Hey friends! Today’s blog post is for the August Hella Handmade Creations. I have quite a few things to share and am kinda running late (ok not kinda definetly running late) so I will skip the chatter. The August HHC shop opens in a couple of hours.
As always, full sale details will be at the end of the post. I will also have quite a few comparisons at the end of this post as well. My live swatch video should be up tomorrow.
Hella Handmade Creations is a monthly indie polish collaboration. Makers each pick their own theme and make a series of polishes based on that theme. Each month brands have a new polish, that is exclusive to the Hella Handmade Creations website.
Live Swatch Video
Alter Ego – Chocolate Treasure Tall Bearded Iris
Theme/Inspiration: Bearded Irises
Description: duo chrome base with shimmer gold and a slight purplish tint
Price: $10 for 17ml Cap: 50
Chocolate Treasure Tall Bearded Iris had a great formula. It went on very smoothly and didn’t feel overly thick or thin. The gold shimmer just slightly had some brush strokes but they even out for the most part as this dries.
This polish is really hard to pin down a description for. If I hadn’t had a description for it, I would have called it a brownish purple base with a gold shimmer. I think this will be a 2-3 coater depending on personal preference. Shorter nails will probably be good in 2. Nothing in here dried textured or will be difficult to remove.
This immediately reminded me of Warrior from the April Polished Gamers box. Side by side, they aren’t very similar. I’ll have a comparison between the two at the end of this post.
Alter Ego Body Care Products
17ml, 5 free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
BCB Lacquers – Menagerie Galaxy
Theme: Galaxy
Description: A sapphire blue polish with violet shimmer, red shimmer, green/gold micro flakes and a touch of holo.
Price: $13.00 for 16.5ml Cap: 100
Menagerie Galaxy had a really great formula. It didn’t feel overly thick or thin and I didn’t have any application problems. In person, I was seeing a red and green color shift in this polish. I had the hardest time capturing it in photos so I would highly suggest checking my live swatch video to see this one moving around.
It was very opaque and I think short nails could be good in 1 coat. Longer natural nails should be good in 2. Since this is so opaque, I would highly suggest wearing base coat if your nails are prone to staining. I didn’t experience any staining with this polish. Nothing in here dried textured or will be difficult to remove.
BCB Lacquers
15ml, 5 Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Bee’s Knees Lacquer – Where’s The Gift Shop?!
Theme/Inspiration: Ghost Adventures/ Inspired by the time Zak got annoyed with Aaron for prioritizing going to the gift shop
Description: a deep turquoise with black to red multichrome shimmer and holo flakes
Price: $12.50 for 15ml Cap: none
Where’s The Gift Shop?! had a great formula. The dark turquoise base played really beautifully with the black to red multichrome pigment. It gave the pigment more of a blue toned color shift. The holo flakies spread out evenly without giving off any texture.
This polish had really nice coverage in 2 coats but I had some light spots so I went in for a third. If you don’t have much of a free edge you could probably get away with 2 coats but the third coat does deepen the color a tad.
This is very pigmented so I would highly recommend wearing a base coat if your nails are prone to staining. I didn’t experience any staining. Nothing in here will be difficult to remove.
Note, I will have a comparison of this polish and Stop Beeping from April’s HHC at the end of the post.
Bee’s Knees Lacquer
15ml, 5+ Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Chirality – Listen All Y’all, It’s A Spanish Shawl
Theme: Aliens of the Deep
Description: a violet jelly polish overflowing with bright orange flakes
Price: $12 Cap: 100
Listen All Y’all, It’s A Spanish Shawl had a great formula. It felt slightly on the thicker side but I am going to attribute that to the 80%+ humidity with 90+ degree weather we were having. This polish is super Halloween-y! The flakies all spread out evenly and easily without giving off any texture.
This will be a solid 3 coater. It’s still on the sheer side so you will have some VNL on some angles.
Side note, it took me way too long to realize that this polish name was a Beastie Boys reference!
Chirality Polish
15ml, 5 Free, Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group | Twitter
Color Spectrum Polish – When It Hits You, You Feel No Pain
Theme: Bob Marley
Description: a bright yellow with gold to green shifting shimmer along with red and green holo glitters
Price: $12 for 13ml Cap: 100 bottles
When It Hits You, You Feel No Pain had a fantastic formula. It didn’t feel overly thick or thin and I didn’t have any application issues. This brand always does really good yellows and this polish was no exception! The shimmer was very strong and I was seeing both described colors in person. The glitters spread out evenly on their own without any texture.
To get the best opacity, I think this will be a solid 3 coater. I did have some VNL on some angles but the shimmer largely distracted from it. Removal shouldn’t be overly difficult as the glitters are very small. I soaked this off with no problems. I didn’t experience any staining.
Color Spectrum Polish
13ml, 7 Free, Vegan & Cruelty free
Website | Etsy | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Heather’s Hues – I’m Sorry Aunt Lydia
Theme/Inspiration: Handmaid’s Tale/Aunt Lydia
Description: a muted smoky lavender with pink-gold-green shimmer, red-pink-orange-gold iridescent flakes, violet-pink-gold-green and blue-gold-green multichrome flakes, and a hint of small neon pink glitters
Price: $12.50 for 15ml Cap: None
I’m Sorry Aunt Lydia had fantastic crelly formula. The base color is a beautiful greyed out lavender which is a favorite for me. This polish has a ton of flakies in it but doesn’t feel thick at all. The neon glitters do not dry textured at all.
