Weekend Read 13 February 2021

Weekend Read 13 February 2021

We shall endure, yes we will.  With Mercury in retrograde it would appear that the planets are crashing and any number of things seem to be going wrong.  This would include our site doing weird things over the past couple of weeks, but we shall overcome because we are intrepid.  And I think that’s the thing really, with so many bumps in the road, we need to kick these hurdles into touch and be strong in our resolve that tomorrow is another day and all things will be better and brighter, given time.

The dictionary definition of the word ‘intrepid’ is characterised by resolute fearlessness, fortitude and endurance.  And yet what is fear.  Another definition of that word is ‘False Expectation Appearing Real’ and I offer that alternative definition in the hope that we may gain the courage of our own conviction, rather than be susceptible to the agenda of others, on which I could write a book.  But I won’t.

And I won’t because my path is very clear in that it remains my complete privilege to write these weekly missives, so as I welcome you to another Weekend Read I am going to begin with yet another Fulvic treat, in a whole long line of them.  I’m not sure what gives me more pleasure, Fulvic compliance, as I mentioned last week, or imagining Shabir’s face as I dream the compliance dream.  I don’t need an ‘answers on a postcard’ exercise because we all know how the voting would go.  It’s rather obvious.

So what are we going to do.  Well, we are going to take Fulvic Face Cream, which Shabir formulated for me (and you) and instead of it being £30 for 60 ml, it now becomes £25.  This is of course the moisturiser I love and use and it is also the moisturiser that I dose with any given serum, which I alternate according to my skin’s needs.  More often than not I tend to use Neurophroline because this helps take down stress-related inflammation, which is one of the core reasons for the degradation of skin health.

That aside, for several years I have been misting my skin with Fulvic after cleansing, so I invite you to join me as I do a double-whammy treat.  And this is what it looks like.  With every order of Fulvic Face Cream, we will automatically include Fulvic Acid Mist (60 ml) into your order.  Fulvic Acid Mist has of course got many other attributes which would include being a scalp treatment for thinning hair, a brilliant spray for the growth of nails when used in conjunction with Fulvic Acid Nail Cream and it is also a safe option for helping to rejuvenate the growth of eyelashes and eyebrows.  Finally, it is a rather amazing wound healer which can be used on cuts and grazes.

With that written, add Fulvic Face Cream to your basket across the entire weekend and the mist will automatically appear at checkout, ending at midnight GMT tomorrow, Sunday 14 February,  if it lasts that long.  I think Shabir’s angst may well last longer than that.  Never mind.
Fulvic Face Cream £25 (Includes Fulvic Acid Mist 60 ml); Neurophroline Serum by GoW for VH £18 for 30 ml; Fulvic Acid Nail Cream £12 for 30 ml

Moving on, here comes a new brand launch and I am so excited to introduce you to Mini Bloom.  Launching with three immaculate products, Mini Bloom was born in Los Angeles, California and is a plant-based, naturally derived skincare line for babies, little ones and mothers.  Developed by a mother, Lauren Wolk-Goldfaden, in partnership with Alicia Brammer, a renowned new-born specialist,  Mini Bloom is a reflection of their mutual passion. 

That passion was founded upon the discovery that a plethora of unnatural ingredients were hidden in the language of many skincare formulas which were being marketed as safe for babies, children and the environment.  Being far from the truth and subsequently inspired by the remedies of nature and the science of plant-based botanicals, Mini Bloom is making a stand as each pure, gentle and sustainable product they make is brought to life.  And let me tell you before I write about each of the three products, I have been testing them and quite honestly I think we can all use these products.  The re-birthing.  Of us.  Perhaps.

So the products.  Let me start with ‘Knots Be Gone’ which has been developed to tackle the toughest tangles and knots without weighing hair down.  This gentle, scalp friendly conditioner is loaded with shea butter, plant rich oils and flower extracts leaving hair soft, shiny, manageable and tangle-free.  No more hair tantrums with this product.  Next is Fresh N’Clean, a sulphate-free two-in-one hair and body wash which is so, so gentle, yet skin-calming with Aloe leaf and Chamomile blended with hydrating oils and nourishing botanicals.

Finally, it’s the Hallelujah Nipple Balm, which has been specifically formulated to help soothe dry, cracked, sensitive nipples.  It is lanolin-free and is also infused with hydrating oils, nourishing butters and botanicals.  This food-grade balm can also be used as a cuticle balm or a lip balm and it is soft and easy to use.  I say, let’s all use this for every given reason because I think it is rather fabulous.  And to add to all of that, each of the products come in huge sizes so will last for ages.  Hallelujah indeed.
Knots Be Gone by Mini Bloom £24 for 500 ml; Fresh N’ Clean by Mini Bloom £24 for 500 ml; Hallelujah Nipple Balm by Mini Bloom £26 for 56 grams

Digestion is the cornerstone of optimal health.  Our bodies do not run on proteins, carbs and fats, but on amino acids from digesting proteins, sugars by digesting carbs and fatty acids from the fats in our diet.  If we don’t digest efficiently, then our bodies will not be fuelled with essential nutrients resulting in a whole series of possible digestive concerns, and I would include constipation in that, which, for some unknown reason, affects women far more than men.  This is our blessing.  It would seem.

