Ulta Salon

It has been almost a year since my last cut and 6 months since my wife got a cut & color. We booked an appointment a week ago with Ashley. We arrived right on time and we were greatest by someone that seemed a little confused about her job. Then Ashley came out, greeted us warmly with a big smile. What a relief!
Took us back and and did a great consolidation. She listen to my wife intently. My wife wanted very small but bight highlights. She has tried several solons and always comes out disappojinted. I was just a trim so that was easy. But she listen & didn’t make me feel second best… lol.
Let me tell you that Ashley was able to do exactly what my wife wanted. You should have seen my wife’s face glow when we left the solon. That is what prompted me to wrote this review.
O…btw, my cut was perfect.
Go to Ashley… no one else but Ashley. (On a side note, we were there for 3 hours during that time I saw many employees that were unprofessional)

I booked an appointment for 2:45pm and arrived a few minutes early. When I checked in I was informed that the person who was going to do my blow-​out was with another customer and she would be «15−20 min late. Maybe 30». Then she told me it would be 40 min late but maybe more. I said I was going to shop around and she said she was going to call me when they were ready. They never called.
It was my first time trying this place even though the reviews are not great. But I guess I won’t give this place a second chance. I am pretty sure I can have a nice blow-​out done anywhere else.

If you want an uneven cut, with terrible customer service, this is your place. I went in on a Saturday morning for a simple trim, had been there twice before with decent results (trim was fine, blowout was meh, price very good). The person who cut my hair this time was new to me, named Alicia. I should’ve known it wasn’t going to end well since she said she would cut my hair dry and then wash and style it. The way she blew it out, she flipped up the ends, so I didn’t realize it was uneven until later in the afternoon when the flips started relaxing a bit. The entire right side was about ¼ to ½ inch longer than the left side. Very noticeable. I called immediately and the person who answered the phone never once apologized when I said I had an uneven job, and said the next available appt wasn’t until Thursday (this happened on Saturday). Now I think if the salon made a mistake with my cut, they should get me in ASAP to fix it! I told her my hair was uneven, and I couldn’t walk around like this for 5 more days, so she said she could squeeze me in at 12:30 the next day. Very inconvenient for me as I had an event from 11 – 1, so I had to leave early to go to my hair fix appt. Again, I didn’t want to walk around for 5 days like this. The two ladies in the salon when I arrived couldn’t have been any more rude… no smiles, no apology, and the girl who worked on me (Veronica?) had a snippy tone when she was trying to figure out where it was uneven (it was so obvious, so this told me again that these were not very good stylists if she couldn’t clearly see it). I have photos as well of the unevenness. She again cut it dry, but I could tell she was just kind of taking off a bit here, a bit there… I didn’t have any faith it would come out right again. It came out good enough, I’m sure the ends aren’t really «even», but it isn’t noticeable. Then after she said she was done, she didn’t even take the smock off me, and went to the register as I fumbled around trying to get the buttons from behind my neck undone. I went over waiting to see if she had the nerve to charge me. After messing around on the computer for a minute, she asked a co-​worker what the charge should be. I piped up and said, I paid yesterday and there shouldn’t be a charge to fix a mistake. They talked quietly together for a minute and then the co-​worker told me that it would be no charge. I will NEVER go back there again and you better believe I’ve told many people about this incident and to avoid this Ulta salon as well. Oh, and did I complete an «after visit survey» they send via email? Yes I did. Did I get a response? Of course not.

Every time I come in here no one offers to help me. I have given this store several chances. On top of that they are always out of things.
Then when I ask for help I get zero expertise, no value and no recommendations. It’s like they just guess. No makeup experts here and the employees seem sad, unfriendly and unhappy. I will not be returning as I will not give this store my business any longer.

Occasionally there will be a staff of really friendly people that will greet you. Lately, that has not been the case. I will NOT be retuning to this location. I walked in today and 2 staff members were stocking makeup and gossiping about other employees. VERY UNPROFESSIONAL. Nice team to work with… talking shit and gossiping about one another. They were so engrossed in their conversation that they did not greet me or other customers walking in. Why should they greet people and work hard? After all, gossiping about other employees is way more fun… right? They looked like they hated their job. HATED IT! As if getting up in the morning to stock shelves was hard labor and very painful work. Soooo back breaking… lifting an eyeshadow and placing it on the shelf. I hope you have great insurance for that back breaking work that you do. I have never seen these 2 at this location… chatting and ignoring customers. After all of the gossiping, I walked over to one gal and asked her about a Too-​Faced display that was missing. She had an attitude like I was interrupting her soap opera gossip. Kissing her teeth and walking slowly. Sorry, I needed help… after all the money I spend in there? What is up with that store? Most of the time, the samples are missing from their displays and the lighting is HORRIBLE. This is the worst Ulta. I cannot swatch in that dim light! Turn up the brights in there! Employees standing around in a peanut gallery taking, very poor lighting, almost everything is out and the displays are ghetto looking. There are competitors out there who would love to steal Ulta customers … SEPHORA! YAY! Anyways, I prefer the Ulta in San Bruno. That is the BEST one. HUGE AND BRIGHT! The employees are upbeat and very helpful. They always have (whatever you need) makeup in stock and the lighting is really nice. The displays are not jacked up and missing. Who wants to purchase makeup in the dark with a lazy employee not giving a crap and gossiping? I hope these were seasonal employees, because they make the San Mateo location look awful. The 2 cherries on top of the doo-​doo pie… gossip girls. Also, what is up with the Marshalls or Target cart in there? That is also ghetto. 2 stars will do. 1 star because it is close to me and the other star because I like to throw a bone to the dogs. Buh-​bye.

