Hey! On the hunt for a real neon red that doesn’t end up looking orange or coral. I’ve been swatching a bunch at the salon and every single one keeps pulling warm on me. I want cherry red meets highlighter, you know? Something that glows under the salon lights and makes clients actually gasp when it dries down. Drugstore or indie, gel, whatever you got. I just need that punchy true red.
Thanks babes.
Try the Imtiti neon red gel. It’s the only one I’ve found that actually stays true red under salon lighting instead of sliding into that coral/orange zone you’re describing. Two thin coats and it’s almost vibrating on the nail, especially once the top coat goes on. It’s a bit thin but makes it easy to apply.
It suits clients with cooler undertones best since it leans that pink-red direction rather than tomato.
True neon red is hard to find because most fluorescent red pigments tend to turn orange. I’ve had better luck layering it myself. One thin coat of a cool blue-red like DND Ferrari Red, then a sheer coat of neon magenta/pink over it. Color Club Warhol works if you want regular polish, just keep that coat very thin or it goes hot pink.
Also try these over a cool red base rather than white. White does make neons brighter, but it shows up any orange undertone. A blue-red underneath keeps it in cherry territory and it still glows under salon lights.
True neon red is weirdly hard to find. China Glaze Red-y to Rave is really bright, but it went coral on me, so skip that one. If you do gel, look at Kokoist Neon Toy Red. It’s the closest swatch I’ve seen to that glowing cherry/highlighter look. Test one nail first though.
My best result so far has been layering. Start with a thin coat of white, then a cool-toned neon hot pink topped with a sheer blue-based red jelly. The pink keeps the glow while the jelly makes it read as red. Keep the jelly thin or it just looks like regular cherry red.
First thing, are you swatching those neons over bare nail? Fluorescent pigment is pretty translucent, so on a naked nail it picks up the yellow and peach in your nail bed and your red ends up a lukewarm coral. Put down an opaque white base (two thin coats) and swatch again. Some of those bottles will look like different polishes.
Second, check your salon lighting. Warm LEDs and yellowish overhead bulbs pull every red orange, even ones that are clearly blue-red in the bottle. Take your swatch stick to a window or under a daylight bulb before you write a shade off. I’ve almost binned perfectly good reds more than once because of bad lighting.
If you want gel, the budget neon collections tend to run cooler than the big salon brands for some reason, so don’t skip the cheap sets. If you find a one-bottle version that does this without layering, post it. I’ve been looking for about ten years.
CRI matters just as much as color temp. We put 5000K, 90+ CRI bulbs over the manicure stations, and a few of the ‘coral’ reds looked cherry again with the same swatch.
I also check the color under the station lamp and by the front window before I order more than one, since the warm lighting up front can still throw it off.
Glad someone else got on the pink-under-jelly idea. The pink keeping the glow is the whole point. The jelly alone is a nice sheer red with no vibration.
The white coat under the neon pink has never worked for me the way it does for you. The white pushes the pink so cool that once the jelly goes on it reads fuchsia-red instead of cherry, and then I add a second jelly coat and end up in the ‘regular cherry red’ so I use one thin coat of a pale neon peachy-pink base instead of the white, before the hot pink. It gives the pink a bit more body so the red jelly can stay at one wispy coat and still read as red rather than pink.
Also seconding you on Red-y to Rave. Went coral on me too.
Using a cool blue-red base instead of white makes a lot of sense now that you’ve said it. I’m still in school and every neon tutorial I’ve watched says white, so it never occurred to me that white would show the orange undertone right along with the glow. Keeping it in cherry territory makes me want to redo all my neon swatch sticks. I already have Ferrari Red in my kit and I’ve been eyeing Warhol for months without a real reason to buy it. Now I have one. Good to know about it going hot pink if the coat isn’t sheer. I would’ve found that out the hard way on a practice hand.
