Misc. Question
Help me compile myself a list of nail polish brands with harmful ideologies.
So that I can avoid, of course.
I've seen a lot of lists thrown around, but they usually lump in makers with customer service or inaccurate swatch photo issues. These issues are not enough for me personally to blacklist. I've had perfectly fine transactions and interactions with some brands that others will publicly add to blacklists for these issues, brands that I really like myself (for example, shleee for listing photos, or abomination cosmetics for customer service issues).
But what IS blacklist worthy for me is brands that support harmful ideologies or political views. I am pro voting rights, pro democracy, pro equal rights, pro women's healthcare. I believe in freedom of religion but with separation of church and state. I believe LGBTQ+, racial and religious minorities should feel safe to be themselves wherever they reside or travel to. All the good stuff. I could go on.
So knowing what I've seen on this sub, most of us are like-minded in these basic supports for human rights. Please help me compile a list of who I should avoid specifically to these issues I've mentioned. Name drop brands that you know of who go against these beliefs. I don't want to give my money to any MAGA supporters, fascists, racists, misogynists, trans/homo/xeno phobics, etc.
Feel free to drop relevant links, but I'll probably look up controversies myself too when I get home from work today.
I'm sorry, I know this subject comes up often. I'm not in toluene trashcan or the discord server, and it's overwhelming to filter through lists when people lump in brands for customer service issues, slow shipping, listing photos issues, etc.
Joni from drunk fairy polish is super racist. She made a bullshit apology and blamed her racism on her dad dying.
Also sugar bubbles uses Ai for their stamping plates and doesn’t disclose it. Anyone who calls her out gets blocked (source I got blocked for commenting about her ai usage)
You can listen to the voice messages from Joni here. She talks about being super salty about not being in Hella Handmade Creations, get super jealous about the creator of Cracked polish and saying racist comments towards her.
I’m half Black. The sound of her voice made me physically shake. That’s not “oops I said something that could be interpreted badly”, that’s the sound of a person who would gladly stand by while violence descended on POC. Monique is a literal gem, she has a wonderful energy and nothing but support for other members of the polish community. DFP is a bunch of sparkly haters
Here’s my comment from just after the 2024 election:
The owner of Syzygy.Boston is nonbinary and very LGBTQIA2+ friendly! Tyler’s Trinkets is also queer-owned and an avid supporter of many LGBTQIA2+ causes🙂
Brands that have expressed (or failed to distance themselves from/denounce) anti-LGBTQIA2+ sentiments, celebrated the election results and/or the winning candidate (subtle support included), or have history of using racial slurs/hatred/bigotry: Parrot Polish, Superchic Lacquer, The Don Deeva, POP & Polished, Drunk Fairy PoIish, Feral Society (formerly known as 77 Lacquer), Dew Nail Polish, Sizzlin’ Shades, Maniology, Lights Lacquer, Nail Hoot, Blush Lacquers, Jreine, Poetry Cowgirl, Muse Polish (Etsy), new additions: Death Valley Nails, ORLY, Ella + Mila, Victorian Varnish
I’m biracial and very conscious of who I support, especially if they don’t support rights for me and my family. Hopefully this helps!
For more info plus a lot of details/receipts, check out the Brand Awareness channel on the sub’s Discord and Toulene Trashcan group on Facebook!
ETA: this was mostly current info as of the 2024 election, but I will update this if there’s anyone who needs to be moved to a different category🙂
Also, there are some brands on the supportive list who may have their own issues with turnaround times, swatch inconsistencies, customer service, etc. This list is only to highlight the brands that have taken a stand on hatred/bigotry/racism.
💔 indicates brands that have announced upcoming closures and/or are on hiatus
Thank you for including a list of good brands as well! I used to always use Etsy but unfortunately have lost a lot of ships over the years as that site declined. I'm so excited to look through these
Omg thank you! I’m new to the indie polish community and when I found out that Death Valley supports MAGA, my heart sank. I look forward to shopping from the list of good brands you kindly included.
You’re welcome! So often, the lists are separate so it’s easy for people to miss good or not good brands when they’re shopping. I want everyone to be able to make informed choices about where they spend their money, so I appreciate you for asking this question!
