[Press Samples/Paid PR – Post Disclosure Page]
Hey friends! Today’s second blog post is for the May Hella Handmade Creations! Since I am running a bit late wit this one, I will just get into the post.
The May HHC shop opens up tonight. As always, links and sale details can be found 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.
All Mixed Up Lacquers – Imagine The Things We’ll Do
Theme: 80’s Rock Bands
Inspiration: Scorpions Blackout Album Cover (song – No One Like You)
Description: Aqua Blue (indoors/shade) to deep blurple (outside/UV light) with navy holo and aqua/blue/purple/pink/gold crystal chameleon flakies
Price: $12 for 15ml | Cap: 150
Imagine The Things We’ll Do had a really great formula. It started off a bit sheer but it built up very nicely. I found in the indoor color, I had some VNL but the flakies and glitters largely distracted from it. The flakies and glitters all spread out very evenly and easily without giving off much texture. I was really surprised this smoothed out nicely with only 1 coat of top coat.
Unfortunately, it was raining heavily the day that I swatched this one so I was unable to bring it outside so I used a blacklight flashlight to show off the color changes.
I will note, that how dark this gets when exposed to UV light will depend on the strength of the light source. In my experience with solar polishes, usually, you will see a whole range in color depending on the time of day and cloud coverage. Generally, the darkest color that a blacklight or UV flashlight shows doesn’t happen under real life conditions, at least not where I live.
My photos show Imagine The Things We’ll Do in 3 coats with 1 coat of top coat. Removal shouldn’t be *that* difficult but I still wouldn’t recommend scrubbing this one off. I used a peel off base coat.
All Mixed Up Lacquers
15ml, 5 Free, Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Bee’s Knees Lacquer – Crowded AF
Theme: American Horror Story
Inspiration: the final episode and the return to Murder House
Description: a black to green to purple multichrome with holo flakes and ruby red light reflective glitter.
Price: $13.50 for 15ml | Cap: None
Crowded AF had a pretty good formula. It was on the thicker side but I didn’t have any application issues. I was told by the brand that they used twice the amount of glitter in this polish as their previous reflective glitter polishes so thickness makes sense. This polish was next level sparkly!
Because of all of those glitters, this polish will be *very* textured. You will definitely want to pair this one with multiple coats of top coat. The glitters do give this polish quite ab it of texture.
I was seeing the multichrome as described. I will say the glitter seemed like the star of the show for this polish.
My photos show Crowded AF in 2 coats plus 2 coats of top coat. I did pair this with a glitter smoothing top coat before going in with my quick dry top coat. Removal will be very difficult if you even consider scrubbing this polish off.
Bee’s Knees Lacquer
15ml, 5+ Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Colors de Carol – Angel Falls
Theme: South American Landmarks
Inspiration: the Angel Falls in Venezuela
Description: s a gold, green, red multichrome with iridescent chameleon flakes, mermaid flakes and silver magnetic effect.
Price: $13 for 15ml | Cap: 100
Angel Falls had a beautiful formula. The base didn’t feel overly thick or thin and I didn’t have any application issues. It started out fairly sheer but built up to reach full opacity.
The magnetic effect magnetized very easily for me using a ring magnet as well as a bar magnet. I thought this polish was a little meh at first but really liked it magnetized. The flakies spread out easily without giving off texture. There were a few larger flakies in there as well!
I used 3 coats for my photos. Once again, my white balance was kinda off so these came out a *touch* whiter/lighter than they appeared in person.
Colores De Carol
15ml, 5 Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Cupcake Polish – Vision
Theme: Wandavision
Inspiration: Vision
Description: a denim blue nail polish filled with red/gold/green shifting aurora shimmer
Price: $13 for 15ml | Cap: None
Vision had a really nice formula. The base didn’t feel overly thick on thin and I didn’t have any application issues. To my eye, the base looked more like a teal than a denim blue but I am pretty sure that was due to the shimmer. On the first coat, I could see that the base was a blue.
The shimmer effect was very strong and color shifty. I found the colors were as described and I didn’t see any brush strokes through it.
My photos show Vision in 3 coats plus top coat. I had a *slight* amount of VNL with this polish on the clear part of my nail. This polish dries fairly dull so you will want top coat for a glossy finish.
Wandavision Series
This is the final polish for the brand’s Wandavision series.
Cupcake Polish
15ml, 5 Free & Cruelty Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Hearts & Promises – Pink Ladies
Theme: Grease
Inspiration: The Pink Ladies
Description: a medium pink neon base with silver 3-D reflective glitter and silver holo glitter
Price: $13 for 15ml | Cap: 300
Pink Ladies had a really nice formula. The base surprisingly didn’t feel overly thick despite having so much glitter in it. I found they all spread out evenly on their own without needing to do anything special. They were also VERY sparkly! I really like the combination of holo glitter + reflective glitter gives polishes.
