Color Street (nail polish MLM, defunct 2024)

Color Street was a US-based multi-level marketing company founded in 2017 by Fa Park, originally a derivative of his prior nail-polish business Incoco (founded 2002). The product line consisted of 100%-nail-polish strips marketed as a less-toxic, no-dry alternative to liquid polish. Distribution operated through a network of independent 'Stylists' recruited via 'opportunity' webinars, social-media events ('Facebook parties') and friend-and-family pressure, with multi-tier commissions paid on the recruiting downline and personal sales.

At its 2020–2022 peak the company reported over 70,000 active Stylists, primarily women, and annual revenue in the high hundreds of millions. The income disclosure published by the company (and analysed by anti-MLM journalists including The New York Times and Vox) showed the familiar MLM pyramid distribution: the bottom 80%+ of Stylists earned under $1,000 annually, with most earning less than they spent on inventory and 'opportunity-building' kit purchases.

On 16 May 2024 Color Street abruptly ceased operations and entered receivership. Internal communications obtained by trade press (The Direct Selling News, Truth in Advertising) showed the company owed commissions and unsold-inventory refunds to thousands of Stylists who had recently placed large 'launch' orders. Lawsuits filed in New Jersey state court 2024–2025 by former Stylists allege the company continued recruiting Stylists with knowledge of pending insolvency. The closure is now a case study in MLM-end-stage harm — the cult-research relevance is the recruitment-of-friends pattern, financial sunk-cost mechanism, and emotional-investment 'sisterhood' culture that left distributors socially as well as financially exposed when the company failed.

CLCI band is Moderate (12) — Color Street's coercive-control profile was low: no severance, no charismatic leader, voluntary product business. Inclusion in the cult-studies frame reflects the structural MLM-as-economic-coercion analysis rather than high-control religious patterns.