Monday, March 10, 2014

Reviews and Swatches: Philly Loves Lacquer - Fancy Brigade


Living in the Philadelphia area, you grow up with the Philadelphia Mummers. Every New Year's Day, you watch the Mummers Parade on TV, or you brave the bitter cold to stand along Broad St. and watch the comics and the string bands and fancies march their way up to City Hall. Maybe you even head down to 2 Street afterwards.

In today's Monday Indie Spotlight, I'm trying out Fancy Brigade from Philly Loves Lacquer, a gorgeous deep teal holo polish inspired by our beloved Philadelphia Mummers and released this past holiday season .


Product Description: "Fancy Brigade is a deep teal holographic finish." (credit: product page)
Vintage: December 2013
Collection: Holo-day on Broad
Limited Edition: yes
Size: 15ml /.5 fl oz
Dupes: - 

When you grow up in and around Philly, it seems as though everyone knows someone who's a Mummer, or they themselves are one. The Italian teacher at the high school I attended was in the Uptown String Band. A bunch of people I grew up with swarmed up Broad this year in the green-clad mob that is Froggy Carr.

The bar below my old apartment was a local hangout for a bunch of guys in the South Philly string band, and their drunken festivities would oftensometimes spill out onto the street, bringing impromptu renditions of "O Dem Golden Slippers" that echoed down the double-parked street.

That apartment in South Philly was less than a block from Broad Street, near the beginning of the parade route. All of my friends and I would set ourselves up at the end of the block to enjoy the festivities, often running back to my place for more coffee, beer, liquor to fortify ourselves against the cold... and then later for bathroom breaks.




Why do I mention all this? Well, it's because the Mummers' Fancy Brigade division is the inspiration for this nail polish, Fancy Brigade. This deep green sparkly holo does an amazing job of capturing the spirit of the Fancy Brigades, fully resplendent in their sequins and feathers. It's a brilliant and festive polish that lives up to the name. If you don't know what the Philly Mummers look like, I highly recommend that you at least do a Google image search to get an idea!


The formula was great, as usual, with this polish. Photos here show two coats of Fancy Brigade, plus a coat of top coat just because  I was in a hurry. The polish DOES quickly dry to a smooth, glossy shine on its own, though!




Philly Loves Lacquer polishes always seem to have great consistency, and I know Esther puts a lot of hard work and soul into all of her products. The fact that this amazing indie is a local company that celebrates the city and its culture (as seen in a Mummer's themed nail polish) is just icing on the sparkly lacquered cake.



I really wish that my camera could have caught the depth of this color and how pretty the holo is in it. (It's also the perfect Eagles green!) I really need to get a better camera setup so that I can better capture holos like this. (Until I can get a lightbox together and clean my good camera, I've been taking photos in indirect sunlight in my upstairs hallway with a point-and-shoot camera). I really should have tried taking photos under some artificial light to capture the holographic effect.

Nail Art / Manicures  that use this polish:

I missed the initial release of this polish back before the holidays, but was lucky enough to snag a bottle that came up as the lovely proprietress cleaned out her inventory. If you can get it, this is a beauty of a polish. I know this is going to take a special spot in among my favorites.  I only wish that I could have had the money to buy all of the polishes that were released in the subsequent Fancy Winter Wench collection. Each of those were named for a different Mummers brigade <3


Be sure to check out Philly Loves Lacquer and pick up some awesome indie nail polishes!

(Sorry this is going up so late in the evening! Today just got away from me somehow!)

Disclaimer: I will give my honest opinion on any reviews and swatches that appear on this site, regardless of origin. All products mentioned in this review were purchased by myself <3

4 comments: