Review & Swatches: Sally Hansen Summer 2014 Limited Edition Palm Beach Jellies Triple Shine Collection

Press Sample 

So you know I was QUITE excited when I first showed you the display for the new limited edition jelly polishes from Sally Hansen (click here to see what the display looks like). I've been trying to find these in my area ever since my original post and then, as luck would have it, I received the entire collection for review.

I realize that jellies aren't for everyone, and some of you tend run away from sheer polishes like this. But since I'm a huge fan of jelly sandwich manicures, I was really excited to see an entire jelly collection from Sally Hansen (I think the last drugstore collection devoted entirely to jellies was the L'Oreal Miss Candy Collection from Summer 2013). Also, Since the OPI Sheer Tints are getting so much buzz lately, I was curious if these Sally Hansen polishes might be similar, especially since Coty owns both Sally Hansen and OPI. So let's jump in and take a look:

Sally Hansen Summer 2014 Limited Edition Palm Beach Jellies Triple Shine Collection

(retail : around $4.50 each, 0.33 oz.)

First, something you may not know about these:

Do you see those little white dots in the photo above? That's iridescent micro-shimmer. Very, very, sparse and very, very subtle micro-shimmer  runs throughout every polish in this collection. You cannot detect this shimmer on the nail though, unless you're viewing your nails at just the right angle and only in certain lighting situations.

Vitamin D-light

(One coat, no top coat)

In the photo above, I wanted to show you what ONE coat of Vitamin D-light looks like (this is the one of the most pigmented shades in the collection),. It's very similar to what the OPI Sheer Tints look like after one coat. This is probably not how most of us prefer to wear our jellies, so here's another pic:

 Vitamin D-light 

(Four coats, no top coat)

The photo above is the same color after four coats. You can see that the saturation is better, but it's still quite sheer. Vitamin D-light looks like it's going to be orange in the bottle but, on my nails, it turns into a sheer, maraschino cherry color.

Water Melon

(Four coats, no top coat)

Water Melon is a cooler-toned red than Vitamin D-light but, as you can see above, it's still quite sheer after four coats.

Jell-ous?

(Four coats, no top coat)

Jell-ous? doesn't have as much of a berry undertone to it as Water Melon and it's a tiny bit warmer than Water Melon (but the two shade are quite similar).  I used four coats and no top coat for this photo.

Grape Jelly

(Four coats, no top coat)

Grape Jelly is a lavender-purple on the nail even though, in the bottle, it looks like it might be more of a "blurple".  I used four coats and no top coat for this photo.

Ice Mint

(One coat, no top coat)

Ice Mint, the only blue shade in this range, is the sheerest shade in this range as well. So I wanted you see what it looked like after ONE coat (above). It's pretty much clear at one coat. Here's what it looks like after four coats:

Ice Mint

(Four coats, no top coat)

Sea Through

(Four coats, no top coat)

Sea Through is the only green in this range (I used four coats and no top coat for the photos above). It's also the first shade in this range that I attempted to use for a jelly sandwich. For this jelly sandwich, I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Pixel Perfect (which is now part of the permanent Xtreme Wear collection--yay!) for my glitter polish:

After eight coats of polish

The manicure above required four coats of Sea Through followed by one coat of Sally Hansen Pixel Perfect, and then three additional coats of Sea Through (eight coats of polish total). I didn't bother to apply top coat because I just felt like it was going to take a long time to dry, and I didn't like the look of it so I removed it right after the last coat. 

I'm sad to say, the Palm Beach Jellies are not conducive to jelly sandwiches. After a total of seven coats of Sea Through (with a glitter coat sandwiched between them), my nails still didn't have that glitter-suspended-in-jello look to them that is the signature of a jelly sandwich manicure. Because these polishes are so sheer, they just require too many additional coats to give you that jelly-sandwich look. I think that I would have had to apply two, or maybe three additional coats to the manicure you see above to get it to the level that you can get with just three coats total from other jellies (other Sally Hansen jellies, included).  

BUT ALL IS NOT LOST!

