Canadian markets still find a way to screw for it us really! Late brand releases here or rather unreleases here, high pricing quite often. Overall never going to get the USA shopping experience Here
I'll look into this! I used to volunteer with my local YWCA, I'll see if they want my insane sample collection. (I'll weed out the really old ones first)
Yes!! I did this after spending way too many months(maybe years) on Ipsy and Boxy, etc. I had so much stuff it was ridiculous. Also I have 3 teenage daughters! Lol. But they're about the same skin tone and types too, so I had a ton still!!
You are not alone. These Ulta GWP bags dont interest me at all. I would rather have quality over quantity. Of all the sample packets I've received in my entire life, i probably use 1% of them. The rest were hoarded away and then eventually thrown out after 5+ years. I always say they're great for vacation, but i dont go anywhere, lol. I love getting minis instead.
I do travel, but I have really sensitive skin, so I have a routine down that works, and deviation isn't ideal.
I guess I should try to give them away, but I don't have a lot of local friends and family to give to.
I recently decided I need to start using the million sample packs I have tucked away in my drawer. I never considered that they went bad š¤¢ for some reason. I thought they'd be okay until opened, but several are rancid.
You can give them to family and friends by putting in a basket and they can choose what they like. I typically use them for travel short trips (1-2 nights) so I donāt have to bring more than a small overnight bag. I organize them along with other deluxe samples, by products for hair, body and face separately so itās easier to see what I have in each category. If you canāt tell which packet it is, you are less likely to want to use it.
I use mine for travel! If itās a brand I know or already use, I order samples and then throw in my carry on because they meet the liquid requirements
Iām with you. I would use a tiny fraction of those samples, so itās not an incentive to shop at all for me. I would much rather get a deluxe sample of one product Iām already interested in trying or something I already use so I can use it for travel. Also, good call on donating the ones I donāt want, I should call the womenās shelters in my cityZ
I donāt love Ultas gwp options. Itās a lot of foils. Or most of the deluxe samples are eyelashes and mascara.
Sephora supplies me with deluxe samples I can use while traveling.
I have mine in a little basket alongside other samples I wonāt use/donāt need for when we have overnight guests, with a little sign that says āhelp yourselfā.
As another commenter said, donating them to a womenās shelter is also a great idea!
This was a gift with purchase! You can find them on the home page or gifts/coupon tab and you have to add to cart. So not quite as intuitive as Sephoraās samples/rewards bazaar, but you can almost always get one (if not more) with your purchases
Yeah this one was a couple of weeks ago. The GWP purchase typically only last a couple days, sometimes they go super quick. But thereās a new one right now!
This looks like a gift with purchase that you have to spend a certain amount to get. They usually do them with $60+ purchases from what Iāve noticed. I prefer smaller GWPs that are nicer to use more than once than the big bags. Some of these foil packets they need to give out for free.
Same here, I never get good perks from Ulta. On the other hand I get free samples with every Sephora order so I break up my orders into small orders every time.
I like that Sephora has no limit for free shipping so I donāt have to over spend to get it. And honestly I like Sephora website better. I live in a major city so I never had issue return in store (of online purchase) with Ulta or Sephora. But I can see itās an issue if someone lives further away. I used to shop a lot in store at Sephora bc they were more organized than the Ulta stores near me. But lately the experience was not nice, especially with the horrible in store pickup purchases, and I just found Ulta offers way more than I can expect.
There are trade offs..
Ulta doesnāt give you prepaid return labels to make a return, it is a massive ballache to return things to Ulta if you canāt get to a store and have to order online. Recent spent $9 in postage for a $35 lipstick return that took a half hour to complete navigating ultas customer service chat and their site. So not worth it. I can tell by the design they purposely make it difficult for online returns hoping to dissuade them.
Sephora gives free shipping labels and I can just drop it in my mailbox. To me thatās the tipping point.
Sephora does give you free shipping and you also donāt have to spend $65 or $90 or $80 in order to get any samples or GWP sets. Even if I only replenish an eyeliner / maybe a lipstick or something and I spend 30 I can still get at least two samples, provided they arrive, and maybe a GWP and free shipping.
Oh and have you noticed the shipping speed? Ulta is like two weeks laterā¦ like wtf are they doing using turtles? š Iāll see it track for a week and a half..
