Ulta Beauty Services

For transparency, I have never been in an Ulta and am not a makeup person, which is a large reason I booked this appointment. I wanted to see how Ulta Beauty would prepare my makeup for a wedding I was in.

I made the appointment for 11:15 a.m. on a Sunday, with the store opening at 11 a.m. This was the earliest appointment time I could get. I arrived early, but it seemed unnecessary due to the lack of both staff and customers in the store relatively early on a Sunday morning. I booked an "Everyday Makeup Application" rather than the "Formal Makeup Application" package because I did not require lashes or contouring, which appeared to be the main differences between the two. The application I chose offered up to 45 minutes and cost $50, whereas the formal application offered up to an hour and cost $70. Because I don't know much about makeup, I felt that $20 for an extra 15 minutes and services I wasn't going to use did not fit with what I was looking for, so I went with the everyday application even though technically I was preparing for a formal occasion.

I do not like foundation or other face makeup so I only wanted the makeup artist to do my eye makeup. Below is the inspiration picture I provided. I asked for two modifications, using a silver glitter instead of gold and to make a rounded edge rather than the sharp line at the edge. The artist I got was very pleasant and seemed to be pretty knowledgeable about what I was asking for.

I looked at the progress when she was about halfway through and was shocked to see the glitter aspect was almost white, which made my eyes look wildly too open. I told the makeup artist so and asked her to put a more subtle, darker gray on top of the silver to mellow it out. She was very open to changing it and, instead of adding a darker gray, she removed some of the silver then added a more muted gray that looked good.

The makeup artist did not upsell or try to get me to buy anything. She was very nice and informative about what she was doing throughout the process. She did take almost the whole 45 minutes, I think overall taking about 35-38 minutes with setup and application. She did mention not having time to fully redo the changes I requested as she would have liked, which seemed to me that she had an appointment right after mine. I don't think I would have had much time to get anything else done, even if I booked the full formal application. So, I probably wouldn't go to Ulta for a more intense, full-face makeup application due to the potential of the makeup artist not having the time to do their best work.

I really like how the end result turned out, but I have yet to see the pictures from the wedding so I will update if I change my mind after I see how I looked through the camera lens. The makeup did last throughout the night, through dancing and sweating in the outdoor wedding.

As with most services, a tip is expected. I added it on my card at checkout brining the total to $65. Several others and myself included felt this was a tad much for the service, but I have nothing to compare it too and I did enjoy the results so I might recommended Ulta Beauty Services if you have a very specific vision that is not too complicated, maybe for a job interview or a office Christmas party, but would probably stay away from their services for a wedding or prom.