A SMILE IS YOUR BEST ACCESSORY
Since last year I’ve been wanting to find the way back to absolutely loving myself. Not that I don’t, I just haven’t been devoting the necessary time to just love me the individual. It’s been all about the mom & wife life. I became the trying to keep it all together person (almost robotic & slightly chaotic). This new year was not going to get away from me. I threw resolutions out the door and said just positive new actions, or steps to a final goal. First step to start loving me was, my smile.
PUCKER UP, LUCIOUS LIPS
One very important thing I neglected are my lips. I’ve been feeling how bad my lips had gotten, especially during the cold days. Cracked and chapped lips are never pretty. I hate having dull lips.
I’ve been trying to be more natural as best I can. I know I can’t avoid all chemicals. Where I can use natural I prefer it. I found several scrub DIY recipes that are easy to make with products that I already have in my pantry. I’m still playing with which one works best for me. The one that I like right now because of its simplicity, is the sugar lip scrub.
It actually took me back to my teen years, I used to do this, because I use to use a similar one for my face. You can use it on your face, lips and feet. I did read somewhere that you should only do it twice or three times a week, I’m no expert to give advice so play around with what works for you. I started doing it every other day, then moving to every two days once my lips felt better.
EASY SUGAR SCRUB
- 1 teaspoon of either white or brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon olive oil or coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon of raw honey
DENTIST
Another thing that I’ve neglected badly, my teeth. It’s been a bit since I visited the dentist. Dont judge me! I had my whole dental plan set up not so long ago. I was even contemplating getting braces, I don’t care that I’m not a teen. I don’t have bad teeth but I have never quite loved my teeny tiny crooked smile. I’ve wanted to do it for some time, but hubby always tells me that he loves my smile the way it is. Silly me forgets about it, thinking that it’s not so bad. Then when I was all ready and determined to do it, I found out I was pregnant. I may be the only one who was so paranoid while pregnant but I was scared to go the dentist. I don’t know why, don’t ask me, crazy hormones maybe.
Then the first year of parenthood was crazy and there was no time for me. Here we are on year two and I realize that two years have flown by me and little me is getting all forgotten. Time to get to all the important things in life. As much as I love and adore my little person, I need to share the love with myself. Not to mention that he will not think his mom is beautiful if I have a crazy ugly smile, or slightly crooked.
True honesty, the reason I dread going to the dentist is that I feel the staff (dental hygienist usually) are so judgmental. You are already at someone else’s mercy letting them in your space and mouth and they make you feel bad. Yeah that will make me come right back! Fast forward to my self love journey and determination this year, I found a great dentist near my home based on amazing reviews. Let me tell you I loved the dentist and his staff. All so kind and gentle. NOT JUDGEMENTAL at all! A deep cleaning later and a very numb mouth I’m very pleased with my smile and I have scheduled my next appointment. Loving my dentist, did I say that already?
WHITER SMILE
I think you have picked up on the trend that most of my excuses is because I became a mother. Not that I’m trying to excuse myself for my lack of attention to me. In this case my teeth not being pearly white, guess why? Mama juice, coffee. I was never a huge coffee drinker. It was more of a random coffee outing with a friend or only in a while on a morning sip with hubby on a lazy Sunday. Then came motherhood and I needed it to wake up, stay alert and give me energy to go through the day. Awful on my teeth that I had worked hard on trying to keep somewhat white.
Here I am two years after becoming a mother and I started noticing the damage when I was in photos with anyone. My dull and discolored smile was obvious. I started to research whitening systems. I have done the over the counter products and I was never impressed with the results. Plus, they always seemed to make my teeth sensitive. I had done the dentist whitening in the past, which I think kept my teeth the whites for as long as they did. Except this option is a bit pricey and a bit of work.
AT HOME TEETH WHITENING SYSTEM
Fast forward when I heard from Smile Brilliant and decided to try their at home whitening system. They sent me a kit, in which I made my own teeth cast. Kind of fun and scary at the same time. The instructions were pretty self explanatory and I only made one mistake (out my own fear). Thankfully there was extra material to make another cast.
It took me a few days to get used to the system. At first I was trying to use it daily and for the maximum time allowed. It can be used from 45 minutes to three hours. I think this a personal preference and what your teeth can handle. I was just trying to get fast results, but it was making my teeth sensitive. Anything worth having takes time. I did come to this realization after speaking to their staff that I could ustead use it less time, and every other day. I ended up doing it for 30-45 minutes at a time every other or third day, depending on how my teeth felt when I did it. Of course my results took longer time to see but my teeth felt better and I was not scared to do the process of fear of pain. This was my comfortable zone, yours could be different. They do give you instructions for optimum results, such as no coffee, sodas and teas. For the most part I did abstain from them, only the occasional social drink and I did see that those days I felt a step backwards on my results. This just means that I need to go back to my former self of no coffee, especially for maintenance.
OVERALL RESULTS
I set out to work on my self love all year, I’m working on my first step, my smile. Here I am on the path to getting my smile back to almost what it was a few years ago. My lips are starting to feel so much healthier and I have restarted my relationship with my dentist again. I’m still trying to decide on if I will do something about straightening my smile or not. As I keep working on the maintenance of my self love for my smile, I will update this post, with different products and recipes I find helpful. Make sure you share some of your tips with me. Remember sharing is caring. Not to mention, “the most beautiful curve on a woman’s body is her smile” – Bob Marley
GIVEAWAY
In the spirit of sharing is caring, I’ve partnered with Smile Brilliant for a very special gift!
1. The gift (prize or just the take away from this giveaway) is for a $149 Smile Brilliant credit.
2. Contest closes 2 weeks from today, this means it ends on February 8th, 2019
3. It is only open to USA, UK, Australia and Canadian residents.
All you have to do is follow the instructions on the button below. If you don’t want to enter the giveaway and you just want to get started on your self love smile, use this code to get a 15% discount, lifewithsalsa15
DISCLOSURE: I was gifted the Smile Brilliant kit in exchange for a review. As always I give my honest opinion and only recommend products that I use and love.
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