Collection: Ombre Pat Gel & Ombre Powder

What is pat pat gel?

A gel color in a flat pan instead of a bottle, made to be patted on with a sponge rather than brushed. The gel is dense and heavily pigmented, which is the whole point: a sponge loaded with a thin polish smears and streaks, while a sponge loaded with a pat gel lays down solid color and then fades out cleanly where you stop patting. That is what makes a gradient repeatable without any special skill.

One pan does three jobs. Patted to full opacity it is a solid color. Patted thin and blended it is an ombre, an aura or a blush. Picked up on a detail brush it paints, because it is thick enough to hold a line. Lavis makes the Ver 2 range in 21 shades and A'DOR adds two soft neutrals.

The shades on this page

The palette listing carries every pan as a single option if you would rather shop from one page, and the wider Pat Pat Gel collection adds the Ver 1 range.

How do you pat an ombre?

1. Prep and base. Cure a gel base, then a cured color coat if you want the fade to sit on something rather than on the bare nail. A cream from SNS Gel Only or a HEMA-free cream from A'DOR Gel-Ons works.
2. Load the sponge. Pat the first shade onto a sponge from the top of the nail down to about a third, and the second shade from two thirds to the free edge, so the two meet in the middle of the sponge, not on the nail.
3. Pat, do not drag. Press the sponge straight down and lift, working along the join. Dragging is what makes a fade look smeared.
4. Build in passes. Two or three light passes give a smoother blend than one heavy one, and let you stop when the fade looks right.
5. Cure. Sixty seconds under a UV/LED lamp once the blend is where you want it.
6. Seal. A glossy top coat from Base & Top Gel, which is what turns a slightly textured sponge finish into a smooth one.

Ombre, aura and blush from the same pan

• Classic ombre: light at the cuticle, dark at the tip, blended across the middle. The fade everyone knows.
• Reverse ombre: dark at the cuticle. Reads as a deeper, more editorial set.
• Aura: one shade patted as a soft circle in the center of the nail over a contrasting base, edges faded out. A stencil sticker from Nail Stickers makes the halo crisp.
• Blush nails: the palest pink or nude patted only across the middle third, like a flush across the cheek. This is what the neutral pans are for.
• Painted art: the same gel on a fine brush from Brushes, for petals and shapes with the pan's own opacity.
• Layered with art: a fade first, then line work from LDS Line Art Gel or a raised piece from Emboss & Painting Gel on top of it.

Pat gel or ombre powder?

Two different ways to a gradient. Pat gel is a cured gel: it goes on with a sponge over a gel base and lasts as long as the gel manicure does, and it can be used as a paint as well as a fade. Air Ombre is a dip powder in a spray bottle, misted over the tip of a dip or gel nail for a gradient with no sponge at all. Pat gel suits a salon already running gel and wanting fades plus art from one product; air ombre suits a dip-first salon that wants the tip fade to be a fifteen-second step. They can be combined on the same set, since both go under the same top coat.

Why we keep this range on the shelf

A fade is one of the few nail art services that reads as premium to a client and costs the salon almost nothing in time. Two shades, a sponge and sixty seconds of cure turn a plain set into one worth photographing, and the same pan then paints the petal or the swirl on the accent nail, so we are not stocking a product that only does one thing. That is why we carry the whole Ver 2 range rather than a handful of pans: the shades are grouped by season, and a salon that keeps five or six of them can meet most of what walks in without a special order.

Care and stocking

• Close the pan. An open pan beside a running lamp skins at the surface, and a skinned pat gel will not load a sponge evenly.
• One sponge per set, not per client. Sponges are consumables; a sponge that has dried gel in it stops picking up color.
• A little goes a long way. One pass of the sponge carries a lot of pigment, so a pan lasts far longer than a bottle of gel polish used the same way.
• Keep a clear builder for aura work. A layer of clear from non-sticky builder gel under the fade gives the halo depth.
• Opening order: one neutral, one pink and one warm shade blend into most of what clients ask for. Add the earth tones for autumn and a glitter pan for the holidays.

Related collections

• Pat Pat Gel The full range, Ver 1 and Ver 2 together.
• Air Ombre Nails Spray-on dip powder for tip fades.
• Emboss & Painting Gel Art gels to layer over a fade.
• Glitter Nail Art Glitter for the party end of a gradient.
• Chrome Powder A mirror finish over a faded base.

Related reads

• How to do ombre nails with dip powder
• Easy nail art trends you can do at home
• Nail colors for every skin tone
• Spring nail looks for the season