20 Ways to Drink More Water Without Even Knowing It

Mar 19, 2014

Staying hydrated can be quite a chore, especially if you’re not a huge fan of the flavor of water. It’s boring and blah, and that sweet coffee is so much more delicious. However, with a little bit of creativity and a couple minutes of chopping, you can have water that is both flavorful and colorful and will quickly become your new drink of choice. Flavored water is great for your waistline, ups your daily vitamin intake and keeps you away from those terrible commercial waters that offer nothing more than a sugar rush. Here are 20 of the most refreshing flavored waters to delight your tastebuds and keep you hydrated.

1. Raspberry Lime Water: The raspberries will give this drink a beautiful color and the lime adds a little tartness. (via Mommy’s Monsters)

2. Lavender Lemonade: Lemons are incredible for boosting metabolism and helping with weight loss. By adding a touch of honey to this lemonade, you will get an extra kick of vitamins and minerals. (via Eat Yourself Skinny)

3. Cucumber Herbal Water: Adding rosemary and mint gives this infusion a touch of sophistication. (via Nancy Creative)

3. Very Berry Lemon Water: If you’re a fan of Starbucks Passion Tea, you’ll love this berry lemon water that costs about a fifth of the price! (via Songbirds and Buttons)

4. Watermelon Basil Water: Adding basil to the mix adds an amazing freshness, and watermelon lends a light, sweet flavor that is sure to hit the spot. (via Natasha’s Kitchen)

5. Lemon Mint Water: There is no added sugar to this lemon water, but the mint adds a touch of natural sweetness and lemons oxygenate the body so it feels refreshed and revitalized. (via Nancy Creative)

6. Pineapple Peach Mango Water: While waiting for summer and fresh fruit, try using a cheaper alternative — frozen fruit. The flavor will be just as delicious and you don’t even have to cut anything! Just add water, for realz! (via Songbirds and Buttons)

7. Blueberry Lemon Water: When you muddle the blueberries, your water will turn a delightful shade of purple, and if you need some extra sweetness, try all-natural, zero-calorie stevia. (via Christina’s Adventures)

8. Strawberry Mango Water: Since both strawberries and mangoes are fragrant fruit, this infused water smells as good as it tastes. Mangoes and strawberries contain all kinds of vitamins that promote good eyesight, which is perfect for those of us who live in front of a computer screen. (via That’s What Che Said)

9. Watermelon Mint Lime Water: This perfect combination of summer flavors will keep you happily sipping water all day long. (via Sunny with a Chance of Sprinkles)

10. Pineapple Mint Water: Pineapple sports a tropical kick, but it is also a superfood with digestive benefits and immune support. (via The Yummy Life)

11. Blackberry Sage Water: Don’t be afraid of adding savory herbs to your water. The flavor is milder than you think, and it is the perfect compliment to the sweetness of the fruit. (via The Yummy Life)

12. Grapefruit Water: Grapefruit kickstarts your metabolism and does amazing things for your skin. Put the grapefruit slices in the water the night before to get the maximum amount of flavor. (via Stockpiling Moms)

13. Pineapple Orange Water With Ginger: Ginger is amazing for helping with nausea, so if you’re pregnant, this may be your new favorite drink. (via Greatist)

14. Grapefruit Mint Coconut Water: Technically, coconut water is not calorie-free, but it is so packed with other incredibly healthy goodness, that we think it is worth mentioning. Coconut water actually contains electrolytes, so it will leave you doubly hydrated, and the grapefruit is a nice added flavor. (via Pensee)

15. Orange Rosemary Water: This is a powerful immune-boosting drink. You’re getting vit C from the oranges and rosemary is the leading herb in antioxidants used to fight off infections. (via She Knows)

16. Cherry Lime Water: If you’re feeling ambitious, you can throw the fruit in a blender for a second to release even more juicy flavor. (via And Love It Too)

17. Pomegranate Rosemary Water: Even though digging out all those little pomegranate seeds can be a pain, the sweet flavor infused with earthy rosemary is completely addictive. (via Divine Glowing Health)

18. Ginger Lemon Thyme Water: Ginger has anti-inflammatory properties, so this is the perfect combo if you’re looking for something other than a sugary energy drink to enjoy after your workout. (via She Knows)

19. Cucumber Lemongrass: This unusual flavor combination will have you feeling like you just got out of a spa. (via Eat Boutique)

20. Lemon Lime Thyme: If you’re missing the bubbles of soda, try using sparkling water instead. There are still no calories, and this tangy lemon-lime infusion is sure to kick that soda craving. (via Kitchen Art)

Which one of these fruit-infused flavors has you chugging water? Let us know in the comments below!

