Review - SoFlaJo Wilde Irish Rose

Happy Monday!  Don't forget about my giveaway!

Today, I get to do my very first "official" review!  The polish is called Wilde Irish Rose by SoFlaJo.  It is from her new limited edition Spring Flowers Collection, and is only available during the spring.

The base is tinged pink, and almost looks iridescent.  There is pink and gold micro glitter, and you can also pick out flashes of green and gold through iridescent bar glitter.  The formula on this was great.  It went on smoothly and evenly with each coat.  As a glitter, you can either layer it or build it up on its own.  With that being said, I'm showing this to you both ways!

From left to right, you are looking at one coat, two coats, two coats over white (OPI Alpine Snow), and two coats over black (ChG Liquid Leather).  I did not use a top coat, because this polish does dry to an almost satin finish, which I wanted you to be able to see.  If you want that high shine, you will need a top coat.  Also, the natural finish is not very gritty at all, so it should not eat your top coat.

L to R: One coat, two coats, two coats over white, two coats over black

Then, to show how it builds, what you see below is three coats on the left and four coats on the right.

L to R: Three coats, four coats

Layering Wilde Irish Rose over black really brings out the base.  However, layering over white highlights the glitter.  I thought I would love this polish over black, but I think it looks best in all it's natural glory!

You can purchase this from SoFlaJo's shop page here.  It can also be purchased through her Etsy shop here.  While you are there, be sure to check out her other collections.  Her Year of the Dragon line looks incredible!

This product was provided for review.

Feature Friday - Queensday

Happy Friday!  If you haven't already entered my giveaway, you can do so here.

Today's mani is a stamping for the group I belong to on Facebook, Adventures in Stamping.  The theme is Queensday, celebrating the Queen's birthday.  I did not know much about the holiday, so I had to look it up.  I also used the info provided by one of the group members.

I started with SH Double Duty, and added two coats of Revlon Royal.  Using tape, I added two squares using SH XW Cherry Red.  The stamp I used is the crown from BM 08, shown here:

I stamped the crown using Sinful Colors' (SC) Snow Me White, and topped it all off with SV.  I'm less disappointed that my pointer and pinky stamps are a little crooked, because I'm way too excited that my other two fingers were almost straight!  Have a great weekend, everyone!

I'm Swatchin' You - Icing Witch's Brew

Wow!  So, yeah...looks like I'll be posting my 100 follower giveaway immediately after this one ends!  LOL  Not to mention needing to gear up a Facebook giveaway, too!  Prepare for lots of opportunities to walk away with free stuff!

Today, I'm showing you a swatch I did a little while back and apparently forgot about!  I decided to brave another Icing polish.  This one is called Witch's Brew.  I simply could not resist that name!  LOVE IT!  And the color is great, too.  It's a black jelly base with green sparkle...what's not to love?  It does dry to an almost satin finish, so a top coat is a must to get that shine!  Thankfully, the brush on this one was acceptable, but the formula was once again goopy.  I tried to get some good sun pics to show the sparkle.  Hopefully you can see it.  Enjoy and don't forget about my giveaway!

SH Double Duty and SH Insta-Dri for base and top.

50 Follower Giveaway!

And away we go!  I cannot tell you how very much I appreciate everyone for being here!  I am very happy to be able to give away some goodies to celebrate my first blogging milestone.  I wish I could do more, and hope to do so in the future.

This giveaway is open only to US residents.  I am so sorry to have to do that, but I am a very poor graduate student right now.  :o)  I PROMISE that I will have future giveaways that are open internationally.  Please bear with me on that!

Up for grabs are the following prizes!

Please note that you MUST be a public follower of my blog.  You will be asked to provide your GFC follower name (if you follow through GFC).  If you follow through another means, you will need to e-mail a screen shot of my blog in your reader to gmtheater (at) gmail (dot) com to verify your entry.

All entrants must also provide an e-mail address.  I absolutely will NOT share your e-mail address.  This is just so that I may contact you if you win, and/or verify your entry if you do not follow through GFC.  Also be sure that if you choose to gain extra entries through sharing the giveaway on Facebook, the share must be public so that I can see it.

