We Love RP: An Early Spring

We Love RP is open for a little while longer, until the end of the month, and the items in the offing are truly remarkable. The first look I pulled together was this one, of a petal fairy with lacy leaf boots and one of the most ornate hairstyles I've worn in a while! The hair is from Calico, and is characteristic for both her eye for detail and her unique style. I have loved her hair for years, and I'm thrilled to see her create rigged mesh with such aplomb. The multiple braids are adorable, and I love the layers of curls falling back from the crown of the head. One touch that sets her hair apart is the streaks system, where a subset of hairs (here shown in red) can be changed to any number of colors using a special, additional HUD. I love these kinds of touches, especially in hair this ornate! There is a flexy add-on as well that I'm not taking advantage of here, but which looks lovely while dancing.

The outfit is from Evie's Closet, another old favorite of mine who has made the transition to rigged mesh beautifully. This is layered chiffon with different textures combining beautifully, and overall the sense of the underside of rose petals. I love the touch at the strap ends of having it be a pale gold, like the tiny connections of petal to stem, and the delicate straps are simply perfect. I also like the ragged edges of each layer and how they seem to crumble here and there. I've not seen much in the "wearing flowers" line since mesh became a thing, and I'm so glad to see it re-emerging here, and so well. I wouldn't be surprised to see these petal dresses on the backs of every fairy on the grid within a month or so - and it's available in a ton of other colors! In fact, I may well have to head back to fill out my collection; pink isn't enough when there's purple and blue to hunt for!

My final We Love RP is from Lassitude & Ennui - these amazing boots, as ragged and uneven as if they were sewn from bits of leaf for the legs of a flower fairy. They are made for flat feet and fit well over both regular mesh and SLink mesh legs; I'm wearing SLink mesh legs here. I love that the weaving up the side is uneven; as I've talked about in the past, it is far easier to make regular and perfect things in a virtual world, and takes extra effort to make things uneven or jagged. The bunching and ties here show an incredible amount of word and attention to detail, fabric buckling naturally over strings that pull up the sides and bows which look hurriedly done by a very busy woman! It all combines to wonderful effect, right down to only some of the points at the top standing tall, while others bend over under their own weight. Amazing verisimilitude, and care that really caught my attention.

Make sure to swing by We Love RP before the month is over, for these wonders and so many more!

Fit for a Princess: Incarnadine in the Wild

I adore new locations for pictures, and Heart Song, created by Harlow Hesop and open to the public on a temporary basis, fits the bill beautifully. I particularly liked the textures she chose, which had a watercolor-ish bent and could be lit beautifully in a variety of windlights. It's built like a northern American or European forest, all dark green leaves, soft dirt paths, and a myriad of tiny lakes all within walking distance of each other. I used to live in Michigan and Upstate New York for a while, and I was powerfully reminded of my long walks in the forest there, stealing by private lakes with their own little docks out onto the water. The surround, not a flat image but rather a three dimensional layering of trees and mountains, is particularly gorgeous, and conceals the fact one is in the middle of the ocean beautifully. I took pictures in only a tiny fraction of the sim, but be assured I'll be back until she closes it to be her own private oasis.

I'm wearing more of the gorgeous releases at Fit for a Princess, though perhaps given the poses from Lalochezia that are based on the Duchess of Cambridge, Fit for a Duchess would be more appropriate. They are subtle, reserved poses which suit her style well and work best with a very sleek silhouette. I really liked the additional "seated" pose, especially since it worked seamlessly with an in situ chair on the sim.

