My wife needed her own face cream to pack up and bring with her when she’s on the road, so I JUMPED on the opportunity to order a tub of fancy Estee Lauder upon seeing Macy’s ads for a free gift with purchase.
I know the bag is not lotion, but it’s one of the little perks of buying expensive skin care: sometimes you get “freebies” to accompany one decadent jar of moisturizer. This bag (plus all sorts of other cosmetics and skincare items) is one of those benefits that make you feel pampered and full of luxury.
Ordering online and receiving the free gift(s) in a cardboard box is nowhere near as delicious feeling, though, as walking out of the store with a much bigger bag and heavier weight than the item you came in to get and paid for.
For me — someone who never feels comfortable at cosmetic counters, salons, and other fancy lady-spaces on top of never feeling like I can actually afford anything there — that feeling of walking around a department store and mall with more bags and product than I have money for or expected to get is special. Makes me giddy, it is so rare.
My wife, Delia, does not seem as excited about the purchase and “free” aquisitions. It could just be she is tired, as she says, but maybe she specifically is tired of all of the money going out and how hard she is working to try to bring it back in.
Maybe the golden tubs of lotion and cheap bag are not as rewarding to her as to me. She is lying in bed under the fluffy feathery pink comforter I got her (also charged to a department store card) in a very ladylike swoon.
Maybe I should bring her a cold compress, herbal tea, and a … fancy face mask maybe?