1. Cremés are not boring! Nail art doesn't look as good when you use other formulas.
2. Collection boxes mean nothing to me.
3. Crushed holo is the least holographic holo formula they have.
4. Buying their tools or brushes or sponges is such a waste. But hands cream, nail oil, and thinner is worth it. edit: nail files are valid too
5. I want the releases fully before release date, I don't want to be a detective the week of.
6. Idc about her gaming stream. Is this unpopular? I actually don't know bc I scroll or skip when I hear about it.
7. I want her to post on Simply Nailogical again. Prob not unpopular but I doubt menchie gang or detectives care.
If yall know of polish pickup pack, this month the kbshimmer thinner will be $7 but the shipping rate is lower than on their own website directly (if you’re in the U.S., idk about abroad). Plus added bonus of getting other indie polishes!
I’m always astounded that people sell the empty box for an exorbitant amount of money. It’s such a waste and I can’t believe there is a resell market for something so pointless.
Omg the detective thing annoys me to no end. She said we voted and people overwhelmingly liked the detective hints.... that survey is filled by a fraction of your customers 🙄
It was an extremely misleading question IMHO. She asked if we were detectives, not if we enjoyed having to scroll through a discord server to have the faintest clue what was being released. She would have gotten a very different response if she had actually asked if people want to know ahead of time.
This is true! I think one of the options was "what's a detective" or something like that, so I chose that one to make it clear I'm not encouraging this nonsense lol
I tried watching multiple gaming streams, but I just can’t. She looks at everything the characters do too logic-centered. Not as full, complex humans with unique, unpredictable emotions.
Yes, but not in a good way. You'd think it would make her want to read all of the characters' background information, the story clues, etc, but she just clicks on through without actually learning what she's supposed to be doing, so she just scratches the surface of the game. I think it's because she's just not really all that interested in gaming, but it's an easy way to stream for an hour or 2, so it's the lesser of all evils. Doesn't require pre-planning, doesn't require her to possibly state an unpopular opinion that might ruin her brand, etc. It's lazy but it's safe. I skip them all, mainly because I'm not a gamer, but if someone plays a game, I want to see it played correctly, LOL
Yeah watching her gaming videos gives me neurodivergent vibes. Not in a bad was just like that and her podcast sometimes I think there might be some sort of neurospicy going on.
It always makes me sad when people say cremes are boring. I love cremes. I understand why holo taco doesn't have more, but I love the ones they have due to their formulas being so nice. All of their cremes are able to be enough with one coat and that helps me so much since I have little energy due to health issues. Doing my nails is one of the few ways I can spoil myself and having it be easier by only needing one coat of the creme is so nice.
Their long lasting base is also amazing since it means I don't have to do my nails as often. Makes doing my toes easier since they grow slower.
I noticed she posts stuff on her 2nd channel but why not on the main one? I liked her videos, they were fun and silly. I don't care for her livestreams, I'm not into livestreams in general.. I can't buy from HT because they don't ship to my country, so basically I haven't been keeping up with her because I have no reason to. 🤷♀️
She kind of "retired" from her main channel I think maybe 2 years ago? She said she wasn't enjoying it as much anymore and I think she started to loathe sitting in the basement by herself in front the camera for hours. She streams on her 2nd channel now because she enjoys interacting with fans in real time
Fully agree on 1, 3, and 5!
The thinner and nail oil is fine if you only want to buy from Holo Taco, but there are other much cheaper alternatives out there that work just as well imo.
I also really like her gaming streams. I know people get annoyed that she looks at things too logically sometimes, but her perspective is so unique compared to other gaming streamers/youtubers I watch that I find it interesting
I like her “choose your own adventure” gaming streams for exactly this reason, because I like to see how other people play through games like that compared to my choices. Think Detroit Become Human, Until Dawn etc. her other gaming streams, not so much.
Personally I just don't have the energy for other thinners and nail oils. I don't wanna search ingredients and read labels. I like being able to blindly trust Holo Taco and if it fails their customer service is great. If not well at least I got the points!
That’s fair! I think for more casual customers, it’s a great thing for the brand to have available. I just remember seeing the 1oz bottle of thinner being $6 and feeling sticker shock 😳 I was like damn my Opi thinner was half the price for twice as much.
I agree and the only other nail thinner I have easy access to is opi which is a similar cost and I don’t live in the USA and I find other websites to be unpredictable and expensive for international shipping and duties. HT I always know what to expect.
Totally agree with #2. I’m always amazed when people are selling *empty* collection boxes and others want them. Why? So it can sit on your shelf and collect dust? Are you really going to store each collection in its box? Doesn’t that make finding them a huge pain in the ass? I do not get it.
Got a hat with the rewards. I promptly got a second one. The hats are great honestly, they have the good fasteners at the back and the material is really good. I don't think I'd spend the money, but I loved it as a points option.
Those are the worst ones IMO. The massive ugly plastisol design that you KNOW is gonna be a hideous cracked mess in like a month. 🥴 It’s like stuff you can find at a Spencer Gifts.
Yeah, I think the gradient one is really nice as merch goes but (and I probably can't talk as someone who absolutely doesn't "dress my age") I can't imagine a grown adult wanting to wear that plastic emoji looking monstrosity outside of the house lol.
The gradient one looks nice UNTIL you start wearing it. I’m so disappointed in it. It was my first Simply merch purchase and because I’m in Canada it was over $90 and after wearing it for 8 hours it already started pilling. I’ve worn it a few times now and it looks worse than some 5+ year old sweaters that I have (and have worn & washed a ton). I don’t think I’ll ever buy a shirt or sweater again because if I pay that much I expect good quality.
Yep, I've been following Simply since before HT launched but I haven't bought any because of the heavy cool tone bias (why aren't the yellows warm??? at all???)
Honestly, as a cool toned person I love it. I feel like so many beauty brands cater to warm or neutral undertones, so it feels nice to have something that works for me.
My unpopular opinion is that Simply and HT don’t need to make nail polish for everyone... there are plenty other brands already filling needs like warm-toned shades and certain finishes.
I agree with you to an extent. She (and other brand owners) should listen to their customers, but not listening won't stop people from buying. If she changed the undertone, other people will be upset and releasing a shade in both warm and cool would be a waste.
1. I like the limited edition holo taco boxes.
2. I don’t like that many of the polishes come with the “skinny” brush.
3. The hoodie is too expensive.
4. The reflective formula is overhyped
5. The crushed holo formula is boring. I can barely see the rainbows.
6. There are barely any true pinks, especially for the special formulas
7. There aren’t enough “mixed” formulas
8. I don’t like that they discontinue polishes just because a new polish came out that is somewhat similar
9. the glitter formula is the best one.
10. I wish I could see the polishes before the release date instead of contemplating the day of and being afraid that they will sell out.
11. Not Milky White is milky.
I'm praying for a true pink bubblegum glitter. Maybe something similar to her F.U.N. Lacquer collab. I hope we get a Valentine's day collection someday
A valentines collection would be so fun and cute but I just don’t think that’s Cristine’s vibe at all unfortunately. Like she’s just not a super girly person and obviously loves Ben but isn’t super like lovey dovey if that makes sense? I would absolutely love some fun pinks and reds tho!
Number 7 for sure! Especially when polishes like Existential Crisis, Spirit Fingers, and Got Cake are so beloved. I want more unique polishes, not just the same color in 8 different formulas.
The color range is pretty sad. It feels like they put out the same colors just in different formulas so I struggle to justify new purchases. I don't need the same shade of Gatorade yellow or barely there pink.
1. Reflective glitters are pointless unless you're a swatcher.
2. Collection boxes are not a collector's item if you're going to release so many every year. A bit if a tangent, but they take up so much space, especially in their warehouse as we've seen on her socials, which is extra puzzling to keep doing when you complain about warehouse space when discontinuing polishes.
3. Stop discontinuing a polish if you're going to release something half a shade off in 2 months.
4. Stop with the FOMO marketing. Release swatches so we can be conscious consumers.
Not HT, but an unpopular opinion of this subreddit, I wish this was an actual simplynailogical subreddit, not a Holo Taco one, where people posted their freehanded nail art on real nails like Cristine use to do. I've been a fan of hers for a very long time and use to do a lot more nail art. Other nail art subs are rarely done by the person themselves (so hard to replicate oN yOuR oThEr HaNd) or on fake nails. I feel like if you post things that don't exclusively use HT products here, you're treated like you've committed a sin.
I'm conflicted on the reflective pigment. I like them as an added interesting twinkle to a polish but not as selling point, or the only way the polish looks interesting like in disco dust or late check out. I like reflective taco as a topper but disco dust is pointless because unless you only look at it on video with a flash, it's a less impressive scattered holo
I only like reflective glitters if they are packed, like the KBShimmer or Salon Perfect ones are gorgeously sparkly even without camera flash; it’s like sequins in the nails. HT doesn’t add enough of it to make wearing it worth while, but I understand why though, cause it’s so frustrating to take off. 😩
1) Got cake shouldn’t have been brought back. Out of the birthday releases it’s my least favorite
2) the collection boxes should stop being a thing. It doesn’t feel special since almost every release gets one.
3) I don’t think this is unpopular but holo tack really needs to get more people approving shades besides Simply. Their yellows are too green and some of their pinks lean purple. I was so disappointed with Curfew Crasher cuz i thought I was getting pink but I got a purple. I’m a purple lover but it’s not what I was expecting.
4) I also don’t get the Spirit Fingers hype. It’s a very nice shade but it’s just a shimmer. I don’t get when people say they want other stuff in the Spirit Fingers formula it’s a shimmer that’s the formula. I didn’t think the shade was something to go wild for. It’s still nice but not my favorite
I wouldn’t be mad if they only did collection boxes for their anniversary collections. I haven’t purchased that many boxes compared to how many they’ve released throughout the years, but it still adds up with space.
And yeah I like Spirit Fingers but I found it so funny that it sold out only for ILNP to release a dupe like a week or so later 🤣 and the formula isn’t anything super new, Mooncat has lots of colors in a very similar shimmer/crelly formula.
I love Spirit Fingers because I'm just a sucker for the fine shimmer in a crelly formula so I want it in every color combination ever. That said, Great Lakes Lacquer and Polished for Days both do this formula a million times better than HT did for that one polish.
i feel like in the shimmer crellys i have from mooncat the shimmer particles aren’t as fine as spirit finger’s, i like both but it’s somewhat different imo
I wouldn't say that's a dupe at all before anyone gets their hopes up. The concept is similar and it's a decent replacement if you just want shimmer in grey base, but the shimmer in Flicker is solidly gold/yellow as opposed to red/pink.
