Blue Star Nutraceuticals - Isolate, Whey, PWO and Creatine supplements brief reviews

[Anthrax89]

I'd like to start off by saying that I'd like to think I am in no way unfairly biased towards this company.

Over the past couple years I've been training [more seriously] I've tried a plethora of various supplements from all the big name companies (ON, Cellucor, Universal, Dymatize, etc.), but I've gradually shifted to using primarily Blue Star products as things progressed. Being Canadian, I feel somewhat more inclined to buying from a smaller and Canadian company versus the aforementioned competitors. The pricing seems to line up nowadays as well, as the recent implementation of taxing us on supplements means ordering from BB no longer provides the massive savings it once did.

Anyhow, below are my thoughts on several Blue Star products:
(Note: I'm not one to throw around 10/10s much)



Supplement: Iso-Smooth - Chocolate Sin

Description: "4 stage isolated blend of protein"

Price: $89.99 CA - 5lbs

Overall Rating: 9.5/10

Review:
Mixability - 9/10 → It mixes very well in water and milk. Has some trouble in chilled water, which is to be expected. A scoop in 8 ounces of water with some rigorous shaking will blend up just fine, but it feels like that's the upper limit of what you can jam in without clumping issues. I've never had an issue on mixability with isolates, likely because I shake the life out of them still riding my workout pump.
Taste - 10/10 → *For an isolate* this stuff is incredible. I've been taking it every day for the past ~6 months, same flavor, and I still enjoy it every time I drink it. It's delicious. It does not compare against some whey proteins simply because they've got a lot more wiggle room for flavor additives and whatnot, but it's damn good.
Consistency - 8.5/10 → It's actually got an interesting consistency. Took me a little bit to get used to it. Not a bad thing, but it has a slightly oily characteristic to it. This is likely due to the added flax seed and CLA, which I suspect is used in some sneaky manner to aid with dispersion.
Ingredients - 9.5/10 → The only thing I don't like about it is the use of acesulfame potassium as a sweetener, which IMO is a somewhat grey-area on absolute safety. That's just nit-picking though, that stuff is in everything. 9.5 because there's always room for improvement. Ingredients label shows a great composition and helps justify the price of this beast:

Cold Processed Time Released Protein Matrix (Whey Protein Isolate, Milk Protein Isolate, Egg Protein Isolate, Micellar Casein Isolate), Cocoa Powder, Suspension Matrix (Xanthan Gum, Cellulose Gum, Carrageenan), Natural And Artificial Flavor, Sucralose, Acesulfame Potassium, Flax Seed Powder, CLA, Enzyme Blend (Lactase, Bromelain, Amylase, Protease, Hemicellulase, Cellulase)

Tl;dr: My go-to for protein isolate. Better overall package than (m)any [big-name] competitors, can definitely justify spending a bit more on this product.



Supplement: Whey Smooth - Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup

Description: Protein blend, primarily whey

Price: $64.99 CA - 4lbs

Overall Rating: 9.5/10

Review:
Mixability - 9/10 → Great in both water and milk. Haven't used it enough to test across various temperatures associated with random protein shake cravings in random places, but it's looking pretty solid. Friend of mine is about halfway done his tub and says it's just fine. Good stuff.
Taste - 10/10 → I have no words. The first time I tried it, I was very skeptical, as in my experience emulating the peanut butter flavor has been quite the failure for many companies. Although here it's very faint, it really works with the overall taste of the shake. This is by far the best whey protein I've ever tasted. In fact, I was a little tempted to buy another tub or two of different flavors to see if they also ranked this high. Forget the big names with their exotic and luxurious flavors, this stuff is the real deal.
Consistency - 9/10 → Very watery, which I'm told is a good thing. Some small bits sit at the bottom of the cup, looks similar to what happens with the "cookies" in cookies and cream-flavored protein powders. The shake itself is good, although if it sits for a bit there's very minor aggregates along the surface of the drink.
Ingredients - 9/10 → Similar comments to that of Iso-Smooth. Great profile, although the addition of L-Glutamine seems unnecessary to me. Very well done. Ingredients below:

Cold Processed Protein Blend (Whey Protein Concentrate, Whey Protein Isolate, Whey Protein Hydrolysate, Micellar Casseinate, Egg White Protein Powder), Peanut Flour, Cocoa Powder, Inulin, Amino Acid Blend [L-Glutamine, BCAA (L-Leucine, L-Isoleucine, L-Valine)], Natural and Artificial Flavors, Acesulfame Potassium, Sucrolose, Enzyme Blend (Protease, Lactase), Salt.

Tl;dr: The best tasting whey I've ever tried, with a solid profile to back it. I'll be buying at least another tub with a different flavor in the very near future just based off how good this is.



