Hella Handmade Creations: August 2025

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Heads up, polish lovers! The Hella Handmade Creations pre-order is live from August 14–21 — don’t miss your chance to grab some stunning new shades and goodies! Shipping usually starts about 30 days after the sale closes (around the 22nd), remember to add tramsit time. I got my hands on some early-release products and can’t wait to share my thoughts below.
Ready to wishlist your favorites? Check out the HHC shop here!




LynB Designs - You Go Gill
Inspired by the vibrant Annularis Angelfish, You Go Gill dives deep with a rusty red base, glowing blue-to-purple shifting shimmer, and a splash of holo sparkle — like sunlight flickering through tropical waters.
Part of LynB’s Virtual Aquarium theme, this polish is limited to 150 bottles.




Victorian Varnish - Celestial Clockwork
Turn time on its head with Celestial Clockwork — a magnetic multichrome that shifts from pink to peach to gold to bronze like the final flickers of a summer sunset. When magnetized, it reveals a moody deep base, lit with blue-to-purple holo and aurora flakies that sparkle like gears in a cosmic machine.
Part of the Steampunk Unicorns collection, this twilight-inspired polish is limited to just 300 bottles.




Victorian Varnish - Lavish Hand and Cuticle Cream — Geared for Sweets!
Imagine wrapping your hands in a deliciously dreamy blend of strawberry, raspberry, and pineapple, all topped with sweet spun sugar and a touch of vanilla for warmth. A subtle hint of musk adds just the right amount of mystery to this sweet, steampunk unicorn-inspired cream.
Perfect for keeping your cuticles soft and your senses delighted, this cream is a little luxury you won’t want to miss. Capped at only 50 bottles.




Victorian Varnish - Tincture Acetone Additive Duo — Double the Delight!
Get ready to elevate your nail routine with this dynamic duo designed to pamper your cuticles while you remove or clean up your manis.

Geared for Sweets treats you to a mouthwatering blend of strawberry, raspberry, and pineapple, sprinkled with sugar cane and spun sugar, all resting on a cozy vanilla and musk base—think candy shop vibes in a bottle!

Serene Dreams is a breath of fresh air with its crisp citrine leaves and apple aura, softened by airy fluorescent clouds. Floral jasmine and orchid notes dance alongside tropical pineapple sweetness, all warmed up by a surprising touch of resinous amber. It’s like sunshine and mystery rolled into one.

Each handy two-pack set is perfect for mixing up your mani magic or sharing the goodness with a friend! Capped at 20 sets.




All of my swatches are shown in two thick coats with topcoat and had no formula issues unless otherwise stated. All photography uses a neutral color temperature bulb with white bounce card. My nails are natural with no enhancements and no blurring/cream base, I have a fairly prominent VNL.

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Hella Handmade Creations (HHC) is a popular monthly indie nail polish collaboration and sales event — and it was the first of its kind in the indie polish world, started in Feb of 2015. HHC gives makers the freedom to create unique, limited-edition polishes based on their own chosen themes. It’s a fantastic platform for indie polish lovers and collectors to discover exclusive shades from a variety of brands, all in one place — with something new and surprising every month. See my last HHC review here.

Polish Pickup August 2025: Time Travel

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Get ready to be dazzled — Polish Pickup is back August first, and it’s bringing the magic! This month, KBShimmer is delivering serious end-of-summer vibes with a polish that’s dark, dreamy, and full of fiery shimmer, plus a sugar scrub that smells like your favorite throwback memories bottled up in a spa day. Then there's LynB Designs, taking us on a wild ride through time and space with Temporal Chaos — a glowing, flakie-filled polish inspired by the legendary 14th Doctor. While these three beauties are the stars of my review, there are many more goodies available this month at Polish Pickup. Let’s time travel through the pretties!!




KBShimmer Excellent Nail Polish - We’ve all dreamed of time travel at some point - going back in time to witness major historical events. But not all of us had the threat of failing history class, and the future of a utopian society depending on it! Add in one phone booth, two dim-witted high school students, and a guide from the future, and you get what can only be described as an excellent adventure.

