BRITT'S BLOG
Who is Britt and Why is She Here?
By Britt Gilley
Hello, darling people. I know you probably just read about me on the front page of my website, but this is my blog and I’m about to get a lot more detailed back here.
First of all, I want to dive into what my blog section will feature and why. You might know the answer (hint, hint – I’m a fashion, beauty, and lifestyle copywriter so those topics would be your best guess). But why? Why would I write about these things when I’m supposed to be writing for clients about these things?
Well, I want to write a few blogs/articles about fashion, beauty, and lifestyle in my own voice. I want you to get a sense of who I am back here in the “blog section.” However, did you know that if I write for you I can write in your voice too? Hey girl, heeey. Call me a brand voice ventriloquist.
So, what do fashion, beauty, and lifestyle have to do with Britt?
Well, I’m Britt, the copywriter lurking in these back pages waiting for you to call me! (Are your ears ringing yet?) And when I had to niche down, I decided some of the topics I loved to write about most were fashion, beauty, and lifestyle. These things are fun, exciting, and add good vibes to my life. But if you don’t want to talk about those 3 things, that’s absolutely ok too.
But maybe you aren’t quite sure I’m the right fit for you. And that’s fine. But I urge you to read on and see how you feel after a few paragraphs.
I want to start off by letting you know who and what my favorite topics and people are to write for and about. So buckle up and keep reading.
I seriously love writing about…
- Women-owned companies. Listen, I’m a married woman who loves my husband. I have nothing against men… but ladies! We are incredible! And this is an exciting time to be alive because look at all we have accomplished in the last 15 years. It’s inspiring and I love cheering you all on every chance I get!
- All things parenting. Yes, I love my fashion, beauty, and lifestyle niche. But I also love my kids. After having three kids in four years, I have been through it. Diagnosis’, sleeplessness, sickness, moving, job loss with kids, school, allergies, tears, laughter, joy, sorrow, body-after-baby, tweens (yikes), puberty, etc. No parenting topic is off the table. I’m here for it.
- Fashion, beauty, and lifestyle. Yea – that encompasses a lot. But these three topics go hand-in-hand in most cases, and these subjects are my jam. Whether we are discussing colors, how-to’s, ingredients in make-up, or fabrics, styles, and trends in fashion, I’m your girl. Lifestyle is the umbrella that fashion and beauty are under. So whatever it is you want me to write about, let me hear it!
- Relationships. I’ve been married for a while. It’s certainly sunshine and roses a lot of the time. But it also can be heavy rains and heavy hearts. Let’s tackle it.
- Spirituality. Without God in my life, I wouldn’t be as grounded as I am. He is my anchor and through Him, I have gotten through some really dark days. Have you too? I want to hear about it.
- Cats. I said what I said. You’re either team cat, or you’re not.
- Coffee and/or wine. Sign me up. Do you want the dark, rich, robust liquids featured on your website? I’ll drink to that. In fact, let’s pour ourselves a cup o’ joe while we chat about your goals!
Whatever floats your boat, I’m your girl.
What I really want is for you to come to me with the confidence that I will be the best damn copywriter you’ve ever worked with.
Your goals are my goals.
Let’s discuss my client process for a minute because it’s nice to know what to expect when you work with me. I want to make my process easy for you and hopefully that’s refreshing! It doesn’t need to be complicated.
First of all, because your time is valuable, we will have a short 15-minute discovery call. (Unless you want to stay awhile, we can stretch it out.)
On this call, we will go over your wants and needs. I’ll ask you as many questions as I can so that my copywriting completely reflects your brand and your voice. Your mission is extremely important so we’ll chat about what that is and how we will complete it.
I always use Google Docs. I’m not a ‘Microsoft Word’ document copywriter. I can’t do all that I need to do with that software so if you want to use my services, Google is where it’s at.
I will send you a proposal through Google Docs. If all looks good, a legally binding contract will follow. It’s pretty short and sweet, but it protects both you and me.
