One of my biggest flaws is I speak my mind. Often loudly and using lots of expletives.
In light of all of this recent shitstorm surrounding indie sellers (particular sellers especially), I thought I would take some time out to list all of the indies I have purchased from. I will split them into three groups. First, those whom I have had personal interactions with and find their customer service to be outstanding. Second, those who I have purchased from, but have never had a reason to interact with them. Lastly, those whose business I no longer recommend.
I should state these are solely MY opinions based on MY interactions.
In the first group, in alphabetical order is those who I have purchased from and have found their customer service to be exemplary. Not all of these have I had issues with the polish, not at all. Several of these I've simply interacted with the owner in some form and have been very pleased with those interactions. It could be asking a question or sharing a blog post or whatever, but I've seen them carry themselves in the manner of being a proud businessperson who makes a great polish. I happily support them as businesswomen and wish them the best for continued prosperity. These are lovely ladies who don't deserve to be tainted by the negativity that is surrounding the indie sellers right now. I have included links to their shops for easy reference.
Amy's Nail Boutique
Dollish Polish
KB Shimmer
Lacquistry
Once Upon a Polish
Nails by Laura
Pam's Girly Bits
Red Carpet Lacquers
Whimsical Ideas by Pam
Windestine
In the second group, in alphabetical order, are shops I have made purchases from that I have been very happy with my products and have never interacted personally with the sellers. In my personal experience with them, my polishes have arrived in good condition, I am very happy with my purchase, and I have been pleased with my shopping experience. I can not speak to the particular CS of these sellers outside of I received my product in a timely manner and was happy with them. Obviously I've never needed to contact them with any problems or otherwise, which is always a positive.
All That Glitters
Aphrodite Lacquers
Aqua Daisy
Candeo Colors
Cover Band
Cult Nails
Dandy Nails
Darling Diva Polish
Elemental Styles
Elixir Lacquer
Enchanted Polish
a England
F4 Polish
Glitter Daze
HazeGlaze
Hungry Asian
Lacquer Convention
Lush Lacquers
ManGlaze
Nailventurous
Nostalgic Lacquer
Pahlish
Pretty and Polished
Just because a seller isn't in these two above groups doesn't mean I don't recommend them (unless they are listed below)! It only means I haven't purchased them yet. There are many indie sellers I hope to purchase from in the future, but due to money or difficulty getting them, I haven't yet. I will continue to update this list as I have more interaction with the sellers.
The last group is the one I can't recommend and I will be clear for my reasons:
Nerd Lacquer - I have three polishes of this brand and they are spectacular. However, it is fairly well known that her ETSY store was shut down due to not delivering polishes that were paid for. I'm sure there is probably a reason behind the why and I'm very sad she has closed, but if she should come back, I would say buyer beware. Her polishes are lovely, but I'd be wary of perhaps losing money. All companies that sold her product have removed them from their site.
Victoriana - I don't own any of these, but she has recently become unresponsive and had her ETSY store closed. The company that sold her product removed them from her site and made restitution to their customers. If this seller should return, I would also proceed with caution in purchasing out of fear of losing your money.
Lynnderella - Ah, Lynnderella. I have to say through her last series of blog posts I can't even begin to justify buying anything from her ever again. I'm truly disgusted with the way she spoke of other indie brands and refused to consider herself one of them. I find the way she has treated her main distributor and the very reason for her immense popularity to be deceptive and downright cruel. She left Llarowe deal with all of the angry customers and never bothered opening up her blog for the comments herself. She claimed that being a snob was something to be proud of in NYC (which I know many New Yorkers, none of them take pride in being a snob). She went behind Llarowe's back to sell on ebay, both through her brother and now on her own. Also marking up the products by a huge margin.
And if that personal stuff isn't enough to turn you off to the brand, let's see how she deals with problem products, shall we?
Bleeding glitter - this is when the color on the glitter bleeds into the base, causing the base to become tinted and the original glitter to lose its color. Her response? "Oh, I MEANT to do that! I am an artiste after all!" Please. If you meant that to happen, you would have told your customers when they made the purchases. This is not owning up to the fact that your product has a flaw, a flaw the customers should have been informed of before purchase so they could choose to buy it or not.
Tacoing glitter - this is when the glitter curls up on itself, rendering the polish unusable because in the cases I've seen, they are sitting so far up from the nail you can't possibly tame them down. Her response? "Oh, this is a known issue! Didn't you know this! Not my problem." Umm, yes, it is your problem. Your customers have paid $15.00 a bottle for a polish they CAN NO LONGER WEAR. I also thought that it was garbage that she also tried to blame the consumer for this on her blog. It is because of your top coat, your thinner, etc. I've seen photos of these glitters curling in the bottle. Without thinner or any other additives. They were defective. Period.
Curling bar glitter - this is where the long bar glitter curls up on itself, refusing to lay down properly on the nail, thus rendering the polish unusable. In her new collection, she says "beware of bar glitter", which to me is code for "your polish will turn to shit in a quick time period". Well, I do have to question this. Because not all bar glitter does this. I have a bottle of Wet N Wild I paid 1.99 for that has bar glitter and guess what? It is perfect in the bottle and on the nail. I have another bottle of Orly I paid 5.99 for (before coupon, so really less) that has bar glitter - also never had an issue with it curling. OPI bar glitter? No curlies. I have other indies that use bar glitter - also - never had a problem. SO BITCH PLEASE. I'm not paying $15.00 a bottle for something you've basically washed your hands of any issues with when clearly there are bar glitters which exist that do not have this problem. Polishes containing said bar glitter which are far cheaper that have on problems.
Now I know despite all of these things, people will still buy from her. Despite her huge markup on ebay, people will clamor for them. I won't be one of them. Jesus' tears could be in those bottles and I wouldn't buy them. I refuse first and foremost to drop that kind of money on a polish where I know the seller's response to any issues will be "Oh I meant for that to happen!" Who refuse to learn from their mistakes to become better sellers. Who refuse to admit they made something that isn't sunshine and rainbows in a bottle. I don't expect my indie sellers to be perfect, not at all, I do expect good customer service though and if I don't get it? I take my money elsewhere. I also am extremely concerned about spending now $24.00 a bottle with shipping on ebay for a product that may become unusable or completely different in 2-3 months time. Seriously! I have polishes that I have still untried that have been sitting in my melmer for 6 months! I want to buy from sellers who are happy to fix any problems because they WANT to become better polish makers. Because they take responsibility for their mistakes.
See those lists 1 & 2 above? Take your money and buy from them. They deserve it.
Edited to Add:
I got my last Lynnderellas from the flash sale last week. One of the bottles? BROKEN. I see this has happened to at least TWO other people. And trust me when I say this is
no fault of Llarowes because her stuff is packaged to perfection. PERFECTLY. I think it was either an overfull bottle or a weak bottle unable to deal with the temperature fluctuations in shipping.
I'm sure HRH Lynnderexcuses will tell me she meant the bottles to break, it is a FEATURE.
Photo of both sides (it goes clean through!):
And here is the stream of consciousness that went through my head when I saw this "Are you motherfucking kidding me? REALLY? REALLY!!!! Motherfuckingsonofabitch". Yeah, in my head I sound like this. And in real life when my kids aren't around!
Quite frankly, here is my reaction to this whole thing:
http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3psrk5/
As always, these are MY OPINIONS and you know what they say about those. However, I did want to share the great sellers out there who deserve your business along with a PSA as to why you should think long and hard before dropping any money on the bottle three for fear you'll waste it.
Thanks for taking the time to read my crapping on.
