The majority of you probably don't need an introduction to Blogilates and its creator, Cassey Ho. Chances are if you're reading this post, you already know about this amazing entrepreneur and her legacy. For those of you who don't know about her, you're about to gain an idol. Blogilates is an organization/community created by fitness instructor Cassey Ho. Her online presence started with her blogging and posting free workout videos, workout schedules, recipes, and much more, as well as selling her own merch (hence the water bottle). More recently, she's launched her own workout clothing line, and even published a book. She is just an all around successful, fun, and positive influence. You can read more about Blogilates on her official website here.
So before we dive into the good stuff, I just wanted to post a disclaimer: this water bottle that I am reviewing was ordered a couple months ago, when Blogilates was having a Memorial Day sale with 20% off. I was prepared to review it at that time, but after that sale I noticed that the site was no longer selling this item, and it would be pointless of me to review something that you guys couldn't purchase. Now it's back, baby! But not without some slight changes. You'll notice that the text design on the water bottle has been updated. The infuser piece is also different. But otherwise, the bottle itself and its functions are still the same.
This bottle is sold for $18.00 USD, or, if calculated at the current exchange rate at that time I purchased it of 1.263114, $22.74 CAD.
Shipping and Duties (2/5)
Oh, no, why so low? We're starting off with a low rating in this category for a couple reasons:
1) Blogilates has a $10.00 USD shipping charge per EACH water bottle for international orders. I know, its a bit much. I'm not sure what kind of arrangements they've made with their carrier, and I completely understand that Blogilates isn't a retailer-focused company so it may not be worth it for them to offer free shipping over "X" amount spent, but $10.00 USD per item is just...kinda crazy. And you know what's even crazier? I purchased two water bottles, so I paid an additional $20 USD in total for shipping my order. I could have purchased another bottle with that amount. (I wasn't just buying at random quantities, though, there was a method to my madness that I shall divulge later on.)
2) Not only did I have to pay more than the original cost of one item for shipping, it also took what felt like a longgg time to actually reach my doorstep. The order first went via USPS, traveling more than I ever have along a small strip of coast somewhere in California, and then finally made its way through Canadian customs and into my highly impatient arms. I placed the order on a Sunday night, and received the "shipment confirmation" on Tuesday. I say "shipment confirmation" like that in quotes because this was really just the creating of the label. Nothing was actually sent out until another 2 days later. In total, it took the package 1 whole week to reach Canada and then another 4 days to clear customs and be delivered to me. So in total, I waited a little more than 1.5 weeks to receive my bottles.
There were, thankfully, no duties charged on the order, which I find is typical of orders when they go the regular snail mail route, as opposed to express.
First Impression and Quality (4/5)
The bottle is made of a hard plastic material. The printing on the bottle also seems like it would last, I lightly scratched my fingernail against it a couple of times but it didn't come off. I don't think I've used it long enough yet to witness any peeling or flaking. The infuser part is made of a flexible, soft plastic material, to expand and contract to the amount of fruits/veggies you put inside.
The bottle itself is manufactured by a company called Vision USA, so while the print on it is designed by Cassey, she didn't design the actual bottle shape, materials, etc. You can take a closer look at the original bottle here on the Vision USA website.
Design and Function (4/5)
After the package arrived at my door, I delicately cradled it in my arms and set it down gently on the table. Then, I whipped out a pair of scissors and and ninja-sliced through the tape to open the box. Some skepticism sank in as I laid eyes on my purchase for the first time, as the bottle looked like a regular ol' water bottle. But after using it for about a week, I started to enjoy, and even look forward to, using it.
Size matters here, as the bottle can hold a relatively large amount of water (27 ounces, which is even more than the Starbucks Venti cold cup), while retaining an ergonomically sized radius for me to grip the water bottle while drinking. And speaking of grip, the bottom of the bottle has an anti-slip ring, which I felt was a thoughtful detail. I wouldn't have expected an item used by a custom printing company to include such details, since most swag cups and mugs are usually very cheap and basic.