I require a 50% deposit before I start writing and the remaining balance will be due upon delivery of the first draft. You’ll get two rounds of edits and then voila! Your final piece will be wrapped in a pretty little bow and emailed to you.
My turnaround time is dependent on a few factors, but I’m efficient and you can expect a relatively quick turnaround.
If all of this sounds fantastic, keep reading!
Are you sold yet? If you still have some questions, contact me, please!
But just so you know, most of my tactics are going to organically move your website up the google ladder in a way that offers a great ROI. Nothing is better than that!
I can whip up headlines that will make your competitors weep. I’ll write product descriptions so compelling, your customers will feel like they missed out because they didn’t buy it, like, yesterday. And when it comes to email marketing, my open rates are so high, they're practically in outer space. (Wow, that one was cheesy but sometimes cheesy is what works.)
Most importantly, I promise to always, always implement SEO. Plus, infuse your brand with personality, humor, and a touch of quirkiness if that’s what you want. Then again, if you need professional, serious, and/or educational, let’s do it!
In short, I'm not just a regular copywriter. I'm a copywriter with panache, flair, empathy, seriousness, and, when needed, a sense of humor. So if you want to take your brand from "meh" to "wowza," let's chat. I promise to bring my A-game and my coffee game (because let's be real, coffee is the real secret to good writing).
Even if you aren’t looking for fashion, beauty, or lifestyle pieces, I can still be the writer your business needs.
So call me. You won’t regret it.
5 Beauty Trends that are Sweeping the Nation
By Britt Gilley
Wow. Just wow. The world of beauty has exploded in the last five years. It’s fun, it’s exciting, and if you love makeup, you’re totally vibing in today's world, #amiright? It doesn’t mean there haven't been huge beauty trends throughout the decades. Let’s look at where it all started and where we ended up:
- The 40s had the heavy “rouge,” wavy curls, and red lips.
- The 50s wore “old holly-wood” glam curls and thick foundation to create a “creamier” appearance.
- The 60s introduced us to fake lashes. But they usually applied them on both the top and bottom lashes! (Can you imagine putting fake lashes on your lowers? Yikes!)
- The 70s taught us how to do winged eyeliner and wear pastel eyeshadows.
- The 80s displayed bold eyeliner and bushy brows.
- The 90s embraced matted makeup. A pale face with dark maroon/brown lips was all the rage.
- The early 2000s started a trend of ultra-thin eyebrows, shimmery eyelids, and high-contrast lip-liner.
But now we are in 2023, and if you haven't noticed, everyone these days is looking good as hell! And no – it’s not cheap! But here we are.
Let’s talk about each beauty trend that is having a major moment.
Number one on the list of beauty trends is hair extensions.
While hair extensions are nothing new, they are hot, hot, hot right now and can be done in every single bougie salon out there!
Way back in the day, only celebrities got extensions. Now? Everyone you meet seems to be sporting them!
Extensions are not just for adding length anymore. Most women simply have them to add fullness to their hair.
They are weaved into a woman’s hair with a needle and thread. It is a pricey beauty trend that takes a few hours, but the result is thick, healthy, beautiful hair. You will need to get them tightened/pushed up every 6-8 weeks, but if you can afford it, you will never regret it.
The second beauty trend that is gaining popularity is powdering your brows.
Brows have been living their best lives for the last few years. Having thick, pronounced brows is insanely popular right now, even though 20 year’s ago thick brows were the worst thing that could happen to someone. What a change! Now brows live by the motto: the thicker, the better.
But it took a minute to get here.Microblading was all the rage just 6-8 years ago. Microblading is tattooed brows that give you a more “natural” look… Fullness and arched, yes, but you can see the individual hairs so it looks more like you rolled out of bed but had great eyebrows at the same time. Great, but not as full.