3 words: just don’t go.
I’ve been getting blonde highlights in my hair for 10 years now, and never once had an issue with it drying out my hair, except for the time I tried out ULTA. I’ve been once and I will never return. Are the products low quality? Or we’re they left in my hair too long? I have no idea, but I do know I spend way too much money on Keratin products and hot oil treatments now. Maybe they’re onto to something. Ruin your hair, so you buy they’re products…

Got a 50% coupon from Ulta Salon so I thought I would give it a try. Price are reasonable compared to private salons. Just wanted to have some highlights, Amber S. who is the Salon manager took care of me. At first I was worried going to someone new, but Amber knows her stuff. My highlights came out wonderful. Many compliments from friends. Give her a try, she is a really nice girl who listens to what you want plus she will suggested things also. Good job Amber !!!

I had a last minute decision that I needed my hair done for a company party. They were able to schedule a same day appointment and squeeze me in between two appointments, however, since I have LONG and THICK hair – and I wanted my hair curled, they asked me to come in with my hair pre-​washed to make sure they had enough time to work on my hair and not rush.
My appointment was with KIM. SHE’S GREAT! She used to work at a Dry Bar, so that was a plus for me. She was familiar with my type of hair, «ethnic» hair, which made me feel relieved and confident. I told her I wanted volume and loose wavy curls. However, since my party was later in the evening, she told me she would do tighter curls, so that they wouldn’t flatten out once i got to my party. She really handled my hair well. She knew what she was doing. She explained everything she was doing and what I needed to do later when I got ready for the evening.
She’s friendly. She’s funny. Her customers love her. She knows what she’s doing. She made sure that I was happy with the look and taught me a few things regarding styling my crazy hair. I’ll definitely be going back to her.
price: $ 26 for Blowout +$ 10 for curling/style+optional tip. NOT BAD AT ALL!
My hair stayed curly and purty for my party. :]

Love Kim and my new haircut! I called at 11a today and was able to get an 11:30am appointment. She was very friendly and listened to everything I asked. I was really really pleased with how my hair came out. I has over 4 inches cut so I was a little nervous but Kim did a fabulous job. I have a new hair dresser. Price was perfect too!

This was a while ago but never again. I had a few things done at the salon before by the salon manager. I wasn’t impressed with her work. She did the highlights an inch from my scalp, plus the end result wasn’t even the right color. I asked her not to texterize-​cut my hair because it’s not flattering for my type of hair. Well, chop, chop, snip, snip and did the exact opposite.
So months later when I was in desperate need of a hair cut, she scheduled me for someone who happened to call in sick that day. OK, a phone call would have been the courteous thing to do. I happened to find this out when I arrived for my appointment. I wasn’t called because she put someone else’s name in the scheduler! And the two stylists working were helping other people. They were actually processing, meaning sitting and waiting for their color to soak in. They were not even accommodating, only «we can reschedule you for another day…» Then the facialist chimed in, «I can give you a facial.» Are you for real? If I didn’t need a haircut, I wouldn’t have made a hair cut appointment! Since when do facials transform to haircuts? I told the girl, «Forget it. I’m never coming back here again!»
So be warned. The salon manager will probably screw up your appointment and her staff will not be accommodating.

I found a great hairdresser (Paula) at Ulta at Bridgepoont, and most of the staff there are very helpful and nice. However the phone service for making appointments is not great. I had made an appointment as usual, but got a call 8 days earlier saying the appointment was tomorrow. I called back to cancel that wrong appointment and reestablish the original one. They said it was ok but when i went in for that appointment Paula was not expecting me, and had expected me the week before! So both she and I lost our time, due to bad communication from the phone service. Anyway I will be going back because Paula is so good.

I walked in on saturday for a color and glaze and met up with Amber. She is amazing. She did a great job and I could not have been happier. Highly professional and very friendly. She knows her stuff. I highly recommend this place. Very clean fast and efficient. Would go there again for sure

super clean, full of knowledgable staff, shelves fully stocked, plenty of options for beauty products. all the brands you can name and even more. just a great place to go to explore and find new products for your liking. when you are looking for something, there is always staff there to help you find it. all in one for beauty in this store.

