Prosthetic nipples: the UK guide

What Bloom prosthetic nipples are

A Bloom is a prosthetic nipple, also called a nipple prosthesis or a nipple prosthetic: a thin silicone piece shaped and coloured like a nipple and areola, handmade in the UK. You wear it on the skin of your breast or chest, and you can take it off whenever you like. It involves no needles and no surgery, and it changes nothing underneath.

Every Bloom is made to be hard to tell from skin. The colour is graded rather than flat, the surface is textured the way an areola is, the nipple has real projection, and the edge is thin enough to disappear into the skin around it. Silicone takes colour and fine detail well and moves softly, so it feels soft, warm and true to life.

Your Bloom comes with guidance on wearing it and looking after it, so always follow the guidance that comes with yours.

Who they are for

Anyone who wants them. There’s no single story that qualifies you, and you do not need a reason anyone else would recognise. People choose prosthetic nipples for all kinds of reasons, including these:

• After any breast surgery that has led to a loss of confidence.
• To enhance your confidence, whatever the reason.
• Or simply because you want the option. You have the right to choose.

Some people wear one while they wait for nipple tattooing, some choose one instead of a tattoo, and some simply like having something they can put on and take off. All of those are good reasons. So is wanting it and nothing more.

Two ways to your Bloom

Choose your Bloom, ready made

Bloom Signature is our ready-made collection, created to make choosing simple. Choose from three nipple styles, the Self-Assured, the Authentic and the Unapologetic, and five carefully developed shades. Every nipple and areola is different, which is why the style and shade are yours to choose.

Made from you: Mould and Mirror

If one side is still yours, Mould and Mirror starts from a mould of it, reversed so your Bloom mirrors the original in shape, with the colour matched to you in person. It is the closest match there is, because it starts from your own body. You can also have a mould taken on its own and kept on file until you are ready.

Both are handmade to the same standard. One starts from our range, the other from you.

What a Bloom costs

Bloom Signature is £160 for one or £300 for a pair, and Mould and Mirror starts at £220. A fitting and a mould, both booked with your artist, are credited against your finished Bloom, and you can spread the cost with Klarna at checkout.

For every price in one place, see what a Bloom costs.

Choosing your shade

Getting the shade right matters more than anything else, because it is what lets a piece disappear into your skin. Look at the skin around where you will wear it, in daylight, and choose the closest match.

Bloom Signature comes in five shades: Blush, Peach, Honey, Cocoa and Deep Cocoa. Undertone matters as much as depth: some skin reads warm and golden, some cool and rosy. If you sit between two shades, choose the one closer to the skin immediately around where you will wear it.

Still unsure? A fitting is time with Amanda Jo or Megan Jones to talk through style and shade, and the £30 is credited against your Bloom. Mould and Mirror matches the colour to you in person, and the shape as well.

Prosthetic nipples and nipple tattoos

A nipple tattoo adds colour to flat skin and usually lasts around three to five years before it may need touching up. A prosthetic nipple adds shape and projection as well as colour, you can take it off, and you can wear one while you wait for a tattoo.

For areola tattooing in the North East, the North East Nipple Project offers funded 3D areola tattoos, and Bloom gives 10% of every sale to it.

Many people use both at different times. Our comparison, prosthetic nipples or a nipple tattoo, sets the two side by side.

Where Bloom fits

Every Bloom is handmade in the UK and arrives in the marigold box. Posted orders add £3.99 for UK delivery.

• Bloom Signature, £160 for one or £300 for a pair. Our ready-made collection, created to make choosing simple. Five carefully developed shades, three nipple styles.
• Mould and Mirror, £220 for one or £400 for a pair. A mould of your own nipple, taken face to face, and a Bloom made to mirror it and match your colour.
• Mould Bank, £60 for one or £110 for a pair, booked directly with Amanda Jo or Megan Jones and credited against your final Bloom. Just the moulding: a mould of your own nipple, taken in person in Wallsend or Durham and kept in the Mould Bank for whenever you are ready.
• Fitting, £30, booked directly with Amanda Jo or Megan Jones and credited against your Bloom. Time with Amanda Jo in Wallsend or Megan Jones in Durham to talk through style and shade before you decide.
• Gift voucher, from £30. For someone you love, or for yourself. Spend it on any Bloom.

You can pay by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or Klarna, and gift vouchers can be spent on any Bloom.