In her nail tutorials, Cristine Rotenberg would say top coat, and enough viewers heard taco that she stopped fighting it. She started adding a holographic taco to every video, and the brand says that misunderstanding is the origin of the name. I love that a company can come from a running gag. Rotenberg is Canadian, joined YouTube in 2014 as Simply Nailogical, began brainstorming a brand in 2017 and started prototyping polishes in 2018. Holo Taco went live on July 6, 2019 with five polishes, three silver holographic toppers plus an opaque black and an opaque blue, and it sold out in about two hours. The brand says the polishes are 10-free, vegan, cruelty-free and made in the USA. If you have never tried holographic nail polish, the gimmick is simple: the finish splits light into rainbows, and it looks best in direct light. Three of the four bottles below trace back to that launch shelf, which is why I am starting there.

Unicorn Skin is the line I would hand a nervous beginner, because one coat of a translucent flakie does the work and the base color does the rest. The brand says each flakie topper shifts depending on what is underneath. Over a dark base, Aurora goes from blue-purple to a hint of pink and Solar from red-orange to yellow-green. Galactic runs bright green to a hint of purple, and Lunar flashes golden yellow before a hint of green. Over a light base they swap personalities, with Aurora showing yellow, green and blue, and Lunar lighting up cyan, purple and pink. The brand also notes that a camera flash or direct light shows the dominant color, while shade reveals the secondary shifts, so test them both ways. Finish with a glossy top coat to seal the flakes in.

This is the maximal grid. Gold Flake Taco adds metallic golden flakes over any manicure, so it is easy to try over any base you own. Everything Taco is a custom blend of six Unicorn Skin flakies and all three holographic toppers, which the brand says is back by popular demand. Holo Magnetic Taco puts silver holographic pigments in a clear base and reacts to a magnet, so keep one handy. Crescent Moon Taco scatters holographic crescent moons, blue iridescent glitter and extra holo sparkle, and it is the one I would wear on a night out. What I would skip is a second heavy coat of any of them. The brand says one coat of Everything Taco is enough, and a thick layer of flakes tends to pile up on the nail and leave bumps, so seal it with a top coat instead.

What I like about Holo Taco is that it never lost the joke. The names are puns, the bottles are loud and the founder spent years making nail videos before she made her own polish. Pick one topper, put it over a base you already own, and try it in direct light. If it makes you grin at your own hands, that is the whole product.