The giveaway closes on 16 May, and I will announce the winner on my blog and contact them via e-mail.  The winner will have 48 hours to reply or another winner will be selected.  All prizes are brand new and were purchased by me.  Good luck!!!

Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials Tuesday - Lush Helping Hands

FYI, the giveaway should hopefully be up and running tomorrow!
Today's tip is on Lush's Helping Hands hand cream.  I have a ton of different hand creams, so I won't be going over everything I use.  Often, I get them as gifts and I'll just use one until it's gone.  I am just giving you some information on my favorites, and this is definitely one of them!

As you know (or maybe not), I recently reviewed Lush's Smitten, but it is a discontinued item that can only be ordered online (in their retro section) or in a gift basket in stores.  Since my bottle of Smitten is almost gone, I recently picked up Helping Hands as a replacement.  Helping Hands is a cream that has a pink tinge (I don't think it showed up well in the picture).  It is not as greasy as Smitten, as it does not have as much almond oil.  It does have cocoa butter, so it is very moisturizing.  Helping Hands will not absorb quickly into your skin, but it's not crazy greasy, either.  I would say that after about 20 minutes, you can go about your business pretty freely.  The only thing I'm not sold on with this is the scent.  It has chamomile, which I can definitely pick up.  But it is also mixed with lavender and cocoa butter.  It's one of those smells that I don't necessarily hate, but I'm not crazy about it, either.  It's just kind of...odd.

Again, it is pricey, as are most of Lush's products.  This pot is 3.5 oz and costs $17.95.  The upside is that a little goes a long way.  You can purchase Helping Hands here (this is the link to the USA site).

Blog Awards!

First, let me apol........Holy fagioli!!!!  I broke the 50 follower mark!!!  *insert happy dance here*  You know what that means...look for the first giveaway details to hit in the next day or so!!!!!

Ahem.  As I was saying....  First, let me apologize for being so very late on this!  This semester has been brutal!  Treesponge over at Adventures of the Nail Friends has nominated me for the Versatile Blogger award, the One Lovely Blog award, and the Butterfly award.  And Heidi at DIY Polish and More and Pamela at Nail Soup also nominated me for the Versatile Blogger award!  Thank you so very much to all of you!  I can't tell you how much I appreciate this!  So on to the awards...

The Rules:

1) Nominate 15 fellow bloggers.

2) Inform the bloggers of their nomination.

3) Share 7 random facts about yourself.

4) Thank the blogger who nominated you.

5) Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your blog post.

And my 7 random facts are:

1. I served in the military for 10 years.

2. I'm graduating from grad school in less than a month!

3. I love The Monkees (RIP Davy Jones).

4. I have a daughter who will be 8 next month.

5. I'm originally from New York City (The Bronx).

6. I like to knit, when I actually have the time.

7. My husband's nickname for me is Boogie.

The Rules:

1) Link back to the person you got it from.

2) Tell 7 things about yourself.

3) Give the award to 10 bloggers

7 More Random Facts:

1. I used to go to the Rocky Horror Picture Show every Friday night in high school with my boyfriend and cousin.

2. I adore the old MGM musicals.

3. I have been active in community theatre for more than 30 years.

4. I was a professional graphic artist in the military.

5. I love pasta.

6. If I could have a super power, I would like to be able to fly.

7. I have two tattoos.

The Rules:

1) Link back to the person who gave you the award.

2) Answer the following questions.

3) Award to other bloggers & let them know.

The Questions:

1. What's your favourite song? 

Mahna Mahna  - The Muppets

2. What's your favourite dessert? 

Pumpkin Pie!

3. What's your favourite pet? 

Of all time, it would be the dog I had as a child, Casper.

4. Black or White?

Most decidedly black.

5. What's your biggest fear? 

Any harm to my daughter.

6. What's your best feature?

I guess I really like my eyes, but my husband would say the ta-tas.

7. What's your everyday attitude? 

Do I really have to get out of bed?

