If you have tried to install a VLC skin in Linux Mint 17, you may notice VLC wont start again, this is an upstream issue with the package libtar, to get VLC back you need to open a terminal and type:

"vlc --reset-config"

That should get VLC back.
Now to install a skin without VLC messing up again, dowload:

http://launchpadlibrarian.net/174511980/libtar0_1.2.20-4_amd64.deb 

and install it. That should get VLC working with skins again.

Please Note, after talking to Clem, the new version of libtar has been pushed to Mint 17, so keep an out on the update manager :)