An Ulta Beauty employee has shared a now-viral TikTok of the messy conditions Drunk Elephant testers are left in by customers at locations across the country.
In the video, TikToker and Ulta worker Liv (@oliviav327) finds a tester bottle of Drunk Elephant’s Umbra Tinte Physical Daily Defense Face Sunscreen spilled out onto the display case, the brand’s Lala Retro Whipped Cream sampler is covered in a mix of several other products, the Lippe Balm (which was taken out of an unopened box, suggesting that it was not available as a tester product to begin with) is found with its top off and appears dug into; and the nozzle of the B-Goldi Bright Illuminating Drops is covered in product, its missing top found on a separate counter.
With a final sweep of several other disturbed products, one thing is made abundantly clear—Ulta customers are leaving Drunk Elephant testing sections in utter disarray.
“It’s always a surprise!” reads Liv’s caption.
The video has garnered 1.5 million views and nearly 400 comments as of Saturday morning.
@oliviav327 Its always a suprise!
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Other TikTokers, including Sephora and Ulta employees, weighed in with their own experiences with messy customers in the comments section.
“My Sephora stopped putting product in the testers and now it’s just empty bottles,” one person commented.
“The fact that one of my opening tasks now is cleaning this display,” shared another employee.
Drunk Elephant, a skincare brand that prides itself on its philosophy of biocompatibility, has popularized a “smoothie” technique—users are encouraged to mix any of the brand’s serums, creams, or oils together in the palm of their hand and apply them all at the same time.
In the testing section at a local Ulta, however, this smoothie obsession can and has led to a messy situation for employees.
Several TikToks have surfaced of Sephora employees showing the aftermath of customers’ test “smoothies” as well as videos begging customers to stop their experiments.
“Dear younger kids and teens,” one Tiktok from May begins as a skincare employee films a filthy display case, “Can you please stop doing this to the testers inside of Ultas and Sephoras? It is absolutely barbaric, it is disgusting, it is so rude….like who raised you guys like this? I am appalled.”
While some stores have chosen to keep sample bottles empty to avoid the filth, it seems other locations have accepted that the Drunk Elephant testers will always leave “surprises” to be discovered…and cleaned.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Liv via TikTok comment and to Ulta Beauty via email.