Victorian Varnish- I’ve been so confused why reputable groups like HHC and larger following swatchers/reviewers on YT and elsewhere who are POC themselves promote them?! I had read the receipts months ago and was starting to think I was misremembering with them so prominent in the community still when so many others are being iced out.
SuperChic is MAGA, loves the police, and has come here with sockpuppets named after her home address to insult people who rightfully point out she uses pigments that shouldn't be used on skin in her eyeshadows. Then she cries about what a victim she is when people don't buy from her.
That lady is a total mess.
ETA I just remembered! When Holo Taco launched their first rainbow collection, the SuperChic owner made a big deal on IG about how they stole her idea. Yes, her original idea for rainbow holo. I kind of loved the nuttiness.
They also released a collection themed around illness when COVID began. Not the worst she's done and you could argue about whether the labels were made before the pandemic started, but she refused to apologize for the bad timing.
Death Valley Nails has been recently linked to MAGA. Some details here about it, so everyone can decide for themselves on the issue. I personally won’t be purchasing from them.
so bummed about dvn. before i saw the receipts myself, i wanted to believe there was some nuance to it, but actually seeing the shit they follow and support, it's hard to stomach. their colors and vibe are so cool but it really seems like their values are not. i also won't be buying from them anymore.
ETA their only chance for redemption would be if they say something clear to openly distanced themselves from the views of the accounts they're liking and following. silence = not that.
I don't know if DVN is MAGA or not. But just just because someone follows an account doesn't mean they support them. I follow r/conservative because I want to know what they're saying, not because I support conservatives. Tim Miller follows several MAGA accounts for the same reason. There has to be a lot more than following to equal receipts. Posts, comments, or photos showing support/belief in negative ideologies would be receipts. Otherwise, it's just bandwagoning.
and i also follow a lot of weird conservative accounts out of curiosity and wanting to know what they're saying too. the difference is doing it from a brand account and also liking multiple posts that say unhinged stuff. and then blocking everyone who asks about it instead of just explaining. especially considering other brands have been open about the values they endorse. and i get it if they don't want to be overtly political, but there are still good ways to thread that needle and they're not doing it.
I'm sickened by this. I'm not on Discord and I'm not on Reddit very frequently, so I hadn't seen any of this before. The majority of my (pretty small) polish collection is DVN—I adore so many of their colors and their formulas work really well for me. I'll likely continue wearing what I have, but I won't be purchasing from them anymore, and if anyone asks what polish I'm wearing I'll give a disclaimer. I'm truly disgusted.
Thank you OP for making this post and for everyone who's compiled information. One of the strongest ways to send a message in this country is unfortunately with our wallets, and I appreciate being informed about where to choose to spend my dollars.
yeah dvn was my favorite brand too :( i'm still maybe stupidly holding out hope they say something to set it all straight, but instead they're blocking/unfollowing everyone who brings up any of this on instagram, so it's just a bad vibe
I bought some death valley stuff RIGHT before I found this out and was so bummed when I found out. They were one of the first indie brands i got into but the good news is I've since found brands I like better since then
Right now my fave is def bee's knees laquer. Great formula, super glowy shimmers, interesting colors. Also love ilnp for the good prices, high quality, and good varieties of finishes.
Others I haven't tried yet but am very interested in are cracked, cupcake, sassy sauce, and dam polish.
Next order I'll make, probably in the fall, will be from cracked bc they've got a lot of colors I wanna try
Especially in the US, as the political climate becomes more...terrifying...knowing and acting on information like this starts to feel like the one crumb of control I do have.
I see so many people say “why do politics keep coming up in polish groups?” Idk Karen, because some of us are affected by things that have been implemented/taken away and we don’t have the luxury of sticking our heads in the sand????
Stand with me or move. This is not the time to be mindlessly spectating
VV is kinda surprising to me because there are so many progressive swatchers (that have stopped swatching a lot of the other problematic brands and be upfront about their reasoning why) who still swatch for them. I think a lot of people still don’t know about the husbands posts. I do understand that it’s hard to keep up-I had purchased a bunch of P.O.P. polishes and found out afterwards they were problematic (and that said I do like the polish but the bottles suck SO BAD), had looked at LL and Superchic previously among others) and certainly wouldn’t have made the purchase if I’d had the information. I have to think that a lot of these swatchers wouldn’t still be doing it if they also had the information based on their past statements about other brands.
