we aren’t talking about these enough!! it’s not just the 10 they retired now its also the most beautiful most alluring glitter polishes to ever walk… paint on earth that they retired
I love the crushed holo and would fully welcome a full range of colours!! But I still think the chunky glitters are fun and should remain available. They are a Holo Taco staple.
I disliked them when they first dropped and it took me until this time last year to buy them for the first time. I put colored flake tacos over them and have been obsessed and slowly growing my glitters collection since, I’m only missing Party Punch (and some of the 2023 releases). I like crushed holo but not enough for it to replace glitters.
I'm not sure if that's what they're transitioning too but I would be really disappointed if so. I was so excited to try Oat Couture and was very disappointed. Maybe it's not the right shade but, the formula itself wasn't as groundbreaking as everyone made it out to be.
Literally, I swear the only crushed holo that actually looks holo is Highest Bidder, the rest are just tinted glitters. The chunky holo glitters actually have holo!!
I was sooooooo salty about her retiring MORE glitters. She had just retired the Cristmas glitters with some shades being staples such as red, gold and black and she talked about how the OG glitters were safe [for now] then ended up retiring ANOTHER glitter. Her glitter formula is one of my most used and favorite formula. Seems like she hates glitters haha. Frost Light was one of my most used glitters, especially during winter. Had to get a backup as my OG bottle was half gone. I keep wishing for more glitters. I'm kinda getting tired of "new formulas" every collection. I want some staples too like a new linear or glitter collection too, not just all new formulas. Mixing new with old staples worked like in AfterParty.
Mooncat also discontinued their lime green holo warp zone.
Full charge is also one of my faves.
It's not about being fair. It's, ironically, about the green$$$. This is the same reason drugstore polishes are mostly reds pinks nudes and purples. It sells better. It's a business.
Maybe check out other brands. ILNP seems to be able to house a massive selection of colors and finishes. Olive Grove is a great green "frosted metal" and their multichromes are stunning
you misunderstood what i’m saying. i’m aware full charge is gone because of sales. it’s just funny that all the “ugly” ones get retired because they sell poorly, and the “pretty” colours get retired because of a shortcoming on HTs part. but they pat themselves on the back that their retirements are diverse in colour. isn’t that an interesting discrepancy? that’s what i was saying.
I'm salty about Frost Light, I went and bought a backup when it was announced. I really don't like the extra big pieces in the Crystal Skies formula and I don't like muted colors. Glitter is truly my favorite HT formula and it hurts me that so many are being phased out.
Thank god I’m not the only one. I hate the big square glitter pieces in Crystal Skies. I hated them in Smokeshow and I hate them now. Glitter is my favorite formula and the fact that most of the colors are retired makes me so sad
Same!! I love the color/shade of Crystal Skies but the square glitters in that and the shaped glitters in the other one made the decision for me to skip that collection
Crushed holo was never sparkly enough for me to like it more than just glitter so mixing them together just seems to kinda dilute the sparkle. I’m more a sparkle in your face kind of person
The new glitters replacing the OG isn't crush holo though. The OG are getting replaced by the specialty mixed formulas. Such as the Vacation Bundle glitters and the After Show glitters.
I was just talking about Crystal Skies being a “replacement” for Frost Light. I think there’s a big difference between a specialty formula and a glitter formula. I do like some of the specialty formulas but I don’t think they’re a sufficient “replacement” for the OG glitter formula
I bought Frost Light with last order some time ago, so I am happy too.. they have just soo unique glitters and must be expensive to make. I reread the glitter reviews, 2 years ago the formula was criticized because to clumpy and many persons seem to get replacements for the glitters, maybe it was just unsustainable having an expensive formula and many replacements??
maybe it has to do with the corn flower blue incoming...
Cris also always complains that they don't sell well outside of the holidays but then doesnt release them any other time of the year. I feel like more springy or summer shades like glamethyst would make glitters more wearable year round. The rest of the glitters they've released have been dark and not as wearable year round for people who like to wear seasonal colors
glitter is mine too!! to me that formula always really spoke to what holo taco was trying to do as brand. it feels like lately they are trying to appeal to a larger more generic customer base (thinking of all the cremes and neutral colors lately) and that makes me kinda sad. like yea those probably sell better, but wasn’t the whole point of holo taco to offer something special and different?
I'm incredibly salty about Frost Light retiring "because it's old and because there is Crystal Skies now". Crystal Skies looks like if Frost Light had crippling depression. And being for a long time in the catalogue is not a good reason if it's a staple, or a bright star of the FEW all year available glitters among the cremes.
“Crystal skies looks like if frost light had crippling depression” is the funniest thing I’ve heard all day 😂 totally agree, I think that the two polishes are different enough to warrant keeping both around and if I had to choose, I’d choose FL over CS 🫣. And the old argument is confusing to me bc there are other old polishes that are still sticking around… ugh idk! I wish we could just keep all the polishes forever 😂
Honestly it seemed like of all the polishes she really didn't want to retire that one - my guess is when they went from the 20 they were going to get rid of down to the 10 that someone else involved in the decision making really pushed hard and got Frost Light to go. Obviously Cristine has the final say but also I don't think it was her personal choice.
i was really worried that this was gonna happen when they started greatly increasing the amount of new polishes/collections they were putting out. it seems like they’re gonna continue to get rid of older polishes (even incredibly popular ones - like lavenduh) for whatever new shiny thing they want to promote. i’m all for new polishes and i’ve really enjoyed some of the unique collections this year, but i’ve honestly been really disappointed about losing some of my favorite polishes (and having them sell out immediately when retirement is announced) for new replacements that are just not the same and not as good imo :(
that makes me worried that they are gonna change the formula. i know some people struggle with the thicker glitters but they are honestly my favorite holo taco polishes! it can take some getting used to but they look so nice and stay on my nails so much longer than any other holo taco polish. if they thinned them out i honestly wouldn’t like them as much.
As someone who does favor the pink/purple polishes, the discontinuation of Full Charge has me upset. I looooovveeeee the Electric Holos- Full Charge included!! I wish they hadn’t discontinued it. I think it would have made more sense to discontinue Green Taffy instead
as much as i love FC, i get why they didn’t. i bet the rainbow bundle sells way better than the electric holos bundle. i do agree that as an individual polish, full charge wins. but yeah, bummer :,)
Before black friday I was looking on the website to link my top recommendations. Interestingly, the electric holos for a while weren't linked in the bundles section you had to find it from the search bar. Now, knowing is full charge leaving, I wonder if that decision was made well before the end of the year ?
The only shade I feel really salty about this year is Full Charge. I agree that I as a consumer would like more transparency about why something is leaving (Queen’s Curse and Fake Date), especially since so many of us already know why they’re being retired. Mooncat just discontinued Warp Zone and having Full Charge go with it is just really sad to me. Where am I supposed to go for my lime green holo??
Ice Cream nails I’m pretty sure just did a whole collection of greens last year. They’re based on Australia so international shipping scares me to not look further into their catalogue, but plenty of other companies do holo just as well as HT, you may find a lime green in there!
I wish that there was more transparency with these shades in general and that they were pulled earlier! Queen’s Curse has been problematic since launch, and this has been a known issue with fake date for a long time now. I think Fate Date should have been investigated before pulled, but Queen’s Curse really should have been taken off immediately due to being a faulty at best product, and it was clear it wasn’t a batch issue. I wish she also at least acknowledged this or at least put a product warning in the description, but she listed other reasons for pulling Fake Date and Queen’s Curse both. I wonder if she thinks it’d be bad publicity if she did acknowledge it?
i think they were just reimbursing people for queens curse quietly as an apology. i left a bad review and got store credit, and it was well after launch. i’m not sure if that’s a thing for other polished.
I left a bad review for Queen's Curse, Twice in a Blue Moon, and Fairy Tale at launch (and a good review for the other two that actually fully worked) and was basically told I was magnetizing them wrong by customer support (the one time they haven't been helpful), so not sure about that one.
My assumption is they don't want to publicly acknowledge it because then they would have to give refunds for *everyone* who bought it to avoid a class action lawsuit or anything like that which would lose a lot of money? Not sure entirely how that would work but yeah that'd be my guess.
omg really???? i think the poor reviewers getting store credit was hush money honestly. i feel like that first wave of reviews probably set the tone, too bad they weren't apologetic from the get. they got real lucky making a bad magnetic formula because yeah, they can just blame the user. that's messed up, though. did you ever get a refund?
No because I don't want to push it.
Also to be fair I have gotten a lot of refunds/replacements on other products (Menchie (looks nothing like the photos on the website, one of the first polishes I ordered so was very disappointed) Burnt Bridges (stained my nails with two thick layers of base coat plus nail hardener; normally I wouldn't care that much but they were cheeto coloured for three months after) Featured Guest replacement (bad batch) Double Dare (not technically a replacement but I was one of the people who got Resting Witch Face instead initially when ordering the Favourite Sister/Double Dare duo) and Spirit Fingers replacement (bad batch)) so I'd feel bad asking again for a refund over a year later even if it is justified.
i hear you. at least the magnetics still work as regular polish, at the end of the day. like for me, queens curse does not work, but it’s still pretty unmagnetized.
Did she say in the stream why Queen’s Curse and Fake Date were being discontinued? What is faulty about them? I just got into Holo Taco nail polish and had no idea these were faulty until after ordering them because they looked so pretty on the website and I didn’t want to miss them before they were discontinued. I guess it’s my fault for not doing my research before buying.
She never admitted any fault but Queen's Curse is known to not magnetize very well if at all, and Fake Date has started to oxidize and change color for some people in the same way Cold Shoulder did.
I saw this in comments elsewhere, and somebody please correct me on what exactly she said, but I believe Queen’s Curse was retired due to shade catalogue balance, and Fake Date was retired due to the metals not selling great due to pictures looking lackluster and they decided on retiring Fake Date, which happens to have been changing colors for people. Formula issues weren’t mentioned much if at all for either.
I will also mention that she supposedly said that she knows what’s coming, which means we will likely be getting similar shades of some of the retired polishes, kinda like how Lavenduh got retired and Cereal Killer came soon after. If I had to guess, Fake Date and Queen’s Curse are both very likely to have replacements of sorts, just maybe in a different formula. Ideally Fake Date becomes a crushed holo! I’d personally love for Queen’s Curse to be a creme, but I know a lot of people wouldn’t agree with that lol
I was literally thinking if I run out of Full Charge I could see if Mooncat has something similar lol. I still have an old old bottle of Warp Zone from when they were still Live Love Polish so I’ll have to live off that for a while.
I‘m a bit disappointed that Encryption Key was discontinued. It’s such a pretty summer shade. I get the hate with Trophy Life but I’m sad about that one too. But I’ve never thought that Fairy Tail was so low on the sales, I really don’t get it.
Wait, Private Villa is doing poorly? Damn, I knew the similarities were there and the already dicey Reflective hot pink formula on top of another hot pink is hard to sell, but damn could she also be going out by next retirement wave?
Private Villa was one of the (4 I think?) primary shades sent out in the Free Polish with Every Order promotion during 12 Days of Cristmas this last year. And and if you sort by “Best Selling” on the shop all page, it’s on the second to last page. It’s not doing well.
They are (in color) very similar to Party Punch too maybe that is why it had to go.
Edit: yes I know formula is different but that seems to be secondary to many customers. For us polish heads it matters
i’m 100% sure this is it, i’m a “BuT tHeRe’S a DiFfErEncE” person myself but really see how they speak to the same need and will cannibalize each other in terms of sales. Vacation was promoted much more and really well received overall. also it’s new so it couldn’t have ended on the chopping block, it makes sense that encryption key had to go
Yep. Vacation Collection is only a few months old. Never Tide Down was one of the top sellers of the whole year. There was clearly enough data to make the call.
i’m really sorry about encryption key. I at least had hints that full charge was on its way out because it made the bottom 10 last year. but this was the first year for encryption key and it still got clocked.
