It’s been a while since I shared some beauty favorites with you all and since I’ve found some real gems lately, I thought it was about time to do so! I try (try) to keep my daily beauty routine as minimal as I can but I know that I personally feel more confident when I have taken the time to do something with my hair and makeup, so I do make an effort to do those things most days. Not to say that there aren’t usually multiple days a week I have on next to no make up and a hat to cover up my Lord-knows-how-many-day-old-hair!
1. Hot Tools 1.25″ Curling Wand
I’ve gotten tons of questions IRL and on Instagram Stories about what I’m doing differently with my hair! Other than it being super long after missing my last two hair cuts (remedying that situation today thankfully) I got a new curling wand just before Christmas! I had this tapered one for years and liked it but after it stopped heating up one day I decided to try something different. You wouldn’t think a 1/4 in. difference in barrel size would make a huge difference but the curls are so much more wave-like. I like buying my hair tools at Ulta because they always have a coupon out that you can use, they have a great return policy if you don’t end up liking it, and if you hang on to your receipt they will replace it for free if it breaks! Ever!
2. L’Oréal Paris Voluminous Lash Paradise
For the past few years I have used this amazing mascara from Sephora and I still love it! But lets be honest it’s not as easy to run into the mall just to pick up mascara now that I have an almost-two-year-old (sob) with me all the time. I needed something I could grab easily at Target and when my friend Brittany suggested this L’Oreal one, I made sure to pick it up the next time I was there. It really is one of the best drugstore brand mascaras I’ve tried and I am super picky. Just make sure you don’t buy the waterproof one 
(And if you do just take it back to Target. Gotta love a liberal return policy!)
3. Batiste Dry Shampoo in Divine Dark
You may remember that I drank the Batiste kool-aid a month or so ago, became immediately obsessed, and haven’t really stopped talking about it since! I have the world’s greasiest hair and this actually lets me go up to three days without washing it which, let’s be honest, is every woman’s dream. I thought I was obsessed with the coconut scented one and then I picked up this divine dark after someone on Instagram suggested it to me. Holy cow. I do not know how I lived so many years without this stuff! This dark version is perfect for us brunette girls (and also those of us who have missed our last few hair appointments and have some greys that need to be covered).
4. Neutrogena Clarifying Shampoo
I wash my hair 2-3x a week and one of those times is always with this clarifying shampoo. I have to use a lot of product in order for my hair to hold a curl (mousse, hairspray, dry shampoo) and that causes my scalp gets itchy from a lot of product build up. This clears all of that away and leaves my hair feeling super clean!
5. Smile Brilliant Teeth Whitening System
My coffee intake has gone up about 300% since birthing a child and it has been showing on my teeth, woof. You may have seen me share over on Instagram Stories that Smile Brilliant sent me their teeth whitening system to try and I have been LOVING it. It’s so much better than the drug store whitening strips I have always used in the past. I swear I’ll get in the reasons I liked it better, but first I want to share a little bit about the process.
Once you order your kit, Smile Brilliant immediately sends you almost everything you need to get the job done! The one thing you don’t immediately get are the trays that actually fit around your teeth and hold the whitening gel. The very first thing you do is use some of the product they send to make molds of your teeth, then mail the mold back to them in (in a pre-paid envelope – is it just me or is this key to mailing anything?), and the team sends you back trays customized to your teeth! Super easy.
Within a few days you get a set of top and a bottom trays back in the mail and you are ready to start the whitening process! These little trays are one of the main reasons I preferred this system to the whitening strips I’ve used in the past. Typically, I have such a hard time getting those strips placed in the exact spot to make sure they cover my teeth completely and then they slip and move around every time I move my mouth even slightly. Since they fit snugly around your teeth the trays eliminate that!
Your kit comes with whitening gel and desensitizing gel and you use both for each treatment. You whiten for anywhere from 45 minutes to three hours, then use the desensitizing gel for 30 minutes. The desensitizing get was another huge advantage to this system compared to the drug store kind to me. After using the strips my teeth are usually sensitive for days and anything drinking anything hot or cold is uncomfortable. This system eliminates that as well!
Here are my results:
Not too shabby, huh?! I can totally tell a difference in person, too. My teeth totally look brighter and I’m more confident in my smile! Overall, I really enjoyed my experience with Smile Brilliant and would totally recommend it. Popping the trays in after dinner gave me plenty of time to whiten before bed (they suggest not eat or drinking anything for several hours afterwards) and helped discouraged after dinner snacking – ha! Use code rachelemily15 at check out for 15% off your order. This makes the system I used just over $100 and is totally worth the money in my opinion. Especially if you have a big event (like your sister’s wedding, ahem!) coming up.
Smile Brilliant has generously offered to give one of my readers a $149 credit which would cover even their most expensive kit as long as you use my coupon code. ![😉]()
Click here to be taken to the giveaway form.
Smile Brilliant sent me their system to try for free, all opinions are my own.
If you are interested, you can find more of my favorite make-up in this post. It’s a few years old but still pretty much what I use every day!
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Linking up with Annie, Natalie, Owen, and Amanda.
The post 5 BEAUTY PRODUCTS I’M LOVING + WHITENING SENSITIVE TEETH AT HOME appeared first on rachel emily.