Tag: Skittles

REVIEW: Zombie Skittles

Mark 14 Comments

Zombie Skittles

What are Zombie Skittles?

This year’s new Halloween Skittles mix includes five fruit flavors: petrifying citrus punch (orange), mummified melon (green), chilling black cherry (purple), boogeyman blackberry (blue), and blood red berry (red). But lurking among all these colors is a “rotten zombie” flavor, so you can eat a zombie before it eats you. It’s like Russian roulette for your taste buds.

How are they?

Zombie Skittles Closeup

All the fruit flavors are lovely. Melon might be my new favorite Skittles flavor; black cherry is a nice alternative to typical cherry flavors; citrus, red berry, and blackberry are what you would expect.

But I know you came here for the zombie flavor.

It’s truly repulsive.

It starts out tasting like rotting fruit, and then it transitions to a somewhat meaty flavor, which is horrifying when you think about it. This flavor stops me in my tracks, and I almost want to laugh because it’s so bad.

Is there anything else you need to know?

Zombie Skittles Spoons

It’s easy enough to power through the zombie flavor (or spit it out), so it doesn’t entirely spoil the candy-eating experience. My educated estimate for the ratio of zombie to fruit is approximately 1:9, so most of them are safe.

That said, there is genuine relief when you get a fruity one.

Conclusion:

I probably will not buy these, nor will I be sad if they don’t come back next year. But they do exactly what they mean to do, and they’re a weirdly fun novelty candy. They would be great at a Halloween party.

DISCLOSURE: I received a free sample of the product. Doing so did not influence my review in any way.

Purchased Price: Free
Size: 3.6 oz. bag
Purchased at: Received from Mars
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 oz/28 g/27 pieces) 110 calories, 1 gram of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 5 milligrams of sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 21 grams of total sugar, 21 grams of added sugar, and 0 grams of protein.

QUICK REVIEW: Limited Edition Summer Splash Skittles

Sarah

Limited Edition Summer Splash Skittles

What is it?

Summer Splash is a limited edition Skittles variety, sold exclusively at Dollar General. The bag includes Blue Raspberry, Orange, Kiwi Banana, Strawberry, and Watermelon.

Limited Edition Summer Splash Skittles 2

How is it?

Before I tried this, I thought about what a “summer splash” might taste like in candy form. Tropical flavors like piña colada, tropical punch, mango, and key lime first came to mind. I was somewhat surprised that they were not the typical beach-y varieties after all.

Limited Edition Summer Splash Skittles 3

After I tried my first handful, it hit me…Summer Splash Skittles have just a “splash” of flavor! D’oh. The orange one was the most muted of the mix. It vaguely reminded me of a Creamsicle with its subtle orange notes. The yellow kiwi banana was also mild, with an inconspicuous banana taste and only a slight kiwi taste. I would not have guessed either of them in a blind taste test.

The pink strawberry piece tastes just like a pink Starburst, only crunchier. Blue raspberry was the tartest in this exclusive collection with crisper fruit flavors than the others. The strongest was the green watermelon one, though it was still notably less pucker-inducing than its other watermelon Skittle predecessors.

A bonus was that the “splash” of flavor in each piece allowed for combinations of different Skittles to be nuanced without being overpowering. Overall, these were quite enjoyable.

Is there anything else I need to know?

Summer Splash Skittles are only available at Dollar General (where everything is not a dollar) and for a limited time, so if you like these, I’d recommend stocking up on them while you can. Also, pairing them with other Skittles varieties would be fun.

Conclusion:

With a splash of subtle fruit flavors, Summer Splash Skittles are a lighter tasting candy treat when you need a sugar fix while you’re enjoying the other splashes of summer from the pool or beach.

Purchased Price: 85 cents
Size: 2 oz. bag
Purchased at: Dollar General (Exclusive)
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2 oz. bag) 230 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 10 milligrams of sodium, 52 grams of carbohydrates, 42 grams of sugars, and 0 grams of protein.

QUICK REVIEW: Skittles Love Mix

Mark 3 Comments

Skittles Love Mix

I’m delighted that Skittles is expanding its five-flavor mixes to include Valentine’s Day. If you don’t have a special someone, candy is the best part of February 14, and Skittles Love Mix is something I would gladly welcome from a secret admirer.

Skittles Love Mix 2

Skittles Love Mix 3

The darkest red is cherry. Cherry is one of those default flavors that usually isn’t very good, but the Skittles cherry is actually better than most other cherry-flavored candies.

The medium red is strawberry, and it tastes like strawberry Starburst. I like it the best of this mix.

The lightest red is watermelon. It’s a nice flavor reminiscent of summertime, but to me it tastes like it should be gum.

