Press Samples, affiliate links used
Hey friends! Today I am sharing the newest collection from Holo Taco. As a glitter lover, this was a collection that I was really looking forward to trying out! Especially since for the very first time, Holo Taco is working with chunky glitters!!! *insert screams*
The After Party collection is available right now on the Holo Taco website. This collection is not limited edition but the collection box is limited edition and won’t be restocked. At the time of posting, the entire collection is still in stock.
Several of the polishes in this collection dry down with a lot of texture so using a thicker top coat to smooth them out will help give you the smoothest finish. I used the Salon Perfect Glitter Gloss paired with the KBShimmer Clearly On Top quick dry top coat. You’ll hear me say a lot in this blog post to soak off the polishes for the easiest removal. If you don’t know what soaking off polish is, I gotcha cover with this blog post.
Live Swatch Video
Holo Taco is a US based nail polish brand. Their polishes are in 12ml bottles, 10 free, cruelty-free, and vegan.
Bottle Service
Description: a warm shiny gold polish in a specialty shimmer-metallic formula with gold micro-flakes and gold holo glitter
Bottle Service had a fantastic formula. As a gold polish lover, I was really happy to see Holo Taco release a new gold polish. I also appreciate that this is a warm toned gold versus the more cool/green toned gold in the Chrome release. However, because this is a very warm toned gold, it does lean a little bit toward a copper.
This polish starts off a little sheer so you will need to build it up to reach full opacity. You get a TON of sparkles on the nail from the flakies and glitters. The glitters do dry down with some texture but one coat of top coat seems to smooth everything out really nicely.
I will call this a 2-3 coater depending on your own personal preference. Coverage was pretty good in two coats but I could see a little bit of VNL. Since this is so sparkly I decided to stay at two coats since the glitters distract from the nail line.
My photos show Bottle Service in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. I wouldn’t recommend scrubbing this polish off.
Crystal Skies
Description: a muted grey-blue polish in a specialty glitter formula with holographic silver diamond-shaped glitters and blue iridescent glitter
Crystal Skies had a really nice but thicker formula. It didn’t feel so thick that I had a difficult time with application and the thickness did help with making this a two coater on me.
I was really happy that this polish had a little droplet of grey in it to make it more muted than just a pale blue. This polish feels very fall yet also winter-appropriate.
Like the other polishes, this polish is incredibly sparkly and holographic! The glitters do dry down very textured so you’re going to want to use at least two coats of top coat to smooth everything out.
My photos show Crystal Skies in 2 coats plus two coats of top coat. Do NOT scrub this polish off for removal! Use the soak of method or a peel off base coat.
Curfew Crasher
Description: Muted pink-mauve jelly polish in a specialty shimmer formula with pale yellow shimmer and scattered holo
Curfew Crasher as someone who isn’t a huge fan of mauve shades, I was happy that I actually liked how this one looked on me. Between being a pink lean, the hint of grey, and then the golden shimmer I was a fan.
The formula was fantastic, slightly thinner than I expected but in a good way. It wasn’t so thin that it felt runny and it stayed where I put it. The shimmer has a slight green color shift to it.
The glitters don’t dry down super duper textured so one coat of top coat smoothed everything out really nicely. And yes, they are very holographic.
My photos show Curfew Crashed in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. I am going to call this one a 2-3 coater depending on personal preference. I found in two coats, the base color didn’t exactly match what I was seeing in the bottle.
Disco Dust Taco
Description: Scattered reflective multi-coloured glitters in a transparent base
Disco Dust Taco I wasn’t completely sold on this polish just based on the promotional images. I don’t have an actual reason why, I just wasn’t.
The base didn’t have that wet sand level of application that some reflective glitter polishes have but this does dry down textured. I believe the reflective glitters are in the colors green, blue, silver, a pinky purple and gold. I originally thought this would clash with a lot of colors but I take that back as it seems to work well with a variety of base colors.
