Jelly Gel Polish | Korean Syrup & Translucent Nail Colors | DTK Nail Supply

What jelly gel nail polish is

A jelly gel is a gel polish with translucent pigment. Instead of covering the nail in one opaque layer, it lets the natural nail show through, and each extra coat makes the colour deeper. One thin coat gives a sheer wash of tint, and two to three coats build the colour toward opaque while keeping a glossy, glassy depth. That control lets the same bottle do a barely-there office manicure and a saturated summer set.

LAVIS, the California brand behind most of this page, tracks Korean and Japanese nail trends early, and its jelly collections come out of that habit. Here you will find the LAVIS jelly and sheer collections plus the LDS jelly shades, all soak-off gel in 0.5 oz bottles that cure under an LED or UV lamp. Use the filters next to the grid to narrow the shades by colour, price or availability.

The jelly and sheer collections on this page

LAVIS C01 Jelly Jamboree

Twenty-four bouncy, translucent jelly gels: juicy pastels and youthful colours, plus seven milky nudes. The pastels glow like candy and layer well, which makes C01 the natural starting point for a jelly menu. It suits spring and summer bookings as well as year-round wear.

LAVIS C08 Glass Gala

Twenty-four sheer, glass-like tones made to be layered over an opaque base colour, which is how the "glass nail" effect is built. The palette sits alongside silver chrome, so a single collection covers both a soft overlay and a reflective accent. The "It Girl" listing on this page sells the same Glass Gala shades, one by one or as the full set.

LAVIS Amber Jelly

Twelve translucent autumn shades inspired by the glow of amber resin: warm ambers, spiced oranges, deep wine reds and rich olive tones. Each one has a glossy, glass-like finish that lets the natural nail subtly shine through, which gives the deeper shades a layered, dimensional look.

LAVIS C17 Glossy Touch and C07 Pinktopia

C17 Glossy Touch is the soft, clean pink-nude collection of the C range, with a barely-there finish suited to natural and bridal sets. C07 Pinktopia covers 24 pinks from pastel to fuchsia and mixes cremes, glitters and cat eye shades, so check the swatch on each listing if you need a sheer finish.

LAVIS J02 Candy, J03 Bare With Me and J04 Popular Jelly

Three earlier LAVIS jelly series sold as single bottles. J02 Candy and J03 Bare With Me were made for understated everyday wear, and LAVIS suggests J02 as a base colour for French nail art; J04 Popular Jelly is the large one, with 48 translucent colours where one, two and three layers each give a visibly different depth.

LDS Jelly Nude and LDS Jelly Gel

LDS adds jelly nude shades with high transparency and a strong shine, from Apricot Appeal and Water Melon to Dove Grey and Hint of Violet, plus single shades from the LDS Jelly Gel range. LDS lists the jelly nudes for up to three weeks of wear with proper application.

How to choose a jelly line

• You are building a jelly menu from scratch: start with C01 Jelly Jamboree. It covers pastels, brights and milky nudes in one set of 24.
• You want the glass nail look: pick C08 Glass Gala and layer it over an opaque colour you already stock.
• Your clients book natural, office or bridal sets: C17 Glossy Touch and the LDS Jelly Nude shades give soft, sheer coverage.
• You need fall and winter jelly colours: Amber Jelly brings ambers, wine reds and olive into a translucent finish.
• You want the widest choice of single bottles: J04 Popular Jelly has 48 colours to pick from one at a time.
• Your client wants pink in every finish: C07 Pinktopia, keeping in mind that it mixes several finishes.

Jelly collections compared

How to apply jelly gel polish

1. Prep: push back the cuticle, buff off the shine, then clean and dehydrate the nail so nothing shows through the sheer colour later.
2. Base: apply a thin layer of base gel and cure it.
3. First jelly coat: brush on one thin, even coat and cure it for 60 seconds under an LED lamp or 2 minutes under UV. Stop here for a sheer wash of tint.
4. Build: add a second, and if you want, a third thin coat, curing each one. Every coat deepens the colour.
5. Top: seal with a no-wipe top coat, cap the free edge and cure.

