Q3 2026 Makeup: Ulta + Sephora Brand Ranks, Momentum & Competitive Intelligence Vs. Q2’26-Q1’26-Q4’25

DECODE THE Q3 2026 Vs. Q2’26-Q4’25 MAKEUP: ULTA + SEPHORA BRAND RANKS, MOMENTUM DEEP DIVE. THE COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE THAT SEPARATES A LISTING FROM SCALE.

 

SCALE IN 2026-27.

Who is it for?

Beauty brand founders, CMOs, investors, brand and category marketers, consultants, product developers and retail buyers

Q3 2026 Vs. Q2’26-Q1’26-Q4’25 Makeup Ulta + Sephora USA in

290 slides: 533 brands, 9,929+ products, 13 categories, 9 price tiers, 4 quarters.

Tracked over 1 year, 5 quarters!

Every block reads three ways: Entering a field, Scaling in one, Leading one.

📊 See The Complete Competitive Picture + Brand and SKU Momentum

Every ranked brand at both doors: four-quarter path, quarter shift, depth, price tier, and the momentum 2x2s behind each move. 417 brands rank at Ulta, 171 at Sephora.

→ Top Retailer Brands: Spot the incumbent sliding faster than its shelf

→ Growth Retailer Brands: See which product carries your rank and which rides the house name

→ Aspirant Brands: Know the depth it takes to clear each rung

🎯 Benchmark On Rank Score, Not Catalogue Size

Formula brands, brush and tool houses and single-product brands rank in separate leagues: 283, 43 and 91 at Ulta, 127, 4 and 40 at Sephora. Depth is never mistaken for strength.

→ Top Retailer Brands: See whether three products carry your rank, or thirty

→ Growth Retailer Brands: A short strong range is not punished for being short

→ Aspirant Brands: Learn the score to beat before widening the line

📈 Track Category-by-Category Performance + 16 Category Boards

Ulta’s 8: Face, Eyes, Lips, Nails, Makeup Palettes, Brushes & Tools, K-Beauty Makeup, Conscious Beauty.

Sephora’s 8: Face, Eyes, Lips, Cheek, Makeup Palettes, Brushes & Applicators, Clean Makeup, Vegan Makeup.

→ Top Retailer Brands: See where your lead is narrowing

→ Growth Retailer Brands: Find where your rank is weakest against the board’s depth

→ Aspirant Brands: Pick the entry board on evidence, not category size

🚀 Master Price Architecture + What Each Tier Leaves Once Its Leader Is Removed

Nine tiers, priced at each product’s lowest size. Then every band re-read without its biggest brand: shelf per remaining brand, leader share, and crowding per 10% price step.

→ Top Retailer Brands: See which tier you are propping up

→ Growth Retailer Brands: Defend the band where your shelf is thinnest

→ Aspirant Brands: Enter where the crowd is thinnest

💡 Top 50 and Top 200 Products, Rank Changes and Momentum by Board

The top 50 SKU ladder at every door and category, priced, tiered and pathed, with the SKU momentum 2×2 behind it, plus the Top 200 board: every product’s rank and its gain or loss on a single page.

→ Top Retailer Brands: Compare your hero against the products above it

→ Growth Retailer Brands: Find the SKU doing the work and the one diluting it

→ Aspirant Brands: Study the price points that keep ranking, not the ones that spike

🏆 Climbers, Peakers and Decliners by Rank Band

Every ranked brand grouped by the direction it travelled: climbing, peaked, sliding, new, exited, read band by band, with the odds attached.

→ Top Retailer Brands: Watch the band under you fill up

→ Growth Retailer Brands: Ulta’s formula league runs 118 brands climbing against 106 sliding. Sephora’s runs 60 sliding against 45 climbing, with 20 more past their peak

→ Aspirant Brands: Aim at the door actually letting brands in. Ulta took 27 new formula brands this quarter. Sephora took one: KJH.brand by Katie Jane Hughes

🚀 The Two-Door Read + Where Ulta and Sephora Disagree

Brand divergence and SKU movement across both addresses: who ranks at one door only, and who moves opposite ways at the same time. Of 493 products ranked at both doors in Q2’26 and Q3’26, 247 moved in opposite directions.

→ Top Retailer Brands: Catch the door slipping while the other holds. Of 60 shared brands, 14 lost ground at both

→ Growth Retailer Brands: 24 of Ulta’s Q4’25 top 30 brands are still in its top 30. At Sephora, 23. Names hold, but 9 of Ulta’s top 50 products turned over last quarter

→ Aspirant Brands: Choose the door your price and depth already fit

💡 Brand One-Pagers + Positioning On Seven Stopovers

Each carries rank, trajectory, tier, footprint, the other door’s rank and a 1 to 5 read on ingredients, functional benefits, purity, origin, emotional promise, purpose and experiential, with evidence behind every 4 and 5.

→ Top Retailer Brands: See where your centre of gravity has drifted

→ Growth Retailer Brands: Read the leaders’ promise against yours, stopover by stopover

→ Aspirant Brands: Take an angle no incumbent at your price owns

🧭 Verdicts: 16 Category Boards

→ Category Summary: Trajectory by rank band on every board, so the odds of climbing against sliding sit next to the ranks

How do We Collect Data?

Our Market Dominance Index methodology prevents data distortion by weighting sustained performance over viral moments. Stop making category decisions based on gut instinct BUT dominate with the complete competitive picture.

(Save tens of thousands of dollars in consulting and hundreds of hours in research and analysis.)

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Access the Q3 2026 Ulta + Sephora USA Makeup Intelligence Report now!