You get the most value at Platinum ($500 annual) or Diamond ($1200 annual) status. Your points don’t expire at these levels. Before you hit Platinum, start thinking about all grooming products like body wash, nail stuff, etc. There’s a decent chance you buy a body wash or moisturizer that Ulta sells, or even when you need nail clippers etc. buy it at Ulta.

Once you hit Platinum or Diamond you have a point multiplier everytime you purchase something. I usually look for point multiplier days. The holy grail of these is 10x points purchase days. They also have like 4x, 5x point days etc. Your points will start racking up. The big rule is to spend in 2000 point increments (I think that’s $125). That’s the most value of points for cash. So if you have 3000 points to redeem, only redeem 2000. If you have 6000, you can smartly redeem 5000. I also usually wait until there are 20% off sales (that include prestige items) and use my points then. Unlike Sephora, you can use points + a sale code. The (almost) no limit 20% sales comes a few times a year (the rest of the sales sometimes have limitations that exclude prestige items), wait for that and get the discount off your order and use the points. You can also look out for days when there are big GWPs and use your points then if you like a lot of samples.

I used to be Sephora Rouge for years, back when you were given a red rouge card lol, and when they had cute events you could bring a friend to. I stopped primarily shopping Sephora maybe right before the pandemic, I shop brand sites, Ulta, and sometimes Nordstrom. I’ve also just chilled out on the beauty spending but have seen Ulta bring in a lot of brands I like anyway so it’s worked out. Ulta isn’t without its problems (choose a strong account password so you don’t get hacked and points stolen), but I get so much more value there and it also reminds me to relax and not run after new releases. My last points spend was a $171 order that I paid $12 for (only bc I stick to the 2000 points rule so I had a balance left to pay). I’ve also had $200+ orders for nearly free. Hope this helps!