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Libation Report

Skinny Water: Are All Other Waters Fat?

Skinny Water

I really like flavored waters. They're a guilty pleasure for a girl who otherwise exists on a primarily natural diet. We all have our weaknesses, mine is water that's not really water. Which is why I pretty much hit pay dirt when a box of Skinny Water arrived at my doorstep.  Thank you libation gods! Skinny Water has big labels on the outside that say: "All natural flavors and colors with no preservatives."  Does that mean Skinny Water is made of juice and H2O?  Well not exactly...

It's got lots of hard to pronounce ingredients that may be natural flavors, but you probably can't pick them in a field somewhere. Having said that, I still kind of like them. My trial box came with six flavors, all of which supposedly have magical super powers:

• Raspberry Pomegranate: Crave Control, which functions as an appetite suppressant
• Peach Mango Mandarin: XXX Detox, which functions and an antioxidant  flush
• Acai Grape Blueberry: High Energy, which, you guessed it, functions and an energy booster
• Lemonade Passionfruit: Total-V, which works like a multivitamin
• Goji Fruit Punch: Shape, which is supposed to replenish electrolytes and aid in muscle recovery
• Orange Cranberry Tangerine: Wake-Up, which is like a super whammy of vitamin C

Do the super powers work?  I dunno. I didn't notice myself leaping tall buildings with a single bound or my hunger being satiated any more than usual between meals, but they are tasty.

They're calorie free, which makes me feel like they're closer to being "water" than Vitamin Water, and they kind of taste like liquid fruit snacks, the grape or orange or punch "aids" of my childhood.  There's something kind of comforting about that almost juice taste that brings me back. By far my favorite was the Orange Cranberry Tangerine, the citrus in it cut the sweetness a bit, which made it refreshing. The only flavor I didn't much care for was the Peach Mango Mandarin which was way too sweet for me.

Will "Skinny Water" replace other "waters" for me when I'm thirsty and on the go?  Yes, I could definitely see myself picking this up at a bodega or after a run across the Brooklyn Bridge.  It probably will never replace real water for me, though. Even though I have my guilty pleasures, I'm a purist at heart.