Maria Warrington is the perfect evangelist for sexual wellness. The CEO of Beacon Wellness Brands, which produces the plusOne collection – it includes vibrators, other sex toys and pheromone-inspired perfume oils – is adamant about a woman’s right to sexual pleasure. Now, plusOne is entering Ulta Beauty, which marks the beauty giant’s continued foray into the sexual wellness category, and represents a tipping point for plusOne’s retail distribution.

“We’re a portfolio of three brands,” Warrington said of Beacon. “Our dominant and most strategic focus brand is plusOne. It’s sexual wellness devices, which is essentially vibrators. The premise of the brand was developed years ago in conjunction with mass distribution for an acceptable price point, to deliver a product that was really established in places like adult store channels.”

“The mass distribution buyer at the time was really excited to bring sexual wellness out of the shadows, out of the taboo and somewhere where you could be doing your grocery shopping and they’d have a tool for your sexual pleasure,” she said.

The growth of plusOne’s roster of major retailers such as Walmart, Target and Meyer, and drug stores CVS and Walgreens, represents the normalization of the category, Warrington said.

“Intimate wellness has been an area we’ve been thoughtfully expanding since its debut in 2022 as part of the evolution of our Wellness by Ulta Beauty assortment,” said Ulta’s Vice President of Wellness, Laura Beres. “We’ve consistently looked at where guest needs are evolving and where we can bring trusted, high-quality solutions into the assortment. The launch of plusOne represents a natural next step in that strategy.”

The market for sexual wellness, which includes sex toys and vibrators, contraceptives, sexual health vitamins, lubricant and moisturizers and sexual health testing kits, was $108 billion in 2025 and is expected to reach $274 billion by 2035, according to Emergen Research.

Warrington said that the increasing openness that allowed Ulta to agree to sell plusOne products has been a long time coming.

“We’ve been working on this since I joined the company in 2022,” Warrington said of the partnership. “We want to make sexual wellness as approachable as beauty and skin care. It’s just as important for a woman to feel good as it is to look good. There have been some starts and stops in the category with retail but the excitement about Ulta has been building.

“Ulta is one of the pioneers in the wellness space with their boutiques not next to, but close to skin care and other wellness products that are part of somebody’s everyday routine,” said Warrington.

Over the last few years, Ulta consumers have been redefining wellness in a much more holistic way. “Nearly 80% of our guests view wellness as holistic, encompassing physical, emotional and intimate wellbeing, and they’re seeking trusted products that support those needs alongside more traditional beauty and wellness routines,” Beres said.

“At the same time, we’ve seen an incredible wave of innovation, with founders and brands bringing more thoughtful solutions to market, often inspired by personal experiences or unmet consumer needs,” Beres added. “As conversations around topics like menopause, sexual wellness and overall health have become more open, those products have become easier to discover, helping reduce stigma and giving consumers greater confidence to incorporate them into their wellness routines.”

PlusOne will be merchandised within the Wellness by Ulta Beauty areas in stores, alongside other wellness solutions. “This will allow guests to discover products in a thoughtful, approachable shopping environment,” Beres said. “Our goal is to merchandise wellness in a way that reflects how guests shop today, bringing together products that support their overall wellbeing while making the experience easy to navigate and comfortable to explore.”

The U.S. has been slower than some EU countries to embrace sexual wellness. Media restrictions are still prevalent in the US. But the approval by the FDA in 2023 of the Opill, the first daily, over-the-counter birth control pill, was a watershed moment for sexual health and plusOne.

“That was a huge marker for us,” said Warrington. “Just as Ulta opened up a part of their store and is saying that intimate wellness is accessible and affordable. Those are huge wins for us.”

“We’ve seen the intimate category and trends grow over the past number of years that we’ve been invested in the plusOne business," said Sarah Ensslen, principle at Yellow Wood partners. “That growth is what attracted us to the brand and led to our initial investment. Women’s wellness is a great example of a trend that consumers are focused on. PlusOne is continuing to grow in a very strong way. We’re excited for them to continue to serve women.”