Reader Spotlight: Beautifulmonday

For this week's installment of Reader Spotlight, I'm shining my spotlight on longtime reader beautifulmonday. When I say longtime reader, I really mean it. Beautifulmonday has been reading and commenting on this blog since just about the very beginning (I started Nouveau Cheap in the Spring of 2009 and she's been actively commenting since Summer 2009). Beautifulmonday's opinions and insights have been a treasure around here, and it's my honor to be able to share with you a bit more about this wonderful woman. I hope you enjoy getting to know her a little bit better!

Keep reading for my interview with beautifulmonday, including some awesome pics (spoiler: we get to see her vanity!).

Q: How long have you been reading Nouveau Cheap?

I went back and looked- one of the earliest comments I left was in August 2009- so three years! 

Q: Do you remember how you initially found this blog?

I believe I was using Google to look for a product review on the wet'n'wild intuitive shade foundation. When I found your review, I read quite a few posts, and after that I started reading NC regularly. At the time I was just discovering the world of beauty bloggers, and your blog was one of the first three I followed (and still follow).

Q: Have you ever purchased a drugstore product because of a review on this blog? If so, how did it work for you?

I've purchased quite a few based on your reviews! I haven't done the math, but I'd be curious to know how much of the money I save by reading your blog comes back home in the shape of cosmetics! I'm sure most of them were eyeshadows, such as the wet'n'wild trios. I do recall one or two items that work for you but didn't really perform for me. One was the Maybelline Colossal mascara (in the yellow tube). I hated the smell, and it gave me super flat clumpy lashes. But at least 90% of the things I bought based on your reviews were truly fabulous. And you turned me on to a lot of affordable product lines I'd never heard of before: eos, Black Radiance, Demeter fragrances, Milani, One, ecotools, etc. And I'd never heard of Big Lots before either! 

Q: Name your top five drugstore beauty brands.

I love Maybelline a lot- their mascaras are so diverse, there's one for anyones needs. The Colour Tattoos are HG items for me and their other eyeshadows are very colourful. Their foundations and concealers are not too shabby either. I've been beating the bushes around here to find the LE Fashion Week display of Colour Tattoos, but every one I have found is completely emptied!

Revlon is another line I like. I always have at least one bottle of Colourstay foundation on my vanity and I like the Photoready collection as well. I just love the lip butters and intend to collect them all over time. I'm currently on a no-buy project 10-pan, but when that's completed I have my sights set on the lip stain pencils! They have discontinued several of my favourite products in the last year or so which makes me sad.

I have become a Milani fan thanks to your blog. Their blushes are so pretty, and I swear by their highlighting concealer pen (sadly only available online now). There are more and more of these pens on the market now but that one is still my favourite. It's so neat to see them release bright colours of liquid and pencil liner; so many options! And their lipsticks are pretty nice.

Of course, Wet'n'Wild is a favourite too! I have so enjoyed seeing their output in the last 3 years. I use their 6-pan eyeshadow palettes almost every day. The Walking on Eggshells trio is HG; I love the shades, and the brown one doubles as a great brow shade for me. I've been hearing good things about some of their lipsticks, which are on my shopping list.

For skincare, I'm currently obsessed with Simple products. They really are simple and gentle, and they work well, especially with my Clarisonic.

Q: What are some of your Holy Grail drugstore beauty products?

Whoops! As I said, definitely the Maybelline Colour Tattoos and Wet'n'Wild eyeshadows and Revlon Colourstay foundation. Salma Hayek's lipsticks are MLBB and I reach for them all the time. Maybelline Define-A-Brow and Define-A-Lash are HG, also their Lash Discovery and Dream Lumi radiant concealer. CoverGirl Lash Blast (original) is another HG mascara. Revlon matte lipsticks get a lot of love from me. Ecotools brushes are all standouts- their crease brush is my favourite brush in the world. 

Q: What's your go-to lip color shade?

I tend to reach for a variety! I guess the three colour families I usually fall for are natural nudes, coral/warm pinks, and dramatic vampy shades (which I don't wear often but I adore). One I've been LOVING for summer is MAC's Viva Glam Nicki lipstick. It's this insane neon coral pink, and my new signature shade for going out.

Q: Approximately how many bottles of nail polish do you own?

I'm afraid this answer will disappoint you- I just went and counted, and the answer is 18, of which roughly half are ones that you reviewed and I went out to buy! For example, essie's Wrapped in Rubies shade and the Sinful Colours flakies: so gorgeous! I'm not much of a nail girl, but I've discovered the magic of pedicures and try to keep my toes looking cute. And I have been loving your holiday mani series! I appreciate all the lovely looks other ladies are able to create on their fingers. 

Q: What was your most recent drugstore beauty purchase?

The last things I bought before I started project 10-pan were two L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows (Liquid Diamond and Golden Emerald), e.l.f. setting spray, Hard Candy Glow All the Way luminizing cream, and a few e.l.f. brushes to replace ones that had broken. I think the luminizer breaks me out, but the eyeshadows are UH-MAZING.

Q: What are some drugstore beauty products that haven't worked for you (and why)?

These days a lot of mascaras seem to be very ho-hum on me. I'm not sure if that's because I have less time in the mornings to curl my lashes (the best way is to heat the curler a little with my hair dryer and then curl them), or because my hair and lashes have gone through some hormone-related changes. I'm still trying to make up my mind about the Happy Booster powders from Physician's formula....they're too sheer to highlight effectively and too pink and shimmery for setting powders. I got a sample of the L'Oreal BB cream and I LOVED the texture and the matte quality but the shade was genuinely orange no matter how much I tried to blend it. I think it was the lightest one too. Bummer! 

Q: If you could create a limited edition drugstore beauty collection, what would it contain?

Ohhh, what a great question! I think I'd do a collaboration with Maybelline of limited edition Colour Tattoos and bright liners and coloured mascaras to mix and match, since we still don't see a lot of pop shades in drugstores (but no Great Lash this time. that stuff is so overrated.) 
 

I'd have shadows in matte nude, matte yellow, matte pink, shimmering purple, shimmering royal blue, shimmering black; liners in the same colours, plus a darkened blood red, a rich grass green, and a white/gold duochrome; and some really pigmented coloured mascaras in a volumizing formula (along the lines of Make Up For Ever's coloured shades of Smoky Lash). I'd call it Modern Renaissance!

Q. Would you like to share a picture with us (of you, your makeup stash, a pet, etc.)?

I'm attaching three photos; my little vanity; myself and my son, and me and my hubby. (we don't have many of all three of us together because one of us is inevitably behind the camera haha.) We also have a cat. :)  I'm Canadian-American which accounts for the spelling!

Thanks so much, beautifulmonday, for allowing us to get to know you a bit better! I honestly don't know which one of these pics I love the most, but I'm going to have to go with the photo of you and your beautiful baby boy (although I always love a good "vanity shot" and that pic of you and your hubby is just too adorable for words!).