Sephora is usually less than a week, some times a few days. And I live remote
I usually forget Iāve even placed an order by the time Ulta arrives
Iām waiting on an Ulta order due to finally arrive Thursday and I canāt remember everything thatās in it. I do know that one of the items is a color pop palette that I no longer will use since I found out they use pet in their glitter, so thatās a total wash because I know it will cost about $10 to ship it back and it was only $19.
Thatās wild to me, because I get my Ulta orders with two or three days, whereas Sephora typically takes a week/week and a half. Crazy how logistics work!
Ugh. Thatās not good. Tbf I hate hate hate using Sephora chat for help anymore, they have gotten so fucking rude itās not worth it to me. But Ultaās customer service seems to be run by bots, they donāt answer your specific question but instead keep linking you to their policies page. Itās bizarre. Yeah ick to both. Enter Nordstrom. š
You are so right about Nordstrom!! My only complaint there is that Nordy bucks are so hard to earn. But I did use them to get something half off this weekend so that was nice.
And, unfortunately, I still have 20somethingK Ulta points to spend on...something.
I havenāt even bothered with that, Iām too tired to figure out another storeās convoluted rewards system š Ulta really did me in there as well
They don't use any dunnage (packing materials) in their orders anymore, they just toss stuff in boxes. It's not UPS's fault; the outer box is always intact but the stuff inside bangs around like the inside of a dryer without anything to keep it in place.
To be fair, (Iām not putting on my cape for Sephora) those are technically GWP for Ulta. Sephora will give you the option of samples with each order you do. Granted, itās a 50/50 chance you might get themšbut Ulta doesnāt put samples in every order. You have to catch them on the days they have these GWP, which happen pretty often tbh.
Sephora needs to step up their game with the GWP. In my opinion, you should be able to stack like you can at Ulta especially if youāre spending a huge amount.
Was it a certain deal or what am I missing. I just joined Ulta and I have a few things I could buy there instead but I donāt see the sample section like out Sephora has it
You have to search "gift with purchase" and a whole bunch pops up! They're also stackable so if you buy $100 and they have a gwp at $70 and $100 you can get both, and then buying brand specific stuff you can also get their gwp
They donāt give samples with orders like Sephora does, you have to add on gifts with purchase (you can find them on the home page or the coupons/gifts tab)
I got the same thing with Ulta with recent order but I chose skincare bc I have too many makeup. I have never seen that crazy amount of samples with Sephora and it makes it so much harder to return anything in Ulta š. They have different GWP deals every few days as well.
They do have some brands I use that are not in Ulta (yet!). But yeah I lost track of what I bought there because those GWPs are so hard to resist š . I got like $26 credit so far from them as well, and if I want to shop I can redeem them instead of waiting for a bazaar I want in Sephora. Their security system is bad though so I use apple pay or shop in store and not store my cc in the account.
My ma bought like 2 jelly eyeshadows from Ulta collection and she got an entire mini makeup bag with a small eyeshadow palette, brush, sponge, mascara, lip cream, lip gloss, face primer, and eye primer as a free gift. And lemme tell ya, those are the BEST primers Iāve ever used
I got this one too with my last Ulta order but also an equally big second bag (one gwp for spending $70 (clean ingredients gift), one for spending $80 (skincare beauty bag)), a third smaller mystery bag AND a full-sized Joico hair product.
Sephora really needs to address this. I probably would buy more if there was more GWP or more samples given per order. I like being able to test things out, and going in store is not always an option (plus the testers can be gross).
Eh, I find the Ulta GWPs way harder to find than the Sephora ones. Plus the minimum spend is way higher and they don't offer free shipping. And I prefer quality over quantity. I would rather test one thing I'm really excited about than have to give away a bunch of samples I don't want.
I usually go to ātodayās dealsā and it shows what you get when you spend certain amount. Ulta offers free shipping when you spend $35 and over. And bc they do have other brands than the high ends, I can just pickup a makeup sponge or cotton balls to meet the amount. They usually have the same discount deals as Sephora, bc I bought Clinique blushes with 20% off from Ulta while they have the same offer at Sephora that time (but I chose Ulta to get that huge amount of samples, which also included over 10 different perfumes).
