Ulta

I usually come here to get a haircut by Jackleen, she knows exactly what’s in style, and what styles would look good on me. I’m never disappointed :)

I love the consistent amount of deals that the store has. Their clearance section always has some great finds. I was disappointed the last time I bought something from this store, I asked for some samples, and for the first time ever I was rejected. The lady responded when I asked by saying «I’m sorry I don’t normally work the register I don’t know where samples are «I left Disappointed. Make an effort to ask another employee…

I headed to this store to try and replace some much needed supplies. One stop shopping sounded good, I had too much to do to devote a great deal of time scurrying about for item replacements.
I did, indeed, find some new products to try but was surprised that some favorite brands or products from those brands were not available. For example, I love Urban decay’s skyscraper mascara. A different Urban decay mascara was offered, but not the one for which I was looking.
I went to look for curling irons, the least expensive curling iron was $ 40.00. I do realize this is not the corner drug store, however, not everyone needs a salon grade iron. I initially purchased a higher priced item. Realizing that my cash was much better spent on other things, I returned it. The process was friendly, fast, and simple.
I also tried a couple of new face products, a moisturizer and cleaner, Mario Badescu brand. These were at the recommendation of a gentleman working there, I never would have ventured to a new brand on my own. WOW! I LOVE them and will be back for more. They are better, for me, than my expensive trish products. The pricing is also fantastic! SCORE!

I went to the salon, and just needed a clean up on my sides. I wasnt expecting anything to crazy, and it seemed simple enough… but it ended up being the worst haircut I’ve EVER gotten! She left indents in the sides of my hair and the back was completely uneven. I would advise no one to go to the salon part of this ulta!!! Otherwise the store itself was good and had the products i wanted, but no one should get their hair cut at the salon.

Poor and unprofessional management, company mistreats employees and it shows with consistent change of management. This location is by far the worst location and the only employees they had with talent are gone now. Do your self a favor and stay away from this location.

I have to echo the concerns about the salon, and about the sub-​standard management of the store at the Old Orchard Place strip mall. I got a really good cut from a stylist named Raissa at my initial visit in May. I was satisfied enough that I scheduled a second appointment for six weeks later. I never received a reminder or a confirmation, so I called to confirm — and this was where the trouble started. To cut to the chase, I was not told that Raissa is now on medical leave, and that another stylist would be doing my hair. Didn’t find out until I got there — and she was mediocre at best, and as another person here noted, she started 15 minutes late. Crooked bangs, unintentionally uneven sides, random sprigs of uncut hair that I had to re-​do at home — and she whacked me in the head — HARD — with the shower-​head attachment when she was shampooing my hair, and then made whiny excuses when I asked her to be more careful.
But it gets far worse. At this point, I asked her why she was doing my hair, when I had scheduled with Raissa. she unhesitatingly blurted out details about Raissa’s medical condition, and tried to lay a guilt trip on me for asking (!). Really unprofessional and troubling. After she was finished savaging my hair, I went to the front to pay (and why can’t one pay at the POS *at the salon, BTW*?), and ran into the salon manager, who was up chatting with associates (a common theme of complaints about this store). I asked her what the deal was, and why I hadn’t been notified that I was assigned a random stylist rather than being told my stylist was on leave, as well as why Ulta was OK with violating HIPAA laws by releasing very private medical information to this woman’s co-​workers. She, like the stylist, immediately started making excuses, including that they had notified Raissa’s clients, but that «…we must have missed you.» Keep in mind that I HAD CALLED TO CONFIRM, and that absolutely nothing was said. I told the manager that, and her response was to shrug and say, «What do you want me to do about it?» Gaaaah!
So, the capper: I complained on the Ulta website. After getting an initial canned response, I have received absolutely NOTHING. No phone call, no email, no nothing. One would think corporate would be concerned that department managers are violating federal law by sharing confidential medical information on employees with other employees, who are in turn gossiping about that confidential information with customers, as corporations have been sued for far less. The whole experience was a real eye-​opener. I hope Raissa takes Ulta for the cleaners, should she find out what her boss and co-​workers are doing.

