How tf is it June already? Our busiest season of the year is back and with it another edition of ‘Sh*t Our Founders Are Simping For’ featuring everything from the caffeine that’s kept us churning out content after a long weekend of non-stop dancing to candles we’ve been using to find calm amidst the chaos and ride-or-die brands we’ve been repping again this festival season. You know the drill, here’s everything the duo behind Broke Magazine are down bad for rn…
NAMED COLLECTIVE – PREY FAUX FUR ZIP HOODIE & MALFUNCTION BUNNY ZIP HOODIE
While we initially copped these hoodies with the intention of saving ’em for fezzie season, nothing gets us gassed like new NAMED COLLECTIVE garms so we’ve been breaking these babies in over the past few months before they no doubt get a little grubby while we galavant between events across the UK. Easy to slip on and off when you’re feeling a lil messy, the streetwear brand’s zip ups sorted us right out last year for ripping off layers in stuffy energy-fuelled tents and getting cosy again for those chilly walks between stages in the woods (all whilst keeping us looking fire af).
MELLER – NATHY SUNNIES & NAYAH SUNNIES
Losing sunnies during fezzie season is a right of passage (albeit a painful one) and after saying goodbye to far too many faves in the midst of sweaty daytime dance floors and cosy late-night tents during last year’s three month long sesh, our stash was in dire need of a restock. Thankfully mother Meller have sorted us out once again, so we can stay repping the sauciest shades you’ll find from here to Barcelona for another season of boogying and these pairs couldn’t be more suited coming straight outta a collab with the queen of soul, hip hop and world music herself, Nathy Peluso.
TESORO – STARTER SET, ZEN & MINDFULNESS CANDLE
Between raving, reviewing and churning out content, we’re also tryna keep our selves sane and Tesoro has been an absolute saviour! A fellow female-founded brand creating designs made with protecting mother nature in mind, we’ve been using these scents to keep us calm and grounded amid all the chaos from scenting our at-home yoga zone (aka living room with a mat thrown on the floor) to keeping us zen during late night writing sessions with scents so delicious we lowkey wanna scran them. Made from fully recyclable packaging down to the alluminum refill containers, we honestly can’t rate these highly enough.
HAIRSTORY – HAIR BALM, PRE WASH, BOND SYRUM & NEW WASH BOND BOOST SET
Ngl, our haircare routine was lacking a little and with a lot of camping festivals on the cards this year we concluded that giving our strands some TLC before heading to an event would be less time-consuming than tryna battle the bird’s nest our hair turns into after hours of raving in the elements, in a tiny tent, at 2am. After trying and testing this Hairstory combo for the last couple weeks, we’ll be making it a staple in our pre-festival routine and it’d be a crime not to share it – all you’ll need to bring is a lil bottle of oil to battle any potential frizz to save hours of faffing fr.
RITUALS – AYURVEDA HAIR & BODY MIST
Our fezzie calendar can be a little chaotic, and one phrase that gets bounced around a lot is “God we need a spa day after this”. Being long-time Rituals buffs, mainly due to their natural ingredients and goddess-like scents, we recently discovered this little bottle of relaxation from their Ayurveda collection. While it’s labelled as a hair and body mist, we’ve been using this for everything from feeling overstimulated on the dance floor to bringing us back to earth during moments of stress in daily life and frankly just ti zen tf out with a quick spray that mentally transports us there.
TRÜ FRÜ – NATURE’S BLUEBERRIES & NATURE’S BANANAS CHOCOLATE COVERED FRUIT
We go through trü frü faster than water in the Broke house and feel a little lost when we don’t have some in the freezer, so when these two new flavours landed in our lap it took less than 5 seconds for us to rip open a pack, slap on the new Paddington movie and start scranning. We don’t know whether it’s the crunch of the chocolate, sweetness of the fruit or overall frozen chill that had us gagging for these on a daily (they’re especially good on hot days fyi), but every flavour slaps and they’ve turned us into proper little snack gremlins.
FACE JUNKIE – HERO COLLECTION SKINCARE BUNDLE
After being gifted a set of these by the lovely lot over at Face Junkie back in December we found ourselves scraping out the final dregs of our kit (which lasted over 3 months we might add) and we’re so stunned by the, formulas, natural scents, vegan ingredients and cruelty-free approach that we didn’t think twice about heading straight to their website and buying ourselves another set, it’s not often we include the same product twice but we truly really big up this brand enough.
