For someone as well-versed in nail trends and nail art techniques as I'd like to believe I am, it takes a lot for a nail design to surprise me. But, when blooming gel nails started appearing all over my TikTok "for you" page, I was perplexed. I watched artist after artist dotting different colors of gel polish onto clients' nails, watching as the colors seemed to blossom like petals. But how exactly does this art form take shape without colors bleeding everywhere? Are these pros using regular gel polish? And how long do blooming gel nails actually last? These questions have been swirling through my mind ever since I stumbled upon the technique, so I made it my mission to get answers.
If you too have been mesmerized or even dumbfounded by the world of blooming gels, don't worry—you need not suffer the "how" and "why" circuit that's kept me up at night. Ahead, nail experts from Nailing Hollywood and Vanity Projects talk through all things blooming gel nails.
Featured Experts
- Mazz Hanna is the CEO of Nailing Hollywood
- Vanity Projects is a luxury, concept nail atelier and educational institute specializing in Japanese nail art
What Are Blooming Gel Nails?
"Blooming gel is a type of gel nail polish that creates a unique 'blooming' effect when applied to the nail," begins CEO of Nailing Hollywood, Mazz Hanna. "It works by expanding or 'blooming' any polish applied on top of the blooming gel before it is cured, creating a unique pattern of color. You cannot easily achieve the same blooming effect with regular nail polish because the chemical reaction between the pigment and base gel layer is required to create the expansion and blooming effect."
How Does Blooming Gel Work?
As Hanna clarified, the blooming gel effect cannot be created with regular nail polish, so the product at work is key, but the technique is equally as important, the experts at Vanity Projects note. "Blooming gel is a product that is used to achieve a soft, blended, or painterly appearance with other gel products. To get the look, blooming gel is applied and without curing, a colored gel is deposited into the wet blooming gel and left momentarily to spread out and flow into a design. Once the design is achieved, the nail is then cured."