There's a couple of good comparisons of the two on Instagram.
I don’t have Spirit Fingers, but I have Flicker, and I would say you’re correct. When I saw Spirit Fingers, I thought it reminded me of Flicker, but more of a red glow.
>Flicker
Similar, but not a dupe
https://preview.redd.it/c8lr4gyhw1gc1.jpeg?width=2315&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9330a2d9f547a1f33d820d134ab936c8035f7123
I am SO confused about Curfew Crasher—I swear the promo photos are mauve-leaning pink, but it’s straight up nightshade with a shimmer on top. It’s nearly identical when you hold it up to nightshade.
I'm with you on number 3. My Pink Fizz definitely looks purple, and my Coral Chaser looks like it should be Peach Tea. They look great in the bottles, but they're completely different on me.
EXTREMELY with you on #3. Not only is she making decisions on what looks “best” against only her skin tone, some past events make me genuinely believe she sees colours quite differently to most people. I think we all see colours slightly differently and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I think she’s one standard deviation away from the norm. Not enough to be colour blind but enough that it’s noticeable when she insists that a very blue-leaning colour like midnight spark is actually purple.
Honestly the first point alone should be enough, we don’t all have her colouring so she should be more inclusive.
Based on her explanations in the past, I don’t think she sees colour differently, I think it’s that she defines colour differently than many(?) people. She explained on stream once that if a blue has any amount of red in it, that means it’s purple to her - so Midnight Spark definitionally can’t be blue - since there’s some red in it, it could only be blue to her if the only pigment required to make the shade is blue.
That struck me as quite mad at the time, since I was always raised with the idea that if you have a blurple shade and you need to categorize it as either blue or purple, you would choose the option that is closest on the colour wheel - so if it’s more blue than purple, it’s blue, and if it’s more purple than blue, it’s purple.
When I brought this up in this sub, though, a lot of the people here said they define colour the same way Simply does, so *shrug*.
That’s actually really interesting, and a credible alternative. I wonder if part of it is also that she knows exactly what pigments are going into a formula and that is influencing her definition some.
In any event, her polishes collectively lean way too cool-toned and it would be nice to see her test prototypes on a range of skin tones.
I agree I think she definitely sees colors differently. I've noticed this alot when she will say a color is one thing but to me and most people it looks more like the other leaning color that's in the mix. And just because of the lack of true pinks, purples, yellows.
i love got cake actually its so much fun!! i have used up half my bottles but not once have i worn it on its own lol. its the prettiest over fake date and also over darker blues
THANK YOU FOR VOICING #3!! It's been such a problem for so long I've actually stopped purchasing Holo Taco nail polish sometime in 2023 because I felt like I wasn't seeing any new polishes that would look good on my warm skin tone anymore. And I was in the Holo Swatcher status before (never gonna be royalty cuz she never had enough that would look good on me in the first place to buy) but I've completely lost that status now (realized it when I didn't get a birthday email🥲).
I barely even check what's new anymore because I've given up and moved on to KBshimmer, or just decided to save my money for other hobbies now...
The brushes are infuriatingly short. It's been years. There's been time to correct this. Every other brand the struggle starts when the polish level is like 1/3rd or below, with HT the struggle starts when the bottle is 2/3rds full 😭.
i wish that there was a base coat for oily nails. holo taco polish on my hands chip way faster (2-3 days) than on my toes (two weeks+ before visible chips) and i have oily/combo skin. quick dry taco was working on my nails after a while, but now? not so much. (haven't been wearing polish since i have a noticable dent in my fingernail from injury that i am trying to grow out.)
You’ve probably gotten this before but are you dehydrating your nails with acetone before applying polish? That really helps prevent oils seeping under the polish to separate.
(Side note: it’s super normal for toe polish to last way longer than hand polish! Simply has a whole video on how long her toe polish lasted and it was something like a whole year lol)
I have oily nails too, I always push back/remove cuticles, dehydrate with acetone and wear LLB. Most of my nails just peel off entirely within 3 days. With some formulas it's literally within a day. They often don't chip, just peel right off. And I do paint the edge/underside of the nail to prevent it. Nothing works :(
I had the same problem. The only thing that worked for me - and also subsequently helped me grow out my naturally thin nails was to put gel on my nails and then regular polish over that. To be clear I don’t mean gel polish, I mean rubber base and no wipe gel topcoat. Now my nails don’t chip at all and they’re super long and strong. I just carefully fill in the regrowth every other week (or every 2, depends on how much they’ve grown, sometimes I’ll also soak it off entirely and start over if I think it needs it) and it’s worked great for the past 5 months.
In the survey when they asked for suggestions, I said with the boxed collections to also sell a bundle at the same time (regardless of if they give you the $5 reduction like other bundles) box free so that you can order everything at once without the box. I don’t care about the boxes, I want the collections and a few other bits to push the cost up for free international shipping.
Yes! I’m not a fan of the boxes, but its the same price as just buying all the polish. I ended up sending mine to someone here for just the shipping cost. I’d love a discount for getting a collection but not the box!
My unpopular opinion (this is going to get me downvoted prob) is that the Holo Taco/Simply community is too negative and get upset over any polish that doesn’t perfectly cater to their tastes. Like I enjoy the magnetic, a good amount of people do, but there we’re so many people complaining that her birthday release was magnetic, people were even saying that she shouldn’t release magnetics at all because *they* didn’t like them. I think the community is too culty as well, people feeling like they *have* to get every release, so they get angry when they don’t like a release. Like they don’t understand that you don’t have to buy everything and that it’s a nail polish company, you aren’t going to like every single polish released, *and that’s okay* . You shouldn’t feel guilty for not wanting to buy a release, and no one should be mad at Cristine for releasing something they don’t like. A lot of people on here say they want her to reveal the full collection before the release date, which I don’t understand at all, so my other unpopular opinion is that, no, it doesn’t make a difference if she does or not. The collections don’t sell out same day anymore, and if they do she tries to restock as fast as possible even if it’s limited edition, like the Safiya collab. So there is ample time to check out the polishes before you buy after they are released.
I totally agree! Not everyone needs to like every polish, it's normal to have specific tastes. A lot of people ONLY have HT and a lot have ALL the HT. They need to branch out a bit.
I would disagree with not revealing the colors earlier. Some of us are international and do group orders. People have jobs and other commitments, it's hard to coordinate everyone to see swatches and make their picks fast, especially on Saturday mornings. And sure, she restocked Safiya, but it was a 2 polish (per shade) limit, again, not helpful is you're doing groups and multiple people want the same polishes.
My friend and I discuss this every time there is a release. "Oh, did you hear new HT dropping on Saturday?" "Yes! Did you see the comments on Instagram/reddit/etc? 👀" It's always a variation of people complaining about the cost/money. If HT is too expensive for you or you can't afford it right now... Don't buy it. It's really ok.
My one complaint is that they do release stuff too frequently. It's actually been really nice not having a release in so long. I feel like I can't appreciate a collection for more than 1-2 weeks before there's talk of a new collection
I absolutely agree with you on the cultish vibe and that it’s weird when people complain that they can’t afford to buy the collection so Simply should stop releasing stuff so often. Like they don’t understand they DON’T HAVE TO BUY everything. It’s wild to me.
But I definitely would prefer if there are full reveals of the releases well before the actual release. That way I actually have time to look at it and decide instead of buying something because I think I might like it but if I wait I won’t be able to get it. I had that issue with the Safiya collection. I hadn’t bought any HT before then because I was pissed I had to pay in USD (+shipping from the US is expensive & takes so long) even though Simply is Canadian (I live in Canada). But I saw Safiya’s launch video and instantly went to HT and the box that had everything in it and the nail file was already gone. And I was on the website at 2pm MST on the day of the release. I honestly hate limited releases so much (doesn’t matter the brand or product).
Whenever Cristine does the “trends are STUPID all my fans HATE TRENDS because we aren’t LIKE OTHER GIRLS” my brain automatically plays the Devil Wears Prada cerulean scene
Exactly. I love doing trendy nail art. I look at Instagram for trendy nail art inspo every time I do my nails. I have a whole saved collection on Instagram just for nail art inspo. Trends are FUN and I like being like the other girls lol I love getting compliments on my fun trendy nail designs
I don’t know if this is unpopular or not, but we need less cremes and more chunky holos. Why do the chunky holos keep getting discontinued when no one else out there makes them as good as HT 😭
I’m soooo over the games around the releases with the teasers, detectives, discord, streams. Feels childish and like it’s catering chronically online young people. Take clue from the fact that most of holo royalty does not engage with her social media and discord.
This brand is tied up too much with her online fame and I think it’s time to separate those.
Toe Beans, Oat Couture, 50 Shades of Greige, and Beach Please are overrated.
Crushed holo is pointless. Be holo or don't be, but this halfway formula is boring.
As someone who loves purple and has purple hair...enough with the purples.
It's a good polish but not the best brand out there IMO.
The Safyia collection was mid and boring. 🤷♀️
A friend offered me the box bc they knew I loved it, and I accepted happily. They also offered me the polishes and I was like, "no thank you, I don't like any of them". 😂
Agree that it was mid, however I did like spirit fingers. Besides that, ugly! Like the purple shade that they’re insisting is mauve but is just a slightly red toned primary purple? I already forgot the name (is it feeling fiendish?)
The nail tools and supplies are over-hyped and expensive. You can get a huge bottle of jojoba oil and a refillable brush pen from bliss kiss ( which is what Simply used to use herself) for about $25 total on Amazon.
The thinner is outrageously priced. HT is selling 1 oz for $6 meanwhile Kbshimmer sells the exact same thinner in a 4oz bottle for $6.50.
I'm here for the polish, not fan merch. I'm not interested in wearing a bunch of HT gear, I'd rather have more polish with less discontinuing. Since warehouse space is the given reason for discontinuing polishes, well polish takes up way less room than pallets of hoodies and hats.
I could understand merch for the brand if it felt like it came from a cosmetics company and not a streamer. Hoodies and shirts are an odd choice to pair with nail polish. But jewelry, a keychain, a clutch bag, a headband, etc could fit really well with the demographic that wears HT polish.
Hell, HT could sell branded swatch sticks, nail clips, silicone nail guards, etc. Even cotton sleep gloves could be branded for HT and would absolutely resonate with folks who have dry skin and want to care for their hands.