But the Powdered brow beauty trend (say that five times fast!) gives you thicker, darker, more “glam” brows. If you are someone who doesn’t leave the house without shaping her brows to perfection with zero skin showing through, powdering is for you. It’s meant to give you a “wow” brow. You’ll have tons of definition and thick coloring so that you won’t have to “do” your brows. Ever.
Coming in hot is lip blushing!
This is not the tattooed makeup of the early 2000s. No way. This semi-permanent makeup enhances your natural lip color for 2-3 years. Yes, this beauty trend is a tattoo. But is “now performed by aestheticians rather than traditional tattoo artists (as it was in decades past), [and] uses organic pigments and modern, digital tools that feature several needle configurations instead of one harsh setting.”1 Basically, it’s permanent makeup that looks natural and gorgeous. Say goodbye to pale, skin-colored lips!
Another beauty trend seen on everyone’s Instagram is creamy makeup.
We all remember how hot LipSense was a few years back, right? Well, when LipSense exploded, more people became aware of their actual company, Senegence. And Senegence was one of the first in the makeup industry that proved how amazing creamy makeup could be. Sure, there were plenty of brands before Senegence that offered cream-based makeup. But with LipSense rocking the beauty industry – seemingly overnight– their entire brand exploded. Since then, makeup brands have produced their own lines of creamy makeup and the results are Within that realm, makeup sticks are everywhere. No, they are not all created equal. The higher-quality makeup sticks can cost you a pretty penny, but unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve heard of them. The quality and ease of using these cream-based sticks justify the cash you’ll throw at them. They’re long-lasting, easy to apply, and save you so much time!
And finally, the beauty trend you shouldn’t live without – highlighter.
No. Not on your hair. On your face. This one skyrocketed a few years back during the Summer months. But now, women are rocking highlighter even on the bleakest Winter days. And if you aren’t putting it where it needs to go, you’ll just look shiny. And not in a good way. When 2017 taught us to put contour along our jaw lines, upper cheekbones, and close to our hairline, highlighter came in and said “I’ll see your contour lines and raise you two.” Essentially, keep the contour in places, but double the highlight.
Highlighter can accentuate your bone structure, give you a dewy, healthy look, reflect light, and just looks so damn good.
The best places to highlight your face are right below your eyebrows, forehead, chin, bridge of the nose, cupids bow on the lips, and cheekbones.
The best thing about highlighter is… ding, ding, ding – the cost! This is the one beauty trend you can afford, no matter what. Of course, there are expensive highlighters out there. And the cream-based sticks we mentioned earlier certainly jumped on the highlighter train. But you can get it for such a low cost almost anywhere. So take advantage!
So if you’re looking for semi-permanent hair, brow, and lip upgrades, do some research to find the best esthetician for your needs and go for it!
As far as makeup goes, you can find high-quality beauty sticks at Sephora, Ulta, Mac, and online too (there are plenty online). Just be careful because cheap sticks don’t blend and don’t last long on your face. But highlighter can be found at your local Walmart if that’s what you need – so get your glow on!
Hair and makeup are always fun to play with. Whether you’re going to an event or just meeting a friend for coffee, you deserve to feel good – with or without makeup, brows, and extensions!
Whatever beautiful means to you is all that matters!
“It’s not me. It’s you.” How to make mom friends today.
By Britt Gilley
In the era of online dating, we can easily swipe right or left depending on our first virtual impression of someone.
But what do you do when there is no “mom app” for finding mom friends?
Being a mom without friends is one of the loneliest places to be.
Right now, it seems like everyone is moving in and out of cities. When the housing market exploded in 2020, everyone seemed to pack up and move! And although it’s slowed down significantly (thanks to insanely high-interest rates), there still seems to be more movement than ever.
Moms wanting to find mom friends in their new city is happening all over the United States. But it doesn’t happen overnight, and the “in-between” can feel isolating.
Plus, if we’re being honest, not all mom friends are created equal.