Because this is in a clear base, you won’t be able to build this up to reach full opacity. If you’re curious how this builds up in three coats, I show that in my live swatch video.
For my swatches, I used one coat over China Glaze First Mate which is a dark greyed blue creme. I opted to use 2 coats of top coat to smooth everything out but that might not be 100% necessary with this as a topper. Due to the reflective glitters, I wouldn’t recommend scrubbing this polish off.
Midnight Owl
Description: Midnight indigo-purple jelly polish in a specialty glitter formula with silver holographic glitter, silver micro holo, blue iridescent glitter, and blue/purple shimmer
Midnight Owl had a fantastic formula. I did notice that when wet, this polish has the slight sulphuric smell some blue polishes have. The smell does dissipate fairly quickly.
In typical glitter polish fashion, the base was on the thicker side but I found it easy to work with. On the first coat, it’s sheer and uneven but it builds up nicely. I do think depending on application this will be a 2-3 coater. I did a little extra working with my brush to get it opaque in two coats for me.
I absolutely love the glitter mix in this polish. There’s so much going on that it’s kinda hard to pinpoint exact components but I love when polishes are like that.
My photos show Midnight Owl in 2 coats plus 2 coats of top coat. Once again, this polish dries down due to the glitters do not scrub the polish off.
Starry-Eyed
Description: a deep teal jelly polish in a specialty glitter formula with holographic silver star-shaped glitters
Starry-Eyed for obvious star shaped reasons, this is the polish that I was looking forward to the most from this entire release. I had hoped so badly that Holo Taco would release some fun shaped glitter polishes so I when I saw this one, I was super excited.
The formula was unsurprisingly on the thicker side but again the typical glitter polish level of thickness. The star shaped glitters do have a tendency to sink to the bottle of the bottle a little bit so I ran this one through my nail polish shaker twice to make sure the glitters were well dispersed. Usually, I only need one round in the shaker so I don’t think there are a ton of stars in the bottle
Based on the photos from the website, I didn’t expect this to be overflowing with stars. They’re sparser in the base than I would have personally liked but I was able to get about 1 star out on each nail for each coat. I think if you want the stars to show up best on your nails, focus on getting even coverage for your first two coats. And then focus on getting the stars out on the final coat.
The builds up to reach full opacity so any stars on the first coat likely won’t show up on the third coat. I do wish this polish had a more translucent jelly like look so that you get a pond effect between coats.
I love how sparkly this polish is. This is one of those rare instances where I wish there were more of a color variety in the glitters. Since there are a TON of holographic glitters in this polish, the holo stars don’t jump out quite as much as I would have liked.
My photos show Starry-eyed in 3 coats plus 2 coats of glossy top coat. If you aren’t as picky as I am this might be passable in two coats but to get the deep teal you see in the base you might want to use 3 coats. Clearly, removal will be fairly difficult if you opt ot scrub this polish off, don’t do that.
Final Thoughts
As someone who loves glitter and sparkle in my nail polish with all of my heart, I was pretty excited to get these polishes swatches. Holo Taco does a great job with glitter so I knew these would be super duper sparkly!
Before spoilers dropped, I had thought this color story would be more like the soon-to-be discontinued Cristmas bundle. I am happy that this color story is different from that collection though. This has a more winter vibe Christmas.
I am so incredibly happy that we finally have a chunky glitter polish from the brand. I feel like there are a few things that kept me from being head over heels in love with Starry-Eyed but I do like it quite a bit.
My top picks are Starry-Eyed, Bottle Service, and Disco Dust Taco.
Holo Taco
12ml, 10 Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
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Sale Information
The After Party collection is available right now on the Holo Taco website. The polishes are priced at $13-14 each for 12ml bottles. This release is not limited edition and should be around for awhile.
Holo Taco is also currently having its Black Friday sale. Everything on the website is currently discounted up to 25% off with no code needed. The sale will continue for the entire month of November!