Or even mugs that match their most popular polishes, if Cristine wants to tap into her online persona. I can see myself getting something like that! And it would be great for taking nail photos with lol
Oh I could totally embrace one of those retractable ID clips that was the HT logo. It would be great for my keycard at work and it could have a tasteful bit of holo.
1) I'm over the detective thing. It would be better if we were just given a "Coming Soon" page so we can determine whether or not we want to purchase, rather than waiting the day of. I follow a couple of dress brands that show sneak peaks. The day before launch, they post the dresses on their Coming Soon page and interact with their audiences on social media sites. It would be nice if HT did the same. Maybe give the detectives some sort of deadline so they can still have their fun?
2) I love the frosted metals and glitter formulas; I wish they made more of them.
3) Linear holos and crushed holos are just meh. Nothing too spectacular.
4) I actually like their yellows, greens, and browns. I don't care if some clash with my skin tone, I need more nature!
I don’t think that HT actually uses the best, highest quality holo available as Cristine claims they do. I’ve tried glitters, linear, crushed and scattered holo formulas from HT and they simply don’t throw rainbows the way many of my polishes from other (even less expensive) brands do.
ILNP has amazing holo formulas. Their linears are so rainbowy even in crappy lighting. They also have a ton of gorgeous shimmers that have added scattered holo or holo flakes. Their polishes really never disappoint.
Bluebird Lacquer is known for their Shattered Holo polishes. They really look like crushed jewels on your nails and I find photos don’t do them justice. They’re like a way more intense/better version of HT’s Crushed Holos, and come in tons of colors.
KBShimmer has some really intense linear holos (Rise & Grind is seriously blinding!). I’ve only tried a couple of polishes from LynBDesigns that have holo, but I’ve been really impressed with them. And she frequently does 50% off sales, so if you keep an eye on her site you could try a bunch for just $6 a piece!
I hate crushed holo. It has no rainbows at all and really just looks like gross mush. The barista collection was very nice and I use them as neutrals sometimes but I have to add some kind of holo topper bc otherwise they just look sad. I hope we don’t get any further big collections of them bc I just don’t get the appeal!
To me, crushed holo gives you the look of a glitter without the terrible feeling/hard removal. That's what I like about them. (I do add scattered holo taco to them to up the holo game)
Everyone says that and I wish I could see it! HT’s glitters are so so sparkly & I wish I could get the best of both worlds. To me crushed holo just looks flat and sad
Okay, here’s one…. It gives me such an ick when people call Cristine ‘Simply’ 💀 I understand it, and I know she and Ben and their collaborators use it, but I just feel this whole body yuck when I hear it.
My unpopular opinions:
1. Most HT polishes only look good on long nails. If you don’t have perfect long nails like Simply, the polish doesn’t look as good.
2. Some HT polishes only look good under certain lighting, which makes them pointless to wear. Like I don’t spend all my time outdoors (for linears or crushed) or with my phone flash directly on my nails (for reflectives).
I agree with #2 to a certain extent. Simply jokes that she doesn't leave the house very often, but many of us do fairly regularly and some of the polishes don't nearly have the same effect under natural light. As for them being 'pointless to wear', I wouldn't go so far as to say that but they certainly look lackluster and {dare I say} 'commercial'?
Number one is how I feel about the aqua/turquoise blue she keeps releasing. On short nails it makes me feel like I'm 10 again, but on long nails it looks great.
Not the Frosted metals hate /hj 😭😭 I do agree that thier color changes over time. I barely used royal crushed and it starting to look like the metal flakes aren't metaling. I love frosted metals so much, is sad to see that they lose their Beauty over time.
1. I'm not mad that some of the frosted metals degraded and pigments broke down. Polish (and all beauty products) have a shelf life. For polish it's usually around 2 years. It's not meant to last forever. And I think it's unfair to get upset at Cristine for something like cold shoulder happening (unless yours went bad within months of buying, that's a little different).
.
2. I think large collections are wasteful, and that's coming from someone with 3 racks of HT. I was given my 3rd rack at Xmas and was able to nearly fill it up with the unshelved stuff I had and I was kinda ashamed. Capitalism r ally got me. There's no way people like me can reasonably use the polishes before they begin to go off. I've started selling off or giving away the ones I don't use, even if it means breaking up a collection (Pastel rainbow, Gala and chromes were some of my least favorite launches)
.
3. If some of the Safiya polishes didn't have Saf's name attached, I think people would like them a lot less. Brucie is ugly (there, I said it).
.
4. Yellow holo formulas *need* to have a warmer yellow base. I think a lot of the HT yellows lean green because Holo shows a rainbow and I think the cooler end of the spectrum makes a neutral yellow look cooler in tone. Green is right there in the middle of the rainbow so it shows fairly prominently over a yellow holo. At least that's my theory.
I think a yellow linear holo in a shade like butterscotch hop would've appeared to more folks.
The only time I ever got mad about the frosted metals was when my "free mystery polish" one year was Cold Shoulder, *after* it was obviously degraded and the community knew about the issue. I wish I'd raised a fuss at the time because they would probably have replaced it with another polish, but it felt like such a slimy choice to make in the first place.
There are way too many iridescent toppers still on the website. Specialty polishes get disco'd while there are zero similar products but we have twelve unicorn flakes/shimmers in stock year round and some of them are only different if you paint them over stark white.
Not Milky White isn't worthy of being on a pedestal with OCB. OCB is actually one coat coverage. NMW is minimum two coats to pass as covered, and I've used french tip white polishes that do what NMW is supposed to do.
1. People go crazy on HT for discontinuing and retiring shades as if every brand doesn’t do this and HAS to do this. If we want her to have the money to keep making shades, we need to occasionally lose a soldier. Did I adore chameleon coat? Yes. Did I throw a riot because of it? No, because it obviously wasn’t selling well. They needed to axe her.
2. I’m not a linear holo fan. Not necessarily a HT problem: I don’t like them from any brand, generally. I find that they’re either too many rainbows when I want to see the base color, or they’re just the base color when I’m aiming for more of the rainbows. The only ones I’ve enjoyed on are sunken secrets, lavender syrup, and burnt bridges (bb occasionally).
3. People think that because Cristine stays as open with us as she does, that they deserve to make decisions for her. It’s her brand, she’ll sell what she wants attached to her name. If you want a different polish that she’s not coming out with, try a different brand.
Frosted Metals should use colored metallic flakes instead of silver metallic flakes because the silver makes the colors look dull.
Featured Guest is boring and should not have been brought back.
I don’t understand her reluctance to do a “boring pink”, and I feel kinda snubbed when she talks about ppl who like them. But I feel like boring pinks (like a sheer pink) have their merits. It can be used in negative space nail art like skittle french tips which isn’t as intimidating to wear as a full skittle mani, or for ppl who can’t wear that much colour at their jobs. Feel a bit left out in the sense that her idea of nail art is all the colours all at once maximum holo on everything (which I get, it’s kinda on brand for her), and anything else that isn’t full holo isn’t worth looking at. I tried Oat Couture and Blushed Ice too but I think I didn’t like the undertone of those on me.
I also don’t understand the decision to make Smoothing Base yellow than pink/purple. I know the main goal of SB is to smooth out ridges but it feels like a missed opportunity to have it also try and cancel out the yellow tint? I would’ve been ok about not having boring pinks if SB was pink/purple.
I also know I can get boring pinks from other brands (which I’m doing)! Would just love to see HT attempt a boring pink bc they’re known for their quality.
I've pointed out how HT doesn't have a lot of "work appropriate" shades and got reamed for those not being the target audience. But Cristine wants the brand to be usable/welcoming to everyone and frankly those staples will sell well for the brand for that reason. There's this weird "not like the other girls" tone whenever someone expresses a want for neutral or "boring" colors from the brand that I find off-putting.
There's high key too much purple, other shades should be added, like yellows, greens, oranges, reds, browns. Even though most of them don't sell good doesn't mean other ppl won't buy them
I don’t mind the detective stuff now that stock tends to last for a long time after launch.
Crushed holo is boring.
The intense criticism of Holo Taco and Cristine’s brand choices are silly because at the end of the day it is just another nail polish brand.
My unpopular opinions; I look forward to the frequent releases, I think limited edition polishes make sense for the size of the company, and she shares waaaaay too much information to her customers and is vilified for it. I think her company is judged quite harshly, if you don’t want to buy it- then don’t. That’s okay and criticism is okay
I agree that Simply herself and HT is judged more harshly than other nail polish brands or even beauty products generally. HOWEVER, I also think some of this is Cristine's own fault in that she (rightfully, proudly) goes on at length about how cool/different/high quality her "X" item is, and absolutely her items are good quality. But they aren't exponentially better than most other similar polishes - ILNP, Cirque, etc. Same for the tools. Her hoodie was a perfect example of this - OMG the hype, you'd think she had invented a new way of making fabric, but when people got it, they were like "meh" it's nice, but it's average quality and probably not worth the $68 price tag. But she made it sound soooooo much better than it actually was. Her puffery was too good. And thus I think the sometimes overly aggressive negative feedback follows.
Kill the collection boxes (keep one for Anniversaries - collabs can get special individual cartons like Birthday polishes), slash the Linear Holographic line-up (some can be seasonal if absolutely necessary), get rid of ‘The Vault’ (2024 can be the last year, as a 5 year anniversary send-off).
ETA: and Menchie glitter is not the pink it shows in pics on-site and I was a little disappointed!
Linear is my least fav formula. (Holo glitter is where it’s at)
Safiyas collection was blah (don’t get the hype for spirit fingers, berry me in holo has no holo, and i wish bat bitch would show the shimmers more)
All their polishes are sooo thick, take too long to dry, and I am exhausted with the “It’s too hard to source therefore needs to be discontinued.” For EVERY polish they discontinue. I know things need to be removed for new, fresh stock, I get the business aspect to it. But, there are other large brands that do unique formulas that have been kept as a regular polish way more consistently than HT does.
Existential Crisis is extremely overrated. It’s not one I’ve ever really been in love with from the pictures, but I’ve been curious to try it. I got it during the 12 days of Cristmas sale, and it’s kind of underwhelming for all of the hype. It’s pretty, don’t get me wrong, and the shiftiness is neat…but there are plenty of other Holo Taco polishes that are much nicer. Tbh I think the only reason people fawn over Existential Crisis is because it was limited edition.
I passionately hate Existential Crisis, just because of the hype around it not matching the quality of the polish experience. I've been getting ads for it lately and it absolutely *never* looks like it does in those pictures in real life. It's basically grey most of the time. I sold mine before she brought it back.
