Welcome to Bri Books! Today I’m sharing the 7 best sunscreens for dark skin. It’s the dog days of summer: when temperatures start to soar around sunrise. I’m somewhat on the sunscreen beat, you could say, thanks to my writing about SPFs at Glamour.com. My stories include a review of Black Girl Sunscreen and ‘11 Women of Color on the Best Sunscreens for Dark Skin.’

• 1:30: The fact is, anyone, no matter skin tone, can get sunburned. Repeated unprotected sun exposure can cause skin damage, hyperpigmentation, and even skin cancer. It’s no secret that historically the beauty industry hasn’t made slathering up with SPF an enjoyable experience--far too many formulations aren’t made to blend in on dark skin. I’m sharing with you my holy grail picks that don’t leave a greasy residue or ashy tone behind.
• 2:55: #1: Black Girl Sunscreen’s founder, Shontay Lundy, was having a beach day in Miami and had a hard time finding a sunscreen that didn’t leave residue on her skin. At that moment, BGSS was born as a solution for Black women looking to protect their skin. Since they’ve, they’ve expanded nationally to Target stores and secured a $1M investment recently. One of my favorite things about BGSS is that it absorbs quickly and is a great base for makeup. I can’t tell you what a relief it is to be able to sweat without worrying if sunscreen is leaving streaks down my face. BGSS is available at Target for $15.99. 
• 4:20 #2: La Roche Posay SPF 100 Anthelios Face and Body sunscreen: This is a sunscreen I reach for whenever I’m on a beach or outdoors all day. At SPF 100, it’s great for children and adults with sun-sensitive skin. It melts right into the skin and is great if you need to be confident in your SPF protection if you’re hiking, walking, or at the beach. I recommend it for part of your year-round SPF collection. La Roche Posay SPF 100 is available online for $25.00. 
• 5:36: #3: Peter Thomas Roth Max Matte SPF 45: This mattifying shine control sunscreen feels so luxurious. I love the weightless, sheer finish it gives. The texture feels like any other moisturizer, but with the protection of sunscreen. Pro tip: Use this SPF to create your dream tinted moisturizer: I recommend applying a few drops of liquid foundation into the SPF. Also, this sunscreen is phenomenal for the decolletage, and for building the habit of applying sunscreen to the neck, collar, top of the chest, and other areas that are prone to burning. Peter Thomas Roth Max Matte SPF 45 is available for $34 at Sephora.
• 7:25 #4: La Roche Posay AOX SPF Serum: This has become my favorite SPF serum because it reminds me of the importance of wearing sunscreen year-round. During winter, when we don't have to worry about sweat, we have to stay vigilant about wearing sunscreen. It's lightweight enough to be worn alone, with a moisturizer, or under makeup.  La Roche Posay AOX SPF Serum is available for $42.50.
• 8:20: #5: Bask Suncare SPF 30: This sunscreen feels good and does good at the same time. Bask Suncare partners with the Sun Protection Foundation to increase access to sunscreen. This reef-safe SPF is free of oxybenzone, parabens, sulfates, and irritants, and I feel the light vanilla and coconut scent gives a childhood memory of days and nights spent outside. Bask Suncare SPF 30 is available for $28 at Basksuncare.com
• 9:40 #6: Sol de Janerio Bum Bum Sol Oil SPF30: This super luxe feeling and smelling oil formula combines reef-safe SPF30 and skin smoothers like capucha butter and acai oil. It’s infused with Sol de Janeiro's iconic fragrance, and it’s one of the sunscreens I reach for if I’m having a long day in the sand or a sweaty day in NYC. After showering, I’ll throw this oil on my body and go about my day. The scent has peachy-tropical notes with hints of coconut vanilla. It truly smells like summer. Sol de Janeiro Bum Bum Sol Oil SPF30 is available for $38.
• 11:20 #7: Farmacy Green Defense Mineral Sunscreen: This zinc oxide mineral sunscreen sits on the skin surface to reflect damaging UVA and UVB rays. This is a great SPF pick if you want to dip your toe into the world of mineral sunscreens. I put it on the areas that are underlooked and prone to burning, like the back of my legs, the inside of my arms, etc. It’s definitely the SPF I’ll be using this fall and winter to remind me that if the sun’s up, the sunscreen’s gotta go on. Farmacy Green Defense Mineral Sunscreen is available at Sephora for $36. 