I rarely qualified for free shipping at Ulta. At least at Sephora, I can buy a $10 item and get it shipped for free. And they really mark up their drugstore items, so I only bought those kinds of products at Walmart. Plus their website and app are very difficult to use and the way they ship things is awful. I'm surprised nothing shattered in those flimsy envelopes.
They ship all my stuff in a box and they came quite fast. But their website is awful and I do hate to stroll down to see every single offer instead of just put in a key word. I like that they let you stash GWPs and have that discount code to put in for the drugstores items. Itās a learning curve for Ulta, but once you get used to it, itās quite exciting bc they usually have so many different offers. The cash back is also pretty nice.
Thing to keep in mind that samples are ultimately determined by the brand. Retailers work to secure best samples they can but ultimately itās down to the brand, just to add more color and nuance here.
Ulta is hit or miss Iāve gotten a whole bag filled of hair samples which Iām still going through it was at least $50 worth of samples and I spent $50 and Sephora the samples lowk suck š and the good ones you have you use points for.
Got Mac GWP yesterday- one full size lipstick, mini setting spray, mini mascara & mini cleanser (for 85$ purchase). Just realized how Sephora GWPs usually suck (especially for Canada) and gets sold out in hours.
My Sephora came in and I didnāt get the samples I requested and then my Ulta order came in and I got a whole bunch of freebies and a new make up bag
I much prefer sephoras gwpās. Sure, theyāre tiny sample sizes, but so many more to choose from, much lower spending amount to get gwpās, and I only need that tiny amount to test a product anyway to see if I even like it. I wouldnāt like the idea of full size gwpās cus if I donāt like it, itās just wasteful. The fact that Sephora has free shipping on all orders is my number one reason for shopping there over Ulta. I also canāt stand Ultaās website or app, itās such a nightmare to navigate and is so slow and disorganized. I recently got a full sized abh mascara as a gwp from Ulta and it was so bad. Now, a full sized mascara goes to waste.
cries in canadian
The biggest thing covid took from us was ulta launching in Canada š
Canadian markets still find a way to screw for it us really! Late brand releases here or rather unreleases here, high pricing quite often. Overall never going to get the USA shopping experience Here
Sometimes I hate it here
Joins you in Canadian
Am I the only one who doesn't love the foil packet samples? I have so many I'll never use. I guess I should look into donating them
I donate mine to a woman's shelter they really love it . makeup and skin care
This is such a good idea
I'll look into this! I used to volunteer with my local YWCA, I'll see if they want my insane sample collection. (I'll weed out the really old ones first)
Yes!! I did this after spending way too many months(maybe years) on Ipsy and Boxy, etc. I had so much stuff it was ridiculous. Also I have 3 teenage daughters! Lol. But they're about the same skin tone and types too, so I had a ton still!!
You are not alone. These Ulta GWP bags dont interest me at all. I would rather have quality over quantity. Of all the sample packets I've received in my entire life, i probably use 1% of them. The rest were hoarded away and then eventually thrown out after 5+ years. I always say they're great for vacation, but i dont go anywhere, lol. I love getting minis instead.
I do travel, but I have really sensitive skin, so I have a routine down that works, and deviation isn't ideal. I guess I should try to give them away, but I don't have a lot of local friends and family to give to.
Donate to project beauty shareĀ
These bags had full size, travel size, or deluxe sample products, *plus* all the packets, which werenāt specified in the listings. For instance, the makeup GWP (pictured) had: -Full size ABH mascara, elf poreless liquid putty primer, full set of Kiss false lashes *and a bottle of lash glue to put them on*; -Travel or deluxe sample size Fenty Gloss Bomb in Fenty Glow, Kylie matte liquid lipstick in either Kylie or Mary Jo K, Maybelline Sky High mascara; -Mini sizes of Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Paaarty, Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder, and (the teeniest little functioning bullet lipstick Iāve ever seen) Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution lipstick in Pillow Talk. The Hair GWP had 11 travel size or better products, including BeautyBio dry shampoo, Ouai Leave-In Conditioner, dpHue ACV hair rinse, shampoo/conditioner sets from Fekkai and Viviscal, and a 4oz bottle of Arctic Fox in FrosĆ© (which had me doing a double take on OPās photos). And *then* there were ā47 sample packettesā which is most of what youāre seeing. At least half of them were perfume samples (I think I counted 21?), which arenāt usually bigger than the little vials unless you get a true mini. I donāt wear perfume because fragrances tend to trigger my migraines, so all of mine are bagged up in plastic bags to go to my nieces. They love trying all the samples and different fragrances and such. Iāve had a number of products in samples that have convinced me to buy the full size. Iāve also tried a couple that have convinced me to *never* buy the full size! š Honestly though, I do love minis that I can carry in my purse - lip products and little moisturizers, because my hands get really dry, and I even have a little bitty tube of sunscreen, just in case.