Pro tip: with a jelly, the depth of colour comes from the number of layers, so use the same number of coats on every nail. One nail with an extra coat will look darker than the rest.

Jelly looks your clients ask for

• Milky base with a jelly tint: start with one of the seven milky nudes in C01, then add a thin coat of a pastel jelly for soft, see-through colour.
• Glass nails: cure an opaque base colour, then layer one or two coats of a C08 Glass Gala tone over it.
• Amber autumn: two coats of an Amber Jelly shade give warm, deep colour that still looks lit from within.
• Natural pink: one or two coats of C17 Glossy Touch over a clean nail for a soft bridal or office set.
• Jelly cat eye: some LAVIS cat eye collections use a jelly formula; see the guide in the reads below.

Jelly shades through the year

Jelly is not only a summer finish. The way LAVIS positions its collections gives you a simple calendar for the colour wall:

• Spring and summer: C01 Jelly Jamboree is built for this stretch, with pastels that glow like candy and brighter jellies for vacation sets.
• Valentine's Day: C07 Pinktopia gives you every pink mood in one collection, from pastel to fuchsia.
• Fall and winter: Amber Jelly moves the jelly look into ambers, spiced oranges, wine reds and olive.
• All year: C08 Glass Gala and C17 Glossy Touch work in every season, for glass overlays and soft pink-nude sets.

Stocking a jelly bar for the salon

A jelly service needs fewer bottles than you might think, because each shade does several jobs depending on how many coats you apply. Three practical ways to stock it:

• One full set: a set of 24 from C01 or C08 covers a complete jelly menu in a single order, and every bottle in it matches the rest of the collection.
• A capsule of singles: pick a handful of core tones, such as a milky nude, a soft pink, a sheer red and an amber, and add single bottles as clients ask for more.
• A seasonal rotation: keep a core of all-year shades from C08 and C17, then swap in C01 for spring and summer and Amber Jelly for fall and winter.

Whatever you choose, put a swatch of one coat and of three coats next to each bottle on the display. Clients understand a jelly much faster when they can see both depths.

Common jelly mistakes and how to avoid them

• Uneven colour from nail to nail: one nail got an extra coat. Count your coats and keep them the same on all ten nails.
• Streaks or pooling: the coat was too heavy. Use a thin, even coat and cure each one before adding the next.
• Prep showing through: because jelly is see-through, uneven buffing, leftover cuticle or dust under the base can show. Clean and dehydrate the nail carefully before the base coat.
• Soft or uneven finish: the layer was too thick to cure evenly. Thin coats and full cure times fix it.

Wear, removal and care

• Wear: LAVIS lists its jelly and sheer gels for 21 days or more of chip-resistant wear with proper prep, a base and a no-wipe top coat. LDS lists its jelly nudes for up to three weeks.
• Removal: file the top coat to break the seal and soak off with gel remover for about 10 to 15 minutes.
• Screens and swatches: jelly colours change with the number of coats and with the nail underneath, so a swatch on the client's own nail is the best preview.

Store bottles closed and away from the lamp and sunny windows, since stray UV can thicken gel in the bottle neck.

How the jelly range is sold

Every shade is available as a single 0.5 oz bottle, so you can add one colour at a time. C01, C07, C08 and C17 also come as full sets of 24, and Amber Jelly as a set of 12. Prices and current stock are shown on each listing.

Other sheer gels at DTK

If a client is loyal to another brand, DND makes sheer pinks and milky nudes as gel and lacquer duos, gathered in sheer pink gel polish. The DND DC DC Sheer Collection has 36 buildable sheer shades that go from a milky tint to fuller coverage, and Chaun Legend has its own Chaun Legend sheers. For the full DND family, see DND gel and lacquer duos.

Related collections

• LAVIS gel color Every LAVIS gel colour, jelly or opaque.
• Gel base and top coats Base and no-wipe top coats to hold jelly sets.
• UV and LED nail lamps Lamps to cure each jelly layer.
• Amber Jelly set Twelve translucent autumn shades.

Related reads

• The best jelly nail polishes
• Jelly nail designs to try
• How to make syrup nails
• Cat eye jelly nails