The 9 Best At-Home Teeth Whitening Kits - Smile Prep (2024)

Table of Contents

SNOW: Convenient and Powerful

Most whitening products are small and pretty easy to take on the go, but portability isn’t at the center of their design. With SNOW, it is. The whitening gel is in pens, not syringes, making spills and overapplication unlikely. And the LED light piece is powered by a cable that connects to your phone, so you never need to worry about keeping it charged.

Despite being a powerful treatment, SNOW has proven especially effective for people with sensitive teeth, and the company has already brightened millions of smiles. Their $149 sticker price is on the higher end of the spectrum; however, the light is reusable, so you’ll only need to purchase whitening gel for future touch-ups.

Snow Advantages

• The LED light gets power from your phone, so you don’t need to remember to charge it.
• Everything is highly portable and comes with a bag for easy transport.
• You get two different types of whitening pens, so you can customize your approach based on the results you want.
• The gel is cruelty-free, vegan, and doesn’t cause sensitivity, so most customers can use it.

SNOW Disadvantages

• Not everyone appreciates pen applicators. While they are quick and simple, the gel tends to wash off quickly, giving it minimal time to work.
• You are connected to your phone for the duration of each whitening session.

GLO Brilliant: In-Office Pedigree

It’s the biggest conflict in teeth whitening: should you visit the dentist for enhanced technology or whiten at home? GLO Science has taken the proven model of their professional in-office system and adapted it to a pocket-sized device.

Using Guided Light Optics (where GLO gets its name), the company says this system pairs heat with LED lights to deepen the reach of the whitening gel, and their whitening system has received two Edison Awards for excellence in product development.

GLO Brilliant Advantages

• Many customers notice a difference after a single session.
• The LED light is designed to last for years, so in the future, you can save money by simply repurchasing the whitening solution.
• Combining heat with LED may result in a faster and deeper whitening.
• Backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.

GLO Brilliant Disadvantages

• Each whitening session requires you to apply the gel four different times — more than what other products require.
• The battery doesn’t hold a charge well, so you’ll need to charge it daily.

BURST Whitening Strips: Most Affordable

BURST specifically designs their products to fulfill unmet needs in the dental industry, as identified by BURST Ambassadors — practicing dental professionals in the U.S. Their formula combines traditional ingredients with natural ones, making it simultaneously powerful, fast-acting, and gentle.

If price is your top concern, it’s hard to do better than BURST. Though their prices are already highly affordable, you can lower the cost of your whitening even further if you use their subscription service.

BURST Advantages

• You can keep your whitening sessions to just 15 minutes a day.
• BURST Whitening Strips are among the most affordable strips on the market when you purchase through their website.
• They combine traditional whitening agents with more natural ones for a well-rounded approach to brightening your smile.

BURST Disadvantages

• Sometimes the adhesive doesn’t fully keep the strip in place.
• The gel doesn’t cause tooth sensitivity for most, but it can burn the gums.

Lumineux Whitening Strips: All Natural

As Lumineux states on their website: “You shouldn’t have to choose between a product that is good for you and a product that actually works.” That’s why their whitening strips use essential oils and sea salt rather than peroxide.

The only synthetic ingredient in these strips is an adhesive called carbomer, because there’s currently no all-natural substitute. Despite what you might expect, the natural ingredients rival traditional ones in terms of results. While you won’t get a Hollywood-white smile with these strips, you’ll still enjoy noticeable changes.

Lumineux Oral Essentials Teeth Whitening Strips Advantages

• They skip the peroxide, making the strips gentle and better-tasting.
• You can use them long-term on a daily basis. Other strips can harm your teeth if you use them too often.
• They don’t cause tooth sensitivity.

Lumineux Oral Essentials Teeth Whitening Strips Disadvantages

• Some customers report that the bottom strip is a little too small for their teeth.
• It takes longer to see results than with traditional formulas.

SNOW The Magic Strips: Easiest to Use

Few names in the world of teeth whitening are as big as SNOW — in fact, they make our list of the best whitening pens and LED kits as well! Like any teeth whitening method, strips have their pros and cons, and one of the biggest drawbacks is removing them.

This step gets messy, but SNOW eliminates it. Their strips dissolve in your mouth, so there is no waste to deal with, just a whiter smile to enjoy. On top of this, whitening sessions are just 15 minutes long in most cases.