Supplement: P.P.K. - Pink Lemonade

Description: "Pump, Power, Kick": Pre-workout

Price: $54.99 CA - 30 servings

Overall Rating: 9.5/10

Review:
Mixability&Consistency - 8/10 → Shook it hard, it mixed quite well. The occasional clump to be expected from a PWO. Always room for improvement, but with PWOs I feel this category doesn't matter much.
Taste - 8.5/10 → Actually doesn't taste like powder or fake flavors like most PWOs do. I was pleasantly surprised by its taste and adherence to a "pink lemonade"-esque flavor. All the times I drink it, I can actually enjoy the flavor instead of trying to chase it down as fast as possible.
Effect - 10/10 → With the ban and eradication of DMAA, this category is a comparison against other current PWOs only. I'd say that between the 5 PWOs I've had a chance to sample/have bought/been given within the past year, this is the best one. Gives you that excellent "tingle" and really gets you going for the workout. I was much more pleased with this one than a recently released and hugely hyped competitor on BB's store. This has been my go-to since I first sampled it shortly after its release, and will likely be until they [potentially] reformulate and ruin it or something magical is introduced by a competitor. Great stuff.
Ingredients - lol → Can't really provide any sort of feedback here, as traditionally I've always thought PWOs to be sketchy in terms of ingredients and don't have much experience in actually scrutinizing them. The label shows some promising stuff, including the classic B12/B6 stack and a ton of caffeine:

Vitamin B6 (as pyridoxine HCL), Vitamin B12 (as cyanocobalamin) Vitamin B3 (as niacinamide), Chromium (as chromium picolinate),
P.P.K. Proprietary Blend:
Strength and Power Complex: Beta-Alanine, Creatine Fumarate, Creatine-Orotate, Creatine-Succinate
Blood Cell Volumizing Pump Complex: Glycerol (as glycerol monostearate), Glycine, Agmatine (as agmatine sulfate), Sodium R-Lipoate, HYPEROX™ Trigonella foenum-graecum (Standardized for 30% Yamogenin Glycosides)
Nootropic Energizing Blend: Caffeine (as caffeine anhydrous) (250mg), N-Methyl-Beta-Methyl-Phenylethylamine HCL, N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine, Hordenine, Higenamine (as Noroclaurine HCL), Pikamilon

Tl;dr: Possibly the best PWO available on the current market.



Supplement: PowerXD

Description: Creatine

Price: $39.99 CA - 60 servings

Overall Rating: 8/10

Review:
Not much to say here. It's creatine, it makes you a bit stronger and potentially a bit bigger. I'm still not sure if I agree with the whole advanced formulation of creatine blends (like this one) versus traditional monohydrate, as the effects seem to be similar in magnitude. It's hard to measure when it doesn't drastically increase your lifts. Coming from a different micro-dose-based creatine blend to this one, I'd say this one has slightly better effects with the added bonus of being in pill form instead of powdered form. Does the job, not quite as well as our favorite massively stacked monohydrate/dextrose product, but doesn't load you up with 75+g of carbs. Or any carbs, for that matter.

The Good: Pill form, does the job quite well
The Bad: Pricey, marginally better than cheaper products and monohydrate



Bottom Line: Blue Star has put out some awesome products over the past year or so. Their older stuff, like Iso-Smooth, has never failed to impress. They once had a "premium" whey out (still have the tub) that cost a fortune but was a great product, and I was worried that the new whey would fail to fill those shoes. It didn't fail. Also Canadian, woo!

As an overall, I thoroughly enjoy the products they offer (although fairly pricey when not on sale) and am looking forward to seeing future developments and releases. Such as casein.

[Bigdumogre]

Im a huge blue star fan to. Really enjoy many of there products on a daily basis.
Nutrabolics is Canadian company to

[NEBinAK]

Good reviews, there is a product review subsection though home

[Anthrax89]

Im a huge blue star fan to. Really enjoy many of there products on a daily basis.
Nutrabolics is Canadian company to

I'll be sure to check them out! All for supporting "home-grown".

[Gym God]

Now how in the world did this sneak past me?!

Thank you for the review and in-depth detail, OP.

[DGarcia519]

Great reviews. The only product I've had is Whey-Smooth (Choco PBC and M&C). I will agree the consistency is a little thin, which is the only aspect I don't like. That said, it mixes very well, has a solid profile, and both flavors I've had are amazing!

[Gym God]

Great reviews. The only product I've had is Whey-Smooth (Choco PBC and M&C). I will agree the consistency is a little thin, which is the only aspect I don't like. That said, it mixes very well, has a solid profile, and both flavors I've had are amazing!

So you like it thick eh?


… but on a serious note with OP's noting, a casein product in the future is a possibility. I personally just don't think there is a big demand… however, I could be wrong.