Weekend Read 8 January 2022

Weekend Read 8 January 2022

Well here we are, and as I welcome you to the first Weekend Read of 2022, I just want to thank each of you for your ongoing support and loyalty, together with your touching emails as 2021 ended.  So as we begin this New Year I am absolutely not going to write about New Year resolutions and neither am I going to write about predicted trends for the coming year because I see little point.  What will be, will be and I think it best that we take each day as it comes, but let’s do so with hope and optimism as we continue to talk about the things that really matter because quite honestly, there is no other way.  For us.

The need to tell it as it is remains paramount and I will not hold back, no matter what.  I have always been tremendously aware that whilst I have a responsibility to guide you to the best of our ability with cutting-edge and pioneering products in each sector of health, wellbeing and beauty, that responsibility extends to our lives too.  If anything, the past two or three years have strengthened my resolve considerably as I am not one to sit back and watch the appalling cruelty, corruption and greed that is now so rife across all aspects of life, not least the health and beauty industry, for which, with a few notable exceptions, I have little respect.    

And there it is.  I have set the tone for all that we are and all that we do together, so I might as well begin with some news about one of our bestselling supplements, Hyaluronic Acid Capsules High Strength.  But before I do that I will just say that I ran away over Christmas and New Year.  I was out of the country for eleven days and I deliberately didn’t take HA with me.  I have done this before, because in order to test the efficacy of HA, I stop taking it just to double-check myself because I can’t afford to be complacent about any of our products, despite your incredible feedback.  And, let me tell you, I lived to regret it.  In a dramatic way. 

When I have stopped taking HA in the past, by about the third day of abstinence my ankles start to click.  I’ve written about this before, but that was probably about three years ago.   This time the story was different.  By the third day my entire body started to ache, which I was far from thrilled about, but it got worse.  By the fifth day I was in agony and I honestly thought I needed a double hip replacement.  Painkillers didn’t really touch it and it was in that moment that I vowed I would never put myself through that madness again.  I double-dosed on the day I got home and I don’t need to tell you the outcome, because you will of course know that I am now pain free.

What we absolutely know is that HA supplementation provides multiple benefits to the body and it can safely be taken by most.  I have often written that Shabir and I believe that HA is the most crucial of all anti-ageing supplementation and although my early and initial focus was that it plumped up our skin, which I rather like, it has become increasingly apparent over the last decade that this compound plays an even greater role in joints, eyes and skin than was originally thought.  Its role in removing the by-products of metabolism, such as damaging radicals, is one of great importance, and cannot be under-estimated.  So we won’t be doing that.

Taking all ongoing research into account, Shabir has now tweaked HA because although the current dosage of 225 mg is high strength, he didn’t feel it was quite high enough, so he has increased the dosage to 300 mg to further enhance the benefits that HA offers.  Of course we don’t do these things lightly, but it is really important that with each and every supplement we recommend, the correct therapeutic dose is applied.  So with four articles about HA on our product page, which you may wish to refer to, I am taking the price of Hyaluronic Acid Capsules High Strength down from £35 to £30 across this weekend.  Might as well start the year with a celebration. 
Hyaluronic Acid Capsules High Strength £30 for 30 Capsules (Offer ends at midnight GMT Sunday 9 January)

And now something else to celebrate.  Following on from the brilliance of Ross J Barr’s Healing and Calm Patches, I am beyond excited to launch the long-awaited Sleep Patches.  I say long-awaited because although Ross and I knew about a year ago that we wanted to do a sleep patch, our concern was that lack of sleep is such a huge issue, we had to get it right.  We more or less knew the ingredients we wanted to include, so we went ahead with some A/B testing to ascertain which of the two blends formulated worked the best.  These things take time, but the testing was unequivocal in determination and the chosen Sleep Patch has now arrived.

The herbs chosen were selected for their ability to help calm the mind, to help still neural activity and to help induce and sustain a deeper sleep.  These herbs include Red Peony Root, Costus Root, Prunella Spica and Acoris Tatarinowii, the latter of which helps the clearing of brain fog, which can only be a good thing, bearing in mind that at some point most of us think we are losing our minds.  It’s stress, obviously.