8 Social Media Hacks To Help Your Brand Stand Out, According To Our Social Media Pro

Adobe Express

creativity tool

Mallory Levy leads a busy creative life in NYC as head of social for Brit+Co. She wrapped 2023 with a dreamy forest wedding and bucket-list honeymoon to Australia and is back to work creating clever and often hilarious posts for our Brit + Co followers, from snappy recipe Reels to inspiring quotes to celebrity interviews and more. Where does she get her inspiration to bring you the best social content?

“I’m lucky to be within walking distance of world-class museums, theater, and cool events, like fashion week. The inspiration is endless!” she says. “Social media can get overwhelming at times, but I often come away feeling more inspired than anything else. It’s a great way to connect with other creators and find new inspiration, which fuels my creativity to deliver fresh, engaging social media content every day.”

Mallory’s secret to bringing her inspiration to life? She uses Adobe Express, the all-in-one AI content creation app, to ideate and design colorful and engaging content on-the-go. “The features on the all-new Adobe Express mobile app make editing and collaborating on projects easier than ever!” she says. “Because we’re a remote team, I’m very rarely at my desk, so being able to ideate and create, or make adjustments, when I’m out and about is truly game-changing.”

Adobe Express makes designing easy and fast for anyone – even if you’re not a pro – with thousands of beautiful, professionally designed templates and a massive selection of assets for your Instagram and TikTok content, flyers, logos, and more. Plus, Adobe’s Firefly generative AI technology, which allows you to create the perfect image, edit with ease, and generate and customize amazing text effects with styles or textures that really stand out. All these features are now available on the mobile app.

In this fresh, new Reel, Mallory shares a day in her colorful life as she creates standout visual assets for Brit+Co’s social channels using the generative AI features in the new Adobe Express mobile app. Check it out below!

What a fun, creative job, right? “My day-to-day is genuinely such a blast. I love having the creative freedom to run with my ideas and infuse some of my own humor and pop into our content,” says Mallory. “Most of my friends and family don’t believe that this is what I get to do every day!”

Looking to improve your social content game? Here are tips for saving time and making an impact on social media for your work, side hustle, or to build your personal brand.

1. Engage with your audience: Engaging your audience with content that resonates can lead to higher reach and visibility. Thanks to Mallory’s constant performance monitoring, we know our B+C follower loves to treat herself and her besties, she’s super creative, indulges in celebrity news (especially nostalgia TV), and gets joy from entertaining, travel, food, and decor. Knowing this, Mallory creates fun, interactive posts like polls and quizzes, and always keeps our content fresh and interesting using the massive library of fonts, photos, and design assets in Adobe Express.

“I’m always out and about filming fun content for TikTok and our other video platforms,” says Mallory. “Adobe Express makes it so easy to add clips, music, and captions (and record voiceovers!) so I can edit it all together in real time.”

2. Generate anything you can imagine: AI has become a powerful tool for content creators, helping them enhance their creative work and simplify tasks. Leveraging the right AI tools can help you work and create high-performing content faster! The new Adobe Express mobile app is packed with AI goodness that makes complicated tasks simple. For example, speech to animation lets anyone easily animate extraordinary characters using their own voice. Adobe’s Firefly generative AI, which is designed to be safe for commercial use, helps creators ideate, generate, and edit stunning images and turn text and headlines into attention-grabbing designs – all on-the-go and in just a few taps. And the Adobe Express Generative Fill feature even lets you insert, remove, or replace people, objects, backgrounds and more with just a description.

“The AI tools are fantastic,” says Mallory. “Even the most obscure ask in the Text-to-Image feature will yield dozens of options. My favorite hack is to include “hand drawn” or “illustrated” in the prompt box to get a more authentic/stylized result.”

3. Embrace trends: Hopping on social trends quickly can boost your visibility and relevance. Constant collaboration ensures our team is on top of what people are talking about – and Mallory takes that to social media to make sure our POV is part of the conversation. The ever-changing nature of marketing and social media can make it hard to keep up! With the Adobe Express TikTok Creative Assistant tool on the desktop version, you can easily ideate and search what’s trending, so you’re in-the-know and able to reach more followers and stand out with your creative take on the latest trends. Then head to the mobile app to quickly schedule or post the content directly to your necessary social platforms! More on that below.

4. Keep it short and sweet: Attention spans on social are short, so it's best to keep your content concise and to the point. Use clear and concise language and don’t be too fussy (sound like the real person you are!). Break things up with text with photos, emojis, and bullet points to make your content more scannable.

5. Create a consistent visual style: While our audience can have slight nuances across our social channels, Mallory makes sure our content is instantly recognizable. Using tools like brand kits in Adobe Express (shown below) can help you easily stay consistent and on brand, easily saving and applying colors, fonts, filters, and imagery to any asset to create a cohesive look and feel across assets – and in a fraction of the time.

6. Repurpose content: Repurposing our top-performing content into different formats or for different platforms helps stretch the impact of a post and helps us test performance. Sometimes a post that didn’t perform well in the past kills months later!

