I first encountered Dirty Lemon on Facebook when it came up as a suggested page for me, which then directed me to their Instagram. With hashtags like #yestomore and #effmakeup, I had to admit I was curious.
After a little research I found out you can only order the bottles via text message. Which is awesome, because I can always just reorder through text if I want.
Reading through the different options on their site, I decided to try out the [skin+hair] case. Which has a hella lot of collagen in it (which can help protect your skin from the sun, check it out) and is formulated to improve skin and hair health.
So, what does this drink actually do? Well, it's a supplement for your diet. Not one of those "you can only drink liquids for the next five days, good luck" deals (thank god). I could never do one of those again, not after the lemonade cleanse I did.
Dirty Lemon describes itself as a "functional beverage brand." Each bottle contains cold pressed lemon juice with a blend of herbal extracts and natural compounds. You drink a bottle a day for six days—seems easy enough.
I received my shipment of six Instagram-worthy bottles to drink over the next week the day after they processed my order. And thus began my [skin+hair] collagen beverage regimen.
So, what's in this drink? Besides the lemon juice, it has red clover, silica-packed horsetail, anti-inflammatory cayenne extracts, and pure marine collagen, which is probably why the label says it contains fish.
Marine collagen has been shown to have beneficial effects on the skin, reducing wrinkles, and improving elasticity. And yeah, I'm only 22. But as a mathematics major who always looks exhausted, I do sometimes worry about these things.
The drink itself wasn't black, don't worry. The label is all black and white, but it looks and tastes like lemonade with a little spice due to the cayenne. It claims to offer a beauty boost. But can drinking collagen for six days really make you prettier? I'm skeptical.
The first thing I noticed was that my acne was mildly better—but I had little to begin with, so I wasn't sure that I could say the drink did that. However, by the third day I noticed my dark circles were slightly brighter.
On the fourth day I noticed I was shedding less hair (peeps with long hair feel me), and I definitely wasn't using as much makeup as I usually do on my dark circles. By the last bottle I noticed my hair was stronger and I definitely saw improvement in my skin.
But, can I attribute that to drinking collagen for six days? I'm not sure. I didn't change anything I was doing from my normal routine, so the changes wouldn't be from anything else.
I'd say that drinking collagen definitely made me feel prettier. But, as an average person I couldn't say that anyone else noticed a change. However, my time with Dirty Lemon had me feeling better about my appearance and caused me to drink more fluids. My opinion? If you have $65 to spare, it's worth a try.