been sold to another user for 100 ETH six months ago. The transfer to her account a month ago didn’t show the price, 155 ETH Would have been worth it $ 393,948 It is based on the Ethereum price listed on OpenSea at the time of transfer.
“It will actually help democratize wealth in many ways,” said Kattan of the NFT market. “There is a world where we see people really start to distribute wealth.” She also suggested using NFTs for charitable purposes. “Why UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders can’t really put the cause in NFTs and can I agree with it?”
While many beauty brands such as NARS, Givenchy Beauty and Elf have launched their own NFTs, Valdé Beauty recently brought both traditional beauty and Metaverse influencers to the NFT launch party at Decentraland. rice field. However, as skepticism about NFTs grows, some consumer brands are beginning to see a backlash against NFT promotions. And the founders of NFT collections are still looking at ways to incorporate NFTs into their brands.
“We haven’t done anything yet, but that’s definitely what we want to do in the future. We just want to make sure it’s very consistent with what we’re doing now as a brand,” said Gasparian of Persona Cosmetics. I am. So far, her interest in NFTs is “all personal.”
Kattan also said she was “exploring” options for incorporating NFTs into Huda Beauty. In addition, she said the first coin offering, or concept of “ICO,” was intriguing to her as a means of exposing.
“That’s what I really explore for our company,” she said.
NFT security concerns have also recently been raised after some valuable NFTs have been stolen. High seas.. OpenSea claimed it was a phishing scam, and some victims said it was a platform security issue.
So far, Kattan no longer buys frenzy mode.
“I spent enough money in a comfortable place, and I hope I don’t lose that money, but now I don’t want to invest additional cash in it,” she said. .. She’s open to buying new things, but she said, “If I want to buy something, I’m selling something to buy something else.”