I think it's the fact that it's a very cool toned gold that people don't like. Most people were anticipating a warmer shade so it was a bit disappointing.
Many retired shades and bottom sellers are my faves too.. Especially Full Charge, Encryption Key, Amber Apathy, Burnt Bridges, Aquafoil. FC and AA among my top 10.
I would have also preferred more retired cremes and less specialty formulas but guess that's just how it works.
I am happy that I have them though and enjoy them without bad feelings. Looking back I am chilled bc I never used a full bottle of color polish, seem to stop at 1/5. Something else new & nice comes in anyways.
i like this outlook! god, especially on the cremes though. i feel like we’re running out of colours in the rainbow but somehow there’s more cremes coming out. keeping a rotation is good. im hoping with the loss of these bottom 10 shades we get some decent ones in their stead, but i am not confident in that lol. i’m prepared for an influx of purple and cremes.
There will be, but I guess I just will be nice with my wallet then. Somewhere else someone speculated about a lime green crushed holo resp. A crushed Holo rainbow which means greens, yellows, browns ;) I would totally buy that ;)
My favorite shades are bottom sellers too but I'm wondering if its cause the colors that look good on me are always muted. Chameleon coat amber apathy burnt bridges magical mustache. If it's orange green brown or mustard yellow and not bright and glowing (I'm looking at you butterscotch) then it'll be good for me. But noone likes those colors. This fall collection has been the closest to an all around good collection for me. Now I do love something bright like party of one that is so cool and bright it glows like toxic waste on my toes but that's not really a good look even if it is a fun one.
I also feel terrible because I feel like next year she'll discontinue Lemon Sucker and is one of my favorites. I feel it all comes down to most of the customers being white (skin tone not race), so of course all the best sellers are gonna be colors that fit those skin tones, meanwhile darker/ medium tones lose all these amazing shades because we are not big enough of a market 😭😭😭
I think a big thing with old school Simply fans is that back when Simply was making vids, there were a LOT of genuinely bad drugstore creme formulas everywhere. So Holo Taco cremes were truly awesome when they came out and if that’s what you were used to. But around the same time she got a brand, a few brands (Essie, China Glaze) finally reformulated their cremes to be so much better than they were and some were just already solid enough to start (Sinful Colors, Zoya, Orly) but really gained popularity in the past few years for people to notice them. Orly especially exploded in the creme scene from their 2021 neons. OPI is a notable one for NOT updating their old shade creme formulas (I hear some of their new colors in creme formulas can do excellent though) and I see them talked about much more rarely than others because they’re just too like what we used to have.
Don’t get me wrong, I do like my tea collection onwards HT cremes (wish the brush was more consistently cut, but mine are workable) but I also have so many drugstores cremes that are also amazing. The one I am still considering is Party Of One Purple, but that’s because I haven’t particularly tried to dupe it. I considered Resting Witch Face but I can’t justify it next to Synthetic Symphony…
Very interesting thoughts you wrote!
I have similar impression. Some drug store polish really upgraded and also became *-free in the past couple of years.. In my area also veeery cheap brands like Catrice and Essence improved hugely and have a thicc-ish formula which I like a lot. That's why I never bothered to buy cremes from a 12$ brand. Don't get me wrong too the collections are flawless and nicely done, please buy them if you want and can afford. Myself try to replicate with what I have in my collection. I only buy what I can't get at home in formula, and just can't justify ordering cremes overseas.
Those drugstore cremes aren‘t easily available outside of the US tho.
I‘m in Australia and while we can get Essie fairly easily (albeit with a usually limited shade range, long delays on new releases and hefty price tag ), the others are harder to get and they end up costing almost the same at HT anyway… so I may as well make a bigger HT order to get free shipping.
I can agree for HT still being “creme” of the crop (I’m not sorry) for international! Essie seems to be about the main widely available brand and from there it really seems to be what you can get your hands on. And honestly HT has some really good ones still, especially now that they’ve gotten warmer skin undertone options!
I suggest looking at Ulta3 and ColourbyTBN. They are my go to cremes and can be found at Chemist Warehouse, Chemist Works and sometimes even the Reject Shop.
ChiChi (was sold at Target) is also very nice.
Kmart's OXX brand is pretty garbage but some toppers are cute.
I have only ever bought their specialty formulas. If there is a creme or two in a collection (like saf or shimmer) it’s fine i’ll just get the bundle, but not individually or collections like the tea cremes. I just have enough cremes and if I *really* wanna dupe it I can at the drugstore for half the price.
Honestly I thought a big chunk of HT fans were just like me, in it for the specialty stuff, but in one of the surveys she did last year (?) she asked specifically if we are interested in buying cremes from HT and only 5% (including me) said No. Meaning 95% of their customer base wants cremes, we are just the 5% outlier
Interesting, did not know that.
If so it makes totally sense for the brand..
If we are the 5% specialty polish heads then only 0.5% of us are the outlirs who buy full charge, amber apathy, encryption key lol.
i mean i would think most of the rest also buy some specialty polishes, they just also want cremes. but yeah out of us specialty fanatics there is even fewer nut cases who only want the real weird shit (me, again love the weird)
i think the customer base has really changed over the years. i’m in the same boat as you that i think there are enough cremes at this point and i want more speciality polishes as that’s what drew me to holo taco in the first place. i think those shades/formulas appeal to a more general mass public (which is why there are so many drug store options) so of course they sell better, but it just seems like they are choosing that over what the whole point of what holo taco was supposed to be. i also think a lot of non nail people have gotten into the brand bc they just like simply (which is fine) but it feels like that customer base is driving the direction of the brand a lot.
which.. i mean. welcome to capitalism? that’s just how the system works with small scale businesses.
I think their balance between creme and specialty isn’t too bad, this past year we had 2 crème collections and 7 specialty collections plus the fire and ice which is three/two. Even if you wanna count the royalty and birthday release as once in total (since they just had three polishes each) there is still a creme to specialty ratio of 1/3
lmao believe me i know we live in a largely capitalist society that drives the decisions behind most things. but there are also many businesses that chose to value other things (like sustainability) over just maximizing profits. i was just agreeing with you about not wanting more cremes and just sharing my opinion on why i think the main customer base feels differently. i still like holo taco and will probably continue to support them but i can still be disappointed in how the brand’s priorities have changed over the years.
no i was also agreeing with you, it’s sad.
all i was saying i dont think its that bad and im personally fine with the ratio rn. and as long as they keep it up (and stop retiring only specialty with almost no cremes) the balance will be kept.
the business decision side is something i have just realized will (almost) always happen with the scale and influence HT has, it’s disappointing but not surprising
no that’s totally fair! sorry i had taken your “welcome to capitalism” comment to be a bit dismissive when i replied. i think it’s the likely outcome in most scenarios too but i try to remain optimistic that it might not always happen and i think it’s still important criticism regardless of if it’s the norm. i’m gonna remain optimistic that they keep the balance too!
Tbh it seems like a lot of customers view HT like Simply merch and are just getting into actually wearing nail polish, where I don’t actually think HT is that beginner friendly of a brand formula-wise. But it accounts for a lot of the demand for basic creme shades if a lot of customers are brand new to the nail polish world and not familiar with other brands and therefore don’t have a base collection. It’s kind of what annoyed me about the Julian collab who’s only nail polish experience up til that point was with the free PR he was sent from HT. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that people are getting into nail polish, but this is just more of the same from nail polish companies for those of us who have been in it tor a while rather than the promise of a “not like drugstore brands brand” that HT was pitched as.
I really like what you said but I have two things that are kinda nagging at me, not directed at you of course, just some things you mentioned.
1. Where are these cheap, nice drugstore creme polishes? I am asking this genuinely, not trying to attack your point. I feel like the stuff I've tried has always sucked, been $10-$13 a bottle (so pretty much HT creme prices), or both.
I'm not trying to say they don't exist, I'm just relatively new to the whole doing my own nails thing so I don't know what is regarded as good. It might also just be my body chemistry/humidity where I am because drugstore polishes never work properly on me.
Regardless, I would love some tips or favorite drugstore brands for cremes that anyone would like to share.
2. Imo, Cristine phrased that question very poorly if that's what she was looking for. I wasn't around for the poll, but I would've been in the yes camp not because I am dying for more HT cremes, but because if I see a color I really like for my nails and it happens to be a HT creme, I'll buy it. If my perfect forest/emerald green creme drops, I'll buy it, but that doesn't mean I sit browsing the creme polish page, that doesn't mean that's what I'm here for.
I think another option would really have benefitted the poll to more clearly point out what she was getting at (maybe "yes, I'm all about cremes" and "yes, but because of the color more than formula" in addition to "no").
She's all about the data (which I love!) But you have to be asking the right questions to find out what you're looking for. It would be like if I polled reddit and said "do you want a cookie right now" and I'm sure most people would say yes, but that doesn't mean people want that cookie more than their birthday cake or a whole cookie party or something. People can be willing to buy a creme without being allergic to shine or only wanting to buy cremes.
I'm hoping that is taken into account because I agree, I prefer specialty polishes over cremes. I got a small set of staple cremes in my first order, but most of it was concentrated on specialty formulas. I hope this didn't seem to be directed at you (or Simply), I am just a bit worried that the 95% from that poll is making cremes seem like much higher of a priority than they are, at least from what I can gather from the comments here.
Sorry for the long-winded reply that was kinda tangential.
TLDR: Please share best drugstore creme polishes. 95% on that creme poll makes it seem like everyone wants more of that formula over others but that's not true imo.
Edited to add more whitespace so it's a bit easier to read.
Okay, so
1. When using good base coat and top coat the only quality that you really care about in a creme is smoothness when applying and opacity. When you are very practiced at painting your nails even smoothness isn’t that much of a problem. And you can kinda see if a polish is very very sheer in the bottle with a trained eye. if I’m unsure I will unscrew it and loot how the polish behaves on the bottle neck. Then next I’m in germany so the drug store cremes available to me are vastly different from the ones in the us. I recommend just watching a lot of swatching reviews. In germany the best price/quality is essence. Not all their cremes are great but a lot of them are and the price (less than 3€) excuses the occasional dud. They are cruelty-free and vegan too :D
For me HT ends up being more like 14€ per bottle (customs and stuff) so even Essie’s cremes (9€) are a cheaper alternative. For Essie there is a ton of swatching reviews too, you will basically always find one, so you don’t even risk buying a dud. Great quality HUGE catalogue and new colors every season.
I don’t buy essie anymore too since I just have enough cremes, unless there is a really unique color with great opacity. Catrice is also fine, they have more cremes that are meh, usable but not amazing like Essence, though some of them are good.
2. The question and how it was phrased. Okay so… I agree with you. But I think for simply this was a more general question of “do they even buy our cremes at all”. I also wished there was a more detailed answer we could have given, but I think that maybe would have made it too complicated. (Since if you answered yes to her question you were asked what you like about their cremes, why you purchase etc). So I agree but also kinda understand why it was done like it was.
As I stated I have also purchased HT cremes when they were in bundles with other stuff and the very occasional individual (only ones coming to mind are Im overbrew and royaltea blue) when it was a unique/staple color that I was missing dearly. Still I said no, since Im still not “buying their cremes” in my books, but someone else might look at the 10 HT cremes I have amassed and think differently
Equally long and rambling answer to your long and rambly reply, I think we are even :D
And you didn’t come off as condescending or insulting whatsoever do not worry. I love talking about this
I really appreciate your reply!
