It didn’t take long for the bloggers to notice us with our shining blue light and flock to get a closer look. Everyone was very excited to learn all about the new BlanX White Shock product and how Actilux works. They were even more excited to learn they all had a sample of BlanX White Shock LED in their goody bags to try out.

It was a fabulous event, Em did a great job of organising it and we were extremely pleased to be a part of the day.

If you would like to read more about the Northern Meet Up check out the blog posts below from just some of the ladies we spoke to…

Em Talks

In the Frow

Through Chelsea’s Eyes

Em’s Mixed Bag

Aztec Mess

Beauty Shaker

New research by Tara Kraft and Sarah Pressman published in Psychological Science has shown that even faking a smile can improve your mood and stress levels.

A ‘Duchennes Smile’, a full smile that reaches the eyes, is best for increasing brain activity that corresponds with a happier mood. But a ‘Social Smile’ that only involves the mouth also works to reduce stress levels, even if you’re faking it!

The research shows that even if the smile is not genuine, plastering a big beaming smile across your face improves your mood and stress levels significantly. Also if you do it in public others around you will start to feel the effects of your smile.

This is great news for BlanX White Shock users as not only will smiling improve your mood but also the whiteness of your teeth!

Now you have two reasons to smile! ☺

source: Forbes February 2013

The product was launched in the UK on 20th February 2013 at a press event held at Hearst Magazines in London, where all the major print titles were invited along with top bloggers and freelance writers to learn all about the BlanX White Shock products.

As BlanX White Shock is so unique it received an excellent response from all of the journalists, they couldn’t wait to try the product and they were fascinated by the idea that it was activated by light, meaning the more you smile the whiter your teeth with be.

The journalists were particularly interested in the LED light booster and how it worked to activate the Actilux® as it passed through the tube, so effectively the Actilux® was already at work before you even put it on your teeth!

Actilux® is a patented active ingredient that can only be found in the new BlanX White Shock products. The Actilux® crystals bind to your teeth and work to breakdown the dirt and bacteria before it can penetrate your teeth causing staining. Not only does the BlanX White Shock help remove existing stains, restoring your teeth to their natural splendor, but the Actilux® also protects against new stains forming.

BlanX White Shock is now available to buy in store at Asda and will soon be available online at Feel Unique and Amazon.

You can find out more information on BlanX White Shock here.

Once Natalie, our winner, was selected it was all systems go to arrange the perfect photo shoot with Cosmo and the result was amazing!

We also sent our photographer to the shoot to capture all the behind the scenes action…

As a result we are welcoming in the New Year with a fantasic new smile, you can see Natalie’s beautiful smile on our homepage. Expect to see a lot of Natalie throughout 2013 on our website and also our social media sites, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

If you would like to know more about Natalie and how she came to be the 2013 Smile of BlanX you can read all about her here.

But it seems women are more than used to throwing away perfectly good unused cosmetics that don’t meet their personal requirements –Brit women will throw away an average of 1 beauty product every month of the year, the nationwide survey shows. However, it is at Christmas that this habitual discarding of beauty gifts goes into overdrive – more than doubling the number of throwaways of a regular month.

Men be warned – if that designer lipstick, the one that just cost you a fortune, isn’t your lady’s preferred colour or that make-up you just ordered from a bespoke beauty house in Paris is a shade too light, it doesn’t matter that it took you three weeks to source and order it, it’s going to land in a bin sooner rather than later.

While the average UK woman buys almost three (2.91) new beauty products for herself per month they tend to stick to the same tried and tested brands they know and trust. More than seven out of 10 women say they continue to buy the same beauty products because of “positive usage” whereas just 12.4% buy on the recommendation of others. A further 18.5% buy the same beauty brands out of loyalty and some 24.7% buy the same brands because of habit.

The national study did offer a glimmer of hope for Britain’s menfolk though. If totally bemused by the sheer plethora of beauty products available in the marketplace, play it safe and plump for bath and body goodies – the No1 Christmas beauty choice among British women. Failing that, make-up comes in a close second and fragrance is third most popular – just be sure that you now which brand your lady prefers or you may as well stuff your hard-earned cash straight in the litter bin.

Senior Brand Manager for Blanx, Louise Marks said: “British women are very loyal to their favourite brands and tend to want to stick with the beauty products they know and love.

