Former creative: terrible experience! - Anonymous employee Ulta Beauty Employee Review

1.0
14 Nov 2013
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Free beauty products almost weekly, dry cleaning services, starbucks coffee available for purchase, on-site cafeteria food options, yearly deep discounts in-store

Cons

Despite a stellar performance review I was constantly verbally abused by my manager. She was unkind to the point of not saying hello to anyone in the halls. She built a case against me and essentially fired me although I never missed a deadline, exceeded in my creative craft and got along with all members of the team. Additionally the creative director would do my job in front of me. I sat there watching. I was available to work yet he took over and it left me twiddling my thumbs. As if I did not exist.

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5.0
18 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Pay and benefits are generous

Cons

Zero work life balance. Store hours consistently being cut. They like the motto, “do more with less”.

2.0
4 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

good benefits for full time employees from what I hear. hourly pay if commission goal isn't met which is nice for those building clientele

Cons

this could just be the case for my store, especially because it's a very high volume store, but as a stylist I don't feel valued at all. I expected this to some degree coming to a huge corporate salon, but the biggest issue is that they try to pretend they care about you. but at the end of the day, if you're not meeting the sales they want/growing quickly enough, they don't care about you as a stylist. if you don't already have an established clientele, business is highly unreliable as there is no late cancellation/no show policy. many services are underpriced in my opinion, making it hard to meet their sales goals as an entry level part-time stylist unless fully booked every day. all they care about is getting as many clients in and out and quickly and possible and they hire more stylists than there are chairs, making every day inconsistent and chaotic. the relative stability of hourly pay is commission threshold isn't met seems enticing for stylists still building a clientele, but the hourly pay is wildly inconsistent between stylists, even those of the same tier. as a stylist of over 3 years who moved and is starting over with no clientele, I make over $2 less per hour than a fellow stylist who just got her license a few months ago and started taking clients for the first time last week. you're better off working at a place like Great Clips or Hair Cuttery because at least they're honest about what they are.

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