Seeking the Depths of Sundarya Lahari

It's not always easy to combine fashion photography and art sims, but I do my best - though it does result in a lot more distance images than my usual. In this case, I thought the effect of shadows, lights, and some sincerely bizarre backgrounds as I explored the The {Lost} Garden of Sundarya Lahari and plumb the depths of its unusual story. I dressed appropriately for exploring a strange and ever-changing land - spike heels and a slashed micro-mini. Isn't that what everyone wears for a hike among vines and pentacled cephalopods? My dress is from Asteria Creations, and while it isn't my usual style, I simply couldn't resist it. I'm an enormous fan of cutouts, and this dress was covered in them while still mostly maintaining my dignity. It's an amazing, smooth curve on the hips, and a lovely fall of ribbon at the shoulder. It also moves well, especially for something which has so many gaps. The spike heels to go with it are a recent release from Felicity with some lovely rings which go down the front of the foot. I went with a contrasting color, bright and shiny yellow, setting off the rich dark blue of my dress.

My hair was a present from a dear friend, a gacha prize from EMO-tions which combines a hairbase and a lovely and simple hairstyle, decorated by narrow braids over the shoulders and from the hair pulled back on the sides. This is actually very like a style I used to wear offline, sleek and simple and sweet. The fade into the hairbase is a little rocky, but that's pretty standard for combining mesh and texture bases, and the hairbase makes it that much more realistic in appearance. I added enormous steampunk wings to finish the look, also gacha prizes, these come from Death Row Designs and combine a common - the large wing with the chain and bolts - and a smaller "flutter" wing which can move. In some shots I have it stab;e, and it others I let it go so I could play catch-the-perfect-shot. I wanted something heavy and metallic to balance out the rest of my look and offer up contrast, like the contrast of the large, strange creature in The {Lost} Garden of Sundarya Lahari and the enormous metal frame allowing her to continue to have children even after her death.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: EMO-tions, Legolan
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyeshadow: Mock, Gunpowder Indifference
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick: Mock, Glasside Lip
Wings: Death Row Designs, Steamflutters
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Elephante, Ice
Dress: Asteria Creations, Niege Mesh Mini
Bracelet: Earthstones, Flower for Sway
Shoes: Felicity, Whitney  Stilettos

Pose: Grafica

Location: The {Lost} Garden of Sundarya Lahari
Light Settings: TOR, MIIDDAY Why So Blue
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 40: Coffee House

Coffee House is a very sweet color combination - a dark, bitter brown with a greyish aquamarine; at once neutral and colorful. I was able to find things which worked form head to toe, and in honor of the contrast of these two colors I decided to keep my look otherwise fairly basic - no eyeshadow or lipstick, just the bare Izzie's skin I started wearing recently. I had briefly considered doing a whole post about the different skins I tried and what I thought of them, and then life happened and I didn't want to wait on taking a bunch of pictures to get started with my new skin. Since I tend to be very skin-loyal, I wanted this skin to serve me on a number of levels. Firstly, I wanted a tone that I really liked, and this yellowish base with peach overtones was simply perfect for matching my offline skin. Secondly, I wanted a simple nude base; while Izzie's has more eyeliner than I tend to prefer, it otherwise was perfect - the lips are only slightly pinker, and thus could easily be a natural tone. Thirdly, I needed features which worked with my somewhat unique features; my lips are thinner than the norm on Second Life, and my eyes are differently shaped - to better match my actual eyes - and that can distort many skins on my mesh. Again, as you can see, Izzie's fit the bill perfectly. Finally, I wanted a blond brow that was on the skin, so that I had all of my tattoo layers available for cosmetics, and Izzie's kindly comes with no-brow and different natural-brow shades on the skin. I've been really happy with how it's worked int he last half-dozen shoots, and so I'm ready to settle in with this as my next, semi-permanent skin and begin re-titing all of my HUDs and accessories. Ah, the life of a fashionista.

I took advantage of the blond brow by wearing this gorgeous recent release from Wasabi Pills, a rigged mesh short hairstyle with tintable hairband - which I tinted the proper shade of brown - included. My jewelry is an old, HUD recolorable set from Virtual Impressions, one of my many purchases since joining her excellent group - if you like having a wide variety of interesting and adaptable jewelry in your inventory, I highly recommend you join as well and take advantage of the sale price on new releases given to all group members, as well as the generous group gifts. My dress is from a new-to-me store called Panda Candy, which I found through an unsolicited notecard drop; it's a very simple gown accented by an unrigged, partially mesh belt with some flat prim attachments; the gown moved very well, but the belt could be a bit more finicky, and I repositioned it for most of these images so that it would seem to fall naturally around my hips. I would have loved to see it instead incorporated into the gown, perhaps unwrapped on a separate face so it could be tinted separately as I did here, but overall it's a store I'll be keeping my eye on. Finally, my fun shoes are on sale right now (yes, I actually managed to blog a deal while it was going on; I hope you didn't hit your head when you fainted) from Felicity. They're unrigged, HUD driven shoes with a whole slew of options, so hurry and check them out. Also, you would not believe how important angle is in the picture I took of them.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Jade
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Orc Inc, Metallic Fade
Jewelry: Virtual Impressions, Cheryl
Dress: Panda Candy, Haruki
Shoes: Felicity, Shayna (Steals and Deals)

Pose: Grafica

Location: Calas Galadhon: Armenelos
Light Settings: Nacon's Natural 10 am
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