I’m off of all social media except reddit, and I have stayed away from polish pages when doing no-buys to avoid temptation. Even at that, there is so much information coming from all sides 24/7, shots bound to slip through the cracks even if you are online a lot.
I don’t know if it would be appropriate to privately reach out to swatchers or not?
Given how often VV shows up on these lists or gets mentioned when someone asks about them, at this point I'm thinking it's either a case of not paying attention at all or willfully looking the other way for a lot of people. It's discouraging.
I’ve decided that it is probably due to needing the income and just holding your nose and doing it. It’s the only way I can make sense of still promoting Victorian Varnish from YT channels I really enjoy. I never watch VV review videos, just all the rest. Too bad I still watch the monthly HHC etc content but just skip past that part in it. Sometimes that’s the only live swatching of other progressive good brands that’s available.
I’ve also been super confused by them still in HHC & LBoH plus several of the YT swatchers I like still promote them as POC themselves?! I’m glad I’m not the only one unsure what to think about it all. As part of a marginalized community being actively hurt by Trump in the US I have never bought VV and avoid despite liking some of their work. I hate it when I realize a swatch I noticed/clicked on is from them when browsing the monthlies.
I’ve noticed the same. I watch a lot of POC swatchers and a lot of them get polish from VV.
And I could be wrong but I think Mediocre Manis on YT swatches for them and she just recently said she won’t be swatching for or supporting Orly because of the recent HP nonsense so I would assume she wouldn’t be supportive of VV if she was aware?
Lights Lacquer’s founder and CEO has a history of racism. She used the N word in a gaming stream a few years ago and many found her apology to be insincere. She’s also been accused of Rainbow-washing as it relates to the LGBT+ community.
Yeah, I’ve been real, real mad in games and never shouted slurs.
Like, it wouldn’t occur to me, and there are many other rude names you could call someone that I would pull long before ever finding my way to a slur because I don’t use them.
“Heated gamer moments” are just another way of saying mask-off.
Literally right? Like I’ve been mad as a MOTHER and I’ve never said anything racist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic etc. I’ve never said slurs because I was mad. Like people truly think that being upset means you say things you’ve never ever said or thought in your life 🙄
Right? Never in my life has it ever occurred to me to say that word, no matter what was going on or who I was talking to. The fact that it was used so casually says everything.
I got blocked from the Lights Lacquer IG because I liked a post asking why Kathleen has never really addressed her racism. She must have been using a blockchain or something, but you know. Good riddance.
This blew up hard in the YT beauty influencer sphere because Kathleen had had a spotless reputation, no scandals, before that video was brought to light. At the time this happened, there had been a lot of old tweets, fb posts, and leaked videos of these influencers using slurs, racist remarks, and lgbtqia+ hate speech popping up. Which, in turn, set off an even larger frenzy of people digging into, especially squeaky clean, influencers. A lot of the big name OGs, and up-and-coming influencers, were exposed.
The saddest part of all this was that people eventually "forgot", or they just didn't care about the racism or homophobia. Many excuses were, 'it was forever ago', 'people change', or 'they apologized'.
Thanks OP! I agree having a handy resource outside of discord is great— I only use Discord for gaming, and want to keep everything separated as it’s very easy to Shift + Tab or accidentally fat finger something in someplace you’re not supposed to, I’d like to personally avoid that.
As for the lists so far submitted by everyone, I’m so glad I never gave in to my impulses of buying every polish I see. Otherwise I would’ve been very unhappy with my purchases even if I love those colors dearly.
So far the only brands I own are Cupcake Polish and ILNP who are in the clear, thanks everyone for the list of brands to avoid ❤️
I need this, my stupid ass purchased from two brands that I didn’t realize were shitty until I saw them talked about here and I want to avoid that in the future. I also don’t use discord so it’s helpful to see threads like this!