SNOW The Magic Strips Advantages

• Since they dissolve, they aren’t as messy as other strips — no muss, no fuss.
• They can dissolve in as little as 15 minutes (though might take up to 30).
• The strips adhere to your teeth without slipping and sliding around.

SNOW The Magic Strips Disadvantages

• The adhesive is super sticky and can get caught on the fingers and lips. It’s great for holding the strips in place, not so great for getting them there.
• Some customers say that the flavor is a little too similar to perfume.

BURST Whitening Trays

Like their whitening strips, BURST has designed their trays based on feedback from ambassadors across the country, ensuring they meet the needs of real patients like you. These trays boast a powerful peroxide-based formula that delivers dazzling results without causing sensitivity for most people.

Plus, they come pre-filled, so there’s no messing around with syringes, trying to apply the perfect amount of gel. They might not be reusable, but the trays take just 15 minutes, and they mask the peroxide flavor well — giving them an excellent balance of effectiveness, convenience, and comfort.

BURST Whitening Trays Advantages

• BURST trays have a 12.5% concentration of hydrogen peroxide — that’s fairly powerful for an at-home treatment.
• BURST’s formula includes xylitol and potassium hydroxide, which both help reduce or eliminate sensitivity.
• Since BURST uses pre-filled trays, you don’t need to measure out the perfect amount and use syringes, which can get messy.

BURST Whitening Trays Disadvantages

• BURST doesn’t customize their trays, so they might not fit as snugly as personalized ones.
• Since you only use each tray once, BURST can cost slightly more than reusable whitening trays in the long run.

Opalescence Go

Opalescence is a leading provider of professional teeth whitening, but with these whitening trays, they’ve brought their proprietary gel — formulated to stick to the teeth and oxidize stains without burning soft tissues — to a convenient at-home treatment.

Because Opalescence originally designed them for professional offices, these kits are powerful, but they’re also incredibly simple to use. You don’t have to measure any gel, since the trays are pre-filled, and after you’re done, you can just throw them away. Opalescence has delivered stellar effectiveness in a highly convenient package.

Opalescence Go Advantages

• Opalescence Go trays come pre-filled with the perfect amount of gel, and they’ve designed the formula to prevent it from spreading to the gums.
• You can choose either 10% or 15% hydrogen peroxide, so you can get the ideal strength for your whitening goals and level of tooth sensitivity.
• Opalescence was designed for dental offices, not store shelves. This means professional authorities and dentists across the country trust it.

Opalescence Go Disadvantages

• Opalescence Go has a steeper price tag than a lot of other whitening tray kits.
• You can only get them in sets of ten or four. Since you will need to do maintenance treatments at some point, this means buying an entire kit even if you only need enough for one or two sessions.

MOON Kendall Jenner Whitening Pen: Best Flavor

The MOON Kendall Jenner Teeth Whitening Pen is a partnership between MOON and, you guessed it, Kardashian-famous Kendall Jenner. We know: celebrity products feel gimmicky, but this one is legit. Shaun Neff founded MOON with the goal of making oral healthcare part of the standard beauty experience and their pen certainly hits the mark.

Formulated with their proprietary Elixir III, MOON’s pen delivers powerful whitening paired with amazing flavor — a combination of honeysuckle, strawberry extract, and vanilla. It also has light-reflecting particles in the formula, which helps make your smile appear bright instantly after application.

MOON Advantages

• The pen’s sleek design feels more like makeup than an oral care product.
• The Elixir III flavor completely masks the peroxide taste.
• Lasting results might take a few days, but the light-reflecting particles give your smile an instant boost.

MOON Disadvantages

• The only brick-and-mortar store offering MOON is Ulta.
• Some customers have reported that the formula burns their gums.

Lumineux Ultra-Bright: All-Natural Formula

Many whitening products use harsh chemicals and laundry lists of hard-to-pronounce ingredients. Lumineux takes a different approach. As their motto states: “You shouldn’t have to choose between a product that is good for you and a product that actually works.”

Lumineux says their Ultra-Bright Whitening Pen is enamel-safe, dentist-formulated, and certified non-toxic. Unlike other pens, it’s so gentle you can actually use it every day. Just be ready to pay a premium; Lumineux costs $50 for a two-pen pack.

Lumineux Advantages

• It offers effective, peroxide-free whitening.
• The formula promotes gum health.
• You can use it daily to prevent stains.

Lumineux Disadvantages

• The gel doesn’t stick to the teeth very well.
• It doesn’t achieve the same level of whitening as peroxide-based formulas.

Frequently Asked Questions