..A Dial-A-Smile (Whitening Lightning) Review

So I guess this would more fall under the "previously coveted, then purchased" category but I longed to try it for so long that even though I was disappointed, I thought I should share my experience with you guys.

My rating: 2 out of 5.

Okay so I'm sure many of you have heard of this product, as it's pimped out all over the internet by bloggers and celebs alike.  Started up in the land of hotness (L.A.) much like the taco trucks we have here in DC, they apparently they have teeth whitening trucks, which is how the product started.  I of course bought into the hype and while I wasn't willing to spend the whopping $478 to try it out, when I saw it pop up on ideeli for just $69.99 I jumped on the chance.

The product claims to white your teeth 4-7 shades in just 20 minutes with no sensitivity, which sounds life changing and awesome.  Sign me up.  When my box finally arrived I excitedly matched my current shade with the nifty tooth color wheel and found that I was about a seven.  Not too bad.  I took out the magical LED light which is provided to you to set up the batteries correctly and make sure it turned on.  Nope.  No such luck.  I then go out to CVS to buy the weirdly small batteries it takes just in case that was the problem, but no.  My light just didn't work.  I reached out to customer service, which admittedly was really great (and the reason they got that extra point), the woman took down my name and told me someone would get back to me ASAP Monday morning (since it was the weekend).  To my surprise, on NYE, I already had a shipping confirmation for my new LED sitting in my mailbox.  Super.

Round two, everything is working.  I use the vitamin E to protect my gums, dry my teeth with the little finger towel thing, dispense the proper amount of gel into the little plastic jar, and start painting my teeth. The first thing I notice is there is WAY to much product in the little jar.  Probably enough for a whole second go at this, so I throw it and the syringe that holds the rest of the goop into the refrigerator (as recommended) while I popped the light in my mouth and waited the twenty minutes for the magic to happen.

To my surprise there was absolutely no sensitivity!  To my dismay, however, my teeth looked pretty much exactly the same as they did 20 minutes ago.  Boo.  I look to my tooth color wheel and my fears are confirmed.  No change. WHAT? HOW? WHY?  I must have done something wrong so I go back and reread the instructions.  It says you can do the process again right away if you wish, so I did just that.  Twenty more minutes later I check again, and like the first time, no real change, possibly half a shade lighter.

I immediately turn to the internet (obviously) and try to find a reason why it's not working on me.  I type in every possible search combination but turn up nothing.  In fact, there is not ONE single negative review of this stuff ANYWHERE, which was starting to creep me out/piss me off.  All the reviews are by people who were gifted the product, or testimonials from the Whitening Lightning site itself.  Weird.  Useless.  I give up for the night.

The next day I try it again.  Then again on the weekend. My teeth are maaaaaaaybe 1.5 shades lighter and honestly since I was also using the whitening pen at night that came in the combo kit, I can't tell you if it was from the dial-a-smile kit or the pen.

In conclusion, do not buy this product unless its on super sale somewhere because there is a chance that the results turn out like mine (lame).  The only reason I even gave it 2 stars is because they do have great customer service, if you have sensitive teeth, it really causes no irritation, and my teeth are a liiiiiittle bit whiter at the end of the day.  Maybe I'll change my tune after I use up the last two applications (maybe all the magic is in the bottom) but until then I say skip it.