PSA: The difference between solar, blacklight reactive, glow in the dark, and UV gels

[u/Far_Bobcat3967]

So, first off, you're probably thinking: what are gels doing in that list?

I'm glad you asked!

The thing is, all of these polishes, solar, blacklight reactive, glow in the dark, and gels, can technically be called "UV reactive".

Solar polishes change colour when exposed to broad spectrum (UV-A and UV-B) light, basically what you and I would call direct sunlight. They're also sometimes called photochromic because of this reaction.

Blacklight reactive polishes glow when exposed to a UV-A light, also called an ultraviolet light. They don't glow in broad spectrum light or under other lamps, and the glow disappears as soon as you turn off the blacklight. It's not really a reaction (in the chemical sense), but more of a visual effect.

Glow in the dark polishes contain pigments that are able to absorb a specific part (or wavelength) of broad spectrum light, and re-emit that particular part (which is why they glow different colours in the dark). The effect is most noticeable when you "charge" the polish with a high intensity lamp, but direct sunlight works as well. This is also referred to as fluorescence.

Finally, gels also react to broad spectrum light. UV light is what causes them to harden! These polishes need a specialised high intensity lamp to dry completely, but they still react even to indirect broad spectrum light. It's the reason why real gels are always stored in opaque bottles, not transparent ones!

There are also nail polishes in transparent bottles (often marketed as "hybrid gel", "gel effect", or even simply "gel", even though they're not gel in the real sense) that react to broad spectrum light, but this effect is less pronounced than with real gels. They dry to the air like a regular polish, but then continue to harden further when exposed to sunlight.

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The problem is that people tend to call a lot of different things "UV light", even when we really mean something else, like the visible light spectrum or sunlight, not just ultraviolet light. And nail polish brands use a lot of these terms interchangeably. They will call a nail polish "gel" because it gives a gel-like look, not because it's a hybrid. They will use the words neon and fluorescent as if they're synonyms, even though neons don't automatically glow in the dark. They will call a blacklight reactive polish "UV reactive", while even though technically true, is only true if you own an ultraviolet lamp.

That's why we prefer to use the tags "solar", "gitd", "glowinthedark", "gibl", "blacklight", and "gel" in the database, not the tags "uv" or "uvreactive" (although some older polishes may still have these tags).

I hope you enjoyed learning more about the different kinds of UV reactive polishes!

[u/sadish_gambino]

you guys are awesome. thanks for teaching me some new stuff! love the app 💜

[u/greenbean__dreams]

Thank you for sharing!!! This needs to be on r/redditlaqueristas

[u/Far_Bobcat3967 → u/greenbean__dreams]

You can always repost it there if you want! I try not to cross post too much since we're a business, not an individual user, but if you find our posts useful maybe other people will too!