7. Schedule ahead: In today’s on-demand world, consistency is key to keeping your social audience engaged. Develop a content calendar and schedule posts in advance to ensure a steady stream of content. With easy-to-use tools like the Adobe Express Content Scheduler, you can quickly plan, preview, schedule, and publish in a few clicks to all your social media channels and on-the-go.

8. Leverage data: Use analytics tools to track the performance of your social media content and identify trends, patterns, and audience preferences. Analyzing data can help you achieve a successful content strategy and focus on creating content that inspires, delights, and keeps your audience coming back for more!

Download the all-newAdobe Express mobile app today to try out all the innovative and fun features, including Adobe Firefly generative AI—a one-stop shop for all your content needs!

Video Direction & Editing by Mallory Levy.

8 Stylish Duffel Bags To Grab For Your Next Adventure

The dreaded time has come for me to retire the duffel bags collecting dust in my closet. They’ve been by my side since my early college days and accompanied me during multiple trips to New York City at the beginning of my relationship. Now? Uh, they’re hanging on by a thread hence their haphazard storage location. Don't even get me started on my tote bags 🫠.

As much as it pains me to think about parting ways with them, I know it’s time for me to give myself a major travel upgrade. It’s not like we have to sacrifice style over function anymore so I’m giving myself permission to embrace new things. Interested in seeing which duffel bags I've been eyeing? Keep scrolling to see the 9 picks that are my shopping radar!

Shop Stylish Duffel Bags Here!

CALPAK Travel Stevyn Rolling Duffel (Cheetah)

My S.O. has family in Virginia and NYC so it's inevitable that we'll be traveling with a busy toddler this year. While searching for duffel bags, I came across this rolling design by CALPAK. The cheetah print caught my eye first, but the wheels and separate shoe compartment feature pulled me in. Someone clearly understood that some of us aren't that great at packing our shoes and clothes in one big space.

BÉIS The Commuter Duffel (Beige)

I'm not doing much commuting these days (thank goodness), but this still seems like one of the best weekender duffel bags I've come across. I love bags that have multiple exterior pockets and this design by BÉIS isn't short on that. It's also super roomy inside which means I can pack at least 2-3 outfits, bras, underwear, and even my compact water bottle without wondering if I've overpacked.

Vera Bradley Weekender Travel Bag (Magnifique Floral)

I'm not above cute floral weekender duffel bags at all. I'm actually drawn to them now that I'm a little older so I guess this means my grandma was on to something with her love for floral things. Anyway, the exterior pockets on this bag are zippered so that'll keep your miscellaneous essentials safe and secure. I already know you'll probably pack extra red lipstickor face wash to get around TSA's strict rules because I will too!

Michael Kors Jet Set Travel Extra-Large Weekender Bag

This bag is speaking to the part of me that's ultra-feminine. I love my earth tone colors like hunter green and taupe, but pink will always cradle my heart with its stylish appeal. This weekender bag may not have all the spacious features as the other duffel bags I've mentioned, but sometimes I'm willing to break the rules by choosing style over function.

Lulu's Oversized Beige Weekender Bag

Not everyone wants a patterned or colorful bag so I've been eyeing this weekender duffle bag for the moments I don't want to draw to much attention to myself in the airport. It only has interior storage options which makes it perfect for those quick "Please spend the night" moments 👀.

CALPAK Stevyn Duffel Bag with Shoe Compartment (Daisy)

This design is so nice, I had to add it twice except this one doesn't have wheels! I like to think of this as the sister or friend who doesn't have kids of CALPAK's rolling duffel bag. The handle straps make it easy to carry your essentials inside and you still get the cool shoe compartment feature!

Minted Botanical Cascade Fillmore Duffel Bag

I didn't know Minted sold duffel bags so I was ecstatic when I found this cute design that somehow reminds me of growing up in Florida. Truthfully, this bag was inspired by the famous San Francisco landmark so that also checks out. It has side-panel pockets that keep your smaller accessories in place and it has a interior pocket that can safely house your wallet.

Also, there's no need to check this bag in because it can fit securely in the overhead space.

Under Armour Favorite Duffel Bag

If your next adventure involves a camping trip where you'll be doing a ton of hiking, you need a sturdy duffel bag. Under Armour's designed this one to comfortably secure your belongings and allow you to transport them without feeling weighed down.

If you just want to take this to the gym, we won't judge you. In this day and age, having options isn't always a bad thing!

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Brit + Co. may at times use affiliate links to promote products sold by others, but always offers genuine editorial recommendations.

Lead image via CALPAK

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It-Girl Sneaker Showdown: Samba Vs Gazelle

When it comes to trending sneakers the past couple of years, chances are you're thinking of one of two popular Adidas sneakers — the Sambas or the Gazelles. Both shoes are having an extreme resurgence as of late being worn by the likes of Bella Hadid, Harry Styles, and so many more! These three striped shoes can often get confused for each other with their extremely similar look, so we have one question: what is the difference between them? And why were such similar shoes made both by Adidas? Let's talk about it.

