Self Care, Reviews, Skin Care Wellness Rituals Self Care, Reviews, Skin Care Wellness Rituals

Go -Ahead, Sleep on it!

Originally post here on March,8,2015

beau·ty sleep: "sleep considered to be sufficient to keep one looking young and beautiful."

Hey, cuties!  I used to do a 'Sunday Thoughts' blog and I wanted to re-share this one as I've been on the TK2 Film set for 15+ hour days, three weekends in a row. No matter what society tells you, SLEEP IS OUR FRIEND. Here's a post from the past on some of my fav sleepy time products!

"At some point in your life you've probably been concerned with your sleeping habits, beauty related or not. The stress is real and it's really eating into your overall health and beauty, folks.

The ladies at brokegrrrl are not magical babes that are exempt from the stressors of the day, lack of sleep, and trying to find the right products, night time routine, and triggers to help us clock in those precious hours in the bed. Here are a few tips and products that are brokegrrrl approved to keep you rested and recharged at night!

1. Stress less//Sleep well

A healthy sleep schedule does wonders for you and your skin, but don't sweat it if you're not sleeping 7 hours a night, every night. Stress and worries go hand in hand with lack of proper sleep. "Not enough sleep can also make you more stressed, and everyone can see that tension. 'It makes you look angry, tired, sad, and certainly older,' says New York City dermatologist Doris Day, MD

Most healthy habits are put in place due to starting (and sticking to) a routine. For me having: herbal tea, a relaxing bath, and doing some bed time yoga/stretching helps release stress from the day, and sends signals to my body that its time to wind down.  Anna Barnes' easy-to-follow 5 0 tips To Help You Sleep Well, was extremely helpful while working towards my own personal night time routine. This book is affordable, portable, and gives simple solutions that anyone can use '"to help you sleep well". 

2. Skincare 

At night, skincare is just as important as your morning routine! Night time is all about restoration and rejuvenation of the body,  your skin is no exception to this.  I picked up Acure night cream last week at my local Target, and am in love. It's said to "firm, hydrate, and restore" normal to dry skin. Its natural, cruelty free, and keeps my skin firm and moisturized. Its full of anti aging goodness and I definitely recommend it. 

3.Make your  bedroom inviting and calm.

 Find soothing, all natural scents to mist before bed. Lavender is known to calm and relieve stress. I'm currently enjoying Wyndmere's 'Lavender Garden' with blends of lavender, grapefruit, and patchouli essential oils, that make my room extremely fresh and welcoming for the evening. 

These products were under $40 all together. The mist and book were purchased in Ann Arbor Michigan at Crazy Wisdom Book Store and tearoom, but can be found online and at some of your local book and gift stores. 

Here's to your beauty sleep, kittens!"

brokegrrrl/b.reed

filed under:Self Care & Skincare

Read More
Self-Portrait Series Wellness Rituals Self-Portrait Series Wellness Rituals

Self-Portrait Series: Lip Art & Being Extra

"Let's be honest, I work and create at home, AND on myself as much, if not more, than I'm off working on the set of a film, or at a photo shoot. I also like a good contest as much as the next makeup geek. "

Matte on Matte, On Gloss. Oh, My! 

Hey, there. Britt aka brokegrrrl here! It's been a while...

 I am trying to put an actual effort into bringing more of my blogging (previously available, only, on our Tumblr) over to our new-ish interweb home. I'm pretty excited about it! If you've followed brokegrrrl previously you'll know it's typically myself posting, but I occasionally have guest posts from friends/local creatives sharing relevant content. The broke crew is pretty cool-get excited!

The 'Self-Portrait' section of this blog will be full of in-depth 'makeup of the day' type posts. It might possibly be a behind the scenes look that you've already seen if you follow @brokegrrrl on Instagram. It may also be makeups created exclusively for the website. WHOO!

 As a professional makeup artist,  I know that it's important to share the work that we do on various models/clients. With that being said the culture of the industry has shifted with the invention and popularization of IG and it increases in users. Artists and enthusiasts alike are using social media to promote their current projects. A lot of the old barriers that kept professionals from sharing selfies, personal life tidbits, and behind the scenes vs only showing the world their final works are no more. I honestly think it's really cool for artists and businesses to be as transparent as they're becoming. Let's be honest, I work and create at home, AND on myself as much, if not more, than I'm off working on the set of a film, or at a photo shoot. I also like a good contest as much as the next makeup geek. 

Stop rambling, Britt- let's dive into what I did!

This is actually a bit of a throwback to a few weeks ago when I decided (very last minute) to create something for the KVDxNYLON BEAUTY contest. I didn't win any products, but I won in my heart of hearts because I honestly CANNOT get over this look, y'all. First I had to pick my poison...If you know me OR have followed me for literally five seconds, you will know that one of my go-to lips is a red ombre/'bitten lip' look, popularized if I'm not mistaken,  by Korean Beauty trends. I'm also a fan of dark lipsticks in general. I think I own like 5 oddly similar shades of burgundy matte liquid lips, from various brands. I have a problem. ANYWAY. 