There is a vetting process between moms, just as there is between finding a significant other. You might stumble across an uber-friendly mom, just to discover, hours into your budding friendship that feels exciting, she turns into a pushy MLMer. Oof. Not the sneak-attack MLMers! Please, God, no. You saw her as a future mom friend; she saw you as a future mom customer.
Or perhaps you hit it off with a mom at a birthday party. That led to “Let’s go for drinks sometime!” And that led to a discussion about politics. And while it’s absolutely OK to have differing views on who you voted for and why, it’s never OK to yell, get heated, or put people down for their beliefs. Unfortunately, that is the reality now more than ever. With everyone fighting over policies and politicians, the divide is intimidating, to say the least. Closing that door on that potential mom friendship is a-ok!
This is when you can certainly entertain the frustration of “it’s not me… it’s you,” and not feel guilty about it!
So what then? Are all mom friendships doomed?
Nope. Not even close. But there are things to be wary of.
There are good and bad about where we are today. We are in a society of bluntness, tiptoeing, and everything in-between right now in 2023. We want to speak our truth and express our feelings at all times, but we also know that we need to be PC so as to not offend anyone.
How do you stay in your lane of authenticity without being able to speak from your heart? Those of us who can be truthful and kind all at once are scattered… but there is hope. Many mom’s out there who feel the desperation of fitting in without offending others are not as widespread as you think. They’re looking for kind mom friends too! We just might not be as loud as those who speak their mind. We hunker down. We observe. And after feeling that spark of a connection, we can let our guard down a little bit.
There is a lot to be said about people who don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings, but at the same time, want to clearly express themselves. If that’s you, mama, listen up: just be nice. Speak your truth in a friendly manner and respect other people’s differences.
This is not to say you should always allow in those bulldozer personalities. You know, the ones that treat you like a doormat. Make sure to set boundaries – but if you’re being authentic and just plain nice, you’re scooting over to make room for some great new friends in your life.
The best way to form a friendship with a mom takes minimal courage.
The good news is, there is plenty of opportunity to make mom friends during all seasons of mom-hood.
You're a mom. You take your kids places that have other moms. All you have to do is say hello, and ask how old their kids are. This literally opens the door to conversation with every mom on the planet. As a mom, you’re going to be at the pool, sports games, sports practices, parks, and the biggest one: at your kids' school.
Go up to a mom – any mom – and say “How old is your son/daughter?” They will answer. Hopefully, they’ll reciprocate and ask you. Then you continue “What’s their name? Is he/she your only child?” Boom. You’re suddenly talking to a potential mom friend.
And I know what you’re thinking – this doesn’t weed out political fanatics and intense MLMers. Unfortunately, you’re still gonna run into people who treat you badly. So if you have found yourself among someone that doesn’t vibe with you, it’s onto the next. Luckily, finding the next potential mom friend is just as easy as finding that not-so-great one. Don’t get discouraged, just move on in your journey.
Onward and upward, right?
Being a mom means there are potential mom friends everywhere you go.
And hey, maybe you will meet an MLMer who is great at taking “no” for an answer and you can continue to forge a friendship. But make sure who you eventually connect with is someone you don’t have to always tip-toe around. That comfort will take time, but it will happen.
Every single mom in this world has something in common. They earned the title “Mom” because they have a child, no matter how that child came to be. They have felt a truer, deeper love than ever before when a baby/child entered their life. They’ve felt their hearts beating outside their bodies. Their world was made bigger and smaller at the same time when they became Mamas. They are a mom, just like you.
When you have that universal connection, it’s not impossible to find other links that will connect you. One link at a time is how you will find those treasured friendships. The more links, the deeper you’ll connect. It’s ok to have a short chain with someone, and a longer chain with others. The important thing is to remember that we are all humans looking for companionship. Strike up a conversation any time. It’s not going to hurt you or them.
If you value them, and they value you, you can choose to say “It is me. And it is you. Hi, friend.”