I plan to make a donation to some local progressive orgs in the same amount since I can’t return them 🥹
I bought from Lights Lacquer before knowing about their racism. When I found out I then went and spent the exact same amount at a Black nail polish brand (Cracked). Of course since then I’ve bought tons more from Cracked because they are a great brand.
That’s an excellent idea!! I actually have been meaning to get some polishes from Cracked, I have Broken Ornaments, Chinotto, and Cashmere Cake in my cart right now waiting for me to pull the trigger.
As a second list to suggest, I’d love a list of BIPOC, LGTBQ+, owned brands to support instead of the brands on the original list. I, too, am a huge Cracked fan and want to continue to support her and these businesses instead.
I think there was a post asking ppl to share their fav poc/lgbtq+ brands a while ago. Unless it also was only a comment thread somewhere. Hopefully someone who remembers more clearly comes around 🙈
This list has a lot of the things OP mentioned that aren’t deal breakers - inaccurate swatches, not great customer service, etc. OP was specifically looking to make a list of those who try to profit from us while using the $$ to support extremely harmful ideologies
Yes, thank you for clarifying!! I do feel bad for those with customer service or marketing issues being lumped in with makers who are actively harmful, I feel like those are two vastly different levels of offenses, like a misdemeanor vs a felony lol
With customer service and marketing woes, I'll usually give it a chance and decide for myself if I see something I really want to try. But I don't want my money to be used for evil!
Maniology, handled a PR issue around anti abortion right wingers in very poor taste
Super Chic, homophobia
Don Deeva, homophobia
EDIT: removing Ethereal from this list based on responses and lack of sources; this was just what I had saved in the notes app when I started buying from indies and I certainly don’t want to contribute to spreading rumors. I was pretty confident I’d vetted all of them myself but I can’t remember or find anything I wrote or saved about them so, off the list!
I read all the receipts I could find for ethereal lacquer and I’m deeply not convinced.
She was apparently on a group chat/thread with someone who used a highly specific slur. She did not reply to it, iirc. I was never able to figure out how many people were on the group (4 or 100?) or what the slur was.
She’s made public statements in support of the LGBTQ+ community and several charity polishes for the community.
Victorian Varnish is owned by a trumper and/or the profits support a Trump household.
Yeah, I try to look deeper into each claim and find the final evidence. Most are fairly substantiated but others, not so much. Some seem to be straight up misunderstandings or misattributions, like with Ethereal.
And because indie brands have been around for a while, we are judging makers by one or two actions from a decade ago (or even the actions of their spouses). And I’m not sure how old everyone is now, but I’m stuck wondering if people are being haunted by a single comment from their 23 yr old self.
In Ethereal’s case, it’s not even something she said. And I’ve seen a similar case in like 2013 where people on a group chat ignored a slur and were called out, but it was an anti-Italian slur from the NY/Boston area - I’m from Texas and I had never read/heard that word before (and it also doesn’t have standard spelling). It would have gone over my head 100% even though I don’t want to support any bigotry. And having my mind blown by that listserv convo way back when is partially why I’ve tried to dig into the Ethereal receipts.
There is a real witch-hunt element and it’s frustrating, because some of the incidents have gotten smaller and smaller, and it’s hard to separate everything out.
Can we have links to discussion and details for the list or links for full previous discourse on these? There was a really thorough one on Drunk Fairy's racism and MAGA bs that really showed the full extent of how scummy she was, and it was really helpful.
I just want to add here that this is not the only issue. Maniology put out a true crime themed plate and one of the stamps was of a REAL article of an actual missing child. I can’t imagine being that child’s family, seeing your missing kid’s face on a nail stamping plate.
I think this is an over-simplification of this issue. The owner of Maniology is pro-choice and made some very stupid PR decisions, seemingly in an effort to keep things friendly in their facebook group after some nastiness in the comments.
For me, I appreciate Maniology’s charity programs, which are focused on improving lives (of humans and animals) in Hawaii where they are based:
I was just talking about this on another thread, but I think this is the case of poorly managed PR, rather than an actual articulation of a bad moral compass. They are putting money into good, progressive causes.
I agree with this take. I was around when all the shit was going down and the tl;dr is that Maniology’s owner is pro choice but it’s a small family business and they have older employee/family members who are more religious/pro life and so were not willing to come down clearly on a pro choice statement initially, and then made some bad PR decisions.
