Today's mani stars the lovely Zoya Caitlin. I've been wishing for this color for a while and was SO excited to learn that ULTA was featuring a great sale this week on Zoya and several other polish brands, buy two get one free. When I went to ULTA in search of Zoya last month, there was a sign indicating that they did, in fact, carry the brand, but they were completely out of stock. Major bummer. This time I did my legwork. I called the store on Sunday to ask if they had any Zoya in stock and the lady who answered the phone, I'm presuming a manager, said "I get my trucks on Monday, best to try back then." So, off I went for the half hour trip, gracious hubby in tow, early Monday afternoon. I was cautiously optimistic that they would have at least three colors in stock so that I could take part in the promotion. When I got there, the cupboard was bare (almost). All the store had was a tiny display of the Intimate Collection with lots of empty spaces. There was one bottle of Caitlin (SCORE), one bottle of Jules, about four bottles each of Dove, Marley and Gemma and, alas, NO Dannii (the other one from this collection that I had been wishing for). Hmm. One color I wanted, four that I didn't, what to do, what to do. Fortunately, my mother, bargain hunter extraordinaire, taught me well. After checking the store's return policy on polish (and of course scanning all shelves in the surrounding area for stray bottles that might have been misplaced) I decided that my best bet was to grab two random colors (Jules and Marley) and Caitlin, of course, then return to the store when they get their truck NEXT Monday to hopefully exchange Jules and Marley for colors I'd prefer (the manager said they're expecting a bigger Zoya shipment next week. Fingers and toes crossed for the Summertime Collection. I really want Breezi and Mira). This way, I still got the benefit of the sale. Go me! However, I digress. Back to the main topic which is Caitlin. I've got to say, though Zoya plates are tremendously helpful (in case you're not familiar with this great Zoya promotional gem, a plate is a plastic display of sorts featuring actual polish swatches from a particular collection. I received an Intimate Collection plate with a previous Zoya order so I could see what the colors looked like out of the bottle, live and in person). However, there is really nothing like having the actual bottle in your hand and sneakily dabbing a quick dot onto your finger to see what it will REALLY look like on you. Caitlin was a color I had heard great things about and seen in countless online swatches but having her (especially since it was the last bottle) in my hot little hands was a rush I had yet to experience since I had never, to that point in time, seen Zoya in any store.
This is how she looks on me after a base of my beloved Mystic Nails, two coats and a top coat of Mystic Nails. Though I was very anti-accent nail previously, I'm sort of warming up to the trend. (If, like me until recently, you are not familiar with that term, an accent nail is simply polishing one nail on each hand in a different way than the other fingers to "accent" your mani. This seems to be typically done on the ring finger.) I decided to attempt tape for the tip of China Glaze Light as Air then free-handed an additional stripe of Zoya Jo. While I think the colors look pretty together, as you can see, my nail art skills are clearly lacking. Oh well, if polish isn't fun, what's the point, right? Though one coat of Caitlin appeared really patchy and uneven, the second coat fixed that right up and I feel she's quite opaque after two coats. I'm really quite pleased with this color, though I have to say, the hubby was rather unimpressed. He never paid any attention to polish until my childhood/teenage obsession resurfaced a few months ago but now that I'm so into it, he finds himself noticing polish more and more. In fact, just the other day, he said, "It's funny how much I'm noticing the polish, or lack thereof, on other women. It's surprising how many women just don't bother with their nails at all." (That's actually not his exact quote but close enough, hee hee.) He tends to be much more impressed by sparkly colors, hence the fact that I have several more colors from Zoya's Sparkle Collection (I presently own two, Charla and Ivanka) on my wishlist. I have to admit, I am quite dazzled by them myself but the added bonus of knowing that Brian likes them makes me feel good, too. So, to sum up, I LOVE finding Zoya at ULTA, am awfully fond of Caitlin and feel like a kid on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa in anticipation of next Monday. What, besides polish, can make a 37 year old woman that giddy?