“They very rarely choose a new beauty product based on a recommendation from others and choose their make-up and other beauty essentials out of habit, loyalty and, most importantly, because it has had a positive result for them in the past.

“Men need to be aware that it is easy to get it wrong when buying beauty products for their ladies at Christmas and British women are not scared of being ruthless when it comes to their beauty regime. If it doesn’t work for them, no matter how much it cost or who bought it for them, it’s going to end up in the bin.

“The same as £676 Million worth of other beauty products this Christmas.”

Mail Online coverage 

The competition once again was hosted on the BlanX Facebook page, and all you had to do was upload a photo of yourself giving your best smile and get your friends to vote.

The winner was chosen by a team of people from both BlanX and Attitude magazine, we were looking for another natural stand out smile and we think we found another fantastic winner!

And the winner is…

James Pellicci

Finally the day came when it was time to go to down to Hearst Magazines in London to pick out winner, it wasn’t an easy decision to make as we had so many fantastic entries with fabulous smiles. What it came down to in the end was who stood out the most, taking everything into consideration which smile were we immediately drawn to to.

And the winner is… Natalie Miller, aged 23 from Devon

What stood out to the judging panel about Natalie was that although in both of her photos she submitted she was wearing quite bright colours it was always her smile that they noticed first. In her second photo she was wearing a red dress and red lipstick but it was her smile again that stood out.

Once Natalie had been chosen both Cosmo and BlanX were very excited about the day of the shoot, all the judges could sense that the shoot was going to be something very special. It has been exteremly difficult for us to keep quiet all this time, especially as we have got some amazing behind the scenes photography from the shoot. Natalie looked absolutely stunning and everyone was really pleased with how she took to the camera and the finished result really reflects how well the day went, we think you will all agree…

What Natalie had to say…

I would like to thank BlanX and Cosmo for such and amazing day, everyone was so warm and welcoming that I felt completely at ease straight away. I was very lucky to stay in a gorgeous suite at The Boundary Hotel and had dinner made by a top chef. In the morning I arrived at the studio where I met the BlanX and Cosmo team and had my hair done by a top celebrity hair stylist. I got some tips from my lovely make-up artist and I was able to try out lots of different looks with my stylist for the shoot. I had a lot of fun modelling, the photographer kept making me laugh on purpose for a natural looking smile. I am so happy I won and the whole experience was definitely one I will never forget.  xxx

To see all the behind the scenes photos visit the BlanX Facebook page.

The Pure Beauty Awards 2012 took place at the Savoy Hotel in London, a glitzy event that BlanX were lucky enough to be part of in more ways than one.

Pure Beauty magazine is a publication BlanX has been featured in a couple of times and as a brand we are always pleased when they show an interest in our products, so we were more than happy to get involved in this years awards. Firstly as an award category sponsor and secondly and more excitedly as an award nominee.

This year BlanX sponsored the award for Supermarket Consultant of the Year 2012, for which we had to take part in a gruelling day of judging to make sure the best consultants won. This involved a very hard day of cocktail making under the guidance of the Savoy’s fabulously talented only female bar tender, followed by manicures courtesy of the London College of Beauty Therapy, rounded off with a series of contestant interviews.

Once the judging was over it was time to get glammed up and attend the awards evening, hosted by Daybreak and Strictly Come Dancing’s Dan Lobb and TV present Sarah Stone. There were a few other celebs in attendance on the night, The Only Way is Essex stars Lauren Goodger and Amy Childs were there to present awards along with celebrity hairdressers Charles Worthington and Lee Stafford.

BlanX had been looking forward to the awards for a couple of months now, since we found out that we were shortlisted for the award. BlanX Active Enamel Protection had been shortlisted in the Best New Dental Product category alongside Oral B 3D and Phillips Sonicare AirFloss. In 2011 BlanX won Silver in the same category for the BlanX Classic White product, at the time only available in Asda and now also available in Sainsbury’s and Superdrug. We were keen to replicate the success of 2011 and we are very proud to announce we did! Again BlanX Active Enamel Protection won the Silver award beating tough competition from many major dental brands.

If you want an award winning smile you can pick up BlanX Active Enamel Protection in Asda for £4.50, not a bad price for an award winning toothpaste.