As for the "timer" markings on the bottle, how "useful" is it really? Theoretically, you're supposed to follow the guidelines and drink the portion of water outlined from blank to blank o'clock, but I found that I didn't really follow the lines down to a T. I just drank whenever I had the chance to pick the bottle up and take a swig, which was pretty often, due to aforementioned grip-friendly shape of bottle. That being said, the lines could be helpful if you're making a conscious effort to follow them and make yourself drink enough water every hour, on the hour.
The water bottle has a hinge top which you flip open, and the bottle is tilted to drink from the spout. The cap that opens and closes has a little "plug" that keeps the water from leaking and is pretty air tight. I have noticed that with this spout design the inside of the spout is difficult to clean, unless you own one of those minuscule straw cleaning brushes or something of a similar size. When using this bottle to hold smoothies or juice with pulp, the residue may be left on the spout and once it dries, you'll really have to dig in there to clean it thoroughly. Otherwise, this spout is a good small shape to drink from, no awkward sucking or having to carefully level it so that water doesn't spill down your clothes.
Finally, we get to the actual infuser part. The infuser is a separate piece of plastic that you can pop off, shove all your goodies in, and then pop back onto the cap again. Easy as 1, 2, 3. Because the infuser on this older water bottle version that I have does expand a bit, I noticed that it is easy to get greedy or overlook the amount of fruit you have and want to stuff into this tiny little cylinder. When it comes time to clean the bottle, I always end up having to knock the infuser against the sink or tap it against my hand to get the over-stuffed produce pieces out.
Tips and Warnings
- You may notice that there is a tiny small rubber ring on the inside of your bottle cap. Or, it may have fallen out when you twisted open the cap. DO NOT LOSE THIS RING! Remember how in the beginning of this post I mentioned I had purchased two bottles? Well, my initial reasoning was that I could perhaps interchange between the two bottles, or use one anytime I had an outside activity and the other at home. I tested out one of the bottles and everything was going awesome. Until one morning, I filled up the bottle as usual and tossed it into my bag. When I whipped the bottle out to drink from it I noticed that the bottle had been leaking the whole time and about 1/3 of the water was gone. I thought maybe the cap wasn't screwed on tightly enough, so I just twisted it a bit and then titled it upside down to swig from it. As I did, water went drip drip drip all over my clothes. Oh no! Was the bottle already cracked and broken from less than a week of use? Perhaps the plastic quality was so bad it had just changed shape in the varying temperatures. Turns out that this tiny piece of rubber/plastic keeps the pressure in and the water from trickling down from between the cap and bottle, and I had lost this piece in one of the times when I opened the cap to rinse the bottle. * SEE UPDATES AT BOTTOM OF POST! *
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| See that thin, little plastic ring all snuggled up in there? Don't lose it! |
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| It keeps the bottle leak-free! |
- I leave mine infused in the fridge overnight, so about 8-10 hours. But to achieve just a bit of flavor, I think 2 to 3 hours should do the trick. It is also said you can infuse up to 12 hours, but I'm not sure if this makes a huge difference from infusing overnight.
- You can use frozen fruit, but for obvious reasons, fresh fruit is the best.
- You can refill the water bottle a second time without changing the fruit, but you will have to wait the 2-3 hours again, and the taste will be fainter. That being the case, it's better to always just start off with fresh fruit. Also, this will depend on the type of fruit you are infusing, as strawberries look quite unpleasantly mushy just after the first infusing.
- Plastic bottles do absorb whatever you put inside, so make sure you rinse out your bottle well after each use (some vinegar added in the water may do the trick) or else there may be some remnants of the previous taste left in your water. One morning when in a hurry I dumped out the fruit and water I had used the day before, quickly rinsed the bottle out once with water, and filled it without any fruit. When drinking I realized the water still had the taste of the fruit from the previous day.
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| My bottle just "chillin'" in the fridge (ha, ha). |
"Recipes" I Tried
The possibilities are endless, but so far I have only tried a couple of variations. In my pictures I'm using lemon and berries, which has the nice, refreshing taste of lemon but also a slight tangy background berry taste.
I've tried the water with just strawberries, since I've seen BubzBeauty rave about this in her vlogs, and no wonder. It tastes absolutely delicious. It has a "stronger," pleasant aftertaste like you're drinking sweet strawberry nectar and could definitely be considered a good replacement for fizzy drinks/fruit juices.
