Frequently asked questions
Which lines make up the spring gel collection?
Six. LAVIS brings 63 shades and carries the pastel core, Apres 33 muted editorial tones, Chaun Legend 32 saturated colours, V Beauty Pure 27 everyday wearable shades, LDS 19 named numbers such as Milky Way, Mint My Mind, and Just Peachy, and OPI 17 from the spring drop clients ask for by name. Thirty-nine of the 191 are out of stock at the time of writing. Everything here is gel colour on its own rather than a gel and lacquer duo.
How do I keep pastels from looking patchy?
Three thin coats rather than two thick ones, because pale pigment reaches opacity slowly and a heavy coat cures unevenly and shrinks at the edges. Start from a clean plate: a milky shade over a stained or yellowed nail turns grey, so a cover base or a white base coat goes on first. Cure fully between coats, since a soft layer under a fresh one is what makes pastels look cloudy, and cap the free edge every time because pale colours show a chip sooner than dark ones.
How many spring shades does a salon actually need?
Start with whatever was rebooked last March, add one related pastel family of five or six so the display reads as a collection, then two saturated anchors such as a coral and a clean pink so the wall holds attention from the doorway, and one shimmer or glitter for the accent nail. Buy the Easter and St Patrick's shades a few weeks out and in small numbers, because those micro-seasons fill the booking sheet for about ten days each.
Which spring shades are worth buying deep?
The ones tagged for more than one season. On this page 54 shades are also tagged for summer, 47 for winter, and 24 for fall, and those crossovers are where a salon should spend: a milky nude or a soft coral earns its shelf space for half the year. A true Easter pastel has a short window and should be bought at a depth that matches it. A wall built entirely from narrow-season colours has to be rebuilt four times a year, in stock and in the tech's memory.
What is in the spring gel collection
191 gel polish shades at wholesale, tagged for spring and drawn from six lines: LAVIS with 63 listings, Apres with 33, Chaun Legend with 32, V Beauty Pure with 27, LDS with 19, and OPI with 17. Thirty-nine are out of stock as this page was written. Everything here is gel colour rather than a duo, so it is the page for a salon that runs a gel wall and buys its lacquer separately, or not at all.
The lines and what each contributes
| Line | Listings | Character on a spring wall |
|---|---|---|
| LAVIS | 63 | The pastel core, including the soft Korean pastel band and the pastel-bright groups |
| Apres | 33 | Muted, editorial shades that photograph well on short natural nails |
| Chaun Legend | 32 | Saturated colour built for the community salon wall |
| V Beauty Pure | 27 | Everyday wearable tones, the shades booked without a consultation |
| LDS | 19 | Named numbers such as Milky Way, Cloudless Skin, Mint My Mind, and Just Peachy |
| OPI | 17 | The spring drop clients ask for by name |
The named groups inside the page
A seasonal page is more useful when the salon can see the sets inside it rather than one long chart. Twenty-nine of these shades belong to the Tea Party collection, which is the soft, tea-room end of the palette. Thirteen sit in the LAVIS Sweet Pastel Bright group and another thirty-four in the wider LAVIS pastel range, which is where the milky pinks, mints, and lilacs live. Thirteen carry the LDS spring grouping, and twelve belong to the OPI spring drop. Thirteen are tagged for Easter and ten for St Patrick's Day, which are the two micro-seasons inside spring that fill a booking sheet for about ten days each.
What a spring gel palette is made of
Spring sells softness. From March to May the shades that move are Korean-style pastels, milky pinks, mint and sage, butter and lemon yellow, lilac, peach, and nudes that read fresh rather than warm, with one coral and one clean pink as anchors so the wall does not go flat. Shade names on this page follow the same logic: Milky Way and Powderblue at the soft end, Just Peachy and I am Blushing For You in the middle, Mint My Mind on the green side.
The deeper, warmer numbers that carry a brand's autumn palette do not disappear in spring, they simply move down the display. A salon with a fixed wall usually rotates the top two rows seasonally and leaves the nudes and reds where they are all year.
Applying pastels and sheers without a patchy set
- Three thin coats, not two thick ones. Pale pigment reaches opacity slowly, and a thick coat cures unevenly and shrinks at the edges.
- Start from a clean plate. A milky shade over a stained or yellowed nail turns grey; a cover base or a white base coat fixes it before the colour goes on.
- Cap the free edge every coat. Pale colours show a chipped edge sooner than dark ones because the contrast with the natural nail is higher.
- Cure fully between coats. A soft layer under a fresh one is what makes pastels look cloudy rather than milky.
- Wipe the bottle neck. Pale gel shows every speck of dust and cured residue that the brush drags out.
- Swatch on tips, not on paper. Pastels are the shades clients most often misjudge from a bottle.
Building the spring wall
- Keep the rebooked shades. Whatever clients asked for again last March is the spine of the wall, new drops or not.
- Add one pastel family of five or six. A related run reads as a collection on the display and photographs as a set for social posts.
- Add two saturated anchors. A coral and a clean pink, so the display holds attention from the doorway.
- Add the micro-season shades late. Easter and St Patrick's shades are bought a few weeks out, not in January, and in small numbers.
- Leave room for an accent. One shimmer or glitter sells the accent nail that lifts the ticket on a pastel set.
- Write the number on the client card. Pastels look alike in a photo and identical in memory.
Shades that work past May
At ND many shades carry more than one season tag, and on this page 54 are also tagged for summer, 47 for winter, and 24 for fall. That overlap is the buying signal: a milky nude or a soft coral earns its place for half the year, while a true Easter pastel has a short window and should be bought at a depth that matches it. A wall built entirely of narrow-season colours has to be replaced four times a year, which costs stock and asks the tech to relearn the chart each quarter.
Gel only, or gel with a matching lacquer
This page is gel colour on its own. A salon that also paints toes in the same shade, or sells a retail bottle to match the manicure, wants the duo listings on the spring gel and lacquer page instead, where the same seasons are covered in matching pairs. The two pages overlap by design: the duo page is organised around brands that pigment gel and lacquer together, and this one around the gel-only lines, which is where most of the pastel range sits.
Selling a pastel set at the chair
Pastels are chosen with the eye and rejected with the hands. A client who picks a milky lilac from a bottle often puts it back once it is on the nail, because pale colour exposes the shape of the free edge and the state of the cuticle in a way a dark shade hides. The fix is sequence: shape and clean the nail first, show the swatch tip on her own hand in daylight, and mention that the set will take one more coat than a dark colour. Said in advance, the extra coat reads as care; found out halfway through, it reads as a delay.
The upsell that fits this palette is not a second colour but a finish: one shimmer accent, a chrome tip, or a fine glitter over the ring finger lifts a soft set without making it loud. That is also the nail that gets photographed, which is why the accent shade is worth stocking even if it never sells as a full set.
Storing gel colour so the shade stays true
Gel pigment settles and gel cures in ambient light, so the two habits that keep a spring wall accurate are rolling each bottle between the palms before use rather than shaking it, which whips in bubbles, and keeping the display out of direct sun and away from the lamp when it is not in use. Bottles stored on a bright window sill thicken and shift over a season, and a thickened pastel lays a heavier coat than the swatch it was sold from. Wipe the neck after each client so the cap seats, and keep the display shade order fixed so the tech reaches by position rather than by reading every label.
Wholesale pricing at ND Nails Supply
Every gel colour on this page ships at wholesale pricing for everyone, with no business license, no minimum order, and no membership fee. Free shipping on orders $75+, and in-stock bottles ordered before 2pm PT on weekdays leave the same day.