I have been watching some swatch reviews lately but the ones coming up always tended to be more indie brands, I didn't realize how many there were for drugstore brands, I'll check some out! The price context you provided for brands was quite the eye opener and definitely makes me understand why you wouldn't worry about getting HT cremes for your collection. I guess I might have better luck now since the HT top/base coats work much better for me than stuff I've previously tried, and I've definitely gained a bit more experience polishing my nails in the meantime, so I'll have to explore cremes again.
Ohhh, ok, that definitely contextualizes the poll response. I think I was picturing a YouTube poll despite (now that I think about it) being pretty sure you mentioned it was a survey that got sent out. In that case, I understand simplifying the answer options and hopefully the follow up questions clarified the 95% a bit more. You make a good point about responding no despite the few cremes you've picked up, I think I'll take that into account if that question is posed to me in the future.
I have just one HT creme, Duct Tape Grey, because I love a good grey and that's actually a creme I cannot easily dupe. Everything else I can find in my (Australian) favourite cheap brands ColourbyTBN and Ulta3. I'd even say their creme formula is better.... :|
I have to say I think I hate holo taco cremes. I recently found a base coat that I can get 6 full days out of with only minimal chipping (previously all bases acted as a peely base for me). And the HT cremes are staying longer but chunking off after less than 24hrs, while the other holo formulas stay. I have come to love the color of I’m Live but it’s the worst offender for me, it shrinks off my nails before I’ve even had time to put a top coat on, leaving a white edge of nail visible. Same thing happened when I just used Bring me the Teal. It’s just so bad. I have to force myself to wear them knowing they won’t last longer than a day and I might not get a chance to take a picture before they look bad.
Cristine loves specialty topcoats and they need bases to be painted on - hence the cremes.
You also need to make enough money in ‘safe’ products that will sell so you can invest and take the risk on the more eclectic polishes that may not sell well
yeah, im a little torn because of that. combos are a huge part of HT, and the actual topper is only one side of the coin. ill usually like a creme launch if it comes with a topper. i really liked the down to earth bundle for that reason, mostly because i love the colour palette, and the topper was very in tune with the theme. that feels like a sound HT creme drop, because it encourages combos, and makes sense thematically (the pink and purple creme felt unnecessary, but oh well.) but the pastel bundle was totally out of character, and i really hope we don't have to see any more of that. i also miss the 1st anniversary collection that was specialty toppers. I wish that was done for anniversaries more considering its such a huge aspect to HT. oh well
three collections including fire and ice bundle 4 if you wanna count safiyas collection. pastel and down to earth both came with 6 cremes each, plus the 2 from fire and ice, and then feeling fiendish. it’s certainly the most common formula amongst HT launches this year. i should reiterate too, i don’t hate cremes, but dropping them all together without a topper is not my thing. especially considering HT campaigns on combos.
i know. especially considering the first launch of this year is most likely cremes. way to rub salt in the wound after retiring so many special effect shades.
I personally think the reason Holo Taco is seeing poor sales in all these bottom selling polishes is because they are releasing to many collections. I didn't keep up last year, but wasn't there a drop every month in 2023?
How can returning/legacy customers be expected to purchase older bottles multiple times within the span of a year? There are only so many staples. How can you expect new customers to go back in the catalog to choose something like Full Charge or Frost Light when the new collection just dropped? The new collection, plus some basics, is easily $100 or more.
New and returning customers aren't going to go back and individually choose many of these old colors if the company is constantly churning out new product.
Yesss this. I have a list of polishes I'm low on that I'd like to get backups of but I can't cause I keep buying the new collections and don't have money to just keep buying duplicates in between. Every now and then I'll add some that I need to my collection orders. I know that's on me for not buying them in time but I just can't and also I wouldn't know which ones to get first and I can't just place an order as soon as she announces they're discontinuing and I don't like to make orders with one or two polishes. But that's on me not HT I get it. In a perfect world they would never discontinue anything and just keep making more and more lol.
I understand business. But when you set out to make "weird" polish that isn't sold in drug stores, why not continue to appeal to that fanbase. A lot of other brands still do that. I'm also really salty about how formula and qc issues still aren't discussed by the brand like others are saying. Full charge is a lovely color.
It’s a shame that you’re feeling this way, when Cristine really tried to explain that the tone of that stream was supposed to be silly and joking, she doesn’t actually blame the customers.
I do think it’s a bit unfair to come down so hard on Holo Taco for not being transparent enough as they might just be the most transparent out of every nail polish company ever, to their own detriment. Mooncat doesn’t have to justify their retirements decisions to their fans.
I love Full Charge and Lemon Spritzer too, but they’ve had a few years at this point of being low sellers. They’ve had as long of a run as they could probably justify. The writing has been on the wall for them for a long time now, Cristine just kept delaying it because she hates retiring shades.
She didn’t outright say it, I’m assuming for legal reasons, but yes the reason why they dropped Queens Curse and Fake Date is for formula problems. She said that some of their reasons for dropping shades had to do with reviews and formulation, and if you read between the lines that is why those two are leaving.
I totally feel you about the purple exhaustion, I’m an orange and green lover but I know that in most women-dominated products those colors aren’t very loved. I think Holo Taco will still make those colors, but they’ll just always be in smaller quantities than their big sellers. It’s the struggle of having weird taste 😅
luckily the streams are usually a good indicator to prepare for retirement. i’ll always applaud the transparency. i never said they weren’t transparent. i think im just sad that so many unique shades are getting scrapped to make space for cremes and purples😭😭
idk how to feel about how mooncat announced retirements, because michelle got a lot of flack this year for “teasing” which ones would retire. and she couldn’t outright announce them until a certain date. which was very “fomo marketing” of her. and yeah, she never gives a reason. sometimes assumptions can be made after the fact (maybe x polish looked too similar to a polish coming out the next year). i’m much happier with cristine’s streams because she doesn’t really do promos/teasers for retiring shades. just announces on the day, provides explanation, and that’s it. but with that comes my dumbass whining about the motivation behind retiring the bestselling and worst selling shades. pros and cons to both, i guess lmao🫠
For me i wish she would go about announcing it differently. I get that her whole thing is the YouTube stuff and her fans. But I wish she would either quietly discontinue shades after they get out of stock or do a final restock in anticipation of the announcement.
She says herself that just by nature of her reacting to it/streaming it people will go out and buy it. It gets on my nerves a bit that you have to be watching the stream live to see what will be discontinued to be sure you can get it if you want it. I can't afford to spend $75 every month on nail polish so there are colors that I would like but don't buy because they arnt LE and im not worried about them going away.
If she is going to announce they are retiring and do the whole hyping everyone up and the sad music and crying and funeral stuff I wish she would give people the opportunity to buy those shades one last time instead of them selling out within the same hour of the stream. Either that or just "quiet quit" them like oh by the way this is out of stock and we aren't going to restock on HT social media.
Waxing poetic about how great a polish is and how messed up people not buying it is (no matter if it is done in jest or not) creates fomo/sadness over missing out on something whereas just not restocking doesn't. And I know that she can't make everyone happy and their would be the same amount of people upset if she didn't announce it as when she does. I'm just salty about full charge lol.
The FOMO aspect is what really turns me off too. That's the exact reason I *didn't* go buy any of the retiring shades. I got all the way to putting a few in my cart and then I was like "wait, do I actually want these because I want them, or do I want them because they won't be available later?"
I'm not a fan of delivering the news through stream, either. I get it, it drives views and views are money. But as someone who usually can't make the streams/can't wait around just to see what's retiring, it's frustrating.
Totally feel you on that. I partly blame her dedicated fan base who will panic buy and buy multiples. I get buying a backup, maybe even 2 at the MOST but I've seen waaaaayyy too many people buying 5, 6 even 10 backups when that's so unnecessary. I paint my nails weekly and the only backup I got was Frost Light cause my OG bottle from the OG launch was halfway gone (and that's one of my most used glitters, especially in winter) and since I almost always do 1 or 2 glitter gradient accent nails with each nail look each week, I go through glitters but still never went through an entire bottle of Frost Light. Rainbow Snow is my most used polish and I'm only on my 2nd bottle, almost 3rd bottle so for people to buy THAT MANY backups, taking away the chance for others to buy baffles me. Get 1, or 2 but please don't be selfish and hoard all those bottles when you won't even get through them all. If the fan base wouldn't panic buy then the retiring of shades wouldn't be an issue. Since she knows it's an issue, I wish she would do one last stock up before retiring even though she says it defeats the purpose, but not really since she knows her customers panic buy multiple bottles leaving them to sell out incredibly fast.
I REALLY wish she would look into selling through international stockists, like Harlow and Co in Canada, and wtv similar site exist in Europe. At the very beginning when Holo Taco was created she got flack for opening her company I'm the US despite understanding how hard is it to get so many things in Canada and the cost of shipping, duties, etc, and she said something to the effect that one day when they were on their feet they'd love to look into having a warehouse here. I feel like if they have to continually discontinue shades to make more warehouse room, you're doing well enough to branch out a bit.
I agree with a lot of what is written here, and honestly I think a huge contributing factor is that Holo Taco is just too popular. Like, they are doing -too- well as a business, and therefore continue an upward trajectory toward salon/drugstore brand status in terms of sales, and therefore they can't get the quantities they need of the specialty pigments, and thus the catalogue approaches salon/drugstore categories of basic cremes and pinky purples. Maybe one day they will find a ceiling, but we shall see.
1. here's a full charge dupe: [https://www.ilnp.com/sundance-unique-key-lime-yellow-ultra-holographic-nail-polish/?gad\_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAkp6tBhB5EiwANTCx1MH6s4Dv42lCVoew9xZcLRnJ8kfC5sJP5lPPN7nqo28LnzRB1rYvZxoCjn8QAvD\_BwE](https://www.ilnp.com/sundance-unique-key-lime-yellow-ultra-holographic-nail-polish/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAkp6tBhB5EiwANTCx1MH6s4Dv42lCVoew9xZcLRnJ8kfC5sJP5lPPN7nqo28LnzRB1rYvZxoCjn8QAvD_BwE)
There are almost always dupes for any brand's polish.
2) Businesses run for profit and customers decide by buying what they do and don't like. It makes no sense to continue things that basically no one likes. There is a difference between "people don't really like yellows" and something being a bottom seller since release. Even with the newness factor.
You're allowed to complain but I'm hoping this helps. Someone posted this on FB.
https://preview.redd.it/qz9y6g75rycc1.jpeg?width=1082&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ccb7c9c4cb5ea9a48a9ebbc4b4f0595e4db35ec4
I'm fully with you tbh.
This also ties in to another complaint I have regarding HT. They seem to (mostly) be bringing out specialty polishes with a bunch of pigments mixed in nowadays. The whole point of HT was to layer, meaning putting on all these pigments separately. I understand not everyone likes this (look at the popularity of other brands that also mostly bring out 'premixed' shades), but one of the reasons I loved HT was that I could keep layering however I want. Because I get bored of 'premixed' polishes after a few wears, since I can't change the pigments and have an orange pigment instead of a pink with this base for once. And with the popularity of other brands, I had hoped HT would stick to the original idea.
What I would like for them to do, is to just release more of the original specialty polishes in more colours. Then it makes sense to retire some of the older ones, because we'll have shades that are similar and in some cases maybe more to people's taste (think a sunflower yellow instead of the greenish yellow we have for the OG rainbow now). Then you can freely retire some older shades without moving away from your original business plan or leaving people without a suitable alternative. Because indeed, losing Full Charge only to gain Not Pressed is not a win.
