Cristine Raquel Rotenberg (born October 17, 1988) is a Canadian YouTuber. Primarily known for her nail art videos, Rotenberg ran the YouTube channel Simply Nailogical from 2014 to 2022, which had over 7 million subscribers.[4] She currently runs the channels "Simply Not Logical", "SimplyPodLogical", "SimplyPodLogical Highlights" and "Holo Taco". Rotenberg is the owner of the nail polish brand, Holo Taco.
| Simply Nailogical | ||||||||||
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| Personal information | ||||||||||
| Born | Cristine Raquel Rotenberg[1] October 17, 1988 Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada | |||||||||
| Occupation | YouTuber | |||||||||
| Partner | Benjamin Mazowita (2012–present) | |||||||||
| Website | holotaco | |||||||||
| YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Also known as | Simply Nailogical, Simply Not Logical[2][3] | |||||||||
| Channels | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2014–present | |||||||||
| Genre(s) | Beauty, comedy, vlog, nail art, satire | |||||||||
| Subscribers |
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| Total views |
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Last updated: May 27, 2021 | ||||||||||
Early life
editCristine Rotenberg was born on October 17, 1988, in Richmond Hill, Ontario.[5][6] From 1996 to 2001, Rotenberg starred in 15 commercials for various children's products including Furby and Fib Finder, as well as an insurance commercial, and a theatrical production of Wizard of Oz.[7][8] At age 13, she played the role of Young Sophia in the 2002 film Charms for the Easy Life.[9] Following this role, she stopped taking on acting roles to focus on her schooling.[10]
In 2014, Rotenberg received a master's degree in sociology with a concentration in criminology from Carleton University.[11] Her master's thesis is on the topic of self-injury in prisoners as a result of prison conditions.[1]
Career
editRotenberg worked as an analyst for Statistics Canada, an agency of the Canadian government. Her work focused on crime statistics and had included analysis of sexual assault reporting amid the #MeToo movement. Despite lucrative success with her other endeavours, Rotenberg expressed her desire to maintain her analyst work for reliability and fulfillment not available in her YouTube career.[12][13]
Rotenberg's Simply Nailogical YouTube channel was launched with her first video on June 18, 2014.[14] The channel was preceded by her Simply Nailogical blog which launched in February 2014.[15] She posted pictures of her nail art on the blog and on Instagram, and actively updated her blog until June 2016.[15] On YouTube, Rotenberg initially created short nail art videos that were less than two minutes long. She later began extending the length of the tutorials and eventually appeared on-camera.
In June 2016, Rotenberg posted a video of herself applying over 100 coats of nail polish titled "100+ Coats of Nail Polish #POLISHMOUNTAIN".[16] The video quickly went viral, and influenced many other YouTubers such as Jenna Marbles.[17] The Daily Dot called it one of 2016's most popular video trends.[3] Soon after the video was posted, her subscriber count doubled.[3] Her video was featured in the Fine Brothers' College Kids React series in August 2016.
Rotenberg has since branched out from nail art tutorials to videos about other topics.[18] Rotenberg has two secondary channels: "Simply Not Logical" was created in September 2015 and primarily contains vlogs; the podcast "SimplyPodLogical" launched in February 2020. An April 2020 episode of the podcast featured Mazowita and Rotenberg interviewing Dr. Howard Njoo, the Canadian government's deputy chief public health officer, about COVID-19.[19]
In April 2019, Rotenberg's Simply Nailogical channel was the 19th most popular YouTube channel in Canada with over 6.8 million subscribers and 1.2 billion views.[11][20] J-14 magazine described her as "the face of nail art in the internet world".[21][2] Rotenberg's videos occasionally feature her working with holographic items and she uses the phrase "holo taco" in her videos to refer to holographic top coats of nail polish.[22][23] The phrase came about due to viewers misunderstanding her pronunciation of "top coat" as "taco" and Rotenburg later named her own nail polish brand Holo Taco.[24]
On July 17, 2022, Rotenberg announced that she would cease producing videos for her main channel in order to focus on her personal life and Holo Taco. However, she remains active on her secondary channels.[25]
Nail polish lines
editHolo Taco
editIn July 2019, Rotenberg launched her own nail polish line called Holo Taco.[26] She began brainstorming for the business in 2017 and started prototyping polishes in 2018. The original Holo Taco launch contained three silver holographic top coats in addition to two opaque polishes ("One Coat Black" and "Royal-Tea Blue").[27] The collection sold out within two hours.[28]
Rotenberg's aim with Holo Taco is the creation of high-quality nail polishes with a special emphasis on special effects polishes,[29] including holographic, multi-chrome, and iridescent components and finishes. Despite higher production costs for special effects polishes, Holo Taco's avowed aim is to keep prices as affordable as possible.[30] As of 2022, Holo Taco has sold more than 1 million bottles of nail polish.[25]
Collaborations
editRotenberg has collaborated with several nail polish-producing companies to create collections or specific colors. The Simplynailogical collection by F.U.N. Lacquer consisted of six holographic colors in three separate shades: pink, blue, and black with each having their respective linear holo version.[31]
Philanthropic work
editRotenberg has extended financial support to her viewers through tuition giveaways and scholarships. Her annual tuition giveaways have financed post-secondary education for viewers in her home country.[32]
In 2021, she founded a permanent annual scholarship, the Cristine Rotenberg Scholarship for Academic and Creative Pursuits, at her alma mater Carleton University.[33]
Personal life
editRotenberg has a common law partner, Ben Mazowita.[34] He often appears in her videos and he is the co-host of their podcast SimplyPodLogical. The couple resides in Ottawa with their two cats, Menchie and Zyler.