Excellent is a deepened grape jelly nail polish loaded with black flakes accented by iridescent flakes that shift into shades of pink, fuchsia, and orange. Contrasting blue to aqua to indigo flakes add a fun pop of color.




KBShimmer Breezy Juniper Scrub - Crisp and clean, fresh and herbal, the scent will take you back in time to the days when you only had to worry about catching the school bus or meeting your friends at the mall, not catching your morning Zoom meeting. Prepare to have your senses invigorated with this refreshing sugar scrub featuring swirls of blue and green against a creamy beige base.




LynB Designs Temporal Chaos - a polish worthy of a Time Lord. Inspired by the iconic 14th regeneration of The Doctor, this electrifying indigo jelly base pulses with purple-to-pink flakies, magenta-to-green shifting UCC flakies, and an aqua glow that comes alive in the dark. It’s bold, otherworldly, and a little bit chaotic — just the way we like our regenerations. Whether you're a Whovian or just a fan of glowing, galactic nails, this shade is here to take your mani on a space-time adventure.




All of my swatches are shown in two thick coats with topcoat and had no formula issues unless otherwise stated. All photography uses a neutral color temperature bulb and white background with white bounce card. My nails are natural with no enhancements and no blurring/cream base, I have a fairly prominent VNL.

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Victorian Varnish: PBE Nauti Limited Editions

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The Nauti limited edition polishes will be available at Polish & Beauty Expo, with overstock being listed on August 8 at Tammy's Victorian Varnish shop online.




Deep Dive (Reflective) - A smoky base with an intense blue/purple shimmer and a larger particle green/aqua shimmer with golden and silver reflectives that dance on your nails like the ocean waves under the moonlight.




Drop Anchor (Magnetic) - a deep oceanic blue/purple/green magnetic that once magnetized reveals a stunning sparkling red shimmer underneath. This reminded me of a dangerous Red Tide




Feeling Nauti? A bright neon strawberry base with a beautiful violet/blue shimmer




Maritime Menageries - A bright neon purple with loads of pink/violet/red/green/gold aurora shimmers




Parallel Portholes (Magnetic) - an antique-bronzed green magnetic, when magnetized reveals a beautiful bright shimmer in purples/pinks/golds with holo aurora micro flakies. Inspired by a antique scuba helmet




Sea La Vie - A tiffany neon blue base with strong violet/blue aurora shimmer, blue to black multichrome flakies, and a host of rainbow ghost flakies. This is an IGP sibling!




Will Walk the Plank for Polish - Cheerful coral neon with violet/pink/orange shimmer and holo flakies. The shade is very vibrant, almost neon - impossible to capture on camera accurately.




Nauti Duo: Shark Week opens on the 20th! So to pay homage to that Tammy included inspiration from great white sharks as well as Finding Nemo. This is also based on a gel magnetic nail trend Tammy has seen and she wanted to recreate it in polish form. (Sorry ya'll, I missed the boat on this one and swatched them both separately. Simply layer the red jelly over the magnetic to make it have a deep red magnetic look!)

Shark Bait- A deep dark blood red jelly. Tammy says it will stain, but I did not have that issue using KBShimmer's Stay Put base coat. I only wore it for about an hour though, so be sure to double up on base and be ready for staining just in case! Shown in two coats over my nails as I usually do all my swatches, however; it is intended for use over Hoo Ha Ha (seek out Diedre's swatches!), also perfect for jelly sandwiches (Aparna did a cool one!), or over a cream polish.




HOO HA HA (Magnetic)- a deep dark grey at first glance but once magnetized reveals a coal black base with a striking great white shark silvery grey line.




All of my swatches are shown in two thick coats with topcoat and had no formula issues unless otherwise stated. All photography uses a neutral color temperature bulb and white background with white bounce card. My nails are natural with no enhancements and no blurring/cream base, I have a fairly prominent VNL.

Connect with me on facebook and instagram!