My gown is from a new-to-me store called Greymoon, and I fell in love with the texturing, especially on the blouse where it becomes a lovely swirl of leaves and flowers. Like the setting, the texturing on the dress is watercoloresque, with rich darks and soft edges. It comes with fitmesh options for each size, but I found they didn't work as well with my shape as the basic gown itself. For my hair I wanted something soft and romantic, and Calico's over the shoulder curls were simply perfect. I have always loved how Calico did the more romantic, fantastical styles and this one doesn't disappoint - it also layers well over mesh, and moves well with my head. I'm really looking forward to dressing it up with jewels and bits and bobs, as it seems perfectly set up or those sorts of accoutrements. And finally, for nails and jewelry I went with Frogstar, who I've covered before. The pearls set is from a gacha, which means there is a certain amount of piecing it together and trading with friends; if you need to resize it, her profile says that you can request a copy/mod version by sending the item and an IM. I really enjoyed the casual but stylish edge to the necklace and bracelet - they are not the perfect, smooth pearls one might initially think, but instead are twined and tumbled around each other in narrow strands of color. The rares are the original, with a variety of shades as the commons, which means you can style up your outfit without too much difficulty. The nails are also from Frogstar, and they are shiny, opalescent, and subtle. I thought they were the perfect manicure for a Duchess on the go.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Sparkles: Folly, Rainbow Sheen
Hair: Calico, Estelle (Fit for a Princess)
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe
Jewelry: Frogstar, Modern Princess Pearls (Fit for a Princess)
Hands & Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands & Feet
Nails: Frogstar, Pearlescent Princess (Fit for a Princess)
Clothing: Greymoon, Portiere Dress (Fit for a Princess)
Shoes: Deviance, Milady's Slipper

Poses: Lalochezia (Fit for a Princess)

Location: Heart Song
Light Settings: Phototools, Build 5
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Fit for a Princess: The Bee's Knees

There is about a week and a half left in the Fit for a Princess event, so you have plenty of time to explore and find something for your inner, or outer, princess. The selection is all floral, which is really quite a lot of fun. It's been seriously difficult to figure out what to feature, but the second I saw these wonderful dresses with the fluttery gathers around the arms, and the daring, but not plunging, neckline. It moves well in a variety of poses, even ones which can be unforgiving like walks and knee bends. I also love the wide waist sash, and the colors are Kouse Sanctum's usual right, soft shades. There is a delicate pattern which begins right about at the knees which I really liked, and the way she used materials makes the fabric glow slightly gives it the effect of silk. I also think a velvety pattern would have suited both the dress and the fabric; materials has added a wonderful subtlety to how clothing can be made. I paired it with jewelry from Krystal, which is the same creator - and the flower theme continues to this amazing diadem and the wonderful matching earrings and necklace. They are color changing, which means they can be matched to any of her gorgeous gowns. I particularly like the line of the diadem style crown, which can be placed right below the hairline, but there is also a standard crown design for over the hair as well. I would have loved to have seen bracelets and/or anklets as well, simply because I adore decorating my limbs extravagantly, but the sets are a lovely addition to any flowery ensemble.

The hair is also a Fit for a Princess release, a twisted updo from Calico with tiny rose-and-feather details. The flowers themselves are color changing using the same HUD that changes the color of the hair - and she has a wonderful assortment of haircolors including some of the gorgeous ombre that are sweeping across hairstyles in general. The hairline across the front is also quite nice, especially for diadems, which would be regular occurrences for a princess. I was also glad to see that the hair curved over my larger-than-typical ears, which is always a plus; while a bit of ear overlay can be hidden via angle or editing, I'm always happiest when my ears remain unmolested. Finally, my shoes are from Hopscotch and have the cutest daisies on them, ones which really make me smile. They're a smooth, Mary Jane style with a modest heel which are fit for SLink medium feet, and come with black or white shoes, four different flower color options. They're a wonderful sedate option for under your prettiest flowery frocks. My poses are not, this time at least, from Fit for a Princess - but they are a lovely set of coquettish and fashionable stands from Diesel Works and I really like how they work with the skirt of my dress in particular, offering variety without either pose or dress becoming to strained.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Sparkles: Folly, Rainbow Sheen
Hair: Calico, Aiyana (Fit for a Princess)
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Earrings: Illusions, Mystic Chains
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Mock, Pantone eShadow
Lipstick: Mock, Glasside
Wings: Deviance, Seelie
Hands & Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands & feet
Nails: Nine Inch Nails, Colorful
Jewelry: Krystal, Marguerite (Fit for a Princess)
Clothing: Kouse's Sanctum, Sharon (Fit for a Princess)
Shoes: HopScotch, Ayana (Fit for a Princess)

