If you were messing around any nail polish-related blogs or vlogs this past weekend, you may have seen the indie polish brand Mentality Nail Polish mentioned once or twice or 20,000 times. Customers have reported that after using Mentality polishes sold between April and June of this year, particularly those of the neon variety, they’ve experienced symptoms ranging from the relatively benign (general sensitivity, burning, itching, discolouration) to the absolutely horrific (nails lifting off the nail bed. It seriously looks like something out of one of the Saw movies.)
For a comprehensive rundown of what is quickly becoming a rather sordid affair, I’d direct you to The Mercurial Magpie‘s accounting of the reported issues and Mentality’s interesting (?) response. But as I understand it, the Cliffs Notes go a little something like this: A few months back, some Mentality polish users began experiencing negative side effects after using certain polishes. Mentality acknowledged that some customers were experiencing “sensitivity” to the polishes, and offered to send out replacements for the faulty products. A handful of bloggers and Instagrammers then took to their respective social media platforms to visually show the nail polish community the extent of the damage to their nails (see above, re: Saw.) A number of swatchers, many of whom worked with Mentality for years and years, then publicly distanced themselves from the company, and people like me, who own quite a few Mentality polishes (none produced during the time in question, and none of the neons either) began looking at them with a lot of distrust. The nail polish community as a whole began demanding answers, and then refunds.
That’s when one of the owners of Mentality, a man by the name of Danny Dannels, entered the fray, adding fuel to the Instagram fire (the platform on which it burns the brightest) by denying those refunds on the grounds of “haters be hatin’.” He alleges that this entire affair is the making of a group of vengeful bloggers who are bullying his company into the ground, and as far as he’s concerned, the status is quo. In an odd sort of screed, he also noted that he’s an artist, a fighter, a scholar and an athlete, and the world needs his nail polish. Rant-of-the-day thus issued, Mentality then put the affected polishes on sale for 50% off. Which is…so ballsy! Also idiotic, self-serving, disrespectful and, most importantly, dangerous.
So this is where I get off the Mentality train, a colourful caboose I have to date most enjoyed riding, on the grounds that I am simply too old for this shit. This issue is serious and has far-reaching repercussions beyond its negative impact on the indie nail polish community. There are major health and safety concerns at play here, and it’s worrying to see them treated as an afterthought in the midst of all the social media squabbling. To that end, Mentality’s response has been petulant, juvenile and – again – DANGEROUS. And of all the shit I’m too old for, Petulant Amateur Danger Hour is riiiiggghhhht up there.
So although my Mentality polishes have not turned my nails into something out of a horror movie (I have 10 glazes and four Jellychromes I purchased right after Christmas, and they are 14 of my very favourite polishes) AND I will continue using them until the bottles run dry, I won’t be replacing them and I won’t be talking up Mentality on this blog any more either. Life is an endless series of problems and obstacles, but it’s how we deal with those problems and obstacles that define us. And if I’m judging Mentality on how they’re dealing with this particular problem, they’re failing miserably, and I’m really past the point in my life where I’m interested in supporting miserable failures. End of my screed. 😉
Finger Candy 
i have been out of the loop for the last month or so ! thanks for the update
You’re welcome. Scary, silly stuff.
I’d heard all the ‘haters hating’ and that there had been ‘issues’ with polishes, but my goodness I didn’t realise how gross the issues were. I also didn’t know they’d then put the fautly polish on sale, that’s just cray dangerous. I don’t own any polishes (and never will now, mainly due to their bad handling of the issue), but I still might have nightmares of putting on a polish to then take it off and see a horror scene. Uck.
I said down below in response to another comment that their behaviour is really reckless. They’re baiting people with legitimate complaints with nyah-nyah tactics straight out of the junior high playbook. It’s embarrassingly amateurish. Best to stay away from their polishes altogether if you haven’t come across them to date anyways. I love the ones I have, and I’ll use them because it’s not their fault their creator is having a moment, but I won’t be giving Mentality as a whole any love from here on out.
I’d been following it with much interest just via blogs, since I don’t use social media, so I appreciate all the bloggers who shared.
I feel terrible for those afflicted with any damage. Never crossed my mind this could happen.
The guy is really crazy town. Wow.
Not long ago, I had pulled out the few of their polishes I’d ordered and never worn, thinking gosh I should wear one of these. They’re from 2013 so probably safe, but the whole thing gave me pause. Long pause. Not sure what I will do with the polishes, if anything, but wearing them is off the list.
I heard some chatter around Instagram about a promotion Zoya holds every Earth Day (so April) – you send them your old, unwanted polish and they either send you one of their polishes or they give you a severe discount on one of their polishes. I think there are a lot of people that are going to take advantage of that one. That might be one option if you don’t want to chance it.
But really, dude at the helm sounds like he’s gone bananas. It’s so unprofessional, and reckless. I saw that Jezebel had a big story about the whole thing the other day, which is bad news for Mentality – national coverage with one of the largest news media organizations in the world is not the kind of attention you want to be attracting when you’re acting the fool.
I heard about this through IG – Petulant Amateur Danger Hour is quite accurate!
Goodness, has it ever turned into a “thing.” I just keep coming back to how recklessly they’re behaving. I hope cooler heads have prevailed this week (and maybe the counsel of a lawyer?)
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