ARTICLES MENTIONED

1. 11 Best Sunscreens for Dark Skin
2. Black Girl Sunscreen Review

SPF GRAPHICS/ INSTAGRAM POSTS

1. 6 Best Sunscreens for Dark Skin IG Reels 

3 Beach-Perfect Sunscreens for Your Next Beach Day

The Garden in Every Sense and Season

Today’s “Bri Books”  is a conversation with ABeautifulNestTV creator Sandria Kendrick, inspired by the book “The Garden in Every Sense and Season” by Tovah Martin. Sandria is the creator behind the “ABeautifulNestTV” platform on YouTube, and on social media. In this episode, Sandria shares her story of homesteading with her family in Georgia, and how her love for the soil runs through her veins. In this episode, we’re discussing our garden struggles, how you can inject green into your life this year. 

Show Notes

• 3:30: Sandria's gardening story, and how she built a small homestead garden for her family + Brionna recommends “The Market Gardener” by Jean-Martin Fortier. 

• 5:00: Sandria's gardening challenges and how she overcame them.

• 9:00 – How book is divided: Each of the four seasons are represented, with each individual season’s different sensational gifts–sights, sounds, touches, tastes, scents– woven into a story that explores the ever-evolving garden

• 12:15: How city folks can inject some gardening into their lives: "Bring the green inside!" Overwintering plants (repotting and growing indoors), growing lettuce, succulents and aloe, indoors are great ways to keep the green inside, even after it all falls away outside. Using blooming branches—flowers that grow on a branch-- or cuttings from evergreen or fir trees can invite nature indoors.

• 16:00: The story behind Sandria's Heirloom Acres Seed Store

• 19:00 – Fruit and veggie varieites to grow, according to Sandria

• 22:15 - Sandria's Bri Books recommendations: “The Flower Workshop” by Ariella Chezar, “Easy Green Living” by Renee Loux,  “The Green Beauty Guide” by Julie Gabriel.

You can find Sandria on YouTube, on  Heirloom Acres Seed Store, blog, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube. If you’re new to the show, leave a review of Bri Books on Apple Podcasts, and listen to Bri Books on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and SoundCloud! Please tell me what you're growing by using #bribooks on Instagram, and subscribe to the Bri Books newsletter at bribookspod.com/newsletter.Follow @theBriGarden on Instagram for garden tours, growing hacks, and gardening secrets.

Welcome to Bri Books! On today’s episode, we’re talking about falling in love with the garden this spring, first-time gardening secrets, and how to get kids excited about gardening. Almost everyday, Carla of @gardenplot.57 treats us to vibrant photos of her cut flower garden, homemade skincare products, and dozens of veggies she’s growing in her backyard garden in Cornwall, England. In this episode, Carla gives tips on how to start (and maintain) a garden in a small space, and shares tips on DIY gardening projects we can do right now to get a jump on the season. Carla and I bonded over the amazing book “Floret Farm's A Year in Flowers: Designing Gorgeous Arrangements for Every Season” by Erin Benzakein, an amazing resource that’ll inspire you to step up your flower arranging (and flower growing) game. Carla also shares the secret to getting kids interested in gardening and how to lure them away from the XBox and towards the garden box. 

 Carla’s guide to gardening in a small space: 

1. Utilize your patio by planting pots with salad greens, herbs, and dwarf tomatoes. 

2. Go high! Make use of vertical space by creating vertical planters. Archways and trellises allow you to grow “up,” and make use of tiny amounts of space for things like beans, peas, cucumbers and tomatoes. 

 More gardening resources recommended by Carla and Brionna:

1. Huw Richards YouTube channel and book, “Grow Food for Free”

2. Sandria of A Beautiful Nest

3. Misilla of Learn to Grow

4. Adam Yn Yr Ardd, a wildly talented Welsh gardener

If you’re new to the show, leave a review of Bri Books on Apple Podcasts, and listen to Bri Books on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and SoundCloud! Please tell me what you're growing by using #bribooks on Instagram, and subscribe to the Bri Books newsletter at bribookspod.com/newsletter.Follow @theBriGarden on Instagram for garden tours, growing hacks, and gardening secrets.

