Reader Spotlight: Rachel

This week's installment of Reader Spotlight includes an interview with my pal Rachel, who is a longtime reader and photo contributor to Nouveau Cheap. Rach, as I lovingly refer to her, was one of the first readers to submit a photo of a new product sighting to me, and is still very much active in contributing to the blog to this day. She's extremely kind, generous and super helpful, often spotting new products and sharing her insights here, and I'm so grateful to have her as a part of this little community.

Keep reading for my interview with Rachel, and a photo of her adorable kitties...

Q: How long have you been reading Nouveau Cheap?

I'm going to guess at about 3 years, so early 2009. I know I started my nail polish addiction about four years ago, and that grew to encompass makeup as well.

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

Not a clue! I may have followed a link on MakeupAlley or I may have found you doing a product review google. I probably have 500 beauty and/or nail blogs subscribed in Google Reader, but Nouveau Cheap is one of maybe a dozen that I check religiously.

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

Yes! Oh so many! Recent purchases that come to mind are the Suave dry shampoos. (I actually just repurchased this tonight!) I bought the first version and liked it, apart from the grapefruit scent, then read your review of the keratin version and saw your note that it's the same thing sans scent, and ran out to get it.

One of my biggest G-reviewed successes (and I really doubt I would've ever tried this if it weren't for your review) is the Suave anti-dandruff line. I've had moderate dandruff for years and years, tried all sorts of things, even rinsing with pure apple cider vinegar (hello stinky!), and this is the first product that's really controlled my dandruff.
 

I've bought countless LE nail polishes and eyeshadows after your reviews, as well. I really love your reviews, G, because you always add the right sort of YMMV (your mileage may vary) caveats. So many reviews are just uber-glowing or uber-hatehatehate, without giving any context of why the product may or may not work for other people.

Q: Name your top five drugstore beauty brands.

Maybelline, solely because of the Color Tattoos!
Essence, for gel liners and brow gel and other cheap thrills.
ELF, mostly for good-quality brushes.
Revlon, for truly upping their game on lip products the past couple of years.
Sally Hansen, for ALL THE POLISHES.

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

Maybelline Color Tattoos like Bad to the Bronze and Tough as Taupe. I've stopped using expensive eyeshadow primer (Urban Decay or NARS) in favor of these babies. They don't crease, and they offer me a way to shift the shade of my eyeshadow warmer or cooler, depending on which base I use.
 
Physicians Formula Nude Eyes liner trio (the retractable pencils, not the gel liners) in the medium taupe shade. I use this nearly every day on my upper and lower lashlines. It's not as smooth and creamy as the Milani Liquif-eyes or Urban Decay liners (both of which I also love), but because of that I can more easily get a thinner line (which is awesome for my limited lid-space hooded eyes).
 
Essence gel liner in London Baby, the now-discontinued taupe shade, is also fantastic. I can't ever keep pencil liner on my waterline, but the Essence gel liners stick around for hours. The black shade, thankfully, is still around.

Wet'n'Wild single in Brulee is a near-perfect match for my natural skintone, so I use it as a subtle browbone highlight as well as a makeup-mistake-fixer. Put on too much eyeshadow? Blend it out with Brulee! Crease color go up a bit too high? Blend it down with Brulee!

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

I teach (read: talk a lot, and make lipstick fade quickly), and I usually don't have time to touch-up lipstick between classes, so I generally reach for something with sheer to medium-sheer color that I can swipe on without looking like I'm applying makeup, and which will fade without leaving a gaping ring around my mouth. I also like applying one of the medium-bright pink Revlon Balm Stains and immediately blotting it down to a muted stain. (If you can afford them, Tarte's Lipsurgences are my true chubby-lip-pencil-love.) A few that have been banging around in my purse lately are the Carmex pink-tinted stick balm, Revlon Balm Stains in Precious and Sweetheart, and a couple of L'Oreal Le Balm colors.

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

So. Remember I mentioned having a nail polish addiction? I haven't counted lately. I know I'm above 500, but I don't really know how far above that. I hope I'm still below 1,000.

Q: What was your most recent drugstore beauty purchase?

I repurchased Suave Keratin Infusion dry shampoo earlier tonight, and bought two of the LE SH Diamond Strength shades in Crystal Beading and All Aglow. I'm excited to see the duochrome of these babies!

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

I had a few notable fails from Physicians Formula this past year, including those thick kohl pencils, which had lackluster pigmentation and literally ran off my skin the moment I approached it with a smudger. That adorable Nude eye palette (with the lace and the bow on the package) had my hopes up high, but even on my pale skin, all the shades showed up as pure shimmer with very little true color. I think I swatched it for you and then never used it again.

During last year's CVS massive clearance sale I picked up your HG Physician's Formula powder to try. I've been a loyal MAC Studio Fix Powder user for a few years now, and I was excited to see if the PF version would work. Well, not exactly. The color was a pretty good match, and the coverage was good, but the powder just didn't lay right on my skin. It stayed cake-y and made my skin look dry and blah. I'm guessing it's a mismatch in skin type that does it. I'm combo with dry patches, while you're oily, and I'm guessing that makes all the difference in how the PF powder works.

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

If you had asked me this about three months ago, I would have whole-heartedly said DUOCHROMES! But that wish has already (somewhat) come true, what with the China Glaze Bohemian collection and the umpteen-thousand dupes of it from Sally Hansen & Maybelline & etc.

So. My next-biggest love is flakies. Not the big, thick, nasty plastic shards like Revlon came out with on those double-ended monstrosities, but real flakies like in Sinful Colors Green Ocean and in the now-discontinued Essie Shine of the Times/SH Hidden Treasure. Only there are a zillion other flaky colors out there too, not just gold-to-orange ones! I want ALL OF THEM. And I want them not just as topcoats in clear bases but mixed into jelly/cream base colors, like Deborah Lippman's Ray of Light and Nfu-oh 52. I'd love to see a set of lipglosses with flakies as well. (Hard Candy at WalMart has a couple already.)

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

I've attached a photo of my four fur-babies gathered around my feet, eating treats. Sadly, the white-and-tabby one at the top passed away Wednesday.

Thanks so much, Rach, for this interview, and I'm so very sorry for your loss. Anyone who has had a pet knows that they are very much a part of the family, and the love that animals give to us is one of the true joys in life. I'm sure that you have so many beautiful memories of your kitty, and I hope they bring you comfort at this time. *hugs*