This week saw one of the biggest blows to the indie nail polish community, sparking concerns over the safety of indie polish and the chemicals they contain. Mentality Polish has allegedly been the cause of several adverse reactions to their latest neon nail polishes. Effects include: burning, discoloration, dehydrated, peely nails that are lifting. Wearers of the polish have specifically cited Mentality Polish as the brand responsible for their condition.
It’s safe to say that no one, let alone nail bloggers or nail varnish afficionados would delight in seeing their nails deteriorate to that extent. It’s easy to understand how pictures of these shocking nails have gone viral, and the story has even been picked up by Huffington Post (CA), Cosmopolitan and Seventeen Magazine. Not good news for indie polish which has worked so hard to make a name for itself.
In the presence of photographic evidence of injuries, multiple complaints and mainstream media coverage, it’s no surprise that lawyers are now involved. Mentality Polish has claimed that the suspension base may be to blame. The suspension base company in question vehemently deny any association between their products and these injuries. In legal documents they have issued Mentality Polish with a ‘Cease-and-Desist’ requiring them to “stop making these accusations immediately.”
The drama escalated further when customers were unhappy with the ‘apology’ that Mentality Polish issued via their Facebook page. As well as posting a flash sale (yes, they really did this) on the rest of the suspected problematic nail polishes! As of now, there is a full recall on the suspected polishes.
The success of indie polish brands has been a breakthrough that the nail community has celebrated in more recent years. Flooding us with chunky glitter, spectraflare, making glimmering combinations that major nail polish brands seemed to shy away from.
The Mentality Polish Saga will go down in indie polish history. Let’s just hope that mainstream media does not cast all indie polish in the unsafe category.
Sources: Cosmopolitan, Mentality Polish, Huffington Post (CA) Seventeen Magazine
Nail Luxxe 
Oh wow her nails are destroyed poor girl. 😦
😦 It’s awful and she’s not the only one. Hopefully they recover
I hope they take responsibility and compensate them well!
At the moment I think they’ve just replaced the bottles…it’s such a mess! Now it’s become a legal issue we’ll see what happens. Will keep you updated though 🙂
I would just like to say, please don’t return the recalled products! Some in the nail polish community suspect that Mentality Nail Polish is trying to destroy the evidence against them.
Thanks for the heads up Michelle. If that is true it’s shocking how MP is handling the situation. Customers should be able to receive a new bottle (using receipts as proof of purchase) without having to send the old ones back.
My thoughts exactly!
What a shame this might affect other indie brands and their perception. I only found out about the story yesterday and those images of damaged nails are TERRIFYING.
They say a picture’s worth a thousand words and in this case it’s a screaming horror story! I agree, it’s a shame that other indies may have to work harder to get rid of this stigma in terms of breaking through to mainstream.
WB!
This is really sad news for indie makers… The hard work they’ve put in to build a following.
The way MP is dealing with this is not very professional either. I do own a few of MP and luckily they seems OK. I really hope those who are affected will recover from this quickly.
Ty 🙂
It’s so sad that indie polish is getting such huge media coverage for something negative. It kinda feels like MP are letting the side down, especially in the ‘customer service’ department.
Thank goodness your polishes are okay and your nails are safe! Wishing everyone else a speedy recovery.