I bought beauty crappe at the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale

Of course I did.

I didn't go mental with color, though--just one thing. The Guerlain "rainbow ballz."

Guerlain Les Météorites Summer Edition Perles, exclusive to Nordstrom

They give a nice glow and aren't as crazy pearly/glittery as some other Guerlain limited edition ballz, so yeah. Nice! But not necessary unless you have a thing for violet-scented prettiness.

On skincare, though, I kind of went mental.

Can you handle a little backstory?

You know those "Buy $150 worth of cosmetics and get this tote of deluxe samples!" deals that show up from time to time at high end stores? I've caved many times for those. Many times. Also, I used to subscribe to a couple of beauty boxes.

As a consequence,  I'm drowning in samples. Lately I've been using a variety of tiny sample pots of eye cream, mostly to clear out the clutter. I'd never noticed that one cream seemed better than another.

BUT (and everyone's got a big but)* lately I've been using this Amore Pacific eye cream--a tiny pot of cream that lasted me a full month, using it twice a day. I really, really liked it. And this in spite of the fact that the company uses the usual blather in its promotional materials, and the cream contains the usual unique, exotic ingredients (this time green tea stem cells, whatever the hell that means) that claim to do everything except fold my laundry and put it away.

But I swear, my eye area really did look fresher and felt firmer. I was jonesing for a full-sized pot.

And I don't care what Paula Begoun says; she'd be all "too much fragrance!" and "no open jars; air destroys the product!" But in my opinion, the proof is in how my skin reacts. And it was reacting well to this stuff.

So I'd been trying to figure out how to buy this stuff slightly less painfully, because the retail on the full size is $260. I KNOW. But I really wanted a jar, so I was thinking--wait for a department-wide discount? Ebates? Mr. Rebates? All three?

Then the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale was going online, and I was browsing through the beauty exclusives, and feeling very underwhelmed ("Oh goody, MAC travel sized brushes ... I bet they won't be scratchy and all but useless, no siree, not at all ... because MAC would never release outlet-quality brushes for the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale ... Oh, look, here are--what--three? four? beige-to-brown eye shadow palettes to choose from, in case I don't have enough ... YAWN) and I saw this:

'Time Response' Luxury Eye Collection ($473 Value)
$260.00

- Time Response Skin Renewal Crème (0.27 oz.)

- Time Response Eye Renewal Crème (0.5 oz.)

- Treatment Enzyme Peel Exfoliator (0.7 oz.)

- Time Response Targeted Eye Masque (4 masks)

Basically, they're charging the regular price for the regular size of the eye cream, and including three small sizes of some other stuff. I'd like to try the Time Response face cream because I really like the eye cream. And the exfoliator and eye masks will be fun to play with (and hopefully not fall in love with.)

But then! I saw they had an Amore Pacific gift-with-purchase! If I spent $300. Oh Nordstrom, you  manipulative minx!

Here's the GWP:

-Time Response Skin Renewal Crème

-Eye Renewal Crème

-Moisture Bound Sleeping Recovery Masque

-Luminous Effect Brightening Serum

OK, now I can score another tiny pot of eye cream, and another tiny pot of face cream, plus extras.

But I need to spend another $40 to make it happen. So what was my extra Amore Pacific purchase, so I'd qualify for the GWP?

Glad you asked:

'Time Response' Introductory Regimen ($175)

- Time Response Skin Renewal Crème (0.5 oz.) 

- Time Response Eye Renewal Crème (0.1 oz.)

- Time Response Skin Renewal Toner (1 oz.)

- Time Response Skin Renewal Fluid (1 oz.)

-  Time Response Skin Renewal Serum (0.17 oz.) - 

- All Day Balancing Care Serum (0.33 oz.)

- Moisture Bound Skin Energy Hydration Delivery System (1 oz.)

OK. More eye cream, more face cream, and a crazy amount of samples. Clearly, this is tiny pot overkill. And why on earth would someone want or need the Skin Renewal Fluid and the Skin Renewal Creme? Aren't they the same thing, except the fluid is ... more fluid?

But where do I get off trying to sound logical now? Whom am I trying to kid? Not thee, Gentle Reader.

On the down side, I have clearly not helped the drowning-in-samples situation.

On the up side, I've been using the eye cream and the face cream assiduously since they arrived, and I love them. They're so light, yet rich, with incredible slip. Two expensively-moisturized thumbs up.

Also, I've purchased my first Korean cosmetics, which means I can sit with the cool kids at lunch.

But yes, I just spent over $400 on my crow's feet. Apparently, that's who you're dealing with here.

p.s. I opted for Ebates. (That's a referral link. I'll make $5 if you sign up. I know, I know--but I've got crow's feet to pay for, people.)

* Trust me to toss in a Pee-Wee's Big Adventure allusion. Eighties comedies FTW!