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I Drank Collagen for 21 Days & This Is What Happened

It’s less gross than it sounds. Promise.

Skin
I Drank Collagen for 21 Days & This Is What Happened
Roughy a month ago, a box filled with white bottles that bore the name Skinade landed on my desk. Up until this point, my knowledge of the brand and these bottles was pretty minimal. What I knew: Skinade is a collagen beverage meant to improve the elasticity in your skin, among other things like reducing fine lines. The discussion around collagen has been present in the beauty world for quite some time now, and while our bodies naturally produce this protein, they do so less and less the older we get (go figure). “Collagen is not just good, it is an essential and accounts for 75 percent of youthful skin, forming the main structural element of the skin in the collagen matrix in the dermis,” Louise Marchesin, CMO of Skinade, explained to me. “The collagen matrix is responsible for skin support, firmness, elasticity, hydration, and the constant production of new skin cells.” That information was enough to get me chugging a Skinade bottle every morning with my breakfast. I decided to test it out for the next three to four weeks.

skinade collagen reviewPhoto: Courtesy of Skinade
While the size of the bottle threw me off at first (it’s small—about half the size of a regular water bottle), I got over it almost as quickly as I got used to the taste. I expected it to taste much worse than it did mainly because the drink is bright yellow, but it turned out to be slightly sweet with a very light aftertaste. To be honest, it reminds me of Emergen-C.

Curious as to how the drink actually worked, I turned to Marchesin for more info. “The magic of Skinade happens when all the ingredients work together. The collagen is the hero, but it would be nothing without a cast of ingredients to support it,” she told me. “Skinade works as a feedback mechanism, designed to trigger a physiological response in our bodies. As the collagen peptides are absorbed into the bloodstream, it prompts a wound-healing response. This response triggers fibroblast activity, our own collagen factories, specifically in the skin as Skinade contains collagen type I and III, most abundant in the skin.” In other words, the beverage causes your body to start producing more collagen. It took me a few weeks to first notice a difference from the extra collagen being produced in my body, but about 15 days in I began to notice that my skin had more of a dewy look to it and had a little more bounce.

While I did have the thought that taking collagen in pill form would make things a whole lot easier, Marchesin explained to me that I wouldn’t get the same results that way. “The Physicians Desk Reference puts the absorption rate of tablets at between 10-20 percent, as opposed to liquids, which are listed at a much higher absorption rate of over 95 percent. The reason for this huge discrepancy is that, while the ingredients in solution can pass through the lining of the stomach and enter the bloodstream directly, pills and tablets must pass through the digestive system, where a great deal of the ingredients are simply passed through the body without being properly absorbed.”

Towards the end of the second week, not only was my skin still glowing (ask my friends, who enviously questioned how), but the bags under my eyes were a little less noticeable as well. I don’t have too many lines or wrinkles on my face *yet*, but overall everything just looked better. I wish I could say it cleared up the bout of adult acne I’m dealing with, but it didn’t (I think that’s a whole other issue on its own). But did I see results that I was happy with? Yes. Would I recommend the product to a friend? One hundred percent. Now excuse me while I go chug my next glass.



Photo: On Solveig: Pajamas, Morgan Lane; Ring, Baker & Black; Sunglasses, Dior; Hand Mirror, Tom Dixon; Carafe, Tom Dixon; Hair, Angela Soto; Makeup, Andriani.

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