I also tried lime with cucumber, and this smelled sooo good. Next to lemon this would probably be the most refreshing thing you can reach for on a hot summer's day. I tried it with just lime, but it just didn't taste the same without cucumber.
I think next I would want to incorporate some oranges, and maybe some mint. I'm not sure how strong the flavour would be with anything that has leaves inside it, but I'm sure if you chop the leaves in half or anywhere to expose some of the inside juices, the flavour will seep into your water as well. As I said, the possibilities are endless. Leave in the comments below what types of combinations you have tried, and share with us if you have some "unusual" but delicious recipes!
Verdict (4/5)
In total, I paid ($18 USD + 20% discount) + $10 USD For Shipping = $24.40 USD. Converting it at a rate of 1.263114 from when the order was processed in my credit card, the total amount I paid for one bottle was $24.40 x 1.263114 = $30.82 CAD.
- If we were to speak in general terms, you can make fruit/veggie infused water with pretty much anything that will hold water and has a large enough opening for you to chuck pieces of fruit into, for a fraction of the cost. I've seen people throw a slice of lemon into their regular reusable plastic water bottles. You could do the same with those reusable cold cups that have a plastic reusable straw. I've seen people use armies of mason jars (the acidity in the fruits won't erode the glass like it does with plastic bottles).
- Shipping on this item was quite high and it took quite awhile (relatively) to reach me. If you're ordering from Canada it's already a week and a half. Likely it will take even longer if you're ordering from somewhere else in the world.
- Also, what if you lose the rubber ring? Maybe you could find a replacement from another water bottle, or maybe there is a slim chance that Vision USA would send you a bag direct from the manufacturer, but it would mean extra hassle and ship time/costs. And if you can't replace it, then the bottle is kaput.
BUT:
- Unlike other infuser water bottles I've found here in Canada, this holds the most water, which is a big plus for me since I don't want to have to constantly refill my bottle. The flavour would be flushed out anyways with all those refills.
- Also, ergonomically speaking, the bottle is a good shape to my average sized hands, easy to grip and swig. It is also not heavy, even when filled, since it is plastic. And it does not have that weird plastic smell that I have experienced in other new plastic water bottles.
- The design on it is super cute, as you guys would know, minimalist in varying bright colours is all the rage now. The motivational phrases are a nice touch to an otherwise plain drinking device. I am someone who will dish out that extra money for something that looks better. After all, if you are going to be drinking water all throughout the day, or you're trying to get yourself to drink more water, you want something that looks appealing so you'll keep reaching for it.
- Finally, if you like Cassey like I do and appreciate all the work she does to put out free workout videos, recipes, and tips on staying healthy, then buying this is a way of supporting her and saying thanks, I guess.
Overall, I'm giving this a 4/5, because while it is something you can live with or without, depending on the individual, it is a nice thing to have. This may not be something that everyone would dish out the money to pay for. I can already hear a LOT of my friends' exasperated voices in my head saying with disbelief, "What, you paid that much for a water bottle?" And my answer to that would be, "But but - I like things that are purrrdy..." I guess you can think of this as a "designer" water bottle.
Where to Buy
The Detox Timer Bottle comes in 7 different motivational phrases, and you can buy them on the Blogilates Designs website here.
Congratulations, you made it through yet another one of my insanely long reviews! I tried to cut it down as much as possible, but you know I'm all about the details. Let me know if you guys have any other questions in the comments below. See you all next week!
Updates and Rating (3/5)
- 9/1/2015: After the ring falls out from inside the cap, you have to really try to get it back in the exact same place...or else the bottle gets drippy. It doesn't leak per-say, but it gets drippy.
- 9/10/2015: I've tried to place the ring back into place to the best of my ability, but the bottle is still dripping. You have to screw on the lid really tight, and it still drips. I'm going to have to dock a star for this review, which is really sad since I loved this bottle. Technically, I should be giving it a 1 out of 5, since I can't really use it anymore without dribbling water all over the front of my clothes, but I'm not sure what other people's experience was with this bottle. Maybe I just didn't fit the rubber ring back into the lid properly, and there are still gaps in between the ring and lid, therefore causing the dripping. But even so, it shows that this bottle is more high maintenance to use than I previously thought.
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