Nude gel nail polish is a natural nail polish in neutral colors. Today you can find nude gel nail polishes that suit any skin tone. They often come in large sets with lots of hues to choose from.
If you’re wondering what nude gel nail polish would look good against your skin tone then this guide is for you. Let’s jump right in!
My top 3 picks
Best nude gel nail polish
MEFA 23-Piece Gel Nail Polish Set
This is a huge, 23-piece set of nude gel nail polishes.
It contains a great selection of natural colors.
Unlike most nude nail polish sets, which only come with light pastel colors, more than half of this kit is consists of dark grey, brown and dark mauve shades.
Of course, there are light pink, peach, and beige polishes there too.
You can find a polish that complements absolutely any skin tone.
You even get several glitter gel polishes in universal neutral colors.
In addition to all the polishes, you also receive a set of base coat with two top coats — glossy and matte ones — as part of this kit.
Nude polishes look especially classy if you cover them with a matte top coat.
All the products are packaged in a bright and beautiful box.
So the MEFA set makes an awesome gift.
You can’t go wrong with neutral polish colors.
Everyone loves to wear them and you can be sure this gift will make your friend or loved one happy.
And if you’re a nail tech this kit would make a nice addition to your collection.
That’s because nude colors are always the most requested polishes in any salon.
According to the manufacturer, their products are made from natural resin.
They are low-odor and non-toxic.
They are also long-lasting and go on smoothly with no bubbles or streaks.
You’ll need to apply 2 coats of color polish for best coverage.
Beetles 20-Piece Gel Nail Polish Kit, Bare Collection
This is the second-biggest set on this list.
It contains 20 neutral shades for you to choose from.
There are light and dark colors and glitters.
The good rule of thumb for selecting a color that looks flattering against your skin tone is using a shade that is a tone or two lighter or darker than your skin.
The kit comes in a pretty gift box and also includes a base coat and high-gloss and matte top coats.
Beetles promises that their nail polishes are 9 toxin-free and low odor.
Beetles Gel Polish Set — 6 Colors
This small collection of 6 bottles contains an assortment of warm pinkish neutral colors.
The colors range from a very light pinkish beige to a dark warm brown.
These shades will look flattering against light skin with a pink undertone.
And they can also look great against dark skin.
A downside of this set is that lighter shades look too similar.
Beetles polishes from this kit need about 2-3 layers for an opaque look.
Modelones Nude Gel Nail Polish Set
This 6-piece set of nude gel nail polishes contains a range of brown shades from beige-brown to dark brown.
In addition to that, you get white nail polish for creating French manicures and two glitter polishes.
One glitter is also brownish, the other one is a neutral silver polish.
The brownish shades have no pink undertones so they are perfect for dark or olive skin, and for skin that has a yellow undertone.
Modelones gel nail polishes are well-pigmented.
They go on really well without leaving streaks.
So it’s often enough to apply just one coat for beautiful and smooth coverage.
The polishes are packaged in pretty bottles so this set makes a nice gift.
Beetles 12 Colors Pastel Pink Nudes Gel Nail Polish Starter Kit With Light
If you want to try your hand at doing your own gel nails then this kit makes a great all-encompassing gel polish set to get you started.
In addition to a 6-bottle collection of popular nude nail polish shades, you get all the tools and supplies that a beginner needs.
This kit even includes an LED nail lamp.
The polish colors that come with this kit are pretty dark.
However, they are pretty universal and can look great against any skin tone.
But they are especially gorgeous against dark and olive skin.
Beetles nail polishes are non-toxic and low odor.
You also get basic tools and supplies.
For example, nail clippers, nail files, cuticle pusher and cutter, nail cleaning brushes, and cuticle oil.
The set also includes a base coat and two top coats — glossy and matte.
The LED nail lamp that is included in the Beetles kit has 48W of power.
So this lamp is capable of curing just about any gel nail polish, nail gel, or polygel.
You don’t have to use it with Beetles products only.
This lamp is a nice investment that will let you work with materials made by other manufacturers too.
Gellen Gel Nail Polish Kit — Popular Nudes Palette
This Gellen 6-piece kit contains nude gel nail polishes in dark warm earthy shades.
These neutral colors are perfect for the fall/winter season.
The warm colors look great against olive skin.
Gellen polishes have a nice consistency.
They are easy to apply and give you a salon-quality finish in minutes.
There is no base coat or top coat in this set. It only contains polishes.
Beetles French White Gel Nail Polish Kit
If you love doing French gel manicures then this Beetles set would be perfect for you.