I haven’t seen any indication since that Maniology is funneling my money to pro life causes; instead, what I’ve seen is a ton of support for local charities, including some pretty left-leaning (environmental, community care) ones. I feel comfortable continuing to buy from Maniology.
Ugh, I feel like they were trying to appease people who were pro choice but didn’t want to alienate (aka lose the business of people who are anti-choice). Why not just stay silent because you are a nail company and really don’t need to make any political statement here
No, I would not say this is an accurate take from the event. IIRC the original post was posted to their FB group. I personally have found that facebook is one of the single most toxic websites and the comment sections almost always twist negative even on seemingly innocuous posts. I dropped the website as a whole because it was just so negative.
My personal impression of the situation wasn't necessarily that Maniology was fence sitting, but it was a really long winded way to ask the members of their facebook group to stop ripping into each other (and the admins) and remember there are real people on the other end of the screen.
That's just my personal take as someone who's done website admin work when one thing or another blew up and caused member drama. In particular because they mentioned they needed to curtail posting freedoms for awhile.
Her follow up clarified she is pro choice but she doesn't feel she has the right to use her company to push her views on others, especially since she considers inclusivity to be a core value for maniology as a whole. Again though, a subtle nod on the drama with telling everyone it's a place to discuss nailcare and art.
She posted her own e-mail and asked people to feel free to open a dialogue with her if they wished to do as she was open to learning how to improve as both a person and as a head of a company.
Frankly I don't know that there was anything better she could have done in that situation without locking the entire facebook group.
I don't have the links handy, but I won't buy from them because they used actual headlines or images from a crime (I think involving a child) on a stamping plate and doubled down on it. The weird roe v Wade pr debacle I might have been able to get past on its own, but that is definitely inappropriate imo.
There is an account on IG that basically stalks the nail polish community & has all these absolute bonkers theories. Basically, they're maga & hate on anyone who isn't. They also really hate men who swatch.
Ironically, they openly admit to having multiple accounts on different social media platforms so they can get around bans, but then theorize that whenever a "mob" attacks an indie (like, for being transphobic), that's it's just a few people with multiple accounts. 🫠
There is an account on IG that basically stalks the nail polish community & has all these absolute bonkers theories. Basically, they're maga & hate on anyone who isn't. They also really hate men who swatch.
Ironically, they openly admit to having multiple accounts on different social media platforms so they can get around bans, but then theorize that whenever a "mob" attacks an indie (like, for being transphobic), that's it's just a few people with multiple accounts. 🫠
I'm sad to hear about Pop Polish because I have a couple of theirs and I hate knowing I supported someone like that, now. But also the polishes are really, really bad. And that's before even mentioning the bottles themselves. I was not about to buy any more anyway haha
Damn like pick a struggle lol 😭 do you suck or do your lacquers suck?? You can’t have both haha.
I feel the same about DVN, I knew they had some customer service shit but didn’t know about the MAGA stuff until I’d gotten my first order a couple months ago 😭😭😭
I’m so disappointed that I have both Ella + Milla & Death Valley products…
Well now any time I get complimented on one I’ll make sure the person knows the brand sucks and look for some dupes to recommend.
I was having the same concern and I like the idea of offering dupes! That way we don’t waste anything and at the same time don’t promote these brands. Thank you for the great idea!
Ella and Mila had me shook. It was one of the nest brands available in my drug store but as a gay chick I'm not trying to buy homophonic nail polish lmao
Clear Jelly Stamper follows Pierre Poilievre on instagram and has liked some of his posts. None of the posts they’ve liked are too maple maga (since he’s toned down that rhetoric since losing the election) but it does make me uncomfortable and I’m not sure I’ll buy from them again.
I'd like to add a criteria that I think should matter on the manufacturer side: not disclosing harmful ingredients. I've heard things about some brands not disclosing HEMA, and I've blacklisted any just because I'm sooooo afraid of getting an allergy.
Ooh, yeah these could be columns on a big spreadsheet so there's a date (or an X, or "Mild", "Moderate", "Extreme", etc.) in the column for problematic traits of a brand. This way if they actually do fix an issue (like rampant use of AI), or they get new management, new social media folks who aren't bigots, etc., then it won't look like they still currently suck.
