The Glossy Beauty Podcast

Ulta Beauty is doubling down on the wellness category.

“We’ve been on the journey with wellness since 2021 when we launched the wellness shop at Ulta Beauty, and we’ve learned so much about the category,” Laura Beres, vp of wellness at Ulta Beauty, told Glossy. “Wellness continues to grow in the market, and importantly, our guests just continue to demand more of it. … This is really an evolution of the Wellness Shop.”

Launching next week, the retailer is rolling out a pilot program called “Wellness by Ulta Beauty,” a shop-in-shop boutique concept piloted in four U.S. stores. It will include an education-focused wall, gondolas, end caps and a sampling table, all staffed by specially trained wellness advisors.

“This is much larger [than our existing Wellness Shop]: It’ll be about 475 square feet in the store, which is a significant experience [for Ulta]. And it will have some space for guests to be able to really explore and navigate in a way that gives them that sense of calm and peace throughout the store,” Beres said.

The boutiques will be located in Columbus, Ohio; Short Pump, Virginia; Peabody, Massachusetts; and Naperville, Illinois.

Beres joined the Glossy Beauty Podcast to discuss the launch, how brands can participate, and what’s coming next for Ulta Beauty’s continued wellness expansion. Listen in now, then learn more in Glossy’s latest Ulta Strategies story on the launch.

After a few sleepy years, beauty M&A had a gangbuster 2025, including three deals worth more than a billion each, leading many insiders to speculate on whether the momentum can continue in 2026.

“We were excited to see what we saw last year; M&A had become so dormant for a while, we were getting a little concerned,” said Kimber Maderazzo, professor of marketing at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School and former Proactiv and L’Oréal Group executive. “But I think we’ll see something different [this year].”

In 2025, E.l.f. Beauty purchased Hailey Bieber’s Rhode for $1 billion in May. Then in June, men’s care brand Dr. Squatch was acquired by Unilever for $1.5 billion, and L’Oréal Group bought clinical skin-care brand Medik-8 for approximately $1.1 billion.

“When you see big deals like that, it sends a message out to private equity that strategics are looking for big, big brands that will last over time,” Maderazzo said. “And when we look at the history [of beauty M&A], a lot of those brands [acquired in the past] didn’t.”

In this week’s episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, host Lexy Lebsack sits down with Maderazzo to discuss the new acquisition rulebook, as she sees it, what strategics are looking for today and what we can expect in 2026. 

Lebsack also taps Maderazzo to share her “2026 in and out” prediction list and an insider glimpse into the trends and topics most important to the beauty-industry-focused graduate students she teaches today.

The latest Glossy Beauty Podcast episode features board-certified dermatologist Dr. Marnie Nussbaum and beauty industry veteran Jodi Kaplan — the founder and CEO, respectively, of the Dr. Marnie skin-care brand. Dr. Nussbaum gained popularity while catering to dermatology clients in New York City’s Upper East Side before launching the brand, which was called Lines before rebranding in November. For her part, Kaplan built her industry prowess through roles at brands including Droplette, Dr. Barbara Sturm and Augustinus Bader. 

Dermatologist-founded brands continue to resonate with beauty consumers, who are seeking credibility, education and expertise in an oversaturated market. On the podcast, Glossy Pop editor Sara Spruch-Feiner asks Dr. Nussbaum and Kaplan why they chose to lose “Lines,” what a founder’s name on a product line signifies and what’s in store for derm-led skin care in the years to come.

What will 2026 mean for the beauty and wellness industries? 

In today’s special episode, hosts Lexy Lebsack, Emily Jensen and Sara Spruch-Feiner share their 2026 industry predictions. 

This includes a slowdown of the "no-makeup makeup" aesthetic in favor of bolder color cosmetics trends, the rise of experimental peptide therapy among wellness consumers and an uptick in budget-conscious beauty shoppers. The hosts also made specific predictions, such as an increase in savory scents in fragrance and more clean, value-priced body care in big-box stores. The trio also muses about the bubbles that could burst in 2026, and so much more.

As 2025 comes to a close, the Glossy Beauty team — Sara Spruch-Feiner, Lexy Lebsack and Emily Jensen — came together on the Glossy Beauty Podcast to reflect on some of the defining themes that shaped the beauty industry this year, and their own reporting.

Spruch-Feiner unpacks the continued rise of Gen Alpha as a beauty consumer, the brands emerging to meet that demand and the retailers adapting to deliver for this younger demographic. Jensen examines a challenging year for color cosmetics, where lip care and lip liner emerged as bright spots. And Lebsack points to longevity as a key growth area in wellness, highlighting momentum in categories like fitness trackers and strength-training equipment. She also notes that, in skin care, clinical, results-driven products are igniting consumer interest. 

Tune in for a look back at the biggest moments and themes across beauty and wellness in 2025 — and what they could signal for the industry in 2026.