Frequently asked questions
What is A'DOR Wave Gel and how is it used?
A thin, watery art gel that is dropped or drawn onto an uncured layer of top gel over a cured color, left ten to thirty seconds to bloom into veins and swirls, then cured and sealed with the A'DOR Diamond Top Coat. Twelve colors in 0.5 oz, numbered 01 to 12, sold singly or as the Set 12 with a swatch card. Used thick and pulled lengthwise while uncured, the same gel makes a raised 3D wave.
Do I need a special top coat over wave gel?
Yes: the A'DOR Diamond Top Coat, cured, is the required last step. Without a full top coat the wave or marble effect dulls within a week and loses its depth. The Diamond Top is sold on the A'DOR pages, not on this one, and a second coat gives a glass finish over a busy marble.
Is the Set 12 cheaper than the singles?
No. The set is priced as twelve singles, checked on the day of writing, and adds the swatch card. It is bought to put the whole run on the art tray in one order; a salon that marbles in one or two colors buys those singles, and the blacks, gold, and blues are the ones reordered first.
Why does my marble run off the nail or blur?
A run means the wet top layer was too thick or the finger was tilted too long: lay a thin wet layer and set the finger flat once the pattern is in place. A blur means too much wave gel or too long a wait: use smaller drops and cure sooner, because curing freezes the pattern. If the gel will not spread at all, the wet layer skinned over near the lamp; work away from the lamp's spill.
Is A'DOR Wave Gel HEMA-free?
It is part of the A'DOR HEMA-free and TPO-free line, so a marble set for a sensitive client stays HEMA-free from the base color through the art to the Diamond Top. That is the reason a salon with clients who react to standard gel keeps this set on the art tray rather than an ink.
A'DOR Wave Gel: twelve marbling colors for fluid nail art, singly or as the set
This page holds the A'DOR Wave Gel Collection at ND Nails Supply: twelve numbered wave gels in 0.5 oz bottles, 01 to 12, and the Set 12 that boxes them with a swatch card, thirteen listings in all. Wave Gel is A'DOR's fluid-art gel: a thin, watery gel that is dropped or drawn onto an uncured layer of top gel and left to bloom into marble, wave, and layered effects before it is cured, so a tech gets the veined, watery look of an ink marble with a gel she already knows how to cure. It is part of A'DOR's HEMA-free and TPO-free line, and the twelve colors read on the set card as marbling on clear: a black, a gray, a pink, a green, a blue, an orange, a purple-pink, a second blue, a gold, a second black, a second pink, and a brown, so one set covers the ocean, stone, sunset, and smoky-quartz looks clients ask for. Everything is wholesale-priced for everyone, no license and no minimum.
What is on this page
| Listing | Count | What arrives |
|---|---|---|
| Wave Gel single, 01 to 12 | 12 | One 0.5 oz bottle of the watery marbling gel |
| Wave Gel Set 12 | 1 | All twelve bottles with the swatch card |
None of the thirteen listings are out of stock at the time of writing. The set is priced as twelve singles (checked on the day of writing), so it is bought to put the whole run on the art tray in one order rather than for a discount; a salon that only marbles in one or two colors buys the singles.
Two ways to use a wave gel
| Method | Steps | Result |
|---|---|---|
| The bloom marble, as the listing describes | Cure the base color; apply a thin layer of top gel and do not cure; drop or draw the wave gel into the wet top; let the pattern bloom; cure; finish with top coat, cured | Soft veins and watery swirls, the ink-marble look |
| The 3D wave | Cure a thin coat; lay a thicker layer of wave gel; pull a brush or tool lengthwise through it while uncured; hold 30 to 60 seconds so the gel sets its shape; cure 60 seconds; Diamond Top, cured | A raised, rippled surface with a real wave texture |
The bloom method is the one the bottle is made for and the one most techs use; the 3D wave is the same gel used thick, and it is the method to reach for when a client wants a texture she can feel. Both finish under the A'DOR Diamond Top Coat, which is the required last step: without a top the wave effect dulls within a week and the marble loses its depth.
How to marble a set, step by step
- Base color. Prep, base, and one or two coats of the color the marble sits over, cured; a milky white or sheer nude for a stone look, black for smoke, a pale blue for water.
- The wet layer. A thin, even layer of top gel or clear gel over the cured color. Do not cure it; this is the layer the wave gel moves in.
- Drop and draw. Touch the wave gel to the wet layer in two or three places with the brush tip or a dotting tool, or draw a line and let it spread. Two colors dropped side by side bloom into each other.