How to Get Started in the Garden Feat. Misilla + How to Engage Kids in Gardening

Welcome back to Bri Books! If you’re new to the show, leave a review of Bri Books on Apple Podcasts, and listen to Bri Books on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and SoundCloud! Please tell me what you're growing by using #bribooks on Instagram, and subscribe to the Bri Books newsletter at bribookspod.com/newsletter.Follow @theBriGarden on Instagram for garden tours, growing hacks, and gardening secrets.

In today's episode, we're talking about all things organic gardening, and how to grow your own food with Misilla of 'Learn to Grow.'

Whether you're starting your own garden or you haven't given it much thought, after this episode you'll be yearning to get your hands on some seeds. Misilla is the host of 'Learn to Grow,' a channel on YouTube with over 114,000 subscribers. She's a crafty mom of 4 living and working in the Pacific Northwest. Her videos and social posts consist of garden how-to's, growing hacks,  healthy living ideas, science experiments, DIY projects, and gardening inspo. Misilla's family has been growing food and farming for generations. She's passionate about inspiring others to grow their own food, and she's passionate about getting kids involved in the garden. 

Follow Misilla on Instagram @learntogrow

Garden-Fresh Cooking: How Infuse Healthy Harvest Foods Into Your Daily Diet

Welcome back to Bri Books! Today, we’re talking all things garden-fresh cooking with one of my favorite gardening creators, Sandria Kendrick of ‘A Beautiful Nest TV’ on YouTube and Instagram. Sandria’s content is all about growing confidence in the garden, building strong relationships, growing as a family, and teaching people to love the soil. In this episode, we dig into the cookbook ‘Rodale’s Gaden Fresh Cooking’ by Judith Benn Hurley and how to choose the best crops to grow in your garden. Sandria reveals what she’s learned about herself by getting ‘in the weeds,’ and she shares the recipes she finds herself returning to again and again.

• 1:40 - All about @abeautifulnestTV and how Sandria infuses love, authenticity and beauty into everything she does.

• 9:18 - Sandria’s soil story and her family's long lineage of farming and gardening, why Sandria decided to set down roots in the Georgia countryside, and Sandria and her husband planned their garden.

• 13:45 - Brionna’s grandmother story and how Brionna grew to love gardening, and how grandmothers inspire us to pass on traditions for generations.

• 16:10 - The crops Sandria didn’t expect to love, the easiest for you to grow, and how Sandria’s cooking style has changed since growing her own food.

• 26:40 - Sandria on Rodale’s 'Garden-Fresh Cooking' book by Judith Benn Hurley: I’ve been reading Rodale’s Organic Life for a long time, and I really enjoy it. I love that they have so many different topics for you to dig into--food, gardening, lifestyle. Everything's right there for you. It’s a great site. If you’re reading the recipe book, I know that’s amazing.”

• 27:25  - Sandria’s #BriBooks: “  Lemony Snicket” with her sons, “Better Homes and Gardens,” “Georgia Gardens.”

Find Sandria  on YouTube @abeautifulnestTV, on Instagram @abeautifunlest, Facebook @ABeautifulNest, and Twitter @abeautifulnest. Follow theBriGarden on Instagram, listen to Bri Books on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and show me your garden by using #bribooks on Instagram.

Welcome to Bri Books! Getting started in the garden can be tough, but there's one thing that'll make your gardening journey more productive: companion planting!  In this episode, I'm sharing 6 companion planting hacks you need to know if you want to grow strong.

Companion Planting for Beginners

• 1:11: What is companion planting? Companion planting is when two or more plants are grown near each other to benefit one or both of the plants. It's a tried-and-tested, ancient way to reduce pests, attract pollinators, and boost growth. I'm sharing a few common examples, although there are dozens. 

1. 2:00 - Basil and tomatoes: Basil plants deter moths which lay tomato hornworms, while simultaneously attracting bees (which help improve tomato polination.)

2. 3:00 - Peppers: Peppers are excellent companions to carrots, tomatoes, and onions. 

