We were sent a supply of Revive Collagen Enhanced Plus for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.
A couple of months ago, I was sat chatting with my friends about menopause (that’s a hot topic and will be for a while), when one of my friends said she’s been taking liquid collagen and she felt it was making a difference to her. Naturally we all immediately leapt on this and quizzed her further. She had apparently been taking it for about a year and her hair, nails, joints and wrinkle situation had improved considerably in that time. We were all very, very interested and I imagine everyone did what I did, which was go home and do some reading up on collagen.
The benefits of taking collagen are pretty clear, there are a million articles on the internet about the upsides to this wonder supplement. Collagen provides structure, support or strength to your skin, muscles, bones and connective tissues and is said to help plump and smooth the skin, add volume to hair and strengthen nails. I’ve heard of sporty friends taking collagen and after a few months of use reporting that they feel suppler and stronger. With my bad back and face that’s starting to show my age, I thought it was high time I staged a personal intervention.
Typically for me, I’d looked around at what collagen supplements were available, got a bit paralysed by indecision and did nothing. Thankfully fate intervened and I was offered a months supply of Revive Collagen Enhanced Plus to put to the test. I’d read the reviews and looked at some before and after photos and liked what I saw, plus what harm could it do?
Revive Collagen is a beauty brand founded by Amanda Holden, that aims to deliver real results for women of all ages. As our body ages, our natural collagen levels deplete which results in our skin losing tone and elasticity, and showing an increase in fine lines and wrinkles. Revive Collagen produce liquid collagen that can be taken once daily for the best results. The collagen drinks by Revive Collagen have been shown to have an absorption rate of 90% to 95% which is considerably higher than regular collagen tablets, of which only 30 to 40% is absorbed by your body.
Revive Collagen Enhanced Plus is a “Hydrolysed Marine Collagen Drink”. I was sent a 28 day supply which contained 28 little sachets of the tropical flavoured fluid. Each sachet contains 10,000 mg of marine collagen, vitamins B6 and B12, vitamins C and D, keratin and retinol. I’m no scientist, so I’m just going to assume they’re all good things. What this product isn’t is, vegetarian or halal, though there is a vegan version available on the website should that tickle your fancy.
With a month to put this to the test, partly to see if I got on with it, and partly to see if it made an actual difference, I set to work. The trick is to remember to take it each day, so I kept my sachets by the kettle, so when I go for my morning brew, I have my morning shot of collagen too.
Each dose is in an individual pouch with a twist off top. It’s ideal for throwing in your bag if you need to, or keeping by your kettle, like me. It has a tropical flavour and it tastes a little like undiluted squash. It’s absolutely fine if you’re ok with just necking it back. They suggest that you can use it like squash and dilute it with water. I think it would also be lovely stirred into Greek yoghurt or similar. It’s not as liquid as water, a little thicker and it’s not at all an unpleasant texture.
I’ve been taking it for a month now, and although I suspect it’ll take longer than that to notice a real change in my wrinkles and general health and vitality. It could well be my imagination, but I do feel physically a bit looser. I feel like I’m taking fewer painkillers for my back and unusually for November, when I look in the mirror, I think my skin looks like it has a bit of a glow. The eczema on my hands, which gets worse in winter looks a lot better than usual. I don’t have any cracks on the pads of my fingers, which makes typing this so much more comfortable.
One of the reasons I decided to take collagen was to help counteract the drying effects of menopause. Over the last year or two I’ve noticed I’m more prone to skin dryness and if daily collagen shots can help keep that in check, without it developing into a patch of something requiring a steroid cream, then I’m all up for this. Drinking a sachet daily can help to rebuild and restore your collagen levels. It’s not cheap, but then if you shop around, it’s on a par with other similar products.
I think for me, it’s about making an investment in myself. I’m a mum, I work hard, I have a busy life and I don’t have an awful lot of time to spend on myself. In gentler times I treated myself to regular spa days and facials, now it’s all I can do to exfoliate in the shower twice a week. Whilst knocking back a shot of collagen isn’t the kind of spa level pamper I might be craving, the results, or the intended results are to me, worth investing in.
As I approach menopause, I know I need to treat myself better, differently and find ways to nourish myself from within, rather than topically treat things externally. If taking a dose of Revive Collagen Enhanced Plus each day is one of the tools in my armoury which keep the effects of aging at bay, and not just the cosmetic sides of growing older, then it is a worthwhile investment. And if you don’t want to take my word for it, there are around 214 reviews on the website that would largely agree with me.
After a month, I’m perhaps starting to sense the green shoots of recovery. I will keep on taking the Revive Collagen Enhanced Plus shots each day and see how I get on with them in the long term. It’s not an instant thing, but one worth persisting with, and persist I will.
You can buy Revive Collagen Enhanced Plus directly from the website, but it’s also available from places like Boots and Holland and Barratt