'I'm from Galicia in the north of Spain, but I've been living in Madrid for eight years now. I have a blog on Vogue Spain’s website called Tea Time. I launched it almost two years ago. I don’t know what made me start it—I work as a model and I had a blog before on my own, and one day, one of the directors of Vogue.es called me said, 'Hi, I really like your work as model...'—we knew each other from before—and she told me, 'And I really like how you write and so I want to put your blog inside Vogue.' I said yes, of course. I studied fashion design in school, and started modeling when I was finished. I actually wanted to be a fashion journalist more than designer, which is why when Vogue asked me to work for them it was like, yes! Of course.
My blog is about my work and my life. It’s a mix of everything I like because I have complete freedom to talk about whatever. I'll post about a shoot, or what I bought last week—it depends on how I feel, what I want to write about.
Spanish girls really like to know what beauty products other people use, or even how a model takes care of her skin; we love beauty. For me, I love Aesop. I use their shampoo and face cream, the Mandarin cream for mixed-combination skin. Everything from Aesop. My boyfriend is from Australia, so he introduced me to the brand one year ago, and now I’m super into it. Otherwise, I don’t use that much stuff. I use eau micellaire to clean my face, but I don’t like to use a lot of products. I never wear makeup, only when I’m working. For example, today I don’t have makeup on. I have it on all the time when I work, so days that I’m off, I like bare skin.
I don’t do anything to my eyebrows; sometimes I take off 1, 2 hairs. It’s more at shootings that a makeup artist comes in like, 'OK, can I take these off?!' And it's like, 'Fine, do it because I know you’re going to be happy after that.' [Laughs]
Spanish girls don’t tend to wear a lot of makeup. It's more a mix. They like the Latin thing of smoky black eyes and red lips. In Europe, if you see a brunette girl with red lips, probably she is Spanish. [Laughs] I like the red lips. If I have to wear makeup for an event or something, I always go washed face and red lips. I used to use a lot of Chanel lipsticks, but MAC I like it a lot because it takes a lot of hours to come off. I like Russian Red because a friend of mine, she’s a singer from Spain and her band name is Russian Red, so that one is a good one for me. [Laughs] I don't use eye makeup, maybe a little bit of Rimmel mascara— maybe— but not that much. I also like the one from L'Oréal, the Telescopic. It’s crazy; you put it on and it's like, whoa.
I use Avene sunscreen but only when there is sun. This summer, I put a lot of sunscreen on and it did nothing; I went super tan. But I’m Spanish, so...”
—as told to ITG
Alba Galocha, in an Acne sweater, Thakoon Addition pants, Surface to Air boots, and a La Favorita hat, photographed by Nick Axelrod in Paris on September 27, 2013.