SL Disney Bound – Week Twenty Three: Carl & Ellie

I hit the wall with this last couples' challenge, and so I figured Carl tied some balloons to his pants and floated away, leaving Ellie to look for him. This is a look inspired by Ellie's more mature look, as she and Carl were dating as teenagers, so still a young Ellie but a little more grown up. I ended up taking advantage of one of the picture perfect houses at the newest MadPea build, Lennon Park, for their Lennon Park Massacre game. It's going on until the end of the month, and I hope you find my blog - with a few gentle hints - helpful.I really enjoyed exploring the sim and finding all of the interesting ins and outs - all of the places so perfectly built and accessorized that they're a dream to photograph. I tried to have a lot of fun with shadows this time, focusing on places near windows or outdoors in order to maximize the effect. I was both aided and inhibited by the number of trees - and ended up derendering a particularly huge tree to give myself a little more light. The texture re-rezzing glitch was definitely a frustration and bugaboo, though; it took three restarts and two days for this set.

My hair is a short cut from Wasabi Pills in an unusual shade of brown for me - I thought it matched Ellie's rather well - and the flyaway bangs and thin tendrils at the edges look so natural. I am not normally a short hair kind of girl, but  loved the headband on this which I tinted (via the included HUD) to match this gorgeous dress from Zaara. The texturing on this dress is amazing, a delicate pattern of flowers, stems, and a corona of gold on a long, exquisitely built maxi dress. I particularly like the detail on the shoulder, with the ends of the strings dangling. Like most maxi dresses, it moves a bit strangely when your knees bend, but that's more a flaw of Second Life rigging, and sometimes it actually works more than expected. My jewelry was a group gift from Virtual Impressions which is no longer available, but a new one is up for everyone; she is one of the most generous jewelers on the grid, and her designs are often as simple and sweet as this one, but with HUD driven texture changes. Finally, my shiny gold shoes - which you will be seeing again in other colors and outfits which show off the top, because it is awesome calf wrapping - are a new release from Felicity which are really fun and delicate in design.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Claudette
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Mesh Eye Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeliner: Boom, Midas Touch Liner
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe Wings
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Orc Inc, Rich Lights
Jewelry: Virtual Impressions, Adelle in Gold
Dress: Zaara, Ritika Maxi Dress
Shoes: Felicity, Raquel

Pose: Adorkable Poses

Location: Lennon Park Massacre - Staff Cabin
Light Settings: Abracadabra3
Water Settings: Default

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

SL Disney Bound – Week Eighteen: Alice

I'm totally out of order now, but this is a confusing couple of weeks so I'm sweeping back to pick up Alice as part of the Disneybound challenge. I went very teal with her clothing, which I think is true to the Disney version of her if not true of a lot of other versions.It's also an unusual set because usually I do two profile shots, two landscapes, and two squares, but this time one of the images lent itself so well to a wider landscape shot that I simply couldn't resist at all (you'll see it at the bottom; I love it so much). I actually don't use any eyelid prosthetics to achieve that kind of look because when my avatar is blinking I like it to reflect the eyeshadow she's wearing instead of tinted by me, so what I do instead is take advantage of a glitch effect with the Anypose System, whereby if you click through the different eye settings quickly enough, eventually you'll make your avatar close her (or his) eyes, at which point they remain that way until you clear the direction of the eyes. I've also made special versions of my usual eyelashes - one from Flugeln Brise and the other from SLink - both for "smile" settings, which means slightly narrower, and for "eye closed" settings, which means pretty much touching. The nice thing about the lashes is that they conceal that the blink is imperfect; that is that the eyes are just slightly open, at least on my avatar with her freakishly huge eyes, so if you go lashless it looks very creepy. At the other end, these awesome shoefeet are a recent release from Felicity which I really like - the curve of beads around the ankle is fantastic, as is the ruching across the top of the toes; busy without being overwhelming. The feet re included, tintable through an included HUD that can be edited using Second Life's basic color editing system, which makes it pretty easy.

I'm taking these pictures on the sims slated to close that are part of Calas Galadhon, a gorgeous sweeping line of sims which remind me strongly of a series of sims I ran across when I was but a noobly avatar and I didn't save landmarks. I'll be trying to hit a few of the others, but the entire set is closing in August and might not be open without a fee for a group, in which case I'll have some decisions to make. Like a lot of active people in Second Life, I am eternally battling the top limit of my groups; I actually gave up being an official blogger due to (in part) the need for it to take up two group slots instead of one, and I'm deeply grateful to the slate of creators who have their blogger groups set up through non-group based distribution systems. Calas Galadhon is gorgeous, though, and a fantastic place both to just hand out and enjoy, and to take pictures. Part of why they are considering closing to non-group members, though, is due to the bad behavior of avatars in Second Life - I encourage everyone who visits anywhere to be polite, enjoy, try to not impinge on the enjoyment of others, and treat our hosts with the respect and honor they deserve for creating such beauty and then sharing it with the world. Definitely seek out these gorgeous sims while they're open - there are only a few days until August when they close to be reworked. I particularly encourage you to look under the waves - unlike a lot of landscaping sims, the gorgeous effects remain in place below the waves as well - complete with wildlife.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: Ohmai, Kun & Rose Posies (Hair Faire)
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Mesh Eye Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Elymode, Summer Mix ocean w/liner
Lipstick: Essences, Lipstics Natural 1
Wings: Deviance, Titania Mesh Fairy Wings
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Nine Inch Nails, Butterfly
Jewelry: Donna Flora, Amalia
Necklace: Pink Fuel, Bottle Charm Necklace
Dress: Sweeter Than Candy, Nora Mesh Dress
Shoes: Felicity, Paige Stilettos - Teal