In a nutshell then, digestive enzymes help to properly digest food so that we can convert proteins, carbs and fat into their active compounds, allowing the absorption of vitamins and minerals for energy and vitality.  I need to tell you that I don’t really think my body would function properly if I didn’t take digestive enzymes because as I get older my metabolism isn’t racing as it used to race.  But I can live with that because Life Extension’s Enhanced Super Digestive Enzymes provides vegetarian-derived enzymes to help break down food, while helping to calm inflammation in the gut, thus helping to restore healthy gut function.

But that’s not the entire story.  Once the digestive enzymes have performed their role in the breaking down of food to release nutrients, probiotics are required to help pass these nutrients from the gut into the bloodstream.  Aside from helping to absorb vitamins and minerals, probiotics help to ensure motility in the gut.  So although digestive enzymes and probiotics perform different functions in the gut, both are vital (in my humble opinion) for optimal digestion and benefit.  And you know what’s coming next.

For one day only, which would be today, Saturday 13 February, I am reducing the price of Enhanced Super Digestive Enzymes from £23.25 to £20 and using our bestselling probiotic for this momentous occasion, the price of Mega Probiotic ND drops from £19.50 to £15, whilst stock lasts.  Finally, I am linking below two of Shabir’s articles for your further information, should you need it.  Or him.
VH Editorial: Restoring Optimal Gut Health; The Most Important Supplement For The Whole Family; Enhanced Super Digestive Enzymes £20 for 60 Capsules; Mega Probiotic ND £15 for 60 Capsules

Skincare time.  Again.  Serums aside, this is perhaps my most favourite Garden of Wisdom product.  I have loved it since Shabir formulated it, it is always in my bathroom and it is my absolute go-to product for when I feel my skin feels clogged or is in need of a deep-clean.  I tend to use it twice a week basically because I’m rather obsessive about my skin.  But then I always have been.  The fact that it gently cleanses dirt, oil and impurities from pores excites me hugely.  I’m a simple girl.  With simple needs.

The product I am referring to is of course Pore Cleaning Powder.  And it is so easy to use.  All you need do is take a dampened cotton pad and dip it into the powder and then press the pink powder gently onto your skin.  Leave it on for about ten minutes and then rinse it off, at which point your skin will feel pretty amazing and smooth.  It reminds me of Hollywood, heaven only knows why, but it does.  Spreading the joy, and the powder, for today only, I am taking the price down from £12 to £9, with all the usual caveats as this offer will end at midnight GMT tonight, Saturday 13 February, or whilst stock lasts.  An invitation to become obsessed.  Together.
Pore Cleaning Powder by Garden of Wisdom for VH £9 for 50 grams (one pot lasts for ages)

This may amuse you.  I am about to write a couple of paragraphs on a subject matter that I absolutely know nothing about.  Let me explain.  I always write these missives at the very beginning of the week and then release them each Saturday, as you are of course aware.  I try to be as current as I can, but there is always a lapse of a few days when anything can happen, and it usually does.  In these instances I have to push those events to the following Weekend Read, but I’m making an exception today.

And that exception is because Trinny and Shabir are doing another one of their live sessions and by the time you read this it will have happened.  The subject matter is supposed to be about skin supplementation, but if you have ever watched Trinny and Shabir together you will know that they often stray onto a whole load of other subject matters.  They can’t help themselves.  So all I can do here is put the link to their ‘live’ beneath this.  With love and thanks to Trinny, as ever, and if I need to re-visit this next week, I will.   
Trinny & Shabir Live

Right, let’s do some news.  And it’s rather wonderful news because Cloud happiness is back.  I am of course talking about the Japanese Cleansing Cloud, which pays tribute to the rituals of Japanese cleansing and bathing.  By way of a reminder, you can use it anywhere on your body for softness and non-dry skin cleansing.  An infusion of Japanese Yuzu releases a zesty aroma, while gentle Rice Milk and nourishing Hemp Oil give softening and moisturising suds to make you smile.  So as it returns, I am smiling rather a lot as this saponified formula is made to the tipping point between a cleansing oil and a soft, skin-kind balm soap.

