Bend Over Backwards by China Glaze

Hello ladies! Today's NOTD is from the 2012 China Glaze "Worlds Away: Cirque Du Soleil" collection.  This was a fantastic collection from CG, who are renowned for their 'tie-in' collections to movie releases, TV shows etc.  This collection captured the colours of the vibrant costumes of the circus brilliantly.  Tonight's polish is "Bend Over Backwards"....

photo credit: Al Seib and Cirque Du Soleil

My camera didn't know what to do with this super saturated metallic shimmer.  It's an eye-watering orange toned red that is just fabulous.  This is a great fall/holiday colour and as you can see from the swatches it will certainly get you noticed.  To be fair, this super-saturated hue is really brought out by the artificial light, it's more toned down by natural lighting as the swatch at the bottom shows. 

Bend Over Backwards by China Glaze - artificial light

This is an easy two coats, fully opaque, with NE base and HK Girl topcoat.  No issues with formula or application.  I really like CG as a brand, they have such a high turnover of shades there's always something new on the horizon, and for a mainstream brand they have had more unexpected shades in the last few years than OPI for example.  It was CG that I first saw bar glitters in a non-indie polish.  They're not afraid to think outside the box, and always at such good prices.

Bend Over Backwards by China Glaze - natural light

I picked my bottle up from Nail Polish Direct (link in Suppliers page) for a tasty £4.95.  NPD are currently having a promotion on CG and this shade is £3.99 along with dozens of others....it's a great time to grab a bargain and with free P&P it's a steal.

CrowsToes Shoot the Butterfly

Dipping my toes (and fingers) into the pool of great Indie polishes out there with Crowstoes "Shoot the Butterfly" - this is just the second Indie I've tried and I'm impressed! I was unsure what to expect really, in comparison to the big brands, but so far I'm very pleased!

First a quick apology on the swatches - I had significant tip shrinkage here and it's due to my elderly bottle of Seche top coat and nothing to do with the Crowstoes.

 



Crows Toes Shoot the Butterfly - Sunlight

Shoot the Butterfly is a charcoal black jelly base with shiny orange hex glitters, teeny tiny matt white hex particles and microscopic round holo glitters.  Shown here are two coats atop black undies (No7 "Just Black") with NE base and Seche topcoat.  From swatches I've seen online (and even these pics actually) I was expecting that in real life it would have more of a jelly look than it seemed to have.  I think that next time I'll use a paler undie - perhaps a charcoal grey for a smoky look...

Crows Toes Shoot the Butterfly - Artificial Light

This polish is just so so pretty, and perfect for Autumn.  I know that it's meant to be inspired by monarch butterflies, but for me the orange and black reminds me of Halloween, of pumpkins and bonfires and fancy dress.  It's enchanting, and this is officially the polish that I have received the most compliments on.  I have fancy nails all the time, but this polish really caught everyone's attention and even garnered compliments from MEN! Can you imagine? Boys that notice nail polish? Miraculous!

Crows Toes Shoot the Butterfly - Artificial Light - Macro

I bought this lovely from Rainbow Connection for £10.25.   It won't be my last Crowstoes polish that's for sure (now I want Boat Drinks, My Favourite Amazon.....sigh, how long till payday?)