Pose: Diesel Works

Location: Bee Swing
Light Settings: TOR, SCIFI Spartz puft
Water Settings: mirror water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Endless Movement Stopped

It's been a couple of years since I last went to Spencer Art Museum; in 2010 I went there for the first Color Challenge I ever participated in, the color Gray in November. There's word it may be closing soon, which is why the abstract stylings of the sim are flooding across the decks of bloggers everywhere; sadly, nothing draws people more quickly than word that something is going away. It is an amazing sim, though, and difficult to capture in pictures in a way few sims on Second Life are - the ever-present motion means that things are always changing in a way static pictures simply don't do justice to. It's also so enormous that anything other than pure landscape pictures are sadly reductive, and the fun of bouncing around on a pink, stuffed chair is both fleeting and pleasant. I love the rusty, misshapen aspects of it, and the tiny details of platforms, cages, light-bulb trees, and long, misshapen arms. It is at once, mechanical, magical, and worn. I love it against a powerful color; it ends up being such a different look from my last look at this sim, and really shows the effect a good windlight can have.

The larger pieces of my outfit are from this session of We <3 RP, which had a few shining items but seemed less diverse and combineable than in the past; I pulled together hair, dress, crown, and a few poses but most of what I picked up are other outfits, and so they will filter out as time goes on with other accessories. The crown was a gacha prize from Plastik, and a gacha of rare and enviable bliss; three sets of crowns, with rarity being based on color instead of style, which meant I ended up with a number of lovely crowns and even a rare or two - which left me feeling upbeat and cheerful. I perched the crown on top of this hair from Calico, is a fluffy concoction of curls which cascade over one shoulder and tuck perfectly behind my ear - a rarity in hair and deeply appreciated. Like a lot of other stores, she's moved to HUD based recoloring of her hair and includes roots with the basic set - something I took advantage of in this look, though I'm normally not a roots girl. I also quite liked her set of fades, which covered many natural hair colors as well as unnatural; I adore the variety of options.

The dress - the largest part of my look - is a gorgeous new creation from Evie's Closet that is reminiscent of the best of her gowns. The colors are rich and dull, the styling unique and lovely - I particularly like the triangle of fabric over the back of the hand, and how the fabric parts at the tips in a natural manner for the laced up style. The gold lattice work on the bodice is echoed in the bright gold of the underskirt - my one wish here would have been for two layers of mesh supporting the layering in the texture more powerfully, but even as a textured underskirt it seems to glow in the light. I also love how it cuts in on the side and back, the top smooth field of red lava from which the gold emerges and cascades to the hemline. Finally, some of the poses are from Elephante, which is a fantastic emerging post maker who makes naturalistic, interesting poses of a wide variety of types. The We <3 RP poses available are in the style of Fairy Tales - a warrior and a wicked Queen - but if you go to many other events open right now you'll find even more options available to you.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: Calico, Francine (We <3 RP)
Crown: Plastik, Syl Crown (We <3 RP - Gacha)
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Mock, Glitter Pop Eshadow
Lipstick 1: Adore & Abhor, 13 Lips
Lipstick 2: Buzz, Gem Lips
Wings: Illusions, Apsara Wings
Hands & Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands & Feet
Nails: A:S:S, Mermaid
Necklace: Max Gossamer, Summer Ladybird (Arcade June 2013)
Dress: Evie's Closet, Iseult Gown (We <3 RP)

Pose: Elephante

Location: Spencer Art Museum
Light Settings: TOR, SCIFI Lydian Dinosaurs
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Fit for a Princess: Conjunction of Fairy Tales

I usually don't make sets and photograph within them, but one of the nice things about review items is getting a chance to do things we don't normally do - and building a tower for my princess was surprisingly easy with the gorgeous tower from Alouette, a bed from Positure Poses, and a lovely office set from Krystal augmented by the most adorable princess bookshelf from llama. For the end of the story - one which started with a Pea, continued with a long spot with no exit but my long hair, bound up in a braid, and finished in a glass coffin from Free Bird, waiting for my prince to come. It's a rather confusing and sad storyline - especially since there's no sign of my Prince! I felt the Pea, though, so at least we know I'm a real Princess.

