**REVIEW** Shine Whitening

For about a year, I've been wanting to do a treatment to brighten my teeth. I kept backing off because the ones I saw at local stores were too expensive or too complicated looking. And I have a short attention span.

When I got the chance to review this one, via Tomoson, I took the jump. It's Shine Whitening.

Doesn't look anything like me!

If I'd had to purchase this, I don't think $30 is too much to pay. (I've seen ones at the store as high as $50+). This one also didn't sound like it was going to be that complicated. Here's my one gripe as I get ready to try it out: The instructions on the package itself are very general. I mean, just basic. For something that I'm going to be using on my teeth, I expected a little more info included with the product. Instead, I was directed to a website address which didn't load properly. I had to delete the "/zero" part to get started. Minor as far as that goes, but I was already annoyed that I had to go online for the full instruction. (What if I didn't have regular access to the internet?)

Instructions for mouth trays decent. All other instructions were too brief.

By the way, I found the website to be lacking in many ways. For instance, the links to FAQs and other areas went nowhere useful. (Also, the Amazon product site didn't have a list of ingredients for viewers.)

The ingredients: Glycerin, Sodium Bicarbonate, Carbomer, Polysorbate 20, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Fluoride, Aloe Barbadensis, Leaf Juice, Punica Granatum (Pomegranate) Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Chamomile) Flower Extract, Flavor.

Anyway, let me back up to say that I used the package instructions to prepare the mouth trays. How hard could that be, is what my brain was telling me. Well... This is what the trays looked like when I followed the instructions to shape them to my teeth:

My bottom teeth are really this jacked up?

Top teeth... Not so bad. 

~sigh~

Okay. So maybe I should stop listening to my brain since it's kind of sarced out.

By the way, after I shaped the trays, they no longer fit as well into the provided retainer case.

I decided that, yes, I should probably check out the more detailed instructions online (for using the mouth tray because, let's face it, I was going to have to do the re-shaping of them again).

Okay. I got the trays to fit better. I got the "detailed" instructions. I manged to get the light working (had a little run in with the battery cover, which is not easy to grip). I managed to get the trays lubricated with the whitening gel and into my mouth. THEN... I had to get the light into my mouth. I felt like a Cracked Magazine version of a chick imitating Hannibal Lector.



It's pretty awkward having to have the trays and light stuffed in your mouth for fifteen minutes. (It's suggested to use for 15 to 30 minutes per treatment.)

I lasted 13 minutes and 43 seconds before I was drooling all down my shirt. The whole time I was drooling and trying not to lock my jaw up, my little nephew was trying to hold a conversation with me about his new toy car and my sister (who is a little loopy from an infection) was laughing at the both of us. I couldn't wait to get that contraption out of my mouth.

But when I did. Wow.

This is what my teeth looked like pre-whitening:

I didn't even brush with paste before this pic

This is what they looked like after one treatment:

Lips need a scrub, but the teeth are whiter

That's not a trick of the light. I used the kit, rinsed, and then brushed my teeth with a non-whitening paste.

I didn't expect such noticeable results right away. The package label suggests using the kit for 4 weeks. At the rate that this worked, I'll be happy just using it once every few weeks. This stuff really did work. I'm not kidding about using it just every now and then. If I used twice a day, as suggested, I think I'd end up with unnaturally white teeth. I'm pretty impressed. I'm impressed enough that I don't mind the hassle I had to endure to use the kit. I'm impressed enough that I think I'll be purchasing another kit when this one runs out.

This is one of those times that I expected to be kind of ticked off by a product (which has really only happened once before), but come away amazed by the quick results. So, to summarize:

CONS -

• Instructions are lacking & having to go online for only slightly better "detailed" instructions is annoying. Why not just insert better instructions into the packaging in the first place? Especially when the website you give for more instructions is not there.
• The trays are difficult to shape to your teeth (or maybe I just have really crazy-to-fit teeth), If my fitted trays indicate the way my teeth are shaped, I'm a little embarrassed.
• The gel cartridges are a bit awkward also. The instructions to use a "drop" don't really work if what you really have to do is spread the gel along the front of the tray.
• There will be some drooling involved. This is not the most discreet way to whiten your teeth.
• There should have been a larger case included to hold the fitted trays. Once you shape them, the case might not be adequate. (I ended up putting my trays into a baggy for storage.)
• I don't know about you but, in spite of what the website says, I won't be using this "on the go or in the office. Not unless I am President and have Secret Service agents keeping out anyone who might see me with this thing in my mouth and drool wetting my chin. No, ma'am. I have no idea how anyone would even manage to use this "on the go". Where are you going to go looking like a deranged, drooling maniac? With a blue light in your mouth? Huh.)
• I didn't see any mention of a product guarantee.
• Though this states that botanical ingredients are used instead of peroxide, I couldn't find a list of those ingredients on the product website. You'd have to see the package for that.

PROS -

• There really is none of that weird feeling you get with some other whitening products. No numbness or irritation of the gums. It doesn't even taste that icky. That might be because...
• ...This kit uses botanical ingredients* instead of peroxide.
• There is a support number listed on the package in case you have questions. (Con: it's not a toll-free number.)
• You don't have to use the light; it just "speeds up the process". (But the results with the light seem to be pretty awesome.)
• It works.
• It works the very first time you use it.
• It's fifteen minutes per treatment. Now that I know what to expect, I will do my treatments while bathing or having nothing else in the world to do (including possibly being seen by any other human being).
• It. Works.

Here is what you get all squeezed into that small box:

The mouth trays are inside the white case

You also get the little chart

The light battery cover

If I didn't use this again, I would be happy with the improvement. I drink a lot of coffee, eat a lot of staining berries (and I have cheated with the smoking...), and I drink tons of tea. I don't brush my teeth after every meal. I'm human. If this improved the look of my teeth with one treatment, I imagine it will be amazing for someone motivated enough to use it twice a day for 4 weeks. I imagine you'd be able to use the whiteness of their teeth for a nightlight after 4 weeks.

This part of light is for your mouth

UPDATE: I realized that I had not removed the tabs from the mouth trays the first time I used the kit. The tabs are there for when you are using hot water to shape the trays. Once I did remove them, the trays (and light) fit much better. It's still not a good look for "on the go" or at the office. Unless you work from home. Behind a locked door. Still, this works so well that, with the trays fitting better, I will be using more often.

Peace

--Free

DISCLOSURE:
I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.