EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

SEPHORA HAS GROWN SO POWERFUL THAT IT CONTROLS WHICH BRANDS LIVE OR DIE IN THE $30 BILLION HIGH-END COSMETICS INDUSTRY. IN THIS BEAUTY CONTEST, SEPHORA ALWAYS WEARS THE CROWN.

- ELIZABETH SEGRAN

BEAUTY INSIDER Sephora North America CEO Artemis Patrick has been with the retailer since 2006.

ONE OF ATLANTA'S HOTTEST PARTIES TOOK PLACE IN LATE SEPTEMBER at an old chemical-manufacturing plant on the city's east side. It didn't seem to matter that an epic storm was heading right toward it. As Hurricane Helene barreled across Florida and up Georgia, some 8,000 people-who'd each spent between $135 and $445 on a ticket-flew and drove through wind and rain to get to the sold-out venue. Once there, they were instructed to fit their personal belongings in a small clear plastic bag and were handed a tote. Then, as a DJ played bubbly pop music, they began loading it full of beauty products.

The partygoers-makeup junkies, beauty influencers, and industry insiders were attending Sephoria, the annual festival from one of the world's most powerful retailers, and they were there to collect their haul.

Held in Atlanta for the first time, this year's event was themed "Beauty Funhouse" and featured elaborate booths from more than 50 of Sephora's most promising brands. Sol de Janeiro, currently the retailer's top-selling brand, handed out minis of its hit Brazilian Bum Bum Cream. Rare Beauty (recently supplanted from the top spot) had set up a faux candy counter with blushdispensing gumball machines. Tarte, one of the first indie brands Sephora had championed when the French retailer set up shop in the U.S. in 1998, gave out tubes of its Maracuja lip glosses.