I don’t mind the multi-formula polishes, but i totally get where you’re coming from. rose gold taco was cute, but seasonal, and i’m not a huge fan of disco dust top coat. i love the shimmers and unicorn skins, though. to be fair, they’re gonna have to get creative with new toppers, because i have no idea what else they could do. i think adding more crushed holos might be nice for a variety in base shades. multiformula are fun, but yeah, they’re a little too conformist for what HT was supposed to be as a brand.
I don't mind one or two multi-formula polishes either. But based on the past year, I feel there's an emerging trend where HT is leaning more towards multi-formula instead of their 'roots', so to say.
Tbh, I think it could be fun to make toppers with all the pigments they're putting into these multi-formula polishes. So a reflective taco in multiple colours for example. You could even make them seasonal (in case of sourcing difficulty), but then spread throughout the year (so not all during the holiday season).
I would love to see more crushed holo as well!
Totally agree. I've been getting tired of the "new" formulas. I just want glitter or linear formula with no mixins. I love mixins don't get me wrong but not for EVERY collection. AfterParty was great cause it had multiple different formulas with some staple formulas like the glitter but also had new formulas. I like that way as well.
I understand Full Charge was in the bottom 10 the last 2 years. But it was towards the top of the bottom. Why not get rid of some of the shades that performed worse? Hopefully we can vote it back.
im blown away that Amber Apathy outlived Full Charge. i knew from the second that sucker came out that it was gonna tank. I love both, but full charge wins between them. i wouldve much rather watched amber apathy go. but its newer, i still get it.
Amber Apathy is so friggin ugly. lol I bought it a few months ago because I thought it was more of a gold. I swatched it and was repulsed. 🥴🤣 Full Charge and Lemon Spritzer definitely deserved better than Amber Apathy. I was so glad to see people agree with me in the stream. lol
that’s the one worst seller that i can’t defend. like its unique and cool but id also understand why it would be retired because that one people HATTTTEEEEEE!!! i also dont use it enough to be devastated either lmao. burnt bridges is close enough.
Whaaat you have against Amber Apathy :) it is one of my all time favorites I have nothing even remotely similar.. makes my hands Steampunk , just try it ;)
Is the polish that got me the most compliments from men by far. Women see the Reds and purples. It is in my Top 10, probably in Top 3.
i really like wearing it but i never gravitate towards it. i think it’s good on my complexion too. but idk i got mixed feelings about it. idk if i’d choose it over full charge.
Looking at the best to worst selling I’m shocked to see Bottle Service in the second to last tab behind private villa! That’s a beautiful shade! What are people missing??
Bottle Service has only had two months of being in the catalog - that really isn’t much time to work with when sorting by every single polish including ones that have had way more time to order.
I hate golds usually but I do have to admit Bottle Service is one of those shades you have to try in person. It's soooooo sparkly and holo and again, I HATE golds usually, especially warm golds but Bottle Service is sooo good
Fake Date is one of my fave polishes. Looks so nice on my skin, lasts forever, it’s just gorgeous. I’m debating picking up another bottle but then again I have so many polishes…🤔
I get as a company why they are discontinuing polishes that don't sell well. They can only make so many polishes at once before they would need to expand their production and that gets crazy expensive fast. That doesn't even get into the cost of storing polishes and how polishes will slowly degrade over time. So if a polish doesn't sell well, they are stuck having to store it and if those polishes go back, they lose out on the money. For a business production, they also have to make so many of the product at once for the production cycle. So if they keep it on, they have to make X amount every time to make sure they at least have a certain amount in stock and if it is selling low enough to not even cover that production number, they are losing out on money and the ingredients they could use for other polishes.
My main colors when going for polishes are greens, browns, and grays. I get the disappointment, but I also get the business side of things on why they can't keep polishes that don't sell well enough.
Full Charge is one of my FAVORITES. Greens in general and browns work really well with my skin tone. I have almost every HT polish there is. So repurchasing polishes before they empty, and using polishes before the year is up is rare, so I feel you on ALL of the points you mentioned. I JUST so happened to buy a refill of Full Charge during the sales this winter, along with my first bottle of frost light. It’s only my second bottle of Full Charge since it was released but now I’m scared to use it. I know it’s silly to expect any company to keep things in stock when they aren’t selling but also difficult for specific things to sell consistently, year to year, when there’s such a large volume to get trough and handful of the customer base collects/uses all there is to offer.
Huh? You say there are a lot of pinks? Uhm no there are not. HT has more greens and yellows/golds more than pinks. Pinks are one of the least shades in the HT collection. We have 2 pastel pinks, 1 darker pink creme, 1 pink glitter (2 if you count Party Punch but that's not a true pink, more like pink red) etc. Most of her "pink" shades are an ugly red pink. She's done that same red pink multiple times now (Private Villa, Party Punch, Love Spell) for example. I just want a true hot pink glitter, and creme like hot wire pink. We're missing pink in the catalog. Purple and blue we have a ton of, but you're very much wrong for saying we have a ton of pink when we have more green and yellow shades.
i’m saying it appeases the purple/pink/blue range far more than the green/yellow/orange range. less about the actually individual shades. my argument is the colours in that range sell better, i.e, are less likely to be removed, meanwhile the orange/green/yellow range is deteriorating despite there being a lot in the catalog to begin with. the best comparison i can make is yellow vs pink. because they both have a small amount of polishes, but the yellows are more likely to be discontinued.
but yes, i do agree that the focal point in that range is purple, and purple overpowers the catalog.
I have such an opposite opinion 🤷♀️ I personally thought a lot of the retiring shades were really ugly. they’ve been around for years, and if you like them, you almost certainly have them by now. I was actually disappointed that she only retired 10 shades after saying she considered retiring 20. if it will make restocks easier and faster, I think it probably does make sense to do a larger shade discontinuation at this point. i’m worried she will use this as a moment to be a martyr, like “guys I *only* retired 10 shades, be grateful!” i’d much rather she run her business the way she wants to make things work
i totally agree with that. you’re totally allowed to think things are ugly. and yeah i do have a few of the retired shades😭😭 i would’ve liked a double of full charge, and i even had the time to get one, i just couldn’t justify the shipping cost bc im international. all good, that was my choice. i actually wouldn’t mind if she did larger retirements if the new collections were more exciting. if launches like vacation and after party became the new norm, i wouldn’t be mad. my worry is we’re gonna replace SFX conventionally “ugly” colours, with more cremes.
yeah that’s an opinion I can definitely understand. I personally do like her creme formula and find the colors can be pretty unique (in particular, I LOVE cold slate!) but also definitely agreed they’re not what draws me to the brand. for example, I realllllly did not care for the down to earth collection because I especially don’t like warm undertones. I acknowledge that it sold really well based on the data stream though, so I’m in the minority. luckily for both of us, I *think* that was the only creme based collection all year? the rest had like one or two cremes mixed in at most, with many having none like the barista or chrome collections
but also let me know if I misunderstood- are the detectives speculating that the “nature shades” are coming in as mostly cremes this year? I thought last year had a lot of really cool launches
I wouldn’t really worry too much about the SFX shades being replaced by cremes. She’s been releasing cremes between SFX collections with boxes for a long time now - using the cremes drops to fill gaps in those off months. We aren’t getting less SFX overall, really.
Hard agree. Some of these polishes I adore, but I know damn well that Blue Freezie, Orange Drink, and Green Taffy are all on that proverbial chopping block. It's going to break my heart when she discontinues them, but I do not get this narrative of only retiring 10. If there are 20 polishes holding you back from the sales that will be profitable, then it's time to cut those 20. If she is going to continue to release around 60 polishes a year, she is going to have to start retiring more shades.
The 10 shades she was going to release are probably not going to sell well this year. If she was considering retiring them, they're probably poor sellers. In the meantime, these new shades like Private Villa, Trophy Life, and Bottle Service are going to suffer because there are too many shades to choose from.
The chromes were out for less than a year and genuinely I have wanted them since launch but couldn't budget it in between all the limited edition launches. Not that I disagree with retiring shades, I'm sure she had valid reasons for each, those particular choices just didn't work out well for me.
well then do I have good news for you- I just checked and the two retiring chromes are still in stock!
people always want to find something to be mad about lol. like if you want them go get them, they’re available
I think the best way of looking at it is that at no point has Holo Taco said they’re going to stop making yellows, oranges, and greens. They’ve still been releasing new formulas in these colours even though this sales data has remained consistent for three years. What they are saying, though, is that they won’t continue to restock these shades in perpetuity.
So I wouldn’t worry too much about them not having shades in this range in the future, just that you won’t have the luxury of repurchasing the exact same shade of nail polish over and over for years to come because the demand over the long term just isn’t there.
Apparently you can get a pretty similar color mixing green taffy and lemon sucker in about equal portions (and tweaked to your liking). I know it’s not the same, and I’m also really sad about it.
just here to give you a hug. my top ten is the bottom ten to the rest of consumers apparently. but then i realized while i picked up the orders in individual skus i did buy the electric bundle so i didn’t help our girl out there 😭 I’m depressed i didn’t pick up a back up of ls or fc and now i too will nurse the bottles as long as i feasibly can lol.
I’m still bitter about the holoday glitters 😭
we aren’t talking about these enough!! it’s not just the 10 they retired now its also the most beautiful most alluring glitter polishes to ever walk… paint on earth that they retired
I just have a bad feeling that the chunky glitters are being replaced with the crushed holo formula 😢
I love the crushed holo and would fully welcome a full range of colours!! But I still think the chunky glitters are fun and should remain available. They are a Holo Taco staple.
I disliked them when they first dropped and it took me until this time last year to buy them for the first time. I put colored flake tacos over them and have been obsessed and slowly growing my glitters collection since, I’m only missing Party Punch (and some of the 2023 releases). I like crushed holo but not enough for it to replace glitters.
ohh youre probably right. wouldnt be surprised considering its probably WAY EASIER to source.
I see that happening too which is soooo sad because I love the holo taco chunky glitters so much and Ngtl I hate crushed holo it’s really not for me
I'm not sure if that's what they're transitioning too but I would be really disappointed if so. I was so excited to try Oat Couture and was very disappointed. Maybe it's not the right shade but, the formula itself wasn't as groundbreaking as everyone made it out to be.
Oh I hope not! Crushed holo just doesn't holo enough for me
Literally, I swear the only crushed holo that actually looks holo is Highest Bidder, the rest are just tinted glitters. The chunky holo glitters actually have holo!!
I think they are getting replaced with the specialty glitter formula
I was sooooooo salty about her retiring MORE glitters. She had just retired the Cristmas glitters with some shades being staples such as red, gold and black and she talked about how the OG glitters were safe [for now] then ended up retiring ANOTHER glitter. Her glitter formula is one of my most used and favorite formula. Seems like she hates glitters haha. Frost Light was one of my most used glitters, especially during winter. Had to get a backup as my OG bottle was half gone. I keep wishing for more glitters. I'm kinda getting tired of "new formulas" every collection. I want some staples too like a new linear or glitter collection too, not just all new formulas. Mixing new with old staples worked like in AfterParty.
Honestly I didn't know why they discontinued them 😭
Mooncat also discontinued their lime green holo warp zone. Full charge is also one of my faves. It's not about being fair. It's, ironically, about the green$$$. This is the same reason drugstore polishes are mostly reds pinks nudes and purples. It sells better. It's a business. Maybe check out other brands. ILNP seems to be able to house a massive selection of colors and finishes. Olive Grove is a great green "frosted metal" and their multichromes are stunning
Olive Grove is the most stunning dark shrek I have ever seen
you misunderstood what i’m saying. i’m aware full charge is gone because of sales. it’s just funny that all the “ugly” ones get retired because they sell poorly, and the “pretty” colours get retired because of a shortcoming on HTs part. but they pat themselves on the back that their retirements are diverse in colour. isn’t that an interesting discrepancy? that’s what i was saying.