I’ve recently become obsessed with having my nails done. This is super odd to me since A) I’m not a girly girl whatsoever and B) I’ve never taken such an interest in nail care before. However, I discovered that having them done (despite the potentially high cost depending on how frequently I get them done) is a surefire way to prevent me from biting them.
I decided to stop by Ulta to see if I could find some nail color to have my manicurist use on my nails the next time I visit her. Specifically, I was shopping for shades of green, blue and grey that would be appropriate for the warmer weather, but not too flashy since I work at a law firm & was going to be in Court for a big trial. Must look professional!
First of, it took me FOREVER to find the professional nail polish section. It’s located in the middle of the store. I didn’t see any signs for it, which did not help matters. In terms of brands, they carry the usual suspects — OPI, Essie, China Glaze, Orly and Zoya.
I ended up purchasing three bottles of Zoya, which was on sale — buy 2 bottles, get the third free. Each bottle cost $ 9, which was comparable to the other brands. I bought the polishes in Selene (true teal with a micronized metallic pearl finish), Zoya Bevin (dusty, medium sage green with teal tones and a creamy opaque finish) and Kelly (rich gray shade with soft purple and blue undertones). Credit to the website for the descriptions. Heaven’s knows I can’t describe color to save my life!
I spent FOREVER browsing at all the brands and colors. It’d help if they had swatches with them like they do at the nail salon. But, eh. No big deal. Eventually an employee found me and I asked her for her recommendations based on what I had selected. She helped me narrow down my choices and I appreciated her feedback.
Checkout was a breeze with a small wait due to people making more complicated transactions (returns, exchanges), but overall it went smoothly. The woman who rang me up was friendly and efficient.
I highly doubt frequent returns to this area will happen though. First, I’ve got an Ulta at home, and I believe that Ulta is larger and has a bigger selection of everything. Second, I’m not in the Skokie area often. Though, I suppose I could see myself stopping by if I was at Old Orchard prior. And even then, I hardly shop at Old Orchard.
Nevertheless, I was happy that I found nail polish for my manicurist to use. I got lots of compliments on the light green shade that I selected. If you want to see what Zoya Bevin looks like on my hands, check out the picture I posted along with my review for Kim’s Nails & Spa in Vernon Hills.
All good in my book — three solid stars.

I went in 2 days ago to get a blush and lip gloss. As I walked in I looked around for an associate to help me out because I needed help finding the right shade and also lasting. The associate’s were completely ignorant and rude. I had to ask the associate to help me out, who did not help me at all. She had no clue of the products she showed me and didn’t seem interested in helping. She walked away from me making it seem like she was gonna help another customer but instead went over to another associate and as I was walking out I overheard her just chatting. The associates need better training, knowledge, and manners. I don’t plan on going here anytime soon

if there was a way to give a negative amount of stars, I would. I’ve been to this location many times and never had an issue other than the fact that their staff is not the slightest bit friendly. They usually have a full stock of things that I’m looking for and my «go-​to» Ulta store is the Village Crossing location (which is WAY better). I never thought I would find myself going to Unilocal to write a review about an Ulta location but heck, I didn’t think this incident would happen to me today! I called before I thought of going in looking for «Just for men» shaving cream in a jar. It took about two minuets for someone to initially answer the phone, once I got an associate on the line I asked if they had this product in store and she replied «we have many shaving products for men in store» and sounded as if she wanted to hang up on me. I quickly repeated my question making it clear that I was looking for «Just For Men» shaving cream in a jar. She followed with a «let me go check for you…» and immediately hung up on me. I thought it was a joke, but then I look at my phone screen and she really did hang up on me. BOTTOM LINE THESE PEOPLE ARE RUDE!!! DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME AND HEAD DOWN A COUPLE MILES TO THE VILLAGE CROSSING LOCATION WHERE THEY GIVE A SH! T ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMERS!!!

