Two Sales Running at Once
Nordstrom has stacked its calendar in an unusual way this week: the Half Yearly Sale launched today, and the retailer’s Designer Sale is running at the same time. That overlap is rare enough that it’s worth paying attention to, because the discount depth across both events is hitting up to 50% off on select women’s clothing, accessories, and beauty products – categories that don’t often see markdowns this steep outside of a major clearance event.
The timing lines up with early Memorial Day shopping, and unlike the filler deals that typically pad out holiday sales, the brands getting cut here are ones that actually move: Skims, Adidas, Tory Burch, Mac Cosmetics, and Eloquii are all currently discounted.
If your summer wardrobe has a few gaps, or your makeup drawer is running low on things you actually reach for, this is a practical window to fill them without paying full price.
What’s Actually Worth Buying
The 29 picks circulating from this sale cover a wide range – wedding guest dresses, sporty sneakers, statement handbags, and limited-edition perfumes among them. A few stand out for how much they’ve been marked down relative to their usual price points. The PAT McGRATH LABS Dramatique Major Icons Lip Duo Set is 40% off, which is significant given that PAT McGRATH products rarely see discounts of that size. Similarly, the Pistola Lana High Waist Wide Leg Jeans are also 40% off – wide-leg denim has held its position in the style cycle long enough that buying a pair now doesn’t feel like chasing a trend that’s already exiting.
On the accessories side, the Tory Burch Perry Leather Shoulder Bag is 30% off. The Perry is one of Tory Burch’s more consistent performers – it’s structured enough for work but sized well for evenings, and leather bags at this label don’t often come down this far. The Sam Edelman Imani Ankle Strap Sandal is marked down 31%, and Sam Edelman consistently delivers on the value-to-wearability ratio, particularly in sandals that can handle a full day of walking. For anyone who’s been eyeing the Skims Fits Everybody Square Neck Bodysuit, it’s 30% off – Skims bodysuits in particular tend to sell out during sales, so that one has a shorter window than most.
Rounding out the highlights: the Diarrablu Straight & Plus Satu Dress is 25% off. Diarrablu is a West African-founded brand known for vibrant prints and thoughtful silhouettes, and it’s the kind of label that belongs on more radars than it currently occupies. Seeing it included alongside the bigger names in this sale is worth noting.
Beauty Deals That Are Actually Discounted
Beauty sales are often disappointing – a handful of slow-moving SKUs marked down 10% while the products people actually want stay full price. This one is different, partly because Mac Cosmetics is included across the board, not just on select shades or expired-season launches. If you’ve been sitting on a list of Mac products you’ve wanted to try or restock, this is the moment to do it without the usual price justification.
The PAT McGRATH Lip Duo Set at 40% off deserves a second mention specifically in the beauty context. PAT McGRATH LABS positions itself firmly in luxury beauty, and the Dramatique Major Icons set – which packages two of the brand’s signature lip products together – is the kind of item that moves fast when it goes on sale. It also makes a strong gift option for anyone with a summer occasion on the calendar. Pairing a lip investment with a solid body sunscreen is a smarter summer beauty strategy than most people bother with until they’re already burned – literally.
The beauty section of the sale also spans limited-edition perfumes, which tend to disappear quietly without restock announcements. If a fragrance is flagged as limited-edition during a sale event, assume the sale price and the product itself are both temporary.
How to Shop Without Wasting Time
Sales at this scale – 29 curated picks across fashion and beauty, two simultaneous sale events, discounts ranging from 25% to 50% – reward people who already know what they want. The Skims bodysuit, the PAT McGRATH set, and the Tory Burch Perry bag are the three items with the most obvious sell-out risk. The Diarrablu dress and the Pistola jeans have a slightly longer shelf life given their sizing range, but wide-leg denim at 40% off won’t sit quietly for long either.
Nordstrom’s sale section updates as inventory shifts, so checking back after the first wave of purchases clears is worth doing – but the strongest picks from the current edit are the ones listed here, and they’re available now.
The Designer Sale running alongside this event means the overlap window is finite. When one ends, the discount structure on the designer side likely shifts with it, and the combined savings available right now won’t reassemble automatically.
The Skims Fits Everybody Square Neck Bodysuit is 30% off. It is, by most accounts, the one item in the Skims line that people repurchase without deliberation – and it currently has a price attached that the brand almost never agrees to.