Filmography
edit| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Charms for the Easy Life | Young Sophia | TV movie |
Awards and nominations
edit| Year | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | The Streamy Awards | Breakout Creator | Nominated |
| 2017 | Best Beauty Program | Nominated | |
| 2019 | First Person | Nominated | |
| Creator of the Year | Nominated | ||
| 2021 | Creator Product (Holo Taco) | Nominated | |
| 2022 | Creator Product (Holo Taco) | Nominated |
References
edit- ^ a b Rotenberg, Cristine (2014). "Cutting Knowledge: The Pathologization of Self-Injury in Correctional Discourse". Carleton University Research Virtual Environment. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
- ^ a b semick (November 12, 2015). "Bloggers You Should Know: Simply Nailogical". Nail It! Magazine. Archived from the original on September 15, 2019. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
- ^ a b c Lanning, Carly (August 24, 2016). "Nail artist and #WCW Cristine Rote corners the web with '100 Layer Challenge'". The Daily Dot. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
- ^ "A Simply Nailogical Retrospective In Honor of Her New Brand, Holo Taco". Study Breaks. July 18, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
- ^ Rotenberg, Cristine [@nailogical] (October 18, 2020). "Thank you guys for yesterdays birthday wishes..." (Tweet). Retrieved December 3, 2020 – via Twitter.
- ^ Rotenberg, Cristine [@nailogical] (October 17, 2018). "Happy 30th birthday to me who else would like to cut my face | This tweet was made in 2018 when she was thirty therefore it follows that she was born in 1988" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Reacting to my OLD COMMERCIALS as a child before YouTube, January 11, 2017, retrieved March 21, 2022
- ^ Dhopade, Prajakta (April 15, 2019). "The Canadian YouTube star with a day job at the federal government". Maclean's. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
- ^ Oxman, Steven (August 15, 2002). "Charms for the Easy Life". Variety. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
- ^ "Reacting to my OLD COMMERCIALS as a child before YouTube – YouTube". www.youtube.com. January 11, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
- ^ a b Dhopade, Prajakta (April 15, 2019). "Simply Nailogical: The Canadian YouTube star with a day job at the federal government". www.macleans.ca. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
- ^ "Here's Why Simply Nailogical, With 7 Million Subscribers, Still Maintains Day Job At Canadian Government". Tubefilter. April 17, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
- ^ "These internet-famous women told us how they balance their online and real-life jobs". www.vice.com. December 20, 2018. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
- ^ Peterson, Ashley (July 18, 2019). "A Simply Nailogical Retrospective In Honor Of Her New Brand, Holo Taco". Study Breaks. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
- ^ a b "Simply Nailogical". Simply Nailogical. June 5, 2016. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
- ^ Georgakopoulou, Alexandra; Iversen, Stefan; Stage, Carsten (2020). Quantified Storytelling: A Narrative Analysis of Metrics on Social Media. Springer Nature. p. 2. ISBN 978-3-030-48074-5.
- ^ Mooney, Paula (July 24, 2016). "The '100 Coats' Challenge Goes From Nail Polish To Eyeliner To Lipstick and Beyond". Inquisitr. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
- ^ Denton-Hurst, Tembe (August 16, 2019). "Exploding Nail Polish Remover Exists, And No You Shouldn't Try It". Nylon. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
- ^ Blewett, Taylor (April 28, 2020). "Popular Ottawa YouTuber featured in collab with Dr. Njoo for COVID-19 Q&A". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
- ^ "Canada's top 10 influencers have a following more than four times Canada's population". Victoria News. May 21, 2019. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
- ^ "These Nail Art Tutorials Are So Mesmerizing, You'll Be Watching Them For Hours". J-14. July 27, 2017. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
- ^ "'Holosexuales', la obsesión por los colores brillantes conquista YouTube". ELMUNDO (in Spanish). February 18, 2017. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
- ^ "Simply Nailogical gave herself holographic TEETH". Revelist.com. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
- ^ "About". Holo Taco. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
- ^ a b Rotenberg, Cristine (July 17, 2022). "I'm Not A YouTuber Anymore". YouTube.
- ^ Bines, Ari (March 26, 2020). "This YouTuber's holographic nail polish line is like a galaxy in a bottle". AOL.com. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
- ^ Weiss, Geoff (July 8, 2019). "Simply Nailogical Launches 'Holo Taco' Nail Polish Brand, Selling Out In 2 Hours". www.tubefilter.com. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
- ^ Peterson, Ashley (July 18, 2019). "A Simply Nailogical Retrospective In Honor of Her New Brand, Holo Taco". Study Breaks. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
- ^ "A Simply Nailogical Retrospective In Honor of Her New Brand, Holo Taco". Study Breaks. July 18, 2019. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
- ^ "A Simply Nailogical Retrospective In Honor of Her New Brand, Holo Taco". Study Breaks. July 18, 2019. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
- ^ LACQUER, F.U.N. "Simplynailogical Collection | F.U.N LACQUER". www.funlacquer.com. Retrieved April 30, 2018.
- ^ "Nail Guru -- And Education Advocate -- Simply Nailogical Is Hosting Another Tuition Giveaway". Tubefilter. September 12, 2018. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
- ^ Allen, Shawn (October 25, 2021). "Ottawa Youtuber Simply Nailogical Unveils Carleton University Scholarship". 95.7 ELMNT FM Ottawa. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ "Why He Won't Propose Marriage – YouTube". www.youtube.com. March 17, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2020.