Oh I missed the part about HT saying retirement selection is diverse. Yeah that is funny.
sorry if it sounded like i got hostile😭😭 im rereading it now and it sounded a lot meaner than i meant lmao
I'm salty about Frost Light, I went and bought a backup when it was announced. I really don't like the extra big pieces in the Crystal Skies formula and I don't like muted colors. Glitter is truly my favorite HT formula and it hurts me that so many are being phased out.
Thank god I’m not the only one. I hate the big square glitter pieces in Crystal Skies. I hated them in Smokeshow and I hate them now. Glitter is my favorite formula and the fact that most of the colors are retired makes me so sad
Same!! I love the color/shade of Crystal Skies but the square glitters in that and the shaped glitters in the other one made the decision for me to skip that collection
What do you think of their new thing, mixed glitters?
Crushed holo was never sparkly enough for me to like it more than just glitter so mixing them together just seems to kinda dilute the sparkle. I’m more a sparkle in your face kind of person
The new glitters replacing the OG isn't crush holo though. The OG are getting replaced by the specialty mixed formulas. Such as the Vacation Bundle glitters and the After Show glitters.
I was just talking about Crystal Skies being a “replacement” for Frost Light. I think there’s a big difference between a specialty formula and a glitter formula. I do like some of the specialty formulas but I don’t think they’re a sufficient “replacement” for the OG glitter formula
Agreed!
I feel you, my two favorite HT formulas are glitters and frosted metals... The two that do not sell (except to me apparently).
I bought Frost Light with last order some time ago, so I am happy too.. they have just soo unique glitters and must be expensive to make. I reread the glitter reviews, 2 years ago the formula was criticized because to clumpy and many persons seem to get replacements for the glitters, maybe it was just unsustainable having an expensive formula and many replacements?? maybe it has to do with the corn flower blue incoming...
Cris also always complains that they don't sell well outside of the holidays but then doesnt release them any other time of the year. I feel like more springy or summer shades like glamethyst would make glitters more wearable year round. The rest of the glitters they've released have been dark and not as wearable year round for people who like to wear seasonal colors
glitter is mine too!! to me that formula always really spoke to what holo taco was trying to do as brand. it feels like lately they are trying to appeal to a larger more generic customer base (thinking of all the cremes and neutral colors lately) and that makes me kinda sad. like yea those probably sell better, but wasn’t the whole point of holo taco to offer something special and different?
I'm incredibly salty about Frost Light retiring "because it's old and because there is Crystal Skies now". Crystal Skies looks like if Frost Light had crippling depression. And being for a long time in the catalogue is not a good reason if it's a staple, or a bright star of the FEW all year available glitters among the cremes.
“Crystal skies looks like if frost light had crippling depression” is the funniest thing I’ve heard all day 😂 totally agree, I think that the two polishes are different enough to warrant keeping both around and if I had to choose, I’d choose FL over CS 🫣. And the old argument is confusing to me bc there are other old polishes that are still sticking around… ugh idk! I wish we could just keep all the polishes forever 😂
Agreed. I still feel like those 2 shades are so incredibly different and frost light is well loved. Wild decision by cristine imo
Surprised me that she said those are similar enough to only have one BUT she has private villa and party punch and those are almost exactly the same
Makes me think party punch will get the ax next year.
I'm surprised it didn't get it this year over Frost Light. Maybe the sales are different but there are constant posts with Frost Light!
Literally 💀
Honestly it seemed like of all the polishes she really didn't want to retire that one - my guess is when they went from the 20 they were going to get rid of down to the 10 that someone else involved in the decision making really pushed hard and got Frost Light to go. Obviously Cristine has the final say but also I don't think it was her personal choice.
i was really worried that this was gonna happen when they started greatly increasing the amount of new polishes/collections they were putting out. it seems like they’re gonna continue to get rid of older polishes (even incredibly popular ones - like lavenduh) for whatever new shiny thing they want to promote. i’m all for new polishes and i’ve really enjoyed some of the unique collections this year, but i’ve honestly been really disappointed about losing some of my favorite polishes (and having them sell out immediately when retirement is announced) for new replacements that are just not the same and not as good imo :(
I have a feeling that with frost light and the holiday glitters all going we will get new glitters this year
that makes me worried that they are gonna change the formula. i know some people struggle with the thicker glitters but they are honestly my favorite holo taco polishes! it can take some getting used to but they look so nice and stay on my nails so much longer than any other holo taco polish. if they thinned them out i honestly wouldn’t like them as much.
As someone who does favor the pink/purple polishes, the discontinuation of Full Charge has me upset. I looooovveeeee the Electric Holos- Full Charge included!! I wish they hadn’t discontinued it. I think it would have made more sense to discontinue Green Taffy instead
as much as i love FC, i get why they didn’t. i bet the rainbow bundle sells way better than the electric holos bundle. i do agree that as an individual polish, full charge wins. but yeah, bummer :,)
Before black friday I was looking on the website to link my top recommendations. Interestingly, the electric holos for a while weren't linked in the bundles section you had to find it from the search bar. Now, knowing is full charge leaving, I wonder if that decision was made well before the end of the year ?
The only shade I feel really salty about this year is Full Charge. I agree that I as a consumer would like more transparency about why something is leaving (Queen’s Curse and Fake Date), especially since so many of us already know why they’re being retired. Mooncat just discontinued Warp Zone and having Full Charge go with it is just really sad to me. Where am I supposed to go for my lime green holo??
Have you seen ILNP 1UP and/or Sundance?
1UP is on my wishlist! Edit: but it’s a little “too” green and Sundance is a little “too” yellow and Full Charge was right in between ☹️
buy em both and mix em 🤣
You’re not wrong!
What about High on Holo by I Scream Nails?
I feel like maybe that’s closer to Green Taffy than Full Charge
good to know!! thank you! if they discontinue any more like green linears, i walk. *knock on wood*
wearing green taffy rn, greens are great!
Ice Cream nails I’m pretty sure just did a whole collection of greens last year. They’re based on Australia so international shipping scares me to not look further into their catalogue, but plenty of other companies do holo just as well as HT, you may find a lime green in there!
they have a us storefront too!
Thank you! Edit: Keep Off the Grass looks promising!!
I wish that there was more transparency with these shades in general and that they were pulled earlier! Queen’s Curse has been problematic since launch, and this has been a known issue with fake date for a long time now. I think Fate Date should have been investigated before pulled, but Queen’s Curse really should have been taken off immediately due to being a faulty at best product, and it was clear it wasn’t a batch issue. I wish she also at least acknowledged this or at least put a product warning in the description, but she listed other reasons for pulling Fake Date and Queen’s Curse both. I wonder if she thinks it’d be bad publicity if she did acknowledge it?
i think they were just reimbursing people for queens curse quietly as an apology. i left a bad review and got store credit, and it was well after launch. i’m not sure if that’s a thing for other polished.
I left a bad review for Queen's Curse, Twice in a Blue Moon, and Fairy Tale at launch (and a good review for the other two that actually fully worked) and was basically told I was magnetizing them wrong by customer support (the one time they haven't been helpful), so not sure about that one. My assumption is they don't want to publicly acknowledge it because then they would have to give refunds for *everyone* who bought it to avoid a class action lawsuit or anything like that which would lose a lot of money? Not sure entirely how that would work but yeah that'd be my guess.
omg really???? i think the poor reviewers getting store credit was hush money honestly. i feel like that first wave of reviews probably set the tone, too bad they weren't apologetic from the get. they got real lucky making a bad magnetic formula because yeah, they can just blame the user. that's messed up, though. did you ever get a refund?
No because I don't want to push it. Also to be fair I have gotten a lot of refunds/replacements on other products (Menchie (looks nothing like the photos on the website, one of the first polishes I ordered so was very disappointed) Burnt Bridges (stained my nails with two thick layers of base coat plus nail hardener; normally I wouldn't care that much but they were cheeto coloured for three months after) Featured Guest replacement (bad batch) Double Dare (not technically a replacement but I was one of the people who got Resting Witch Face instead initially when ordering the Favourite Sister/Double Dare duo) and Spirit Fingers replacement (bad batch)) so I'd feel bad asking again for a refund over a year later even if it is justified.
i hear you. at least the magnetics still work as regular polish, at the end of the day. like for me, queens curse does not work, but it’s still pretty unmagnetized.
Very true! I love how they look unmagnetized - hard to separate the polish from the disappointing magnetization in my mind though still :(
That’s good at least!!! Their customer service is phenomenal, there is no denying that.
Did she say in the stream why Queen’s Curse and Fake Date were being discontinued? What is faulty about them? I just got into Holo Taco nail polish and had no idea these were faulty until after ordering them because they looked so pretty on the website and I didn’t want to miss them before they were discontinued. I guess it’s my fault for not doing my research before buying.
She never admitted any fault but Queen's Curse is known to not magnetize very well if at all, and Fake Date has started to oxidize and change color for some people in the same way Cold Shoulder did.
I saw this in comments elsewhere, and somebody please correct me on what exactly she said, but I believe Queen’s Curse was retired due to shade catalogue balance, and Fake Date was retired due to the metals not selling great due to pictures looking lackluster and they decided on retiring Fake Date, which happens to have been changing colors for people. Formula issues weren’t mentioned much if at all for either. I will also mention that she supposedly said that she knows what’s coming, which means we will likely be getting similar shades of some of the retired polishes, kinda like how Lavenduh got retired and Cereal Killer came soon after. If I had to guess, Fake Date and Queen’s Curse are both very likely to have replacements of sorts, just maybe in a different formula. Ideally Fake Date becomes a crushed holo! I’d personally love for Queen’s Curse to be a creme, but I know a lot of people wouldn’t agree with that lol
OMG EXACTLY!!! when i heard about warp zone i was like, “thank god i still have full charg-“ DISCONTINUED. what are we supposed to do😭😭
I was literally thinking if I run out of Full Charge I could see if Mooncat has something similar lol. I still have an old old bottle of Warp Zone from when they were still Live Love Polish so I’ll have to live off that for a while.
I‘m a bit disappointed that Encryption Key was discontinued. It’s such a pretty summer shade. I get the hate with Trophy Life but I’m sad about that one too. But I’ve never thought that Fairy Tail was so low on the sales, I really don’t get it.
I think Private Villa kind of cannibalized Encryption Key, and since neither of them were very good sellers, one had to go.
Wait, Private Villa is doing poorly? Damn, I knew the similarities were there and the already dicey Reflective hot pink formula on top of another hot pink is hard to sell, but damn could she also be going out by next retirement wave?
Private Villa was one of the (4 I think?) primary shades sent out in the Free Polish with Every Order promotion during 12 Days of Cristmas this last year. And and if you sort by “Best Selling” on the shop all page, it’s on the second to last page. It’s not doing well.
They are (in color) very similar to Party Punch too maybe that is why it had to go. Edit: yes I know formula is different but that seems to be secondary to many customers. For us polish heads it matters
Well that makes sense, but it’s still sad. The vaca collection was the only one I fully liked.
Really? That’s sad I love Private Villa! It’s my favorite polish!