It contains a nice selection of 3 shades of pink with varying saturation, a white gel nail polish for painting smile lines, and two glitter polishes.
There are also bottles of silver glitter and gold glitter polishes that you can use for painting gorgeous smile lines instead of using white polish.
Glitters also make nice nail art accents.
All these polishes look especially beautiful against dark skin or light skin with a pink undertone.
Gelish Mini Tan My Hide Soak-Off Gel Polish
Gelish is a high-quality professional brand of gel nail polishes.
It’s used in salons all over the world.
This brand was the first one to introduce a gel polish with a brush inside.
Gelish also invented polygel, a superb cross between gels and acrylics used for building nail extensions.
So this gel nail polish is a high-end product that is easy to apply and stays on well.
Gelish has a huge palette of polishes.
So you can choose a color that is best for your skin tone or outfit.
Tan my hide is a universal pale pink shade that matches any skin tone but looks absolutely fabulous on dark skin.
Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Nail Polish, Frill Seeker
Sally Hansen Miracle Gel is a gel-like nail polish.
That means it has some qualities of gel nail polish but dries like a regular one.
This polish has a high-gloss finish and lasts longer than regular polishes, for up to 1 week.
However, it’s not as long-lasting as true gel nail polishes.
At the same time, it doesn’t require a lamp for curing it.
It just air dries like any regular polish.
And you don’t need to use a base coat with it.
You’ll still need to use a special Miracle Gel top coat to seal the polish and make it last longer.
So if you’re looking for nail polish with some gel-like qualities and longer life than regular polish but don’t want all the trouble of gel polish application then Sally Hansen Miracle Gel would be ideal for you.
This line of polishes has many nude colors for you to choose from.
Frill Seeker is probably the most universally flattering nude shade that Sally Hansen offers.
It’s a light peachy pink that would be great for any skin tone and will make a perfect French manicure cover polish.
Don’t forget to buy the top coat to make your manicure shiny and long-lasting.
BORN PRETTY Nude Jelly Gel Polish Set
This set is different from all other nude gel nail polish sets on this list.
It contains translucent polishes in neutral colors.
They will help you create trendy and natural-looking jelly nails.
This nail design is super-popular on social media.
The colors are super-cute, ranging from cotton candy pinks to peach, beige, and light brown.
Your natural nails will still show through since these polishes are low-pigmented and translucent.
They only give you a subtle tint.
So you may need several layers for a better look.
These polishes are easy to use, not too thick or thin. The application of each layer would be a breeze.
The manufacturer promises that all their polishes are non-toxic.
They are made of purified water, natural resin, and mineral pigments.
AIMEILI Valentine’s Day Nude Gel Nail Polish Set
Aimeili Valentine’s day gel nail polish set contains 6 polishes in various shades of neutral pink.
The colors range from very light pink to mauve.
There are also pale Barbie pink, peachy pink, cool lilac-pink, and neutral light cover pink.
All these pastel colors are super-cute.
Pink shades look nice against dark skin or light skin with a pink undertone.
So if you’re really into pinks then this set would be perfect for you.
Aimeili is a budget-friendly brand of good-quality gel nail polishes.
The manufacturer promises that all the polishes are long-lasting and can stay on for up to 3 weeks.
DND Duo Gel & Matching Polish Set (488 Season Beige)
DND is famous for selling their nail polishes as duo sets.
Each set contains a gel nail polish and a regular polish. They both have the same color.
This is great, for example, for painting your nails with the gel nail polish from your favorite kit and for using the regular polish for quick touch-ups.
You can also fill the area near the cuticles when your nails grow out if you don’t have the time to re-do your gel manicure.
This beige color set has the ultimate neutral shade that is suitable for any outfit and occasion.
It looks very flattering against darker skin tones.
BORN PRETTY Snowlight Magnetic Gel Polish Pink Nude Cat-Eye
These gel nail polishes by Born Pretty are magnetic.
They have special metal particles mixed in that react to a magnet tool and let you create the mesmerizing cat eye effect on your nails.
Your nails will look like cat-eye gemstones. They’ll change color slightly depending on the angle you’re looking at them from. Like satin or velvet fabrics.
This effect looks stunning in real life!
The Born Pretty set contains 6 pastel gel nail polishes with the cat-eye effect.
Some of them are nude, like grey/silver and beige/gold, but some are not. For example, red, green, blue, and lilac.
So if you’re tired of wearing neutral colors you can switch to another pastel hue.
The magnet tool is not included. You’ll need to buy it separately.
You can buy a whole set of magnet tools to create various cat-eye patterns on your nails.
