Hello, good morning and with yesterday being American Independence Day, I have decided to celebrate our very own independence day, well independence weekend actually, because we are independent, which has always really mattered to me. It was also Shabir’s birthday yesterday, so that calls for a celebration too and I will start by saying that there are occasions when I don’t write about specific health concerns or specific products, and today is one of those occasions.

I am very much aware that retaining independence in the health and beauty industry is becoming increasingly difficult for niche brands, but I think that is true across most industries and it is certainly true for many SMEs who have to jump through any number of hoops in order to survive. And many don’t make it, which saddens me tremendously because we are losing the entrepreneurial spirit of independent thought and objectivity.

Objectivity is, and always has been, a founding principle of our being and of our sharing, mostly because it determines and enables choice, but it also allows an unbiased evaluation of an ever increasing minefield of products, often accompanied by misleading marketing activity. Last weekend I wrote about our ongoing commitment to stand outside the narrative of the health and beauty industry, a commitment spanning almost three decades, so today I want to celebrate the independence of that stance and what it means to each of us.

In any given scenario there must always be an honouring of consumer choice and in consideration of that choice we will only ever platform products which we believe will make a positive difference to our health and wellbeing and although I have to accept that not every product will work for everybody, we do come pretty close. By definition, our curation of products has always been exceptionally tight because discernment is key, it always has been.

In many ways, we created the DoSe branding to honour discernment, and although we have always created our own formulations, it became increasingly important to embrace the advancement of clinically evaluated compounds. DoSe has allowed us to tell an evolutionary story, a story which defies complacency and compromise, as we continue to explore the scientifically-led research which determines the efficacy of solution-based and preventative formulations.

In all of this, we have come a very long way together, yet we remain as we ever were whilst everything around us has changed and although I have written this several times, I find it difficult to accept, or comprehend, that the industry has been monetised to within an inch of its life. Moreover, with the conglomerates owning most of the better-known health and beauty sites, it has become more important than ever to uphold our independence, together with the independence of the brands we choose to support on our platform.

For me, it is far more than listing independent brands, it is the relationships we have with those brands and the conversations we share, often spanning the decades. So, in a roll-call of three independent brands, I will start with Viridian Nutrition. Led by Cheryl Thallon, I have always thought that Viridian are the other side of us and bearing in mind that DoSe really is a capsule collection, I will often write about the excellence of the Viridian formulations for numerous health concerns, honouring their depth of research.

To demonstrate the importance of independence, these words from Cheryl: ‘The media swings from ‘this cures’ to ‘this causes’ and rarely reports appropriately on evidence-based research. In my humble view the future of natural healthcare is best placed in the hands of independent health retailers as we have our finger on the pulse of what the public cares about, wants and needs, and we are perhaps the only piece of the jigsaw that truly cares about helping people to genuine health and happiness without having to appease grasping shareholders, ‘Big Food’ or ‘Big Pharma’.
Viridian Nutrition

I have linked the Viridian Nutrition products above and in the spirit of the moment, I have thrown a 15% discount* across the brand and I will do the same across each of the Lixirskin products. Lixirskin was founded by Dr Colette Haydon, a formidable formulator who created her own brand after several decades of formulating products for many well-known brands. I’m not sure how many of you will remember, but many, many years ago we launched HealGel for and on behalf of five of the UK’s leading plastic surgeons. Colette formulated HealGel.

HealGel now resides in product heaven, but it was an amazing product and I don’t think either of us will ever forget the HealGel campaign, in fact Colette and I often talk about it and just perhaps we were extraordinarily privileged to live through that era, an era where pioneering products received the recognition they truly deserved. In any relationship there has to be trust, and I remain incredibly grateful that Colette trusted us to launch her own brand. I am also incredibly grateful for the conversations we regularly have about the health and beauty industry because we are on the same page and we keep each other sane. Whatever sanity looks like.
LixirSkin Products 

And iS Clinical. Of course iS Clinical. I have lived, breathed and used the iS Clinical products right from the beginning of their being in 2002. There is not a lot I can write that I haven’t written across the years, but Bryan Johns and Alec Call, the co-founders, have built their brand based on integrity and purpose, yet despite many challenges they remain independent, which I know really matters to both of them.