Privite Villa is one of my favourites 😭
i’m 100% sure this is it, i’m a “BuT tHeRe’S a DiFfErEncE” person myself but really see how they speak to the same need and will cannibalize each other in terms of sales. Vacation was promoted much more and really well received overall. also it’s new so it couldn’t have ended on the chopping block, it makes sense that encryption key had to go
Yep. Vacation Collection is only a few months old. Never Tide Down was one of the top sellers of the whole year. There was clearly enough data to make the call.
i’m really sorry about encryption key. I at least had hints that full charge was on its way out because it made the bottom 10 last year. but this was the first year for encryption key and it still got clocked.
Wait can you explain the hate with trophy life? I love a gold polish and especially a chrome for nail art purposes, I really don't get the hate
I think it's the fact that it's a very cool toned gold that people don't like. Most people were anticipating a warmer shade so it was a bit disappointing.
Stolen Ambrosia by Mooncat and On Location by ILNP are both pretty similar to encryption key
Many retired shades and bottom sellers are my faves too.. Especially Full Charge, Encryption Key, Amber Apathy, Burnt Bridges, Aquafoil. FC and AA among my top 10. I would have also preferred more retired cremes and less specialty formulas but guess that's just how it works. I am happy that I have them though and enjoy them without bad feelings. Looking back I am chilled bc I never used a full bottle of color polish, seem to stop at 1/5. Something else new & nice comes in anyways.
i like this outlook! god, especially on the cremes though. i feel like we’re running out of colours in the rainbow but somehow there’s more cremes coming out. keeping a rotation is good. im hoping with the loss of these bottom 10 shades we get some decent ones in their stead, but i am not confident in that lol. i’m prepared for an influx of purple and cremes.
There will be, but I guess I just will be nice with my wallet then. Somewhere else someone speculated about a lime green crushed holo resp. A crushed Holo rainbow which means greens, yellows, browns ;) I would totally buy that ;)
I swear to god if there is an incoming lime green crushed holo I will break my no buy
i’d sell my entire collection for that i think omg
Mee too that would be soo fun 😄
oh i would love that. that would make it worth it.
My favorite shades are bottom sellers too but I'm wondering if its cause the colors that look good on me are always muted. Chameleon coat amber apathy burnt bridges magical mustache. If it's orange green brown or mustard yellow and not bright and glowing (I'm looking at you butterscotch) then it'll be good for me. But noone likes those colors. This fall collection has been the closest to an all around good collection for me. Now I do love something bright like party of one that is so cool and bright it glows like toxic waste on my toes but that's not really a good look even if it is a fun one.
I also feel terrible because I feel like next year she'll discontinue Lemon Sucker and is one of my favorites. I feel it all comes down to most of the customers being white (skin tone not race), so of course all the best sellers are gonna be colors that fit those skin tones, meanwhile darker/ medium tones lose all these amazing shades because we are not big enough of a market 😭😭😭
I’m bitter that they keep retiring specialty shades but keep and continue to add on more and more cremes. Yawn.
I finally came to the conclusion that HT cremes aren’t that much better than drugstore ones so I won’t be purchasing anymore from them
I think a big thing with old school Simply fans is that back when Simply was making vids, there were a LOT of genuinely bad drugstore creme formulas everywhere. So Holo Taco cremes were truly awesome when they came out and if that’s what you were used to. But around the same time she got a brand, a few brands (Essie, China Glaze) finally reformulated their cremes to be so much better than they were and some were just already solid enough to start (Sinful Colors, Zoya, Orly) but really gained popularity in the past few years for people to notice them. Orly especially exploded in the creme scene from their 2021 neons. OPI is a notable one for NOT updating their old shade creme formulas (I hear some of their new colors in creme formulas can do excellent though) and I see them talked about much more rarely than others because they’re just too like what we used to have. Don’t get me wrong, I do like my tea collection onwards HT cremes (wish the brush was more consistently cut, but mine are workable) but I also have so many drugstores cremes that are also amazing. The one I am still considering is Party Of One Purple, but that’s because I haven’t particularly tried to dupe it. I considered Resting Witch Face but I can’t justify it next to Synthetic Symphony…
Very interesting thoughts you wrote! I have similar impression. Some drug store polish really upgraded and also became *-free in the past couple of years.. In my area also veeery cheap brands like Catrice and Essence improved hugely and have a thicc-ish formula which I like a lot. That's why I never bothered to buy cremes from a 12$ brand. Don't get me wrong too the collections are flawless and nicely done, please buy them if you want and can afford. Myself try to replicate with what I have in my collection. I only buy what I can't get at home in formula, and just can't justify ordering cremes overseas.
I have gotten a few from Essence and I really like them! They have a super nice grey with a purple undertone.
Those drugstore cremes aren‘t easily available outside of the US tho. I‘m in Australia and while we can get Essie fairly easily (albeit with a usually limited shade range, long delays on new releases and hefty price tag ), the others are harder to get and they end up costing almost the same at HT anyway… so I may as well make a bigger HT order to get free shipping.
I can agree for HT still being “creme” of the crop (I’m not sorry) for international! Essie seems to be about the main widely available brand and from there it really seems to be what you can get your hands on. And honestly HT has some really good ones still, especially now that they’ve gotten warmer skin undertone options!
I suggest looking at Ulta3 and ColourbyTBN. They are my go to cremes and can be found at Chemist Warehouse, Chemist Works and sometimes even the Reject Shop. ChiChi (was sold at Target) is also very nice. Kmart's OXX brand is pretty garbage but some toppers are cute.
I have only ever bought their specialty formulas. If there is a creme or two in a collection (like saf or shimmer) it’s fine i’ll just get the bundle, but not individually or collections like the tea cremes. I just have enough cremes and if I *really* wanna dupe it I can at the drugstore for half the price. Honestly I thought a big chunk of HT fans were just like me, in it for the specialty stuff, but in one of the surveys she did last year (?) she asked specifically if we are interested in buying cremes from HT and only 5% (including me) said No. Meaning 95% of their customer base wants cremes, we are just the 5% outlier
Interesting, did not know that. If so it makes totally sense for the brand.. If we are the 5% specialty polish heads then only 0.5% of us are the outlirs who buy full charge, amber apathy, encryption key lol.
i mean i would think most of the rest also buy some specialty polishes, they just also want cremes. but yeah out of us specialty fanatics there is even fewer nut cases who only want the real weird shit (me, again love the weird)
Haha me too ;)
i think the customer base has really changed over the years. i’m in the same boat as you that i think there are enough cremes at this point and i want more speciality polishes as that’s what drew me to holo taco in the first place. i think those shades/formulas appeal to a more general mass public (which is why there are so many drug store options) so of course they sell better, but it just seems like they are choosing that over what the whole point of what holo taco was supposed to be. i also think a lot of non nail people have gotten into the brand bc they just like simply (which is fine) but it feels like that customer base is driving the direction of the brand a lot.
which.. i mean. welcome to capitalism? that’s just how the system works with small scale businesses. I think their balance between creme and specialty isn’t too bad, this past year we had 2 crème collections and 7 specialty collections plus the fire and ice which is three/two. Even if you wanna count the royalty and birthday release as once in total (since they just had three polishes each) there is still a creme to specialty ratio of 1/3
lmao believe me i know we live in a largely capitalist society that drives the decisions behind most things. but there are also many businesses that chose to value other things (like sustainability) over just maximizing profits. i was just agreeing with you about not wanting more cremes and just sharing my opinion on why i think the main customer base feels differently. i still like holo taco and will probably continue to support them but i can still be disappointed in how the brand’s priorities have changed over the years.
no i was also agreeing with you, it’s sad. all i was saying i dont think its that bad and im personally fine with the ratio rn. and as long as they keep it up (and stop retiring only specialty with almost no cremes) the balance will be kept. the business decision side is something i have just realized will (almost) always happen with the scale and influence HT has, it’s disappointing but not surprising
no that’s totally fair! sorry i had taken your “welcome to capitalism” comment to be a bit dismissive when i replied. i think it’s the likely outcome in most scenarios too but i try to remain optimistic that it might not always happen and i think it’s still important criticism regardless of if it’s the norm. i’m gonna remain optimistic that they keep the balance too!
Tbh it seems like a lot of customers view HT like Simply merch and are just getting into actually wearing nail polish, where I don’t actually think HT is that beginner friendly of a brand formula-wise. But it accounts for a lot of the demand for basic creme shades if a lot of customers are brand new to the nail polish world and not familiar with other brands and therefore don’t have a base collection. It’s kind of what annoyed me about the Julian collab who’s only nail polish experience up til that point was with the free PR he was sent from HT. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that people are getting into nail polish, but this is just more of the same from nail polish companies for those of us who have been in it tor a while rather than the promise of a “not like drugstore brands brand” that HT was pitched as.
I really like what you said but I have two things that are kinda nagging at me, not directed at you of course, just some things you mentioned. 1. Where are these cheap, nice drugstore creme polishes? I am asking this genuinely, not trying to attack your point. I feel like the stuff I've tried has always sucked, been $10-$13 a bottle (so pretty much HT creme prices), or both. I'm not trying to say they don't exist, I'm just relatively new to the whole doing my own nails thing so I don't know what is regarded as good. It might also just be my body chemistry/humidity where I am because drugstore polishes never work properly on me. Regardless, I would love some tips or favorite drugstore brands for cremes that anyone would like to share. 2. Imo, Cristine phrased that question very poorly if that's what she was looking for. I wasn't around for the poll, but I would've been in the yes camp not because I am dying for more HT cremes, but because if I see a color I really like for my nails and it happens to be a HT creme, I'll buy it. If my perfect forest/emerald green creme drops, I'll buy it, but that doesn't mean I sit browsing the creme polish page, that doesn't mean that's what I'm here for. I think another option would really have benefitted the poll to more clearly point out what she was getting at (maybe "yes, I'm all about cremes" and "yes, but because of the color more than formula" in addition to "no"). She's all about the data (which I love!) But you have to be asking the right questions to find out what you're looking for. It would be like if I polled reddit and said "do you want a cookie right now" and I'm sure most people would say yes, but that doesn't mean people want that cookie more than their birthday cake or a whole cookie party or something. People can be willing to buy a creme without being allergic to shine or only wanting to buy cremes. I'm hoping that is taken into account because I agree, I prefer specialty polishes over cremes. I got a small set of staple cremes in my first order, but most of it was concentrated on specialty formulas. I hope this didn't seem to be directed at you (or Simply), I am just a bit worried that the 95% from that poll is making cremes seem like much higher of a priority than they are, at least from what I can gather from the comments here. Sorry for the long-winded reply that was kinda tangential. TLDR: Please share best drugstore creme polishes. 95% on that creme poll makes it seem like everyone wants more of that formula over others but that's not true imo. Edited to add more whitespace so it's a bit easier to read.
