Beauty has always been serious business.
What’s newer is how one event can move an entire city’s economy. Ulta Beauty World, now in its second year, brought over 5,000 people to Orlando this month, and the city felt every bit of it. Among those who showed up were Tina Knowles, who led a masterclass for Cécred, and Sir John, the celebrity makeup artist and creative director of Korean skincare line medicube, who hosted one of eight sessions held across the two-day event.
By the time the expo doors opened the following day, on April 16, more than 220 brands had taken over the floor at the Orange County Convention Center. Some activations were so elaborate that attendees ran through the doors as soon as they opened them to get to booths they had seen teased on social media. From waterslides to waterfalls to fully immersive setups stretching across the space, it was a sight truly to be seen. But one of the most elaborate brands? Well, Ulta CMO Kelly Mahoney even confirmed to ESSENCE in a roundtable interview that Cécred “brought it again this year in a really big way,” and given that Mama Tina was there to oversee it, she was clearly right.
What doesn’t make the Instagram or TikTok highlights is what it actually costs a city to host something like this, and what it gets in return. A representative from the Orange County Convention Center put the estimated economic impact at $7.6 million, based on a conservative attendance forecast. The actual reach is bigger. Ulta’s Field Leadership Conference runs alongside the public expo, pulling in store managers and brand executives from across the country, and Mahoney confirmed the combined attendance brings over 5,000 people to the city. Most of them weren’t leaving Thursday night, meaning hotels, restaurants, and rideshares absorbed spending that never shows up in a ticket count but absolutely shows up in a city’s weekly revenue.
And then there was the ticketing.. Olympics, so to speak. More than three million people flooded the online queue for a total of 3,000 available spots, and within 71 minutes, they were gone. The inaugural San Antonio event drew around 1,500 attendees, so the growth between year one and year two has been anything but gradual. Tickets this year were priced at roughly $165 and included a swag bag valued at over $2,000, double what Texas attendees received. When the doors opened on the morning of the expo, Mahoney said the scene was hard to prepare for even knowing it was coming. “It’s just this tidal wave of people hungry for information, experience and fun,” she said. “There was really nothing like I’d ever seen.”
The event grew out of Ulta’s Field Leadership Conference, an internal gathering the company has held for more than a decade, but the vision behind expanding it to the public was deliberate. “We saw an opportunity to take what has been internally powerful in terms of driving culture and create a very culturally relevant event that brings all the best of what we do,” Mahoney told ESSENCE. Bolting a consumer-facing day onto the end of the conference gave brands already in town a second audience they wouldn’t otherwise have access to.
“Anytime they can get in front of our associates or our store leaders and engage them in their brand, it’s a win,” Mahoney said. “The more we can educate our teams, the more they can get excited about the brands we carry and learn something they can pass on to our guests.” Mahoney also noted that the competition on the floor is friendly but real, with brands walking the expo and quietly taking notes on each other.
Mahoney says brands are clear about what they’re getting out of it. “It’s about reach, it’s about exposure for their brand, it’s about educating the consumer, it’s about learning from the consumer and it’s connecting with the consumer and relationships,” she said. Brands keep coming back, and based on how they showed up this year, it’s not hard to see why. Ulta now runs 70,000 in-person store events annually, after adding 20,000 new events to its programming this year.
As for 2027, Mahoney said the location is still being finalized. “We’re on the final stretch of confirming all the details,” she said.
The internet has already started speculating, with Anaheim, California emerging as the most repeated rumor, though Ulta has stayed quiet on the details. Wherever it lands, an announcement is expected soon.