The glitters do give this polish quite a bit of texture. I paired this polish with a glitter smoothing top coat as well as a quick dry top coat and I had a few spots where I could feel glitters. I would recommend 2 coats of the glitter smoothing top coat and then 1 coat of a quick dry top coat to make this 100% smooth. If you like textured polishes, this will be great without any top coat.
My photos show Pink Ladies in 3 coats plus 2 coats of top coat. If you have shorter nails this might be passable in 2 coats.
Hearts & Promises
15ml, 5 Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Heather’s Hues – I’m The Bad Guy Duh
Theme: Billie Eilish
Description: a neon red/orange with a mix of iridescent flakes in orange-pink-gold and pink-gold-lime.
Price: $12.50 for 15ml | Cap: None
I‘m The Bad Guy Duh had a fantastic formula. I cannot stress enough how freaking BRIGHT this nail polish is! It is the most neon-y red I have seen in quite awhile. In my opinion, it doesn’t lean orange or coral, it’s red-red. However… my photos came out very much orangey red. I can see it leaning orange depending on lighting but in my studio lights, it was red-red.
The flakies all spread out very evenly without giving off any texture. I did get a few of the larger flakes on the nail which made me do a little happy dance.
My photos show I’m The Bad Guy Duh in 3 coats plus both glossy and matte top coat. It will be a 2-3 coater depending on your nail length and personal preference. For personal wear, I would wear this in 2 coats.
Removal won’t be overly difficult and I didn’t experience any staining.
Heather’s Hues – WiTS in Chocoberry
Theme: Adventuretime
Inspiraiton: Chocoberry
Description: a luscious blend of ripe red strawberry and creamy milk chocolate notes with hints of sweet vanilla creme and rich maple
Price: $7.50 for 2 ounces | Cap: 40
This month’s scent to my nose straight out the jar smelled strongly of the strawberry. It wasn’t until I actually applied it to my skin where I was picking up the chocolate scent.
Heather’s Hues
15ml, 5 free, Vegan & Cruelty Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
LynB Designs – Parallelogram Of Despair
Theme: Properties of Polygons
Description: a purple multichrome that shifts from green to blue to purple to pink with linear holo
Price: $13 for 15ml| Cap: 150
Parallelogram Of Despair hada great formula. It started off a little sheer but it built up nicely. The base didn’t feel overly thick or thin and I didn’t have any application issues. I found the multichrome to be as described and it was VERY holographic!
Since this polish is on the more sheer side, I did have some slight VNL at some angles.
My photos show Parallelogram Of Despair in 3 coats plus top coat. This polish dries dull so you will want top coat for a glossy finish.
LynB Designs
15ml, 5 Free & Vegan
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
MTK Designs – Brandywine
Theme: Folk it! (Modern American Folk Music)
Inspiration: Blacksmith of Brandywine
Description: a bright berry (warm) to dark berry wine (cold) thermal with linear holo, cherry scattered holo glitter, and a pink/purple shifting shimmer.
Price: $12 for 15ml| Cap: None
Brandywine had beautiful formula. It was slightly on the thicker side but not at all overly thick. I found the thermal aspect started changing me right away. I found both color states to be as described.
The holographic in here was very strong and I could see it easily in my studio lighting. The shimmer was on the more subtle side but I could see it in person.
My photos show Brandywine in 3 coats plus top coat. I think it will be a 2-3 coater depending on personal preference.
MTK Design
15ml, 5 Free & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Night Owl Lacquer – Gumball Soup
Theme: Psych
Inspiration: Season 8 Episode 7 ‘Shawn & Gus Truck Things Up’.
Description: a neon yellow crelly filled with circle neon glitters and white shreds
Price: $11.80 for 15ml | Cap: None
Gumball Soup had a pretty good formula. It was absolutely PACKED with glitters so it was on the thicker side. The glitters will give this a lot of texture so you will want 2 coats of top coat to completely smooth it out. Before going in with top coat, this will look a little crazy due to the texture.
I didn’t have any problems with the application but if you aren’t used to dealing with glitter heavy formulas, you might find otherwise. I found this applied best with shorter brush strokes and dabbing motions rather than normal long strokes.
The neon yellow base starts out a little patchy and uneven so you will want to build it up to reach full opacity. This polish is EXTREMELY bright and will glow under black light. It came across as more sunshine yellow rather than neon yellow in my photos. In person, it’s the highliter neon yellow shade.
My photos show Gumball in 3 coats plus 2 coats of top coat. I used a glitter smoothing top coat to smooth out the glitters before going in with my quick dry top coat. Removal will be extremely difficult if you try to scrub this polish off.
Edit from future Nicole: during my live swatch (recorded about 2 weeks after I took my photos) I ended up adding some thinner to this.
Night Owl Lacquer
15ml, 5 Free & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group | TikTok
Overstock
Select polishes from the October Hella Handmade Creations shop will also be brought back in *limited* quanties. Click the above image or this link to check out my original review for those.
Also releasing in time with this release are the 7 Year Anniversary polishes from Atomic Polish and Swamp Gloss. These were originally giveaway prizes late last year on Facebook.
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.