I shopped Sephora and Ulta to compare selection and experience. There was a clear winner in each category.

Tech Insider
composite image of the author and inside Ulta store
I visited Sephora and Ulta to find out why Gen Z prefers to shop at the two beauty stores.

Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins/Insider

The rise and fall of Birchbox, the once-buzzy startup that was sold off twice in 2 years and has recently resumed shipping boxes

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birchbox retail store CHICAGO, IL - DECEMBER 11: Guests celebrate the arrival of the Birchbox retail experience at Walgreens in Chicago (410 N. Michigan Ave.) on December 11, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for Walgreens)
Birchbox was acquired 10 years after launch for just $45 million.

Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images

The 'lipstick index' strikes again: Beauty shoppers are still spending big, even as US consumers dial back on everything else

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A shopper looks at beauty products at an Ulta Beauty shop inside a Target store.
Target says Ulta Beauty sales in its stores increased fourfold from 2021 to 2022.

Target

Kohl's blamed its rough quarter on a squeezed middle class, but one analyst says it's because stores are a mess

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Exterior of Kohl's store at night with car driving by outside

John Raoux/AP

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