Hello my friends! Today’s blog post is for the August 2022 Hella Handmade Creations! Since I am running kinda late, I will make this short so let’s just get into the swatches.
The August HHC shop is open right now and as always, links and sale details are at the end of the post.
Live Swatch Video
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.
Bee’s Knees Lacquer – I’ll Always Be Thinking of You
Theme: Demon Slayer
Inspiration: Tanjiro
Description: a dark turquoise jelly with black to red and black to blue multichrome flakes
Price: $13.50 for 15ml | Cap: None
I’ll Always Be Thinking of You had a fantastic jelly formula. Since this one is a jelly, you will want to build it up for the most opacity. I did find that even in 3 coats I did still have some VNL with this one.
The flakies all spread out very evenly and easily without giving off any texture. The flakies vary in size and look really cool in this base!
My photos show I’ll Always Be Thinking of You in 3 coats plus both glossy and matte top coats. I *love* this polish with a matte top coat. As I mentioned, this polish is on the more sheer side so you will have obvious VNL with it. This will pair nicely as either a topper or with a VNL blurring base coat.
Bee’s Knees Lacquer
15ml, 5+ Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Color Spectrum Polish – Bringing Barbie Back
Theme: Barbie
Inspiration: 1959 1st Issue Vintage Barbie
Description: a linear holo with black holo & black hex glitters
Price: $12.50 for 13ml | Cap: 100
Bringing Barbie Back had a really nice formula. To my eye, it seems that all of the opacity comes from the linear holographic base so you will want to build it up for opacity. Depending on how thin of a coat you go for, you might have some VNL with this in 3 coats.
This polish is *very* holographic! Sadly it was a little overcast so my daylight shots didn’t 100% sure the BOOM in your face holographic but this is that!
The glitters in here spread out evenly and easily. I did find them to be a little sparse and seemed like they sunk in the bottle a little bit. If you hold the bottle upside down between coats, you can get more out on the nail but I didn’t do that for my photos. They do not seem to dry textured so one coat of top coat smoothed this one out for me.
My photos show Bringing Barbie Back in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. This polish does dry down a little flat so you will want top coat for a glossy finish. Removal won’t be overly difficult, even if you opt to scrub it off.
Color Spectrum Polish
13ml, 7 Free, Vegan & Cruelty free
Website | Etsy | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Crystal Knockout – Will To Survive
Theme: Habitat of the Cat Inspiration: the dwellings of cats around the world
Description: a reddish-orange to banana yellow thermal filled with black dot glitter, and hex glitters in light green, white, orange, and black.
Price: $11 for 15ml | Cap: None
Will To Survive had a fantastic formula. It was on the thicker side but what I would expect from a densely packed glitter crelly. The thickness didn’t make application difficult and I had no problems with this one.
The glitters all spread very evenly and easily but they do give off a little bit of texture. Depending on personal preference, you might want to go in with a glitter smoothing top coat to get this perfectly smooth. I did opt for 2 coats of top coat for my swatches.
The thermal aspect started changing on me right away. Both colors were as described, just *slightly* a little pastel-y. This polish screams Falloween to me which seems fitting given the theme as well as time of year.
My photos show Will To Survive in 3 coats plus 2 coats of top coat. I could see nails shorter than mine being good with 2 coats of this polish. I also opted to pair this polish with a glitter smoothing top coat before going in with my quick dry top coat. That combo smoothed this out nicely.
Removal will be on the more difficult side if you opt to scrub it off.
Crystal Knockout
15ml, 5 Free & Cruelty Free
Website | Etsy | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Heather’s Hues – I Just Don’t Care At All
Theme: Billie Eilish
Description: a pastel teal blue crelly filled with a mix of glitters and flakes in various shades of pink, purple, and teal.
Price: $12.50 for 15ml | Cap: None
I Just Don’t Care At All had a fantastic formula. The base was just slightly on the thicker side but again what I would expect from a glitter crelly polish. I didn’t have any application issues with this polish.
The glitters/flakies all spread out very evenly and easily but do give off some texture. I paired this polish with a glitter smoothing top coat but I am not sure if that was 100% necessary. This didn’t feel like crazy textured so one thicker coat of top coat might smooth this out ok.
To my eye, I would say the base color is a light sky blue. I wasn’t really seeing any teal in this polish.
My photos show I just Don’t Care At All in 3 coats plus both glossy and matte top coats. Removal will be very difficult, I do not recommend scrubbing this polish off.
Heather’s Hues WiTS in Cotton Candy Princess
Theme: Adventure Time
Description: freshly spun cotton candy with notes of fresh strawberry and French vanilla.
Price $7.50 for 2 ounces | Cap: 40
So while I do love cotton candy, I didn’t think that I would love cotton candy in a hand/body lotion. To my nose, I was mainly sniffing a fruity/strawberry scent for this one. It reminded me a lot of a chapstick I used as a kid, minus the waxy smell.