3. 3:30 - Tomatoes: Tomatoes love peppers, bush beans, and basil

4. 5:15 - Dill and flowers: Dill attracts ladybugs, which eat small garden pests like aphids and spider mites, while flowers attract pollinators to help with the job. 

5. 6:00 - Sunflowers and pole beans, cucumbers: Sunflowers provide support for climbing plants and shade for crops (like beans and cucumbers!), making it the perfect vertical companion planting garden. 

6. 7:00 - Lettuce: Lettuce helps tenderize radishes, and radishes deter cucumber bettles. Grow these two fast-growing crops together for delicious home-grown salads. 

Follow theBriGarden on Instagram, listen to Bri Books on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and show me your garden by using #bribooks on Instagram.

Welcome to Bri Books! Embarking on the journey of creating your garden is thrilling, but can also be filled with challenges. In this episode, I'm revealing the 10 most beginner-friendly garden fruits and veggies to grow, along with 3 garden-starting basics you need to know. 

3 Garden-Starting Basics

1. 1:20 - Don’t try to grow the grocery store! It’s easy to overwhelm yourself when you're beginning your garden journey. Instead, focus on growing the herbs, veggies, and fruits that you enjoy. Grow your garden through the lens of the crops you look forward to eating and cooking with. 

2. 2:45 - Keep pollinators top of mind! Growing a mix of flowers, herbs, and veggies helps the overall pollinator ecosystem. When in doubt, throw some flower seeds out! 

3. 3:20 - Get to know your land! Monitor and notice the amount of light your garden gets throughout the day, and keep track of soil conditions--what happens to the area during heavy rains? Intense heat? Does it have any shade. cover? You want your garden to be built in a sunny, well-draining area with nutrient-rich soil. 

10 Beginner-Friendly Crops

1. 4:15 - Salad greens, kale, and spinach: Starting your garden journey with green leafys is rewarding because they grow relatively quickly (seed to salad in 21-30 days). 

2. 5:00 - Cucumbers: Cucumbers can go from seed to salad in about 40-45 days. Cucumbers love cool weather, making them perfect for late spring. Pro tip: Trellis your cucumbers up the stems/ stalks of your sunflower plants! 

3. 5:50 - Zuchinni: Zuchinni thrives in the garden. Zuchinni plants grow wide and large, and the leaves arebeautiful and luscious, providing excellent shade for smaller plants. Zuchinni are tastiest when younger, so picking zucchini after about a week of growth helps to encourage more growth. 

4. 6:50 - Tomatoes: I recommend growing at least two varieites of tomatoes in your garden: one snacking tomato (sun gold, cherry tomatoes, etc), and one recipe tomato (Moneymaker, Beefsteak, Black Krim, etc.)

5. 7:30 - Beans or Peas: Peas and beans are great beginner-friendly and kid-friendly crops in the garden. Kids love to watch the pods form! They thrive during spring and summer, and well into fall.

6. 8:40 - Peppers: For beginners, growing peppers is a great idea. Focus on compact peppers like thai chili peppers, shishito peppers, and gochu peppers. These grow in compact bushes and keep producing until the end of season. 

7. 9:30 - Potatoes: The more you ignore potatoes, the more they love you. Potatoes grow well in solitude--once you plant them, leave them alone until the potato plant dies back, signaling that it’s time to harvest the tubers underground. For first-time gardeners, growing potatoes in a milk crate or felt container is easiest.

8. 10:35 - Herbs: Focus on growing the herbs you like to eat at home (like basil, rosemary, mint, lemon balm). Herbs are a great great starting point if you’re beginning your gardening journey and you're endeavoring to include more flavor in your daily meals.

9. 11:15 - Flowers: Flowers are a necessary (and often overlooked) part of the garden. Flowers like marigonlds, zinnia, calendula, cosmos, and nastirtium are beginner-friendly, thanks to their low-maintenance nature and ability to attract pollinators. 

10. 12:00 - Strawberries: Strawberries grow very well in containers, making them perfect for any and all gardens. Whether it’s in a hanging pot, a raised bed, or a felt container, strawberries are low-maintenance and high-yield. 

