Ulta GWPs

[itscarin]

This thread will be for Ulta GWPs only.  Share ulta promos here.  

Please do NOT post requests for the spreadsheet in this thread.  Please post requests for the Ulta GWP google spread sheet in this thread: http://community.sephora.com/t5/Off-Topic/Ulta-GWP-Google-Spreadsheet-Request-Thread/m-p/2753063#M11...

A list of in store coupons is here: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Savvy-Shoppers/Ulta-GWP-Coupons-no-chatter/td-p/3866521

Let's keep this thread on topic!

Ulta points refresher (because yes, it is that complicated):

Spoiler

Item #1 - $53.50

Item #3 - $108.50 (and is eligible for a certain item/brand 5x multiplier)

* There is also a 5x all purchase multiplier and you are platinum so you get 1.25x

Total Spent - $162

Base Points Earned - 162

Platinum .25x Earned - 41 (162 * .25 = 40.5, and rounding up)

5x All Purchases Earned - 648 (it ends up being 4x because you don't count the base points)

5x Item/Brand Earned - 434

Total Points Earned - 1285

Links are not allowed.  In lieu of links, please read this:

Spoiler

Please add product id numbers and sku numbers so people can find items on ulta.  

Just to clarify, there is an item number that Ulta lists on the website, right under the picture of the item.

The product id is the number given to the item in the URL.  So Ulta's site follows this formula of having the url and then the very last part of the url is "productId=xlsImpprod" followed by an 8 digit number.  If you use that "productId" number you can get to the page of any item on ulta. 

It's not a search, but the direct url to the page. 

Click on any product, and then view the url in the address bar.  It will look like this: ulta's website (not using the actual domain because BT admins don't like that) /prep-prime-fix?productId=xlsImpprod15921204  Replace the 8 digit product id of the item you want to see with the id of the product you're looking for.

My very unofficial Ulta point multiplier to approximate percent discount chart:

(This is a number where I use the multiplier to divide by 2000 to see how many dollars I would have to spend in order to redeem a $125 reward.  E.g. 2000 points divided by 1 point multiplier means I have to spend $2000 to get the $125 reward.  Adding how much I had to spend ($2000) + the reward ($125), and then using the reward ($125) to divide the total purchase ($2125), I get a discount of approximately 6% based on the total purchase.  Note: the total purchase is based on the concept that you are spending just enough to reach the next $125 reward and combines the reward value with how much money you had to spend to get that reward.

Spoiler

Multiplier	1	1.25	1.5	2	2.25	2.5	3	3.25	3.5	4	4.25	4.5	5	7.25	7.5	8	8.25	8.5	9	9.25	9.5	10	10.25	10.5
Spend	2000	1600	1333	1000	889	800	667	615	571	500	471	444	400	276	267	250	242	235	222	216	211	200	195	190
Points	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000
Redeem	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125
Total Purchase	2125	1725	1458	1125	1014	925	792	740	696	625	596	569	525	401	392	375	367	360	347	341	336	325	320	315
Discount	6%	7%	9%	11%	12%	14%	16%	17%	18%	20%	21%	22%	24%	31%	32%	33%	34%	35%	36%	37%	37%	38%	39%	40%

[RGbrown]

@civ2ru 

Ahhh, gotcha, I'm not quite fully conscious yet, sorry (and I've only looked at the new loves list briefly because I'm annoyed with the whole thing lol 😬). The good news is that if it displays, it should be in stock based on what I've seen, but yeah, I hate all the new extra clicks added in everywhere. No add to cart until you click through, no quick view, confirm deletion first, show more...ugh!!

[civ2ru]

@RGbrown Yeah, OOS items (not discontinued ones) do show up in the new Loves list without any immediate indication of them being OOS – unless you tap on each individual item. I have this Houglass holiday butterfly palette (THAT BRAND, AGAIN???) that is still lingering from last year, although I know by now that it’s gone for good. Or do I? That’s why it’s still in the Loves. The year before, the HG holiday palettes hung around well into the next summer, at which point they were marked down 30% or something like that (WHICH IS WHEN I GRABBED ONE!). Not likely the same will happen ever again, but a girl can dream.

Maybe we should migrate our Loves into “Save For Later” part of the cart, availability is more immediate there? Just imagine (dreamily): a cart with 384 items saved for later… 🤪

In all honesty, I am fully aware that these are all 1st world problems. But we gotta get our fun from somewhere. 😉

[greeneyedgirl107]

@civ2ru I've been using my Saved for Later feature a lot more to check for low prices, too.

[RGbrown]

@civ2ru 

Oh weird, when I was comparing my old style list to my new one, most of my NLA items weren't showing up at all on the new one. Just opened my app to check again and it has gone haywire...the first few items show fine, but then as it loads more, it's showing the same items again, but this time with the NLA stuff mixed in...just saw some Morgan Taylor polishes, and Ulta hasn't carried them for a year or more now. 

