Press Samples, post disclosure page
Hi friends! Today I am sharing a new release from Holo Taco. This is the Cookies & Cremes bundle. There are 7 polishes total, 5 cremes, 1 shimmer and a flakie topper.
This collection is available right now on the Holo Taco website. Thank you to the Holo Taco team for sending this collection over to me! If you would like to see these polishes in natural lighting, be sure to check out my live swatch video.
Live Swatch Video
Holo Taco is a US based nail polish brand. Their polishes are in 12ml bottles, 10 free, cruelty-free, and vegan.
Brownie Points
Description: a dark chocolate-brown polish with a crème formula
Brownie Points is the polish that I was most looking forward to in this release. I found the formula to be fantastic with this polish, a little bit on the thicker side but it applies smoothly, evenly and self leveled perfectly.
The brand’s color description was accurate, this a very dark chocolate brown. It’s not so dark in my opinion that it looks black in low lighting but it’s close.
My photos show Brownie Points in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. The final photo shows it with Black Flakie Taco on two fingers.
Butter Me Up
Description: a pale whipped buttercream polish with a crème formula
Butter Me Up is the first of 3 polishes in this collection that gave me some trouble. My bottle was pretty thick so I did end up adding some thinner to my bottle.
Once I added thinner this applied a lot better. I think if I had just added the thinner before doing any coats I would have had a better experience getting this polish to have even coverage without any dark spots. However, since I did my first coats without any thinner, I found in three coats I had some unevenness in the base.
I do take some issue with the color description of this polish. I wouldn’t personally call this a buttercream yellow, it’s too yellow in my opinion (assuming you’re not adding yellow dye to the buttercream at least) I could see calling a whipped butter yellow or an American style stick of butter yellow. This is very much a pastel springtime yellow, think baby chick yellow.
My photos show Butter Me Up in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. I think maybe if I had added thinner to this before doing my first coat, I could have gotten this to ok enough coverage in two coats.
This polish is very different from Banana Hacks (Pastel & Don’t Tell). This is a much paler and more creamy shade of pastel yellow.
Ginger Snatched
Description: a medium cinnamon-brown polish with a crème formula
Ginger Snatched I love that Holo Taco is describing this a cinnamon brown! I feel like that perfectly describes the warm brown tone that this polish has.
I found that while it was slightly on the thicker side, the formula was fantastic as it applied smoothly and evenly. It was a bit more opaque than I was expecting but not quite a one coater.
While this polish is a very warm brown, I did’t find it was so warm that it made my hands appear red toned.
My photos show Ginger Snatched in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.
I had honestly really hoped that this was going to be super close to Magical Mustache from the Julien collab. This polish is a lot warmer and not close enough in my opinion to be a dupe.
Milky White Shimmer
Description: a milky white jelly base with fine white shimmer for a clean glowing look
Milky White Shimmer was the second polish in this release that I had some issues with. I think much like Butter Me Up, if I had added thinner before starting with my first coat I would have had a better experience with it. I had a hard time getting even coats to go on. Once I added thinner, I was able to apply this a bit better but the overall look of the polish was just very uneven for me.
I believe this polish could classify towards that ‘glazed donut nail’ that people were so fond of a while back. The shimmer is smooth and just a little bit sparkly but doesn’t dry with any texture.
My photos show Milky White Shimmer in 3 coats plus glossy top coat.
Peri-Social
Description: a bright periwinkle polish with a crème formula
Peri-Social I had originally thought this color was a very odd and out of place choice for a cookies & cream collection but I now feel like this was the pop of color the collection needed.
The formula on this was fantastic, it applied perfectly and had just the right amount of thickness to make for an opaque polish. In the bottle, this appears to look a lot more purple leaning than periwinkle. As the polish dries down, the periwinkle color comes out to play.
My photos show in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.
Not gonna lie, I really thought we had a periwinkle cream from this brand already. The most similar color that I found was Cereal Killer from last year’s Pastel & Don’t Tell.
Sweet Tooth
Description: a pale pink polish with a crème formula
Sweet Tooth is the final polish in this release that gave me some difficulties. Much like the other two troublemakers, I think my problems would have been solved if I had just added thinner straight out the gate vs doing my first coat with an overly thick polish.
Long time readers of the blog know that pastel pinks and I don’t generally get along. This wasn’t an exception unfortunately. I think due to my first coat being so uneven due to the thickness, I wasn’t able to reach even coverage after 3 coats.
My photos show Sweet Tooth in 3 coats plus glossy top coat.
Black Flake Taco
Description: a matte black asymmetrical flakes in a clear base
Black Flakie Taco where Peri-Social was the pop of color this release needed, Black Flakie Taco was the ‘oh that’s new!’ polish this release needed. I was so happy to see that Holo Taco was coming out with a new flakie topper.
The formula on this was perfect, the flakie to base ration was perfect. There are two sizes of flakies in this polish, one is tiny and the other slightly larger. The flakies all spread out pretty evenly but you can also move your brush around a bit to get the larger flakies placed where you want them.
I had initially thought this polish was a mix of black glitter shreds as well as black flakies. Now that I have gotten the polish on my nails, I do think the larger flakies in this are in fact flakies. They do not dry down with the same amount of texture as black glitter shreds, they also seem to be a bit smaller than the black glitter shreds I have used in the past.
While all of the flakies in this polish do dry down flat, you do still get some texture from them. You will want top coat to have a perfectly smooth and glossy finish.
My photos show Black Flakie Taco in 1 coat over Peri-Social with both glossy and matte top coats. Removal for this polish won’t be overly difficult but if you build this polish up in multiple coats, it will be very difficult to remove akin to a glitter.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I don’t think this was a bad release. I knew which polishes going in to this were going to be the ones that interested me the most personally and which weren’t. I am not bothered at all by a few of these needing thinner, it happens with nail polish so I don’t think that’s that big of a deal.
I think the color story of this release is really cohesive. I didn’t get why Peri-Social was a part of this release initially but this added pop of color really helped the release in my opinion.
My top picks were Black Flake Taco and Brownie Points with Peri-Social and Ginger Snatched getting honorable mentions.
Holo Taco
12ml, 10 Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
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Sale Information
The Cookies & Cream bundle is available right now on the Holo Taco website. The cremes are priced at $12, the flakie topper is priced at $13 and the shimmer polish is priced at $14. This collection is not limited edition and does not have a collection box.