- Let it bloom. Wait ten to thirty seconds while the gel spreads into veins; tilt the finger to send the pattern one way. Cure when the pattern is where the tech wants it, because curing freezes it.
- Top. One coat of the Diamond Top Coat, cured. A second coat gives a glass finish over a busy marble.
Designs from the twelve colors
- Marble stone. Gray or black veins over a milky white base, with a hairline of gold dropped last; the look most clients mean by marble.
- Ocean. The two blues and a touch of green bloomed over a pale blue base, the summer pedicure set.
- Sunset. Orange and pink drawn side by side over a sheer nude so they bleed together.
- Smoky quartz. Brown and black over a sheer, with a gold vein, the fall version of the stone set.
- Jelly bloom. Pink or purple-pink over a clear base for the translucent jelly nail, the wave gel doing the color and the top the depth.
Why a marble runs, blurs, or dulls, and the fix
- The pattern runs off the nail: the wet layer was too thick or the finger was held tilted too long. A thin wet layer, and set the finger flat once the pattern is in place.
- The veins blur into a wash: too much wave gel or too long a wait. Smaller drops, and cure sooner.
- The pattern will not spread: the wet layer skinned over or was cured by the lamp's spill. Work away from the lamp and drop the wave gel straight after the wet layer goes on.
- The effect dulls in a week: the top coat was skipped or thin. The Diamond Top is the required finish; one full coat, cured.
- Bubbles in the marble: the wave gel was shaken. Roll the bottle between the palms.
Pricing the marble as a service
A wave gel marble is sold by the nail or by the set. As an accent it goes on one or two nails per hand beside a plain color in the same family, a few minutes added to the gel service; as a full set it is ten nails of marble over a pale base, which takes longer only because each nail is bloomed and cured one at a time. Either way the material cost is a few drops from a bottle that lasts dozens of sets, so the charge is for the tech's time and the look, not the product. A salon that shows the five designs above on a swatch card at the desk sells the accent on most gel bookings without being asked, which is why the set of twelve is bought once and the black, gold, and blue singles are the only reorders.
Where wave gel sits on the art tray
A wave gel is the fastest marble a salon can sell, ten minutes added to a gel set with no ink, no alcohol, and no brush cleaning, and it uses a gel top the tech already has on the desk. It pairs with the rest of the A'DOR art line: the Marble Ink for a sharper metallic vein, the Crack Gel for a shattered accent nail beside a marbled one, and the Poke Gel for raised detail over a cured marble. Because the line is HEMA-free, a marble set for a sensitive client stays HEMA-free from base to art to top, which is the reason a salon with those clients keeps this set rather than an ink.
The twelve colors, and what each marbles
| Number | Reads as, on the set card | Marble it makes |
|---|---|---|
| 01 and 10 | Black | Stone veins over white, smoke over clear |
| 02 | Gray | Soft marble, the concrete look |
| 03 and 11 | Pink | Rose quartz over white, jelly pink over clear |
| 04 | Green | Jade and sea glass |
| 05 and 08 | Blue | Ocean, water, denim |
| 06 | Orange | Sunset, coral, the summer bloom |
| 07 | Purple-pink | Amethyst and the jelly bloom |
| 09 | Gold | The vein that finishes a stone, the sunset highlight |
| 12 | Brown | Smoky quartz, tortoiseshell, coffee marble |
Several families appear twice on the card in two tones, black at 01 and 10, pink at 03 and 11, blue at 05 and 08, which suits a marble tray, since black, blue, and pink are the marbles a salon pours most. The colors are numbered rather than named on the bottle, so the set card is the reference and the wall is kept in number order.
Storage and reorder
Keep the bottles capped tight and out of the lamp's spill, because a watery gel cures in the bottle faster than a color does. Roll rather than shake before use. The set's swatch card lives at the desk so a client can pick a marble from a finished tip rather than a bottle. The blacks, the gold, and the blues empty first on most trays, so those are reordered as singles by number while the set is bought once.
Wholesale pricing at ND Nails Supply
Every A'DOR Wave Gel listing is wholesale-priced for everyone, with no business license, no minimum order, and no membership fee. The twelve singles sit at one price and the Set 12 is priced as twelve singles with the swatch card; the Diamond Top Coat that finishes the set is sold on the A'DOR pages. Free shipping on orders $100+, and in-stock bottles ordered before 2pm PT on weekdays leave the same day.