EXCLUSIVE: Milk Makeup Is Launching at Ulta Beauty

Noor Lobad
·3 min read

Milk Makeup is shaking up its retail footprint.

The color cosmetics brand, best known for buzzy offerings like its Hydro Grip Primer and Cooling Water Jelly Tints, is launching at Ulta Beauty in March, where it will sell online and in more than 600 doors.

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Barring the brand’s brief Urban Outfitters foray years ago, the expansion marks the only U.S. retail expansion for Milk since 2016 — the year the brand launched as an offshoot of cofounder Mazdack Rassi’s creative studio, Milk Studios, and one month later debuted at Sephora.

For Milk’s chief executive officer Tim Coolican, the move is a logical next step for the brand.

“When you think about Ulta’s approach to conscious beauty, as well as its very inclusive vision for beauty as something that’s rooted in self-expression, there was a clear and natural fit between Milk and Ulta,” he said.

Waldencast-owned Milk will bringing more than 180 stock keeping units from 33 collections to the retailer, including long-loved primer and cream stick favorites, as well as its jelly tints — the success of which the brand will soon expand on with the introduction of more jelly products. (As previously reported by WWD, the Jell-O-like cheek/lip tints, created by Milk cofounder Dianna Ruth, sold roughly 400,000 units during their first three months on the market — even amid recurring stock shortages).

Milk Makeup
Milk Makeup Cooling Water Jelly Tints

“You’re going to see more innovation in that jelly world. We’re going to expand into new segments that we haven’t historically been present in; we’re still in the very early chapters of the Milk Makeup book,” said Coolican, adding “when you look at our business today, it’s concentrated in a couple of areas: prime and set, the cream [blush and bronze] sticks and now the jellies. We have an opportunity to reach a lot more people, and to do it in very intentional ways.”

The Ulta expansion is among those ways.

“We know [Ulta] has the next generation shopping there — it sits across all generations, and regionally, it’s very widespread as well,” continued Coolican. “We’re launching a very complete collection there, and there are some things that are still going to be unique to Sephora. We want to make sure that there’s meaningful differentiation between the two accounts.”

Milk’s Ulta foray is the latest in a slew by formerly Sephora-native brands.

To recap: in December, both Farmacy and Tatcha entered the masstige retailer on the heels of Charlotte Tilbury and Sol de Janeiro’s respective earlier forays that year. In 2023, it was Hourglass, Natasha Denona, Gucci and Dior. In 2022, Olaplex, Supergoop and Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty each made the leap.

“The addition [of Milk Makeup] is one of the many ways we’re growing our assortment to meet the diverse needs of our guests and continue to expand our prestige makeup offering,” said Maria Salcedo, senior vice president of merchandising at Ulta.

She added of how the retailer — which named Kecia Steelman its new CEO earlier this month — is approaching diversifying its assortment: “We’re excited to continue introducing new and emerging brands that are differentiated, develop high-quality and innovative products, and are backed by an authentic founder story that provides our guests with a deeper connection to the brand…while continuing to grow and elevate established brands that are introducing innovative products paving the trends to come.”

These pillars — innovation and community-building — are what Milk, too, aims to prioritize in 2025.

“We’re doubling down on our core values; making sure that we’re bringing products to life that don’t exist in their category, making sure the innovation and ‘clean’ aspect of the product is told in the right way, and leaning into community, which has been the North Star for Milk Makeup and for 30 years with Milk Studios,” Coolican said.

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