Collection: Dip Only Powder

What does "dip only" mean here?

It means the powder in the jar is formulated for dipping and for nothing else. It is not a dual-purpose powder you could also sculpt with monomer. That sounds like a limitation and it's the opposite: because the powder only has one job, we can mill it finer, and a finer grind is what lets the color lay down smooth instead of grainy under the top coat.

It also means you can buy the jar on its own. No gel attached, no lacquer attached, nothing bundled that you didn't ask for. If you already own your base, activator and top coat, this is the page you reorder from.

1,400 shades here, carrying 3,502 buyable options between them. That's a lot to scroll. The section on narrowing it down is probably the most useful thing on this page, and it's worth reading before you start.

The three ranges on this page

The shades come from three places, and knowing which is which saves time.

• Gelous Color, 226 shades. The core numbered range, coded GC, and the one a salon builds a wall from. It isn't tied to a season, so it doesn't get retired the way a themed drop eventually does, and that's exactly why it's the safe base layer for a station: the shade a client fell in love with in March is still orderable in November.
• The named collections, roughly 1,000 shades. Seasonal and themed drops released over the years: Destination Wedding, Napa Valley, Happy Honeymoon, Harvest Moon, Winter Wonderland and around twenty more. Each one is a curated set of 25 to 73 shades that were designed to sit together.
• The DIY line, 110 shades. The same idea in a smaller jar, sized and priced for somebody doing their own nails rather than a station. These pair with the starter kits.

The named collections

Not an exhaustive list, but these are the largest sets on the page. Each is a themed release rather than a random group, which is why buying two or three shades from one collection usually works on a client without any further thought.

Reading a shade code

Every shade carries a two or three letter code and a number before its name, and the letters tell you which collection it came from. Once you know that, a code on an order sheet is enough to identify a color without opening anything.

So DW07 is the seventh shade in Destination Wedding, and HM18 is the eighteenth in Harvest Moon. The numbering within a collection runs in a deliberate order rather than alphabetically, so shades that sit near each other in the number range usually sit near each other on a hand too.

Jar sizes, and who each one is for

• 1.5oz is the standard salon jar and the one most of these shades default to. 1,036 shades offer it.
• 1oz is the same powder in a smaller jar, offered on 1,136 shades. Sensible for a color you want on the shelf but will not run through quickly.
• 0.5oz is the DIY size, on the 110 shades in that line.
• 2oz, 4oz and 16oz exist only on Pink & White, because those are the powders a busy salon actually burns through.

Prices start at $11.00 for the 400 Gelous Color shades in the 1oz jar, and most other single jars sit around $15.50. On 1,036 of these shades the dropdown also offers a matching Gel & Lacquer Duo, so if you decide halfway through that you want the pedicure to match, it's on the listing you're already looking at.

How do you narrow 1,400 shades down?

Three ways, roughly in order of how fast they get you there.

1. Filter by color. The color filter groups every shade on the page by family, which turns 1,400 into something browsable in one click. If you know you want a nude or a deep red, start here.
2. Start from a collection. If a client wants "something autumnal", Harvest Moon or Cozy Chalet is a better opening than scrolling a color wheel, because the shades in a collection were chosen to work next to each other.
3. Filter by size under Type. If you only stock 1.5oz, or you only want DIY jars, that cuts the page down before you start looking at color at all.

Sorting is set to best selling by default, which is a reasonable proxy for what other salons actually reorder, and on a page this size that default is doing more work than it looks like it is.

Pink & White, and why it is sized differently

French sets run on a handful of powders used constantly: a white, a natural pink, a clear or sheer for the overlay. Nobody needs 144 shades of French white. They need one, in a jar that lasts, and they'll go through it faster than anything else on the shelf.

So the 15 Pink & White powders are the only shades on this page offered in 2oz, 4oz and 16oz. Natural Set, Natural Set Sheer, French White, American White, Crystal Sheer, Natural Pink, Dark Pink, X-Dark Pink, Natural Fill, Natural Balance Out, Sunscreen and four glitters. The whole French range sits on French Pink & White if that is all you came for.

Buying for a station, or buying for yourself

Both readers end up on this page and they want different things from it, so it's worth splitting them.

If you're stocking a salon, the useful pattern is a base of Gelous Color for the shades clients ask for by name all year, plus one or two seasonal collections rotated as the seasons turn. Stick to 1.5oz on anything you use weekly and 1oz on the long tail. Pink and White goes in the big jars. When you're buying at that scale, wholesale runs on account rather than at the prices shown here, and the professional FAQ covers how to set that up. Whole books and boards live on sets and bundles.

If you're doing your own nails, buy fewer colors in smaller jars. The 110 shades in the DIY line exist for exactly that, and a jar lasts far longer than most people expect because a set uses a surprisingly small amount. The DIY FAQ answers the at-home questions, and if you don't own the liquids yet, start at starter kits rather than here.

How do you apply dip-only powder?

The standard dip sequence. Our full guide has it with the timings.

1. Prep. Push cuticles back, never cut, shape and buff, then wipe with alcohol or acetone so no oil is left on the nail plate.
2. Thin coat of base to three quarters of the nail, dip into Foundation powder at a 45 degree angle, tap off the excess.
3. Second coat of base to the cuticle line, dip into Foundation again.
4. Third thin coat of base, then dip into your color, and repeat base and color once more.
5. Activator over the whole nail, four minutes, then file and buff, then a second coat of activator.
6. Two thin coats of top coat, sealing the free edge each time.

The base coat, activator and top coat are all restocked from dip essentials. No lamp is involved at any point.

Care and removal

Dip comes off with a soak, not a pry. Picking at a lifted edge takes layers of the nail plate with it, and those layers grow back over months rather than days, so one rushed removal outlasts the manicure that caused it by a long way. Our guide on removing dip powder at home covers the soak and the timing.

Between sets, cuticle oil at the nail fold does more for how a manicure looks at week two than anything else you can buy.

Related collections

• All Dip Powder The full range, every system, filterable.
• Dip & Acrylic Powder Powders that also sculpt with monomer.
• With Matching Gel & Lacquer One purchase for powder, gel and lacquer in one shade.
• French Pink & White The French range, in salon sizes up to 16oz.
• Dip Essentials Base, activator, top coat and brush cleaner.

Related reads

• The ultimate guide for a DIY dip powder manicure
• Gel or dip powder: which is right for you
• Is dip powder bad for your nails
• How to safely remove dip powder at home