Sigh, maybe they'll get the kinks worked out soon and we can see how it settles out 🤦‍♀️

Save For Later is actually my new loves list, has been for a while now lol. Unless I can't add something to cart for whatever reason (in which case I add it my loves list and forget all about it), that's where I put stuff I either intend to buy soon or want to watch closely for price changes or deals (because my loves list is too unwieldy to serve this purpose anymore 😅). The 100 item cap has caught me a couple of times, but I've been keeping it around 80 now. I really should do a deep clean, I'm unlikely to buy most of the stuff on it now, but I always second guess what I should toss, ha!

[WinglessOne]

@RGbrown  Ah, yeah I almost always update all my apps to latest version, even if it’s an app I don’t use much. Some of those updates can include security fixes, after all. I had no problem logging into Ulta’s app yesterday. Didn’t poke around much to see the latest changes (because I don’t shop via that app). 

Sorry you had issues with the desktop site, though. I was also able to add new favorite items via desktop with no problems. I did notice Ulta opted for a manual “load more” instead of automatic lazy loading. I’ve kinda disliked lazy loading since it first became a design staple, but I get the pros (and cons) of it vs. manual load more vs. just load the entire looooong page in one shot, from both a consumer/user and site/server admin perspectives. Eh, Ulta’s manual load more is just like Sephora’s on the Loves List. 

Ulta could further improve the favorites list by letting users categorize items, even if we have to use pre-set categories (vs. making up our own). I wish Sephora would do this too. And I meant to leave at least one item on my Ulta list that’s no longer available, so I could see how the new list handles it—but I must’ve been overzealous the last time I cleaned up my list. 😄 I hope the new list still displays a “no longer available” note where applicable. 

[civ2ru]

@WinglessOne Good points there. If I had just one wish for Sephora’s future website redesign, it would be “Please delete items from your Sale section that are OOS” (and have been so for years).

[WinglessOne]

@civ2ru  I hate that too. In fact, Sephora has a database issue in general: they don’t seem to have a robust enough content management process in place. They need a process—be it manual, automatic, or a combo—that scrubs OOS items, or at least prevents them from being displayed in search results and product landing pages. That process should also remove duplicate product listings in the database, which would make tagging products on BIC posts much easier. 

I’m not the only one who’s brought some of this up to Sephora in the Beauty Insider Community Feedback thread, and I think it’s on Sephora’s list of things to bring up with their tech vendor. I kinda wish Sephora would hire some IT, content management, and UX design folks in-house (or more of them, if they do already have some employed) instead of relying on a 3rd party contractor, but I have no idea what their vendor partnership looks like and how efficient it is (both work- and cost wise) so maybe that’s firmly out of the question. And I don’t mean to sound so negative about whoever the contractor group is. I mean, they do seem to address issues in a fairly timely manner, and I appreciate the work they do. 

I wonder if Ulta has an in-house “tech team” or farms that work out to a contractor group. Or in Ulta’s case, multiple vendors who don’t seem to communicate with one another, based on all Ulta’s system glitches. 🤦‍♀️

[RGbrown]

Beauty Break, item 2614508

 

[RGbrown]

A teeny tiny gwp today, new Surprise Sampler with select items, adds to cart automatically

And this is back, also adds to cart automatically

 

[civ2ru]

New brand – billie

[makeitup305]

In case anyone is interested in this, I've had their subscription before and they're really nice razors. Haven't tried the skin stuff, though.

[makeitup305]

Please post your 10x hauls! I want to see!

[WinglessOne]

@makeitup305  I’ll post all of this in the monthly hauls thread once my shipped order arrives. (I already have my BOPIS order.) But here’s what I got: 

Since I’ve never used The Ordinary’s niacinamide serum before, and a few people have asked me about it vs. COSRX’s and Glossier’s serums, I decided 10x points on COSRX and The Ordinary was a good excuse to do a head-to-head. (Glossier’s serum contains an ingredient I’m iffy about—doesn’t mean it’s a bad product, just that my particular skin might not like it.) And I guess I was kinda making up for not doing my usual “buy all of the things” orders for National Lipstick Day. 😂

I didn’t bother adding one of the big GWP bags/bundles/whatever because I stopped chasing those at Ulta a few years ago. I got tired of ending up with lots of samples I can’t use or simply don’t need, and then trying to donate or otherwise offload ‘em before ending up with big bins full of foils. I’m much more choosy about GWP nowadays. Heck, sometimes I don’t even add any available samples to my Sephora orders. 

[greeneyedgirl107]

@WinglessOne I agree that often times foils just build up.  I rarely get a sample I'm interested in.  And I'm at the point where I need to buy more storage containers for them.  But I'm not ready to stop!