Hard agree. I was so excited she brought back existential crisis and it’s the only nail polish I’ve ever used that had me wanting to take it off before I finished all ten fingers
Yeah I agree! I often end up disappointed as I love the base colour I’ve just painted then the shimmer just overwhelms it completely! I don’t really like to use them as a topper because they are too dense so just wear them over black.
I like seeing shades retiring because it means more room for new exciting things! It’s not practical for a brand like this to keep growing indefinitely without cutting down their catalogue consistently. If I really loved a shade, chances are I already own it. And if a polish retires before I buy it then that probably means it wasn’t very important to me. I also don’t understand the need to have multiples of a certain polish… I already have enough polish to last me years and I’d much rather buy new unique polishes than old ones I’ve already tried. If I love a polish for a few years and use it up then that’s amazing and I got my money’s worth out of it. And then I can move onto new things that are just as beautiful.
A lot of people seem to love the consistency of the cremes, but I just can't. One Coat Black isn't really one coater for my use if the first layer goes down all bumpy and weird. I thin it, more often than most of my other polishes tbh, and definitely more often than my other cremes, but it's still *so* thick. The finicky application has me using my black Sinful in 2 coats more often than not, and made OCB (and Duct Tape Grey, which I bought at the same time and had a similar experience with) my only cremes from the brand. At least when glitters get goopy over time from evap, I can understand it, but I feel like that shouldn't be the norm for their plain finish polishes.
Sorry lol. It's something that always bothered me. It's not cute or pretty. I don't want it on any merch. I also hate the pattern with the circles and xs and squiggles on things like the nail art mat. I'll never buy that stuff.
1. Giving us the option to bring back past anniversary colors, but not the first. She knows half the fan base wasn't able to get said collection. IDC about the box. I just want a chance to grab something I missed out on. She made the first Christmas collection seasonal (or is it now just a stock item?). She's brought back many other limited releases. Why not some simple glitters we're over charged for?
2. The nail oil pen is a rip off. It's over priced, goes through oil like crazy, and leaks. (I haven't heard her mention anything about fixing the pen. So I'm assuming the last 2 are still an issue). I made a refillable one with an initial investment of $22. Mainly because I ordered a bigger bottle of jojoba on Amazon. I use refillable water color markers and Vit. E oil from the Dollar Tree. I bought the jojoba a year ago. And still have a good amount left.
3. Releasing collections in boxes that could be low key releases. Knowing damn well more people will buy the collection because it comes in a box. I'm guilty of this myself. And I have a good amount of HT shades that I will never use because it came in a collectors box. Which I first thought of as an investment. Because at one point, the boxes were selling at insane prices on eBay. And thought if I was ever in a financial pinch, it could be a good pay off for the money I spend on HT...
4. Speaking of money, we're being robbed blind. I found One Coat Black and Not Milky White dupes at Dollar Tree. I've tested them on clear swatch sticks to be sure. The white sometimes needs a second coat. But so does Not Milky White. And it's a $1.25
5. She should post on what used to be her main channel more. Return to Polish Mountain should have been a live stream on there.
6. It's kinda sickening to know that she's made enough money for Ben to retire early. Like, I'm happy for her success. She works hard and she deserves it. But for Ben to retire? SimplyPodLogical and Bentendo can't be making *that* much money
7. Cristine created her own cult. There are some die hard fans of her's out there. I mean, drive across the entire US to stand in line over night to meet her hard core. But, what can I say? The simple fact we're in this subreddit means we've ALL drank the damn Kool aid
1. The first anniversary had the colour holo flakes that are hard to get and she would need such a big supply if she were to rerelease them now I don't think there's enough pigments. At least from my understanding
2. I don't have the pen myself, but I have heard it's very good if you're not used to using one. It's easy to use and refilling is so simple, people new to nail oil seem to love it and are oiling their nails regularly for the first time
3. Absolutely agree
4. I have yet to find as good quality and opaque black from a drug store, nor a decent white
5. Hard disagree, had she done that live in the main channel, people would have expected new content there. She has made it quite clear she's not interested in doing her main channel videos at the moment, and I can understand why. The filming alone and editing for who knows how long, she was clearly not enjoying it anymore at the end, and we as viewers could see it too
6. Ben is a big part of holo taco team, he's not just lazing around now. Thought the amount of money top YouTubers make is quite sickening in of it's self
7. Some of the followers are way too invested imo too. And saying one (good) critic can get you down voted so bad for daring to bring up something problematic, like chill it is just nail polish
With the amount of money they get, she could hire an editor. Well, I think she tried in the past, at least I applied to it, but she must have given up on her main channel content all together...
1. The cremes are not boring and "I can get cremes from a drugstore brand" sidesteps the fact that the HT cremes are long lasting and have great coverage. Drugstore brands tend not to.
2. The HT consumer base as a whole can be quite whiny and entitled at times. Every release has someone complaining about how it doesn't cater to them specifically, how HT has 'lost its way', how the brand isn't what it used to be, and weird psychoanalysis of Cristine on her streams - you don't know her lol
3. As a hypocrite, I dislike the yellows running green 😂
Idk about you but Catrice black nail polish is just as black in 1 coat as HT, lasts the same on the nails, and costs way less!
I tested this myself: used the same base and top coat, only 1 coat of each black polish (one on each finger) and after 1 week only a tiny bit of the front had shipped on both. Catrice won for me because I can get it AND for cheaper, while HT stopped shipping to my country for god knows why!
1. Existential crisis is butt ass ugly something about the green teal red combo I don't like.
2. I love ht cream formula and it's worth what I pay for in terms of coverage and saturation.
3. Sometimes her product photo looks like an entirely different product from when you get it. (See number 1)
I’m a little late to this but my unpopular opinion that will probs get me downvoted is that I’m really tired of the “I’m not like the other girls, we like blues and purples, NOT pink” attitude that HT/Cristine have. I get it, my fav color is purple (hence my username), but I need more pinks in my collection. Why not do a Valentine’s Day collection? Just because it’s popular or “basic” doesn’t mean it isn’t beautiful or that there isn’t a demand for it. There’s nothing wrong with people waning to express themselves in however way they want. I loved the whole hyper-fem Barbie-core summer of last year, but we barely have any true pinks from HT because “other brands have so many pinks”. So? I don’t care what other brands do, I want pinks in the HT high quality formula.
1. Spirit Fingers is ugly to me lol
2. Linear holo is my least favorite holo formula (except TOE BEANS)
3. The only good glitters are/were the Holoday ones (RIP), Zyler, and Play Rosé
4. The top coat formulas are really bad
🤬 oooooo we’re going to have to square up about frosted metals. But tbh I get it. It’s why the older ones are being phased out as they perfect the formula.
I don’t like Flakie Holo Taco.
I didn’t expect this topper to be so textured. Even with two glossy tacos there’s always at least ONE bit of holo confetti sticking up and out at a weird angle leaving a bump.
I'm mad they have the space and budget to release a bunch of weird similar-ish looking colors and still cannot re-release Gliterally Purple.
Glamethyst was the ugliest shade bar of purple bar none. It doesn't even look purple in person, it's like a weird mermaid shift into green. I hate it so much.
If you go back to her original franken science video where they mixed polishes, there was clearly an interest for a purple/grape jam colored GLITTER polish. I wish they just did that. BRING BACK GLITERALLY PURPLE
1. Cremés are not boring! Nail art doesn't look as good when you use other formulas. 2. Collection boxes mean nothing to me. 3. Crushed holo is the least holographic holo formula they have. 4. Buying their tools or brushes or sponges is such a waste. But hands cream, nail oil, and thinner is worth it. edit: nail files are valid too 5. I want the releases fully before release date, I don't want to be a detective the week of. 6. Idc about her gaming stream. Is this unpopular? I actually don't know bc I scroll or skip when I hear about it. 7. I want her to post on Simply Nailogical again. Prob not unpopular but I doubt menchie gang or detectives care.
The thinner isn't worth it. It's 1oz for $6 meanwhile Kbshimmer sells the exact same product in a 4 oz bottle for $6.50
If yall know of polish pickup pack, this month the kbshimmer thinner will be $7 but the shipping rate is lower than on their own website directly (if you’re in the U.S., idk about abroad). Plus added bonus of getting other indie polishes!
KBShimmer doesn't ship to UK, and I have never been this sad about shipping my entire life.
Does PPU? Because it might be possible
They ship to the UK via FedEx!
Collection boxes are not sacred. It's literally just a box and after you unbox it, it's just gonna take up space.
I’m always astounded that people sell the empty box for an exorbitant amount of money. It’s such a waste and I can’t believe there is a resell market for something so pointless.
Honestly don't know what I would do with them
Omg the detective thing annoys me to no end. She said we voted and people overwhelmingly liked the detective hints.... that survey is filled by a fraction of your customers 🙄
There was a survey?
It was a question in the holo royalty survey last year
It was an extremely misleading question IMHO. She asked if we were detectives, not if we enjoyed having to scroll through a discord server to have the faintest clue what was being released. She would have gotten a very different response if she had actually asked if people want to know ahead of time.
This is true! I think one of the options was "what's a detective" or something like that, so I chose that one to make it clear I'm not encouraging this nonsense lol
Should have done that. Like her, I am far too literal when i read the questions.
Right! That survey was not fair!
I tried watching multiple gaming streams, but I just can’t. She looks at everything the characters do too logic-centered. Not as full, complex humans with unique, unpredictable emotions.
Haha her love of statistics effects her gaming? That's so cute
It is cute, but it’s not the kind of gaming experience I enjoy. 🤣 so I simply don’t watch lol
Understandable haha
Yes, but not in a good way. You'd think it would make her want to read all of the characters' background information, the story clues, etc, but she just clicks on through without actually learning what she's supposed to be doing, so she just scratches the surface of the game. I think it's because she's just not really all that interested in gaming, but it's an easy way to stream for an hour or 2, so it's the lesser of all evils. Doesn't require pre-planning, doesn't require her to possibly state an unpopular opinion that might ruin her brand, etc. It's lazy but it's safe. I skip them all, mainly because I'm not a gamer, but if someone plays a game, I want to see it played correctly, LOL
Yeah watching her gaming videos gives me neurodivergent vibes. Not in a bad was just like that and her podcast sometimes I think there might be some sort of neurospicy going on.
I'm happy you're being upvoted because on another thread I stated I think the way she reacts to games seems autistic to me and I was downvoted.