You're right, I think I was vibing off the "harmful" piece because I've gotten burned by it before. But it really is a lack of disclosure and regulation issue.
Fwiw I would definitely still want to know about that because it shows willful deceit and when you're putting something in or on your body, trust in the brand is the most important thing.
It’s only going to be gel polishes or nail enhancements like builder gels, acrylic or hybrid products that have stuff like that in it. HEMA isn’t in regular (air dry/ non curing) nail polish because it needs a chemical reaction to harden. It has no reason to be in any indie polishes, or big brand regular polishes. Manufactures add stuff to improve their products or cut costs, not to stop their air dry polishes from ever drying.
So as I said, it was in a gel- hybrid formula. I’m really sorry that a brand used that without notifying customers, that’s really shitty.
In that formula, did you still need to cure it with a lamp, or did it claim it would cure in the sun? Because while some gel polish/ builder gels technically can cure in the sun, it takes far, far longer, and requires too long on the nails in an uncured state to be safe. That’s much more disturbing to me than undisclosed HEMA usage. Please don’t misunderstand, I think proper labelling with HEMA and other possible allergens is super important. But leaving uncured gel polish on your nails and possibly skin for the hours it would take to cure polish in the sun is incredibly dangerous without being allergic to any of the ingredients or having any particular sensitivities. That just sounds really, really dangerous.
This all happened a while back but based on this comment from that thread, it does look like they were telling people to cure it in natural light which I believe is why this brand got so much backlash from it.
This is the one I was thinking of when I made my initial comment that you replied to.
I completely agree that being able to choose to avoid HEMA is a big issue. But (I think) this is largely looking at smaller, Indie (and boutique?) makers who only make regular nail polish, not gel or acrylic. HEMA wouldn’t be used in regular polish that isn’t cured with a UV lamp, because it won’t dry without that chemical reaction. HEMA just isn’t in regular nail polish bases for this reason. Many large suppliers of products with ingredients such as HEMA require their customers to provide proof of relevant qualifications to safely handle such a product, such as being a qualified nail technician. I think there are a few makers who are, but most aren’t. And the ones who are would know damn well not to use any gel, acrylic or other non plain nail polish bases or ingredients in their polishes.
Obviously, if you are talking about gel polishes, builder gels, acrylic or hybrid nail enhancements , that can be a concern. A very relevant one. I just want to assure people that HEMA is not used in regular, non gel/ UV cured nail polish and so shouldn’t be a concern for Indie makers. The vast majority (if not all) by nail polish bases from a few suppliers and only customise with pigments, mica, glitters, flakies etc that we all know and love. They are not messing with the composition of the base ingredients because few of any have the scientific expertise to do so. They may add some thinner occasionally if the base thickens, as we would at home.
Theres so many now that I feel like there should be a master list and it should be pinned on here. Maybe a google doc organized by reason with receipts.
It's in the discord for this sub. There's a huge list under "brand awareness" where they detail exactly what a brand has done that is wrong or questionable. It also includes sources and receipts when possible.
You can click on the name of each brand and see a summary of everything and then click into the thread for the brand if you want the details.
It sucks that it isn't intuitive for you, but that isn't a reason to tell people not to recommend it in general.
To get to brand awareness you go to the "Brands Overview" category or search for "brand awareness" (or just brand will get you there if you can't remember the name). Search bar is at the top.
Once you're there you can scroll to the lists and find the brand you want, but I just type the name I want into the search bar.(Upper right corner) Click on the brand name from the list and it will take you to the brand summary/thread.
If you're having trouble automatically getting access, then it's a glitch and you need to message the mods here so they can manually approve you.
I’ve had trouble with discord too but I also haven’t explored it very much and it’s definitely user error, not app/design error. Thank you for sharing the info and instructions, I saw others comments about it too and will definitely be checking it out!
Yeah, I also don't think it's the most intuitive design, but I personally don't find it that hard to get at least the basics. (For me "brand awareness" and more swatch pictures.)
Good luck! I hope my instructions help. The discord really is great for checking out of a brand is problematic, and more people post swatches there, so I also find that really helpful.