[WinglessOne]

@greeneyedgirl107  Needing more storage bins was my cue to back off the foils. 😂 I couldn’t even donate them fast enough to prevent a huge backlog at home. I also have way too many GWP makeup bags and need to offload more of them. 

Sometimes I ask friends or relatives if they’d like something in a certain GWP bundle before I add it to cart. That way, at least I know beforehand that things I don’t need will have a loving home elsewhere. 

[makeitup305]

@WinglessOne I'm looking forward to your impressions of the niacinamide serums. I don't use it much in my routine atm but it's always helpful to know what's out there, especially when you're a skincare junkie like me

[WinglessOne]

@makeitup305  It’s been maybe 4 years since I last used a standalone niacinamide serum; I usually just make sure the ingredient’s included in some of my other skincare products. My skin’s going through some age/hormone-related changes now, so this is a good time to boost niacinamide in my routine and see if it helps regulate things. And it’ll be good to compare these 2 serums to things I’ve used in the past (standalones by The Inkey List and Paula’s Choice), though I’ll be basing that comparison heavily on memory. 

For the last 4 or 5 nights, I’ve used The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% Oil Control Serum  once a day. It stung the center of my face the first 3 nights. The first night was so irritating, I had to apply a licorice root serum on and around my nose to soothe that skin, and decided to skip my nightly retinaldehyde that night. Some people’s skin can’t tolerate niacinamide at 10% strength; I was never one of those folks but sheesh, maybe I am now. 😄 I mean, my skin is historically inflammation-prone, but niacinamide’s not an ingredient I’d ever expect my face to throw tantrums over—especially since I used to apply Paula's Choice CLINICAL Niacinamide 20% Treatment 0.67 oz/ 20 mL with no problems. Eh, could be a formulation thing. Burning/stinging is a common complaint I hear about The Ordinary’s niacinamide serum, and I can now say those complaints are likely valid. 

On a positive note, this serum does help regulate oil production, as I’d expect from any niacinamide serum. Over time, it may also help with various other things. I need to keep consistently using it throughout September before switching to the COSRX serum, if I want a true result-driven comparison. Or I dunno, I might open the COSRX serum and alternate it with The Ordinary’s this week, so I can see if my skin has the same “EVERYTHING IS ON FIRE” reaction to 15% niacinamide—though COSRX’s formula includes skin-soothing allantoin, which may prevent the burn. 

[makeitup305]

@WinglessOne Good to know on the stinging. I feel like my skin could take a lot before but now it’s become more picky. I don’t have oily skin so I never really reached for Niacinamide specifically but appreciate when it’s included in products just to have another nice active in there to balance out my skin. I hope the Cosrx is more gentle on you, I’ve liked their products that I’ve tried in the past.

[WinglessOne]

@makeitup305  Niacinamide’s good for other things besides oiliness. 😉 Heck, it’s most famous for pore size management (regardless of skin type) and skin brightening. My skin is mostly-dry combo, and I find niacinamide helps my skin retain moisture. And it helps with skin texture. And it of course has antioxidant properties. It’s definitely good to have somewhere in your routine. 

Last night I opened the COSRX serum and applied it to my whole face. No stinging. So yeah, it’s probably a formulation issue. Doesn’t mean The Ordinary’s serum is bad, it’s just potentially irritating for some people’s sensitive skin. 

I’m also a COSRX fan. I still love and use some of their centella asiatica products and hydrocolloid patches. This niacinamide serum’s from their new line of products that seem to have a more “clinical” branding feel and more concentrated ingredients, kinda like The Inkey List’s latest product line. This reminds me I have an unopened GWP bottle of their 23% vitamin C serum to try. Gotta work that into my routine soon for testing. 

[makeitup305]

@WinglessOne I knew about the pore size properties and a little bit about texture but hadn't considered moisture retention or antioxidant properties. I looked at my current products and it's in my Beauty of Joseon Glow Deep Serum, the Benton Snail Bee toner, farther down the list of my DRMTLGY Needle-less serum, and Good light Milky Toning Lotion, so not too bad. I might add the Naturium Niacinamide 3% essence to my "wants" list. Do you think that concentration is enough to be effective? 

I'm glad COSRX worked out for you and didn't irritate your skin. I've heard good things about the Vit C serum so I hope that one's a hit as well.

[WinglessOne]

@makeitup305  Efficacy % may depend on what specifically you’re treating with niacinamide. There’s been lots of buzz (backed by clinical data) about 5% being effective, but there’s also a study that shows 4% is enough to help treat one type of acne. (I haven’t read that study.) 

3% may be fine in addition to whatever amounts are in your other products. Eh, not everyone needs a standalone serum; what’s in other products may be enough.