“I just like to smile, smiling’s my favorite!” I think if I had to pick out my own favorite physical feature, it’d be my smile. Hollah to the parents for years of braces and cracking down on teeth brushing within 20 minutes of every single meal. I really value the power of a smile – the power it has to raise others up in a flash, to make people feel at peace in an otherwise nervous or uncomfortable situation, and to bring your own self more joy, even when faking it in a tough moment. A study from the Association for Psychological Science (hi, I’m a nerd) found that smiling may actually influence our physical state; study participants either held a neutral facial expression or a smile, and those smiling had lower heart rates after recovering from a stressful activity. Smiling reduces stress, point blank. So for those of us who frequently wig out, the solution is simple: smile more.

Along with smiling and it being my own favorite physical feature, I love having white teeth. I’ll drink coffee and wine until I die, but I still need to have white teeth. But ain’t nobody got time (or the moolah) to spend on expensive in-office whitening treatments; I need something I can do semi-regularly.

In the spirit of yesterday’s Operation Beautiful and Monday Mantra inspiration and long weekends (who couldn’t smile at that??) all combined, I’m sharing a ton of pinnable notes on smiling and my absolute favorite way to easily whiten teeth at home.

Children smile on the average 400 times a day while adults average 15 times a day. Isn’t that sad? Let’s turn those frowns upside down…and whiten them while we’re at, shall we? I’ve always been a sucker for Crest White Strips – threw those bad boys on literally two hours before I ended up getting engaged! – but it’s not always top of mind to be grabbing a strip when you’re in the middle of working, cleaning the house, or getting ready. So the alternative? Crest’s new 3D White Brilliance Toothpaste System, with whitening technologies so advanced they can’t be combined into a single tube. Sure, you probably use whitening toothpastes now. But if you’re unhappy with them, even with brushing regularly, they’re probably not strong enough to really do the job as you’d ideally like. And if your teeth are sensitive to white strips…well, that could be a problem. Enter the 3D White Brilliance Toothpaste System. It’s a 2-step brushing system (meaning you just swap out for your current ordinary, plainer jane toothpaste): step 1 deep cleans, and step 2 is a whitening finisher.

Crest 3D White Brilliance Toothpaste System gives your smile the power to keep a professional polish at home. Brushing with it twice daily keeps your smile up to 99% as white as a professionally done (and expensive) polish!* Especially with my wedding being a year away (!!!), my goal is to have the pearliest of whites by the time I’m walking down the aisle. Especially with a system that costs $14.99 instead of something upwards of $500, it’s a pretty clear option for me, and I can’t wait to see where my smile is in a month or two!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.