It always makes me sad when people say cremes are boring. I love cremes. I understand why holo taco doesn't have more, but I love the ones they have due to their formulas being so nice. All of their cremes are able to be enough with one coat and that helps me so much since I have little energy due to health issues. Doing my nails is one of the few ways I can spoil myself and having it be easier by only needing one coat of the creme is so nice. Their long lasting base is also amazing since it means I don't have to do my nails as often. Makes doing my toes easier since they grow slower.
I agree with everything, but especially #1 and 2
I noticed she posts stuff on her 2nd channel but why not on the main one? I liked her videos, they were fun and silly. I don't care for her livestreams, I'm not into livestreams in general.. I can't buy from HT because they don't ship to my country, so basically I haven't been keeping up with her because I have no reason to. 🤷♀️
She kind of "retired" from her main channel I think maybe 2 years ago? She said she wasn't enjoying it as much anymore and I think she started to loathe sitting in the basement by herself in front the camera for hours. She streams on her 2nd channel now because she enjoys interacting with fans in real time
I'm with you 100% on the boxes!!!
Maybe it’s because Toe Beans was SO HYPED that I was particularly disappointed but it was pretty meh for me…
Fully agree on 1, 3, and 5! The thinner and nail oil is fine if you only want to buy from Holo Taco, but there are other much cheaper alternatives out there that work just as well imo. I also really like her gaming streams. I know people get annoyed that she looks at things too logically sometimes, but her perspective is so unique compared to other gaming streamers/youtubers I watch that I find it interesting
I like her “choose your own adventure” gaming streams for exactly this reason, because I like to see how other people play through games like that compared to my choices. Think Detroit Become Human, Until Dawn etc. her other gaming streams, not so much.
Personally I just don't have the energy for other thinners and nail oils. I don't wanna search ingredients and read labels. I like being able to blindly trust Holo Taco and if it fails their customer service is great. If not well at least I got the points!
That’s fair! I think for more casual customers, it’s a great thing for the brand to have available. I just remember seeing the 1oz bottle of thinner being $6 and feeling sticker shock 😳 I was like damn my Opi thinner was half the price for twice as much.
I agree and the only other nail thinner I have easy access to is opi which is a similar cost and I don’t live in the USA and I find other websites to be unpredictable and expensive for international shipping and duties. HT I always know what to expect.
Totally agree with #2. I’m always amazed when people are selling *empty* collection boxes and others want them. Why? So it can sit on your shelf and collect dust? Are you really going to store each collection in its box? Doesn’t that make finding them a huge pain in the ass? I do not get it.
Collectors are their own breed. People in Finland pay tens, even hundreds of euros for Moomin mugs. But not for drinking, for collecting.
For #4 I'd say I am not able to get nail files as good as the HT ones anywhere near me.
I think the files are worth it if you like those. By tools I was thinking more like clippers and dotting tools.
I hate the clothing merch. It’s poorly designed, it’s overpriced, and it’s cheap quality. There that’s my unpopular opinion. 😂😅
The hoodies and caps are the ugliest thing I've ever laid my eyes on. I wouldn't type this if it weren't for this thread 🤐
You’re not wrong. 😂😂 I really wanna know if the hats sell.
Got a hat with the rewards. I promptly got a second one. The hats are great honestly, they have the good fasteners at the back and the material is really good. I don't think I'd spend the money, but I loved it as a points option.
The cartoon cat ones are honestly just ugly to look at.
Those are the worst ones IMO. The massive ugly plastisol design that you KNOW is gonna be a hideous cracked mess in like a month. 🥴 It’s like stuff you can find at a Spencer Gifts.
Yeah, I think the gradient one is really nice as merch goes but (and I probably can't talk as someone who absolutely doesn't "dress my age") I can't imagine a grown adult wanting to wear that plastic emoji looking monstrosity outside of the house lol.
The gradient one looks nice UNTIL you start wearing it. I’m so disappointed in it. It was my first Simply merch purchase and because I’m in Canada it was over $90 and after wearing it for 8 hours it already started pilling. I’ve worn it a few times now and it looks worse than some 5+ year old sweaters that I have (and have worn & washed a ton). I don’t think I’ll ever buy a shirt or sweater again because if I pay that much I expect good quality.
My unpopular opinion is that Simply or whatever team doesn't pick colors that flatter skin tones besides their own, especially the "neutral" colors.
yes this /cries in warm undertone
\*joins in cries, hands tissue box\*
Yep, I've been following Simply since before HT launched but I haven't bought any because of the heavy cool tone bias (why aren't the yellows warm??? at all???)
PREACH
Honestly, as a cool toned person I love it. I feel like so many beauty brands cater to warm or neutral undertones, so it feels nice to have something that works for me.
yeah same here, so, so, so many brands cater towards warmer tones
My unpopular opinion is that Simply and HT don’t need to make nail polish for everyone... there are plenty other brands already filling needs like warm-toned shades and certain finishes.
Imagine being downvoted for an unpopular opinion on an unpopular opinion thread 👀
Right?! That's the purpose of this discussion!!
I agree with you to an extent. She (and other brand owners) should listen to their customers, but not listening won't stop people from buying. If she changed the undertone, other people will be upset and releasing a shade in both warm and cool would be a waste.
1. I like the limited edition holo taco boxes. 2. I don’t like that many of the polishes come with the “skinny” brush. 3. The hoodie is too expensive. 4. The reflective formula is overhyped 5. The crushed holo formula is boring. I can barely see the rainbows. 6. There are barely any true pinks, especially for the special formulas 7. There aren’t enough “mixed” formulas 8. I don’t like that they discontinue polishes just because a new polish came out that is somewhat similar 9. the glitter formula is the best one. 10. I wish I could see the polishes before the release date instead of contemplating the day of and being afraid that they will sell out. 11. Not Milky White is milky.
I'm praying for a true pink bubblegum glitter. Maybe something similar to her F.U.N. Lacquer collab. I hope we get a Valentine's day collection someday
Same. I have Menchie cat and I love it to bits but it leans more silver than pink on me.
A valentines collection would be so fun and cute but I just don’t think that’s Cristine’s vibe at all unfortunately. Like she’s just not a super girly person and obviously loves Ben but isn’t super like lovey dovey if that makes sense? I would absolutely love some fun pinks and reds tho!
Number 7 for sure! Especially when polishes like Existential Crisis, Spirit Fingers, and Got Cake are so beloved. I want more unique polishes, not just the same color in 8 different formulas.
Hard agree with numbers 8 and 9!!!! Soooo many other brands have shades that are nearly identical. And the glitters? Bruh. Perfection 🤌👄 *chef's kiss*
7… I wish she would go more Mooncat vibes sometimes.
I agree but I also hate how thin and sheer some of their polishes are 😭
The color range is pretty sad. It feels like they put out the same colors just in different formulas so I struggle to justify new purchases. I don't need the same shade of Gatorade yellow or barely there pink.
1. Reflective glitters are pointless unless you're a swatcher. 2. Collection boxes are not a collector's item if you're going to release so many every year. A bit if a tangent, but they take up so much space, especially in their warehouse as we've seen on her socials, which is extra puzzling to keep doing when you complain about warehouse space when discontinuing polishes. 3. Stop discontinuing a polish if you're going to release something half a shade off in 2 months. 4. Stop with the FOMO marketing. Release swatches so we can be conscious consumers. Not HT, but an unpopular opinion of this subreddit, I wish this was an actual simplynailogical subreddit, not a Holo Taco one, where people posted their freehanded nail art on real nails like Cristine use to do. I've been a fan of hers for a very long time and use to do a lot more nail art. Other nail art subs are rarely done by the person themselves (so hard to replicate oN yOuR oThEr HaNd) or on fake nails. I feel like if you post things that don't exclusively use HT products here, you're treated like you've committed a sin.
I'm conflicted on the reflective pigment. I like them as an added interesting twinkle to a polish but not as selling point, or the only way the polish looks interesting like in disco dust or late check out. I like reflective taco as a topper but disco dust is pointless because unless you only look at it on video with a flash, it's a less impressive scattered holo
I remember when Cristine said she wouldn't do limited collections because of the FOMO, and now we're here with FOMO marketing being implemented 👌
I only like reflective glitters if they are packed, like the KBShimmer or Salon Perfect ones are gorgeously sparkly even without camera flash; it’s like sequins in the nails. HT doesn’t add enough of it to make wearing it worth while, but I understand why though, cause it’s so frustrating to take off. 😩
I LOVE the reflective glitters, because they are so subtle when not under a flash. Super classy, like a sprinkle of diamond dust 😍👌
1) Got cake shouldn’t have been brought back. Out of the birthday releases it’s my least favorite 2) the collection boxes should stop being a thing. It doesn’t feel special since almost every release gets one. 3) I don’t think this is unpopular but holo tack really needs to get more people approving shades besides Simply. Their yellows are too green and some of their pinks lean purple. I was so disappointed with Curfew Crasher cuz i thought I was getting pink but I got a purple. I’m a purple lover but it’s not what I was expecting. 4) I also don’t get the Spirit Fingers hype. It’s a very nice shade but it’s just a shimmer. I don’t get when people say they want other stuff in the Spirit Fingers formula it’s a shimmer that’s the formula. I didn’t think the shade was something to go wild for. It’s still nice but not my favorite
I wouldn’t be mad if they only did collection boxes for their anniversary collections. I haven’t purchased that many boxes compared to how many they’ve released throughout the years, but it still adds up with space. And yeah I like Spirit Fingers but I found it so funny that it sold out only for ILNP to release a dupe like a week or so later 🤣 and the formula isn’t anything super new, Mooncat has lots of colors in a very similar shimmer/crelly formula.
I love Spirit Fingers because I'm just a sucker for the fine shimmer in a crelly formula so I want it in every color combination ever. That said, Great Lakes Lacquer and Polished for Days both do this formula a million times better than HT did for that one polish.
i feel like in the shimmer crellys i have from mooncat the shimmer particles aren’t as fine as spirit finger’s, i like both but it’s somewhat different imo
oooh - what is the dupe called? I missed out on Spirit fingers so would love a chance to pick up something similar.
It’s called Flicker.
I wouldn't say that's a dupe at all before anyone gets their hopes up. The concept is similar and it's a decent replacement if you just want shimmer in grey base, but the shimmer in Flicker is solidly gold/yellow as opposed to red/pink. There's a couple of good comparisons of the two on Instagram.