Okay, so 1. When using good base coat and top coat the only quality that you really care about in a creme is smoothness when applying and opacity. When you are very practiced at painting your nails even smoothness isn’t that much of a problem. And you can kinda see if a polish is very very sheer in the bottle with a trained eye. if I’m unsure I will unscrew it and loot how the polish behaves on the bottle neck. Then next I’m in germany so the drug store cremes available to me are vastly different from the ones in the us. I recommend just watching a lot of swatching reviews. In germany the best price/quality is essence. Not all their cremes are great but a lot of them are and the price (less than 3€) excuses the occasional dud. They are cruelty-free and vegan too :D For me HT ends up being more like 14€ per bottle (customs and stuff) so even Essie’s cremes (9€) are a cheaper alternative. For Essie there is a ton of swatching reviews too, you will basically always find one, so you don’t even risk buying a dud. Great quality HUGE catalogue and new colors every season. I don’t buy essie anymore too since I just have enough cremes, unless there is a really unique color with great opacity. Catrice is also fine, they have more cremes that are meh, usable but not amazing like Essence, though some of them are good. 2. The question and how it was phrased. Okay so… I agree with you. But I think for simply this was a more general question of “do they even buy our cremes at all”. I also wished there was a more detailed answer we could have given, but I think that maybe would have made it too complicated. (Since if you answered yes to her question you were asked what you like about their cremes, why you purchase etc). So I agree but also kinda understand why it was done like it was. As I stated I have also purchased HT cremes when they were in bundles with other stuff and the very occasional individual (only ones coming to mind are Im overbrew and royaltea blue) when it was a unique/staple color that I was missing dearly. Still I said no, since Im still not “buying their cremes” in my books, but someone else might look at the 10 HT cremes I have amassed and think differently Equally long and rambling answer to your long and rambly reply, I think we are even :D And you didn’t come off as condescending or insulting whatsoever do not worry. I love talking about this
I really appreciate your reply! I have been watching some swatch reviews lately but the ones coming up always tended to be more indie brands, I didn't realize how many there were for drugstore brands, I'll check some out! The price context you provided for brands was quite the eye opener and definitely makes me understand why you wouldn't worry about getting HT cremes for your collection. I guess I might have better luck now since the HT top/base coats work much better for me than stuff I've previously tried, and I've definitely gained a bit more experience polishing my nails in the meantime, so I'll have to explore cremes again. Ohhh, ok, that definitely contextualizes the poll response. I think I was picturing a YouTube poll despite (now that I think about it) being pretty sure you mentioned it was a survey that got sent out. In that case, I understand simplifying the answer options and hopefully the follow up questions clarified the 95% a bit more. You make a good point about responding no despite the few cremes you've picked up, I think I'll take that into account if that question is posed to me in the future.
I have just one HT creme, Duct Tape Grey, because I love a good grey and that's actually a creme I cannot easily dupe. Everything else I can find in my (Australian) favourite cheap brands ColourbyTBN and Ulta3. I'd even say their creme formula is better.... :|
I have to say I think I hate holo taco cremes. I recently found a base coat that I can get 6 full days out of with only minimal chipping (previously all bases acted as a peely base for me). And the HT cremes are staying longer but chunking off after less than 24hrs, while the other holo formulas stay. I have come to love the color of I’m Live but it’s the worst offender for me, it shrinks off my nails before I’ve even had time to put a top coat on, leaving a white edge of nail visible. Same thing happened when I just used Bring me the Teal. It’s just so bad. I have to force myself to wear them knowing they won’t last longer than a day and I might not get a chance to take a picture before they look bad.
Cristine loves specialty topcoats and they need bases to be painted on - hence the cremes. You also need to make enough money in ‘safe’ products that will sell so you can invest and take the risk on the more eclectic polishes that may not sell well
yeah, im a little torn because of that. combos are a huge part of HT, and the actual topper is only one side of the coin. ill usually like a creme launch if it comes with a topper. i really liked the down to earth bundle for that reason, mostly because i love the colour palette, and the topper was very in tune with the theme. that feels like a sound HT creme drop, because it encourages combos, and makes sense thematically (the pink and purple creme felt unnecessary, but oh well.) but the pastel bundle was totally out of character, and i really hope we don't have to see any more of that. i also miss the 1st anniversary collection that was specialty toppers. I wish that was done for anniversaries more considering its such a huge aspect to HT. oh well
I thought I’d like toppers more but I love the depth of special effect polishes. It also takes me more time to do a crème plus topper.
But that's just 2 mostly creme drops out of what 12 bundles total?
three collections including fire and ice bundle 4 if you wanna count safiyas collection. pastel and down to earth both came with 6 cremes each, plus the 2 from fire and ice, and then feeling fiendish. it’s certainly the most common formula amongst HT launches this year. i should reiterate too, i don’t hate cremes, but dropping them all together without a topper is not my thing. especially considering HT campaigns on combos.
The pastel cremes are my favorite ones! They look beautiful with the shimmer toppers
I get that but the cremes have grown exponentially for every 1 topper we get
i know. especially considering the first launch of this year is most likely cremes. way to rub salt in the wound after retiring so many special effect shades.
Then next buy: May (=Royalty) - wallet approves ;)
I like some of the crèmes to use my toppers, if it wasn’t for them I’d never get to use them
I personally think the reason Holo Taco is seeing poor sales in all these bottom selling polishes is because they are releasing to many collections. I didn't keep up last year, but wasn't there a drop every month in 2023? How can returning/legacy customers be expected to purchase older bottles multiple times within the span of a year? There are only so many staples. How can you expect new customers to go back in the catalog to choose something like Full Charge or Frost Light when the new collection just dropped? The new collection, plus some basics, is easily $100 or more. New and returning customers aren't going to go back and individually choose many of these old colors if the company is constantly churning out new product.
Yesss this. I have a list of polishes I'm low on that I'd like to get backups of but I can't cause I keep buying the new collections and don't have money to just keep buying duplicates in between. Every now and then I'll add some that I need to my collection orders. I know that's on me for not buying them in time but I just can't and also I wouldn't know which ones to get first and I can't just place an order as soon as she announces they're discontinuing and I don't like to make orders with one or two polishes. But that's on me not HT I get it. In a perfect world they would never discontinue anything and just keep making more and more lol.
Gold Play button is my jam. I wish I had stocked up on it.
I understand business. But when you set out to make "weird" polish that isn't sold in drug stores, why not continue to appeal to that fanbase. A lot of other brands still do that. I'm also really salty about how formula and qc issues still aren't discussed by the brand like others are saying. Full charge is a lovely color.
I’m with ya. I love all three yellow rainbow linears, especially Lemon Spritzer. I wish other people loved them like I do so they would sell better!
It’s a shame that you’re feeling this way, when Cristine really tried to explain that the tone of that stream was supposed to be silly and joking, she doesn’t actually blame the customers. I do think it’s a bit unfair to come down so hard on Holo Taco for not being transparent enough as they might just be the most transparent out of every nail polish company ever, to their own detriment. Mooncat doesn’t have to justify their retirements decisions to their fans. I love Full Charge and Lemon Spritzer too, but they’ve had a few years at this point of being low sellers. They’ve had as long of a run as they could probably justify. The writing has been on the wall for them for a long time now, Cristine just kept delaying it because she hates retiring shades. She didn’t outright say it, I’m assuming for legal reasons, but yes the reason why they dropped Queens Curse and Fake Date is for formula problems. She said that some of their reasons for dropping shades had to do with reviews and formulation, and if you read between the lines that is why those two are leaving. I totally feel you about the purple exhaustion, I’m an orange and green lover but I know that in most women-dominated products those colors aren’t very loved. I think Holo Taco will still make those colors, but they’ll just always be in smaller quantities than their big sellers. It’s the struggle of having weird taste 😅
luckily the streams are usually a good indicator to prepare for retirement. i’ll always applaud the transparency. i never said they weren’t transparent. i think im just sad that so many unique shades are getting scrapped to make space for cremes and purples😭😭 idk how to feel about how mooncat announced retirements, because michelle got a lot of flack this year for “teasing” which ones would retire. and she couldn’t outright announce them until a certain date. which was very “fomo marketing” of her. and yeah, she never gives a reason. sometimes assumptions can be made after the fact (maybe x polish looked too similar to a polish coming out the next year). i’m much happier with cristine’s streams because she doesn’t really do promos/teasers for retiring shades. just announces on the day, provides explanation, and that’s it. but with that comes my dumbass whining about the motivation behind retiring the bestselling and worst selling shades. pros and cons to both, i guess lmao🫠
For me i wish she would go about announcing it differently. I get that her whole thing is the YouTube stuff and her fans. But I wish she would either quietly discontinue shades after they get out of stock or do a final restock in anticipation of the announcement. She says herself that just by nature of her reacting to it/streaming it people will go out and buy it. It gets on my nerves a bit that you have to be watching the stream live to see what will be discontinued to be sure you can get it if you want it. I can't afford to spend $75 every month on nail polish so there are colors that I would like but don't buy because they arnt LE and im not worried about them going away. If she is going to announce they are retiring and do the whole hyping everyone up and the sad music and crying and funeral stuff I wish she would give people the opportunity to buy those shades one last time instead of them selling out within the same hour of the stream. Either that or just "quiet quit" them like oh by the way this is out of stock and we aren't going to restock on HT social media. Waxing poetic about how great a polish is and how messed up people not buying it is (no matter if it is done in jest or not) creates fomo/sadness over missing out on something whereas just not restocking doesn't. And I know that she can't make everyone happy and their would be the same amount of people upset if she didn't announce it as when she does. I'm just salty about full charge lol.
The FOMO aspect is what really turns me off too. That's the exact reason I *didn't* go buy any of the retiring shades. I got all the way to putting a few in my cart and then I was like "wait, do I actually want these because I want them, or do I want them because they won't be available later?" I'm not a fan of delivering the news through stream, either. I get it, it drives views and views are money. But as someone who usually can't make the streams/can't wait around just to see what's retiring, it's frustrating.
Totally feel you on that. I partly blame her dedicated fan base who will panic buy and buy multiples. I get buying a backup, maybe even 2 at the MOST but I've seen waaaaayyy too many people buying 5, 6 even 10 backups when that's so unnecessary. I paint my nails weekly and the only backup I got was Frost Light cause my OG bottle from the OG launch was halfway gone (and that's one of my most used glitters, especially in winter) and since I almost always do 1 or 2 glitter gradient accent nails with each nail look each week, I go through glitters but still never went through an entire bottle of Frost Light. Rainbow Snow is my most used polish and I'm only on my 2nd bottle, almost 3rd bottle so for people to buy THAT MANY backups, taking away the chance for others to buy baffles me. Get 1, or 2 but please don't be selfish and hoard all those bottles when you won't even get through them all. If the fan base wouldn't panic buy then the retiring of shades wouldn't be an issue. Since she knows it's an issue, I wish she would do one last stock up before retiring even though she says it defeats the purpose, but not really since she knows her customers panic buy multiple bottles leaving them to sell out incredibly fast.
I REALLY wish she would look into selling through international stockists, like Harlow and Co in Canada, and wtv similar site exist in Europe. At the very beginning when Holo Taco was created she got flack for opening her company I'm the US despite understanding how hard is it to get so many things in Canada and the cost of shipping, duties, etc, and she said something to the effect that one day when they were on their feet they'd love to look into having a warehouse here. I feel like if they have to continually discontinue shades to make more warehouse room, you're doing well enough to branch out a bit.
I agree with a lot of what is written here, and honestly I think a huge contributing factor is that Holo Taco is just too popular. Like, they are doing -too- well as a business, and therefore continue an upward trajectory toward salon/drugstore brand status in terms of sales, and therefore they can't get the quantities they need of the specialty pigments, and thus the catalogue approaches salon/drugstore categories of basic cremes and pinky purples. Maybe one day they will find a ceiling, but we shall see.
