This week’s Nosy Beauty features another one of my favorite local bloggers, Ae from An Artechoke. I’d been following her blog for a while before I realized that she was the mom of our dog Noah’s brother, Mochi. 🙂

“My name is Ae, I’m an architect and I’m married to a visual artist. Aside from my job, I will be co-managing a design store with my husband and some friends—we’re set to open later this year.”

“I’ve always been into beauty—I grew up with two older sisters who are just as into it, and I’ve always been doing my friends’ makeup for school presentations, then later parties, dates, weddings and whatnot.

I started my blog about two years ago; I wanted it to be strictly about beauty so I tried to keep everything else about me to a minimum. At that time, I was just amazed that people took to the internet to write and share what they know, and that there exists an active and thriving local community of beauty enthusiasts!”

“Anyway, a huge part of beauty blogging is about accumulating stuff—to see, experience, write about and share. It’s not something that I’m particularly proud of (accumulating), and I’ve yet to find a way around it. I’d say I probably have enough now to last me a lifetime! But, these are the stuff I more or less use regularly.”

L-R: Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Sunscreen, Etude House Precious Mineral Bright Fit BB Cream, Koh Gen Do Aqua Foundation, RMK Makeup Base, RMK Liquid Foundation

My face base is usually either a BB Cream for daytime or a light foundation for night time. My favorites are Etude House Precious Minerals Bright Fit BB Cream, RMK and Koh Gen Do. I have a bit of a bias with products; I feel that the Japanese make the best foundations! And under everything else, a sunscreen, which has to be at least SPF50.

L-R: NARS Blush Duo in Amour/Desire, Topshop Cream blush in Prime Time, Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Exposed, Majolica Majorca Blood On

I use and carry a cheek tint with me and/or a cheek cream. I never bring powder blush because I don’t like reapplying ever (and to have to carry a brush to do so) and I don’t trust myself with breakables, I almost always drop stuff. So all those things I mentioned so far, I apply and leave at home (except the Majolica Majorca Blood On). What I do bring with me is this pouch, which I know looks like a pencil case:

L-R: MAC Lipsticks (Please Me, Ruby Woo), ELF Smudge Brush, Charm Brow Brush and Spoolie, Estee Lauder Double Wear Mascara, Collection Illuminating Concealer, MAC Kohl Pencil in Teddy, Nichido Colored Pencils, Her Bench Cheek Stain, NYX Lip Liner in Natural, Eye-Mo eye drops, Nichido Mineral Pencil, Nichido Concealer Pencil, K-Palette 24-hour Brow Pen, The Face Shop Brow Pencil, MAC Brow Pencil in Lingering, Dolly Wink Liquid Eyeliner, K-Palette Eye pencil, Revlon Just Bitten Lip Balm Stain in Honey, Topshop Lip Crayon in Suspect, Makeup Factory Brow Gel, Shiseido lash curlers, ponytail holder, hairpins

I’m actually a brow freak, and I have a separate pouch for brow products, alone. But for every day, I like using a pencil and a brow gel. My purse is probably 60% pencils/pens—I find that they take less space and the variety allows me to do my eyes, brows, and lips quickly and without much effort. I always have a black eyeliner pencil, a liquid eyeliner pen, colored eye liner pencils, a concealer pencil, a concealer pen, a nude lip liner, brow pencils, and lipsticks in pencil form.

I bring a Pigeon Baby Pressed Powder (not pictured, in my bag pocket) to touch up during the day. I also bring a Shiseido lash curler, an ELF smudger brush, a brow spoolie, a tube of mascara, some 1-2 MAC lipsticks (one pale—Please Me or Honeylove, one bright—Ruby Woo or Heroine), and always, a Lip Ice Lip Balm (not pictured, in my bag pocket also). I don’t use all of them all the time, but I like to carry them with me so I’m ready for anything.”

“I don’t have a beauty philosophy, or at least I haven’t thought about it yet. But I believe in sunscreen, in no-makeup days, in using but not abusing makeup. For every day, I don’t like looking too textbook-made up, I like a bit of rawness and to look a bit undone. I might have really done-up brows but I’m probably skipping the lipstick, or vice versa. I don’t want to people to go, oh, you look different in person/photos! The thing with beauty is, it’s all conditioning. It’s nice to let people see the closest version of you to you, and then surprise them from time to time!”

And that concludes this week’s Nosy Beauty! Thanks to Ae for indulging my request. 🙂 Stay tuned for next week’s makeup bag. Whose could this be?