I went to Ulta with what was considered a very simple hair cut. The «MasterStylist» was the person who took my appointment. She entirely messed up my hair. She was unable to even cut my bangs properly. I went back and had it fixed by someone else at the salon, and she informed me just how screwed up my hair was. She fixed my hair as best she could, and thanks to the first lady it will take a while for my hair to lay correctly again.
I think I will go back to the woman who fixed my hair (who was not a master stylist), because she KNOWS WHAT SHE IS DOING. She is the reason I am giving ulta 2 stars. I would suggest to others to stay away. If you go to Ulta ask for Paula
Stylists at ulta are seemingly promoted based on time at the company not expertise. Unless you know someone who does good hair there.

Made an appointment here in store and got scheduled for the same day (Saturday). Service was good, colorist took time to review what color would go well with my skin-​tone, natural hair color. I forgot her name but I’m glad I got assigned to her. Prices are okay compared to other salons where appointment was not available for the same week. Also used my Ulta rewards for the points since I didn’t use any special offer.

One star for being able to get me in for a cut and color the same evening (I did think at the outset that this may have been a catch-​22.) One star for not completely screwing up my hair. I did, however, end up with exceedingly short bangs. Minus one star for a deceitful price structure. I understand that the price structure «$ and up» means it will always be and up. But between the cut and the color they managed to squeeze an additional $ 40 out of me. Minus a second star for the Tea Party stylist spewing anti-​gun control bull for all to hear. All of this would have been semi-​tolerable had I not later realized that the stylist allowed color to seep all over my fav sweater. Worse yet, she must have seen it but didn’t say anything. Dark dye on a white sweater is kind of obvious. The sweater is ruined. Very expensive and dissatisfying experience.

I had an appointment for today at 1pm for an OPI gel set. Please note that I am writing this review at 1:30pm, this will clue you in to how it went.
I arrived at 1255, some guy told me to have a seat that they were just finishing up. I sit and read a magazine. At 1:10, a woman says to me, are you Ann-​Marie? I said yes, she says oh, well, there is only one manicure station and it’s being used. She says, I will be right back. She comes back a few minutes later and nicely (my complaint is not about her) says, they only have one manicure station, it’s being used and it will be 20 minutes before she will be able to do my manicure.
Now, I had already been waiting 20 minutes at this point and they want me to wait another 20, then get my manicure? It’s the middle of a work day, so NO.
If you only have one manicure station, which makes NO sense to me, then WHY would you book two appointments at the same time.
What a complete and utter waste of my time.

I got my hair done here a while ago by a Latin lady. I can’t remember her name now, but she has an extremely heavy accent.
She was very nice and actually made my hair look decent. I got highlights, she straightened my hair, and trimmed it. Before going to work afterward, I had to stop by my house and fix my hair because it wasn’t «wear-​ready.» I took two stars off for having to rush home to fix it before work.
I took another two stars off because in the middle of her coloring, washing, straightening, and cutting my hair, she was looking for a perfume for her husband to buy, eating food he brought her, and just disappearing for 10 minutes at a time. I had to ask other employees to go get her. ULTA salons are just filled with unprofessional employees who obviously aren’t taking their jobs seriously. The only reason I was there was because I got a gift card for Christmas. Never again!

SALON REVIEW: I’ve been to the Ulta Salon twice. My first time there was about 4 years ago. While I liked my haircut and color, it wasn’t anything special and for the price, I thought it should have WOW’d me.
The second time I went was back in September of 2011. My hair was grown out with NO color in it. It was completely black (my natural color) and I asked for VERY subtle highlights to break up the black a little. I also asked for some long layers and face framing. It was one of the WORST haircuts and color of my life! My highlights were SO brassy and NOT subtle at all. My hair looked extremely choppy and the face framing was terrible. Long layers and face framing is a haircut I get all the time. I knew it was going to be a bad haircut when the stylist used techniques I had never seen other stylists use. The stylist even told me to come back in a few weeks to add more toner to remove some brassiness, but she said it would cost me another $ 50.
Unless you know which stylist you want, I wouldn’t recommend going to Ulta. This place is hit or miss.

Ashley is a fantastic hair stylist, colorist and an overall wonderful person. As I have gotten older, my scalp has become more and more senstive to chemicals in hair dye. Over a few visits, Ashley has worked dilligently trying to perfect a solution that would color my hair blond and not cook my scalp. And yesterday she succeeded! I love the buttery blond color and during my appointment, there was no pain or burning as I’ve experienced in other salons. Ashley is truly a genuninely caring professional who is empathetic with her clients, highly knowledgable about her trade and store products. I cannot recommend her more highly — thank you Ashley!
–Shelley Frost