The Tower from Alouette is a pleasing, round shape with several windows evenly spaced and a trap door in the floor, easily concealed by a rug and table so that I could never find my way out. The door and window open at a touch and stay open, making them perfect for looking out or posing for pictures. It's large enough for several areas to be established, but not to large that it no longer seems like a tower. There are also windows going up the stairway along the side, something which would help my captor more than I, unless I moved that particular rug. The bed from Positure Poses is clearly out of The Princess and the Pea, a warm stack of mattresses with a ladder to the top. I particularly like how the mattresses are all different - some are half the size of others, and the patterns they make together are pleasing while also looking mismatched. I also like that the bedstead looks like a standard one - it's a tall four poster but obviously not originally meant to have four feet of mattress. It's simply a fun, entertaining piece, that I really enjoyed playing with.

The office set, which includes a chandelier as well as little details for the desk, is from Krystal - who I usually know for her clothing and jewelry but who, it turns out, makes really nice furniture as well. The bookshelves come with a variety of colors, and there are some color change options so that things can be mixed and matched and you can shift away from the bright pink I showed off to mellower greens, sweet and soft blue, and dark black. I really love all the details, from the adorable diary, to the tiny votive candles, it's all sweet and simple and a lovely addition to any home. They are gatcha items, which means you need to bug your friends to pull together a full set, but at only fifty linden a pop it's not a huge money sink, and even a few items will add some fluffy personality to your home. The final accent I added is a really adorable wall-hanging bookshelf from llama. It really is styled more for the budding princess' bedroom, with tiny dolls on it and lovely, simple details and books, but I thought it fit in with the Krystal office really well.

Outside, I placed the simple glass coffin from Free Bird, with a pose for me - the Snow White princess - and another for my prince, should he ever happen along. It's not connected together so make sure to rez it in edit mode so you can place it smoothly. Luckily it is copy-ok, which means that if you mess it up a new one is only a click and drag away. While I was waiting for my prince, I decided to get all gussied up in some lovely clothing, and here the Fit for a Princess event delivered as well. This princess is very different from the last two, neither a wild elven wanderer, nor heir to a dragon's throne; I figured I'd go traditional with a simple green gown of satin from Luminary, which is as beautiful as it is modest. It covers from neck, to wrists, to ankles, with large, regular folds in the skirt which means that it poses well. The only flaw is that the edges are unfinished, meaning that there's a hard edge line where the dress ends and it's invisible inside; from most angles it isn't visible, but it does mean certain angles simply don't work.

I added some lovely hair from Calico, which is a simple, slightly curling at the ends style with a soft wave framing the face and a few long strands which fall in my eyes. It's solid to the waist in the back as well, and it's rigged well. I picked up the fades pack and it made it really fun - in this case my pink tips set off the mossy green of my gown to perfection, and I still get to be a blond. Tucked over it, and over the high neck of my gown, is Evie's Closet's Alatariel, a silver version of her filigree leaf jewelry set which is simply exquisite. It's a remake of an older set of hers, and you can really see how mesh has improved on old prim and texture work. My nails are another set from A:S:S, this time a bright colored one with white tiara detailing along the top edge of the nail; I chose the yellow version, but like all A:S:S nail sets, you get a lot of choices in one HUD. Finally, my tiara embossed toes are further embellished by these shoes from Hopscotch. They have a tiara clasp holding the band on one side, and also have a nice chunky heel, good for a princess who wants to keep her bling but not fall over. I'm wearing the bright pink set, which really stand out among the rest, but there are also more sedate colors and even some black and silver or gold neutrals for the classy princesses among us.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: Calico, Kismet (Fit for a Princess)
Crown & Collar: Evie's Closet, Alatariel (Fit for a Princess)
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyshadow: Mock, Dk Green (light ice)
Lipstick: Mock, Red Berry
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: A:S:S, Tiara (Fit for a Princess)
Dress: Luminary, Grace (Fit for a Princess)
Shoes: HopScotch, Dorothy (Fit for a Princess)