One of the whites, yumberry, returns from the America Mix. It’s a benign little flavor, but I have no idea what a yumberry is.

The other white is white grape. It reminds me of Dimetapp, but the grape flavor isn’t extremely potent.

I like all the flavors individually, and if you plop them in your mouth together, they play nicely.

Skittles Love Mix 4

My biggest disappointment is the colors. You have five flavors for Valentine’s Day, and none of them are pink? Really? The colors are so close that they’re hard to distinguish. Watermelon is the only one that’s instantly recognizable. The yumberry and white grape are identical; and since I don’t know what a yumberry is, and the grape flavor isn’t very strong, I have a hard time knowing what one I’m eating even when I’m chewing it. I would have rather had pink grape.

Skittles Love Mix 6

“Pink grape?” you ask. Well, yes. When I make juice from the green grapes that grow in my backyard, it comes out pink, oddly enough.

The colors didn’t tickle me pink, but the Love Mix will be an enjoyable option for your heart-shaped candy dish.

Skittles Love Mix 5

Purchased Price: $2.69
Size: 11 oz. bag
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1.4 oz) 160 calories, 15 fat calories, 1.5 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 10 milligrams of sodium, 37 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 30 grams of sugar, and 0 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Sweet Heat Skittles and Sweet Heat Starburst

Vin 14 Comments

Sweet Heat Skittles and Sweet Heat Starburst

Will “Sweet and Spicy” become the hot new snack trend? Brands have already had success in the “Sweet and Sour” and “Sweet and Salty” lanes, so why not give this a go? I mean, “Sweet and Spicy” isn’t exactly breaking new ground, but as far as the snack world goes we’ve been pretty limited, especially with candy.

So, are you guys as excited about new Sweet Heat Skittles and Starburst as I am?

Why wouldn’t you be? These are two candies that almost never disappoint, and foods flat out taste better when they rhyme. (Not fact checked.)

I don’t think I need to describe the textures of either candy, so I’m gonna jump right in and rapid fire through the varieties.

The Starburst have the color scheme of an original pack, while the Skittles have a pastel tint that reminded me of the “Smoothie Mix” a bit, and made for some color/flavor confusion.

Let me say that the heat is there on all of ‘em. It’s a slow burn. You can taste the fruit first and as you chew it kicks in. There aren’t different intensities. It’s not like some are mixed with certain peppers. With some, the full fruitiness came prior to the burn, while others blossomed after the spicy burst. But that could have been due to the lingering heat already in my mouth.

Sweet Heat Skittles

Skittles:

(Ranked by order of preference.)

Fiery Watermelon – Color is almost the same as Strawberry so I initially thought I didn’t get any in the bag. The delicious watermelon flavor here stuck out the most over the burn.

Flamin’ Orange – Tasted like standard orange Skittles, but spicy. No complaints.

Lemon Spark – These are regular lemon Skittles with heat. It’s great.

Sizzlin’ Strawberry – Ever have those half-mint/half-strawberry Ice Breakers? These had a similar artificial strawberry taste. I ate this first and realized they tasted better when I revisited them later. The fake strawberry didn’t hit as hard and thus didn’t taste as phony.*

Blazin’ Mango – Started hot and finished strong with mango, which I don’t really like. Not a huge mango guy.

Sweet Heat Starburst

Starburst:

Skittles are basically little bits of Starburst with a candy shell, so there isn’t that big a difference flavor-wise between the brands, obviously. Since Starbursts take longer to chew, I would say the heat is a tad more prominent here.

Sweet Heat Starburst 2

Flamin’ Orange – Tasted like a normal orange Starburst dipped in flavorless mild sauce. Excellent.

Fiery Watermelon – The best Skittle, so why would it be any different here? Well, it did have a bit of a cough drop vibe to it in this form. Still quite good.

Strawberry Mango – Neither fruit stood out. I don’t even think they mixed well, but again I’m not a mango guy. That Halls menthol cough drop sensation was here more so than the watermelon.

Pipin’ Pineapple – This had an intense, not quite ripe pineapple flavor. I thought it would work best with the heat, but it didn’t. It had a pretty awful aftertaste that the spiciness couldn’t even cover up.

In the end, they’re not excessively spicy. They’re not even Warheads candy-level, or Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, but there’s still a nice kick. It smolders for about ten minutes. If I could compare the level of spiciness to anything, it’s like you had something with hot sauce about an hour ago and your mouth is starting to get back to normal.

Some people will complain they aren’t hot enough, but I think they managed to get the heat level right. These are candies after all.