I think I need to say here that there are some sleep basics we need to follow, which would include not waiting until you are too exhausted before going to bed and do try leaving your phone in another room, something I have been doing for quite a few years.  With that said, you should apply the Sleep Patches approximately fifteen minutes before you go to bed.  Place one Sleep Patch on each temple, massage for a minute or two to help release the herbs before removing them in the morning.  You can use the patches as a stand-alone or as an adjunct to sleep supplementation, such as Cherry Night.  Either way, I think they are utterly brilliant.  Bravo Ross. 
Sleep Patches by Ross J. Barr £15 for Ten Patches; Cherry Night by Viridian Nutrition £27.75 for 150 grams

If I may, I just want to continue talking about the patches for a moment or two.  Actually it’s the Calm Patches I want to mention because they made an appearance in the Sunday Times over the Christmas period, which was fabulous, except that the Calm Patches had been sitting in customs for two or three weeks and we didn’t have any left.  It is of course my biggest nightmare, but thankfully they are back in stock now and my apologies to those on the rather considerable wait list. 

I am not best friends with customs.  They were the bane of my life throughout 2021.  Let’s hope they do better this year, most particularly now that we have put advanced solutions on our site for our European and International customers, otherwise I will be slapping on all three patches and a Spacemask for good measure.  Daily.
Calm Patches by Ross J. Barr £15 for Ten Patches; Healing Patches by Ross J. Barr £15 for Five Patches; Spacemasks £16.50 for Five Masks

In mode and I have another new product to tell you about.  And being rather neat this product was recommended to me by Ross, who works closely with Miss Clare Mellon, a leading gynaecologist at The Portland Hospital, London, one of the founders of WeTwo Prescriptives.  The product is called Intimate Wash and it has been specifically formulated to soothe, clean and protect your intimate area.  It is enriched with Sweet Almond and Coconut Oil and it is a unique balm to milk formula that melts into your skin and encompasses antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties.

Being fragrance free, I was able to test this one and I put it through its paces as into my shower it went.  And let me tell you I am impressed, so much so that I am now using it all over my body as a shower wash.  I love how my skin feels after use, but more than that, I have tested so many similar products over the years and this one goes straight to the top of my best-in-class products in its category.  But then I knew it would probably do that bearing in mind that Ross wouldn’t recommend a product for each of us if it didn’t live up to promise.  And of course it does.  It’s scientifically sound.  And Ross gets to live another day.
Intimate Wash by WeTwo Prescriptives £18 for 200 ml

Five days into the New Year and last Wednesday Trinny and Shabir did another one of their live sessions.  They were mostly talking about skin supplementation, where they threw the emphasis on Collagen products, Vitamin A, HA and Astaxanthin, to name but a few.  Under normal circumstances I would link you to this live session, but something went wrong with the technology and it is quite difficult to watch.  For those who are hard-core, you can find this on Trinny’s Facebook page, which I will link below.

On from that, there are so many myths about collagen supplementation and because it is quite a complex subject matter, Trinny and Shabir will be doing a dedicated session on this subject alone.  I will of course let you know when this will be, but I will tell you that Trinny takes Ultimate Collagen+ and so do I.  Shabir has written an editorial about collagen supplementation where he recommends Ultimate Collagen+, and I’m also linking that below for clarity. 
Trinny Facebook; VH Editorial: How To Take Collagen Supplements; Ultimate Collagen+ by Ingenious Beauty £60 for 90 Capsules 

One more thing, Trinny and Shabir will be doing another live session this coming Wednesday at approximately 9.30 am, where they will be discussing aspects of mental health.  It will be on Trinny’s Facebook channel, so I invite you to join them.  I am constantly writing about mental health issues basically because it is so prevalent and we cannot, and will not, ignore the trauma that so many of us are going through.  I can almost guarantee that Shabir will talk about Magnolia Rhodiola Complex because it is of course our bestselling supplement for stress and anxiety, but it’s not only about products, it’s about having compassion and understanding, which is so lacking in our society.  Leaving it there.
Magnolia Rhodiola Complex £28 for 60 Capsules

Right onwards, let’s do three beauty treats and I will begin with Windows of the Soul by Temple Spa.  This is one of Temple Spa’s bestselling products and it is a cooling eye balm-gel that contains Edelweiss, Milk Thistle and Echinacea to help treat puffiness, dark circles and fine lines.  Soothing and moisturising the price of Windows of the Soul is £32, except in a very limited offer, we are dropping the price to £25, with a saving of £7. 