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Sea of Nurnen
Light Settings: Fairy blue (Paulina)
Water Settings: TOR, Subtleties

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 27 - Cabbage Patch Forest

I went out looking for the Cabbage Patch Forest and ended up stumbling across an awesome free photo studio, put together by the creator behind Souzen Eien, called Captured Moments. I found out about it a few weeks ago, but it wasn't until today I finally had enough time to play around with all of the different poses, and I completely had a ball. There is one level of standard pose stands with different backgrounds, and then two levels - two - of an astonishing array of in situ pose objects, including a martini glass, a birdcage, and a box with different leans for awesome shadow work (all show in this post). In addition, there's a gorgeous outside garden area perfect for shadows. This is really worth any photographer going past and exploring; while there are several things I own, there are so many more I don't, and I really enjoyed a chance to bounce from one to another playing around with different effects and poses in a way I rarely do.

My green lovers outfit is a fantastic combination of things, and I think I hit the color mark more closely than I have recently. The dress is a semi-recent release from Jane that I have been wanting to show off for a while, and I really love it. The double layer skirt is novel and different, and my only wish would be to have it in more colors - at three colors per style, I was crying even while I was loving it. I suppose it's really wonderful when you're only complaint is "more please?" I paired it with this gorgeous necklace from Donna Flora, made up of a variety of flowers and then the twisting curl of vines. The necklace and earrings are sold separately from the ring and bracelet, but all of them are tintable with a single HUD, which is really space saving for my poor inventory. My cosmetics are a mix of two favorites - the thick liquid eyeshadow of MiaSnow and the light gloss from Mock. I especially like Mock's glosses because you can layer them over other things and really give a new edge to an old lipstick. Finally, my awesome shoes, shown with awesome shadows below, are the newest release from Felicity. I particularly like the ruffle along the back of the foot for this shoe; the foot is included, and it's tintable with a manually tintable HUD, which makes matching a breeze.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: Eep, Hair 016
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Mesh Eye Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: MiaSnow, dark 3 green
Lipstick: Mock, Lucir Lipcolor Dandy Lion
Wings: Deviance, Titania Mesh Fairy Wings
Jewelry: Donna Flora, Vera
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Izzie's, Metallic Nails
Dress: Jane, Carolina Dress
Shoes: Felicity, Paige Stilettos

Pose: various

Location: Captured Moments
Light Settings: TOR, HORROR Land rising
Water Settings: Nacon's Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

SL Disney Bound – Week Twelve: Mr. Smee

I always loved Peter Pan, though I tended to focus more on the books than the movie from Disney. Mr. Smee we was jolly and kind and thought to be feared when he wasn't, and in a lot of ways he's more Captain Hook's valet than anything else - something which would make sense for the archaic stylings of pirates of fiction, with their aping of the mores of English nobility. The valet, like the lady's maid, was a body-servant, your most intimate inferior, simultaneous close and eternally divided by class. Jeeves and Wooster is one series of stories about the relationship between a gentleman and his valet where the gap in understanding - where the valets are often far more knowledgeable of the Master than vice versa - is made very clear. This is something which I, raised in my invisible class system where we confuse affluence and skin tone for class, don't fully understand, though I do understand having privileges which blind one to the experiences of other people who are different and who have more demands placed on them. Mr. Smee, with his actual kindness and yet his desire to be seen as fierce, embodies this inherent conflict between reality and the dreams we try to bring about in our lives, as well as showing that there are none so blind as those who cannot see.

I began my makeover into Ms. Smee with this dress from Dilly Dolls; it seemed perfect to me, from the Peter Pan collar to the stripes, even if they were vertical instead of horizontal. I love the little cap sleeves on the top, and the frills of the skirt; it's so cute and flirty. The shoes, likewise, were a simple fall into my inventory - a new release from Felicity, they have a fun strappiness and some gems along the edge like every good pirate should have. The tinting on the foot has changed from her previous releases; I found if I made my skintone brighter - closer to pure - and lighter at the same time, and it was fairly easy to match up. I tossed a cute pigtail style on from Truth in white to match Smee's beard, and tinted the bands red to match Smee's hat, and then added a cap on top of it from a store I hadn't heard of before called Yj-vita. I love the bright red of it, the delicate white patterns and the tiny pageboy brim. The final touches of red come from Mock, in the form of double layers of her lipstick, and nails, a saturated color from Izzie's. I'm a very girly Smee, but I think I qualify for First Mate.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Candace - Creamer
Hair: Truth, Bunny
Hat: Yj-vita, Casquette Cap
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeliner: Belleza, Neon Eyeliner
Lipstick 1: Mock, Pimento Lip Kelle
Lipstick 2: Mock, Mizu Venetian Red
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hands: SLink, Enhanced Mesh Hands
Nails: Izzie's, SLink Metallic Nails
Dress: Dilly Dolls, Kasset White & Dark (promotional)
Shoes: Felicity, Olivia Stilettos (promotional)

Poses: Adorkable Poses

Location: Fair Winds
Light Settings: Places Astryls Wild
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Sunshine Girl

