My Hunt for a Non-Gel Jelly Nail Polish

When I first started my hunt, I stumbled across a TikTok that made a pretty compelling case for OPI’s Lucky Lucky Lavender being the perfect jelly pink nail for the summer. I noticed off the bat that this wasn’t labeled as a gel-effect polish but still bought a bottle to see what all the fuss was about. The shade was great, but it was much more of a crème lacquer, with a lot more opacity than I wanted, rather than a true jelly finish.

Next up, I decided to try an old drugstore standby: Sally Hansen. It had released its version of a jelly polish, called the Insta-Dry Syrup collection, a while back, but it was still stocked at various retailers. The brand had actually added some glitter to the formula, which was different from all the other shades I tried, which were matte. I sampled four shades: blue, dark pink, light pink, and purple. Unfortunately, I had the opposite problem this time than I did with OPI, and all of the polishes were way too sheer.

The last of the drugstore-staple brands I tried was Essie, whose Jelly Gloss line features nine different shades to choose from. I tested out both its Orchid and Apricot colors. After two coats, I did think the level of opacity was right: It was sheer but not too sheer. However, because the colors are more on the pastel side of the spectrum, it didn’t pack quite enough punch for me.

In my opinion,Dazzle Dryis the best nail polish on the market. Its magic formula lasts longer than any other brand I’ve ever tried and is quick-drying — a godsend when doing manicures at home. The line also features over 150 different colors in a range of opacity levels and finishes: cream, frost, duochrome, glitter, shimmer, metallic, holographics, and, yes, jelly. I tested out five shades from its Carnival collection that’s meant to leave a candylike finish. And while the sheer blue-gray shade Candy Coated was a bit too light for my skin tone, the other four colors were perfect. My favorite is the shade Ring Toss, which made my nails look like a glossy candy apple.

Of all the brands, Nails Inc. Jelly Effect polishes were the jammiest. If you want a jelly polish that looks like you stuck your fingers in a jar of raspberry preserves, this is the one for you. However, I do have to deduct some points for the limited shade range — there are only three currently available for purchase to choose from.

L.A. Colors polishes punched way above its price point. While I did find the coverage to be slightly streaky with the dark purple shade, the colors were downright juicy and, at only $3.50 a bottle, the most affordable of any on this list.

I had never heard of Cracked before I started my hunt but was immensely impressed by the sheer range of the jelly colors it had to offer. It has a lot of the bright candy colors you would expect from a jelly polish, plus a ton of other tones that are more sophisticated and moody. The coverage was also excellent. It was a very close race to the finish line, and Cracked was my silver medalist.

But my absolute favorite and the winner of this hunt has to go to Cirque Colors. When I applied the very first coat of the delightfully named Blurple to my nails, I could tell it was the winner. The application was supersmooth, the coverage was even, the opacity was dialed in, and the color looked like taro milk tea. I wanted to take a bite out of my nails when they were finished. This hunt was really about finding the polish that had the exact right finish to re-create the color, opacity, and dimension you get from jelly. Cirque’s color Blurple looked like I found a way to a bottle of blueberry jam and turned it into a polish. It also gets the most points for its shade range, which has no skips in my book. Plenty of interesting colors to choose from and I would happily wear any of them on my nails.