Hello everyone,
I know you all love my post about how to save money at Ulta by leveraging their rewards program, and they have come out with a brand new rewards category. [drum roll] DIAMOND 💎
So, basically, I love Ulta- BUT I think their Diamond program is reaching a little bit. By comparison, Sephora’s Rouge requires “only” $1000 spent per year to become a member and provides the major benefit of free shipping. (However, the same benefit can be purchased for $10/year from Sephora.) By contrast, Ulta’s Diamond rewards program membership does not offer free shipping and requires a $1200 spend. It only changes the minimum order requirement from $50 to earn free shipping to $25 to earn free shipping. Honestly, my orders are never lower than that anyways, but it still seems like if Sephora can do for $1000, Ulta can do it for $1200.
Question: I am currently Platinum. Is it worth it to become Diamond? Let’s do some math. Wait! Don’t leave! I will do it- 🙂
So, if you earn points 25% faster (On BASE points only, this multiplier does not affect 2x or 5x the points values), you now “only” have to spent $1333 to earn the 2000 points (assuming you activate no other points offers), whereas with Platinum, you must spend $1600 to earn the $2000 points, which in my last post, we established is the ideal increment in which to spend. The relative value- of the extra points you get for not having to spend $267 to earn them is $20.86. In addition to the $25 gift card you receive for being a Diamond rewards member, the total benefit of being a Diamond rewards member is $45.86 + a lower free-shipping threshold, which anyone spending $1200/year at Ulta is unlikely to use anyways amiright?. So, if spending $1200/ year at Ulta is something you generally do, by all means, continue to do so. But in my opinion, I would prefer to remain Platinum and get all the perks associated with the Platinum membership, rather than attempting to become a Diamond member. If I spent $1200 on makeup per year, I’d probably go for the Rouge membership at Sephora. Free shipping (although non-rouge members can purchase it for $10/year), early access to sales and new product launches, and exclusive events seem more worth it to me than what Ulta is offering.
I, however, barely made it to Platinum this year, so I will not be going for Sephora’s Rouge program. But if you’re trying to choose between the two- I think Sephora wins the round for “best top tier,” but Ulta still wins for best mid-tier. In my opinion, Ulta’s rewards for being platinum are better than Sephora’s rewards for being VIB.
Thank you for reading!
What do you think of the new Diamond tier in the program? Let me know in the comments!
Great post! I am am the same way with purchasing from Ulta and it truly adds up fast when you only purchase items that are 5x the points. I am a little embarrassed to say, but I just became a Diamond member…..but in my defense I did stock up on a lot of products, gave tons of gifts from Ulta, Bridal shower favors, etc. I double up on 5x purchases – example – 5x off all skincare and then also 5x on Neutrogena or 5x Philosophy, same thing when they do fragrance – 5x on the category and 5x on the brand. You get the most bang for your buck. Then you use the the credit card on top have that and you earn an additional point for every $1 spent. This year they also had the 350 bonus points with any $80 purchase, use that in combination with the 5x the points. However, on my online order from 2/23/18 ( where I became Diamond) I should have earned 10 base points on a product, but it shows I only earned 6, so it then uses the 6 base points to calculate the bonus points, so I am only getting 24 bonus points. I am going to Ulta tomorrow to inquire about this. It wasn’t just one item, it was across the board on my purchase. I did already place another order ( before I saw these points ), so it will be interesting how my points are calculated on that order, when the whole purchase would be when I am Diamond Status. I tried uploading a screen shot, but I failed. 🙁 I did receive the coupon to redeem my Welcome to Diamon status, which I will attempt to redeem tomorrow. It states you also get a full sized product, I will report back. However, I may not be a Diamond anymore if I return my entire purchase of something is shady with points when you are Platinum.
Wow. Thank you so so much for posting all this information. And using two 5x the points together!? = Genius! I am on mobile- so I am not going to respond to everything right now, but please do follow up on what you hear from Ulta about the points! Thank you again for all of this!!!
OK, so I am finally not on mobile! I just wanted to say: I didn’t know about the 350 point bonus! But good call on taking advantage of that!! AND combining it with a 5X the points offer! You are a rock star at this! I need to step my game up! 😉 It’s been a couple of days, have you heard anything from Ulta about the Diamond points?
While I agree the Diamond perks aren’t incredible by any means, I would like to throw Ulta a bone on this one. I just reached diamond status, and they allowed me to add a diamond welcome box to my order. I don’t know if this is a glitch or not, but it allowed me to add it to 3 orders and I received 3 $25 off beauty services coupons, and 3 full size Smashbox illuminating primers that sell for $39. In addition, today regular members receive 2x points, Platinum members receive 3x points, and I receive 4x points at Diamond status. I am also a Rouge member at Sephora, but the perks are not even close to being worth it. This year I received two weekends of 15% off from Sephora, and Ulta sent me a 20% off everything including prestige brands. Sephora’s shipping is nice, but I always spend more than $25 at Ulta. To top it off though, my points at Sephora ultimately get me nothing besides travel sized makeup I get for free from Ulta all the time. In my opinion, the only true perk of Sephora is the exclusive lines of makeup they carry and early launches. Other than that, save your money and shop at Ulta.
I completely agree about shopping at Ulta over Sephora in general! I save more shopping there for sure! Thanks for all the info about Diamond perks! I can’t wait to make it to Diamond this year! Only $300 more to go… we’ll see, maybe I’ll get there!
As a new Diamond I am earning 1.5 points instead of 1.25 per dollar as a Platinum I had been getting. Sounds like they are reducing the points you can score. Bummer. Also, I was unaware that there are deals to score more points than usual, such as 3x or 5x. I totally look forward to those deals. I also have the Ulta mastercard so I earn 2 points for every dollar spent.
Hello Debra! They’ve got some 2x the points deals going on this month keep your eye out!
What does 10,000 ulta points equal at the stote
Wowza! 10K Congratulations! It is simply the value of 2000 points times 5, so if you redeem the points in 2000 point increments, they’ll be worth $125×5 = $625. However, you myst redeem them 2000 point at a time for them to maintain their value. If you redeem them by a lower increment, they are worth less than that. Still plenty of point though!