And are fixing me right up...

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By contributor Tara Gonzalez.

At the very beginning of quarantine, back in March 2020, I spent the first two weeks admiring my boyfriend from across the room. I kept saying how fun it was to be co-workers for the first time ever, in our small Brooklyn apartment with our Pug puppy. I then proceeded to spend the following weeks fixating on everything that he did wrong. The first of his shortcomings, I noticed, also happened to be one of mine -- as it turns out, neither of us drank any water. Like, at all.

I immediately went online and bought huge water bottles that bore phrases on their side to remind and encourage us both to keep drinking. Think things like: Almost there! and You can do it! Every day, at around 8pm, we were both so proud of ourselves for finishing 3L of water (2020 was not necessarily the most exciting year for us on record, clearly). But right when I was getting into the swing of filling my bottle to its brim and finishing it twice by the end of the day, I went on TikTok and realized I was missing something. Everyone else’s water was a bright leafy green?

I’d heard of chlorophyll before, but I never thought to try it out. The only thing I’d ever put in my water was a fresh stick of mint leaves, plucked from my mom’s garden in Queens, all throughout middle school and High School. But after seeing enough videos to convince me that drinking chlorophyll would change my life, I decided to dabble with Philosophie’s Liquid Sunshine drops which, coincidentally, contain a hint of mint essential oil.

The first thing I did was grab my water bottle and fill it with ice cold water and a handful of ice cubes like I normally do. Then I used the dropper -- cautiously -- and watched my water turn the same color as the ivy hanging from my kitchen shelf. I braced myself for the taste, which for some reason I assumed would be grass-like, and was pleasantly surprised by how delicious it was. The first sip was filled with a minty nostalgia of doing homework in my backyard as a teen, mint water courtesy of our sidewalk garden. It was refreshing and truly made drinking a huge amount of water instantly easier. I actually started drinking even more than usual.

These chlorophyll sunshine drops quickly became part of my everyday routine, just 1-2 droppers full into my water once a day. They tasted good! They made my water look particularly gorgeous! But within a couple of days, I realized they were also giving my recently broken out skin a dewy glow. When I first heard about the benefits of chlorophyll I remember watching a video with a girl enthusiastically claiming it was like drinking bottled sunshine that made you feel and look happy. “That seems optimistic,” I thought. But she was absolutely right.

The mood boost I experienced drinking chlorophyll water likely had more to do with its delicious mint taste or soothing green hue. But studies show that chlorophyll boosts the immune system, detoxifies blood, and stimulates hydration. And, because chlorophyll is an antioxidant, it potentially offers anti-aging benefits as well, and I definitely feel like my skin has never looked better. Within days of using them, all of the pimples that dotted my chin cleared up. My skin looked so good that I even stopped using my tinted moisturizer.

It has now been nearly 15 months since I bought my boyfriend that huge water bottle and a lot has changed. Thankfully for the better. Our apartment is still our coworking space, but the novelty of it has passed. I’ve even stopped fixating on how often he orders lunch or how often he doesn’t do the dishes. But the other day I walked up to him and said “You know what I’ve noticed?” And right before he could roll his eyes in preparation for my usual criticism, I squeezed a couple drops of chlorophyll into his water and said, “Your water isn’t green!” Now he’s drinking sunshine, too.