Furniture:

Glass Coffin: Free Bird, Sleeping Princess Glass Coffin (Fit for a Princess)
Tower: Alouette, The Princess's Tower (Fit for a Princess)
Bed: Positure Poses, Sweet Pea (Fit for a Princess)
Furniture: Krystal, The Princess Study (Fit for a Princess)
Hanging Bookshelf: llama, Princess Bookshelf (Fit for a Princess)

Location: Imagine: The Plateau
Light Settings: TOR, SUNRISE Teaching
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Color Challenge: Week Fourty-nine - Wenge

Wenge honestly makes me think of the word whinge - best defined as the word used by upper class Brits to make their whining sound somehow categorically different from the whining of everyone else. In honor of this thoroughly fascinating word, permit me a moment to whinge - despite my neither being upper class nor British.

The gorgeous headpiece I'm wearing almost wasn't. I remembered seeing it, or something like it, on one of the fashion feeds as a deal, but I hadn't picked it up for several reasons, including that I don't often wear skulls. When I was putting together this outfit, I felt the desperate need for a small skull with some kind of black thing behind it; I remembered the skull as vaguely bird-like. I went to the first place for searching for things in Second Life - the marketplace - and was frustrated by the fact you can't search within subcategories.

After six 96-item pages of accessories and about five searches with additional keywords to try to narrow the field, I started asking in groups - one fashion-oriented and the other goth-oriented. No dice. I went back through about two months worth of discount reviews. No dice. Finally, I did a broad search through a search engine, found a mention of this on one of the blogs along with it being a 1$L deal at some event. It even included the store name - Ripe. Yahtzee! Plugged Ripe into inner-SL search (I prefer to purchase in sim if I can, so the Linden-tax isn't applied). Three places popped up - teleported to each.... no ...dice? Went back to the blog post - the person had included the creator name! Yahtzee! Opened up the profile, looked in picks... no dice. Looked in classifieds. No dice. Checked webpage.... and it led me back to the marketplace.

WTF, Second Life?

On a more pleasant note, I'm decked out in clothing from one of my favorite people, jewelry from the second, and a skin from the third, which makes me a very happy Deoridhe. The dress is from Falln Angel Creations and it was one of my dresses in my "photograph before sorting" folder - that lives in my inventory and accumulates clothes. I've been trying to go there first when I'm looking for things to wear because, well, it would be nice if things in there got sorted! The jewelry is from Little Boy Blue, and was part of a massive Linden-drop into his random vendors last Halloween. If we're lucky (unlucky?) he'll put them out again and I'll be even poorer this year! As it is, I managed to accumulate most of the Sugar Skull set, and I adore it so much! It reminded me of these awesome set of horns from Rue, that were from a Sugar Skull Hunt a couple years back - I'm delighted to have a chance to wear them again. The skin is my usual lovely one from De La Soul, and this time I tinted my Illusions ears to match a bit more closely.

The eyeliner is my usual Adam n Eve Hepsut, and I've paired it with one of Elymode's hunt specials - autumn eyeshadow. I'm really enjoying her fades of color for eyeshadow, especially since I can often match them up to my outfit or mood. The lipstick from L.Fauna is another new favorite. I was drawn to it when I saw it at the 50 Linden Friday special, but I'm definitely planning to go back for some more lipstick. The colors are sublime, and the match to my lip line is perfect, even though it's a completely different maker. Finally, I have to take a moment for a word about the new hair from Calico Ingmann Creations. I love the curves and style of it (there's also a version with longer hair) and I had a ball playing with the streak colors - I made the streak white then manually recolored the hair to match my Sugar Skull Accessories.

