Good morning. Oh my goodness, two weeks ago, when announcing on the Weekend Read that Camera Ready had flipped onto a wait list, I wrote that I would like a drama-free life for at least a week. That didn’t last long, precisely three days in fact, because Nigella’s article about her skincare favourites, which I referenced and linked last weekend, went live on the Financial Times site at 6 am the following Tuesday. So, before anything else, I want to thank you for your incredible response to last Saturday’s Weekend Read, but I also want to extend a warm welcome to all those who are new to our way of being.

Many of you will remember Nigella writing about Prickly Pear Seed Oil in 2019, which became a story in and of itself because it took us over three months to clear the wait list, triggering a global raw ingredient shortage in its wake. As such, and since that time, we have maintained exceptionally high levels of Prickly Pear Seed Oil, so although Nigella wrote about it once again in her article, it wasn’t Prickly Pear which flipped onto a wait list, it was the Camera Ready Glow Kit, with Camera Ready teetering on the verge.

Thankfully there won't be a three month wait for the Camera Ready Glow Kit because, all things being equal, we are expecting another delivery this morning. More than anything, I am so grateful not only to Nigella, but to the Beauty Bible girls, Sarah and Jo, because we are all on the same page as far as Camera Ready is concerned, and respect to my LA boyfriends, Bryan and Alec, for bringing the ‘miraculous’ Camera Ready into our world.
Icon Skincare by Beauty Bible; Camera Ready by Icon Skincare £47 for 20 grams; Camera Ready Glow Kit by Icon Skincare £27; DoSe 100% Prickly Pear Seed Oil £24 for 30 ml

Life works in mysterious ways and, coincidentally or otherwise, in Nigella’s debut beauty column in the Financial Times she wrote about Cinema Secrets Brush Cleaner saying how she stocked up when she was in the US or Australia. All the while, and unbeknown to me, Lara had Cinema Secrets sitting on her desk, yet hadn’t listed it on our site, but never mind that, it is now listed and linked below.
Cinema Secrets Brush Cleaner

Moving on, I have always believed that doing the work we do really teaches you what matters in life, but it also speaks volumes about the importance of connectivity and reading the room, as it were, knowing when to speak and when to simply listen. There is an enormous power in listening, because it allows understanding to arrive honestly, rather than assumed, and it is that understanding that will often guide us to find our way forward.

In all of this, we need the strength and courage to overcome the adversities of life, and there are several, yet we rarely overcome them alone, however much it might feel that way in the moment. We do it with the quiet support of the people who stay, who listen, who remind us gently that whatever we are carrying, we are never really meant to carry it by ourselves.

I believe, more than ever, that we must uphold the values which are so incredibly important to us, so some words here, which I feel are relevant, about What’s The Solution. Authored by Shabir and released each Tuesday morning, What’s The Solution is a dedicated safe space where health and wellbeing issues are anonymously shared between us, offering solutions for those issues.

More often than not, these are not common health concerns, they may only be relevant to a few of us, yet it demonstrates the importance of listening to those who seek help and understanding. In and of that sharing, something rather remarkable happens, a person who felt entirely alone, discovers that they were never quite alone as they believed, and that alone, before a single product is even offered, is its own quiet form of healing.
What’s The Solution Archive

So, sharing. Collective sharing and being a Bank Holiday weekend, and the last weekend in August, we are offering a sitewide discount of 15%* through to midnight BST, Monday 31 August. As ever, there are those products which we are unable to discount, but these are clearly marked on each individual product page, so just a few more things to say before I leave you to enjoy the weekend.

As we head into September, many of us choose to travel at this time of year, when the temperatures start to cool down and travel destinations are less crowded than in the peak summer months of July and August. For ease, I am linking our Travel And Sun category below, where you will find many essentials for travel, from sunscreen, obviously, to wonderful travel companions such as Altitude Oil, an inhalation essence containing a range of powerful antibacterial, antiviral and antiseptic ingredients to support and protect the immune system while in the confines of an air cabin or any crowded space. It also clears the head rather magnificently.
Travel and Sun; Altitude Oil by de Mamiel

The other thing I want to say is that with September arriving on Tuesday, the next Weekend Read will be the first newsletter of the month and during September I will begin writing about seasonal gifts. There are several reasons to go early, but primarily it’s because many of the seasonal gifts are limited editions, so once they are gone, they are gone, but it should also be said that many of these limited edition gifts make wonderful gifts throughout the coming months, most especially those which don’t carry seasonal branding, of which there are many.

One last thing, which I actually shared with the VH Addicts several months ago. We are in the throes of developing a new site, basically because our current site has become so incredibly restrictive and it is driving us all mad. There are things we want to do, yet we can’t, and the other thing is that at this point we cannot make any major changes to our current site, so we have to live with it for the moment and I think that moment is probably going to take us until the end of the year.

Meanwhile, anybody who has ever attempted to put an e-commerce site live will know that it is a complete nightmare, we won’t get everything right immediately, that much I know, but we have listened to your comments and your requests and we will be incorporating as many of your suggestions as we possibly can. So, please bear with us while we go through these changes, we will get there. In the end.

All that is left is for me to wish you a restful long weekend and to pause, briefly, for someone the world lost this week. Dolly Parton gave so much joy and kindness, to so many, for so long. Three songs, for the weekend.
I Will Always Love You; 9 To 5; Islands In The Stream

With love

Gill x