And somehow we are at the end of July, so let’s take a retrospective look at some of the moments which defined the month and of course that includes the products we have been talking about, but it also defines an ever-increasing need to challenge the status quo, mostly because the status quo so often fails to address the definitive purpose of discernment, credibility and accountability. 

Straight talking has always been incredibly important to me, and I honestly don’t know whether it’s because I am getting older and my tolerance levels are severely depleting, or if it’s because the health and beauty industry has been monetised to such an extent, there is barely room for the recognition of pioneering excellence.  On balance, I think it is probably a combination of both, but with the conglomerates more or less owning the media, I feel an increasing importance to use this platform unequivocally and objectively to uphold our stance of unequivocal objectivity.

I think it is also important to say that we are biased in that we will only support and recognise the products which we believe will make a discernible difference to our health and wellbeing, yet we remain unbiased in our approach to that recognition.  There can be no doubt that the health and beauty industry is a minefield of disinformation and mediocrity, but through it all there are brands and products which thoroughly deserve recognition and acceptance and it remains our considered choice to platform and support those brands. 

With all of that said, and having had a bit of podium moment, I have some news and that news is about a niche brand and a niche product, a brand we launched and a brand which thoroughly deserves the recognition and acceptance I have just written about.  That brand is Peep Club and the product I am talking about is Eye Rescue Lidstick, which received an overwhelming response when I wrote about it, and I wrote about it rather a lot, mostly because I believed in its brilliance yet, together with Peep Club, we faced a challenge and the twist-up packaging was that challenge.

Feedback remains critically important, but listening to and acting upon that feedback is also critically important and although the buttery soft formulation was totally loved, the twist-up packaging presented issues, so it has now been changed.  There is no change to the formulation, a formulation which has been created to help improve the texture of the delicate eye skin, but the Eye Rescue Lidstick now arrives with in a much easier to use format, a clicky pen format which perfectly dispenses the very small amount of product that you need for it to be super effective.

Most of us use much more eye product than we ever need, which can cause congested, irritated eye skin, so as we say hello to the new and improved packaging, we do so knowing that it will last even longer because you really only need a tiny bit to get all of the benefits, of which there are many.  I stand by every word I wrote about the Lidstick, but I will also stand by addressing issues of concern and in so doing, and in a limited edition offer, we are dropping the price of the Eye Rescue Lidstick from £15 to £10, reverting to £15 once the offer is over, and I truly don’t know when that will be.
Eye Rescue Lidstick by Peep Club £10 for 2.2 grams (whilst stock lasts)

Wait lists have a tendency to define most weeks of the month and they most definitely defined July, so let’s just take a look at one or two of those moments and I will begin with Lanolips.  A couple of weeks ago I wrote about three new products from Lanolips, two lip scrubs and their 12-Hour Overnight Lip Mask, the latter of which was a super-charged version of the epic 101 Ointment.  I had a feeling that the Overnight Lip Mask would flip onto a wait list and it did, so having dropped the launch price from £13 to £11, I promised to honour all orders placed at the launch price on all three products, which we did, and we will continue to do so.  For the interim.
Lanolips 12-Hour Overnight Lip Mask £11 for 15 grams; Lip Scrub Coconutter £7.99 for 10 grams; Strawberry Lip Scrub £7.99 for 10 grams

On that same newsletter, we launched the Dirtea Gummies and our stock levels held up, with one exception, that exception being the Dirtea Gummies Boxset.  Actually, I will take full responsibility for this because I forgot to mention that this boxset was available and our ordering levels reflected that omission, so please don’t shoot the messenger because I am mentioning it now. We are fully stocked and the Dirtea Gummies Boxset drops in price from £99.99 to £96, which is in line with the price drop of each of the Dirtea Gummies from £29.99 to £27.  And there are four of them, as below.
Dirtea Gummies Boxset £96; Lion’s Mane Gummies £27 for 60 Gummies; Cordyceps Gummies £27 for 60 Gummies; Chaga Gummies £27 for 60 Gummies; Tremella Gummies £27 for 60 Gummies

Right, let’s do a specific health concern and periodically I write about intestinal parasites, basically because it is estimated that around 80% of us have parasites in our gut, so let’s take a look.  There are approximately 3200 species of parasites which can be found in the air that we breathe, in the water we drink and in the food we eat.  These parasites feed on our nutrients, thereby increasing the incidence of nutrient deficiencies.  The other thing to say here is that many of these parasites carry diseases and in medical terms, a parasite is a life form that lives and thrives within the host’s body, doing more harm than good.

