I rang in my 34th birthday last month and on this birthday I found myself extra thankful for the current blessings in my life rather than celebrating the wishful thinking of “here’s to come” moments in the future.
I’m also embracing more of what makes me “me” in my 34th year. Not the 27-year old, pre-baby me, but the 34 years-worth of sun freckles, laugh lines and baby-growing badges. This perspective has also changed how I view the beauty and makeup products I use day to day.
Don’t get me wrong. My interest in trying new and unique products that help me look and feel confident remains. But, often these beauty products come attached with an “anti-aging” label. While I very likely will continue using some of my favorites, you won’t catch me talking about the benefits of “anti-aging” any longer because, well, if you really stop and think about this term, it doesn’t really seem like a benefit. Am I right? Who doesn’t want to celebrate the sum of our years?! A recent announcement from Allure magazine on this very topic initially got me thinking about this term.
As I think about aging in a different way, my attention to beauty and wellness products will be on those that enhance the beauty of laugh lines, freckles and thirty-something year old smiles.
Enhancing My Laugh Lines with Pearly Whites
I have decades of blessings to smile about and since I’ve been blogging and putting myself out there in front of the camera, celebrating my pearly whites is important. Given my daily dose of much-needed coffee or tea and an evening glass of red wine, my whites were starting to look, well, not so white. So, when Smile Brilliant approached me to review their personalized at-home whitening kits, I was thrilled to give my teeth a whitening upgrade.*
You know me, I’m a fan of a quick and seamless online ordering system so when the dental impression kit arrived in a matter of days I was impressed. For the initial set-up, I created dental impressions of my top and bottom teeth (which took about 30 minutes in total) that I mailed back in a pre-paid envelope.
My custom molds arrived about a week later and I gradually started whitening my teeth using the teeth whitening gel. My teeth sometimes have sensitivity to whitening toothpastes, so I took a very conservative approach at first and worked my way to whitening my teeth for about an hour intervals every few days. Smile Brilliant also sent me desensitizing gel to help prevent sensitivity, too.
While other whitening systems I’ve used in the past were a one-size-fits-all, the Smile Brilliant molds fit my smile perfectly, so the whitening process was seamless and I felt like the whitening gel was able to access all the nooks and crannies of my teeth.
After just a few weeks of gradual whitening sessions, I noticed a brightness to my teeth, both when looking in the bathroom mirror and reviewing my blog photos. Now that I’ve achieved a nice whitening boost, I’ll use my trays every now and then to help maintain the brightness.
Talk about up close and personal! It’s clear from the before and after photos that Smile Brilliant gave my teeth a nice whitening boost.
GIVEAWAY! Here’s to celebrating your laugh lines!
My friends at Smile Brilliant are offering one of you a chance to win a custom whitening kit (valued at $139). Yay! All you have to do is enter here by November 30 (Giveaway is open to USA, UK, Canada and Australia residents).
If you’re too eager to wait and see if you’ve won, use code thestyledujour15 to save $15 off your trays.
Good luck, friends! Here’s celebrating your laugh lines.
XO,
Emily
*I received a complimentary whitening system from Smile Brilliant in exchange for my honest review.
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