If you had asked me to do baby boomer nails on gel polish last year, heck even last week I would have used pigment to attempt to get that airbrush like look that clients bring in off of Pinterest and Instagram. It seems so effortless with liquid and powder (acrylic) or a gel, yet seemed to be eluding me with gel polish. Turns out there were a few tricks that needed to be incorporated to make it work.
Viscosity
You can use an ombre brush with any gel polish and get an ok ombre. To get an amazing blend that looks like you airbrushed it on such as what clients are looking for in the baby boomer look, you need a very creamy gel polish. I tried it with several brands and found that the slightly plump viscosity creamy brands did the best.
Reverse Blend
For the traditional ombre, you'll come down the nail as you can see in the tutorial below, and the look is complete. What the baby boomer needed was a finishing touch. The ombre needs to go back up to complete the blending process and further smooth out all the colors. By reversing the brush and double blending the ombre the look takes on that finished airbrush smoothness that looks just like the photos clients bring in and you've accomplished it with your gel polish!
Color Choices
The colors you choose are going to vary from client to client, this isn't something set in stone as you will want to evaluate the colors that are going to best suit their skin tone. Also in the consultation you will want to see if they are looking for a softer white or a brighter white. Those variables make it impossible for there to be a specific set of colors to be the best option to use!
Traditional Ombre
Depending on the length of the nails, you may want to use three to four different colors for this. Leaving the space between the colors is VERY important for the blend. If you don't have any space, you will lose the ability to transition the colors and it will look more like stripes than a blended ombre. If you have really short nails to work on, don't be afraid to polish the nails with the lightest of your colors for coverage on the first layer of color, then apply the colors for the ombre layer with a striping brush to avoid getting too much.
The links for the ombre brushes used in the videos are in the captions of the specific video they are used in so you can see which one you prefer. Any other colors and products used in the tutorials are also always listed in the captions. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the baby boomer look with gel polish, tag me when you post them, I know yours will look amazing!!