The sentence needs to be made clearer. Shells are used for eggs and the exoskeletons of sea creatures. Husks is used for the inner coating of grains. The part you can eat but often do not. "Do you think you can life your life as an empty shell" "empty shell" is an idiom we use to describe someone who has a boring uninteresting repetitive lifestyle.

Yes, it would be exactly the same as an empty shell. We usually use shell for nuts and husk for grains.