I promised my mom I would write a review about the salon services here.
The good:
The ladies that work at the salon are very nice.
The bad:
Our appointment was at 10am and we didn’t get started until around 10:15. We had arrived before the store opened so we were not the reason for the late start. The check in process took awhile as there was some confusion as to who was going to be taking care of us. In addition, my mom’s hair stylist was more than 10 mins late.
I opted for a blow dry and style. I think they call it the bombshell. Basically they give you nice waves with a curling iron.
My mom also got a blow dry and style. Her hair is short while my hair is long. Right away you can tell the stylists we got were not that experienced in doing hair. They were rather slow and while my hair turned out fine, my mom’s hair did not.
I felt like my stylist could have done it a little faster considering she had a late start and I had informed her we had a makeup appointment at old orchard mall across the street. Instead of working faster she would stop every once and awhile and engage in conversation with the other stylist next to me. I would have been ok with it but we were really on a tight schedule and we already lost some time because it took so long for the lady to check us in combined with the fact my mom’s stylist was late. I’ve had blowout and style before at other places and they generally take around 45 mins or less as opposed to the hour it took here.
Now my mom’s hair. I think the stylist could have admitted that she really does not know how to style short hair. By the time my mom was done her hair looked horrible. Really really bad. There wasn’t anything redeeming about the style at all. It’s something you just need to wash and redo. I couldn’t stop laughing how bad it was. My mom said her stylist wouldn’t let her see the progress of her work until the very end and by that time it was too late. Her hair was super high in the front and super poofy on all sides. I can’t really describe it but it’s like she gave my mom a big Afro. I would have taken a picture but I kept laughing so much. I know. I’m a bad daughter for laughing but it was just so hard to keep a straight face. Lol
I felt bad for the stylist because my mom yelled at her and was causing a scene in the store. But I think the stylist could have also admitted the hair looked bad and not charge us for it because my mom really was unhappy. She was on edge because it was my brother’s wedding and she wanted to look good. We also missed our 11:15 makeup appointment because our hair took so long.
Overall, I think this salon is probably ok if you have long hair and want a simple blowout and style, but for short styles you might want to go to a salon with more experienced stylists. Also, I think the stylists need to be more respectful of the client’s time and not be late. If anybody wants to know the names of the stylists that worked on us you can message me.

My review is mainly for the salon area and staff! Or else store is like every other ulta. I’ve been here 4 plus times in past week and half. I got a targeted treatment facial done, only person does it her name is biliana. She is the most sweetest and soft spoken person ever!!! I’m waiting on my second facial now, microdermabrasion… I walked in the salon area about 15 mins ago… not once has anyone came to the front to check me in or anything. This is the third horrible experience in my time here from when I brought my husband and mother in law. One other thing I notice is there is a lot of personal issues and drama in the salon team, they are not really friendly either. It’s like mean girls all over again. My rating is for the excellent skin services provided by biliana. I have went to American and south Asian places for my facial and no one has done it like biliana. As I’m writing this, there is someone yet to come up to the register to see if anyone is waiting! It’s really rude. Forget me, I already don’t like the people here but so many people were waiting to ask questions and there is some in the back talking away! Rude staff, besides one or two… too much drama and they give way too many dirty looks!

