Makeup Sale Hacks Quietly Slashing Checkout Costs for Smart Shoppers
Unlocking Loyalty Rewards Programs
Beauty Insider points just sit there, like loose change I forget about. Ulta’s points, too—I blink and suddenly I’m a VIB. Is that even good? No idea. But sometimes those points knock down the total and I’m surprised.
How Beauty Insider and Ulta Rewards Work
Sephora’s Beauty Insider: spend a buck, get a point. Sometimes they run these multiplier things and everyone goes nuts. Three tiers—Insider, VIB, Rouge—each with their own weird perks. Birthday gifts? I have a drawer full of mini setting sprays.
Ulta’s points are similar, but the tiers (Member, Platinum, Diamond) creep up on you. They throw in surprise coupons and double point weekends, but I never have enough for the Dyson stuff. Once bought a mountain of dry shampoo for points, lent it out, never saw it again. Here’s a messy comparison:
| Program | Earn Rate | Notable Perks | Tiers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sephora BI | 1 pt/$1 | Birthday gifts, events | Insider, VIB, Rouge |
| Ulta | 1 pt/$1, multipliers | $ off, exclusive sales | Member, Platinum, Diamond |
Earning Points Faster on Purchases
I miss double point promos all the time. I’ll buy lip balm, then someone tells me it was “event week.” I ignore most emails. Neon banners in-store catch my eye more than any subject line. If you time it right, like with some hyped highlighter, you can grab bonus points.
Sephora credit card? Not for me, but it does boost your earn rate. My wallet’s already too full. I know people who buy gift sets just for the points, then pawn off the extras. Ulta’s app hides 5x or 10x point deals on random products. Sometimes feels like they’re just clearing out old stock. I buy hair masks, get a pile of points, then the app asks if I’m “sure” I want to redeem. I’m never sure, but I do it anyway.
Redeeming Rewards for More Savings
I hoard points. It’s weird, honestly, because I’ll drop $7 on some oat milk latte without thinking, but then I stare at my Sephora account like, “Do I really want to burn 500 points on a mascara I’ll lose in two weeks?” Sephora’s Rewards Bazaar swaps out those prizes so fast—once, I tried to snag a 750-point perfume and it disappeared before I could even finish reloading the page. Ulta? They just let me use points as cash at checkout. No drama, no games.
Stacking rewards during sales turns into this weird, half-strategic mess. Like, 20% off, maybe $10 off with points, but then the exclusions list is longer than my last grocery receipt. I can’t use points on Dyson, Chanel, whatever. Occasionally, a stackable coupon sneaks through and suddenly that $34 blush is $16. Why did I ever pay full price? No clue. If I have a tip (and I don’t, really), it’s: don’t overthink it. See the “redeem points” button next to something you’ll actually use (not another neon eyeliner you’ll regret), just go for it. If you regret it, you’ll forget by next week anyway.
Smart Gift Card Strategies
There’s just something about knocking $5 or $10 off a lipstick you’ll probably lose in your car that feels weirdly satisfying. But who’s got time for 12 apps and a spreadsheet? Sephora gift cards, Ulta gift cards—pretty much the same deal.
Snagging Discounted Sephora and Ulta Gift Cards
Raise. Ever scroll through that while pretending to clean your room? I do. Sometimes there’s a Sephora or Ulta card for like 12% off, which honestly feels like winning the almond milk expiration date lottery. There’s Gift Card Granny, CardCash, Raise—probably others, but I’m not about to open more tabs.
Don’t grab those “digital code arrives instantly” cards unless the site looks legit—like, actual photos, reviews, maybe a logo that isn’t pixelated. Sometimes, cards just vanish from your account and you’re left emailing support. I once bought mascara with two different e-gift emails, both half-crumpled and the cashier just shrugged.
Biggest wins? Holidays. Black Friday or those “friends & family” weeks, suddenly there’s a $10 bonus for buying a $50 card or something. Here’s how it shakes out (my handwriting is tragic, but):
| Gift Card Source | Typical Discount (%) | Any Weird Quirks |
|---|---|---|
| Raise | 5–12 | Inventory is chaos |
| Gift Card Granny | 4–10 | Sometimes slow email |
| Brand promos | $10 bonus/ $50 buy | Only around holidays |
I tried stacking gift cards and cashback on Ulta once, but my Wi-Fi died and I rage-quit, so… maybe it works?
Earning Free Sephora and Ulta Gift Cards
This gets messy. Survey Junkie, Swagbucks, all those “earn points for gift cards” sites—after what feels like 200 questions about toothpaste, I finally got a $10 Sephora code. It worked, which shocked me, because sometimes you just get three cents and a warning about bots.
Cash-back apps sometimes list Ulta or Sephora as payout options, which is fine, but why can’t they just PayPal me? Credit card rewards, too—somewhere in the depths of the redemption page, there’s an Ulta option. I saw someone re-gift an Ulta card last Christmas, and the original balance was still on it. Wild.
Occasionally, those “spend $30, get $10 back as a gift card” offers show up in my notifications or buried in emails. I usually forget, but the rare time I click, it’s like winning at those claw machines. I have a folder of random gift codes. Maybe I’ll use them for a serum I can’t pronounce, or maybe they’ll just collect digital dust.
