Makeup Review: Philly Loves Lacquer – Avenuers

As much as I love the idea of indie polish, it’s not something I buy a lot of. Most of it tends to be very sparkly, and I am not a sparkly type girl (I actually gave Claire my bottle of Be Excellent to Each Other. Claire loves sparkle.). So I was very excited when I saw Philly Loves Lacquer’s Avenuers from their Fancy Winter Wench collection.

The Color

I love the color of Avenuers. First of all, it’s grey. Grey is my favorite neutral. Secondly, it’s a holo. Which means there is sparkle, but not the big chunky glitter that’s in a lot of indie polish. This is closer to the glitter you see in car paint, the kind you only see up close. So overall it’s a very “Nicole” color. I do recommend a top coat to give it a little extra gloss.

The Application

One coat. That’s it. I love one coat nail polish. My patience is slim so when I don’t have to spend time doing coat after coat I’m ecstatic. It also dries incredibly fast, which is another major bonus for me. It’s a color you can throw on when you’re on the way out the door and be dry by the time you’re out of the driveway.

Staying Power

Avenuers stayed on about average. I’m pretty hard on my nails so for me that’s a couple of days. I was impressed it was able to compete with other nail polishes because everything from Philly Loves Lacquer is 4-free. Four free means it doesn’t contain Toluene, Formaldehyde, Dibutyl Phthalate, or Formaldehyde Resin. In my experience, polishes that skip the gross stuff don’t stay on as well. This is an exception. Plus, with the opacity of this particular color, it is easy to do quick touch-up.

Overall I’ve been impressed with my first purchase from Philly Loves Lacquer, and I’ll be keeping my eye open for more colors. You can pick up your own bottle of Avenuers for $12 (and read the backstory) over on PhillyLovesLacquer.com.

Disclaimer: While I did buy this bottle of nail polish on my own, Esther (who owns Philly Loves Lacquer) is a friend of mine. That did not impact my review at all. If I hadn’t liked it, I would have gone with “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”