8. What is perfection?

Settling down in one place in one house and just living life with my husband and daughter.

9. What is your guilty pleasure?

Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies.

And now for the tagged bloggers!  Some are newer, some are older, all of them rock my world!  Go check them out!!!

The Manicured Monkey
Sweet Sugar
Vintage Musings of a Modern Pinup
The Perky Polisher
Starlet's Nails 
Princess Polish
nailtopia
Men and Nail Polish 
Manicurity
Lipsticked Louise
Lacquer Man
It's Okay for Men to Have Painted Nails in Public
Geeky Owl 
Fingertip Frosting 
Canadian Nail Fanatic

Feature Friday: National Day of Silence

Happy Friday!  So, Heidi over at DIY Polish and More came up with the idea of doing manis today in support of the National Day of Silence, and I jumped on board.  For those of you who do not know, the National Day of Silence is a day when students take a vow of silence to raise awareness of the silencing effect of bullying and harassment of the LGBT community.  You can learn more about it here. 

Here is the mani I came up with in support of the National Day of Silence.  I used the polishes shown below, which are (from left to right):  ChG Liquid Leather, SH Silver Sweep, WnW 414, OPI A Roll in the Hague, SH Lightening, Essie Pretty Edgy, and ChG Electric Beat.

I painted two coats of Liquid Leather on all of my nails, except for the accent.  I stamped the lips image from BM 02 (shown below) using Silver Sweep.  Then I used tape to create the line with 414.

My accent nail was done with the remaining colors using tape.  Thanks for looking, and I hope you will join in and take a vow of silence.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

Update:  Click here to see Heidi's mani!

I'm Swatchin' You - Sally Hansen Silver Sweep

In case you didn't hear (or see, or read), my new Facebook page is up and running!  Go likey!!!  And we seem to be stuck millimeters away from the giveaway.  I'm hoping the FB exposure will fix that!  On to the polly...
Apparently, I'm on a silver kick!  This is a color from SH's Insta-Dri line.  It's called Silver Sweep.  Honestly, I bought this color for stamping, but it's a great color in it's own right.  It's a metallic silver and you are looking at only one coat, folks!  A second coat would have been nothing more than a tragic waste of polish.  Formula on this one was great.  As a metallic, you can pick up slight brush strokes, but it really isn't noticeable enough to avoid the color.  Sorry I didn't have a sunny pic for you, but I think you get the idea anyway.  Still don't love the brush and don't think I ever will.  Although, I didn't make as much of a mess with this one as I have with some of the others.  It seems that the more difficult the color is to clean up (i.e. dark colors or reds), those are the ones that will look as though I painted it on while blindfolded, balancing on one leg, hands tied behind my back, and holding the brush with my teeth.  And apparently, colors like this don't give me lobster hands, they just make it look like the edges of my nails are bruised...sooo pretty!  Click here to see it in action in stamping.

SH Double Duty and SH Insta-Dri for base and top.

I'm Swatchin' You - Pure Ice Frosted Ice Silver Bullet

Good morning!  First, go check out my giveaways page.  It's been updated with a giveaway from Vintage Musings of a Modern Pinup! 
Today's selection is from Pure Ice.  It's their Frosted Ice Silver Bullet and it's a great color.  I've actually had this one for quite some time now and I really like it. It pairs nicely with so many colors!  Here it is in all it's natural glory.  It goes on pretty sheer so it's a 2+ coater.  This is two coats here.  A third would give solid coverage.  The brush is a little on the thin side for my taste.  It's hard to cover your nail in 3 strokes.  Thankfully, the formula is pretty forgiving so you have plenty of time for those extra strokes.  I know not many people these days care for frosts.  I still like them...forever on the opposite end of the trends!  LOL

SH Double Duty and Insta-Dri for base and top.

Some Recent Haulage!

So, you may have noticed there is no 3T Tuesday post for today.  Sorry guys!  As the end of this painfully busy semester comes to an end, I've got to push out about 5 more papers.  So I didn't have the time to put together the post for this week's 3T Tuesday.  I'm hoping you'll be too distracted with some recent hauls that you won't even miss it!  Now that I think about it, you may not miss it at all, anyway!  Oh, well...  And we are inches from my first giveaway!!!  I sure hope to hit that goal soon...I'm so excited!!!

So here's some recent pollies I've picked up over the past month or two.  These are from Zoya's B3G3 promo:

L to R: Ava, Chloe, Tosca, Ivanka, Lotus, Savita

Then, I used Sally's B2G1 promo to stock up on some Orly's, since I have recently fallen head over heels for them!

L to R: Cotton Candy, Pixy Stix, Peachy Parrot, Nite Owl, Sea Gurl, Wild Wisteria

L to R: Pink Chocolate, Chantilly Peach, Shimmering Mauve, Plum Noir, You're Blushing, Faint of Heart, Bus Stop Crimson

An "I Wonder" Moment and I'm Swatchin' You - The Hungry Asian Strawberry

Good morning!  So here's what I'm wondering about.  There have been two weird coinkydinks over the past couple of weeks.  You know when you think about an old movie or something and the next thing you know, you're seeing it EVERYWHERE?  After my past two "strolls down amnesia lane" when I swatched some really old pollies in my collection, they started showing up all over the place!

First, it was the Cover Girls.  After I swatched Mystic Peacock, I started seeing lots of posts on MUA and FB about finding it, wanting it, etc.  Then last week, I used one of my Street Wears in a mani, which led to me swatching them for you this past week and guess what?  People were posting about Street Wear on MUA today and I even came across blog posts about them!  So, here's my "I wonder" moment. 

I wonder if I have some people come across my blog, but not committing to the point of following.  THEN....they move on, but I stick in their subconscious...and a few days later...my influence manifests!  *cue Twilight Zone music*  Either I'm experiencing a delusion of grandeur or my little ramblings on my little blog are...parasitic.  LOL

Moving on.  Since I featured this polish in a mani last week, I thought I would show you an unadulterated swatch.  If you've been hanging with me for a while, you probably noticed that I'm not a fan of chunky glitter.  Therefore, I'm not much of a fan of Indie polish, since it seems that most Indie lines consist mainly of chunky glitter.  That being said, it logically follows that if I pick up an Indie polish, it has to blow my frickin' mind.

This is Strawberry by The Hungry Asian.  Check out the packaging...personalized note, ribbon, etc.  Very sweet.

This was also very well packaged, with additional tissue paper and bubble wrap in a box...very safe.  Oh, and lightning fast shipping.  The polish is a red creme with black micro glitter.  So it really does remind you of a strawberry...too cute!  The best part?  You are looking at ONE coat, people!  And please excuse the virtual bandage (again).  I got a little cut on my ring finger and was kind enough to spare you the ick.

You can buy Strawberry from The Hungry Asian's Etsy shop here.

Consider. My mind. BLOWN.

SH Double Duty and SV for base and top.

Feature Friday - Strawberry Top

Happy Friday!  I am so loving my mani today!  This one is going to be short and sweet.  Okay, maybe not short, but definitely sweet!  I used my SH Double Duty base and then did one coat of The Hungry Asian's Strawberry, which can be picked up in her Etsy shop here.  One coat is all that was needed!  Then, this week's stamping challenge was to use two stamps.  First, I used my Bundle Monster BM 05 on my accent finger to look like the top of a strawberry.  I stamped this with Color Club's Perfect Mol-ten.

Then, still using CC's Perfect Mol-ten, I stamped a partial image from BM 12 (shown below in the red box).  I did this to make it look like a little curly piece of stem was hanging down.  I don't know about anyone else, but I had a helluva time picking up even this whole image, let alone a little piece of it.  After about a dozen tries, I finally got it to work.  This image took a crazy light hand to work.

I topped everything off with a coat of SV and there you have it!  Please excuse the virtual bandage.  I cut the side of my ring finger.  Just thank me for saving you from the ick.  Have a great weekend, everyone!!!