Ulta Beauty — Local services in Roanoke

For about two months, I went by the store to make an appt with stylist Laken Edward’s after seeing her work online. Each time I went to the store there was no-one in the salon. I finally was able to make an appointment by phone after calling multiple times. When I arrived the day of my appointment, I discovered an automated text message saying my appointment had been cancelled. I went to the salon to ask what happened. A few people asked what I needed and finally Dustin, who identified himself as the salon manager, came, asked questions about who I was, looked at the computer and took a phone into a back room. He returned to say that “apparently” Laken was sick and on her way to the doctor. He said that she had attempted to call and message me but couldn’t reach me. His expression and tone came off like he doubted what he was saying. It was unprofessional, to say the least. He then said he would need to re-schedule my appointment because the one stylist present was booked up all day. My thought was- why wouldn’t the salon manager offer to fill in? I later learned that he’s not a stylist. Why would the manager of the salon not be a stylist? At that point, I decided I’d rather hear directly from Laken in order to re-schedule so I told Dustin I’d call later. As a manager myself, I felt like Dustin should have supported Laken and trusted her word rather than giving the impression that he didn’t believe her. As a customer, I appreciated that she didn’t come in and expose me to whatever she was fighting. Also, I later discovered that Laken had indeed sent me a message saying she was sick, apologizing and offering to put me on her schedule when she returned to work. I had my appointment a few days later. I found Laken in the salon alone. She was very professional, knowledgeable and took the time to ensure she understood what I wanted. I was very impressed with the work she did and the outcome of my hair color and cut. She was more than...

Firstly think I should start off with, I do not regularly shop at Ulta and I do not regularly do makeup, and have little to no experience to doing a whole face of makeup. As being said, I had a photoshoot that I paid a pricey bit for and I really wanted to look nice for these pictures. I made an online formal makeup appointment with Laiken. Upon arrival I had already had a picture of what idea I had in mind I wanted. To cut to the chase, I absolutely hated the whole experience here and walked out in tears. It took 50 minutes for her to even get the eyeshadow on me and I absolutely hated it, and it wasn’t even the full face done and over half of my session was already over. I absolutely hated everything about it, she had to stop to keep asking others around her for help. The alcohol wipe she was using on my eyes was burning so badly, and when I was fed up and had enough I asked her to remove everything and that I was unhappy and wanted to leave. The makeup palette she used on me stained my eyelids the brightest pink I’ve ever seen, in 40 minutes I had a photoshoot and it looked like I had a rash on both eyes. Needless to say I walked out in tears and had to run to a local drug store and bought whatever I could to try and save myself from looking like a total clown. Will not ever been booking any service and genuinely should've left the moment I asked how much experience she had and she said only 4 months and I had not seen a single good review on her when I was doing my research upon...

As far as the shopping is concerned, staff is super nice and helpful. Some of their recommendations are hit or miss, but it's expected. As far as the salon - I've had a few salon visits there and overall they were okay, but a little expensive for what they were. The hair dye and toner washes out pretty quickly or just starts to look sad really fast. The haircuts and styles I normally requested were pretty basic....nothing hard, so I was happy. But the last time I visited, I wanted a totally different haircut that made me look younger and I got the complete opposite. When she was done, I couldn't get out of the salon fast enough to go cry in my car. I cried and wore a hat for about a week before I found another Salon to fix my hair. My hair was a little past my shoulders and after the haircut I was left with a homely, tired bowl haircut that made me look 10 years older. After a few days of hats, tears, and angry outbursts- I called the salon; the manager was very nice, understanding, and accommodating- he refunded my money right away. I have thick, frizzy hair and I know it can be challenging to cut. I was upset that my haircut came out bad, but I was utterly more upset because I wish the stylist could have communicated with me more, I wish she didn't turn me around to cut my hair, and I wish she would have been forth right if she was not comfortable with cutting my...