Ulta Beauty Casts Selena Gomez and Tate McRae in Holiday Campaign

Ulta Beauty launched its 2025 holiday campaign on October 31, pairing two celebrity beauty founders, Selena Gomez and Tate McRae, in a multi-channel push spanning TV, streaming, digital, social media and in-store experiences.

The campaign, titled "The Magic Starts with You," was created by Tamara Group and directed by Nema Vand. It builds on last year's holiday advertising, in which Mrs. Claus — played by Sandra Gray — appeared alongside Paris Hilton, Khloé Kardashian and Kylie Jenner. Season 2 returns Gray to the role, but shifts the spotlight to Gomez and McRae, both of whom founded beauty brands sold at Ulta.

The casting is a commercial signal as much as a creative one. Ulta began carrying Gomez's Rare Beauty in February, marking the brand's first retail expansion beyond Sephora. McRae's new fragrance, Tate 01, launched in October during Paris Fashion Week and is exclusive to Ulta in the U.S. One spot opens with Mrs. Claus in the Ulta Beauty Holiday Workshop asking for a gift for her niece, then cuts to Gomez holding a packaged Rare Beauty brow gel set. The other highlights Tate 01.

What does this change for marketers?

The structure ties celebrity endorsement directly to owned-product distribution: each star appears in a spot that features merchandise Ulta sells under exclusive or semi-exclusive terms. That aligns paid media with retail inventory in a single narrative, a model practitioners can benchmark for their own founder-led brand partnerships.

Kelly Mahoney, Ulta Beauty's chief marketing officer, framed the creative around self-care during a season usually oriented toward giving. "The holidays are such a special time, but they can also become so focused on making everything magical for everyone else that we forget to enjoy those moments ourselves," Mahoney said. "At the heart of 'The Magic Starts with You' is reminding our guests that they deserve to experience the joy and wonder of the season."

She also addressed the choice of talent. "Both Selena and Tate connect with our guests in ways that feel deeply authentic and personal. We love being able to celebrate Rare Beauty and Tate 01 while bringing their individual personalities directly into our holiday campaign," Mahoney said.

Gomez, in a statement, reinforced the self-care theme. "The holidays are meant to be spent with those you love, but they're also a reminder to step back and take care of yourself too. I hope that Ulta Beauty guests can enjoy celebrating the holidays with their favorite Rare Beauty must-haves this year," she said.

Where the campaign will run

The rollout covers the full media mix rather than a narrow social play:

• National TV and streaming
• Digital advertising
• Social media
• In-store experiences

On Instagram, the campaign will also build on Ulta Beauty's viral "Pink Bag Energy" — an organic format the retailer is now folding into paid seasonal messaging. The move shows a brand converting earned social traction into structured campaign real estate.

Beyond the two celebrity spots, Ulta Beauty has launched its first 25 Days of Beauty Advent Calendar. The retailer has confirmed additional product launches planned for the gifting season, though it did not specify timing or brands.

For campaign planners, the takeaway is sequencing: Ulta paired two brand launches — one retail expansion in February, one exclusive fragrance debut in October — with a single holiday creative platform, then extended it across every channel it operates. Whether the founder-fronted formula outperforms last year's Kardashian-and-Hilton lineup will become clear in holiday sales data early next year.