"I vowed to never again speak in the first-person voice on this blog" - Nail polish fandom drama

Summary: Popular nail polish creator encourages her distributor to crack down on people selling her polish at inflated prices on eBay. One well-known seller turns out to be the creator’s brother, thereby screwing over the distributor quite a lot.

Thank you very much to the anon on wank_report for this one. Much of your wording is used in this post. I tried to make this as succinct as possible but Lynnderella’s posts are a gold mine of pomposity, pretension, wilful obtuseness and trite New Age platitudes. I highly recommend reading every one.

Background

Lynnderella's an indie polish maker who does glitter nail polishes that people really, really like. There's tons of hype surrounding her polishes in the blogosphere. However, she's only one person and refuses to get more help in making her polishes as she's afraid of people ripping off her secret glitter sources/recipes.

The laws of supply and demand took effect. People began selling her nail polishes on eBay where some have fetched hundreds of dollars. (This one recently sold for $600 US.) Lynnderella and Llarowe (the distributor of Lynn’s polishes, also known as Leah Ann) decided to crack down on eBayers.


Some info on the ordering process to fully understand this drama: Lynnderellas are sold through Llarowe through a ‘wishlist’ system. Llarowe tells people when wishlists are. People email what colors they want. Llarowe takes their names in alphabetical order and goes down the wishlists to send people invoices. People pay. Llarowe send the polishes. When Llarowe has extra inventory, she puts them up in a flash sale. People who are caught buying Lynnderellas to sell on eBay are blacklisted from ever purchasing again.

It begins!

Llarowe has a flash sale. After the flash sale, she put up a facebook post (now deleted) saying that she’s cancelling the orders of well known ebayers and people who have ordered too much (the limit was one polish per color).

Meanwhile, suspicion has been brewing about one particular eBay seller named zinranger2, who seems to have an endless supply of Lynnderella polishes. Shit hits the fan when someone posts a document to Llarowe’s facebook page (now deleted but you can find it here.) The maker of the document reveals that zinranger2 is actually Lynnderella’s brother. Lynn has been gifting him polishes to sell on eBay while Llarowe has been blacklisting eBay sellers.

Lynn did not tell Llarowe any of this.

Lynn makes a post justifying her actions, which includes insulting other indie nail polish makers, (although she does make it clear Llarowe had nothing to do with this particular situation):

After my last posts in March, I vowed to never again speak in the first-person voice on this blog.

Excerpts:

* "Here is the truth: I cannot wish for prosperity without including everyone in the wish—prosperity consciousness is built in to the DNA of the Lynnderella Project. They are designed to invoke prosperity! What's the problem? Are we still supposed to hide our light?"

* "Some people seem to have been really curious because they snooped around and discovered that my younger brother has been selling my products on eBay. Why is it anyone's business, I wonder?"

* "All of the lacquers created by me as part of Lynnderella Collections are made by hand, from scratch with lacquer base, pigments and glitter. I am using fewer of the nail-polish-tinted bases from past collections, but that may change. I am not a ‘frankener’. Lynnderella is an artist and a designer."


Llarowe’s response on Facebook was deleted, but here’s the cached version and some excerpts:

“I have a duty to protect not only you the customer but my suppliers as well. I represent all of the lines that I carry to the best of my ability and always will. Everything that enters my shop I believe in and love and hope that you will too.

My involvement in the Lynnderella/Ebay situation was nothing. This is exactly what Lynn said in her blog post last night. I have learned of this when you did. The document that was posted on my wall yesterday completely blindsided me and was totally inappropriate to post as it contained personal information that should not have been posted to the internet for all to see ... I have spoken with Lynn and I do appreciate her situation. Her brother needed help. There should have been full disclosure from the start but there was not. What's done is done and cannot be undone ... Most of the products sold were special edition items that I did not sell on the wish lists. I myself have received phone calls and emails asking me to name my price or offering much more that I sell these for and all have been denied. I do not conduct business that way. I still believe in Lynn/Lynnderella and think she is a great creator and a great person.