AIMEILI Soak Off UV LED Gel Nail Polish – Sparkle Grapefruit (018)
This is a standalone gel nail polish from Aimeili.
You can get it if you don’t want to buy a whole set from the brand.
Sparkle Grapefruit is a delicate shade of peachy pink with tiny shimmer.
It looks amazing and flattering against any skin tone and is perfect for any occasion.
It’s actually a budget-friendly version of the super-popular Grapefruit Sparkle color of CND Shellac.
This gorgeous shade is a firm favorite with brides for their wedding manicures.
I think it’s the best shade of shimmery nude gel nail polish.
What is nude gel nail polish?
Nude gel nail polish is a kind of polish that has a neutral color and looks like the natural color of human nails or skin.
There are many shades of nude colors and you can find a flattering shade for any skin tone.
Nude gel nail polish is absolutely universal.
It makes your manicure look classy, suits any dress code, time of day, occasion, or outfit.
Nude gel nail polish also makes a great base for French manicure nails.
Just make the tips of the nails white and use nude gel polish for painting the rest of the nail.
Nude polish is a perfect choice for very short nails.
It makes them look neat and pretty.
What’s the best nude gel nail polish for me?
Of course, nude gel nail polish absolutely doesn’t mean beige.
It’s a catch-all term for any neutral shade.
There are tons of nude shades for every skin tone.
One of the main rules for selecting the best nude gel nail polish is avoiding polishes that match your skin tone exactly.
It’s usually not too flattering.
You can get a polish that is a couple of tones darker or lighter than your natural skin tone.
It should also complement the skin’s undertone.
For example, if you have a medium skin tone or skin with a yellow undertone you may want to avoid yellowish polishes.
A deep warm pinky peach or warm pink shade would be ideal for you.
Light pinkish beige or warm dark brown complement dark skin perfectly.
Olive skin will look great with an olive or mauve polish color.
And if you have a light and pale skin tone then pink polishes would be your best bet because pale skin usually has a pink undertone.
Best tips for applying nude gel nail polish
Nude gel nail polish should be applied in the same way as any other polish.
However, the biggest problem that everyone has with nude gel nail polish application is streaks and bald spots.
That means your nail coating looks striped instead of being solid and uniform.
This mostly happens with light nude shades.
Here are some tips for applying any nude gel nail polish without stripes or streaks.
First, shake the bottle well
Light nude gel nail polishes are often similar to pastel polishes.
That means that the color is made from two pigments that are mixed in one bottle.
One pigment is white that makes the color light.
The other pigment lends a hue to the nude polish.
For example, a peach, beige, pink color, etc.
Shaking the bottle before applying the polish will make these two pigments mix evenly.
So when you pick the polish out of the bottle the pigments will get distributed properly and you won’t get streaks or sheer patches on your nails.
Apply several layers
Nude gel nail polishes that provide perfect coverage in 1 layer do exist.
However, most nude colors, especially light ones, require 2-3 coats.
Sometimes even more!
One layer often comes out having too many streaks and sheer patches.
Two layers may still not be enough.
3 layers are the best for an even and smooth coating.
Cure each layer separately before applying the next one.
Use thin coats
Please don’t even try to apply nude polish in one thick layer.
You’ll never be able to cure it properly.
And it may cause heat spikes and even burning while you’re curing the polish under the lamp.
Plus, one thick coat won’t come out streak-free anyway.
The best rule for applying any gel nail polish is doing it in several thin layers.
So it’s always better to coat your nails in 3 thin layers of nude polish instead of slapping one thick layer on and struggling with curing it.
Pay special attention to the first layer you apply.
It should be very thin.
This is necessary to minimize streaks.
If the first layer comes out too streaky then all other layers may follow this pattern.
Working with the brush
Pick a small amount of nude gel nail polish from the bottle with the brush that comes with the polish.
Wipe excess polish against the bottle’s opening.
This will let you create a thin layer.
The brush should be held parallel to the nail plate.
Don’t hold it at a 45-degree angle. This will create streaks.
If you keep the brush parallel to the surface of the nail the polish will get distributed evenly and this minimizes streaks.
Move the brush in light stroking motions without pressing on the brush.
How to cure nude gel nail polish?
Most nude gel nail polishes are highly pigmented.
That’s why they require a more powerful UV nail lamp.
The UV rays need to be intense to get through the pigments and cure the polish.
You’ll need a lamp that has at least 36W of power.
SUNUV 36W UV And LED Nail Lamp
SUNUV nail lamp is powerful enough for curing all nude gel nail polishes and other gel nail products.
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