BOLINGBROOK, Ill.–Personal-care retailer Ulta Beauty rode gains in sales and gross margin to an 83 percent increase in its second-quarter net income, to $23.9 million.

Net sales rose 23 percent to $394.6 million, which included a pickup of 11.3 percent in same-store sales—a significant gain coming on top of a 10.8 percent comp-store increase in last year’s second quarter. Gross margin in the quarter, which ended on July 30, climbed 170 basis points to 34 percent.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were up 14 percent in dollar terms, but shed 180 basis points as a percentage of sales to 23 percent.

Chuck Rubin, Ulta’s president and CEO, said the second-quarter results were better than the company expected. “During the quarter,” Rubin said, “we drove increased sales productivity and expanded merchandise margins as we integrated new product trends with traffic-generating events communicated through our multichannel marketing strategy.”

Ulta ended the quarter with 415 stores in 42 states. On the Our Company page on its website, Ulta said its ultimate goal is more than 1,000 stores in the United States.