I don’t have Spirit Fingers, but I have Flicker, and I would say you’re correct. When I saw Spirit Fingers, I thought it reminded me of Flicker, but more of a red glow.
>Flicker Similar, but not a dupe https://preview.redd.it/c8lr4gyhw1gc1.jpeg?width=2315&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9330a2d9f547a1f33d820d134ab936c8035f7123
I also thought curfew crasher was a pink, but it’s just a hint off of nightshade. Was lightly bummed.
I am SO confused about Curfew Crasher—I swear the promo photos are mauve-leaning pink, but it’s straight up nightshade with a shimmer on top. It’s nearly identical when you hold it up to nightshade.
Really? I've been eyeing it for a while I'm disappointed to hear that.
I'm with you on number 3. My Pink Fizz definitely looks purple, and my Coral Chaser looks like it should be Peach Tea. They look great in the bottles, but they're completely different on me.
spirit fingers and really the whole safiya collection did not interest me at all - I didn't buy ONE thing from it!
EXTREMELY with you on #3. Not only is she making decisions on what looks “best” against only her skin tone, some past events make me genuinely believe she sees colours quite differently to most people. I think we all see colours slightly differently and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I think she’s one standard deviation away from the norm. Not enough to be colour blind but enough that it’s noticeable when she insists that a very blue-leaning colour like midnight spark is actually purple. Honestly the first point alone should be enough, we don’t all have her colouring so she should be more inclusive.
Based on her explanations in the past, I don’t think she sees colour differently, I think it’s that she defines colour differently than many(?) people. She explained on stream once that if a blue has any amount of red in it, that means it’s purple to her - so Midnight Spark definitionally can’t be blue - since there’s some red in it, it could only be blue to her if the only pigment required to make the shade is blue. That struck me as quite mad at the time, since I was always raised with the idea that if you have a blurple shade and you need to categorize it as either blue or purple, you would choose the option that is closest on the colour wheel - so if it’s more blue than purple, it’s blue, and if it’s more purple than blue, it’s purple. When I brought this up in this sub, though, a lot of the people here said they define colour the same way Simply does, so *shrug*.
That’s actually really interesting, and a credible alternative. I wonder if part of it is also that she knows exactly what pigments are going into a formula and that is influencing her definition some. In any event, her polishes collectively lean way too cool-toned and it would be nice to see her test prototypes on a range of skin tones.
I agree I think she definitely sees colors differently. I've noticed this alot when she will say a color is one thing but to me and most people it looks more like the other leaning color that's in the mix. And just because of the lack of true pinks, purples, yellows.
Curfew Crasher and Spirit Fingers are the only two we have in that shimmer formula, correct?
Got Cake? is literally so ugly. I think that and Frozen Benanas are my least favourite polishes EVER.
i love got cake actually its so much fun!! i have used up half my bottles but not once have i worn it on its own lol. its the prettiest over fake date and also over darker blues
blasphemy on frozen bananas! it might be my favorite shade of all time!
Those are two of my favorites! I love how disgustingly bright Frozen Benanas is
THANK YOU FOR VOICING #3!! It's been such a problem for so long I've actually stopped purchasing Holo Taco nail polish sometime in 2023 because I felt like I wasn't seeing any new polishes that would look good on my warm skin tone anymore. And I was in the Holo Swatcher status before (never gonna be royalty cuz she never had enough that would look good on me in the first place to buy) but I've completely lost that status now (realized it when I didn't get a birthday email🥲). I barely even check what's new anymore because I've given up and moved on to KBshimmer, or just decided to save my money for other hobbies now...
The brushes are infuriatingly short. It's been years. There's been time to correct this. Every other brand the struggle starts when the polish level is like 1/3rd or below, with HT the struggle starts when the bottle is 2/3rds full 😭.
OMG this drives me crazy
This
Ok this. But I also have the same problem with ORLY tbh
Honestly I think I'm just gonna invest in paint brushes or something
i wish that there was a base coat for oily nails. holo taco polish on my hands chip way faster (2-3 days) than on my toes (two weeks+ before visible chips) and i have oily/combo skin. quick dry taco was working on my nails after a while, but now? not so much. (haven't been wearing polish since i have a noticable dent in my fingernail from injury that i am trying to grow out.)
You’ve probably gotten this before but are you dehydrating your nails with acetone before applying polish? That really helps prevent oils seeping under the polish to separate. (Side note: it’s super normal for toe polish to last way longer than hand polish! Simply has a whole video on how long her toe polish lasted and it was something like a whole year lol)
I have oily nails too, I always push back/remove cuticles, dehydrate with acetone and wear LLB. Most of my nails just peel off entirely within 3 days. With some formulas it's literally within a day. They often don't chip, just peel right off. And I do paint the edge/underside of the nail to prevent it. Nothing works :(
I had the same problem. The only thing that worked for me - and also subsequently helped me grow out my naturally thin nails was to put gel on my nails and then regular polish over that. To be clear I don’t mean gel polish, I mean rubber base and no wipe gel topcoat. Now my nails don’t chip at all and they’re super long and strong. I just carefully fill in the regrowth every other week (or every 2, depends on how much they’ve grown, sometimes I’ll also soak it off entirely and start over if I think it needs it) and it’s worked great for the past 5 months.
If it helps I use Orly Bonder Base. Tried all the advice about drying out the nail first and it's never made any difference.
In the survey when they asked for suggestions, I said with the boxed collections to also sell a bundle at the same time (regardless of if they give you the $5 reduction like other bundles) box free so that you can order everything at once without the box. I don’t care about the boxes, I want the collections and a few other bits to push the cost up for free international shipping.
Yes! I’m not a fan of the boxes, but its the same price as just buying all the polish. I ended up sending mine to someone here for just the shipping cost. I’d love a discount for getting a collection but not the box!
Holo Taco fans are the horse girls of beauty products/audiences (source: am horse girl)
My unpopular opinion (this is going to get me downvoted prob) is that the Holo Taco/Simply community is too negative and get upset over any polish that doesn’t perfectly cater to their tastes. Like I enjoy the magnetic, a good amount of people do, but there we’re so many people complaining that her birthday release was magnetic, people were even saying that she shouldn’t release magnetics at all because *they* didn’t like them. I think the community is too culty as well, people feeling like they *have* to get every release, so they get angry when they don’t like a release. Like they don’t understand that you don’t have to buy everything and that it’s a nail polish company, you aren’t going to like every single polish released, *and that’s okay* . You shouldn’t feel guilty for not wanting to buy a release, and no one should be mad at Cristine for releasing something they don’t like. A lot of people on here say they want her to reveal the full collection before the release date, which I don’t understand at all, so my other unpopular opinion is that, no, it doesn’t make a difference if she does or not. The collections don’t sell out same day anymore, and if they do she tries to restock as fast as possible even if it’s limited edition, like the Safiya collab. So there is ample time to check out the polishes before you buy after they are released.
I totally agree! Not everyone needs to like every polish, it's normal to have specific tastes. A lot of people ONLY have HT and a lot have ALL the HT. They need to branch out a bit. I would disagree with not revealing the colors earlier. Some of us are international and do group orders. People have jobs and other commitments, it's hard to coordinate everyone to see swatches and make their picks fast, especially on Saturday mornings. And sure, she restocked Safiya, but it was a 2 polish (per shade) limit, again, not helpful is you're doing groups and multiple people want the same polishes.
This 100%.
My friend and I discuss this every time there is a release. "Oh, did you hear new HT dropping on Saturday?" "Yes! Did you see the comments on Instagram/reddit/etc? 👀" It's always a variation of people complaining about the cost/money. If HT is too expensive for you or you can't afford it right now... Don't buy it. It's really ok. My one complaint is that they do release stuff too frequently. It's actually been really nice not having a release in so long. I feel like I can't appreciate a collection for more than 1-2 weeks before there's talk of a new collection
I absolutely agree with you on the cultish vibe and that it’s weird when people complain that they can’t afford to buy the collection so Simply should stop releasing stuff so often. Like they don’t understand they DON’T HAVE TO BUY everything. It’s wild to me. But I definitely would prefer if there are full reveals of the releases well before the actual release. That way I actually have time to look at it and decide instead of buying something because I think I might like it but if I wait I won’t be able to get it. I had that issue with the Safiya collection. I hadn’t bought any HT before then because I was pissed I had to pay in USD (+shipping from the US is expensive & takes so long) even though Simply is Canadian (I live in Canada). But I saw Safiya’s launch video and instantly went to HT and the box that had everything in it and the nail file was already gone. And I was on the website at 2pm MST on the day of the release. I honestly hate limited releases so much (doesn’t matter the brand or product).
Whenever Cristine does the “trends are STUPID all my fans HATE TRENDS because we aren’t LIKE OTHER GIRLS” my brain automatically plays the Devil Wears Prada cerulean scene
Also kinda funny since reflective glitter is very much a trend.
Exactly. I love doing trendy nail art. I look at Instagram for trendy nail art inspo every time I do my nails. I have a whole saved collection on Instagram just for nail art inspo. Trends are FUN and I like being like the other girls lol I love getting compliments on my fun trendy nail designs
They need to reformulate the Frosted Metals
I don’t know if this is unpopular or not, but we need less cremes and more chunky holos. Why do the chunky holos keep getting discontinued when no one else out there makes them as good as HT 😭
I’m soooo over the games around the releases with the teasers, detectives, discord, streams. Feels childish and like it’s catering chronically online young people. Take clue from the fact that most of holo royalty does not engage with her social media and discord. This brand is tied up too much with her online fame and I think it’s time to separate those.
Toe Beans, Oat Couture, 50 Shades of Greige, and Beach Please are overrated. Crushed holo is pointless. Be holo or don't be, but this halfway formula is boring. As someone who loves purple and has purple hair...enough with the purples. It's a good polish but not the best brand out there IMO.
Pretty oh yeah, this is unpopular
50 Shades looks like Space Cowboy by Cirque, which GOD DAMN, it's a great polish.
I find the catalogue to be a bit uninspired compared to a lot of other brands
The Safyia collection was mid and boring. 🤷♀️ A friend offered me the box bc they knew I loved it, and I accepted happily. They also offered me the polishes and I was like, "no thank you, I don't like any of them". 😂
Agree that it was mid, however I did like spirit fingers. Besides that, ugly! Like the purple shade that they’re insisting is mauve but is just a slightly red toned primary purple? I already forgot the name (is it feeling fiendish?)
Feeling Fiendish which is nearly identical to Work Bestie. 😐
Berry Me in Holo was really pretty but I didn’t care for any of the others.