Heather’s Hues
15ml, 5 free, Vegan & Cruelty Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Music City Beauty – 9 To 5
Theme: Dolly Parton
Description: a light pink base with hot pink micro flakies and holo flakes. 15ml bottle.
Price: $12.50 for 15ml | Cap: 100
9 to 5 had a fantastic formula. The base on this polish didn’t feel overly thick or thin and I didn’t have any application issues. Since this one is such a light pink, I did find that it started out a little uneven. Depending on your application, this will be a 2-3 coater. With careful application (floating method) I see this one being opaque in 2 coats.
The flakies in here look really cute paired with the base color. The holo flakies look amazing in the sunlight, indoors they are a bit more subdued. My daylight shot came out blurry so check out the live swatch video for daylight shots.
My photos show 9 To 5 in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. Nothing in here dried textured nor will they be difficult to remove.
Music City Beauty
15ml, 5 Free, Vegan and Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Night Owl Lacquer – Hysterical High-Pitched Screaming
Theme: Psych
Inspiration: the many hilarious occasions that Shawn & Gus scream when startled
Description: a bright green linear holographic with glowy green/gold/bronze shimmer
Price: $13 for 15ml | Cap: None
Hysterical High-Pitched Screaming had a fantastic formula. The base didn’t feel overly thick or thin and I didn’t have any application issues.
This polish is EXTREMELY holographic! Even indoors in my not so great lighting for holo, I could easily see the rainbows. In direct sunlight, it was BOOM holo flame!
The shimmer gives this a touch more depth without hiding or distracting from the holographic. In lighting where you don’t see the holo, the shimmer will be more apparent.
My photos show Hysterical High-Pitched Screaming in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. This polish will likely be a 2-3 coater depending on personal preference. This polish dries down a little flat so you will want top coat for a glossy finish.
I wanted to compare Hysterical High-Pitched Screaming to I Think Olive You from NOL’s Fall 2021 collection. Not dupes, I would say HHPS is a brighter more spring green in comparison to ITOY being a fall olive green.
Night Owl Lacquer
15ml, 5 Free & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group | TikTok
Pretty Beautiful Unlimited – Daughter of Chaos
Theme: The Witcher
Inspiration: Ciri’s Eyes
Description: a turquoise jelly with gold to green shifting shimmer, emerald and blue reflective glitters and gold to copper to green chameleon flakies
Price: $13 for 15ml | Cap: 150
Daughter of Chaos had a beautiful formula. It felt on the thicker side but not at all unusually so for a polish with light reflective glitter and flakies. I found all of the components spread out evenly and easily but the glitters do give off quite a bit of texture.
I was able to see the green and blue colored reflects in direct sunlight in person without using any extra lighting. I do think that the reflectiveness is on the more subtle side (but still very obvious) so photographing the reflects was really difficult. They showed up much better in my live swatch video.
My photos show Daughter Of Chaos in 3 coats plus 2 coats of top coat. Removal will very difficult and messy, I wouldn’t suggest scrubbing this polish off.
Pretty Beautiful Unlimited
15ml, 5 Free, Cruelty Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group | TikTok
Sassy Sauce Polish – Metamorphosis
Theme: Butterflies
Inspiration: An ocean blue jelly with a strong pink/purple/gold/green shift and black/red multi chrome flakies
Price: $13 for 15ml | Cap: 100
Metamorphosis had a really great formula. The base starts off a little but the shimmer is *really* strong and that adds to the opacity. You will still want to build it up to get the most opacity.
The shimmer was as described and I didn’t see any brush strokes through it in person. Paired with the flakies this polish is really gorgeous. The flakies all spread out evenly without giving off any texture.
My photos show Metamorphosis in 3 coats plus both glossy and matte top coats. I think this one will be a 2-3 coater depending on your nail length and personal preference. If you have short nails or don’t mind VNL, you should be good in 2 coats.
Nothing in here will be overly difficult to remove and I didn’t experience any staining.
Sassy Sauce Polish
15ml, 5 Free & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Swamp Gloss – Grow Better!
Theme: Good Omens
Description: a deepened turquoise with neon green an aquamarine hexes.
Price: $12.50 for 15ml | Cap: 200
Grow Better! had a really great jelly formula. The base starts off a little sheer so you will definitely want to build it up for the most opacity. Depending on thickness of coats, you will have some VNL with this polish. I noticed during my live swatch, the polish looked a lot more sheer than my photos turned out.
This polish has a ton of glitters in it and much like other glitter formulas by this brand, do not dry down textured. One coat of top coat smoothed this out perfectly.
My photos show Grow Better! in 3 coats plus both glossy and matte top coats. I wouldn’t suggest scrubbing this polish off, I used a peel off base coat.
Swamp Gloss
15ml, 10 Free, Vegan & 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.
