Fall starts Tuesday. Six new collections landed first.
Thirty six Sweater Weather shades, a full Apres range that is both HEMA free and TPO free, and two back bar refills that cost less per bottle than the singles. Here is what came in this week and who it is for.
Sweater Weather is 36 shades and a chart, at $10 a bottle
PLA is new to the C8 floor, and it arrived with the two collections that matter for the next eight weeks. Sweater Weather is the fall run: rust, mustard, olive, oxblood and the muted mauves that book solid from late September. It ships as 36 bottles with one colour chart, which is the part that sells the service rather than the bottle.
The maths is the argument. Thirty six shades at $360 is $10 a bottle with the chart included, and every one of them is a 0.6oz. If you are building a fall wall rather than topping one up, that is the cheaper way in. For everything else the full range of gel nail polish is still the deepest shelf in the building.
PLA, 0.6oz, set of 36
$360Thirty six fall shades in one box, which works out at $10 a bottle. The chart goes on the counter and does the selling for you.
Sweater Weather $360
PLA Eternal Night, 18 colors with chart
$180
PLA Perfect Base
$7
PLA Top It Off
$7
Royal Base Coat
$8
Royal Top Coat
$8
The clean gel question is now a stocking question
The EU banned TPO in nail products on 1 September 2025 and tightened its HEMA limits at the same time. Brands that sell on both sides of the Atlantic stopped running two formulas, so reformulated gel is arriving in the US whether or not a US rule ever lands. Clients have started asking by name.
Over 100 Apres items Over 4,000 gel shadesApres landed its HEMA free and TPO free range, at $14.99 a bottle
This is the week's biggest single delivery: the Apres Gel Couleur range, numbered collections plus the lettered ones, all of it HEMA free and TPO free. If you have a client who reacted to a service two years ago and has not been back, this is the shelf that answers her. Singles are $14.99 and the packs bring it to $14.50.
The Fall sheer set is the one to put on the counter this month. Ten sheers built to layer, so one set covers the milky and the almost bare looks without buying two ranges. It sits alongside the cat eye gel polish wall, which is where most of the September upsells have been coming from. Apres is the second clean range to land here this month, after the 53 OPI Intelli-Gel shades that came in a week earlier.
Apres, 10ml, single or pack of 10
$14.99Ten sheers made to be layered, so the depth is a choice at the table rather than a second purchase. The pack of ten is $145, which is $14.50 a bottle.
Fall sheers $14.99
Apres, 10ml, single or pack of 6
$14.99The lettered collections came in alongside the numbered runs, so the range is now deep enough to build a clean gel menu rather than a clean gel shelf. Pack of six is $87.
Gel Couleur N $14.99Two kits, and the pedicure box you should buy in September
Cre8tion sent a leopard art kit and the Christmas soak bomb, and Chisel sent the Armour cat eye kit at 48 colours. The art kit is the easy one to price: it is a set fee add on that takes a few minutes. The soak bomb is the one people get wrong, because holiday pedicure stock sells through in November and gets ordered in December.
The Armour kit is the full cat eye wall in one box. Forty eight magnetics at $359 is $7.48 a bottle, which is below the single price on almost every magnetic C8 carries. Worth reading next to our guide to building a fall set, because a 48 colour wall only earns its keep when the base and top behind it are sorted.
| What landed | Brand | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Leopard Nail Design Kit | Cre8tion | $54.25 |
| Pedicure Soak Bomb, Christmas | Cre8tion | $39 |
| Armour Cat Eye Kit, 48 colors | Chisel | $359 |
| Base Coat 16oz refill with 18 free 0.5oz | Royal | $119 |
Cre8tion, SKU 38082, kit
$54.25Everything for the leopard set in one box, which makes it a fixed price add on rather than a freehand gamble. It pays for itself in about four services.
Leopard kit $54.25Ordering ahead for the holidays: the Cre8tion Christmas Pedicure Soak Bomb is $39 a jar and it is on the floor now. Holiday pedicure stock is the one category that reliably runs out before anybody reorders it, so September is the month to put it on the shelf. Call 714-868-7088 if you want a case rather than a jar.
The refills are the quiet money
Royal brought back the 16oz base and top refills, each bundled with 18 free 0.5oz bottles at $119. Read that as the empties being free: you are paying for the litre and getting the working bottles thrown in. The singles are $8 either way, so the refill is worth it the moment you are pouring more than fifteen.
The same logic runs through the gel base and top coat shelf, and it is the cheapest change most salons can make this quarter. Nothing else in a back bar has that big a gap between the single price and the refill price.
Royal, 16oz refill, 18 bottles included
$119A 16oz refill plus eighteen working bottles. Against $8 a single bottle, the refill pays for itself well before the litre is gone.
Royal refill $119Questions we got this week
What does HEMA free and TPO free actually change for me?
It removes the two ingredients most often behind client sensitivity and the one the EU banned outright in September 2025. Application and cure are the same. The practical change is that you can answer the question when a client asks it, and you can take the client who stopped coming after a reaction.
Is the 36 colour set better value than buying singles?
Yes, if you are building rather than topping up. Sweater Weather is $10 a bottle inside the set, and it includes the colour chart. Buying a handful of singles makes sense only when you already know the four shades you want.
Can I get a case instead of a single or a set?
Call 714-868-7088. Case pricing is on over 20 lines already, and we will quote anything that is not listed. The showroom on Brookhurst holds stock for same day pickup.
Is this week's stock on the shelf now?
Everything here was listed this week and is on the floor. Our online counts lag what the store actually holds, so for a large order call first and we will confirm what is in the building before you drive over.