The Gel Studio

Some green inspiration for St. Patrick’s Day. 🍀

You can do just a little green or full send it. I’ve been having fun adding touches of green here and there.

Which one’s your favorite?

Yes yes yes, I know it’s March and these are all designs from Valentine’s Day. If this a surprise?

1. I am so stinking happy with how Eeyore came out. His little tail! Just loved it.

2. I don’t often get to do really sharp stilettos, so it’s exciting every time she comes it. We tried the French line with magnetic gel and I think it worked really well!

3. Red chrome topped with a red jelly color and gold and red decals. I don’t think I could have improved on this one.

4. One of these days, I’m just going to make a collage of all the tentacles she’s asked me to paint. I love them so much!

5. FINALLY got to try that trend of matte and shiny lines over a magnetic gel and I LOVE how it turned out.

6. Valentine’s meets traditional tattoo? They were so much fun. I loved her inspo pics and had a blast piecing it all together.

7. I had so many red sets, I wanted to bookend this post with my pink pieces. These were Valentine’s and Bachelorette party nails all in one — and the first time I’ve ever done an initial on a set! Figured it was for her bachelorette, sooooo I guess I can let one slip by. 😉

My personal top 10 of the year.

1. These were her birthday nails and her left hand lived in my dreams for WEEKS after.
2. My mom’s nails for the Netherlands. Painting that tile on her middle fingers was so satisfying.
3. Tentacles! What more do I need to say?
4. She said “I mean, I love pickles. Could you do pickles?” And the rest is history. This was the beginning of our crazy ideas.
5. This is the same client as the pickle nails, only these were for surgery! She wanted a loud way for the doctor to know which side was which. 😂😂
6. The plaid, the apple core, the ANTS, I just loved this one so much.
7. DO YOU SEE HOW TINY THAT COW IS?!?
8. This one has all the things I love: themed hands, different color schemes on each hand, and the freedom to do what to thought was best. So much fun!
9. I love Christmas nails, but I REALLY loved these. The texture with chrome was a huge bonus and then to chrome-on-chrome?? Loved the depth for this one.
10. I genuinely didn’t expect to have two Christmas nails on here, but the stamps! I love that design so much!! I saw it pop up a bit this past month and can’t wait to see if I can give it a different twist in 2026.

If you don’t see your favorite on here, I promise it’s because I forgot to get a video! (Or the lighting wasn’t good. I had a couple that I kept to my camera roll because I didn’t get the right photo.)

💅

They’re off to the Netherlands!!

My mom has always wanted to see the tulips and shop in Delft, so that’s what we based her nails on. I had SO much fun painting these! It felt so good to stretch that muscle again.

Shorties! This time with jellyfish.

Though when I sketched out the first layer of the jellyfish, they were NOT looking like sea animals! 😂

Hi! I’m Nikki, owner and sole nail tech at The Gel Studio and I figured it was finally time to re-introduce myself.

— I started doing nails in April of 2016 and opened The Gel Studio June 13, 2023. It was exhausting, rewarding, and utterly terrifying, though the fear didn’t hit until a month after opening.
— I went to college in Miami for Music. I always wanted to teach chorus, maybe even music theory at the college level, but it wasn’t meant to be.
— I’m a morning person. It’s much easier for me to get up before the sun than to stay up after it goes down. Walking on the beach has been a perfect way to embrace those sleepy mornings.
— I read all the time. I worked in bookstores all through college, and if I’m honest, it was my favorite job. I own more books than I ever want to count, though I definitely will be when I can finally make a home for them.
— I probably have more photos of Epcot than I do my own family.

There’s so much more to share — my love of coffee, baking, soccer, travel. But that’s a little glimpse at me!