A new brand I was keen to see on my recent visit to John Bell & Croyden was Inner Me. I’d visited the company online, liked the look of the range and found the story of how it came about interesting and inspirational.
Until recently, I used to scoff at vitamin and mineral supplements, and thought that if you had a balanced diet they were an unneccessary western-world folly. Then two things happened to change my mind.
The first thing: Mr Beheld developed a hip fracture (he was only 40) attributed to transient osteoporosis. This is an extremely rare condition in a man of his age, and his consultant suspected that it happened because that year he had spent long hours that summer chained to a computer, and consequently was Vitamin D deficient.
The second thing? I realised that although I’m lucky enough to live in a part of the world where food is plentiful and affordable, owing to my self-indulgence, I don’t actually have a balanced diet. I’m a frequent flier at Gregg The Bakers, and am in a long-term relationship with both Mr Kipling and Mr Pringle. When offered a piece of fruit, I tend to shake my head and bray with alarm like a donkey being asked to leap Becher’s Brook. And I suspect I’m not alone in my terrible diet – I’m sure both Mr K and Mr P see other people behind my back. So, I tried a high street own brand multi-vitamin recently, but I HATED it. The size of a horse pill, unpalatable and (most unforgivably) contained in an ugly tub, it and I were never really destined for a long-term relationship. But I hope that Inner Me and I are.
Founder Nikki Cooper was behind the table, and happy to chat about the products. Inner Me is such a clever range. As you can see from the pictures, the packaging is beautiful – and to my knowledge, Inner Me are the only vitamin providers who can make that boast. Most vitamins have bleurch packaging. Many of the Inner Me products slide out gracefully on trays marked with the day of the week. Nikki’s thinking is that it was hard to remember to take her vitamins, but she never forgot the pill … and voila: a genius product!
Nikki is passionate about the gorgeous drawings that illustrate each product, and told me how exciting it was when she finally found just the right artist to bring to life the ten characters she had in her head. My favourite is the rosy-cheeked, fringed brunette that fronts Lustrous Locks, but first I’m going to try the Vitamin D tablets. Health before Beauty, for once. Nikki and I talked a lot about Vitamin D – and most specifically, about the prevalence of MS in the darker parts of our Western European Isles – it is thought that a lack of Vitamin D is a contributory factor in MS developing. I will report back with my findings once I’ve given the tablets a good test. For the next few weeks, I’ll be happy to have this cute little sweet-like packet sitting on my desk, (I used to hide the ugly tub behind a postcard of Samuel Beckett), so I’m confident that I will actually remember to take them.
Inner Me products range in price from £4.00 for the Vitamin D3 to £15 for Lustrous Locks, Beautify Me and Super Strength Omega 3. You can buy them online here, and find stockist information, but really, don’t you want an excuse to visit the wondrous John Bell & Croyden, where I made Inner Me’s acquaintance?
Inner Me: a product that’s as pretty as Q-Tip, guesting here to great effect in De La Soul’s ‘Me, Myself and I’. (If you’re in a hurry, skip to 3:04.) Enjoy!
