EXCLUSIVE: Pat McGrath Labs Launches at Ulta Beauty
Pat McGrath Labs has inked another retail partnership.
The brand, which is currently distributed in Sephora and Bluemercury, is joining the Luxury at Ulta Beauty assortment, which debuted earlier this year. Select doors will have the brand’s bestsellers at the end of July, and the full assortment will debut online in September.
More from WWD
In 2018, the brand’s sales were said to be hovering around $60 million at retail. Thierry Maman, the brand’s global managing director, says things have picked up since then. “We are experiencing high double-digit growth,” he said. “The brand is thriving in all key markets, especially in China. The Divine Skin Legendary Colour Balm Collection is a huge hit and has driven the brand awareness to new heights.”
That growth matches that of prestige beauty overall, which is growing faster than mass, according to first-quarter data from Circana. Makeup, for that time period, grew 24 percent and designer brands also swelled.
Part of what’s driving the growth is a wave of new customers discovering Pat McGrath Labs. “The interesting thing about the new balms is that this product has brought many new customers to the brand. We are already seeing them purchase core products like our Sublime Skin foundation and our Mothership palettes which are at a much higher price point,” Maman said.
As for partnering with Ulta, there’s no time like the present, Maman said. “We are launching in their luxury concept, 200 doors, which is aligned with our brand positioning,” he said. “Secondly, it enables us to connect with more customers nationally since we currently have a very selective distribution. It also allows us to target a new profile of customers which are largely Gen Z and suburban.”
That was part of Ulta’s rationale for launching luxury brands earlier this year. As reported, qualitative research from Ulta showed that Gen Z has a higher intent to purchase luxury products than other generations.
“We feel really good about how this is coming together for our guests,” said Maria Salcedo, senior vice president of merchandising, Ulta Beauty, of the luxury offering. “Chanel and Dior bring a very French look to the assortment, Hourglass is much more subdued, Natasha Denona has a really cool look around the eye, and then you have this more exploratory assortment from Pat.”
McGrath launched her namesake brand in 2015 after decades on the fashion week circuit, pioneering runway looks from studded lips to gilded eyebrows, and has parlayed that creativity into a range of successful collaborations with the likes of “Star Wars” and “Bridgerton.” She was the makeup artist behind Doja Cat‘s viral, all-red, crystal makeup look for the Schiaparelli spring 2023 couture show in Paris.
Salcedo thinks the sweet spot for Ulta includes a mix of heritage players, which in addition to Chanel and Dior includes Tiffany and Givenchy, as well as more artistry-driven brands. “This is a beautiful opportunity for us to build an assortment that will resonate with our guests, that provides some well-known elements of luxury and brands like Chanel and Dior,” Salcedo said. “We also want to balance that and have artistry as well. Pat McGrath is such a force across makeup artistry, she’s so relevant in all of the fashion circuit, and she has a very modern, sometimes subversive approach to her makeup.”
Best of WWD