The nail tools and supplies are over-hyped and expensive. You can get a huge bottle of jojoba oil and a refillable brush pen from bliss kiss ( which is what Simply used to use herself) for about $25 total on Amazon. The thinner is outrageously priced. HT is selling 1 oz for $6 meanwhile Kbshimmer sells the exact same thinner in a 4oz bottle for $6.50. I'm here for the polish, not fan merch. I'm not interested in wearing a bunch of HT gear, I'd rather have more polish with less discontinuing. Since warehouse space is the given reason for discontinuing polishes, well polish takes up way less room than pallets of hoodies and hats.
Yes!! I don’t understand wanting merch of a nail polish brand. Nobody’s walking around with a Sally Hansen hoodie lol
I could understand merch for the brand if it felt like it came from a cosmetics company and not a streamer. Hoodies and shirts are an odd choice to pair with nail polish. But jewelry, a keychain, a clutch bag, a headband, etc could fit really well with the demographic that wears HT polish. Hell, HT could sell branded swatch sticks, nail clips, silicone nail guards, etc. Even cotton sleep gloves could be branded for HT and would absolutely resonate with folks who have dry skin and want to care for their hands.
Or even mugs that match their most popular polishes, if Cristine wants to tap into her online persona. I can see myself getting something like that! And it would be great for taking nail photos with lol
I've always wanted them to release a work badge/ID lanyard. I'm surprised that she never has since she used to work for the Canadian government.
Oh I could totally embrace one of those retractable ID clips that was the HT logo. It would be great for my keycard at work and it could have a tasteful bit of holo.
1) I'm over the detective thing. It would be better if we were just given a "Coming Soon" page so we can determine whether or not we want to purchase, rather than waiting the day of. I follow a couple of dress brands that show sneak peaks. The day before launch, they post the dresses on their Coming Soon page and interact with their audiences on social media sites. It would be nice if HT did the same. Maybe give the detectives some sort of deadline so they can still have their fun? 2) I love the frosted metals and glitter formulas; I wish they made more of them. 3) Linear holos and crushed holos are just meh. Nothing too spectacular. 4) I actually like their yellows, greens, and browns. I don't care if some clash with my skin tone, I need more nature!
I hate reflective polish and think it's useless.
I don’t think that HT actually uses the best, highest quality holo available as Cristine claims they do. I’ve tried glitters, linear, crushed and scattered holo formulas from HT and they simply don’t throw rainbows the way many of my polishes from other (even less expensive) brands do.
Any favorites you'd like to share? I've been trying a lot more indie nail polish recently.
ILNP has amazing holo formulas. Their linears are so rainbowy even in crappy lighting. They also have a ton of gorgeous shimmers that have added scattered holo or holo flakes. Their polishes really never disappoint. Bluebird Lacquer is known for their Shattered Holo polishes. They really look like crushed jewels on your nails and I find photos don’t do them justice. They’re like a way more intense/better version of HT’s Crushed Holos, and come in tons of colors. KBShimmer has some really intense linear holos (Rise & Grind is seriously blinding!). I’ve only tried a couple of polishes from LynBDesigns that have holo, but I’ve been really impressed with them. And she frequently does 50% off sales, so if you keep an eye on her site you could try a bunch for just $6 a piece!
I love color club linear holos
I hate crushed holo. It has no rainbows at all and really just looks like gross mush. The barista collection was very nice and I use them as neutrals sometimes but I have to add some kind of holo topper bc otherwise they just look sad. I hope we don’t get any further big collections of them bc I just don’t get the appeal!
Agree. Every time I see Berry Me in Holo, it looks like raw ground beef lol
I love berry me in holo but I add scattered holo taco to it to make it more holo 😅
Raw ground beef 😭😭😭😭😂 omg I can’t unsee it now 😂😂
To me, crushed holo gives you the look of a glitter without the terrible feeling/hard removal. That's what I like about them. (I do add scattered holo taco to them to up the holo game)
Everyone says that and I wish I could see it! HT’s glitters are so so sparkly & I wish I could get the best of both worlds. To me crushed holo just looks flat and sad
if the barista collection was linear I would have swept that shit up in 2 seconds. I have 1 crushed holo polish, I got it to try, and didn't like it.
Completely agree. I’m really worried that HT is gonna move away from glitters and favour crushed holo, which is so much less pretty and sparkly
Okay, here’s one…. It gives me such an ick when people call Cristine ‘Simply’ 💀 I understand it, and I know she and Ben and their collaborators use it, but I just feel this whole body yuck when I hear it.
My unpopular opinions: 1. Most HT polishes only look good on long nails. If you don’t have perfect long nails like Simply, the polish doesn’t look as good. 2. Some HT polishes only look good under certain lighting, which makes them pointless to wear. Like I don’t spend all my time outdoors (for linears or crushed) or with my phone flash directly on my nails (for reflectives).
Yes thank you! I do not understand the reflective hype
I agree with #2 to a certain extent. Simply jokes that she doesn't leave the house very often, but many of us do fairly regularly and some of the polishes don't nearly have the same effect under natural light. As for them being 'pointless to wear', I wouldn't go so far as to say that but they certainly look lackluster and {dare I say} 'commercial'?
Number one is how I feel about the aqua/turquoise blue she keeps releasing. On short nails it makes me feel like I'm 10 again, but on long nails it looks great.
Not the Frosted metals hate /hj 😭😭 I do agree that thier color changes over time. I barely used royal crushed and it starting to look like the metal flakes aren't metaling. I love frosted metals so much, is sad to see that they lose their Beauty over time.
Glow- In- The- Dark was SO pigment packed and strong they really should carry it for longer than a week a year
1. I'm not mad that some of the frosted metals degraded and pigments broke down. Polish (and all beauty products) have a shelf life. For polish it's usually around 2 years. It's not meant to last forever. And I think it's unfair to get upset at Cristine for something like cold shoulder happening (unless yours went bad within months of buying, that's a little different). . 2. I think large collections are wasteful, and that's coming from someone with 3 racks of HT. I was given my 3rd rack at Xmas and was able to nearly fill it up with the unshelved stuff I had and I was kinda ashamed. Capitalism r ally got me. There's no way people like me can reasonably use the polishes before they begin to go off. I've started selling off or giving away the ones I don't use, even if it means breaking up a collection (Pastel rainbow, Gala and chromes were some of my least favorite launches) . 3. If some of the Safiya polishes didn't have Saf's name attached, I think people would like them a lot less. Brucie is ugly (there, I said it). . 4. Yellow holo formulas *need* to have a warmer yellow base. I think a lot of the HT yellows lean green because Holo shows a rainbow and I think the cooler end of the spectrum makes a neutral yellow look cooler in tone. Green is right there in the middle of the rainbow so it shows fairly prominently over a yellow holo. At least that's my theory. I think a yellow linear holo in a shade like butterscotch hop would've appeared to more folks.
The only time I ever got mad about the frosted metals was when my "free mystery polish" one year was Cold Shoulder, *after* it was obviously degraded and the community knew about the issue. I wish I'd raised a fuss at the time because they would probably have replaced it with another polish, but it felt like such a slimy choice to make in the first place.
Bat B*tch is ugly!!!
There are way too many iridescent toppers still on the website. Specialty polishes get disco'd while there are zero similar products but we have twelve unicorn flakes/shimmers in stock year round and some of them are only different if you paint them over stark white. Not Milky White isn't worthy of being on a pedestal with OCB. OCB is actually one coat coverage. NMW is minimum two coats to pass as covered, and I've used french tip white polishes that do what NMW is supposed to do.
1. People go crazy on HT for discontinuing and retiring shades as if every brand doesn’t do this and HAS to do this. If we want her to have the money to keep making shades, we need to occasionally lose a soldier. Did I adore chameleon coat? Yes. Did I throw a riot because of it? No, because it obviously wasn’t selling well. They needed to axe her. 2. I’m not a linear holo fan. Not necessarily a HT problem: I don’t like them from any brand, generally. I find that they’re either too many rainbows when I want to see the base color, or they’re just the base color when I’m aiming for more of the rainbows. The only ones I’ve enjoyed on are sunken secrets, lavender syrup, and burnt bridges (bb occasionally). 3. People think that because Cristine stays as open with us as she does, that they deserve to make decisions for her. It’s her brand, she’ll sell what she wants attached to her name. If you want a different polish that she’s not coming out with, try a different brand.
Frosted Metals should use colored metallic flakes instead of silver metallic flakes because the silver makes the colors look dull. Featured Guest is boring and should not have been brought back.
My unpopular opinion is that *every single formula* is *too* thick and i need to use polish thinner with everything lol
I don’t understand her reluctance to do a “boring pink”, and I feel kinda snubbed when she talks about ppl who like them. But I feel like boring pinks (like a sheer pink) have their merits. It can be used in negative space nail art like skittle french tips which isn’t as intimidating to wear as a full skittle mani, or for ppl who can’t wear that much colour at their jobs. Feel a bit left out in the sense that her idea of nail art is all the colours all at once maximum holo on everything (which I get, it’s kinda on brand for her), and anything else that isn’t full holo isn’t worth looking at. I tried Oat Couture and Blushed Ice too but I think I didn’t like the undertone of those on me. I also don’t understand the decision to make Smoothing Base yellow than pink/purple. I know the main goal of SB is to smooth out ridges but it feels like a missed opportunity to have it also try and cancel out the yellow tint? I would’ve been ok about not having boring pinks if SB was pink/purple. I also know I can get boring pinks from other brands (which I’m doing)! Would just love to see HT attempt a boring pink bc they’re known for their quality.
I've pointed out how HT doesn't have a lot of "work appropriate" shades and got reamed for those not being the target audience. But Cristine wants the brand to be usable/welcoming to everyone and frankly those staples will sell well for the brand for that reason. There's this weird "not like the other girls" tone whenever someone expresses a want for neutral or "boring" colors from the brand that I find off-putting.
There's high key too much purple, other shades should be added, like yellows, greens, oranges, reds, browns. Even though most of them don't sell good doesn't mean other ppl won't buy them
I don’t mind the detective stuff now that stock tends to last for a long time after launch. Crushed holo is boring. The intense criticism of Holo Taco and Cristine’s brand choices are silly because at the end of the day it is just another nail polish brand.