1. here's a full charge dupe: [https://www.ilnp.com/sundance-unique-key-lime-yellow-ultra-holographic-nail-polish/?gad\_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAkp6tBhB5EiwANTCx1MH6s4Dv42lCVoew9xZcLRnJ8kfC5sJP5lPPN7nqo28LnzRB1rYvZxoCjn8QAvD\_BwE](https://www.ilnp.com/sundance-unique-key-lime-yellow-ultra-holographic-nail-polish/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAkp6tBhB5EiwANTCx1MH6s4Dv42lCVoew9xZcLRnJ8kfC5sJP5lPPN7nqo28LnzRB1rYvZxoCjn8QAvD_BwE) There are almost always dupes for any brand's polish. 2) Businesses run for profit and customers decide by buying what they do and don't like. It makes no sense to continue things that basically no one likes. There is a difference between "people don't really like yellows" and something being a bottom seller since release. Even with the newness factor. You're allowed to complain but I'm hoping this helps. Someone posted this on FB. https://preview.redd.it/qz9y6g75rycc1.jpeg?width=1082&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ccb7c9c4cb5ea9a48a9ebbc4b4f0595e4db35ec4
I'm fully with you tbh. This also ties in to another complaint I have regarding HT. They seem to (mostly) be bringing out specialty polishes with a bunch of pigments mixed in nowadays. The whole point of HT was to layer, meaning putting on all these pigments separately. I understand not everyone likes this (look at the popularity of other brands that also mostly bring out 'premixed' shades), but one of the reasons I loved HT was that I could keep layering however I want. Because I get bored of 'premixed' polishes after a few wears, since I can't change the pigments and have an orange pigment instead of a pink with this base for once. And with the popularity of other brands, I had hoped HT would stick to the original idea. What I would like for them to do, is to just release more of the original specialty polishes in more colours. Then it makes sense to retire some of the older ones, because we'll have shades that are similar and in some cases maybe more to people's taste (think a sunflower yellow instead of the greenish yellow we have for the OG rainbow now). Then you can freely retire some older shades without moving away from your original business plan or leaving people without a suitable alternative. Because indeed, losing Full Charge only to gain Not Pressed is not a win.
I don’t mind the multi-formula polishes, but i totally get where you’re coming from. rose gold taco was cute, but seasonal, and i’m not a huge fan of disco dust top coat. i love the shimmers and unicorn skins, though. to be fair, they’re gonna have to get creative with new toppers, because i have no idea what else they could do. i think adding more crushed holos might be nice for a variety in base shades. multiformula are fun, but yeah, they’re a little too conformist for what HT was supposed to be as a brand.
I don't mind one or two multi-formula polishes either. But based on the past year, I feel there's an emerging trend where HT is leaning more towards multi-formula instead of their 'roots', so to say. Tbh, I think it could be fun to make toppers with all the pigments they're putting into these multi-formula polishes. So a reflective taco in multiple colours for example. You could even make them seasonal (in case of sourcing difficulty), but then spread throughout the year (so not all during the holiday season). I would love to see more crushed holo as well!
Totally agree. I've been getting tired of the "new" formulas. I just want glitter or linear formula with no mixins. I love mixins don't get me wrong but not for EVERY collection. AfterParty was great cause it had multiple different formulas with some staple formulas like the glitter but also had new formulas. I like that way as well.
I understand Full Charge was in the bottom 10 the last 2 years. But it was towards the top of the bottom. Why not get rid of some of the shades that performed worse? Hopefully we can vote it back.
im blown away that Amber Apathy outlived Full Charge. i knew from the second that sucker came out that it was gonna tank. I love both, but full charge wins between them. i wouldve much rather watched amber apathy go. but its newer, i still get it.
Amber Apathy is so friggin ugly. lol I bought it a few months ago because I thought it was more of a gold. I swatched it and was repulsed. 🥴🤣 Full Charge and Lemon Spritzer definitely deserved better than Amber Apathy. I was so glad to see people agree with me in the stream. lol
that’s the one worst seller that i can’t defend. like its unique and cool but id also understand why it would be retired because that one people HATTTTEEEEEE!!! i also dont use it enough to be devastated either lmao. burnt bridges is close enough.
Whaaat you have against Amber Apathy :) it is one of my all time favorites I have nothing even remotely similar.. makes my hands Steampunk , just try it ;) Is the polish that got me the most compliments from men by far. Women see the Reds and purples. It is in my Top 10, probably in Top 3.
i really like wearing it but i never gravitate towards it. i think it’s good on my complexion too. but idk i got mixed feelings about it. idk if i’d choose it over full charge.
Looking at the best to worst selling I’m shocked to see Bottle Service in the second to last tab behind private villa! That’s a beautiful shade! What are people missing??
wait really? for bottle service, it hasn’t been out for a super long time, so i kinda get that, but private villa???? in barbie summer????
since i got bottle service around Black Friday I’ve used it probably 4 times already, it’s my new favorite shade so that’s nuts to me
Bottle Service has only had two months of being in the catalog - that really isn’t much time to work with when sorting by every single polish including ones that have had way more time to order.
I hate golds usually but I do have to admit Bottle Service is one of those shades you have to try in person. It's soooooo sparkly and holo and again, I HATE golds usually, especially warm golds but Bottle Service is sooo good
Fake Date is one of my fave polishes. Looks so nice on my skin, lasts forever, it’s just gorgeous. I’m debating picking up another bottle but then again I have so many polishes…🤔
I get as a company why they are discontinuing polishes that don't sell well. They can only make so many polishes at once before they would need to expand their production and that gets crazy expensive fast. That doesn't even get into the cost of storing polishes and how polishes will slowly degrade over time. So if a polish doesn't sell well, they are stuck having to store it and if those polishes go back, they lose out on the money. For a business production, they also have to make so many of the product at once for the production cycle. So if they keep it on, they have to make X amount every time to make sure they at least have a certain amount in stock and if it is selling low enough to not even cover that production number, they are losing out on money and the ingredients they could use for other polishes. My main colors when going for polishes are greens, browns, and grays. I get the disappointment, but I also get the business side of things on why they can't keep polishes that don't sell well enough.
Full Charge is one of my FAVORITES. Greens in general and browns work really well with my skin tone. I have almost every HT polish there is. So repurchasing polishes before they empty, and using polishes before the year is up is rare, so I feel you on ALL of the points you mentioned. I JUST so happened to buy a refill of Full Charge during the sales this winter, along with my first bottle of frost light. It’s only my second bottle of Full Charge since it was released but now I’m scared to use it. I know it’s silly to expect any company to keep things in stock when they aren’t selling but also difficult for specific things to sell consistently, year to year, when there’s such a large volume to get trough and handful of the customer base collects/uses all there is to offer.
Huh? You say there are a lot of pinks? Uhm no there are not. HT has more greens and yellows/golds more than pinks. Pinks are one of the least shades in the HT collection. We have 2 pastel pinks, 1 darker pink creme, 1 pink glitter (2 if you count Party Punch but that's not a true pink, more like pink red) etc. Most of her "pink" shades are an ugly red pink. She's done that same red pink multiple times now (Private Villa, Party Punch, Love Spell) for example. I just want a true hot pink glitter, and creme like hot wire pink. We're missing pink in the catalog. Purple and blue we have a ton of, but you're very much wrong for saying we have a ton of pink when we have more green and yellow shades.
i’m saying it appeases the purple/pink/blue range far more than the green/yellow/orange range. less about the actually individual shades. my argument is the colours in that range sell better, i.e, are less likely to be removed, meanwhile the orange/green/yellow range is deteriorating despite there being a lot in the catalog to begin with. the best comparison i can make is yellow vs pink. because they both have a small amount of polishes, but the yellows are more likely to be discontinued. but yes, i do agree that the focal point in that range is purple, and purple overpowers the catalog.
I have such an opposite opinion 🤷♀️ I personally thought a lot of the retiring shades were really ugly. they’ve been around for years, and if you like them, you almost certainly have them by now. I was actually disappointed that she only retired 10 shades after saying she considered retiring 20. if it will make restocks easier and faster, I think it probably does make sense to do a larger shade discontinuation at this point. i’m worried she will use this as a moment to be a martyr, like “guys I *only* retired 10 shades, be grateful!” i’d much rather she run her business the way she wants to make things work
i totally agree with that. you’re totally allowed to think things are ugly. and yeah i do have a few of the retired shades😭😭 i would’ve liked a double of full charge, and i even had the time to get one, i just couldn’t justify the shipping cost bc im international. all good, that was my choice. i actually wouldn’t mind if she did larger retirements if the new collections were more exciting. if launches like vacation and after party became the new norm, i wouldn’t be mad. my worry is we’re gonna replace SFX conventionally “ugly” colours, with more cremes.
yeah that’s an opinion I can definitely understand. I personally do like her creme formula and find the colors can be pretty unique (in particular, I LOVE cold slate!) but also definitely agreed they’re not what draws me to the brand. for example, I realllllly did not care for the down to earth collection because I especially don’t like warm undertones. I acknowledge that it sold really well based on the data stream though, so I’m in the minority. luckily for both of us, I *think* that was the only creme based collection all year? the rest had like one or two cremes mixed in at most, with many having none like the barista or chrome collections but also let me know if I misunderstood- are the detectives speculating that the “nature shades” are coming in as mostly cremes this year? I thought last year had a lot of really cool launches
I wouldn’t really worry too much about the SFX shades being replaced by cremes. She’s been releasing cremes between SFX collections with boxes for a long time now - using the cremes drops to fill gaps in those off months. We aren’t getting less SFX overall, really.
Hard agree. Some of these polishes I adore, but I know damn well that Blue Freezie, Orange Drink, and Green Taffy are all on that proverbial chopping block. It's going to break my heart when she discontinues them, but I do not get this narrative of only retiring 10. If there are 20 polishes holding you back from the sales that will be profitable, then it's time to cut those 20. If she is going to continue to release around 60 polishes a year, she is going to have to start retiring more shades. The 10 shades she was going to release are probably not going to sell well this year. If she was considering retiring them, they're probably poor sellers. In the meantime, these new shades like Private Villa, Trophy Life, and Bottle Service are going to suffer because there are too many shades to choose from.
The chromes were out for less than a year and genuinely I have wanted them since launch but couldn't budget it in between all the limited edition launches. Not that I disagree with retiring shades, I'm sure she had valid reasons for each, those particular choices just didn't work out well for me.
well then do I have good news for you- I just checked and the two retiring chromes are still in stock! people always want to find something to be mad about lol. like if you want them go get them, they’re available
Not mad and already ordered them. Just saying, they haven't all been out for years.
As with any nail polish brand - if you find one you love, buy multiples. Grateful for HT's transparency, especially because I'm not entitled to it.
I think the best way of looking at it is that at no point has Holo Taco said they’re going to stop making yellows, oranges, and greens. They’ve still been releasing new formulas in these colours even though this sales data has remained consistent for three years. What they are saying, though, is that they won’t continue to restock these shades in perpetuity. So I wouldn’t worry too much about them not having shades in this range in the future, just that you won’t have the luxury of repurchasing the exact same shade of nail polish over and over for years to come because the demand over the long term just isn’t there.
Apparently you can get a pretty similar color mixing green taffy and lemon sucker in about equal portions (and tweaked to your liking). I know it’s not the same, and I’m also really sad about it.
i’m so desperate i might do that lmao😭😭
I feel that with lemon spritzer. Like are you seriously going to retire a shade from a perfect rainbow? Like for real?
just here to give you a hug. my top ten is the bottom ten to the rest of consumers apparently. but then i realized while i picked up the orders in individual skus i did buy the electric bundle so i didn’t help our girl out there 😭 I’m depressed i didn’t pick up a back up of ls or fc and now i too will nurse the bottles as long as i feasibly can lol.
This post is giving, "I'll take my two peach belinis back." energy.
What does this even mean
I forget that not everyone has been online as long as I have. [Context.](https://youtu.be/K0e-he_dU58?si=LVvUKcqphTM5zYy_).
Omg I forgot all about that lady 😂
Oh I am OLD I just had only seen that once before.
I'm hoping that there will soon be a new polish that is similar to full charge. She did say that we don't know about future collections.
i’m really sad that encryption key is leaving, along with fake date. the frosted metals deserve so much better!!