L'Oreal Miss Candy jellies (Summer 2013) and bonus jelly sandwich!

I've mentioned the L'Oreal Miss Candy line in an earlier post, but I figured I'd give you all a better look at it.  This is L'Oreal's Summer 2013 collection, a line that also includes lip gloss and "nail lingerie" nail stickers.  The full collection has eight "jelly" polishes - here's the display at a local Walgreens:

Back row, left to right: Lilac Coolers (lilac purple), Bubble Trouble (pale bubblegum pink), Berry Nice (deep purple), Miss Pixie (royal blue).  Front row: Jolly Lolly (cherry red), Mango Mamma (bright orange), Bananarama Love (yellow), Creme de Mint (medium green).  You can also see the Nail Lingerie stickers in the back.  I was pretty surprised to see a display this full - most stores are down to a handful of things from this collection. 

I chose five colors from the Miss Candy line; I don't really wear yellows and oranges and the green didn't appeal to me.  Here are my five favorites:

Left to right: Berry Nice, MissPixie, Jolly Lolly, Lilac Coolers, Bubble Trouble.

Because there are five of them, I decided to swatch these as a skittles manicure.  Here they are at one coat:

 

Thumb to pinkie: Miss Pixie, Berry Nice, Jolly Lolly, Lilac Coolers, Bubble Trouble

Jellies are translucent polishes with a shiny, "squishy" finish.  You can see how sheer they are in the pic above - the last two are almost invisible.  I did notice some patchiness and streaking, especially if I had to go over an area again.

Two coats (pardon the mess around the cuticles):

Still some patchiness with Berry Nice and Miss Pixie, but look at the depth of color in Jolly Lolly!

Three coats:

Berry Nice is still disappointingly patchy, and I'm not happy about the way Miss Pixie seemed to fade away at the tips.  Lilac Coolers and Bubble Trouble came out nicely; these two have a milkier, less translucent finish than the others.  My hands-down favorite from this collection, though, is Jolly Lolly - look at that gorgeous squishy red!  I've worn it before, and in the sunlight it looks like a cherry jellybean.  It also seems to be a shade more opaque than its deeper sisters, with less VNL showing than the other dark shades - over a white base the VNL is eliminated and you still get that beautiful cherry-red color.

Because jellies are so sheer, they're perfect for "jelly sandwich" manicures.  I chose to pair Bubble Trouble with OPI's Polka.com.  Polka.com is from the 2013 Euro Centrale collection and has fuchsia, turquoise, and dark blue round glitters with dark blue microglitter in a clear base.

Jelly sandwiches are another ridiculously simple nail art technique.  It basically involves just what it says: glitter "sandwiched" between layers of jelly polish.  For mine I did two coats of Bubble Trouble, followed by one coat of Polka.com, and a final coat of Bubble Trouble with Sally Hansen Instra-Dri topcoat to finish.

This mani was so much fun, and I got a lot of compliments on it; it's a pretty and feminine look that isn't bland.  I did have to dab Polka.com on in spots and declump it in others - the larger glitters just LOVE to stick together even with polish thinner.


If you like the Miss Candy collection, run out and get it quickly - it's disappearing fast!



All polishes were purchased by me; all opinions are my own.