I Tried Taking Collagen Like Kylie Jenner & Here's What Went Down

You've been there before: You're scrolling through your Instagram feed when you see your favorite celeb post about their favorite new product — a face serum, vitamins that will make your skin brighter, or a specialty food service. You can't help but want to be like the stars, but are the products worth it? In Elite Daily's new series, I Tried, we put it all to the test. We're trying those products as well as celebrities' health and wellness tips, recipes, and life hacks. We'll do the leg work and tell you what living like your fave star is really like.

Collagen. Literally everyone on Instagram is talking about it — even Kylie Jenner, who apparently takes it in her coffee. Heck, even Kourtney Kardashian just debuted a new line of Vital Proteins products for her website, Poosh. Jenner is especially fond of Vital Proteins’ vanilla collagen creamer. According to Vital Proteins’ site, their collagen products “help promote healthy hair, skin, nails, bones, and joints.” Seeing that so many stars are jumping on the collagen bandwagon, I thought I should probably give it a try and tell you all about it! Yep, I tried taking collagen like Kylie Jenner, and it was surprisingly easy to incorporate into my daily routine.

First of all, let me just say that I tried two different Vital Proteins products. One was their vanilla creamer, the very one that Jenner uses to give herself a boost in the morning. The other one was Vital Proteins’ collagen water, which comes in a variety of flavors. So, I kind of got the best of both worlds here.

Collagen Creamer

I started off this test with the collagen creamer. To be honest, I was hesitant about trying it because… well, as a coffee connoisseur, I really don’t like messing around too much with my coffee’s taste. With that in mind, I opted to have my regular morning coffee and then a second cup in the afternoon with the collagen creamer included. Vital Proteins recommends using two scoops of their creamer for optimal taste and texture. However, being a bit skeptical at first, I decided to use only one scoop.

The first day I tried this, I added the one scoop to about 8 ounces of coffee and mixed it with a spoon. Not the best way to mix it since it came out kind of clumpy, so if you have a blender or even a frother, that’s probably your best best.

I eventually started using my Grandma’s old-school Hamilton Beach Drinkmaster., which mixed the collagen creamer into my coffee perfectly. So perfectly, in fact, that I started adding two scoops to my coffee, which made my afternoon cup a bit more calorie-dense. Two scoops is the equivalent of about 140 calories. It was essentially an afternoon snack.

As I mentioned, the creamer I got is vanilla-flavored, but I can’t say that it actually tastes vanilla-flavored. It doesn’t taste bad, but I’d say it’s more on par with what followers of the ketogenic diet call “bulletproof coffee” which is basically coffee with butter. It had a similar taste and texture, which was totally fine by me. It smelled delicious as well!

Collagen Water

Next, I tried Vital Proteins’ Collagen Water. I tried a few different flavors — Blackberry Hibiscus, Lemon Ginger, and Strawberry Lemon. Each one of these was super tasty and refreshing, though I found that the Blackberry Hibiscus water was a bit on the thicker side texture-wise. Overall, though, I enjoyed them.

Collagen is said to have a slew of benefits, including improved skin, hair, and nail health. According to WebMD, there’s a “growing body of evidence suggesting it can improve skin, ease arthritis symptoms, promote wound healing, and fend off muscle wasting.”

Final Thoughts

To be frank, I didn’t see any marked change in the weeks that I was consuming collagen. Sure, my hair grew (I had just gotten a haircut when I started taking collagen) and my skin looked slightly smoother than usual, but I can’t say that either of those things were directly linked to collagen products. Honestly, the only real difference I felt was that I was more full after drinking my coffee.

Even without seeing any specific results or benefits, I’d also say that I’d probably continue including collagen in my coffee or even drinking Vital Proteins’ water every now and then. I certainly didn’t see any adverse effects, and the taste of their products was appealing enough that I’d continue to give it a shot.