It's almost summer, so it's time to break out the bright colors and find a pretty sim for some pictures. I started at Whiskey Monday's new landscape show at the Kelly Yap Art Gallery, which is lovely even if it does make me ache with envy - her landscapes are amazing and I want to take pictures with them. After yearning there, I followed the thread to her art gallery at Edloe, under the Listening Room, and the under is important, because after I spent a while spending time in her props pretending I was awesome, I found my way out and across a bridge to Catgirl's Harbour, which was absolutely gorgeous. I found bridges, cute little ponds, lovely living electronics, and a small nest of meeroos, all in a small section of sim with a beautiful coastline and in view of Edloe. I was already dressed to the nines, so an impromptu photoshoot was simply called for. I'm mostly wearing things I picked up at Collobor88, though I have mixed feelings about attending after learning that bloggers and users associated with the Liaison Collaboration were banned from the sim (some info here). It's always hard to know how to react when people do things you're not sure you agree too - but since at least one of the banned women specifically said she still blogs the event, and because so much of the details are unknown, I ended up deciding to swing by and see many of my favorite creators at work.

D!va has been my favorite store for loose, flyaway hair for a long while, and I love the flirty updo released, the back held up by color-changing hairclips. This is a prim hairstyle, which meant I was able to move a couple of bits of hair which cut through my ears - just admire that fit. The wisps and flares are just really fun, like I put up my hair in a rush and ran out the door to worship the sun. I added on these amazing sunglasses from Contraption which are just so fun, and which inspired me to use teal heels from Felicity to match the blue in these awesome glasses - like sunlight captured in ice. My lips are layered Mock lip gloss for a soft, bright, summery orange - best glosses on the grid, I swear. My jewelry is a color changing set from Maxi Gossamer, which is so becoming my jewelry of choice - give me options, people! The kind of cool thing about it is that while the names for each color type is a single color (in this case yellow), it's actually a spectrum of colors around yellow so that it looks like a funky, pulled together set instead of strings and strings of all the same beads. Really, it's a ton of fun - make rainbow next, please! My dress is from Schadenfreude, and I am SO GLAD she is making mesh. It's an adorable, strapless gown, like so many adorable strapless gowns, but the hem is simply divine - look at that lace - and the pattern is fantastic. Also, she has earned my eternal love by actually having the dress filled in across the bottom so that it looks like layers and layers of crinolines are holding the dress out. Amazing, simply amazing! My poses, by the way, are from Adorkable Poses and they are simply dreamy. Sadly, Adorkable is closing her store; luckily, she's putting things on sale so go, go, go! Finally, to return to my other touch of teal, these amazing heels from Felicity are part of her latest release and are really fun; the color was simply perfect for my look - like an icy drink on a hot summer day.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Candace (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow (promotional item)
Sunglasses: Contraption, Meltdown - shine (Collabor88)
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick 1: Mock, Glasside Lip Sorbo
Lipstick 2: Mock, Glasside Lip Trinidad
Hair: D!va, Sayaka3 (Collabor88)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: Schadenfreude, Into the Woods (Collabor88)
Jewelry: Maxi Gossamer, Summertime Easy Living (Collabor88)
Hands: SLink, Enhanced Mesh Hands
Nails: Izzie's, Metallic Nails
Shoes: Felicity, Nadine Shoes (promotional item)

Poses: Adorkable Poses

Location: Catgirl's Harbour
Light Settings: Annan Adored Light Explosion II
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 18 - Pine’s Dawn

How do we know we're right?

I've been thinking about that a lot today, in response to a new podcast I'm listening too, called Hardcore History. His most recent release - clocking in at over four hours - was about the Münster Rebellion, which was when a bunch of radical, communistic Anabaptist, fresh in the throes of the Reformation, took over the town of Münster and tries to create the kingdom of god on earth. A lot of their ideals seem very familiar to us today; equality for all people, sharing goods freely, voting for our own representatives in the government. Their intentions - the written ones - were good by modern standards, if somewhat terrifying by historical ones; equality is a very new concept, communistic sharing of goods is recognized but not valued by many people, and most people viewed with horror the idea of all people being equal, as each were born to a caste and the rulers should rule while the ruled should be ruled.

Münster went down in much the way other cults have gone down, like Jonestown or the Branch Davidians. Often, the roots of them are good, if fatalistic; eschatological obsession seems to be their greatest initial flaw. Peace, love, freedom, equality - all of these things are generally acknowledged to be positive, good things. Somehow, these groups form around these men, shifts come to the group and the men, and then it ends in fire and death; I feel a strong desire to understand these fatal flaws, to know why so many good intentions, so much of a desire to be right, leads to such darkness and evil. How do we know we're right? How can we recognize when we're wrong?