I ended up back on Immersiva, which has to be one of my favorite regular haunts. Ms. Oh brought the skeletons and dandilions she had at Anna's Many Murders and festoon them across a mountainous scene with some bones thrown in to make things interesting. The black box with it's changing, glowing interior has also reprised here from another show, and the tower from Daughter of Gears is still in place to climb up. My only wish might be for some ways to sit on top of the different dandelions - but then I always like to insinuate myself into the drama created by other people.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De la Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, Roomee - Rainbow
Eye Shadow: Elymode, Autumn Leaf Mix
Eyeliner: Adam n Eve, Hepsut
Lipstick: L.Fauna, Red 3
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ear - Fairy
Horns: Ruin, Horned S.E. Sugar Skull Shaman - Ivory
Hair: Calico Ingmann Creations, Genevieve 1
Hair Skull: Ripe, Elegant Raven Skull Hat - black
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Necklace 2: Little Boy Blue, Sugar Skull Set
Dress: Falln Angel Creations, Fellice Dress - brown
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Shoes: Lassitude & Ennui, Skully Pumps - black

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Immersiva
Light Settings: London 2026
Water Settings: TOR, Eyeballin'

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Peaster's Jester

Peaster's Castle is an amazing hunt. You start in the Castle Build - which I photographed earlier - hunting for different symbols hidden all over. Clicking a symbol lights it up on your HUD (bought for 100$L) and gives you both a clue and a landmark. You follow the landmark to a store, then hunt in the store for a key - finding both key (which then lights up on your HUD) and getting a gift. Then you return to the castle and hunt for the next clue. Once you get to the end of the hunt, find all the symbols and the keys, you get a very entertaining lights show in the middle of the Castle and get taken to a super secret hiding place for more prizes!

The hair I'm wearing, from Calico Ingmann Creations, the dress, from a new-to-me store Lilith's Den, and the tattoo, from Fallen Gods, are all prizes from this hunt - along with an entire bevy more. A lot of them are rezzable things - graveyards and suchlike - and I've only gone through the first fifteen or so keys. I think it's only going on for a few more days, but I highly recommend putting in the effort! Not only is the build adorable, but the prizes are well worth it.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Kei Cream
Eyelashes: Flugeln Brise, Eyelash 05
Lipstick: Skinthesis, Liquid Heat - Red Hot
Tattoo: Fallen Gods, Legend Tattoo - flame
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Hair: Calico Ingmann Creations, Amie - blond
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings
Dress: Lilith's Den, Peasterina Jesterina Dress
Shoes: G Field, Square-toe Shoes "Sophie" - red

Pose: Long Awkward Pose, Fantasy-Faepose12

Location: Angeleno Heights
Light Settings:
Water Settings:

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Color Challenge: Week Thirty-six - Celadon

Celadon Week totally threw me. It's a color I've never heard of, and I know a lot of colors! I ended up matching by eye instead of name, and ended up with a limited edition Schadenfreude corset, from their rainy day event, and paired it up with the Deviance fairy outfit that I've had in my inventory for a long time, now. I think I matched the swatch pretty closely, even if none of the names match!


I have to give a quick shout-out to Honor's Post Menopausal Blog, where I get a lot of my locations these days. She directed me to DDLE2 (yes, it's an odd name for a sim!) where I explored around finding different places to take pictures. I got foiled partway through by some vividly green ground which totally threw off the composition of my pictures, and a general problem with areas being too uniform - which makes for not terribly interesting backgrounds - but I think the end results were worth flying all over the sim! Other blogs which cover new locations in Second Life are invaluable for my picture taking. I can't stress enough how difficult it is to find new and interesting places, even though Second Life is full of them! I'll also sometimes hit the Destination Guide, but by and large I go by finds from other bloggers.


Now to get into me!

