Ulta Cosmetics

I used to love coming here. It was fun and one could frolic in the cosmetic aisles. Now something strange is going on because it looks like a grocery store in Iraq — like a bomb went off. The aisles were in complete disarray, there were cosmetics on the floor with dust all over them and I counted three employees completely absorbed in their phones. Don’t get me wrong, I grew up in the country so dirt doesn’t scare me but not at a place I purchase beauty products. To top it off, I waited in line for fifteen minutes for the privilege to checkout because there was only one person ringing people up (the rest must have been on very important phone calls). Gals go to beauty stores to escape. .. not to deal with nasty. I hear Sephora will be opening up in Hillsdale. I wish they would take over this space.

BENEFIT BROW BAR
I have a new favorite person! Marie-​with the benefit brow bar is absolutely amazing. I’ve been getting my eyebrows threaded for the last year and I have never been happy with the results. Marie fit me into her busy schedule and worked miracles on my misshapen, unmatched, and sad looking eyebrows. Just because of Marie I will drive from SF to San Mateo as often as needed for perfect eyebrows.

I came in here with my friend and was greeted by Antoinette (sp?) from IT cosmetics. She was absolutely wonderful. I am writing a quick Unilocal because she deserves the acknowledgement. She showed us some really pretty matte lipsticks from different brandes and even helped point me in the right direction w self-​tanners (sorry for the birthmark stain). She genuinely cares about people and shows exemplary customer service. Her knowledge and passion for beauty products are on point. I am so glad she helped us out because everything she showed us, we bought. When I got home I was so pleased about the products we picked up. ROCK on Antoinette!!!

Customer service is ok but hard to find someone to help most of the time. Also, they never have anything! Everything is sold out and they have no idea when they will get anything. Was told they would get a shipment of something today and they didn’t. Told me to wait another week.

The store is always pretty empty but always a long wait at the register. Cashiers are so slow.
A girl lied to me that I cannot make returns if I don’t have a Ulta membership card. I had the actual receipt! What a bunch of bs

People here are not helpful, cashier don’t pay attention to whoever was first

FYI: THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE STORE ITSELF
My sister and I were Xmas shopping earlier this month. They had one lady at the register; many people in the line started to get cranky because the line was about 7 folks at least and yet they still had only ONE person at the register and a lot of employees continued to remain on the floor. Two ladies LEFT and said as they left, «never coming Christmas shopping here again!» I felt their frustration, but for my little sister, I stayed. Got to the line. The employee rang us up; however, she overcharged us, I tried to cancel the purchase, but it went through. She then tried to fix it, while the line grew longer and longer. People started to get frustrated and glare at me, when it wasn’t even my fault! She had her manager come over; unfortunately, her manager was even worse: she for whatever reason, could not recognize that she overcharged me $ 14 and instead of returning the items to start over, SHE CHARGED ME AGAIN.
Ladies and gentlemen, DO NOT SHOP AT THIS STORE. They are horrible at their jobs! Sad to say… I ended up just asking her to return the items and left. I also told her the manager she needed more employees to help people checkout, and she didn’t even seem phased. No apology. NOTHING. Moral of the story: CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NOT A PRIORITY HERE! DON’T GO! BUY ONLINE FROM NORDSTROM OR SEPHORA (and get free samples with your purchase and free shipping!)

This place sucks. Went in because I found a product online that said it was at this location. The product was nowhere to be found so I stayed for 20 minutes, trying to browse around patiently while waiting for a salesperson. When one finally appeared she told me she wasn’t on her shift. That was okay but she couldn’t have just answered a question? I walked up to the cashier and asked if there was someone on the sales floor. She told me to wait a minute, and helped two customers before I asked again. She told me to wait again and at that point I just walked out.
I had one question. Where the hell was the product I was looking for? Could have been answered in 30 seconds, not 30 minutes.
The staff needs some serious training in customer service. Even cvs is better at that!

Ulta has some deals, but this location doesn’t really do much to contribute to their brand’s reputation. I’ve only come a handful of times, but have been relatively disappointing each time.
THE LOWLIGHTS.
— Poor tracking of items in stock (no one ever seems to know what is or isn’t in)
— Used/​opened products are sold as if they’re new
— Slow service and seemingly under-​staffed
— Non-​helpful staff
— Cluttered, disorganized shelves
I stopped shopping at Ulta after I received not one but two used products, which were of course discovered once I got home. I prefer the points system compared to other stores, but I think I’m done with Ulta for now.

I recently moved to the area and went to this ULTA for the first time. I was so fortunate to have found MARIE from the BROW BAR! She is not only super sweet but seriously talented! She did my eyebrows for the very first time EVER and I loved them so much! She also did my makeup including eyes, skin and lips, my whole face and she is such a gifted makeup artist! AMAZING! I can’t believe she isn’t permitted to do people’s makeup! She would bring in soo many people if they knew how good her makeup application was! Well, I know and everyone I know have seen what she can do, so there is no doubt that we all will continue to see MARIE for our eyebrow and makeup! Love her!