*I actually think the flavors improved slightly on the second go around. Once my mouth had settled on the kick, the fruit popped a bit more. I guess it takes time for the heat to open up the taste buds.

Sweet Heat Skittles and Sweet Heat Starburst 2

There are better varieties of each on the market, and I can’t even think of a time I’d want to eat these again, but they’re both good. If I had to pick, I’d say I prefer the Skittles.

(Nutrition Facts – 1 package – Skittles – 210 calories, 20 calories from fat, 2 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 10 milligrams of sodium, 47 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 38 grams of sugar, and 0 grams of protein. Starburst – 240 calories, 40 calories from fat, 5 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 0 milligrams of sodium, 49 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 33 grams of sugar, and 0 grams of protein.)

Purchased Price: $1.00 each
Size:
Purchased at: Walgreens
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Skittles)
Rating: 7 out of 10 (Starburst)
Pros: Creative. Not hot enough to ruin your day. Mostly tasty flavors. Starburst and Skittles having a near flawless record.
Cons: When the heck am I supposed to eat these over other variants? May not be as hot as some would hope. Cough drop taste. Shaky Strawberry flavor. Pineapple Starbursts were bad. Skittle color confusion. Not sure the sweet and spicy candy trend will have legs.

Smoothie Mix Skittles

Marvo 67 Comments

Smoothie Skittles

I’m not a fan of pastel colors, because I don’t look good in pastels.

If I wore pastel colors, I would look like a snotty, country club membership owning, private school graduated prick or a rejected J. Crew catalog model.

Plus, there’s something emasculating about pastel. Maybe it’s the brightness of it, after all, my wardrobe and soul consists of mostly dark colors.

It was this dislike of pastel that had me second guessing my purchase of these Smoothie Mix Skittles. I was afraid the bright colors of the Skittles would do something strange to me, like direct me towards the nearest Gap to look at their spring collection.

That fortunately didn’t happen after I ate the entire bag of Skittles.

In each bag of Smoothie Mix Skittles, there are five flavors: orange mango, peach pear, strawberry banana, lemon berry, and mixed berry. My favorite was the peach pear flavor.

With most of the combinations, I felt that one flavor really overpowered the other. For example, with the orange mango flavor, I could mostly taste the orange. With the pear peach flavor, I could mostly taste the pear.

However, with the strawberry banana flavor, I really couldn’t taste either.

Overall, I thought the Smoothie Mix Skittles were good. If they didn’t come in pastel colors, they would be slightly better.

Well folks, now that the obligatory review is out of the way, we can now focus our attention towards this month’s prize drawing.

This month, the Impulsive Buy will be giving ONE lucky reader a $15 iTunes Gift Card, which we reviewed last month.

Yahtzee! (BTW, “Yahtzee! is now the official Impulsive Buy catch phrase, which we stole from a particular board game company.)

To enter the drawing, just leave a comment for THIS review with the words “Tune Me On” in it and whatever else you would like to say. Or, if you think we’re crusty, drunk, smelly, and cheap comment whores, you can also enter by sending us an email with the phrase “Tune Me On” in the subject field.

If you leave a comment, don’t forget to fill out the email field, because we will be emailing the winner for their mailing address. Don’t worry about the shipping, we will take care of all 37 cents of it.

We will start accepting entries for the drawing on March 11, 2005. We will stop accepting entries on March 16, 2005. Only one entry allowed per person. The drawing is ONLY open to those in the United States. (Sorry to the rest of the world, the card can only be redeemed at the U.S. iTunes Music Store)

The winner of the prize drawing will be picked in the following way:

I will dictate each entrant’s email address, which will be recorded by my computer. The dictated email addresses will be turned into individual MP3 files. I will import all of the MP3s into iTunes and create a playlist containing all of the dictated email addresses.

Then I will click the shuffle button in iTunes fifteen times, which will mix up the order of the MP3s. Finally, I will play the MP3s and the fifteenth email I hear will be the winner of this month’s prize drawing.

Hopefully, there will be more than fifteen entries.

So for those of you who’d like some free music, here’s your chance.

Yahtzee!

Fine Print: We promise your email address will not be used to send you spam about getting free Starbucks coffee for a year. We also promise your mailing address will not be used to send you offers for an airline frequent flyer credit card. Bribes will not be accepted. We will not be responsible for lost mail.

Item: Smoothie Mix Skittles
Purchase Price: 50 cents
Rating: 3 out of 5
Pros: Cheap. More sugar than a can of soda. Interesting flavor combinations. I’m not a country club snob or a rejected J. Crew catalog model.
Cons: Emasculating pastel colors. One flavor seemed to dominant the other with most mixed flavors.