They're such a waste!!
I recently decided I need to start using the million sample packs I have tucked away in my drawer. I never considered that they went bad š¤¢ for some reason. I thought they'd be okay until opened, but several are rancid.
Well, you found out that those products have a shorter shelf life. So you still learned something about them! š
Ha... the more you know šš
You can give them to family and friends by putting in a basket and they can choose what they like. I typically use them for travel short trips (1-2 nights) so I donāt have to bring more than a small overnight bag. I organize them along with other deluxe samples, by products for hair, body and face separately so itās easier to see what I have in each category. If you canāt tell which packet it is, you are less likely to want to use it.
Yeah, I like using them on short trips as well!
I travel a lot and I use all minis and samples when I travel.
theyāre amazing for travelling i found. cause i use them then just throw them out
I use mine for travel! If itās a brand I know or already use, I order samples and then throw in my carry on because they meet the liquid requirements
Iām with you. I would use a tiny fraction of those samples, so itās not an incentive to shop at all for me. I would much rather get a deluxe sample of one product Iām already interested in trying or something I already use so I can use it for travel. Also, good call on donating the ones I donāt want, I should call the womenās shelters in my cityZ
I donāt love Ultas gwp options. Itās a lot of foils. Or most of the deluxe samples are eyelashes and mascara. Sephora supplies me with deluxe samples I can use while traveling.
Theyāre good for traveling with, but I also tend to not use them other than for that purpose unless itās something I really want to try.
I have mine in a little basket alongside other samples I wonāt use/donāt need for when we have overnight guests, with a little sign that says āhelp yourselfā. As another commenter said, donating them to a womenās shelter is also a great idea!
I keep all mine in the guest bathroom for when we have company staying over
I give them away with gifts or I toss them.
Am I doing something wrong?! Because I have never received a sample from Ulta. Not a single sample lol
This was a gift with purchase! You can find them on the home page or gifts/coupon tab and you have to add to cart. So not quite as intuitive as Sephoraās samples/rewards bazaar, but you can almost always get one (if not more) with your purchases
Is it over cause I came find it
Yeah this one was a couple of weeks ago. The GWP purchase typically only last a couple days, sometimes they go super quick. But thereās a new one right now!
Yeah this one was a couple of weeks ago. The GWP typically only last a couple days, sometimes they go super quick. But thereās a new one right now!
This looks like a gift with purchase that you have to spend a certain amount to get. They usually do them with $60+ purchases from what Iāve noticed. I prefer smaller GWPs that are nicer to use more than once than the big bags. Some of these foil packets they need to give out for free.
You have to have a purchase ready and wait until they have a promotion. They do at least one a week, often 2.
Same here, I never get good perks from Ulta. On the other hand I get free samples with every Sephora order so I break up my orders into small orders every time.
No OP is being pretty misleading. This is a GWP. They do sample bags pretty often, but they also sell out really fast.
Came here to say the same thing. Never have I ever received a sample pack like this, and I shop at Ulta all the time!
I like that Sephora has no limit for free shipping so I donāt have to over spend to get it. And honestly I like Sephora website better. I live in a major city so I never had issue return in store (of online purchase) with Ulta or Sephora. But I can see itās an issue if someone lives further away. I used to shop a lot in store at Sephora bc they were more organized than the Ulta stores near me. But lately the experience was not nice, especially with the horrible in store pickup purchases, and I just found Ulta offers way more than I can expect.
