Review: Skinade Collagen Drink

This post has been a month in the making, as I have been trying out the skin supplement Skinade every day for the last month.

Skinade is a collagen supplement drink that works from the inside out. It contains marine collagen peptides which aim to increase natural collagen production. The idea is that this leads to improved skin thickness and a reduction in fine lines and wrinkles. It also aims to promote the production of hyaluronic acid, resulting in improved skin hydration.

If you’re interested in the product, it’s worth having a read through of the science section of the Skinade website. The detail about how it all works is fascinating.

You’ll probably recognise hyaluronic acid as an increasingly common skincare ingredient, especially in products aimed at thirty plus skin. HA is what holds on to moisture in the skin. We all lose it naturally with age, hence our skin gets less good at holding on to moisture and can appear drier and less plump. So anything that gives you more of it is a plus.

A month’s supply of Skinade comes nicely gift-packaged, as you can see above. It’s already pre-packaged into convenient daily doses. What you can see here is the Holiday Edition, which includes 20 x 150ml pre-mixed bottles, plus 10 x 15ml sachets. Mix the sachets with a small glass of cold water and sip it with food. I had mine in the morning just after breakfast.

Tastewise, Skinade has a pleasant tropical fruit flavour, with an aftertaste of…something else. It’s hard to put your finger on, but it’s slightly medicinal and not quite like a regular fruit drink. When I was taking the travel packs mixed with water, some sort of residue floated to the top, so I had to keep mixing it with a spoon to stop it settling.

Initially I found the white plastic bottles a bit heavy on the packaging side, but having tried both I did prefer the pre-mixed version in the bottle to the travel pack. The other thing I found was that some of the bottles were quite hard to open. I’m normally the person in my house who gets passed all the awkward jars to open, so they must’ve been pretty tightly sealed. Whilst this is good for hygiene and keeping the ingredients protected, it might be a challenge for some.

Where I think Skinade really scores is in the convenience aspect. If I want to do a face mask, I have to wait until there’s no one around to laugh and point at my stupid face. But with this you can just sip it at breakfast and get a skin boost straight away.

I definitely had more of a glow and better skin texture by the end of my month’s trial. I was hoping my nails would grow stronger, but I haven’t noticed any change there. There’s not enough of a difference to show up in a photograph, but all in all I feel a bit smoother and less wrinkly. Not that there’s anything wrong with wrinkles, but it’s nice to have a few weeks off.

In theory we should be getting the nutrients our skin needs from our food, and not need supplements like this. But in the real world most people don’t live like that all of the time. Also you have to bear in mind that your body dishes out nutrients to your inner organs first, and your skin last. That’s one of the many reasons why skin can benefit from an extra boost with supplements.

At around £100 for a month’s supply, I don’t think most people’s budget would stretch to taking Skinade on an ongoing basis. Where I think supplements like this really have benefit is if you’re working towards a particular event that you want to look your best for – say a wedding or a holiday. I can also see a benefit for people with ultra-sensitive skin that gets easily irritated. It’s a much easier way to boost your skin from within. Or if you’ve been ill and a bit run down, this is the sort of thing that could pick you right up and restore your glow.