Hands-on with Sprayable Energy, caffeine you spray on skin

Sprayable Energy is a new caffeine product that you spray on your skin rather than ingesting. I spent a weekend spritzing my neck, and the results were surprising.

Colin Joliat

I’m a sucker for any new caffeine delivery device, so it was impossible for me to not get excited about Sprayable Energy. I bought in on the Kickstarter campaign immediately, and then realized I could request a media sample. Given that I’m a man of fake science, it seemed fitting to test the product out to see if it was actually effective. I shot an email over to Sprayable Energy and had my two sample bottles in a few days. I’ve been addicted since.

Addicted sounds bad. Scratch that. I’m obsessed. Caffeine is a staple of my nightlife. I’ve gone through more 5-Hour energy bottles than anyone should, and at $3 a pop I was happy to seek out alternatives. That was the first allure of Sprayable Energy. The bottle contains 160 sprays with 4 sprays per dose. At $15 per bottle, that’s only $0.38 per dose. You can see why my interest was piqued.

Cheap is great, but it’s still a waste of money if it doesn’t work. It works though, and it works well. The energy boost took about 15 minutes to kick in, but it was noticeable once it did. I never felt like running and doing “dat backflip tho,” but I was no longer tired. I intentionally waited for a time when I caught myself repeatedly yawning to test it, and I was perfectly alert in under 30 minutes.

They claim the effects last for up to five hours, but it was only about three. Like I said though, I go through a lot of caffeine, and three hours is standard for how long products last for me. I test dummied a few friends, and while I don’t know the duration of effectiveness, the effects kicked in much more quickly. To each their own, I suppose.

The unexpected upside is the convenience for day drinking. The benefit should have been glaringly obvious, but I was too distracted by the novelty and price. It was perfect for my football Saturday on which I started to party at 9am and continued until about 4am. Having Sprayable Energy in my pocket at all times eliminated the need for multiple bottles of 5-Hour Energy or searching for a Starbucks. Whenever I needed a boost, it was right there waiting for me like Richard Marx.

IndieGoGo | No, that isn’t me…obviously.

 

The unfortunate downside is that I looked like a degenerate constantly spraying stuff on my neck. Try explaining to people that you now use topical caffeine sprays, and they’ll look at you like you’re insane. Sure I could go to the bathroom, but then I’d really feel like a drug addict. The easiest solution was to tell to people that it works just like a nicotine patch, a concept with which many of my friends are familiar. It didn’t make me sound any better, but at least they understood the concept.

People wanting to spray it in their mouth was also an issue. Apparently that’s the natural reaction for anything that comes in a Binaca-like bottle. I just repeatedly told people that they would die (which I don’t think that’s true) if they did, and that seemed to do the trick.

All in all, Sprayable Energy is my new favorite form of caffeine, at least until something new comes out. It’s cheap, convenient, and works incredibly well. It’s still just an IndieGoGo campaign, but it’s been five-times funded already so it’s essentially just a pre-order. Check it out now, and you won’t be disappointed.