How long have the Sambas been around?

Photo via Adidas

The history of the Adidas Sambas can be traced back to 1950's according to their website. On their blog they say, "Contrary to popular belief, the Samba was not initially created for the World Cup or directly inspired by the Brazilian dance form. Instead, it emerged from a football game in 1950s Germany, where its exceptional performance on icy pitches earned it the nickname 'Samba.'" These iterations of the sneaker came with different features to allow for better function, movement, and mobility for the football players (pictured above in the 1972 re-edition).

How long have Gazelles been around?

Photo via Adidas

Whether for street style or street training, Gazelles have been used by so many over the years. While many people think they date back to the 1970's as a training shoe, their history goes back even further to the 1960's. The Adidas websitestates, "However, the Gazelle's history goes back even further. Its predecessor, the "Olympiade" model from the early 1960s, laid the foundation for the Gazelle's success. The oldest known Gazelle, a red 1965 prototype, showcased the shoe's early design elements and set the stage for what was to come."

Not unlike the Sambas, the Gazelles also went through many re-editions before evolving into the beloved streetwear staple that we know of it today. It also went through many international releases in the '80's like France (advertisement pictured above), Japan, and other various countries.

How do you compare Sambas vs Gazelles?

Photo via Adidas

Upon first glance, the shoes really do look quite a lot alike. They both have the same Adidas low-top vibe that we all know and love. Plus, they also share the similarity with the classic Adidas three stripes on the side with zig-zags on all sides of the stripes. But that's about where the buck stops, similarity-wise.

Now, what are the differences? Well you can immediately tell the difference just based on the sole alone. While the Sambas have a rubber gum sole while the Gazelles feature a rubber basic sole. Then, in regards to the rest of the shoe, you can see differences in the tongue — Sambas almost always have a white tongue, not matching the shoe color. The bottoms of the shoes are also different, with a more basic design on the Gazelles and a more complex design on the Sambas.

Unfortunately, we can't tell you how to pick between the two when shopping for new shoes. Our advice? Buy one pair in every very cool color. 😘

Who's collaborated with Adidas for these shoes?

Photo via Gucci

Many people have done collaborations for Gazelles and Sambas alike. We absolutely loved the Harry Styles/Gucci collab (shown above in the metallic gold). Another fan-favorite at the moment is the Wales Bonner collab, featuring cheetah print sambas that shook the world to its core, quickly becoming THE It-Girl shoe for spring 2024. Every cool, fashionable, scandi-style-loving fashionista is wearing them — so much so that I had to snag a pair for myself!

What are the best tips on how to snag the styles while they last?

Photo via Adidas

Always sign up for notifications for which style and shoe you want to be notified when it's back in stock and to receive notifications so you get notified as SOON as new collars are released.
Sign up for emails and check with smaller retailers like Nordstrom, Net-a-porter, and stores that carry Adidas! Chances are they'll have sizes and styles in stock that are sold out on the Adidas website.

Shop Adidas Sambas And Gazelles Here!

Adidas Gazelles in Green

This mint green is absolutely perfect for the upcoming summer months and will go with so many different outfit combinations. We love the idea of this paired with a cute sundress and sandals! These will definitely become your go-to sneaker of the year!

Adidas Pink and Green Gazelle

Talking about it-girl sneakers, these are THE sneaker of the season! I've seen these on every it-girl influencer on my Instagram lately. These are sure to keep you on trend and in-style for the spring and summer. Plus, with the platform they'll give you a little extra height too!

Adidas Gazelles in Pink

These pinky-nude sneakers are a great way to do the trend in a more attainable way that can go with any outfit. The beige pink color is subtle and understated but still matching the cool-girl vibe we're trying to achieve this season. Adding these to cart immediately!

Yellow Adidas Sambas

These might be my favorite recent pair of Sambas that I've seen. They're so bright in color while still remaining wearable, which is the perfect combo we're going for this summer. We love how well they'd style with anything from a sundress to a cute pair of denim shorts!

Adidas Samba Black and White

These will have every fashionista on the street complimenting you on your cool sneakers! We adore these black and white shows with their touch of beige and think that these would for sure become your favorite shoe in your closet. These are a classic that will never go out of style!

Adidas Samba in Collegiate Green

Flip the script for summer and take forest green for a ride! This is such a fun shoe and I love the idea of taking normally fall colors into spring and summer for a unique twist. We've seen this happening with burgundy trending right now, and I just know forest green is next. Grab these before they sell out!

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Brit + Co may at times use affiliate links to promote products sold by others, but always offers genuine editorial recommendations.

Lead image via Adidas.

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