Illumi White Review – Should You Try It?

Illumi White is a teeth whitening system that promises to give you noticeably whiter teeth in less than a week. Let’s find out how – and if – it works today in our Illumi White review.

What is Illumi White?

Illumi White is a teeth whitening system that promises to brighten your teeth and give you a “Hollywood smile” in less than a week.

It’s a carbamide peroxide solution that you apply to your teeth kind of like a marker: you twist the pen to dispense the gel, then apply the gel to your teeth. There’s no need to wear a weird mouth-guard or other apparatus during the at-home procedure. You just brush your teeth, apply Illumi White, and then watch your teeth whiten.

The device is designed to be used in conjunction with products like Elite White, which use a tray filled with gel to whiten your teeth.

The product is priced at around $100 for a one month supply, which puts it at the upper price range of teeth whitening products on the market today.

So does Illumi White actually work? Let’s take a closer look.

How Does Illumi White Work?

Illumi White works using a 35% carbamide peroxide solution.

Carbamide peroxide gets turned into hydrogen peroxide, a bleaching agent, after it enters your mouth. To compare Illumi White to other major teeth whitening products, the company lists Crest 3D White (10% hydrogen peroxide) and Colgate Visible White (7% hydrogen peroxide).

A 35% carbamide peroxide solution is considered a high dose. Check out this study, for example, where researchers measured the effectiveness of different concentrations of carbamide peroxide, including 10%, 16%, and 37% solutions. 37% concentration solution was the highest concentration solution tested.

Interestingly enough, researchers in that study concluded that “all carbamide peroxide concentrations tested produced similar tooth color improvement.” So a higher concentration solution did not necessarily lead to better whitening results.

In any case, Illumi White’s manufacturer recommends using a three step process to apply Illumi White:

Step 1) Brush Teeth

Step 2) Twist Pen to Dispense Gel

Step 3) Apply Gel to Teeth

The website also features an instructional video where a dentist applies Illumi White and Elite White to a patient’s teeth. You can view that video on YouTube here. The procedure is straightforward and basically just involves rubbing a pen over your teeth from top to bottom in front of a mirror.

How Does Carbamide Peroxide Work?

Illumi White uses the active ingredient carbamide peroxide to achieve its teeth whitening benefits. Carbamide peroxide works by wiping layers of build-up off your teeth.

As you eat, smoke, drink coffee, and consume other teeth discoloring foods and drinks, a layer forms over your teeth. This layer is called a pellicle film, and it lodges itself over the porous enamel layer of your teeth. As years go by without teeth cleaning, staining agents make their way into this porous enamel, which leads to greater and greater discoloration.

The manufacturer actually claims that carbamide peroxide isn’t the only ingredient used in the gel:

“…our specially formulated serum uses a combination of enhanced carbamide peroxide whitening gel and pro whitening accelerator.”

What exactly is that “pro whitening accelerator?” We never find out. The company makes numerous mentions to carbamide peroxide and even cites scientific studies reinforcing its benefits. But we never learn what, exactly, the pro whitening accelerator may be.

It’s also important to note that Illumi White itself has never been studied in any clinical setting or research facility. So none of the benefits have been verified by a third party organization.

Illumi White Pricing

Illumi White has an awkward pricing policy: you pay $6.95 today for shipping and handling, although the full price of $95.13 is charged to your credit card automatically 14 calendar days later.

The company calls this a “free trial” because you pay only shipping at first before paying the full product cost. If you return the product within the 14 day period, then you can avoid the full retail price of $95.13 (in which case you only pay the shipping cost of $6.95).

The problem with the Illumi White “free trial” is that it may take up to 10 calendar days to receive your product in the mail. Then, you only have a day or two to test the product yourself before shipping it back in time to meet the 14 day return window.

As if that pricing policy wasn’t bad enough, Illumi White will continue charging you $95.13 + $10.91 shipping every 30 calendar days until you cancel. You’ll continue receiving a monthly supply of Illumi White in the mail every 30 days.

That’s right: the cost of shipping actually goes up when you’re a subscribing member to Illumi White.

If you want to request a refund or cancel your autoship subscription, then you’ll need to contact customer service at 1-866-251-4985.

Ultimately, this pricing policy is way higher than most other teeth whitening kits and carbamide peroxide kits we’ve seen. You can find 35% carbamide peroxide solutions on Amazon – like AuraGlow – for $60 with free shipping, for example. The fact that Illumi White costs over $100 makes it one of the most expensive at-home teeth whitening products we’ve ever seen.

Who Makes Illumi White?

Illumi White lists its company address as:

4195 Tamiami Trail S 127
Venice, FL 34292

You can contact the company by phone at 1-866-251-4985 or by emailing [email protected].

That company also appears to make the Elite White teeth cleaning system.

Should You Use Illumi White to Clean your Teeth?

Illumi White seems to work as advertised: it contains a 35% carbamide peroxide solution. Research has shown that carbamide peroxide legitimately whitens teeth (although that whitening power doesn’t seem to change very much based on the concentration of carbamide peroxide – it’s the same anywhere between 10% and 37%).

The problem with Illumi White is that it’s priced so much higher than all of its competitors that there’s almost no reason to buy the teeth whitening gel. Plus, the gel comes with an awkward pricing policy (including a scammy “free trial” and autoship program) that seems purposely designed to leave you with mountains of credit card debt.

There’s also the problem that the gel includes some “pro whitening accelerator”, and the manufacturer never actually explains what that chemical is.

Ultimately, the gel should whiten your teeth as advertised – but the high price and ludicrous autoship/free trial scam makes it hard to recommend this product.