I'm dressed up to match the MadPea Incan hunt this time, for the Pine's Dawn twisted color challenge. The pale color comes from my skin, a favorite from De La Soul, and my hair, a fantastic new release from Exile. The skin I've already gushed about; have I mentioned my love recently? Check out the butt on it; absolutely fantastic, and with the faintest hint of dimples. The hair is lovely and floofy, over the top enough to stand up to this fantastic dress release from Rue, which is now a collaboration between my favorite Ruina and Themis Enzo, late of Favole. The gown! The colors! The fit! My desire to squee and wriggle goes on and on! There are tons of colors available, though sadly my pocketbook - recently deflated from Fantasy Faire - was only big enough for two dresses. Woe, oh woe is me. I was able to find a color match for the greens in this fantastic set of nails from Orc Inc, which has quickly become one of my favorite nail shops. I was lured there by rainbow glitter, but the sparkles have kept me loyal and poor. I matched up the twisted colors in eyeshadow, from Elymode, and lips from Adore & Abhor. They're both staples of my inventory, go to cosmetics for my more complicated looks. Finally, my toes are covered - and made - by Felicity, in a color recently released at Steals and Deals. An up close picture is here, and you can see the delicacy of the design and the variety of textures.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Candace (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow (promotional item)
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Elymode, brown and gold
Lipstick: Adore & Abhor, Lips Grass
Hair: Exile, Fire to the Rain
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: Rue, Threads/Midnight Caress
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Nails: Orc Inc, Glitterslash
Shoes: Felicity, Nadine (Steals & Deals, promotional)

Poses: !bang

Location: MadPea Incan Treasure Hunt Sim
Light Settings: Places Abracadabra3
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 16 - Peony’s Secret

This Twisted Color Challenge - Peony's Secret - was really fun, and a really bright color contrast. I like the challenges where the colors initially look like they could never get along, only to find that they really look fabulous together once I have a look organized. I love the cherry of these fabulous Felicity shoes. I love all the different chains, ties, and bangles which make it really unique. It felt like one spot of bright red was too strong, so I ended up also picking up this fantastic cashmere scarf from Boom; I think I had initially gotten it at a special event, but when I went to Boom's store it turns out there is, like, ten or twenty million of them.

My bright blue came from this gorgeous new release from Deco; I love the ribbing around the waist and the bottom edge of the dress, as well as the enormous buttons down the back. The hair, with it's red and warm flowers, is another new release, this time from Diva; luckily it's editable, and I was able to move things out of my ears. Yay for editable things. I went completely off book with the final two accessories, though; a dark teal for cuffs and my new favorite toy, a rainbow dragon, both from Silent Sparrow.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusions, Seelie
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Virtual Insanity,
Lipstick: Mock, Lucir LipColor Sunset
Hair: Diva, "Flora" Type A (Collabor88)
Head Dragons: Silent Sparrow, Luck Dragon - Magic
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Scarf: Boom, Tinsley Cashmere
Dress: Deco, Soda Pop Dress (Collabor88)
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Bracelets: Silent Sparrow, Fenris Leather Cuffs
Shoes: Felicity, Jessica Stilettos (promotional item)

Poses: Grafica

Location: Astriane
Light Settings: In Situ
Water Settings: Mirror Glass

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Sakura Cupcakes

I'm so late on this! Thirty lashes with a wet noodle! Cupcakes is having a special event where each store is offering something on a discount, and these really fun antlers festooned with sakura flowers are the offering from Violent Seduction. Make sure to swing by Cupcakes and check out the other stores before the prizes evaporate at the end of March (I know! I'm so late!); I saw the cutest pile of presents and some really nice lipsticks, too. The dress I'm wearing is another recent release, this time from G Field; special versions of this were Relay for Life donations, but the full fatpack has to be seen to be believed, and believe me I picked up the whole lot. It's a rigged mesh dress, weighted very naturally like a heavy satin, and the texturing reminds me of G Field's early rose dresses. To highlight the dark of my antlers and the top of the dress, I'm wearing new dark shoes from Felicity in black. These feature a similar triangle design to many of her other styles, this time augmented by those silver studs that are so in style now. At this point I can tint her shoes in my sleep, so tinting and fitting were very quick; there is an additional HUD to tint the toenails any color of the spectrum.

I ended up going to Cupcakes to take my pictures after I saw how gorgeous the store setup was. With each store on its own island in the sky, there was both some uniformity and an opportunity for each store to have a slightly different feel. Violent Seduction had a gorgeous pipefox in front of it, and several flights of butterflies, and the store layout was very open despite being in a stand of dark trees. In contrast, Tuli is a modern brick facade, and nearby Sanu has the cutest button of a house, flanked by bunnies. Each store has it's own style and charm, but the island design keeps them connected and makes directions easy to understand. I also really loved the aurora borealis moving overhead, colors always shifting and changing even during the day! Between that and the clouds, I was in heaven.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusions, Seelie
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Cosmetics: Mock, Basically Experimental Cherry (Group Gift)
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Dean (Promotional Item)
Antlers: Violent Seduction, Sakura Horns (Promotional Item) 80$L until March 31st
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Jewelry: Ommik, Bokeh Set
Dress: G Field, Puff Sleeve Dress "Taylor"
Heels: Felicity, Monique Stilettos (Promotional Item)

Poses: !bang

Location: Cupcakes
Light Settings: Places Greed2

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

I Can Haz Promoshunz: Drama and Ennui

One of the most amazing things in Second Life is to discover some new, amazing items, teleport into the store to see things in their natural habitat, and discover the store is simply as delightful and surprising as the items within it. In this case, I was led to Remarkable Oblivion by a crown, ended up picking up a set of headwings there, and couldn't resist taking a few snapshots while I was in the area. It's a small store, with a smattering of different mesh items on offer that are well worth a second look. My one complain would be the limitations of the palette - I'm a faerie addicted to rainbows, and the hues tend to linger around pink, red, black, and the blue shown above. I would love even a gray textured version for tinting so that I can mix and match endlessly. I tucked the wings into this amazing lush style by Underscore, which also has options with a scarf and jewels hanging from it. I love the enormous waves flowing down my torso, but it is a very large hairstyle. I'm looking forward to Underscore spreading into new areas as the brand matures. The cleavage I'm showing off is courtesy of Charlie at De La Soul, and while I know he wants me to slip into his later releases, I'm still enamored with my Aestali skin. Now if only I could convince him to bring Aestali to his petites, and my life would be complete!

