Huda was born on October 2, 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as one of four children. Her parents are both from Iraq. The family later moved to Cookeville, Tennessee, and then to Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Huda attended the University of Michigan–Dearborn where she majored in finance.

In 2006, Huda moved to Dubai, since her father was offered a teaching position there. A few years later, Huda moved to Los Angeles, where she studied makeup. Among her clients were celebrities such as Eva Longoria and Nicole Richie. Huda then returned to Dubai where she became employed by Revlon as a makeup artist. In April 2010, upon the advice of one of her sisters, Huda started a beauty-related WordPress blog which she named “Huda Beauty” on which she would post makeup tutorials and tips.

Huda met her now-husband, Chris Gonçalo, born in Colombia, in high school. The couple moved to Dubai in 2006, and welcomed their first child, Nour Gisele, in 2011. Huda is Muslim. One of Huda’s sisters is her business partner, Mona; while another sister manages Huda’s social media, Alya. She holds both Iraqi and American citizenship.

In 2013, Huda founded a cosmetics line which, like her blog, is also called “Huda Beauty.” Her first product, a series of false eyelashes, was released through Sephora. The Huda Beauty label achieved success with the sales of the false eyelashes, which were famously worn by Kim Kardashian.

Huda achieved popularity on Instagram, attaining more than 47 million followers as of 2020. Huda is ranked #1 on the “2017 Influencer Instagram Rich List”, earning $18,000 for each post of sponsored content. Huda has been described as “a Kim Kardashian West of the beauty influencer economy”, and was declared one of the “ten most powerful influencers in the world of beauty” by Forbes magazine. She was chosen as one of “The 25 Most Influential People on the Internet” by Time magazine in 2017.

In 2018, Huda began starring in her own original Facebook Watch reality series entitled Huda Boss, alongside her family.