Wow– this could not have been a worse experience. I came here yesterday (late afternoon) to buy a few items (this is the first time i had ever been in) and literally could not find a single person willing to help me. I walked around for probably 20 minutes trying to find something, and couldnt because of how disorganized this place is, so I asked some girls who worked there for help. Each one said they were too busy! lol… is this a joke? Don’t you work on commission? Then there was some woman wandering around (older eastern European lady) who didnt work there but was trying to help people. It was bizarre.
Ok fine, so eventually i do find what im looking for and then make the «mistake» of walking back by the skincare area which is when i got pounced on by this very «over-​eager» to put it nicely older woman in her 70s who i wouldnt trust for cosmetic/​skin care advice if my life depended on it.
First, she asks if i need help and i politely tell her no thank you (i didnt… i had found what i needed). She then proceeds to insult me by saying «oh…is your face always so red? let me show you products you need to get!» First, my face wasn’t red so I assume she should get her eyes checked, second i said i didnt want help, and thirdly is insulting people really your plan to sell stuff? Maybe that works on insecure teenagers or something but im in my 30s and i just thought she was plain rude lol. I politely tell her no thank you again and i made it pretty clear i wanted her to go away but she didnt! She followed me around the entire store and then grabbed some sort of foundation and proceeds to try and put it on my face! I literally freaked out inside lol… i do not want some strange woman following me around trying to put makeup on my face when i have repeatedly told her «no, thank you.» Please do not touch me lol… When i realized that clearly being polite wasn’t cutting it I was a bit more curt and FINALLY she went away. It was so unbelievably uncomfortable and inappropriate.
I would have purchased more stuff but all i wanted to do was get the heck out of that place. Up at the front there were 3 people standing up there. 2 guys helping no one (despite there being a big line) and 1 girl helping everyone (hence the line). The 2 guys were just chatting about who should go on break or something while the line kept getting bigger. The girl, however, was super nice. I dont know her name but whoever she is, she should get a raise or something because she was the only hard working person in that entire place.
I may still order from Ulta online but ill never step foot in this place again. Ive never seen so many employees just standing around doing nothing other than being rude and pushy (and getting paid for it). I can’t believe anyone with any retail management experience is running that place…

Recently, I was clued into the knowledge that «beard care kits» were available. A Unilocaler suggested getting it at Ulta.
Online I found a number of awesome beard kits but getting it local sounded the most convenient. (If beard kits sounds enticing, definitely Google it.) At this store, they didn’t have much to offer. Simply one shampoo styled brand for some $ 18 dollars. (Many kits come with three bottles of conditioners and cleaner for about $ 20 — $ 25 dollars.)
I was in the store for about twenty minutes. In that time, I walked to the back and slowly traveled from aisle to aisle trying to locate (herbal) bath products, beard kits and showering accessories. At no time in the first nineteen minutes did any employee stop to ask if I needed assistance or say hello. Many passed me heading in other directions and quickly.
I picked up a couple items I wanted and began to grow weary looking for beard products. With arms full, moving towards the counter a lovely smile stopped and inquired as to whether they could assist me with anything. I asked about their beard products, which they hadn’t had but one brand.
For a cosmetics shop, it’s adorned with that glowing white light that is reminiscent of a (fashion) runway and is completed with alluring fragrances drawing ones attention to other areas of the store. However, it’s not terribly easy to find what’s needed. Some areas are marked with aisle markers and one might assume that all «bath products» would be in the bath product aisles or shelves. This is wrong. There are then other areas which have similar products but from specific name brands. Which are showcased on the center aisles and setup in any order.

I agree with the other reviewers of this Skokie Ulta — they often don’t have the sizes of products you want in stock, the staff is never friendly or helpful, and there was the most annoying sample-​pusher today (which prompted me to write this review).
She approached me and wanted me to come with her so she could show me something. I said «no thank you,» she asked again, I said «I’m not interested,» she said my skin looks really dry (gee, thanks), and she has something great and mentioned the price. I finally had to say, «That’s out of my budget. Really, no thank you!» before she’d leave me alone.
Plus, I think they overcharged me on an item today, but when I went back to look on the shelf, I realized the item I chose didn’t even have a tag with the price — maybe it was the last one and it just wasn’t worth debating so I left.
It just seems disorganized and not worth going back (the rewards program is certainly no incentive — it’s terrible). I can get the same products at Walgreens or CVS, which is what I’ll be doing now.