But I’m not finished yet because in addition we are also taking down the price of Eye Therapist, a product I love.  It is an eye massage tool that helps support lymphatic drainage, boosting microcirculation to ease tension and reduce puffiness.  So whilst it was obviously created for the eye area, I see no reason why you shouldn’t use it as a complete facial massage tool.  So, you can either buy Windows of the Soul as a stand-alone product, or Windows of the Soul plus the Eye Therapist, which means that the Eye Therapist becomes £5 from £10 and you will save £12 across both products.  And my recommendation, keep them both in the fridge. 
Windows of the Soul by Temple Spa £25 for 15 ml; Windows of the Soul plus Eye Therapist £30 (Limited Offer)

Let’s stay with the eye area and I’m on a guilt trip with this next offer.  Several weeks ago I wrote about another very limited offer.  It was Aurelia’s Conditioning Eye & Lash Cleanser.  I dropped the price from £32 to £19 and by 9 am on that Saturday morning they had all gone and I was inundated with emails asking me to do it again.  So that’s exactly what I’m going to do because I will always take my lead from you.  So with apologies if you missed out last time, I’m doing it again right now and although it is of course limited once more, I sincerely hope we get to at least 10 am this morning.  Otherwise I’m diverting all emails to Shabir.
Conditioning Eye & Lash Cleanser by Aurelia London £19 for 100 ml (Limited Offer)

And the third beauty treat, well it has to be one of the bestselling serums from Garden of Wisdom.  It is Niacinamide Serum and Shabir calls it a ‘Herculean multitasker’ because of its ability in tackling various skin concerns.  Niacinamide really is a star ingredient, so all I am going to do here is link Shabir’s article about Niacinamide as I offer you the oversized Niacinamide Serum, which means you get 45 ml instead of 30 ml with the price remaining the same, £10.  That was easy.  Let’s move on.
VH Editorial: Should You Introduce Niacinamide Serum Into Your Skincare Routine; Niacinamide Serum by Garden of Wisdom for VH £10 for 45 ml (Limited Offer – Again)

Madness has descended in the form of a missing box of the Festive Japanese Cleansing Cloud, which we have only just received.  For those who follow the WR, you will know that I announced on the last WR that we were closing the chapter on the Japanese Cleansing Clouds as we launched the final White Cloud, which is loaded with Yuzu, Bergamot and White Tea.  Because it was the last ever Cloud, they sold through really quickly and rather a lot of you were disappointed not to receive one.  Except now of course I am able to resurrect its existence.  For how long, I really don’t know.  But if you would like one, I recommend that you get it whilst you can before this Cloud permanently resides in the sky. 
The Festive Japanese Cleansing Cloud £8

One last thing before we head into the Saturday only treat.  When Shabir was talking to Trinny, she asked him what he believed to be the three most important supplements to take for our overall health and wellbeing.  Such a difficult question to answer, but without hesitation he said Mega Probiotic would be the first, which is of course our bestselling probiotic supplement.  So you know exactly what I’m going to do here, I’m going to drop the price of Mega Probiotic from £21 to £17 across the weekend and will refer you to the product page once again, where you will discover twelve articles from Shabir on the subject of probiotics.  Don’t hold back Shabir.  Twelve!
Mega Probiotic ND £17 for 60 Capsules (Offer ends at midnight GMT Sunday 9 January)

Breathe it in to calm your mind and then use it on your skin, the Saturday only treat is Repose (5 ml) from Temple Spa, so with every order placed for £30 and above, excluding p&p, we will automatically include Repose in your order.  This joins Windows of the Soul as being one of Temple Spa’s bestselling products, so I thought it would be a rather fabulous gift to begin the year.  Full product details are listed below. 
Repose Aromatherapy Resting Cream £42 for 50 ml

And so we come to the end of the first WR of the year.  It is good to be back even though as I am writing this I am really not sure what day of the week it is because I still appear to be on a different time zone.  I know we have only had a two week gap, but it feels far longer than that and I have to say that I missed talking to you.  I honestly don’t know any better way to help keep us close as we continue to face ongoing uncertainties together.  Such is our mission, there is an innate knowing that resides within the closeness we share.  And that knowing brings understanding, comfort, support and strength in a very difficult world.

Finally, I ended 2021 with a song from Queen, The Show Must Go On, which was, and is, my mantra.  And then I received an email from a member of the Saturday communication club (there is such a thing) saying that ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ was this member’s particular mantra and it had got her through the past year.  So good morning Karen and thank you for sharing because I am now going to share this song with each of you with a request that you up the volume and sing in full voice.  Nobody will ever stop us from making a stand for all that we believe in.  And that’s a pretty loaded sentence.  But then you are each quite adept at reading between the lines.  And that makes me smile.
Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen; The VH Playlist

With love, as ever.

Gill x

 

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