ETSY – DISCO BALL PLANT HANGER
We’d lowkey like to live inside a disco ball, so when it comes to our house plants (Marge, Gaia, the list goes on…) we can only assume they’d want to as well? (We did raise ’em after all). Nothing brings us more joy than having one of these hanging around the house and after positioning them in our windows, a new highlight of the day is watching the early afternoon sun sprinkle rainbows across the space (perfect excuse to put some tunes on and dance around the living room).
WATERSTONES – MOON PHASES NOTEBOOK
We’ve really leaned into the power behind our all-women core unit at the heart of Broke this month, reconvening and reconnecting in our favourite place on earth, the dance floor. After long days of raving we’ve returned home, made teas, done tarot, talked about all the stuff we’ve manifested recently and ways to return to our natural cyclic rhythms influenced by the moon. After nipping into a local Waterstones and spotting this on the shelf with it’s front cover perfectly tracking the lunar phases, it seemed only right to snag it as a meditation journal (isn’t she such a slay??)
LUSH – LIBERATION BATH BOMB & KARMA MASSAGE BAR
LUSH is never late to the game on doing things the right way, pioneering cruelty-free body care, always using natural ingredients and calling out f*cked-up politics, it’s a place we’re always happy to spend our ps and after a recent trip to pick up our favourite Karma massage bar – which smells otherworldly btw and is an elite choice to kick off any at-home sxy sessions 😉 – we rate them even more with the release of their Liberation bath bomb. Created to stand up for trans rights in the wake of the bullsh*t recent Supreme Court ruling, 75% of profits from the product are donated to organisations advocating for trans rights, supporting the trans community, and uplifting trans voices including Trans Liberation Campaign, TransActual, My Genderation and TENI.
ONOMA HEALTH – TRACT TONIC
There’s no bigger ball ache (metaphorically speaking) than waking up with a UTI outta nowhere, the discomfort, trekking to track down cranberry juice and tryna get booked in with a GP is an absolute day ruiner and with a load of lit events on the horizon. We’re not risking it (too many places to be). Female-founded brand, Onoma’s is taking the taboo out of the topic (SLAY bc let’s normalise talking about women’s healthcare pls) with their Tract Tonic made for urinary health which has been serving us WELL. For any gals prone to flare-ups or looking to have some tent fun this season, they gotchu with protection against any pesky pop-ups.
FUDGE PROFESSIONAL – BOND BUILDING SHAMPOO & CONDITIONER
We’ve been dabbling with at-home bleach for a long time and let us tell you, we have learned all the hacks the HARD WAY. After a traumatic brown-to-silver experiment back in uni that took two years to recover from, we don’t f*ck around anymore without some bonding protection and this shampoo was a ride-or-die during a recent bleach bath to brighten the red in Lorna’s hair, after a generous coat of the conditioner we could barely even tell it had been touched – big up Fudge Professional!
EVERYDAY PHENOMENAL – BLUE STAR T-SHIRT & MINT GREEN STAR JUMPER
We’ve been learning to balance work and well-being over the past few months, breaking up the grind with grounding through yoga and meditation. After doing some digging to find an ethical workout brand, with breezy designs that’d keep us cool under the blazing sun while we bend around in nature, we found Everyday Phenomenal and their 100% organic cotton garms. Crafting with eco-conscious fabrics, minimising their packing and using compostable materials for the bits they do need to create, the brand makes sure not a single part of their process harms the planet, oceans, or the life they home and we f*ck that.
RUDE HEALTH – ICED OAT LATTE & ICED MOCHA
Full disclosure, we tend to lean more towards Matcha these days, but these ‘Rude Health’ iced coffees couldn’t have arrived at a more convenient time, during our busiest period when we need a buzz to bang out some features and do some email admin, we’ve been able to pull these right outta the fridge instead of trekking to the nearest coffee shop, they don’t get our heart racing the way other caffeine does and over some ice they really hit the spot, 10/10 would recommend.
BLENDSMITHS – GINGER SHOT, MANGO & GINGER SHOT, HOW GOOD! LEMON & GINGER SODA & HOW GOOD! MINT & THYME SODA
We’ve been absolutely rinsing this combo by Blendsmith’s over the past few days, ginger shot to shock us awake in the morning followed by a soda to keep us ticking in the afternoon. All made with all natural ingredients that actually benefit you from Ashwagandha to Rhodiola – two godsend ingredients for our AHDH team – as people who back fizzy drinks like water but are constantly worrying about their effect on our body, we honestly can’t gass them up enough.