Flower Knows becomes first brand to land on Ulta Beauty

What happened: First C-beauty brand to land on Ulta Beauty Flower Knows — the Hangzhou-based, fairy-tale-themed makeup brand known for hyper-ornate packaging and virality on TikTok and Instagram reached its most significant U.S. retail milestone to date on December 7, 2025, when it debuted on Ulta.com with 62 SKUs spanning lips, eyes, complexion, accessories, and its best-known themed collections: Strawberry Cupid, Shell’s Jewel, Little Angel, Swan Ballet, and Strawberry Rococo. Price points range from $8 to $45, sustaining its “accessible premium” positioning despite tariff pressures on China-made cosmetics. Flower Knows’ virality in the US For a brand that has amassed 3.4 million followers across TikTok and Instagram, sustained virality has become part of its competitive advantage. Founded in 2016, the label entered the U.S. DTC channel in 2022 and gained traction through a six-month exclusive with Urban Outfitters in 2023, where it ranked among the retailer’s top beauty performers for two consecutive Black Friday seasons. Today, the U.S. comprises 60%-70% of the brand’s overseas revenue, making Ulta a critical lever in its next phase of expansion. CMO Gong Fang describes Ulta as a milestone that validates the brand’s aesthetic and global potential. Ulta plans to release three to four curated Flower Knows collections annually, complementing the brand’s fast-moving DTC cadence and strengthening its omnichannel footprint. The Jing Take: Flower Knows aesthetics capture western consumers Flower Knows’ arrival at Ulta signals a broader shift: U.S. consumer receptiveness to Asian beauty aesthetics, echoing the early K-beauty wave. Yet the brand’s trajectory differs from its Korean predecessors: its growth is powered by collectible-grade packaging, world-building, and platform-specific content localization, rather than dermocosmetic narratives or ingredient tech. Its product drops are engineered as multimedia storylines, with repeat-purchase rates surpassing 40% for new collections — a metric rarely achieved in global color cosmetics. The brand’s cultural equity has also been boosted by organic endorsements from Lana Del Rey, Sabrina Carpenter, James Charles, and Mikayla Nogueira, while its Seoul pop-up in October became a regional phenomenon, drawing 16-hour queues. C-beauty faces the US tariff beast Yet global scaling presents operational complexity. Tariffs on China-manufactured cosmetics can reach 30%, and Flower Knows is navigating long lead times as its U.S. third-party logistics integrates with Ulta. Management has opted not to raise prices despite cost pressures, a strategic decision to maintain accessibility in a price-sensitive consumer environment. Flower Knows’ Ulta debut represents more than a retail placement: it is a litmus test for C-beauty’s mainstream viability in the United States. The brand offers a blueprint for overseas expansion: lead with aesthetic differentiation, translate storytelling into commerce, and cultivate community before scaling distribution. A case study for overseas expansion For Proya, which became a Series B investor in Flower Knows in September, the move provides a real-time laboratory for global expansion strategy. For Ulta, it represents a calculated bet on a rising cultural export category. And for C-beauty at large, it marks a pivotal moment: a Chinese brand with unapologetically domestic design codes winning visibility on America’s biggest beauty stage not by mimicking Western aesthetics, but by doubling down on its own. The Jing Take reports on a piece of the leading news and presents our editorial team’s analysis of the key implications for the luxury industry. In the recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debate sprouting on Chinese social media.

Flower Knows becomes 1st Chinese label to land on Ulta Beauty

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Flower Knows becomes 1st Chinese label to land on Ulta Beauty