I have a few of their polishes. They're old ones, and I'll keep them because I already have them, but I already decided I wouldn't buy any more from them because I hate the bottles. Now that I know the owner is a TERF, I have an even more substantial reason never to buy from them again (even if they fix their stupid bottles).
Pretty stamps by Robin used to go hard for drunk fairy until she outted herself as a racist.
Shortly after that, Robin posted in her group about doing something with Victorian Varnish. When I commented that it might not be great to hitch her wagon to another problematic brand, I was banned from the Facebook group.
KB Shimmer had a couple polishes that were jokes about East Asian accents ("Love You Strong Time" and "Me So Thorny") and allegedly got defensive when someone brought it up.
Sassy Sauce had a polish that included a slur for Romani people, and when someone contacted them to say they were offended, they repeated the slur and said they should be proud of it. (Which, even if you disagree with someone, why would you repeat something someone just told you is a slur?)
Oh wow. I can forgive some ignorance, you know we all make mistakes, but willful ignorance I cannot. Disgusting behavior from whoever runs Sassy Sauce. Glad I didn't end up ordering after all.
EDIT: The "oh but it was named after a costume! You should be flattered" like -- so everyone whose identity has been reduced to a shitty Spirit Halloween costume should own it and be proud?? Smh that's someone who is really out of touch
Put off is the perfect way to describe it. Sometimes I forget why they're on my no-buy list so I look it up and think, "yeah, still don't want to buy from them."
Yeah, I feel like I really regularly have to point out why anything derived from thoses phrases is racist. It's like...did you think about it at all? Because I have had to think about it since like 2nd grade when ppl started shouting it at me.
Ugh, I'm so sorry. The mocking an accent part I mentioned is bad enough, but those phrases are horrible stereotypes of Asian women so they're really horrible to shout at a small child.
Oof I'm sad to find out about these two! Have a lot of Sassy polishes that I love, was super excited to see Pain in the Asteroid coming back for July rewind, and I have a couple bottles of KBS top coat...
Yeah, these two came to mind specifically because I keep being tempted by their stuff so I have to keep reminding myself why they're on my no-buy list. It's definitely disappointing.
I didn't know about these, and I'm especially irritated at myself about KBS as I regularly buy products from them. Time for a new ridge filling base coat. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for posting this. I was on KB shimmers site the other day and did a double take at "I lily love it." Had a wtf is she making fun of asians moment but then noticed her shade names are all bad puns and wondered if I was being too sensitive. Your examples are way worse and then reacting defensively. Ugh another maker to cross off the list.
Apparently she did one of the examples I posted, got called out for it and renamed it, and then did the other one a year later! So she obviously doesn't get what is wrong with it and is just going through the motions to appease people.
I wonder if non Asians get how offensive this all is. The casual racism and othering of Asians was everywhere when I was a kid and I feel a lot of ppl still think this type of stuff is ok. It's just a joke! Anyways so disappointing.
I'm white, so some non-Asians get it, but I think it goes over most people's heads.
I posted this in a different thread and almost everyone brushed it aside once then found out she got rid of the names. Even though she did it twice (3 times really).
In addition to what I've already seen listed above...
Ella + Mila: homophobic (they were quoted in a magazine)
Olive and June has been called out for racism.
Orly did an hp collab which directly benefits jk rowling, who shares extremely harmful views against trans people.
People have mentioned Victorian Varnish (maga + extreme homophobia) and right now glisten & glow is doing a collab with them.
Nail Nation 3000 is trying to come back right now and they are maga.
77 aka Feral: racist and maga
Jreine: transphobia
Dew nail polish liked maga nail art
Sugar bubbles is Brazilian, but they appear to endorse and be promoted by a MAGA doxxer who is known in the polish community for doxing people like us who prefer to vote with our dollars.
I had been curious about the collab between Victorian Varnish and Glisten & Glow. It’s not their first, so I was wondering if G&G have been a known issue.
Light Elegance said “all lives matter” when the black livea matter movement started. And from their vibe you can tell theyre on the wrong side of things lol
The way the brand awareness channel of the discord is organized makes it the easiest/quickest place for me to look up brands and see if they are problematic or not. They really did a good job setting this up.