I still can't take off this Naiad dress from Lassitude & Ennui, and I think you can tell why! I went for a bit of a sleek and sexy effect this time, but every time I try to be edgy - like with this awesome whip from Magnifique - I always feel like I goofily fall short of the mark! In any case, I made an attempt, right? I tried it with thigh high boots, but it simply didn't look right; these sleek heels from Felicity were perfect, though - structured and layered enough to complement the delicate patterning of my dress, but not too overpowering. The chain detailing on the shoes dovetails nicely with the chain edging on the jewelry I'm wearing, a hunt prize from Dragon's Flair. The styling is beautiful and ornate without being two fragile or too flat. One thing I love about hunts is that the really good prizes linger in my inventory like a gift! Unfortunately, I couldn't find the store to see if there was more beauty in the offing. I leave you with a last shot of my demonette faerie; what does she see with her rainbow eyes?

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De la Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyeshadow: White Widow, Pisces
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick: L. Fauna, Black
Hair: Underscore, Pietra (promotional item)
Headwings: Remarkable Oblivion, Malificient Head Wings
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Jewelry: Dragon's Flair, Midnight Elemental
Dress: Lassitude & Ennui, Naiad sundress
Whip: Magnifique, Whip
Shoes: Felicity, Larissa Stilettos (promotional item)
Poses: Glitterati

Location: Remarkable Oblivion Main Store
Light Settings: AnaLutetia - AvatarOp
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 5 - Lilac Suede

With Lilac Suede, I have caught up on the Twisted Color Challenge - and now it's just a matter of staying caught up! This is another unexpectedly lovely combination, though my notes suffered a minor snafu when I began taking the next set of pictures before uploading these! That being said, I was able to reconstruct the look (I think!) except for the eyeshadow. I've been hampered by weird problems rezzing the textures on my head - I think this might be a side effect of the new ways of processing the appearances of avatars. I still think the look is gorgeous, though, complete with tinting the skin slightly lilac to match, and I love the dark green with the very pale violet that resulted. This challenge is definitely stretching my styling skills, but it gave me a chance to pull out this awesome and fantastic hair from Discord Designs - also available for petites. I dressed it up with a gorgeous Lucky Board prize from Indigo Oddities, a fantastic green confection with a very low cut front. The jewelry is from a very different store than I usually wear jewelry from - Sn@tch - and I totally would have forgotten about this set if I hadn't been looking for lilac things and stumbled across it. I'm very glad I did - the style is casual and fun, and really works with the overall look. Sn@tch should totally do more jewelry! Finally, the shoes have been in my inventory a while waiting for the right look to go with; a fun, flower-decorated shoe from Felicity, you can tint the flower separately to make it work with all sorts of color combinations, which clearly means it or one of it's sisters will be back on my feet for another challenge!

This is actually photographs taken at an unusual Art Gallery called The Guild of Lys Noir, with interactive and sometimes difficult to find doors leading you through it. There are some lines on the wall or through the water to guide you on your way, and there are large markers near the doors - which react to your approach - that open a wide variety of ways, including sinking down into the ground! I found it a bit confusing at the beginning, but ended up really enjoying it and the more theatrical effects of the gallery. The addition of water under the pictures so that they can be reflected down and doubled up was really striking, and I have to admit I'd like to see more galleries take a leaf from this tree; it really is an amazing and Second Life specific effect. One problem I have with a lot of galleries is that they seem to be pale shadows of offline ones, but The Guild of Lys Noir really takes advantage of what Second Life has to add to the artistic world.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De la Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, Realism Eyes - Portal
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Eyelashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Mock, Kayla's Lilac Maurea Mod Masque
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick: Rue, Painted Lip Service
Hair: Discord Designs, Flora lilac
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Dress: Indigo Oddities, Wistful Wisteria green
Jewelry: Sn@tch, Bellefleur Jewelry Set
Shoes: Felicity, Xana Lilac Suede Stilettos (promotional item)

Poses: Glitterati

Location: The Guild of Lys Noir
 
Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Color Challenge: Week 47 - Barley Corn

Barley Corn was a difficult color to find by name, though I found a couple of barleys. My De La Soul skin, which I think was a limited edition with lovely snakeskin detailing around the eyes, was a limited edition - but Beatrice is still for sale in her store, and barley is an awesome olive-toned skin a few shades darker than my usual Cream. The hair is also called barley and is a more golden tone; from Truth, it's a delicious updo with a fantastic wavy bang which is what attracted me to the style to begin with. I paired it with Felicity's Thanksgiving release, which is a two toned pair of shoes with multiple lacings. Finally, the dress - an old purchase from G Field - is the bit of sweet in the barley, caramel richness which leaves me warm and satisfied. In a little while I might make a sundae - pure vanilla ice cream with warm caramel and fudge dribbled over it - a combination which always makes me smile. If only I had malt, my sundae desires would be purely met.

