When you shoot something directly into your bloodstream versus ingesting it, your body absorbs more of it. This I've learned from watching "Breaking Bad." It's also what my expert tells me when I ask why anyone would mainline vitamins. "Intravenous infusion guarantees 100 percent absorption of the active ingredients, unlike oral ingestion of vitamins and supplements that achieve approximately 55 percent absorption," explains Dr. Ramin Sarshad of Cosmetique Aesthetics in Culver City, California.

But, how exactly does pumping your veins full of vitamins help your skin? "Hydration is an important component of skin and body health, says Arleen K. Lamba, MD, founder and medical director of Blush Med in Bethesda, Maryland. "Hydrated skin will look less dull and can even show decreased line formation." Translation: Wrinkles disappear like magic.

In addition, glutathione (an antioxidant) can be added to your IV to brighten your skin and combat sun damage over time. "Your skin regenerates every 28 days or so; you are a product of what you put in your body," says Sharsad. "A vitamin IV treatment on a regular basis will improve the appearance of your skin as you will be consistently flooding your body with the nutrients it needs to promote a healthy, radiant looking complexion.

It's also, I'm told, the perfect pick-me-up when you've been under the weather. "IV-infused nutrients help kick-start your body's cells, which perform below optimal level when you're sick," says Dr. Nasimeh Yazdini, medical director of Epithereal Medical Center in Marina del Rey, California. "The results are a greater energy capacity and optimal function of cells." In other words, vitamin IVs can make you look -- and feel -- like you haven't been puking your guts out for the past 24 hours.

Though my fear of needles is immense, my desire to attain the world's most perfect complexion is greater. Which is why I found myself staring down a giant bag of fluids at Cosmetique Aesthetics medical spa in Culver City.

While Dr. Sarshad explained the procedure, I avoided making eye contact with the needles. Flashbacks to the time a nurse stuck me four times in each arm before moving to the veins on the top of my hands pummeled me. Her excuse: I have the world's puniest veins. The trauma of the event flourished into a full-fledged fear of needles. Luckily, my hyperventilating did not distract the good doc at Cosmetique, who got that needle into my vein in one fell swoop.

Then, it was time to wait as the cocktail of vitamins slowly dripped into my veins.

Waiting for an IV drip to finish is like watching the seconds of a clock tick by at 4pm on a Friday. The whole procedure was completely uneventful. If I were to find something to gripe about, it would be that my arm got cold from the fluids seeping into it. A scalp massage and aromatherapy facial this was not.

Then I looked in the mirror. I had removed my makeup so that if my IV perked up my pallor by even a bit, I'd be able to see it. Lo and behold, my skin looked like I'd just completed a GOOP-approved cleanse. (Read: radiant, plump and healthy, like Gwyneth herself had blessed it).

One week later, days away from my birthday party on a yacht, I found myself plagued with the first cold I've had in years. It's the perfect time to call upon the IV Doctor, which is basically the Uber of IV treatments. Though they do treat Hollywood A-listers who want to get their glow on, the majority of their clients are "under the weather" and need to get to work (read: hungover) or have the cold or flu. Luckily for us beauty junkies, they also have a special package called "Beautify" that contains IV fluids, electrolytes, vitamins B, B12, B1, B2, B3, B5 and B6, plus anti-inflammatories and a multivitamin complex (a pretty hefty dose of vitamins).

Since I was feeling god-awful, I had them add in extra vitamin C, so I could get the best of both worlds. According to Yazdini, it's a powerful boost of antioxidants for those getting sick, but the skin-brightening effects of vitamin C take three or more IV sessions to see.

I summoned the IV Doctor to the TotalBeauty offices to have my IV administered desk side, while I worked. Though reception was alarmed to see a woman arrive with an IV pole and medical bag, it was worth the stares. I was able to file a story while waiting for my bag of fluids to empty. Hello, two birds, one stone.

After getting unhooked from the IV, I headed to the bathroom to see how I looked. Having only gotten a few hours of sleep the night before, thanks to my cough and phlegmy-ness, I felt and looked surprisingly alert -- the kind of alert only a really good eye cream/face mask combo or an actual full night of sleep can give you.

Aside from the cold arm and the faint taste of vitamins in the back of my mouth (apparently, this is also common), it was just another day at the office. And I was hooked.

One major downside: The glow and I-drink-three-gallons-of-water-regularly feeling only lasts a day or two. After both treatments, I felt pretty freaking great.

So, would I do it again? Lamba says the wellness treatment is administered on an as-needed basis, but typically most clients opt for it one to two times a month. So, if I did it often enough, I could have a perpetual glow, extra pep ... and, probably, perpetual debt, as treatments run from $150-$400 a shot. But for a special occasion where I want to make an entrance at my glowiest, or when after a few too many glasses of wine, I need to look and feel like I wasn't mauled by the Walking Dead, you can hook me up -- literally.