And just to add, I did of course bequeath an award unto and onto the Japanese Cleansing Cloud, and its creator, Jane Cunningham, in the VH Awards at the end of last year.  I did so knowing that we didn’t have any left in stock, but in the knowledge that the wait wouldn’t be too long in the whole scheme of things.  So let us indulge the Cloud in all its glory.  Once again.  And whilst we can.
Japanese Cleansing Cloud £12

Over the past few weeks I have been writing about cloning.  The cloning of each of us.  Although I think we have all been cloning, in some respects, for the longest time, this theme recently started with the launch of Clinisept+ Mouthwash and I am pretty confident that thousands of us are now using this product for optimal oral health.  But that aside, plenty more cloning has been happening and the latest product to reach cloning proportions are the Nail Clippers from Margaret Dabbs, which I wrote about last weekend.  Whoever knew there would be a wait list for nail clippers, but there was one, now resolved, thankfully.
Clinisept+ Mouthwash £6.49 for 400 ml; Professional Curved Toe Nail Cutter by Margaret Dabbs London £22

And if we are on the subject of beauty tools, which we are, then these are some of the tools that have become rather essential over the past year or so.  I will begin with the Tweezy, which gets rid of unwanted facial hair rather magnificently.  Then comes the Foot File, sales of which reached epic proportions at the beginning of the pandemic.  Next, another product from Margaret Dabbs, the Crystal Nail File, followed by Eye Therapist and Giving It The Brush Off (for our dry-brushing ritual) from Temple Spa.  And finally the Brow Shaper/Dermaplaner.  Do I Dermaplane, yes I do.  Not that often, once or twice every two weeks is enough.  I think.
Tweezy – Facial Hair Remover £10; Foot File - Metallic GreenFoot File - Pink -  £11.95; Crystal Nail File by Margaret Dabbs London £15; Eye Therapist by Temple Spa £10; Giving It The Brush Off by Temple Spa £16; Brow Shaper/Dermaplaner £8.99

If I may, I would just like to do an update on some more logistical issues relative to the pandemic.  Pumps are of course widely used across many beauty products, but there is a global pump shortage, which I have written about before, but is now becoming more widespread as supplies dwindle.  It is for this reason that many products may now arrive with a flip-top instead of a pump.  I cannot be specific on the products affected, but hold onto your pumps, just in case, but not airless pumps obviously.

On the subject of updates, our consignment of the Atlantic Seaweed Bath is still sitting in customs and there is nothing I can do about it except thump my desk for the umpteenth time, which doesn’t actually achieve anything!  Let me say this, the day our delivery eventually arrives, I am going to relax in a seaweed bath for hours on end.  With my phone switched off.  I don’t care if I turn into a prune, I miss the therapeutic benefits of this bath.  Badly.
Atlantic Seaweed Bath £12 (Wait List)

Two more things before we head into the Saturday only treat.  I don’t wish to dwell, but many of you use the Atlantic Seaweed Bath to help you sleep, so for all the insomniacs of this world and whilst you wait, may I suggest that you go to bed with a Spacemask on.  Actually, even if you're not an insomniac, these are completely wonderful to help you relax.  The dream would of course be the two products used in conjunction with each other.  We’ll hold out for that.  
Spacemasks £15 For Five Masks 

Meanwhile a tip.  Last week I wrote about Temple Spa’s Breath of Life.  If you already have this, then put a few drops on the shower floor, turn on the water, leave for a minute or so and step inside.  The therapeutic qualities of the aromatherapy oils will help clear your head and help you breathe more easily.  It also makes you feel great.  If you don’t have Breath of Life, it really is rather brilliant for an at-home spa ritual.  And I do so love a ritual.
Breath of Life by Temple Spa £12 for 10 ml

And here is this week’s Saturday only treat.  It is another tea from Aduna, mostly because we think their teas are quite amazing.  So with every order placed today, Saturday 13 February, for £30 and over (excluding p&p), we will include a packet of Aduna’s Detox Green Tea & Turmeric Organic Super-Tea (15 Tea Pyramids), whilst stock lasts.  More sipping.

A few final words.  It has now become a thing that we sing together each Saturday, so no matter where you are in the world, we sing together, albeit at differing times.  If I’m not careful these songs will become more relevant than the products I write about.  Shabir will be thrilled.  The fact is that I receive more emails about the music chosen than anything else and I rather like it that way.  And now, I am receiving song requests, which really touches me, not least because so many of you have requested the same Springsteen song.  The man is a total legend.

But I’m going to hold that song back for the moment, because we have just had three weeks of Springsteen, so given that I have now decided we are going to sing our way through and out of this pandemic, let us join together and sing ‘One Day More’ at the top of our voices.  It is of course from Les Misérables, which I have seen several times in case you need to know.  And as we sing, let our collective voices come together and as the cast take their bow at the end of the song, let us too take a bow in recognition of the respect and trust we hold in and of each other.  As one.
One Day More (From The 10th Anniversary Concert of Les Misérables)

With love

Gill x

 

 

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*Free gifts will only be granted if the items purchased are physical products and your total basket value exceeds the required amount noted.  Saturday only treats are subject to change should the specified gift run out prior to your purchase and are only included in orders placed between 7.45am (GMT) and Midnight (GMT) on the Saturday the Weekend Read is sent.  VH Addicts membership is a digital product and therefore will be excluded from the basket value.  Some gifts are blocked from international shipping due to local limitations imposed based on the country destination.  If this is the case, we will replace the gift with one that is able to be shipped to your destination.