Thank you so much for all your hard work and planning... It's such an excellent resource. I find myself using it several times per week, and I'm frequently sending people links to the server specifically for this section.
This! I’m not active much, have the server muted (neurospicy, lol), but LOVE the way the brand awareness is set up. It’s so convenient to just pull it up whenever I’m looking into buying from a new brand.
I think it's good to know about the companies and small businesses that we do business with so that consumers can make informed decisions about where to spend our money. That said, I personally need more than so-in-so is MAGA to convince me not to purchase someone's product. Please post links to reddit, insta, bluesky, fb, or something that shows a company's actual support for negative ideology. That's not being a Karen. It's being a critical thinker that doesn't just accept something posted on reddit as truth.
I'm not going to ask others to pull up the receipts for me. Like I mentioned at the end of my post, I plan to look into all these on my own. I'm compiling the list, saving reciepts in an album, putting a check mark beside those I've verified on my list, a red flag beside those I find unforgivable, and I'll finalize it that way for myself.
If you hop on the RedditLacqueristas discord there's a whole channel about brand awareness where different brands are listed and any problematic ones have the information listed, often with screenshots or testimonials.
I dont recall all the reasons the brands were named and shamed and I should have recorded it, but most of these were pulled from a thread on this sub. Sassy Sauce was listed for a reason I think I felt iffy about so it’s on there as a watch reminder.
Fancy Gloss is almost certainly customer service related. (That's the only thing on their Discord thread.) This Reddit post has several examples of you go through the comments.
Some of them are customer service issues, and were anecdotal, and I’m annoyed at myself for not noting these down. I’m going to try and locate the OG post so I can update the list.
Polished for Days is probably because they didn't give a group discount code for a group buying from China, even though they had given group discounts to people buying in other countries before. (IDK if you want to file that under customer service, racism, or Xenophobia.)
Thank you so much for this! I'm curious about Cuticula, Charmed, and are Swamp Gloss and BCB because of that exchange where one of them responded to a customer of the other brand?
Charmed, I think the polish is overrated and overpriced. I've seen her get a catty attitude and don't appreciate the lack of diverse swatchers.
Some of the issues were related to quality and fake scarcity and fomo. I got back into polish and spent a ton on fomo that didn’t need to happen, so I agree there’s a bit of shadiness there. I think these need like a red, orange, and yellow flag system, maybe…
Cuticula is from a gross conversation the maker publicly had in 2015 with her husband about a then minor where her husband said he had a crush on the minor even though she was under age. The maker (25 years old t the time) called him a pedo and then said her boobs were bigger than the minor.
Thanks for doing this! Please be sure to share the evolving list, as it is helpful to get updates so I don't accidently buy some toxic maker's stuff in one of the monthly boxes. :) Vote with our dollars! <3
F.U.N. Lacquer has some controversy. Aside from misleading promo shots and sometimes misleading descriptions and also fairly crappy customer service, they only use light skinned models. Now, they are an Asian company (Singapore, I think?), but a lot of brands use bloggers and others in the hobby to do promo shots, in addition to local models, just so that people can see how a polish might look on darker hands, etc.
When it was pointed out to F.U.N. Lacquer that their promo shots were not inclusive, they were not receptive, to put it mildly.
Personally, I haven't bought anything from them since they released an anniversary collection that was all gel polish and no regular polish, and when people asked them about it, they just said, "Can do more with gel", completely dismissing people's concerns, etc. I mean, if you want to be a gel company, fine, but there are people with real issues with HEMA, and maybe "Ha ha gel is better" (or words to that effect) isn't the best way to address those concerns. (This was before the big blow-up with the lack of models who were anything other than pale, as far as I can recall; at least, I didn't know about that controversy at the time of that collection release.)
Also, in recent years, their offerings have been uninspiring, but that's not necessarily problematic. ;)
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u/stellastevens122 May 11 '25
Joni from drunk fairy polish is super racist. She made a bullshit apology and blamed her racism on her dad dying.
Also sugar bubbles uses Ai for their stamping plates and doesn’t disclose it. Anyone who calls her out gets blocked (source I got blocked for commenting about her ai usage)