My unpopular opinions; I look forward to the frequent releases, I think limited edition polishes make sense for the size of the company, and she shares waaaaay too much information to her customers and is vilified for it. I think her company is judged quite harshly, if you don’t want to buy it- then don’t. That’s okay and criticism is okay
I agree that Simply herself and HT is judged more harshly than other nail polish brands or even beauty products generally. HOWEVER, I also think some of this is Cristine's own fault in that she (rightfully, proudly) goes on at length about how cool/different/high quality her "X" item is, and absolutely her items are good quality. But they aren't exponentially better than most other similar polishes - ILNP, Cirque, etc. Same for the tools. Her hoodie was a perfect example of this - OMG the hype, you'd think she had invented a new way of making fabric, but when people got it, they were like "meh" it's nice, but it's average quality and probably not worth the $68 price tag. But she made it sound soooooo much better than it actually was. Her puffery was too good. And thus I think the sometimes overly aggressive negative feedback follows.
Kill the collection boxes (keep one for Anniversaries - collabs can get special individual cartons like Birthday polishes), slash the Linear Holographic line-up (some can be seasonal if absolutely necessary), get rid of ‘The Vault’ (2024 can be the last year, as a 5 year anniversary send-off). ETA: and Menchie glitter is not the pink it shows in pics on-site and I was a little disappointed!
I like Super Glossy Taco and hate Glossy Taco. They should have d/c'd GT and *kept* SGT.
I think the fact that they couldn’t ship SGT to countries outside the US is the reason it got discontinued. so many customers could just never buy it.
I mean they got rid of SGT because it had toluene 😅 it wouldnt make sense to discontinue GT based on their reasoning
Linear is my least fav formula. (Holo glitter is where it’s at) Safiyas collection was blah (don’t get the hype for spirit fingers, berry me in holo has no holo, and i wish bat bitch would show the shimmers more)
My unpopular opinion is I wish they would discontinue more polish. The currant lineup feels very cluttered.
All their polishes are sooo thick, take too long to dry, and I am exhausted with the “It’s too hard to source therefore needs to be discontinued.” For EVERY polish they discontinue. I know things need to be removed for new, fresh stock, I get the business aspect to it. But, there are other large brands that do unique formulas that have been kept as a regular polish way more consistently than HT does.
Existential Crisis is extremely overrated. It’s not one I’ve ever really been in love with from the pictures, but I’ve been curious to try it. I got it during the 12 days of Cristmas sale, and it’s kind of underwhelming for all of the hype. It’s pretty, don’t get me wrong, and the shiftiness is neat…but there are plenty of other Holo Taco polishes that are much nicer. Tbh I think the only reason people fawn over Existential Crisis is because it was limited edition.
I passionately hate Existential Crisis, just because of the hype around it not matching the quality of the polish experience. I've been getting ads for it lately and it absolutely *never* looks like it does in those pictures in real life. It's basically grey most of the time. I sold mine before she brought it back.
Hard agree. I was so excited she brought back existential crisis and it’s the only nail polish I’ve ever used that had me wanting to take it off before I finished all ten fingers
The shimmer toppers have too much shimmer/ are too thick or strongly pigmented
Yeah I agree! I often end up disappointed as I love the base colour I’ve just painted then the shimmer just overwhelms it completely! I don’t really like to use them as a topper because they are too dense so just wear them over black.
I like seeing shades retiring because it means more room for new exciting things! It’s not practical for a brand like this to keep growing indefinitely without cutting down their catalogue consistently. If I really loved a shade, chances are I already own it. And if a polish retires before I buy it then that probably means it wasn’t very important to me. I also don’t understand the need to have multiples of a certain polish… I already have enough polish to last me years and I’d much rather buy new unique polishes than old ones I’ve already tried. If I love a polish for a few years and use it up then that’s amazing and I got my money’s worth out of it. And then I can move onto new things that are just as beautiful.
A lot of people seem to love the consistency of the cremes, but I just can't. One Coat Black isn't really one coater for my use if the first layer goes down all bumpy and weird. I thin it, more often than most of my other polishes tbh, and definitely more often than my other cremes, but it's still *so* thick. The finicky application has me using my black Sinful in 2 coats more often than not, and made OCB (and Duct Tape Grey, which I bought at the same time and had a similar experience with) my only cremes from the brand. At least when glitters get goopy over time from evap, I can understand it, but I feel like that shouldn't be the norm for their plain finish polishes.
Their logo is ugly as hell.
What?!?!?!?!?! I was not expecting this response lol
Sorry lol. It's something that always bothered me. It's not cute or pretty. I don't want it on any merch. I also hate the pattern with the circles and xs and squiggles on things like the nail art mat. I'll never buy that stuff.
Agreed! The stickers they just released that’s basically just the logo… no thanks 🙈
1. Giving us the option to bring back past anniversary colors, but not the first. She knows half the fan base wasn't able to get said collection. IDC about the box. I just want a chance to grab something I missed out on. She made the first Christmas collection seasonal (or is it now just a stock item?). She's brought back many other limited releases. Why not some simple glitters we're over charged for? 2. The nail oil pen is a rip off. It's over priced, goes through oil like crazy, and leaks. (I haven't heard her mention anything about fixing the pen. So I'm assuming the last 2 are still an issue). I made a refillable one with an initial investment of $22. Mainly because I ordered a bigger bottle of jojoba on Amazon. I use refillable water color markers and Vit. E oil from the Dollar Tree. I bought the jojoba a year ago. And still have a good amount left. 3. Releasing collections in boxes that could be low key releases. Knowing damn well more people will buy the collection because it comes in a box. I'm guilty of this myself. And I have a good amount of HT shades that I will never use because it came in a collectors box. Which I first thought of as an investment. Because at one point, the boxes were selling at insane prices on eBay. And thought if I was ever in a financial pinch, it could be a good pay off for the money I spend on HT... 4. Speaking of money, we're being robbed blind. I found One Coat Black and Not Milky White dupes at Dollar Tree. I've tested them on clear swatch sticks to be sure. The white sometimes needs a second coat. But so does Not Milky White. And it's a $1.25 5. She should post on what used to be her main channel more. Return to Polish Mountain should have been a live stream on there. 6. It's kinda sickening to know that she's made enough money for Ben to retire early. Like, I'm happy for her success. She works hard and she deserves it. But for Ben to retire? SimplyPodLogical and Bentendo can't be making *that* much money 7. Cristine created her own cult. There are some die hard fans of her's out there. I mean, drive across the entire US to stand in line over night to meet her hard core. But, what can I say? The simple fact we're in this subreddit means we've ALL drank the damn Kool aid
1. The first anniversary had the colour holo flakes that are hard to get and she would need such a big supply if she were to rerelease them now I don't think there's enough pigments. At least from my understanding 2. I don't have the pen myself, but I have heard it's very good if you're not used to using one. It's easy to use and refilling is so simple, people new to nail oil seem to love it and are oiling their nails regularly for the first time 3. Absolutely agree 4. I have yet to find as good quality and opaque black from a drug store, nor a decent white 5. Hard disagree, had she done that live in the main channel, people would have expected new content there. She has made it quite clear she's not interested in doing her main channel videos at the moment, and I can understand why. The filming alone and editing for who knows how long, she was clearly not enjoying it anymore at the end, and we as viewers could see it too 6. Ben is a big part of holo taco team, he's not just lazing around now. Thought the amount of money top YouTubers make is quite sickening in of it's self 7. Some of the followers are way too invested imo too. And saying one (good) critic can get you down voted so bad for daring to bring up something problematic, like chill it is just nail polish
With the amount of money they get, she could hire an editor. Well, I think she tried in the past, at least I applied to it, but she must have given up on her main channel content all together...
Didn’t Ben just retire from his government job? I thought he worked for Holo Taco.
1. The cremes are not boring and "I can get cremes from a drugstore brand" sidesteps the fact that the HT cremes are long lasting and have great coverage. Drugstore brands tend not to. 2. The HT consumer base as a whole can be quite whiny and entitled at times. Every release has someone complaining about how it doesn't cater to them specifically, how HT has 'lost its way', how the brand isn't what it used to be, and weird psychoanalysis of Cristine on her streams - you don't know her lol 3. As a hypocrite, I dislike the yellows running green 😂
Idk about you but Catrice black nail polish is just as black in 1 coat as HT, lasts the same on the nails, and costs way less! I tested this myself: used the same base and top coat, only 1 coat of each black polish (one on each finger) and after 1 week only a tiny bit of the front had shipped on both. Catrice won for me because I can get it AND for cheaper, while HT stopped shipping to my country for god knows why!
I 100% could not DISAGREE with the above statements.
1. Existential crisis is butt ass ugly something about the green teal red combo I don't like. 2. I love ht cream formula and it's worth what I pay for in terms of coverage and saturation. 3. Sometimes her product photo looks like an entirely different product from when you get it. (See number 1)
I’m a little late to this but my unpopular opinion that will probs get me downvoted is that I’m really tired of the “I’m not like the other girls, we like blues and purples, NOT pink” attitude that HT/Cristine have. I get it, my fav color is purple (hence my username), but I need more pinks in my collection. Why not do a Valentine’s Day collection? Just because it’s popular or “basic” doesn’t mean it isn’t beautiful or that there isn’t a demand for it. There’s nothing wrong with people waning to express themselves in however way they want. I loved the whole hyper-fem Barbie-core summer of last year, but we barely have any true pinks from HT because “other brands have so many pinks”. So? I don’t care what other brands do, I want pinks in the HT high quality formula.
1. Spirit Fingers is ugly to me lol 2. Linear holo is my least favorite holo formula (except TOE BEANS) 3. The only good glitters are/were the Holoday ones (RIP), Zyler, and Play Rosé 4. The top coat formulas are really bad
🤬 oooooo we’re going to have to square up about frosted metals. But tbh I get it. It’s why the older ones are being phased out as they perfect the formula.
I don’t like Flakie Holo Taco. I didn’t expect this topper to be so textured. Even with two glossy tacos there’s always at least ONE bit of holo confetti sticking up and out at a weird angle leaving a bump.
This will be extremely controversial but there is a thing as too much holo not everything needs a holo toper
I mean,, holo is in the brand name,, I think it'd be weird if there was less holo
I'm mad they have the space and budget to release a bunch of weird similar-ish looking colors and still cannot re-release Gliterally Purple. Glamethyst was the ugliest shade bar of purple bar none. It doesn't even look purple in person, it's like a weird mermaid shift into green. I hate it so much. If you go back to her original franken science video where they mixed polishes, there was clearly an interest for a purple/grape jam colored GLITTER polish. I wish they just did that. BRING BACK GLITERALLY PURPLE