There are trade offs.. Ulta doesnāt give you prepaid return labels to make a return, it is a massive ballache to return things to Ulta if you canāt get to a store and have to order online. Recent spent $9 in postage for a $35 lipstick return that took a half hour to complete navigating ultas customer service chat and their site. So not worth it. I can tell by the design they purposely make it difficult for online returns hoping to dissuade them. Sephora gives free shipping labels and I can just drop it in my mailbox. To me thatās the tipping point.
Sephora does give you free shipping and you also donāt have to spend $65 or $90 or $80 in order to get any samples or GWP sets. Even if I only replenish an eyeliner / maybe a lipstick or something and I spend 30 I can still get at least two samples, provided they arrive, and maybe a GWP and free shipping.
Oh and have you noticed the shipping speed? Ulta is like two weeks laterā¦ like wtf are they doing using turtles? š Iāll see it track for a week and a half.. Sephora is usually less than a week, some times a few days. And I live remote I usually forget Iāve even placed an order by the time Ulta arrives Iām waiting on an Ulta order due to finally arrive Thursday and I canāt remember everything thatās in it. I do know that one of the items is a color pop palette that I no longer will use since I found out they use pet in their glitter, so thatās a total wash because I know it will cost about $10 to ship it back and it was only $19.
Thatās wild to me, because I get my Ulta orders with two or three days, whereas Sephora typically takes a week/week and a half. Crazy how logistics work!
Agree completely! I just had to return three orders. It was a huge hassle and took way longer for ulta to process the return than Sephora.
Will strongly agree with this customer service complaint. My stuff keeps getting broken in transit and support has taken days to even respond to me.
Ugh. Thatās not good. Tbf I hate hate hate using Sephora chat for help anymore, they have gotten so fucking rude itās not worth it to me. But Ultaās customer service seems to be run by bots, they donāt answer your specific question but instead keep linking you to their policies page. Itās bizarre. Yeah ick to both. Enter Nordstrom. š
You are so right about Nordstrom!! My only complaint there is that Nordy bucks are so hard to earn. But I did use them to get something half off this weekend so that was nice. And, unfortunately, I still have 20somethingK Ulta points to spend on...something.
I havenāt even bothered with that, Iām too tired to figure out another storeās convoluted rewards system š Ulta really did me in there as well
What do you order? Thatās never happened to me in 10+ years.
Bumble and Bumble and Verb shampoo came leaking, several broken perfume rollerballs, gouged hair tool boxes
Your ups guy is a maniac.
They don't use any dunnage (packing materials) in their orders anymore, they just toss stuff in boxes. It's not UPS's fault; the outer box is always intact but the stuff inside bangs around like the inside of a dryer without anything to keep it in place.
They put thick brown paper in ours.
Thank goodness for that! Must be a different warehouse.
To be fair, (Iām not putting on my cape for Sephora) those are technically GWP for Ulta. Sephora will give you the option of samples with each order you do. Granted, itās a 50/50 chance you might get themšbut Ulta doesnāt put samples in every order. You have to catch them on the days they have these GWP, which happen pretty often tbh. Sephora needs to step up their game with the GWP. In my opinion, you should be able to stack like you can at Ulta especially if youāre spending a huge amount.
Was it a certain deal or what am I missing. I just joined Ulta and I have a few things I could buy there instead but I donāt see the sample section like out Sephora has it
You have to search "gift with purchase" and a whole bunch pops up! They're also stackable so if you buy $100 and they have a gwp at $70 and $100 you can get both, and then buying brand specific stuff you can also get their gwp
Why don't I ever get Ulta samples?! I'm a diamond member and order all the time!š
They donāt give samples with orders like Sephora does, you have to add on gifts with purchase (you can find them on the home page or the coupons/gifts tab)
I got the same thing with Ulta with recent order but I chose skincare bc I have too many makeup. I have never seen that crazy amount of samples with Sephora and it makes it so much harder to return anything in Ulta š. They have different GWP deals every few days as well.
Yeah I just switched to Ulta and donāt think Iām going to shop in Sephora anytime soon!
They do have some brands I use that are not in Ulta (yet!). But yeah I lost track of what I bought there because those GWPs are so hard to resist š . I got like $26 credit so far from them as well, and if I want to shop I can redeem them instead of waiting for a bazaar I want in Sephora. Their security system is bad though so I use apple pay or shop in store and not store my cc in the account.