My weapons of choice:

matte beauties, L to R: KVD- Nosferatu, Vampira, and Witches. The Lip Bar -Rebel. 

matte beauties, L to R: KVD- Nosferatu, Vampira, and Witches. The Lip Bar -Rebel. 

I started with a base of KVD Nosferatu and I followed up with layering a mixture of Vampira and Rebel in the center and blended them out towards the edges with a fluffy blending brush. This might be obvious, but I  find this is easiest to do while the liquid lipsticks are still a bit wet. Lastly, I concentrated Witches in the center on top of my first mixture and blended that shade out JUST A BIT. 

Oh, hey Glossier Lip gloss! How you doin', boo? Look all summery and sh*!@ 

Oh, hey Glossier Lip gloss! How you doin', boo? Look all summery and sh*!@ 

I remember the day a girl in middle school got me into lip gloss. It was a pretty magical time with all of the different scents and flavors. Totally worth it, even if it did suck when the wind blew and all of your hair got stuck in your mouth. I ended up taking a break from shiny lips around high school until literally like 2015. I was over it! Gloss has definitely made its comeback and this Glossier one has me a believerrrrrr. It made this lip look bloody in the best way possible. 

Throw some glitter on mahhhhhhh (in the name of love) 

helloooooo texture.

I loved the colors together so much, but it wasn't going to feel complete to me without adding more depth and texture. I discovered the lovely LemonHeadLA at the NYC IMATS. They sold me by putting in my hair and on my ear...yes, ear. The sales person was really into doing that and it's honestly a LOOK. They have two different formulas and while I believe this one is promoted for hair and body, I've been putting it...well, anywhere that I see fit! I threw in some craft glitter (I have plenty). shoutout to Target's $1-$3 sections, to be honest. NOT SPONSORED, just in love.

Anywhoo-BOOM, the lip felt too RIGHT!

There you have it,  folks. I hope you've enjoyed my first installment of the self-portrait series. You now have one example of how to be real extra with your lip art AND you know a few more cruelty-free/vegan-friendly products to do it with.

Cheers, for now.

-b 

Read More
Self Care Wellness Rituals Self Care Wellness Rituals

Who is SisterGood? Also, Morning Rituals!

Who is SisterGood? Only one of my favorite cruelty free small businesses! I had the pleasure of writing a blog about my morning routine and self-care on their site recently. Here's a bit about them and a link to my blog post from September. 

originally posted on September, 26, 2016/ Full blog post at Sistergood.co under 'stories'

 

PST-Hey! Welcome to my bathroom aka my self-care retreat!   

PST-Hey! Welcome to my bathroom aka my self-care retreat! 

 

 

Hello, lovely humans! Have you heard about the company SisterGood? They’re honestly one of my favorite companies right now. You know it’s true because their products are the majority of my ever growing self-care  wishlist. 

I first found out about the company on Instagram after following the founder, Kel (@TheMilkWolf on IG). She’s a lovely human and we’ve grown our friendship and mutual love for each others work via the popular app. More recently I was invited to be a featured artist and share my thoughts via their ‘stories’ blog section! The company makes handmade organic and cruelty free self-care items and jewelry.  If that weren’t exciting enough, the company is all about supporting and uplifting women and survivors. $2 from each item you purchase from us goes straight to our SISTERGOOD CAMPAIGN and will go towards providing free luxury self care packages for recent survivors of sexual-assault and abuse.

Above you can see their bath cake trio, organic sugar skulls, and raw amethyst crystal ring, photos courtesy of sistergood! Check out the shop and my Morning Rituals Blog NOW via the links below! Also, keep an eye out for their new apothecary items…coming soon! Update: As of November 2016 their skincare line is live! YOU DON'T WANNA MISS OUT! 

xo, b

LINKS:

web: Sistergood.co 

MY blog post : http://bit.ly/2cQvUtX

Read More
Wellness Rituals Wellness Rituals

Runaway Short film

Brittney Reed Head Special Effects Makeup Artist for Runaway Scifi Thriller. TK2 Films. 

Beyond excited to announce my involvement in this project ,as Special FX Makeup Artist. This is from the same humans that brought you ‪#‎startrekhorizon‬, 'Runaway' is sci-fi thriller that's set in the not so distant future where an android runs for her life. Proud to see they have exceeded their goal in support for the film, via kickstarter. The link is still below, so you can view the pages video to learn a bit more about the production company and the upcoming film! Thanks again to Callie and Tommy for considering me for this, looking forward to shooting and sharing more oh, so soon! Prep work beginning in 3..2..1!
Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/…/sta…/runaway-short-sci-fi-film

Read More