The most common parasites are round worms, pin worms, hook worms and tape worms and Shabir explains these parasites, together with the symptoms of intestinal parasite infection, in his article linked below.  I am not an alarmist, far from it, and although many practitioners would advocate the regular use of anti-parasitic supplementation, we believe that a parasitic cleanse once or twice a year is sufficient to help eliminate parasites from our bodies, with the recommended product here being Clove & Oregano Complex.

Clove buds are one of the key herbs used in Ayurvedic medicines for the treatment of gastrointestinal infections.  Cloves contain a powerful oil, eugenol, which has been studied extensively and found to help in the eradication of numerous pathogens in the gut, and most specifically it is believed to be the only oil which is capable of destroying the eggs of the parasites.  In addition, Basil and Rosemary are included in this formulation because of their ability to eradicate parasites and other pathogens which may also be present in the gut.  And with that explained, I am dropping the price of Clove & Oregano Complex from £23.10 to £20, across the weekend.
VH Editorial: Most Of Us Have Intestinal Parasites; Clove & Oregano Complex by Viridian Nutrition £20 for 60 Capsules (offer ends at midnight BST, Sunday 28 July)

I often write about the supplementation I take, but I don’t often write about the supplements that Shabir takes, with the exception of Superior Joints, which I mention rather a lot, mostly because we don’t believe that any form of supplementation comes close to the efficacy of Superior Joints for pain relief.  So, two supplements to talk about and the first is Krill Oil, essentially because Shabir considers the data and ongoing research associated with Krill Oil to be rather impressive, and I promise you he is not easily impressed. 

We all know that our bodies cannot manufacture essential fatty acids and scientific evidence has determined that the most effective way to carry the essential fatty acids, EPA and DHA, is by way of phospholipids.  Fish oils certainly have their place, but they provide essential fatty acids in a less beneficial form as triglycerides, whereas Krill Oil delivers these essential fatty aides in a phospholipid form, which delivers EPA and DHA directly to the cells of our bodies.  Additionally, Krill Oil naturally contains Astaxanthin, a power antioxidant which helps to protect the body against free radical damage.

To conclude, Shabir chooses to take Krill Oil not only because it delivers essential fatty acids at a cellular level, but because it is free from mercury and numerous toxins that some forms of fish oil may contain.  To cite one example, we all know and understand that the liver is the organ of detoxification and in this, our third decade of clinically evaluating all forms of supplementation, we have never recommended Cod Liver Oil supplementation and we never will for the above reasons, so with that said, I am dropping the price of Neubria’s Krill Oil from £29.99 to £25, also across the weekend, or whilst stock lasts.
VH Editorial: What Are The Benefits of Krill Oil; Neubria Krill Oil – For Omega 3 £25 for 60 Capsules (offer ends at midnight BST, Sunday 28 July)

Before I move onto the second supplement that Shabir takes, it is important to say that Krill Oil should not be taken if you have a shellfish allergy.  Additionally if you are a vegetarian or vegan, most vegetarian sources of omega 3 fatty acids, such as flaxseeds and hempseeds, are not converted into EPA and DHA in any meaningful volume, so we recommend Echiomega, containing echium seed oil, which we believe is the best source of plant derived omega 3, 6 and 9 essential fatty acids, with studies suggesting that SDA (stearidonic acid) produces up to five times more EPA than any other plant sourced omega oils.  The price drops here from £14.99 to £13.
Echiomega by Igennus £13 for 60 Capsules (offer ends at midnight BST, Sunday 28 July)

Reverting, the second supplement I want to write about is Turmeric Curcumin C3 Complex because inflammation in the body is the root cause of numerous health concerns, including ageing, and the active ingredients in Turmeric are a group of polyphenols, known as curcuminoids, which display powerful anti-inflammatory properties.  The most widely studied curcuminoid, curcumin, has also been shown to protect cardiovascular health and brain tissues and because Turmeric affects over one hundred different pathways associated with cell mutation, its importance for longevity cannot be under-estimated.

Shabir has taken Turmeric supplementation for as long as I have known him, which is rather a long time, and because Curcumin C3 Complex has been clinically evaluated and shown to have the highest absorption of any form of Curcumin currently on the market, with a 95% absorption of curcuminoids, Turmeric Curcumin C3 Complex is the Turmeric supplement Shabir takes, and as Curcumin C3 Complex is a patented and premium form of Curcumin with exceptional bioavailability, it is the only supplement in its genre which we currently recommend, so with that endorsement, I am dropping the price of Turmeric Curcumin C3 Complex from £26 to £23.
VH Editorial: Inflammaging; Turmeric Curcumin C3 Complex £23 for 60 Capsules (offer ends at midnight BST, Sunday 28 July)

Onwards, and some words now about the importance of Vitamin K2, and it is important because although it is often called ‘the forgotten vitamin’, clinical evaluation has determined its benefits for the maintenance of normal bones and cardiovascular health.  It also contributes to normal blood clotting and it is regulated by some governments because of its health benefits, notably because we are mostly deficient in Vitamin K2, but that aside the history is rather interesting.

