Sephora vs. Ulta Holiday Beauty Sales 2026: Dates, Tiers, and What to Buy

Year-end beauty shopping has two big stages, and they run on different logic. Sephora gives you a percentage off almost everything, with the size of the discount and the day your access opens set by your Beauty Insider tier. Ulta rotates deals on specific products and brands week by week, then saves its biggest drops for Black Friday weekend. If you know which one suits what you're buying, you can restock your staples for the year and get your gifts sorted without paying full price for either.

The 2026 calendar at a glance

Event	Who	Discount	2026 dates
Sephora Holiday Savings Event	Rouge ($1,000+/yr)	20% off	Oct 30 – Nov 9
Sephora Holiday Savings Event	VIB ($350+/yr)	15% off	Nov 3 – Nov 9
Sephora Holiday Savings Event	Insider (free)	10% off	Nov 3 – Nov 9
Sephora Collection (house brand)	All Beauty Insiders	30% off	During the event
Ulta Early Black Friday	Everyone	Rotating deals, up to 50% off select brands	Live now, through Nov 21
Ulta Black Friday / Cyber Monday	Everyone	Not yet announced	Black Friday is Nov 27, Cyber Monday Nov 30

Ulta's Fall Haul already ran (September 19 to October 3), so the next Ulta window is the early Black Friday sale that's on now.

How the Sephora Savings Event works

Your tier decides your discount and your start date. Beauty Insider is free to join. VIB kicks in after $350 of spending in a calendar year, and Rouge after $1,000. Rouge members get four days on their own: 20% off from October 30, before everyone else arrives on November 3 at 15% (VIB) or 10% (Insider). Everything ends on November 9.

• One discount per order. Your tier percentage covers almost everything, but you can't combine it with Beauty Insider Cash or the Rouge Reward on the same order. Place those on a separate order before or after the sale.
• Sephora Collection is its own deal. The house brand is 30% off for every member during the event, but that also doesn't stack with your tier discount. For a Sephora Collection basket, 30% beats your tier anyway.
• The code. The code reported for this event is ALLONSALE. The app usually tells you when your tier is unlocked, so check there if the code doesn't apply.
• What's usually excluded. In past events: gift cards, services, gift wrap, shipping and taxes, and occasionally specific brands. Read the terms on the event page before you build a giant cart.
• Rouge friend passes. Rouge members have been able to share the 20% off with a few friends for one purchase. One early report puts this year's sharing deadline at November 2, so if you're Rouge, check the app now.

Sephora at Kohl's follows its own rules. Kohl's coupons and Kohl's Cash don't apply to Sephora at Kohl's purchases, but they still earn Beauty Insider points and Kohl's Rewards. Whether this year's tier discount also applies at Kohl's locations hasn't been confirmed, so check Kohl's before you assume.

How Ulta's holiday deals work

Ulta works the other way round: no flat discount across the store, just a rotating set of brand deals.

• Early Black Friday is live now through November 21, with new deals each week. Press coverage lists up to 50% off brands including Tarte, Clinique and Benefit, plus K-beauty names like COSRX. Weekly rotation means anything you want can disappear by next week. Buy it when it shows up.
• Black Friday weekend is the main event. Ulta hadn't published its 2026 Black Friday dates when this was written. Black Friday itself is November 27 and Cyber Monday is November 30. In past years Ulta stores have been closed on Thanksgiving Day (November 26 this year), so expect the deals online first.
• Points are the quiet extra. The Ultamate Rewards program is now called Ulta Beauty Rewards. Points earned on a sale purchase are worth dollars off later, and Ulta regularly runs bonus-points promotions. Check before you check out.

Stacking: what actually combines

The best result usually comes from stacking several small savings around one discount:

1. The store's discount: your Sephora tier percentage, or the Ulta deal of the week.
2. A cashback portal. Click through a portal before you buy and you get a percentage back on top. Rates jump around during holiday sales, and some portals exclude orders that use a code, so read the store's terms on the portal. How portals track (and how to make sure the cash actually lands) is covered in our cashback portal guide.
3. A discounted gift card as payment. You can't use the tier discount to buy gift cards, but you can pay with one. If you buy a Sephora or Ulta gift card below face value (through a warehouse club, a card offer, or a reputable marketplace), the saving comes on top of everything else. Here's how to do that safely.
4. Loyalty points: Beauty Insider points or Ulta Beauty Rewards points on the post-discount total.

The general rules of which discounts can and can't combine are in our coupon stacking guide.

What's worth buying

• Replenishing staples you already use. Cleanser, moisturizer, sunscreen, your foundation shade, the mascara you've rebought for years. A percentage off something you'd buy anyway is the cleanest saving there is. Buy a few months' supply, not three years' worth, because actives and SPF have expiry dates.
• Value sets built from full sizes of your own products. A good set gives you the full-size product you already buy, plus a travel size or refill, for about the price of the full size alone. Do the math: divide the set price by the millilitres of the product you actually use, and compare with the standalone bottle.
• Prestige items that rarely go on sale. Sephora's tier discount covers brands that almost never get discounted elsewhere, which makes it the time for the expensive serum or fragrance you've been putting off.
• Ulta's weekly brand deals on drugstore and mid-range brands. That's where Ulta's percentage off tends to beat Sephora's.

If your routine leans more toward dermatologist-recommended basics, compare prices with what Costco stocks before you pay salon prices.

What to skip

• Gift sets padded with filler. The pretty box with a hero product plus three minis you'll never touch. If you'd only use one item in the set, compare the set price with that one item at its sale price; often the single item is cheaper.
• "Value" based on full price. Sets list a "$X value" based on full price. During a 15% to 20% off event, the comparison that matters is with the discounted standalone price.
• Trend products you haven't tried. A discount doesn't make a viral product suit your skin. Get a sample first, or buy it where returns are easy (see below).
• Stocking up on actives. Retinoids, vitamin C and anything that oxidizes. Don't build a year's supply.

Return policies worth knowing before you buy

• Sephora: a refund to your original payment within 30 days of purchase, then an exchange or store credit from day 31 to day 60, and nothing after 60 days. For online orders the clock starts on the day you place the order. Last year Sephora extended the window for holiday purchases. This year's extension hasn't been confirmed, so check your receipt.
• Ulta: 60 days from purchase or delivery, including gently used products. Ulta also extends returns over the holidays. Check the dates on your receipt or ulta.com.

Read these limits before you shop gifts early: a set bought on October 30 for a December gift could be past Sephora's refund window by the time it's opened.

Live on DealSelected right now

Deals our editors have already checked that fit this guide. Prices and availability update on the cards themselves.

Acqua di Gioia Eau de Parfum 50% Off - Only $60 at Ulta + Free 6-Piece Gift SetSave $60 — 50% OffUlta BeautyView deal

FREE Rare Beauty Hydrating Eye Patches at Ulta Beauty via $25 Cash BackFREE after $25 Cash BackUlta BeautyView deal

The game plan

1. Today: write your list of staples, and check your Beauty Insider tier and any Rouge friend passes in the app.
2. By November 9: buy the prestige items and full-size staples at Sephora with your tier discount (Rouge from October 30; VIB and Insider from November 3).
3. Through November 21: keep an eye on Ulta's weekly deals for drugstore and mid-range brands.
4. Black Friday weekend: handle gifts and whatever's left once Ulta posts its Black Friday deals. The rest of the season's plan is in our Black Friday prep guide.

Pick the store that fits each item, stack a portal and a discounted gift card on top, and only buy sets you'd actually finish. More beauty deals from Sephora and Ulta are gathered below.