As an Arch Expert there is a nasty catch! - Arch Expert Ulta Beauty Employee Review

1.0
Sep 12, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Getting tipped for brow bar services. Working at a beautiful counter. Lovely customers for the most part. Lovely coworkers for the most part. The Benefit brand is a fun product line to work with.

Cons

As an Arch Expert you have to meet sales goals and a services goal. That is absolutely fine.There are things that work against you meeting those goals. You also have to help all customers all over the store which eats up your time from meeting those goals and only those goals count. All of the other brands that you sell, all of the other revenue that you make for Ulta goes unaccounted for. Also you are limited to mini makeovers this is counterproductive to your sales goals because you can only spend so much time with each client and only show them a few products. If we were allowed to do a clients make-up fully, you would have the opportunity to let them experience more products and open up the possibility of more sales! The reason behind this is because the salon in the store has a make-up application as a service and this competes with that service. I do not see that many people coming in to get their make- up done and paying for it, clearly we are losing out on money.

Explore other reviews about Ulta Beauty

5.0
May 17, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Fun place to work, fast pace and always newness

Cons

Very demanding of all levels of management

2.0
May 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

good benefits for full time employees from what I hear. hourly pay if commission goal isn't met which is nice for those building clientele

Cons

this could just be the case for my store, especially because it's a very high volume store, but as a stylist I don't feel valued at all. I expected this to some degree coming to a huge corporate salon, but the biggest issue is that they try to pretend they care about you. but at the end of the day, if you're not meeting the sales they want/growing quickly enough, they don't care about you as a stylist. if you don't already have an established clientele, business is highly unreliable as there is no late cancellation/no show policy. many services are underpriced in my opinion, making it hard to meet their sales goals as an entry level part-time stylist unless fully booked every day. all they care about is getting as many clients in and out and quickly and possible and they hire more stylists than there are chairs, making every day inconsistent and chaotic. the relative stability of hourly pay is commission threshold isn't met seems enticing for stylists still building a clientele, but the hourly pay is wildly inconsistent between stylists, even those of the same tier. as a stylist of over 3 years who moved and is starting over with no clientele, I make over $2 less per hour than a fellow stylist who just got her license a few months ago and started taking clients for the first time last week. you're better off working at a place like Great Clips or Hair Cuttery because at least they're honest about what they are.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All