I recently visited Los Angeles, California; home to celebrities, Hollywood, and the country’s most expensive grocery store, Erewhon. Named after the 1872 satirical novel by Samuel Butler, Erewhon has been a luxury grocery store with locations across L.A. since the 1960’s. In recent years, it’s gained popularity from social media, especially TikTok. They’ve had a few celebrity collaborations in the past, including Katy Perry’s Orange You Glad I Love You and Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet. They sell a multitude of their own smoothies, delectable platters of lunch foods, and expensive everyday groceries. 

I visited the original Erewhon location, located on Beverly Blvd. The store was quite busy, the aisles lined mostly with well-dressed moms and teenagers with their friends. Outside and inside, almost everyone seemed to accessorize with a pink and white smoothie; Hailey Bieber’s Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie. I knew this was the smoothie I had to try. 

I payed $19 for essentially a 20 oz strawberry smoothie. According to the Erewhon website, it’s made with “creamy almond milk, organic strawberries and avocado…Enhanced with collagen and sea moss for added benefits.” I was certainly in for a treat. 

I used to work at Playa Bowls, a smoothie shop, so I have tried my fair share of strawberry smoothies. The closest thing we sold to Bieber’s smoothie was the Strawberry Banana Smoothie (made with, of course, strawberries and bananas), charging a more affordable $8.99 for a 20 oz. 

After the 15 minute wait, my smoothie was finally ready from their “tonic bar”. It looked like they put yogurt stripes on the sides of the cup, with a grainy, dull pink mixture in between. I was extremely excited, but also nervous. Each sip was a dollar slipping away from my bank account. This better be good.

I’m glad to report that it was, in fact, good. It tasted a bit like a sweet strawberry yogurt. I couldn’t taste the avocado, but the fresh drink had some date chunks inside of the drink I had to chew mid-sip. As an avid banana hater, I could feel my banana radar going off. Sure enough, the second ingredient listed is organic banana. How could they conveniently leave that out of the description? I was left a bit shocked. But did it ruin the taste? No. Regardless of the “hint” of banana taste, I still enjoyed it. The sweet, refreshing, and slightly deceiving drink made my heart swoon for more. 

The ingredient list was all organic and healthy, notably the Vital Proteins Vanilla Collagen and sea moss. While TikTok largely claims that the collagen in the drink makes your skin glow like Hailey Bieber’s, I would disagree. My skin looks and feels exactly the same as it did prior to drinking. 

Overall, I did like Hailey Bieber’s Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie. I was delighted by the strawberry flavor combined with the sweet dates and the creamy, filling texture, though I was off put by the banana taste. Was it worth the $19? No. I could easily remake it for less, granted the high-quality ingredients would have to be replaced by some Kroger aisle foods. 

I enjoyed the ambiance of the rich L.A. crowd, the bustling lines, and the weather, making my first, and probably last, trip to Erewhon a success.