Nail Pak: What Happened To The Brand After Shark Tank?

Not every pitch on ABC's hit show "Shark Tank" is a straightforward deal-or-no-deal scenario. The most interesting episodes are the ones where products like the Nail Pak inspire lively and heated debates between multiple sharks who are interested in investing in the company. When Barbara Lampugnale of Duality Cosmetics presented the Nail Pak, a combination product that combined a bottle of nail polish, a nail file, and 40 pre-soaked nail polish remover pads into one unit, on Season 3, Episode 12, a few of the Sharks went a bit wild.

Ultimately, Lampugnale walked away from the tank with a lucrative-sounding deal with "Queen of QVC" Lori Greiner, which was supposed to save her family from potential financial ruin. Was it enough to keep the company and the family afloat long-term? And is the Nail Pak a classic found on drugstore shelves everywhere today, or simply a gimmick of the 2010s relegated to online nostalgia roundups? 

Before Barbara Lampugnale faced the Sharks, viewers were shown a brief segment depicting her life as a stay-at-home mom to six daughters in which Lampugnale mentioned that her family's financial standing had recently become dire enough that she had been forced to sell her engagement ring. Once in the studio, she began her pitch to the Sharks by explaining that the idea for the products came to her during the Sunday "nail night" ritual she shared with her daughters each week. She asked for $50,00 in return for 20% equity and revealed that before their financial struggles hit, she and her husband had invested $300,000 into the company.

Robert Herjavec dropped out of the running early, citing concerns over "the thought of spending $300,000 before you have orders." Mark Cuban also passed, claiming he wasn't up for the level of support a product in such early stages would require. Lori Greiner, however, was quick to offer Lampugnale the $50,000 she was seeking but for 51% equity, promising to "make millions" with the product and refusing to pair up with Kevin O'Leary. O'Leary and Daymond John then swooped in with a joint offer of $50,000 for 40% equity. A rather brutal argument broke out during which John compared his experience to Greiner's, declaring that he had "forgotten more than she has learned." Eventually, Greiner agreed to match their offer and closed the deal with Duality Cosmetics for $50,000 in return for 40% equity. 

In an update segment on "Shark Tank" during Season 4, Lori Greiner accompanied Barbara Lampugnale to a pitch meeting with Ulta Beauty. Given that Nail Pak quickly sold out on QVC after appearing on "Shark Tank," it was easy to make the case for it to be carried in Ulta stores, and that's exactly what happened. After receiving the news that the product would be stocked online and in 500 Ulta locations, Greiner and Lampugnale celebrated by visiting a store together to see the display themselves.

The sky appeared to be the limit for Duality Cosmetics and Nail Pak. However, by 2016, Nail Pak's website had disappeared and the product was no longer available at Ulta and on Amazon. Adding to the confusion was the fact that Lampugnale had started selling the same product, renamed Grace to the Rescue, under the Grace Nail Company banner in 2015, according to her LinkedIn page. What could this all possibly mean?

According to Barbara Lampugnale's LinkedIn account, Lampugnale served as the executive director of Duality Cosmetics from 2005 to 2014. In 2016, the brand announced on Facebook that it had "Exciting news for you all soon," but no such news was ever delivered. Commenters on the post revealed the switch to the new nail company. As for Nail Pak, the product is no longer available for sale online or in retail stores.

It seems that Lampugnale dissolved Duality Cosmetics when she decided to sell an identical product under a different name. The Grace Nail Company website even includes a banner that reads "As seen on 'Shark Tank.'" As of now, both Nail Pak and its parent company are no longer in business. It appears that even high-value shark bait like the Nail Pak isn't guaranteed success by landing a deal on "Shark Tank" no matter how many fights break out between the sharks. 

While Barbara Lampugnale jumped ship on Duality Cosmetics in 2016, she appeared to have a solid plan to move forward with selling a product identical to Nail Pak under a new company name. However, Grace Nail Company now appears to have gone inactive as well. There have been no new updates on the company's Facebook page since 2018 and while the brand's website is technically live, each product link leads to an error page.

Followers of Grace Nail Company's abandoned Instagram page have been left to speculate about what happened to the company and its founder. One commenter theorized that Lori Greiner habitually mistreats "Shark Tank" hopefuls. "I'm guessing she might have gotten screwed over," the commenter wrote. "I don't trust her anymore because so many of her deals, she sells them for a few days, gets money, and then poofs and vanishes and the product is left in the dust." Unless Lampugnale reappears to set the record straight, what really happened with Nail Pak remains anyone's guess.