The hair is new from the Hair Faire, a Calico Ingmann Creations new style. I've been buying her hair for a long time (I recently found all the odd colors in her Seelie hairstyle in my new folder - been there a while!) and she just seems to get better. Better accessories, better textures, even better ways of working themselves - now her sets come color changing using huds, so you only have one "blond" hair in your inventory but you can change not only the shades of blond, but also add streaks to it! I was totally blown away. The accessories are also changeable through a hud, which is amazing; I did a fun combo here using the greener tones but there's a wide variety to match them with tons of outfits!

The corset is, as I said above, from Schadenfreude. I'm not sure this hue is still available, but I know there are other Schadenfreude corsets you can buy. I was surprised at how easily this fit with my poses, though, especially given how often corsets and poses mix badly. Even with the bending poses this worked well, though I was aided by the skirt covering up the bottom edge of the corset - which smooths over some flaws in the avatar mesh. I ended up doing some editing to the corset itself to fit my shorter, wider shape, but since the main part of the corset was a single prim this was really, really easy.


The outfit is from Deviance and I adore it! I have this in every possible color, which was a huge money sink but I've been able to use it in so many combined outfits, and in of itself it's charming. I even have a bunch of color combination ones, so I've really gotten my money's worth with it. It almost seems like it's meant to be worn with a corset; the texturing of the torso was corset-like, but I think the narrowness of the waist Schadenfreude gave me really highlights the level of skill in the flower detailing of the skirt and bodice. The primwork combines wonderfully with the texturing, making this look almost real. I particularly like the semi-transparent prims over the bodice, which really add a magical quality.

This kind of challenge really makes the color challenge worth it - I don't think I ever would have combined these items without the push of trying to match an unusual color. I've been thinking about what other kind of challenge might be fun; briefly I took part in a pose-object challenge, but it was simply too difficult to find things without buying, and being able to not buy new things every week is central to my ability to keep up with this challenge. Perhaps an accessory contest might be fun, though; I have immense accessory depths, so it might be fun to plum into them and see what I can find.


( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Sparkle
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hair: Calico Ingmann Creations, Isis 2 (w/flowers)
Dress: Deviance, Supar Plum Fairy - mint
Corset: Schadenfreude, Mint Julep Corset
Shoes: G Field, Flower Pumps "Eve" - cream

Poses: Glitterati

Location: DDLE2
Light Settings: TOR, Midday - Herr Gracken
Water Settings: Valdez

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Color Challenge: Week Nineteen - Umber

Two neutrals in as many weeks! I thought I was going to DIE!

I ended up just trying on different outfits in my "brown" folder until one seemed... umberish. I ended up back on G Field - gods do I love that store. G Field and Blue Blood are the only stores where I routinely buy the fatpacks for the clothes I like.

The skin is a gorgeous lucky board find from Styles by Kira - tanner than I usually wear, but the makeup is so cute! I decided to go brown to match the darker skin and the brown dress, and ended up pulling out my Lucia hair, a gift from Calico from the winter holidays. I love the lights in the mouth - so cute!


Pose: pda, Imagination

The location in question, Numbskulla, is less a place and more of a game! Based on the general idea of the Myst games of finding objects and opening doors to solve puzzles, it tells the story of a group of islanders tasked to protect two sacred trees which grew around each other.

You get your information from incomplete journals and notes left around the sim, and have to find keys and different objects in order to get to different places. So far all I'm clear on is I'm looking for shards of pottery from different places. At the moment I'm struggling to find the damn quarry! I have the key, but no clue where the quarry is!


Pose: pda, I'm Waiting for the Man

If any of you happen to come by.... help?

( More pictures can be found here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream - Sakura
Eyes: Tacky Star, Pride
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ear - Fairy (tarnished)
Hair: Calico Ingmann Creations, Lucia (Gift Hair) Bronzed, with mouthpiece
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings - tinted brown
Dress: G Field, Classic Dress "Clea" - brown
Shoes: G Field, Short Lace-Up Boots - brown

Location: Numbskulla
Light Settings: [TOR] Midday - Pleasantrie
Water Settings: [TOR] Eyeballin'

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only