I came here on Monday looking to replace some of my make-​up and stock up on some new brands.
I am very displeased with this Ulta. When I came here on Monday, it was difficult to find a representative to help me because they were chit-​chatting and not doing their job. I had to walk to the front to ask them if there were anymore of my favorite lipstick, because there weren’t any on the shelf. She said whatever they have out is all they have, but shipment comes on Thursday so I can wait and get what I need then.
Today is Thursday, so I came back in hope to pick up my make-​up and lipsticks. Again, I had to look for someone to help me. I went to the front and told the lady that I was advised to come in today to get my makeup because they received shipment today. It’s 1:30pm right now and she said «I’m the only one working right now so come back tomorrow because I didn’t stock the shelves yet.» You got to be kidding me! There was another cashier, so that means she’s not alone. They were talking and laughing, and ignoring the customers. The customer service here is horrible, I would advise against coming to this location.
It was a waste of time to try this place again, especially after my first visit on Monday. Both visits was horrible, and it was not because they were busy but the lack of people skills the employees have. I came during hours where people are still at work, so it’s no excuse for them to not stock the shelves or walk around to help customers. There were literally two other people who was shopping on both the days I’ve visited. I will not be returning to this location.

This location is great. Everyone was super friendly and helpful. I’m weird about asking where stuff is so I was kinda just looking around myself… I came in looking for their contour kit that I had seen online for 18.00. I couldn’t find it at first, but I asked the cashier where it was located and it turns out it’s in one of the aisles right in front of the cash registers! I gave it 4 stars because I live in Palo Alto and wish there was an Ulta closer to my house than just the San Mateo one.

Unprofessional and sad experience. I went there to exchange for NYX lipstick and the girl who helped me was totally new and I told her that I am doing even exchange. She ended up refund me. I bought it with promotional price and they didn’t agree to match the price for the same items. So when I repurchase, I have to pay extra $ 10 more. It was sad because I have to come all the way to San Mateo from San Francisco because other locations were sold out for the colors that I wanted. It was sad experience and don’t think I will come back to this location again. :(

Absolutely love this ulta bc it’s close to my house and mostly bc of Patsy. She is super nice and does my brows fantastically. She also helped me look for a foundation and my boyfriend look for styling product for his hair. She was super helpful in answering any of our questions as well.
The only reason I give 4 stars is because sometimes it’s a bit unorganized, not stocked, and/​or the products are opened. However, this doesn’t apply to the «high end» section (the right side when you walk in/​the middle fragrance section)
Overall though, I love this place and if you want to get your brows done, Patsy is your girl. (But call ahead to see if there’s any space for you or make an appointment. There’s usually walk in times available though, you just might have to wait but it doesn’t take that long.)

Not sure why this Ulta has a pretty low score, but I only come here when I need a restock in my standard makeup items. I always get primer potion, two liquid eyeliners, and some perfumes anyways.
The staff is always nice and helpful. I haven’t had a bad visit ! :P

Tried the Salon, had Alisha do both my hair and my daughter’s. She was super sweet. She did a good job and even though they ran out of color she was really great to r/​s.
I also met the salon manager Ashley who was really awesome. They made the experience fun for both my daughter and I.
The staff was friendly and attentive! Will definitely be back!

I visit this location about 3 times a month on average. I am a make-​up junkie so I am always looking for new products and stocking up on my favorites. This location is often out of items that I am looking for. It’s a big store, but somehow they manage to be out of about 50% of the items I go in looking for. Sales associates are pleasant and lines (when they form) move quickly.

Went into this store yesterday and was completely appalled at the state of the store. So disorganized, open make up all over the place and smeared everywhere. There were low on so much stuff, especially NYX cosmetics which is what I specifically came there for. It took about five or ten minutes to find someone to finally help me and even then they didn’t have what I wanted in stock. Go to the San Bruno one, it’s much better.

Erica absolutely tortured my hair
i went to get my bob trimmed and fixed
she seemed very hesitant
she gave me an un even pixie… i have wavy hair!
she kept cutting and cutting every time she felt felt she made a mistake ! instead of saying, «sorry i dont have the proper training to cut hair!»
she is a sweet person but needs more experience, shame on you ulta !!
im severly mad

2.5 stars.
Several products I was looking for were out of stock (for example, Rimmel Stay Matte Liquid Mousse Foundation was completely out in all shades). The rest of the store is pretty similar to any other Ulta I’ve been to though.
The thing that irked me was when I asked a sales associate if she could help me find a color match with drugstore foundations. She led me to someone over in the «high end» area, to get my color matched, to see if he could help me at all. He proceeded to say that though he could do that, there was no way he could help me find a drugstore foundation because they were totally different, and basically said nothing in that section could compare to anything in his section. Ok, I understand that you can’t open up the drugstore stuff and test it on my skin, but if you’re a true make up artist, you can at least point me in the right direction, can’t you? He was seriously all snooty about it, as if drugstore makeup is sh*t compared to the high end stuff, which it isn’t! I went home and did some research myself and that was 100x more helpful than he was.