“I like everything black and white so my bathroom’s pretty simple. I have these polaroids up that my dad [photographer Mark Borthwick] took of my boyfriend and I in Spain]. My boyfriend broke our sink the other day. He always sits there when I shower and it just broke. [Laughs] Either he sits on the sink or the floor… we just talk; he’s my best friend so we talk about everything. We always keep each other company—we both work during the day and then at night he DJs, so we enjoy our little time together.

In terms of beauty, I’ve learned a lot from my mom [designer Maria Cornejo] and my grandmother, my dad’s mom, who’s so French—like, beyond. She loves Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream—she says if there’s ever anything wrong on your body, just put that on it. She always gives me things to use. Like Arnica oil. I have arthritis and I put that on all the time. I used to play sports; I got it when I was, like, thirteen. Arnica’s great…it’s like another solution to life. [Laughs] And this stuff’s great too, which I haven’t found in the states—it’s called Oilatum, it’s a cream from Spain for dry skin. I get eczema on my arms in the winter and this is great. My mom and I both use these bath products—have you ever used Radox, from England? It’s this kind of minty stuff we’ve used my whole life. It’s the best—if you have any aches or anything, it takes them away. I think my mom and I are pretty similar in our approaches in that she’s pretty natural; she really only wears mascara and concealer. You would think I’d have gone the other way and worn tons of makeup but that’s not the case. My parents are all ‘natural beauty,’ and I think they secretly love getting older.

And then, this is my ‘pretend I’m on vacation shelf’: I love Avène moisturizing self-tanning lotion, it’s the best moisturizer cream, and it gives you a little tan. I’m horrified of fake tanners, but this is good. Sometimes I put a little on my face. And I got a coconut lime body scrub from H&M, and it’s my favorite. It’s so cheesy and tacky, [laughs] but it smells like vacation. I’m kind of, ‘anything coconut goes’... shampoo, cream, oil. And then the Narciso Rodriguez fragrance—I’ve been wearing it forever and I have all the products: body wash, lotion, everything.

A friend of mine got me Susanne Kaufmann Wash Gel for my birthday; I use it on my body more than my face. Sometimes I take my makeup off before I go to bed, but not that often—it depends on the mascara I’m wearing. Sometimes in the morning I look like a raccoon, and not good raccoon—not, like, that sexy raccoon look. If I just have a tiny bit of eyeliner on, I’m okay the next day. I’m useless; I’m not good at washing my face and doing all those things.

A lot of my makeup was gifts. I lot of it I use, but not every day. I do like using bronzer, so I have these guys that are amazing: Tarte Maracuja Blush and Go Brightening Luminizer and Cheek Tint in Sunlight. I just put it on my cheeks a little bit. And if I use anything bright, I use Sisley lipstick in L23 and L33. Oh, and Tarte Maracuja Creaseless Concealer is the best coverup ever—I put it right under my eyes and sometimes on my eyelids, because they get a little bit veiny…it kind of makes the veins disappear. I can never find concealer that matches my skin tone, and these do. They’re perfect. And even if I’m a little more pale in the winter, they still match. They have them at Sephora. I can never ask anybody at those stores for help because they always end up giving me something that’s so much lighter than my skin, and then I go home and look like I have a mask on. So I just do it myself—I just put foundation or concealer on my hand, and on my jaw-line, to try it. A makeup artist, Dick Page, taught me to do that. He works with my mom on all her shows. But I’ve never really been into a whole face of makeup. Even at prom, I didn’t really have makeup on—I think I had mascara on and that’s it. I had this all-black dress on and this mega-silver jewelry when everyone else was in Hervé Léger, and I went with my best friend. I was kind of an outcast at prom.”

—as told to ITG

Bibi Cornejo Borthwick photographed by Emily Weiss in New York on July 17th, 2012. Bibi is a photographer and co-founder of the soon-to-be-launched blog Sidewalk Diaries.