Vitamin K was discovered in 1929 by the Danish scientist, Dr Henrik Dam, with the ‘k’ standing for koagulation, meaning essential for blood clotting, and there are three main forms of Vitamin K, K1, K2 and K3.  K1 is found in green leafy vegetables and K3 is the menadione synthetic variant, which we recommend avoiding, so the focus is on K2 which has been the subject of the clinical evaluation referred to above. Interestingly it has been approved in Japan for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis, and this approval was given in 1995, so it is not surprising that Japan has a much lower incidence of osteoporosis than the UK and the US.

Writing about osteopenia last weekend and recommending Bone Restore with Vitamin K2, I felt it was important to follow through with the importance of K2 for osteoporosis, so at this point I am going to link Shabir’s article below where he does the lowdown on K2.  And two more things, the first is that I have never understood how the health industry can market synthetic supplementation and think it is absolutely fine to do that, often in the absence of clinical evaluation, and the second thing is that I am dropping the price of Life Extension’s Super K from £23 to £20.  And clearly I am on another roll today.
VH Editorial: Vitamin K2: Benefits, Food Sources & Side Effects; Super K by Life Extension £20 for 90 Softgels

A moment here to acknowledge and thank you for your support last weekend after my words about Ergothioneine Serum, and actually thank you for your support across each of the DoSe skincare products, which we launched on a skin health platform, because it is all about the health of our skin, full stop.  And I know I threw the focus on Ergothioneine because I am besotted with it, but for balance Shabir is besotted with Multi-Peptide Anti-Ageing Serum, so let’s go again and if you buy Multi-Peptide Anti-Ageing Serum across this weekend, I will drop in Fulvic Face Cream (30 ml) as a gift, which has a value of £15.  Sharing the love.  Shabir’s this time.
DoSe Multi-Peptide Anti-Ageing Serum £22 for 30 ml + Fulvic Face Cream (30 ml) Worth £15 (only one gift per customer)

Staying on the subject of moments, many, many years ago we had a rather significant moment when we launched Color Wow in the UK, and we launched the brand with Root Cover Up, which defined a moment, notably because it led the way for transformational haircare products.  We followed through with Dream Coat, which also defined a moment, but this time the moment of definition was all about a supernatural sealant, a three-day texture spray that helped prevent water from frizzing hair.

So now, and in this moment, please allow me to introduce you to Extra Strength Dream Coat, which is a powerful next-generation anti-frizz hair, humidity-resistant treatment which has been formulated with flex-elastic polymers.  Sealing the hair cuticle, it has waterproof barrier and results will last through three or four shampoos and because it has an ultra-light spray, it doesn’t feel like you have product on your hair.  Extra Strength Dream Coat is best for dry hair, dehydrated hair, porous hair and curly hair, it is safe for keratin-treated hair and for launch, and the interim, I am dropping the price Extra Strength Dream Coat from £32 to £28, whilst stock lasts.
Extra Strength Dream Coat by Color Wow £28 for 200 ml

Nearly at the end, but this is just a reminder that we are currently running two offers, both of which end at midnight BST, Wednesday 31 July.  The first is from Better You where you will receive a 25% discount on any of their products and the second is Let’s Concentrate Skin Brightening Serum by TEMPLESPA, where the price has dropped from £50 to £40.  Both linked below for ease.
Better You Products; Let’s Concentrate Skin Brightening Serum by TEMPLESPA £40 for 30 ml

And into the Saturday only treat we go, so because I like to be neat, with every order placed for £35 and above, excluding p&p, we will automatically include Color Wow’s Color Security Shampoo (75 ml)*, which you may wish to use together with Extra Strength Dream Coat, and if you don’t, that’s perfectly fine too.  Anything goes actually and I’m linking the product details below for information.
Color Security Shampoo

As we come to the end of another Weekend Read, let’s continue to roll the roll with the ultimate rock and roll anthem, which about 90,000 of us sung on Thursday night at Wembley Stadium.
Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen; The VH Playlist

Staying close and wishing each of you a restful weekend.

With love.

Gill x

 

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Prices and products advertised at times of sending and publishing are subject to change and availability.

*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 (BST) and Midnight (BST) 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. One gift per customer, whilst stock lasts.