8 Easy Ways to Save at Ulta Beauty

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Ulta Beauty store
Jonathan Weiss / Shutterstock.com

When it comes to beauty and personal care, Ulta Beauty offers a combination of selection and savings that is arguably unrivaled.

Sephora, a competitor, operates fewer than half as many U.S. stores as Ulta and runs fewer sales. I stopped shopping there entirely after Ulta stores opened in my area.

Competitor Sally Beauty is more established, but its stores — and thus its product selection — are generally smaller.

So if you ever buy makeup, fragrance, or bath, body, skin, hair or nail care products and don’t shop at Ulta, there’s a good chance you’re missing out on serious savings.

Here are eight of the best ways to save at Ulta:

1. Join the club

Ulta’s Ultamate Rewards is one of my favorite loyalty programs. We also cited it in “13 Stores That Offer Cash Back or Rewards on Every Purchase.”

In short, every dollar you spend at Ulta is worth one point, if not more. You can earn multiple points for every dollar spent on certain brands or products types by taking advantage of frequent point-based promotions.

Points can be redeemed for dollars off future purchases at Ulta, so they’re practically as good as cash.

2. Read the ad

Ulta puts out an ad every week or two, much like the weekly circulars issued by grocery and drugstore chains. It’s always posted on Ulta’s website — click on “CURRENT AD” from the home page or bookmark the ad’s dedicated webpage.

Ulta’s ad is generally lengthy and loaded with various types of deals. So, always read it before you head to the store or Ulta.com.

3. Sign up for emails

If you want to know about Ulta’s latest promotions more often than weekly — or if you just want them delivered to your inbox so you don’t have to check the website — sign up for the chain’s emails.

4. Bring manufacturer coupons

Yes, Ulta stores accept manufacturer’s coupons.

Coupons.com is probably the biggest source of manufacturer coupons for brands sold at Ulta, all of which you’ll find in Coupons.com’s “Personal Care” category. For example, when this article was written, Coupons.com included coupons for:

  • Amope
  • Clairol
  • CoverGirl
  • Garnier
  • L’Oreal Paris
  • Love Beauty and Planet
  • Maybelline New York
  • Rogaine
  • Schick

It’s free to sign up for Coupons.com, and you can choose between printing coupons from its website or redeeming them digitally.

For more options, check out “7 Free Sources of Manufacturer Coupons You Can Find Online.”

5. Use Ibotta

This free mobile app offers exclusive cash-back rebates — or, as Ibotta puts it, “pays you cash for everyday purchases.” It’s available for Android and Apple devices.

While Ibotta is perhaps most commonly associated with rebates for purchases at grocery stores, it offers rebates for certain purchases at Ulta, too.

6. Pay with a discounted gift card

Discounted gift card marketplaces like Cardpool.com and Raise.com sell gift cards for less than their face value. For example, when this article was written, they were selling Ulta cards for as much as 10 percent off.

In the past, I’ve scored Ulta cards for as much as 17 percent off at Raise.com. Paying with a discounted gift card like that means you effectively save an extra 17 percent on everything you buy with the card.

To learn more about this serious savings tactic, check out “How Unwanted Gift Cards Save Me Hundreds of Dollars a Year.”

7. Shop through a cash-back portal

If you shop at Ulta.com, go through a cash-back portal — a type of website that effectively pays you to shop. Examples of cash-back portals include Ebates.com and TopCashback

When this article was written, these portals were offering 1 to 3 percent cash back on purchases from Ulta.com. And that’s in addition to any other savings you rack up, including from using a cash-back credit card.

To learn more about how cash-back portals work or how the different ones compare, check out “3 Websites That Pay You for Shopping.”

8. Know the return policy

Ulta is one of few retailers that allow you to return opened cosmetics. Its return policy states:

“If you’re not completely satisfied with a product for any reason, just return the product to us for a full refund.”

There are technical details to remember, such as a 60-day return window. But the ability to return opened products can be a real money-saver if, say, a moisturizer irritates your skin or a lipstick looks like a completely different color on your lips than it did in the package.

Also, Ulta allows you to return online purchases to a brick-and-mortar store, which spares you any return shipping costs.

Do you have any Ulta savings secrets you would add to this list? Share them with us by commenting below or over on our Facebook page.

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