Ulta Beauty — Local services in Lexington

I do not buy makeup very often. About once a year, I take an inventory of my usual items and go to Ulta to buy replacements. Buying makeup is like buying a swimsuit for me - I don't like trying things I just want what I know works. I had a lot to do so I was in a bit of a hurry with my list.

Every single time I stopped for a product another sales clerk was in my face. One woman was in my face no less than three times in three aisles and said "I know I already asked but I'm here if you need me." Ma'am. Respectfully, if I had needed you I would have told you the first time you asked. It did not feel like they were being helpful, it felt like they were suspicious. I'm about to spend $200 on product and I don't need you babysitting me.

The products were half stocked. Several of my regular items didn't have my shade/tone in stock. A couple of them only had one (which I grabbed) only to realize that the item already had other product smeared on it. It was gross. For all the overly helpful people watching me look at the products no one was restocking.

Then one of my items (Benefit powder foundation) was discontinued so I ended up being directed to one of those not helpful helpful people who first insisted that a shade that was not right was perfect and then when I finally said "that works, I'll take that one" began trying to sell me fragrance. During the consultation she tried to sell me bronzer. I don't need ANY of those things and I don't need to replace my usual $30 foundation with a $50 one but at this point I was so overwhelmed with the number of people that I just took it and got in line.

I like these products - but this Ulta is a messy understocked spot filled with unhelpful watchers. Not how I want to shop for stuff that is...

Today, I experienced the same thing that I have experienced so many other times in my life. You think that just because the years change and people become more tolerable that they change the way that they view the world and the people in it, but they don't. A friend and I visited ULTA today thinking that maybe we would purchase something for skin care or maybe even some perfume, throughout our visit no one helped Also we had one person do a drive-by hey, that means they said hello just in passing and kept going. We walked around the store all through the store for about 20 to 25 minutes trying different products on by ourselves with no one to help guide or suggest products to us. Other than that one person who did a drive-by hey no one asked us if we needed any help or assistance no one even acknowledged that we were there even though multiple associates passed by us. Finally, as we moved closer to the door to leave the store and associate named Kristan asked us if we were doing OK. Out of everyone in that store that works there, Kristan is the only one who had the common decency to ask to regular human beings if they needed help. I did not mention in this story that I was black but I'm sure from how the story went it was an assumption that could be made from this experience. I spoke with the manager, she sounded disappointed and informed us that she would fix the situation and inform her employees to help everyone. I'm not sure whether she did that or not but I know from my experience today in ULTA that I will not be going back to ULTA again.

Some words of advice, you never know who could be a secret shopper so treat every customer like...

My review is for the Salon girls, Katie, Shiloh and Anne (I really hope I'm spelling their names right). I called yesterday around 2:00 p.m. as a Valentine's date emergency! Basically, last minute my husband told me he made Valentine's reservations, and I would need to wear my little black dress. I tried to curl my hair at home, which quickly turned into a nightmare. So I tried to straighten my hair, which resulted in a huge umph of volume in my hair, and my bangs weren't behaving. I didn't look good enough to leave in blue jeans, so I knew it wasn't going to cut it in a little black dress. I called and asked if they could throw a french braid in my hair and they set me an appt for 3:30. I made it by 2:30. Did I mention I had my 14 month old son with me? I also asked if they could throw curls in my hair last minute. I was a total disaster. Here is where is gets good! These girls are the DEFINITION of team work. Shiloh started on my hair, even though I was an hr early, she did the french braid. And Anne washed her appts perm out for her. Shiloh returned to her customer, and Anne worked on my curls. Meanwhile, Katie held and played with my 14 month old son almost the whole time. When an appt showed up for Anne, Katie handed me my son, and she finished my curls! My hairstyle was adorable, and the three of them worked on the vision together to complete it, and balanced me between that appts they already had for the day, WHILE babysitting! I could not thank the ladies enough. I will be back to get some major color repair done from a bad hair color job I suffered at another salon....