I’ve been to this store location several times and have to say, I’ve never had a positive experience. The staff is so unfriendly and unhelpful. Over the summer, I read an article about BB cream for your hair. When I asked around to see if they had this product, they all but laughed at me and told me that they only make BB cream for your face. Additionally, they seldom have the product I am looking for in stock. During my recent visit there, I had a number of items I needed to exchange. I had used a friends and family discount the weekend before, but because the employee wasn’t with me, they wouldn’t let me complete the transaction. While I can understand that returning items that have been purchased through a discount or promotion can be tricky, I saw no reason for them to refuse letting me exchange items (for the SAME product in a different color!!!) When I asked to see the manager, she gave me the same story. I also immediately recognized her as one of the employees from the BB cream debacle.
In the end, I went back to the Ulta on North and Sheffield and exchanged my items hassle-​free the very next day. Bottom line, do NOT go to this store unless you want to find your items out of stock and deal with poor service– which obviously stems from it’s poor store manager

Ulta is supposed to be a fun experience, make up perfume, filled with all the goodies we love. However the staff just makes you want to make the drive to the other nearest Ulta.
Walked in, ignored. No biggie I like to browse. Ask for help and then be left forgotten for 10 min just is sucky.
Been coming here for years and it still sucks. At least Nords is next door;)

This rating is only for this location:
I’ve probably been to every Ulta location in this state, and this location and the location on Touhy are the worst.
Unless you walk over to the high end cosmetics, you will not receive any assistance or acknowledgement whatsoever. I generally get a greeting from the cashiers, but that doesn’t help when i need help finding something. There needs to be staff on the floor and not just in the higher end cosmetics. Personally, I get my high end cosmetics from Sephora. The selection is better and being able to try on anything in the store is a HUGE Plus. I don’t want to spend my days returning things!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked around in circles wasting my day away looking for something in particular that I saw on youtube or a magazine. (It’s an addiction) Wheres the staff? I’ve walked out of this location twice out of frustration.
At this location nothing is in its proper place, popular cosmetics are NEVER in stock or if they do have it, theres a chance its been open (YUCK!!) I bought a NYX bronzer and when i went to use it there was compartment underneath with a powder puff that was used and had hair on it. GAG.
I LOVE Ulta, just not this location.
Pros:
Wonderful return policy
Great Sales
Cons:
Lack of customer service
Poor inventory
Opened/​Used Cosmetics
No samples
I really wish you were able to try on the department store brands and not just the high end brands. Products such as foundations and concealers are way too difficult to match just by looking at the bottle. If i have to buy and open 10 different ones looking for the closest shade match only to return them, who wins?

The customer service at this place is so bad I’m considering never shopping here again. It’s not worth the hassle and Sephora is right across the street.

This place is great if you know exactly what you want to buy and get in and get out, but I have to agree with a lot of other reviewers about the negative customer service here. A lot of the staff here have attitude problems and are totally not friendly at all. However, there a few people who are real engaging and friendly. They are hesitant to giving samples as well and get insulted if you don’t purchase the item they just sampled on your face. I have very sensitive skin and get allergic reactions to certain products and that’s why I appreciate samples. Why purchase something that doesn’t work only to take more time out your busy life to return it? It’s a total different experience than other cosmetic stores –I won’t mention the name– in the mall across the street where the employees are more friendly and accommodating.

I seem to get good customer service when I come in. There are pleasant people that work here and there’s a good selection of tools and makeup, hair care, etc.
Just the other day, I came in looking for hot curlers that were on «sale» and couldn’t find them on the shelf. I grabbed a different set and stood in line for check out. Once at the front of the line, I asked the cashier if it was it. He asked his manager who informed me that it wasn’t and then she, the manager, proceeded to her stock room and searched for a few minutes until she found the item I came looking for.
So, I got the sale item plus I got a discount for using my circular. They could of just told me that they’re out of said hot rollers without ever looking (I wouldn’t of thought to ask them to check) and I would have purchased the more expensive set.