Zoya Cassedy

Cassedy was released by Zoya as part of the Zenith Collection for holiday 2013. Officially described as a "celestial pewter metallic," Cassedy has a medium-dark rich charcoal grey base packed with foily silver shimmers. The overall effect is of a silvery graphite color with hints of a leafy green tint to it in certain lights. With my affection for foils, especially Zoya foils, I expected to at least enjoy this one but now that I've got it on I think it's an absolute stunner -- unexpected and dramatic but also gentle, graceful and elegant, with a soft silvery glow that is just so supple to the eye! I absolutely love it.

It didn't hurt that this polish applies like a dream, either. The consistency is smooth and well-balanced, with fabulous self-leveling flow over the nail. It just glides on and is so very easy to manipulate. Just an excellent polish formula, so satisfying! Pigmentation is also very nice. Cassedy could definitely be a one coater if applied with the proper mojo. I did a thin first coat followed by a medium second, and enjoyed every minute of it. Being chock full of silver foily flakes, cleanup is mostly reduced to chasing them down once acetone frees them up to scatter across your nail environs, but a good handwashing after the polish has dried will take most of that away. Once I'm done painting and have let the topcoat set, I wash my hands with soap and water and then add a splash of a carrier oil mix I made from some of my favorites from the Garden of Wisdom (fantastic natural skin care products and formulary supplies, highly recommended!) to my wet palm, rub my hands together and gently smooth the oils over my nails, fingers and hands. I find it helps to cure the polish and replenishes the emollience in my skin. Before I take photos, I wash my hands again using soap on my palms only so I can handle the camera without getting it all oily.

Idiosyncratic manicure routines, what could possibly be more fascinating?

Back to the subject at hand (so to speak), Cassedy dries naturally in fairly good time to a smooth shiny finish. Fast dry topcoat doesn't change the look much, perhaps softens it a little, but it does help the dry time.

Photos show two coats of Cassedy over Seche Rebuild treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat (I'm hooked on this stuff, I hope Kaz will decide to sell it in refill sizes!) with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Zoya Cassedy

Zoya Cassedy

Zoya Cassedy

Zoya Cassedy

Zoya Cassedy

Zoya Cassedy

Zoya Cassedy

Zoya Cassedy

Zoya Cassedy

Zoya Cassedy

Zoya Cassedy

Zoya Cassedy

Like most foils, Cassedy has a scintillating sparkle in the sun. I was sitting by the tub surround in the bathroom applying polish (as is my wont) and the sun was coming and going from behind random cloud cover, sending periodic shafts of blindingly bright light in through the skylight. When it hit my nails, Cassedy sent out myriads of tiny sparks in blue and green and purple. So pretty! But I noticed the color of the sparks went away with topcoat. It still sparkles, but not in color.

Even though the base color of Cassedy is fairly dark, the silver shimmers emit a beautiful burnished gleam, which lightens up the feel of this polish and keeps it from being dour or gloomy. On the contrary, while it's not as flashy as some polishes you've seen here lately (ahem, AMAZEBALLS, you flashy thing), it has it's own refined radiance, like the luster of well-loved, oft-used sterling flatware. Classy polish!

love,
Liz