11. 12:30 - Radishes: Radishes can be sown as soon as early spring breaks through.  They go from seed to salad in about 21-30 days, a fastgrowing and nutrient-dense crop that helps kick off the season.

Follow theBriGarden on Instagram, listen to Bri Books on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and show me your garden by using #bribooks on Instagram.

Welcome to Bri Books, and Happy Earth Week! Today, I'm sharing the tips first-time gardeners need to know: how to start a vegetable garden, raised bed garden, herb garden, or kitchen garden without breaking the bank. These easy gardening tips and gardening hacks that'll make your life easier. Follow theBriGarden on Instagram, listen to Bri Books on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and show me your garden by using #bribooks on Instagram.  

• 1:30 - #1: Identify your USDA hardiness zone. The Hardiness Zone Map is the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. It's divided into 10-degree zones based on the average annual minimum winter temperature. According to the stats for Bri Books and the top markets that listen to the podcast, here's a cheat sheet for hardiness zones: NYC is zone 7, Chicago is zones 5 and 6, OKC is zone 7a, Philadelphia is 7a and 7b, LA is zone 9 and zone 10, Detroit is zone 6, and Houston is zone 9. 
• 3:10 - #2: Find your sunspots. Here’s how to identify North, South, East, and West: First, point your left arm towards the sun in the morning. Now, take your right hand and point it toward the west (stretch arms like you’re giving a hug.) You’re now facing south, and your back is facing north.
• 5:23 - #3: Find out your last frost date. It's important to know is how many weeks you have until your frost date is upon you. Find the frost dates at almanac.com, and then count backward how many weeks you have remaining until that day to calculate the number of weeks you have left in your traditional summer-autumn season. In NYC, our last spring frost was April 4 and our first fall frost is November 13, meaning NYC has 222 growing days in the year.
• 6:45 - #4: Select good soil, seeds, and supplies. I recommend beginning with a seedling mix like Black Gold from Sun Gro, or Epsoma Seed Starting Potting Mix. My favorite seed company is Botanical Interests, a company I’ve been celebrating for over 5 years now. The second resource I love for seeds is CaliKim Garden and Home. She has a great selection mix. A lof the mixes are good if you want to place one order and get a half dozen crops at your doorstep. Furthermore, Kitazawa Seeds is excellent for Asian heirlooms.  I’d also recommend Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm! They sell all the worms that are great for composting and adding overall health to your garden.
• 9:15 - #5: Pick the best short-term and long-term containers for your plants. Keep vertical growing in mind when it comes to space. Listen to a recent episode of Bri Books about 8 garden-starting hacks for details on how to begin seeds on your window sill in an egg carton or fruit carton.  

Follow theBriGarden on Instagram, listen to Bri Books on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and show me your garden by using #bribooks on Instagram.

Welcome back to Bri Books. In this episode, I’m sharing my garden starter hacks, including a gardening method I created myself! This method has taken my gardening and succession planting to the next level when it comes to growing my own food. I call this my "theBriGarden Breakfast Gardening Method." I created and coined it myself for @theBriGarden. It revolves around repurposing food waste to create a food bounty. Who would've thought breakfast is so ripe for gardening!?

Follow @theBriGarden on Instagram for garden tours, growing hacks, and gardening secrets. If you’re new to the show, leave a review of Bri Books on Apple Podcasts, and listen to Bri Books on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and SoundCloud! Please tell me what you're sipping by using #bribooks on Instagram, and subscribe to the Bri Books newsletter at bribookspod.com/newsletter.Follow @theBriGarden on Instagram for garden tours, growing hacks, and gardening secrets.

8 Garden-Starting Hacks to Get You Growing in 2024

• 1:45 - Hack #1: Reuse egg water! Hard-bouled eggs release a trace amount of calcium into the water, and calcium is a mineral all plants need. It’s a great idea to use hard-boiled egg water for your plants. Plants can benefit from calcium boost in hard-boiled egg water
• 2:45 - Hack #2: Eggshell planters! If you take your eggshells and break out the top, leaving ¾ of eggshell intact, that’s a great container for starting seeds. You can begin so many seeds in eggshells, which are rich in calcium. Using eggshells whole can help recycle your breakfast food scraps.
• 3:40 - Hack #3: Eggshell fertilizer! Crushed eggshells are a great way to inject calcium into your garden and help deter slugs and garden pests. I created a fun TikTok of how to use eggshells in your garden.
• 4:10 - Hack #4: Coffee! Put your used coffee grounds in the soil to boost nitrogen in the soil and provide an acidity boost. It's the next best thing to organic fertilizer. Make sure you grind it up very fine so that the plants can receive the nutrients.
• 4:55 - Hack #5: Sprinkle of cinnamon! Cinnamon helps to fight off bacteria and fungus that causes damping, a disease that waterlogs the stem of the plant and stalls out the seedlings before they can grow. Cinnamon helps to deter this disease, so add a tiny pinch to your potting soil to keep your seedlings growing strong.
• 5:30- Hack #6: Egg cartons! Use egg cartons as seed starters to start seeds indoors on a regular basis. If a dozen eggs run out in 2 weeks in your house, that’s enough time to get another succession planting round going in that empty carton without having to buy any supplies. Fill the empty eggshells with soil, plant a seed inside it, and place the seeded eggshell the egg carton on a window sill.
• 6:30 - Hack #7: Fruit boxes! Containers that your produce comes in is great to reuse as transplant containers. Before the seeds go into container gardens or into the ground, use these fruit boxes to help your plants mature is a great way to make your morning fruit snacking pay off.
• 7:15 - Hack #8: Coffee filters! Re-use coffee filters to line the bottoms of your pots and containers. Voila, leak-free gardening!

Want to see the garden in action? Follow @theBriGarden on Instagram for garden tours, growing hacks, and gardening secrets for first-time growers. Leave a review of Bri Books on Apple Podcasts, and listen to Bri Books on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and SoundCloud! Please tell me what you're growing by using #bribooks on Instagram, and subscribe to the Bri Books newsletter at bribookspod.com/newsletter. Follow @theBriGarden on Instagram for garden tours, growing hacks, and gardening secrets.

Welcome to Bri Books! Today, we’re dissecting 5 ingenious wedding trends of 2024 that you’re bound to see everywhere. Listen to the most recent episode, “Top 5 Bridal Trends of 2024: Part One” for even more inspiration. This episode is about wedding industry-wide trends, and what you can expect in 2024. Whether you’re the guest, the host, or one of the intended, these wedding trends will get your juices flowing. We did all the things for the bride last time, so now let’s take it to everyone else. Here are a few quick trends that are taking over the wedding industry. 

1. Micro-weddings: This trend has been years in the making (predated the pandemic), and it’s only going stronger in 2024. Some folks pack out cathedrals, others love a chic, curated courthouse affair. Micro-weddings often look like elopement or private civil ceremonies, followed by modest dinners.  Micro-weddings are growing not just as a result of rising prices of weddings, but as a throwback to more intimate nuptial affairs.

2. Long cakes: Viva la long cake! In the early January NYT article, "These Wedding Cakes Are Going to Great Lengths", the wedding cake of Rachel Karten (founder of Link in Bio) was featured—a massive, multi-color, multi-foot long slab of deliciousness. 

3. Daytrip weddings: I personally love this concept. If you’re in a particularly scenic state or country, consider a daytrip wedding, especially if it’s a day-long or one night overnight affair. If you're getting married in a small ceremony or privately, consider doing a daytrip to a gorgeous farm, setting, etc. to exchange vows.

4. Intimate dinner party weddings and afterparties:  After the altar is the afterparty! More and more, couples are opting for a debaucherous, energy-fueled afterparty to keep the vibes going. Renting out a chic hotel bar or even a restaurant can deliver the after party vibes. Bonus points if there’s a kitschy element like takeout  food, nostalgic small bites, etc. feel free to be lo-fi and grungy.  I think an intimate dinner party can bring an air of casualness to wedding festivities. It’s also easier to get around and see all of your friends/ do the general socializing at a dinner party vs a more formal seated dinner.  

5. Off-season travel: Paging Portugal! You may see more off-season and left-of-center wedding destinations crop up in your invites. Portugal is well known, also consider Chile, parts of Mexico (San Miguel de Allende), Ecuador, Portugal, Costa Rica, Belize, and other less-traveled destinations.