Special Anniversary Reader Interview Series: Get To Know Agata

In honor of the five year anniversary of Nouveau Cheap, I'm interviewing fifteen readers in this very special series, as my way of saying thanks for your support (to read more about this interview series, including how the readers were selected, click here).

All of the readers who were interviewed for this series were given the same ten questions, and they were asked to submit a picture of themselves, their pet, their makeup stash, or anything else they felt like sharing.

The eighth interview in this series is with reader Agata. Take it away, Agata!

Reader Agata

G: How long have you been a fan of drugstore beauty products?

Agata: For as long as I have been wearing make up! Probably for the last 12-13 years. I was born in Poland and I lived there until four years ago. I remember when I first came to the US and went to a Walgreens store and discovered Covergirl make up. I was surprised how cheap all other drugstore brands were compared to prices in Poland.

G: What was the first beauty product that you remember purchasing?

Agata: A mascara from Yves Rocher. In my first year of high school, it was only make up product my mom would let me wear. But that mascara was fantastic and I kept using it for many more years.

G: What are your five can't-live-without drugstore beauty products?

Agata: 

1: Revlon Color Stay foundation. I have been using it for years and it never fails to amaze me how great it is, it stays on a whole day, provides an excellent coverage, and costs only a fraction of what you would pay for a high end foundation and I really think the quality is comparable to brands like Chanel or YSL. 

2: Maybelline The Falsies Mascara. Unfortunately, I wasn’t born with very long thick lashes so I need to rely on a mascara to do the job. I always use a waterproof formula and this mascara never smudges, doesn’t flake and creates dramatic lashes. Exactly what I like. 

3: Rimmel Stay Matte Powder. It costs only $4 and does an excellent job mattifying complexion and setting in make up, I also use it for touchups throughout the day.

4: Maybelline Color Sensational lipsticks. Beautiful pigmentation, a huge variety of shades to pick from, good staying power and a really nice moisturizing formula.

5: Garnier Cleansing Oil. It’s technically a skin care product, but I thought it deserves a mention. I bought my first bottle, right when it came out, back in December of 2013 and it was love at first use. I always use a waterproof mascara and until I found this oil I struggled to find a cheap make up remover that would do a good job removing a stubborn mascara without having to rub my eyes. Garnier Cleansing Oil literally melts your make up, it smells really pleasant, it’s hydrating and your skin doesn't feel greasy after using it. It’s definitely one of the best, if not best, drugstore discoveries of 2013 for me.

G: Tell us your best "drugstore score" story (something you got for a great deal on clearance and/or with coupons, store rewards, etc.).

Agata:  It was a few years ago when I was just starting getting into nail polish. CVS had a sale on Sally Hansen Hard as Nails nail polishes, I believe they were a buck a piece and I had some other Sally Hansen coupons that I used along with the sale and ended up paying only a penny for each bottle. I remember how excited I was and now, looking back, I don’t know why I only bought two bottles.

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

Agata: That’s a tough question because I hardly ever stick to one lip product. I always have at least five lip glosses in my handbag. I keep changing shades depending on the season. If I absolutely had to pick just one shade, I’d go with Urban Decay Naked Revolution lipstick. It’s a perfect nude color with a little bit of pink, it’s flattering and it goes with every make up look. You can never go wrong wearing it.

G: What's the one movie you can always re-watch, no matter how many times you've seen it?

Agata: “You’ve Got Mail”, you cannot go wrong with a rom-com starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, right?

G: What's your current favorite TV show?

Agata:  Hmm, let me think….It’s a tough one because I always say I could live without TV and be perfectly fine but I think I will go with Modern Family. It’s funny, heart- warming, every character is different and unique in their own way and very likable. And I can’t tell you how many times that show made me cry!

G: What was the last book you read?

Agata: "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?” by Mindy Kaling, the producer of The Mindy Project. I love that show and Mindy’s personality and the book didn't disappointed either, full of amusing stories, great writing and makes you laugh a lot. [I loved that book too! --G.]

G: If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?

Agata: I don’t really have a “dream job” because I do believe that if a certain job is your dream, you should do everything to get it and achieve what you want.  I would like to go back to teaching if I could. Before I moved to the US I worked as an ESL teacher in Poland and although that job required working a lot of hours, constantly preparing lesson plans, correcting tests, etc, the progress my students made had always made up for it. It was extremely rewarding. Besides a teacher, I’d definitely like to be a make up artist but unfortunately it’s not very practical and unless you’re great at, you have to work really hard to make a decent living out of it. Maybe when I retire though.

G: Tell us a bit about your hobbies, what you like to do in your spare time, or anything you're very passionate about!

Agata: I am passionate about my job. I work as over the phone Polish  interpreter. Although the job can be very stressful interpreting emergency calls, dealing with drunk people at police stations, listening to people scream because they are unhappy about whatever service they did not receive, at the same time each call makes me feel like I make a difference in people’s lives by enabling communication and helping people in situations in which they couldn't get by if a job like mine did not exist.

My hobby though, it won’t come as a huge surprise, is makeup. It starts with reading beauty blogs, checking up on the latest beauty product releases, reading reviews. Then there is my always growing makeup and nail polish collection that contains more products that I could ever use and a plethora of those “that’s definitely the only eyeshadow palette I am buying this year”. I love learning new makeup techniques and tricks, I love applying makeup, I love giving my friends advice on what beauty products to pick, which ones are heroes and which ones are zeros and I also enjoy applying makeup on other people. I have just started writing my own beauty blog.

As part of the interview, I asked Agata to share a link to her blog, Facebook page, Twitter page or whatever else she would like to share. Agata chose her blog, Her and Makeup.

Thanks so much for allowing me to interview you as part of this series, Agata! I absolutely loved getting to know you a bit better, and I hope other readers feel like they know you a bit better now as well!