Auto-Refill: Our favorite beauty pros share the products they love — the ones so good they’ll make you hit that little “auto-refill” box at checkout.
Photo: Kiran Gidda
If anybody was born to be an entrepreneur, it’s Sharmadean Reid. “It’s very hard for me to focus on not starting new things all the time,” she tells The Cut. At 24-years-old, she launched her first business venture, WAH Nails salon, in 2009 after noticing that London’s nail scene lacked the creativity she saw in places like Japan and Los Angeles. Images of the salon’s nail art frequently went viral on Tumblr and Instagram, “and that’s when I realized how powerful beauty was,” Reid says.
After the salon, she started Beautystack, a booking system for beauty professionals. That gave way to The Stack World, a platform that uplifts and connects ambitious women. Her latest is a bath and body brand based on ancient bathing rituals. The 41-year-old says she wanted to create a business that didn’t feel like work — one that built upon the things she does every day anyway. Reid decided to combine her love for bathing with her habit of reading history books and documentaries about the ancient world, and 39BC was born. Below, read all about her “wardrobe of products,” what she eats to support her skin, and her two-bath-a-day habit.
In the mornings, I wash my face with a CeraVe Renewing SA cleanser or the SkinCeuticals foaming cleanser. Then, I put on a serum. My go-to is the Reome Active Recovery Broth or the SkinCeuticals CE Ferulic. A facialist introduced me to that vitamin C serum about 10 years ago, and every time I stop using it, I just don’t look as good. It keeps me looking even, bright and clean. Up until two years ago, I didn’t really wear sunscreen because I love the sun, and I like being Black. But then, I started to genuinely notice sun damage on my face for the first time, which means it’s already too late. I will now put on sunscreen. I use the La Roche-Posay Anthelios Ultra Light Fluid Face Sunscreen. I’ve tried so many, but that’s the only one that won’t look weird under my makeup. Then, I put my makeup on, because I feel like my foundation locks in my skincare.
At nighttime, I start with the Beauty of Joseon cleansing oil. I also use the Humanrace rice powder cleanser, the CeraVe gel cleanser again, and finally the Medik8 Clarifying foam cleanser. I wash my face a lot because I think bacteria and city dirt and pollution make your skin unhealthy. If I want to exfoliate, I use the Biologique Recherche P50 toner, which I’ve been using for years. I apply the Medik8 Intelligent Retinol 3TR one or twice a week. I like that one because it’s oily.
Then, I put on an oil or a thick cream all over my face. Oils are what keep my skin looking plump. I love the Solar Oil by Sifali, which is a brand based in London. But I like picking up natural oils from all over the world. I was in Senegal recently, and I bought baobab tree oil, which was insane and so silky. If I’ve been traveling or my skin barrier has been compromised. I’ll only put pure virgin coconut oil on my face before bed and go to sleep. If I use a cream, I love Medik8’s Advanced Night Restore cream and Reome’s Biogenic Melting cream. But the night cream I stan is Clinique’s Dramatically Different Moisturizing one. The first high-end beauty product I bought was the Clinique three-step system when I was 15-years-old, and then I never touched Clinique again. I re-bought the moisturizer purely for nostalgic purposes, and I kept it on the side of the counter because I thought the bottle looked cool. But I find that it is actually the best oily, creamy moisturizer. I always put La Mer’s lip balm on before bed as well.
I eat a lot for my skin. I’ll eat avocado and salmon. I won’t have as much sugar. I try to eat foods that are naturally fatty. If I eat chicken, I always eat chicken thighs, because they’re naturally fatty. I make very conscious choices based on what I think is going to make me look good, and wine completely makes me look terrible. If I drink wine, I look my age. So I can only drink whiskey, because it does nothing to me. It probably makes me look better, but wine makes me look haggard.
I bathe twice a day. In the morning, I pour a bit of 39BC oil body cleanser in the bath. I usually use the sage one, because it wakes me up. After I wash my face, I meditate, prepare for the day in the morning. To wash my body, I use a natural loofah with some more of the body cleanser. I also press a foot gua sha into the soles of my feet to wake my body up. In the evening, I’ll use the 39BC cleanser in silk veil, denarii, or fig milk and wash my whole body with the loofah. I watch TV in the bath. I’ll just keep topping up the water for an hour. I love it. Once I get out of the bath, I dry myself and oil my body. Right now, I’m using an orange blossom-scented oil that someone got me from Morocco.
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That’s where I got the coconut oil from, because in Jamaica, they make coconut oil from scratch. And bathing, too — my mom would bathe a lot with salts and while using mud masks. A lot of people in my family use the Aztec clay mask.
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My makeup routine takes seven minutes. I use Fenty’s Beauty Pro Filt’r foundation in 390. I like Saie Dew blush on my cheeks and a bit on my nose. The other blush that I’m so impressed by is the Milk Makeup jelly one. Whereas blush normally wears off throughout the day, that one gets more intense. I also put a bit of Charlotte Tilbury’s liquid highlighter on my nose, and I’ll use her setting powder. I go through so much eyebrow gel that I don’t want to spend a lot on it, so I use a cheap Rimmel one. I line underneath my brows with the Mac eyebrow pencil because it’s so thin. I use the Mac Studio Radiance concealer, which makes my under-eyes look nice. I apply the Mac eyeshadow in Swiss Chocolate on my lid with the Dior liquid eyeliner. I always have lash extensions, so I never wear mascara. I line my lips with the Mac lip liner in Chestnut, which every Black girl uses. I have hundreds of them everywhere. I’m obsessed with the Fenty Beauty lip gloss.
I’ve been going to the same place for my lashes for years. It’s called Yuki of London. I go there every three weeks for 30 minutes, and she fills my lashes. I get a lot of massages. No matter where I am in the world, if I walk past a Chinese reflexology foot massage place, I’ll walk in and have it done. I’m a big believer in touch and massage, and I love getting my feet massaged. A life hack is not waiting until you’re totally burnt out and then doing a wellness retreat and instead doing a bit of wellness every day. I also like getting Hydrafacials.
I get my hair braided every six to eight weeks, because again, I’m lazy and want to minimize my routine. In between braiding, it could be from one to seven days, but I don’t like my hair out for that long. I just can’t be bothered to do it every day. My braider comes to my house or my office, and she does a full head of box braids in three-and-a-half hours. When I take my braids out, I go to the sauna and put oils in my scalp and steam my hair so that the curl pattern comes back.
Then, I wash my hair with whatever sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner are lying around. I comb my hair to get all the dead hairs out. Then, I do four big braids with loads of oil. I basically drench my scalp, because when my hair’s in braids, I don’t oil it frequently because it attracts dirt. I use Lush hair products — the shea butter, scalp treatment, and conditioning spray — to hydrate my scalp again. I credit those with helping me grow my hair massively. I soak my hair again in whatever natural oils I’ve got lying around, and I wash it again in the morning before I get it blow-dried and trimmed at Charlotte Mensah in Notting Hill or Bleach London.
I have lower back issues, so my number one thing is to do Jivamukti yoga and Pilates. I wouldn’t call myself a Pilates girly, but when my back is bad, I’ll do a Pilates session. For yoga, I like going to Love Supreme Project in West London. I do their Zoom sessions. I also go on the cross trainer to keep my spine flexible. But my ultimate wellness practice is walking in the forests that are by my house, especially when I’m having a bad mental health day. I walk alone with trees all around me, and I’m happy again.
