Dune Suncare is entering 550 Ulta Beauty doors.

The ten-month-old sunscreen brand can be one among 4 brands featured in Ulta Beauty’s Sparked program, displayed on entry tables and end caps depending on the shop. It’s going to even be a member of the Conscious Beauty program. All stock keeping units, in addition to latest launches, can be available on the retailer.

Since Dune’s launch in June, it has been focused on retail expansion, as brick-and-mortar is where consumers typically purchase sunscreen.

“Convenience is essential on this category. People, even probably the most upper echelon conscientious shoppers in sun care, are purchasing their sunscreen in another way than they’re, say, beauty or skincare products,” said Dune cofounder Emily Doyle. “They’re going to the closest store in proximity to themselves, the beach, the pool, wherever they’re traveling to… We wanted to be omnichannel, and we knew that wholesale was going to be the largest point of revenue for the business, meaning big-box retail partnerships.”

With this in mind, the brand had homed in on greater than 80 specialty retailers, including surf shops, resorts, Bluemercury and Urban Outfitters.

In response to Doyle, Ulta Beauty “slid into [their] DMs in July of 2022,” concerned about bringing the brand to stores.

“The importance of sun care is two-pronged: one obviously is for health reasons. Melanoma has risen to be the leading explanation for cancer deaths in the USA which is the hard, scary truth… The second is from an arrogance perspective,” Doyle told WWD. “Sun care is admittedly straddling the road between a wellness and a beauty product.”

Although the brand is currently focused on its Ulta Beauty partnership, it is a stepping stone toward expanding its retail footprint for increased access.

Dune’s SPF has a skin-care-infused approach. The products have an invisible gel formula that’s infused with ingredients more commonplace in skincare, like vitamin E and hibiscus sabdariffa fruit extract, which is claimed to offer as much as 72 hours of moisture.

The brand formula went through 100 iterations to land on a gel formulation that met cofounder Mei Kwok’s standards.

“One in all the principal reasons that we began Dune and one among my personal pain points with the industry was #WhiteCastProblems, so skin tone inclusivity was really vital to me, and that was one among the things that we wanted to tackle immediately,” Kwok said, noting that as a BIPOC founder it is essential to coach consumers of all skin tones on the importance of using SPF every day.

In an effort to further educate and present consumers a white-cast-free option, Dune will eventually join Ulta Beauty’s sampling program for guests to check out the product before purchasing.

“Once we first connected with Emily and Mei, we knew that they had developed something special with Dune Suncare. Inclusive, conscious sun care is gaining traction with the wonder consumer, and we’re thrilled to supply our guests the chance to find their modern gel SPF formulas through Sparked at Ulta Beauty,” said Muffy Clince, director of emerging brands at Ulta Beauty.

Dune Suncare is anticipated to amass $3 million in retail sales in its first 12 months at Ulta Beauty, in accordance with industry sources. The brand, which can be currently fundraising, will now be available in about 700 total retail locations with plans to expand with Ulta Beauty by the tip of this 12 months.