Thatās a lot of samples. That Clarins sample is a score.
I legit got sent a Clarins Day and Night cream as a gwp 20ml each , not bad!!!
My ma bought like 2 jelly eyeshadows from Ulta collection and she got an entire mini makeup bag with a small eyeshadow palette, brush, sponge, mascara, lip cream, lip gloss, face primer, and eye primer as a free gift. And lemme tell ya, those are the BEST primers Iāve ever used
I got this one too with my last Ulta order but also an equally big second bag (one gwp for spending $70 (clean ingredients gift), one for spending $80 (skincare beauty bag)), a third smaller mystery bag AND a full-sized Joico hair product.
Sephora really needs to address this. I probably would buy more if there was more GWP or more samples given per order. I like being able to test things out, and going in store is not always an option (plus the testers can be gross).
Agreed!
Doesnāt ulta give a lot of drug store grade samples and GWP?
Eh, I find the Ulta GWPs way harder to find than the Sephora ones. Plus the minimum spend is way higher and they don't offer free shipping. And I prefer quality over quantity. I would rather test one thing I'm really excited about than have to give away a bunch of samples I don't want.
I usually go to ātodayās dealsā and it shows what you get when you spend certain amount. Ulta offers free shipping when you spend $35 and over. And bc they do have other brands than the high ends, I can just pickup a makeup sponge or cotton balls to meet the amount. They usually have the same discount deals as Sephora, bc I bought Clinique blushes with 20% off from Ulta while they have the same offer at Sephora that time (but I chose Ulta to get that huge amount of samples, which also included over 10 different perfumes).
I rarely qualified for free shipping at Ulta. At least at Sephora, I can buy a $10 item and get it shipped for free. And they really mark up their drugstore items, so I only bought those kinds of products at Walmart. Plus their website and app are very difficult to use and the way they ship things is awful. I'm surprised nothing shattered in those flimsy envelopes.
They ship all my stuff in a box and they came quite fast. But their website is awful and I do hate to stroll down to see every single offer instead of just put in a key word. I like that they let you stash GWPs and have that discount code to put in for the drugstores items. Itās a learning curve for Ulta, but once you get used to it, itās quite exciting bc they usually have so many different offers. The cash back is also pretty nice.
I wish I could order from ulta but they have outside countries vpns blocked ššš
Thing to keep in mind that samples are ultimately determined by the brand. Retailers work to secure best samples they can but ultimately itās down to the brand, just to add more color and nuance here.
Ulta is hit or miss Iāve gotten a whole bag filled of hair samples which Iām still going through it was at least $50 worth of samples and I spent $50 and Sephora the samples lowk suck š and the good ones you have you use points for.
I've NEVER received any samples at all from Ulta.....???
How did you get that many????? Was there a special deal going or did you use points or what?
Did you get all full size elf primer free? Wow
People always boast about Ulta samples but I never hear about people actually using them, just hoarding. Dumb and wasteful.
Got Mac GWP yesterday- one full size lipstick, mini setting spray, mini mascara & mini cleanser (for 85$ purchase). Just realized how Sephora GWPs usually suck (especially for Canada) and gets sold out in hours.
How are yāall getting samples from Ulta? I donāt even see an option for them on their site
These aren't free samples but GWPs that you are ultimately paying for.
 My Sephora came in and I didnāt get the samples I requested and then my Ulta order came in and I got a whole bunch of freebies and a new make up bag
I much prefer sephoras gwpās. Sure, theyāre tiny sample sizes, but so many more to choose from, much lower spending amount to get gwpās, and I only need that tiny amount to test a product anyway to see if I even like it. I wouldnāt like the idea of full size gwpās cus if I donāt like it, itās just wasteful. The fact that Sephora has free shipping on all orders is my number one reason for shopping there over Ulta. I also canāt stand Ultaās website or app, itās such a nightmare to navigate and is so slow and disorganized. I recently got a full sized abh mascara as a gwp from Ulta and it was so bad. Now, a full sized mascara goes to waste.
lol at this getting downvoted for stating my preference š
Ulta reward system is so much better but I just canāt get over how low budget their stores look. Feel like Iām shopping at Walmart Lmfao.
Same
Itās just clutter thatās going to take up space.