Cooler weather is always a blessing for me; I overheat pretty easily, and I enjoy the sensation of snuggling down into blankets and feeling them warm up around me. It also inspires that most pleasing of tendencies in my furry companion - the impulse to snuggle. Over the years I've gotten him from pathologically afraid of blankets to happily snuggling under them with me; even as I type this, he's snuggled up next to me, wrapped under the blankets I have across my lap, purring occasionally when I pet him.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De la Soul, Beatrice, Barley - 2012 Dragon
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: SLink, Eyelashes
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Hair: Truth, Mayim - barley
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Jewelry: League, Pearls & Lace - natural ivory
Dress: G Field, Classic Dress "Erica" - caramel
Shoes: Felicity, Farah Stilettos - Thanksgiving Special (on sale through Monday)

Poses: D.Luxx

Location: Frisch
Light Settings: Places
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Experimentation: Lounging in Second Life

There is an amazing display at LEA20 which is meant to be used by photographers and machinimists in order to create things in Second Life, and it's really, really well done! There's a HUD you get at the entrance which gives teleport links to all of the areas. Several of them are fully contained displays, like the New Orleans Apartment I used for today's photoshoot, while others are missing the fourth wall and are set up for scenes and filming. All of them are incredibly detailed and gorgeously put together! A few places, items might not be quite flat on other things, but it's such a minor issue that can often be fixed with angles. In addition - wonders of wonders - they allow you to rez objects (with a very short life, maybe a half hour?). This makes it glorious to pose shots - several of these shots would not have been possible without my being able to rez a photography object.The styles of the different areas are widely variable, and I have no doubt I'll be back to make use of them! I am a huge fan of cohesive, gorgeous sims, but I have to admit this style of having different "scenes" is really growing on me.

The hair is a gorgeous style (regular and flexi prim) from Secrets Hair, which has moved! If you keep landmarks, make sure to update them! The hues are from a "fun" set, and I love the stripes of pink and white; when I saw them against my awesome dress from AlaFolie, I couldn't resist. AlaFolie has really stepped up on redefining the silhouette using rigged mesh, and this dress is a wonderful example of that - the ruched sides caught up with roses move smoothly in almost every animation I tried. The pearls dangling from one side are flexible prims, though I wish they moved a little more slowly; I wanted to catch them in midair, but they fell too fast! I matched the variety of pinks with a dark magenta eyeshadow from Virtual Insanity and a light pink gloss from Mock; I initially wasn't sure about the eyes, but I think they really called up the darker strands in my hair, and those few dark pink roses on the skirt. The shoes are from Felicity and were a special release for Sales Blitz. This week, this style of shoes in gray and a bunch of animal print stilettos are waiting for you at the store! Hurry to Felicity's store to check them out.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Hair: Secrets Hair, Nara - Soda Pop (Promotional Item)
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Eyelashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Virtual Insanity, Fairy Fluff
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss - Cabaret
Jewelry: bewildebeest, Madiera
Dress: AlaFolie, Marilyn Plume
Bouquet: G Field, Rose2 Mini Bouquet
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands (New Release)
Shoes: Felicity, Gianna Stilettos (Sales Blitz)

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Machinima Open Studio Project: New Orleans Set
Light Settings: TOR, SPECIAL Heaven
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

ICHP: Days of Celebration and Remembrance

I have some real delights for you all today, most of them from events and one named for me! Squee~! I always get a little shiver of pleasure when something awesome shows up with my name on it, and this Dia de los Muertos inspired mask from The Bitten Prim is no exception. With influences also from Pysanka eggs, from Ukraine, it's a bright and shiny take on a night of joy and solemnity ever intertwined. I have it on good authority that more will follow this one, of similarly bright and cheerful hue. The hair is from the Cinema Event from Wasabi Pills, and I really love it. It's a long, sleek, rigged mesh hair with just enough hair-in-the-face to be freaky and/or sexy. Ambivalent and awesome! Also from the Cinema Event is a new mesh dress from Dilly Dolls with the cutest ruffle right under the bodice. As you can see, a few poses stretch the texture along the bottom, but I adore the images on it - so cute! - and the style is fantastic.I felt like it really fit the sparkly, bright, subtly creepy look I was achieving, though there are black-based colors for people who don't want a bright and sunny Halloween. The hat from 22769 is from the L'accessories Event, which offers up a selection of limited edition accessories for people to peruse. I thought this tiny rose hat was the cutest, and it perfectly matched my the lighter purples in my look.

The shoes, from Felicity, have been out for a while but I've been looking for a place and time to show them off, and it looks like that time is now. Again, they naturally caught up colors in my outfit, and I thought the extremely high heel and cut-out design really made me taller and more elegant! Also on the older side is this amazing set of jewelry from Elemental. I love jewelry which harkens to offline-possible designs, and this one with the gems in cages of metal is simply divine. It is color change on touch with three options, which means it's pretty versatile. I'm also still wearing the amazing SLink hands and taking SLink eyelashes (from her closed-eye kit) for a test drive as well. I like their natural, uneven quality, and while the entire eyelash being one mesh item makes it a little difficult to fit, since my eyes are oddly shaped for Second Life, I think I did a pretty good job.