I am stepping back for a few days to assess where I go from here. I will keep you posted when that decision is made. I still have a website that I run with two other incredibly talented independent polish producers and other amazing lines to represent.”



Lynn makes a few more blog posts:

1. In which she reveals her conscience is clear and it’s the haters who are to be pitied. (Also contains the gem: "In New York City, where I have done most of my growing up, calling someone a snob is often a compliment");

2. In which she reveals swatches of her new collection and ends it with, “Clearly, it might not be the best time in NailWorld to show a new collection. But this was promised to tonight's solstice”;

3. In which she explains why she helped her brother while making it all about her, and subtly insulting Llarowe (contains so many, many great lines but let’s go with, “The truth is that I am not smart about business.”).


Llarowe responds the next day by announcing on facebook that she has ended her partnership with Lynnderella (now deleted, screencap here). An excerpt:

“I was hoping to announce this a little differently but due to recent events this will have to suffice. Lynnderella will no longer be carried on the website or thru wish lists. I apologise for any inconvenience this has or will cause. I had previously announced that wish lists would be taken today and that has now been cancelled. Any orders currently outstanding for Lynnderella will be finalized ... I wish Lynn all the best in her future endeavours.”


Five days later, Lynnderella makes a post about a new collection. As always, every word is a delight, especially these two lines:

“Lynnderella is living proof of the transformation of poverty consciousness. [You have seen recent eBay auctions, right?]”

Ah, brazen audacity.

She would also like you to know that “I know that there are many negative attitudes about me still. It's okay. I'm doing well and not suffering over this.”

In case you were wondering.


MakeUp Alley reacts here.

Reddit Lacqueristas’ responses to the entire debacle can be found here, here and here.


Bonus mini-wank from the past!


One of Lynnderella’s most famous works is a nail polish called Connect the Dots. A new indie nail polish retailer site called Ninja Polish opens and one of their brands is called Cover Band, which is dedicated to making ‘tributes’ of popular, hard to get nail polishes. Their first (and currently only) product is a nail polish called Sticks and Stones. It is a ‘dupe’ (makeup slang for ‘copy’) of Connect the Dots. Comparison swatches here.

Lynn makes a blog post about this (now locked but the text can be found here):

“To Whom It May Concern:

When did it become acceptable to blatantly steal ideas from artists and call it a tribute? Cover band/brand? Seriously? Should I expect the royalties due to me from your use of my material? You are most definitely not paying a tribute. You are stealing. What would you like to have stolen from you? Nothing? Oh. Then why do you think what you have done is correct?

Are you pleased that you have hurt me? Is it fun? Are you really so cynical that you wish to accept payment for hurting someone who has shown nothing but kindness and generosity to the general public? Really? I am ashamed that this is even possible.

If there are readers who do not know to whom this post refers, just ask around. I will not name these people. If you find them, maybe you can say something on my behalf to help explain why stealing is wrong.

Imitation is the sincerest form of theft—there is nothing funny, creative or life-affirming about it. It is a violation, and while thieves may think that they are getting away with it and profiting from it, that remains to be seen. As I said, what do you wish to have stolen from you?


Lynnderella.
4 March 2012"

People argue back and forth about whether or not it’s moral and the legality of it all. The general consensus is that it’s perfectly legal. In the fashion and beauty world, companies dupe each other all the time.

ETA: Another document is posted with information that strongly suggests Lynnderella is using shill bidders on eBay to drive up the prices of her polishes. (There are comments from people saying they've seen her polishes go for $800 and even $1,000.) Not long after the document posted, people apparently still saw that same bidder driving up the prices but never winning an auction. Lynnderella then changes the settings so that all bidders are listed as 'private listing - bidders' identities protected'. Some of her polishes are now bidding at $700. Here's an ONTD thread about the drama, which takes place in a post about nail polish that contains actual gold flakes and will retail for $38 US. According to one comment, someone did an in-depth investigation into the shill bidding and Lynnderella threatened them with a lawsuit. There's also a comment in there from someone saying they've seen the bidding on one of her polishes go for almost $1,300.