Ulta Beauty: Makeup & Skincare

Ulta Beauty App Review: Generous Points, Unreliable Sign-In

What 100 to 2,000 points are worth, and when they expire

Joining Ulta Beauty Rewards costs nothing, though it is limited to US residents aged 13 or older, and each $1 spent earns one point. The redemption chart favors saving up: 100 points take $3 off, 500 points $17.50, 1,000 points $50 and 2,000 points $125, a return that climbs from 3% to 6.25%. Points lapse at the end of a calendar quarter about 12 to 15 months after they are earned; points from November 1, 2025, expire December 31, 2026. Spending $500 in a calendar year unlocks Platinum at 1.25 points per dollar, and $1,200 unlocks Diamond at 1.5, and both tiers stop the expiry clock while the status lasts. Points cannot be used on UB Marketplace items.

GLAMlab, Foundation Shade Matcher and the 5-second hair preview

GLAMlab is the camera-based try-on. In the store screenshots it lays a Natasha Denona eyeshadow palette, priced at $69.00, over a model's face, with tabs for eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara and brows. Foundation Shade Matcher estimates skin tone and undertone, and Skin Analysis turns a face scan into a skin care list. The hair try-on, built on NVIDIA's StyleGAN2 model, needed about five seconds for the first style and about one second for each after it, Digital Commerce 360 reported in December 2024. The price is your face data: the privacy policy counts facial geometry from these tools as biometric information, names vendors such as Perfect Corp and Haut AI, and allows keeping it up to three years after your last use.

Pickup in 2 hours, $6.95 shipping and the sign-in loop

Standard shipping costs $6.95, Expedited $12.95 and Premium $19.95, and Same Day Delivery through DoorDash adds a $6.95 fee; fees vary by region and can change. Pickup is free with no minimum, and orders placed by 6 PM local time are promised within two hours. Diamond members get free shipping from $25. Of the 199 newest Google Play reviews, posted between August 31 and September 30, 2026, 79 gave one star, and 28 low ratings described sign-in trouble: a verification code is accepted, then the app returns to the login screen. Similar reports go back to version 10.3.1 in August 2025, next to declined cards at checkout and salon booking that stalls.

Tracking labels, facial geometry and the Flock camera backlash

Apple's privacy label lists purchases, financial info, contact info, search history, identifiers and usage data as data that may track you across other companies' apps and websites. On Google Play, the developer declares sharing precise location, photos and purchase history with third parties. The privacy policy, last updated September 30, 2026, also describes the use of automated license plate recognition. On September 4, 2026, Retail Dive reported a backlash over Flock Safety plate-reader cameras, which the retailer uses at less than 1% of its roughly 1,500 stores, and 12 of the 199 newest Play reviews cite it. The policy says the account can be deleted inside the app, which forfeits every unredeemed point.