( More picutres here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyelashes 2: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Mask: The Bitten Prim, Dia de Deoridhe (gift)
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Nikki Mesh Hair (promotional item, Cinema Release)
Hat: 22769, Femme Fascinating Fascinator (L'accessories Event)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Jewelry: Elemental, Splendor (promotional item)
Dress: Dilly Dolls, This is Halloween-ish (promotional item, Cinema Release)
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands (New Release)
Shoes: Felicity, Felicity, Harlow Stilettos - Lilac (promotional item)

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Siren - Isis City
Light Settings: London2026
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Cream and Dust

It's often the counterpoint of things which tickle me most about the internet - people's dreams placed on display for other people to go into, explore, discover, and reinterpret into their own mind. It's this aspect I like the most, too - the synergy that arises out of the creative powers of many people all mixing together in one place. Take the jewelry above - from Primalot - a mix of heavy pearls and chain The texture it had when I put it on (it's texture change) is a pale pink that initially didn't seem to match the green and purple in my Jane dress; the fact all of the textures are dull, though, with hints of gray and darkness - a common thread which makes them flow together well even though the colors are so different. The large stretches of white also help blend together the different colors, offering space in between each so that they glow each in their own right. I had initially thought to seek out a more quietly colored sim for pictures, to dovetail off of the soft grays and whites of my gown, but I think it really ended up being set off better against the brightness of this dream city now out at the Imagin@rium that began as a painting only to come to technicolor life in three dimensions. The counterpoint of me, the dull creature (except for my gleaming horns) against brilliance of an almost cartoon extent tickles me more than I can express.

The shoes from Felicity (available at Steals and Deals) are dully colored as well - they are actually gray, matching the darker gray on the dress - but the pink of the environment has tinted them. You can also tint the nails, and I chose the pale green of the ribboning on my dress. There is a very clear reflection below them in this pictures due to the Mirror Effect water I learned how to make - this really does make the clearest reflection in Second Life and it's a lot of fun to play with. The hair, from Discord Designs, is a newer release and a gorgeous mesh creation - non-rigged, so you can resize it (I had to, a little) and move it around to fit your head most effectively. There's a gorgeous, thick bun in the back, and combined with the hair tattoo the effect is hugely realistic and really fun. I tucked some horns from Lassitude & Ennui on top. But Deoridhe, I can hear you all say, Lassitude & Ennui do shoes, not horns! I know, I know, gorgeous shoes, says I, but apparently for the Starlust Monster Beach Party they make horns as well! And really fun, rainbow ones, too! So in the end, I really don't match much at all, but the effects are all so fun and cool that I don't much mind at all! In fact, I rather like the mismatched madness.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyeshadow: Elymode, A Little Drama - pink/green
Lipstick: Mock, Lucir Tall Poppy
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Hair: Discord Designs, Leah - Baby Blonde (promotional item)
Horns: Lassitude & Ennui, Slightly Monstrous - White Rainbow
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Lingerie: Adam n Eve, Ana Lingerie
Dress: Jane, Summer Maxi Dress "Fiona" - milk
Jewelry: Primalot, Nuclear Motion
Shoes: Felicity, Jessica Stilettos - Fabric 3 (Steals and Deals - promotional item)

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Imagin@rium
Light Settings: TOR DUSK Patriotix
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

ICHP: Fall into Spring

This gorgeous dress is one of the recent releases from Sublime Shroud Kreations, a store run by a dear friend of mine (which means freebies~!). I adore this dress, though, from the layered front which cascades into three layers, to the delicately detailed bodice with lacing up the back, to the adorable bows on the hips holding on the front tucks and the back mini-bustle. It's cut low and square in front, as befits a French Confection, and all of the prim parts are fully modifyable. This came in handy when I needed to make the skirt shorter - yes, ladies and gentlemen, you know how much I love this dress because I resized the skirt manually to be shorter and thus fit me better. As you can see, it was time well invested though. The only flaw I saw, and this is a teeny one, is some slight imperfections under the arms along the seams, but my understanding is that the area is a very difficult one for shading.

The jewelry is an adorable wire and gem set from Eclectica, which comes with a medium hanging necklace, earrings, a bracelet, and a ring. I love the delicate patterning of the wire around the stone on this one (best visible on the bottom picture) mimicking the petals of a rose. It's the kind of necklace I'd actually love to find offline, but that I think would be prohibitively expensive! At least in Second Life I can afford it.

The hair is another new release, from Secrets Hair, and it's another of their amazing combinations of rigged mesh and flexible prim. it's long and full, with the movement that flexi gives it too look natural while still hugging the torso so that you don't end up with hair clipping into your body. One interesting effect with this hair is that under certain lights the rigged part behaves very differently from the flexi - I considered trying for some shots to show it off, and I may revisit that with an outfit that suits it. It's a very neat effect.

Finally, these gorgeous shoes are a recent release from Felicity; if you want to try them out, the hot pink version of them are hidden as part of the Finding FabFree Hunt.You're actually looking for a five, so it's not that difficult in most places (though some of the stops are evil!). Felicity's skin-tinting hud is one of my favorites; you edit it and use the built-in texture changer to tint it, then set the color on the skin. She has a similar toenail tinting system, which means the effects can match virtually anything - in this case I pulled dark green form the dress to tint my toes. It also comes with a built in AO and the clickity-clack sounds of the heels if that's to your taste! I fly in Second Life a lot, so I tend to turn that off.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De la Soul, RooMee Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Virtual Insanity, Spring - Margarita
Blush: Honey Kitty, cheeks01
Lipstick: Acid & Mala, Nude Lips - Pale 20
Hair: Secret Hair, Cornelia (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Jewelry: Eclectica, Nouveau Rose - blush
Dress: Sublime Shroud Kreations, The Parisian - Spring (promotional item)
Shoes: Felicity, Irina Stilettos (promotional item)

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Bonne Chance
Light Settings: CalWL
Water Settings: TOR, Coral reef

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only