There's something else that you CAN do with the Palm Beach Jellies, and it's pretty darned awesome:

After seeing several bloggers do a "watercolor manicure" with the OPI Sheer Tints (click here for a pretty one by Brooke), I decided to attempt one with the Palm Beach Jellies. And this is how it turned out!

For my base coat, I used an opaque, sparkly white polish (but you could totally use a non-sparkly white creme). After my base color dried, I started with Grape Jelly (the purple shade) and applied a DROP of polish onto my nail. I then used my brush to sort of spread the drop of polish around a bit (much easier than it sounds). I then repeated the process using Water Melon, Ice Mint and Sea Through.

After my nails dried, I then topped them with Out The Door Holographic Top Coat (if you want to see what it looked like BEFORE my clean-up and the holo top coat, I posted a pic on my Instagram here). 

But I have to admit, I love this WITH the holo top coat the most, and I freely admit that I stole this idea from my pal Jen of The PolishAholic who did it here using the OPI Sheer Tints (thanks for the great idea, Jen!). Here's a macro:

You can see some bubbles in the blue region of my nail above, but that's only because I went WAY too thick with my drop of polish. Other than that, I'm in LOVE with this look, and it's so ridiculously easy to do. There's very little fussing or precise application needed, because the texture and sheerness of these polishes really lend themselves to this type of manicure. It's almost as if they were MADE for watercolor manicures. In fact, I think that Sally Hansen should have played up the "water" element with these instead of calling them jellies, especially since they're part of the Color Destinations Collection, which is beach-themed.

Additional thoughts...

The formula of these polishes is the same throughout; they are very easy to apply and they're not too thick and not too thin. They also dry at a good rate (even after four coats, it didn't take an excessive amount of time for them to become dry to the touch).  I have heard some rumblings about the OPI Sheer Tints and how they are a bit thick and stringy (like a thick top coat) and that you have to wait until the first coat dries completely before applying the next, and so on. The Palm Beach Jellies are NOT like that. They are not high-maintenance polishes to use, and you won't have to do anything special with them (aside from applying several coats for better opacity).

How the Palm Beach Jellies compare to the OPI Sheer Tints: I know that a lot of you were hoping that these Sally Hansen jellies would be dupes for the OPI Sheer Tints. There are actually NO color-dupes for the OPI shades in this collection (three separate nail bloggers who own both collections have confirmed this to me directly) and you know what? I'm actually HAPPY about that. Why, you ask? Well since Coty owns both Sally Hansen and OPI, to me it would feel like they were "cheating" if they basically just gave us the exact same colors in both collections. I appreciate that they gave us totally different colors in the Palm Beach Jellies collection, and a completely different formula as well. When it comes to jellies, I'm all about variety.

FINAL VERDICT: I thought I would be crushed when I discovered that these polishes aren't good for jelly sandwiches, but then I discovered how amazing they are for creating watercolor manicures. So now I couldn't be happier with them. More saturated jelly polishes can be challenging to use for watercolor manicures, because they won't give you a water-like effect. It's best to use sheer jellies for watercolor manicures, and these are definitely Very Sheer Jellies. I think that Sally Hansen maybe should have marketed these polishes as "watercolor" polishes instead of jellies (especially since they're part of a beach-themed collection!) but regardless, I think they're great for a specific purpose. Are they for everyone? No. But if you're the type who likes to be creative with your manicures and you're drawn to watercolor-type nail art, then I think you might want to pick some of these up when you see them at your local drugstore. I personally can't wait to continue playing with them.

Have you spotted the Palm Beach Jellies (or any of the other polishes in the Color Destinations Collection) in your area yet? In case you missed it, there are Salon Effects, Insta-Dri, Diamond Strength and other polishes in the Color Destinations collection as well. You can click here for links to photos.

A sample of this product was given to Nouveau Cheap for editorial purposes, either directly from the manufacturer or from the agency that works on behalf of the manufacturer. All reviews on NouveauCheap.Blogspot.com are the honest opinion of its author and editorial samples do not, in any way, affect the outcome of product reviews. For more information, click here.