Their pharmaceutical-grade products are clinically proven and as such they are a global leader in cosmeceutical skincare. Their philanthropic cancer-care programmes in the US are beyond amazing, both in concept and delivery, but Bryan and Alec are amazing and they are true pioneers of excellence in a world where many of the big brands are far from amazing. So, as I also throw a 15% discount* across the iS Clinical products, I do so knowing the difference the iS Clinical products make to millions of people around the world, but mostly I do so to recognise and share their outstanding achievement as an independent, privately-owned brand.
iS Clinical Products 

With that roll-call completed, a further roll-call and this time it is about our own brands and there are three of those too, DoSe supplementation, DoSe Skincare and Ful.Vic.Health, and I’m taking DoSe supplementation first. We are where we are, we have twenty-five formulations in the range, each of which we believe to be best-in-class in their genre, demonstrating the pioneering and cutting-edge compounds which really do make a difference to our health and wellbeing.

It is perhaps indicative of concept that Collagen Tripeptide Complex will be the only product launched this year with the DoSe branding, albeit Mega Probio will finally receive the DoSe branding later in the year. I think it is all too easy to ride the gravy train of proven products by introducing a range of ‘lesser’ products, and I am not prepared to do that, so we stay as we are and with a 15% discount* across the DoSe supplements, we are now going to talk about DoSe skincare.
DoSe Supplements

As most of you know, we launched DoSe skincare on a health platform and once again this is a capsule collection of meticulously formulated result-driven products. As it currently stands there are nineteen products in the range and although that will increase this year, which I will talk about in a moment, each formulation, with the exception of Squalane Face Oil, combines several different compounds, allowing them to be comprehensive treatment products in their own right, as opposed to single ingredient serums.

When we launched DoSe skincare, I wrote that skincare becomes confusing with choice, so it was really important that we kept things simple, and we have done that. It is obviously made easier when a compound has been evaluated to have one of the widest range of benefits of any single skincare ingredient or technology, and of course I am talking about Ergothioneine, which is included in many of the formulations, as well as being a stand-alone product.

Notwithstanding this tight curation, we do believe in offering a choice and perhaps the best example I can give here is regarding Vitamin C because having recently launched Triple Vitamin C 23% Serum + Ferulic Acid, we absolutely know that there are those who cannot tolerate the active nature of Vitamin C, and I’m one of them, so we offer an alternative, C-Deep Vitamin C Serum which is suitable for most skin types. On from that, and given that we are all different, we will be launching another cleanser, probably in August, which will sit alongside our not-paid-for-award-winning, Daily Cleanser.

All I really want to say about this new product now is that Shabir wanted it to be fragranced, which is a first because the rest of the range is fragrance-free, so we have that to look forward to sometime soon, but for today, and across the weekend, the DoSe skincare range is also discounted by 15%*.
DoSe Skincare 

And finally Fulvic, so a 15% discount* across each of the Fulvic products, and with no further words needed from me about the magical properties of Fulvic Acid, because I have thrown the focus on it in recent newsletters, a link to the Fulvic products below.
Ful.Vic.Health Products 

We couldn’t do any of this without you, we really couldn’t, so I want to thank you not only for supporting our own brands, but for supporting each of the independent brands we platform on our site. It is so incredibly important to stand in our own truth because to all intents and purposes we are campaigning for the very survival of independent brands, without fear or favour. And that matters rather a lot from where I’m standing.

Let’s sing.
Chimes Of Freedom by Bob Dylan; The VH Playlist

With love

Gill x

*The 15% off discount is valid from Saturday, 5th July 2025, to Sunday, 6th July 2025, ending at midnight BST. Discount cannot be combined with any other offers, including discount codes or VH Membership discounts. The discount has no monetary value and cannot be exchanged for cash or credit. We cannot be held liable if customers fail to take advantage of the discount during the promotional period. Refunds will only be issued based on the price paid at checkout, not the original, non-discounted price of the item. By participating in this promotion, customers agree to these terms and conditions. We reserve the right to amend or withdraw this offer at any time without prior notice.