When I first heard about LUSH’s new tooth care line, including the Toothy Tabs ($10 each), I was intrigued, confused and a little excited, all at once. I had so many questions: How exactly do they work? Are they the same as toothpaste? Will my mouth even feel clean? I had to admit when I read that the Toothy Tabs were made from a combination of baking soda, clay and essential oils, I wasn’t completely convinced that the last question was going to prove in the positives. Boy was I wrong.
But first let’s rewind to when the Toothy Tabs arrived on my desk. I asked the lovely team at LUSH to pass a variety of flavours that they thought would be best. Not having had a hand in choosing the flavours, I initially got the unlucky end of the beauty reviewer straw that day. Three bottles of Toothy Tabs arrived, including Miles of Smiles (a combination of English mint, organic peppermint and wild mint), Bling! (citrus and frankincense…and laced with edible gold glitter–um, what?) and Boom! (charcoal, gunpowder tea, black pepper oil and ground chili).
You’re looking at the ingredients in those last two and starting to get where I’m coming from, right? Thankfully I tried Miles of Smiles first and was, admittedly, pleasantly surprised. After crunching the little tab between my teeth I wet my brush and went to town. The burst of delicious mint all over my mouth was invigorating and the fizzy foam created from the baking soda didn’t really feel all that different than regular toothpaste. But the after effect was incredible. I honestly don’t think my teeth had ever felt so clean.
My fears that my teeth wouldn’t feel clean for a full day and I’d feel the need to brush again later in the day were gone. Running my tongue over my pearly whites at 4pm, they were still as slick as an ice rink. It was a miracle.
And then my pre-bed routine happened.
I picked up the bottle of Bling! to test out before bed because, truth be told, I wasn’t sure I believed that this gold glitter would just simply wash away and I wasn’t leaving that up to fate on a morning when I might have to face my CEO at any given moment.
In goes the tab, crunch and brush… and then my happy place stopped there. Instead of the same happy brushing sensation that I got with Miles of Smiles, there was gagging. Like real, not exaggerating it, gagging. It felt like the entirety of a LUSH store (which, don’t get me wrong, I love LUSH, but we can all admit it has a recognizable smell) had just imploded in my mouth. It was soapy and citrusy and just all around bad. I rinsed my mouth as fast as I could and popped in a Miles of Smiles to repeat the process.
The next morning I decided I wasn’t completely awash on this Toothy Tab situation yet and decided to give Boom! a go. The bottle said it tasted like cola so how bad could it be? Pretty bad, apparently. Not only did it turn my mouth (temporarily) a frightful shade of black, but the taste was a little more on the side of black licorice and soap side than on the cola side. Not nearly as bad as Bling!, but no where near those Miles of Smiles. I stuck it out though and afterwards, once my mouth had returned to it’s regular shade of pink, was again thrilled to find that my mouth was delightful clean and refreshed.
I have to admit, even for how rough of an experience it was, Toothy Tabs have converted me. A great natural alternative to your more conventional toothpaste, the liquidless tabs are great for travelling (especially if you don’t want to check your luggage) and the vegan M.O. makes them great (and safe) for camping. And thankfully there are four other much more delicious-sounding flavours on their full roster that I can’t wait to try out.
LUSH Toothy Tabs are available in seven flavours ($10 each)