This polish will be a 2-3 coater depending on preference.
Heather’s Hues
15ml, 5 free, Vegan & Cruelty Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
LynB Designs – Fashion Armadillo
Theme: Animal Magnetism
Description: a darkened rusty black based magnetic with red to yellow shift, linear holo, and holo flakies
Price: $13 for 15ml Cap: 100
Fashion Armadillo had a really great formula. I know I sound like a broken record but I have really been enjoying magnetic polishes lately and LynB Designs keeps making fun ones! This polish is on the more opaque side so you will only need 2 coats for full opacity. The holographic elements in this polish are all very strong and I didn’t have any issues getting the magnetic effect on the nail.
My photos show this polish in 2 coats. Nothing in here will dry textured or be difficult to remove. I used a ring magnet for my photo.
LynB Designs
15ml, 5 free, Vegan
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Music City Beauty – Canary Yellow
Theme: Rainbow Bright
Description:
Price: Cap:
Canary Yellow had a beautiful crelly formula. Formula wise, this feels like something between a crelly and a creme. It self leveled really well and applied especially well for a yellow. This polish is like sunshine in a bottle!
This was a little patchy in 2 coats so I think it will be a solid 3 coater. You will want top coat for a glossy finish. Top coat brings out the shimmer effect.
Music City Beauty
15ml, 5 Free, Vegan and Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Night Owl Lacquer – Psych
Theme: Psych *new series*
Description: a bright green crelly with various white glitters and lime/gold iridescent micro glitter.
Price: $12 for 15ml Cap: None
Psych had a great formula. This polish is BRIGHT! This is pretty much a neon green so it does glow under black light. It is just slightly on the thicker side but I didn’t have any application issues.
The glitters spread out evenly and easily on their own. I didn’t need to hold the bottle upside down between coats. This is will be 2-3 coater depending on personal preference. I used 3 coats for my photos. This does dry down a little textured so you will want to go in for 1-2 coats of top coat depending on how thick your top coat is.
Removal will be on the tricky side due to the glitters. I would recommend soaking this off.
Night Owl Lacquer
15ml, 5 Free & Cruelty Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Pretty Beautiful Unlimited – Electric Glow
Theme: Cosmic Bowling
Description: a lime green jelly base with unicorn pigment, spectraflair, a mix of 3 crystal chameleon flakies, sapphire and chartreuse micro glitters and glow in the dark pigment that glows neon green when charged with UV light.
Price: $12 for 15ml Cap: 150 bottles
Electric Glow had a great formula. It didn’t feel overly thick or thin and I didn’t have any application problems. The green base is a very bright and the flakies look amazing in it! The holographic is also extremely strong.
This one really glowed really beautiful. I charged it up with my blacklight flashlight for about 10 seconds to get this photo. I didn’t test it out the GITD for longevity, but it didn’t seem to fade quickly. I also noticed that when I brought this out into the natural light, my nails glowed when I went back inside.
I think this will be a solid 3 coater. Very short nails or if VNL doesn’t bother you, might be good in 2 coats. The third coat does deepen the color. I used 3 coats for my photos.
Pretty Beautiful Unlimited
15ml, 5 Free, Cruelty Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group | TikTok
Red Eyed Lacquer – Not A Sound
Theme: Eric Carle
Description: A purple jelly base with green/purple shifting multichrome shimmer and holo micro flakies
Price: $12.50 for 13ml Cap: 100
Not A Sound had a great formula. It didn’t feel overly thick or thin and I didn’t have any application issues. The shimmer in this a very strong and really glowy. The holo micro flakies are very holographic and do not dry textured.
This polish is on the sheer side so you will have some VNL in 3 coats. This can be used as a topper over similar bases as well as over a VNL blurring base coat. One coat of top coat will smooth this out completely and give it a glossy finish.
Red Eyed Lacquer
12ml, 5 free & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Sale Info
The Hella Handmade Creations store opens on the 14th of every month at 12:01am Eastern Time and closes on the 21st at 11:59pm HST (4:59AM Eastern time on the 22nd). All items sold are on a pre-order basis and won’t ship until around 4 weeks after the sale period.
Hella Handmade Creations
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group | Facebook Chat Group
Multiple orders to the same name and address are combined and shipping overages are refunded. Shipping price is based on weight. Shipping is available internationally and there is a Facebook group for international group buys.
Overpours (Returning Polishes)
Polishes originally released back in January 2021 are making a comeback this month in the overpours section. My original review for all of these can be found here Hella Handmade Creations January 2021. These are all extremely limited.
Comparisons
Alter Ego Chocolate Extasy vs Alter Ego Warrior
This month’s AE polish reminded me of another polish they released this year (April Polished Gamers Box) called Warrior. They aren’t dupes but they have a similar look to them. As an FYI, Warrior is making a comeback this month during the August Polished Gamers sale.
Bee’s Knees Lacquer
If you are curious about how this month’s Bee’s Knees polish compares to Stop Beeping from the Hella Handmade Creations April 2021, the base colors are different and this month has more flakies.
Heather’s Hues
I also decided to compare this month’s Heather’s Hues polish to her polish Hop To It from her August 2020 duo. Hop To It is darker in color (it’s a bit more grey toned than my photo shows) and the flakies are different as well. This month’s polish also features neon glitters.
