Fit for a Princess: Sunlight in Moonlight

Fit for a Princess is back this month with some really cute looks some real deals - like this adorable dress from Baby Brat for under 50$L. There are four color options - the rather lovely gold I'm showing off, and three other pastel shades of orange, blue, and pink. I particularly liked the materials effect on the bodice, making it subtly seem to sparkle in the light. It's well rigged, and the spaghetti straps are delicate without getting too lost - one thing I love about rigged mesh is how spaghetti straps can finally look good! It's well rigged and fully lined, meaning there isn't a bad angle. I also found the invisilayer to be well made, without any gaps at the edges, though keep your panties handy! I paired it with the lovely Rosemarie set from Krystal in simple white diamond; the set has four parts, sold separately - a tiara and a necklace, which I show here, and additional earrings along with a hanging curve of jewels to hook up to the bodice of a gown to dress it up. She also has some lovely gowns set out along with a ring gacha and some lovely key necklaces in gold and silver. I like the size and shape of the tiara and necklace in particular, along with how they reflect each others shapes, creating a nice harmony in an outfit.

I added heels in a contrasting color from Bliensen + MaiTai. While often pastel on pastel can be a lot of fun, adding a richer hue at a single point can add some drama and make an outfit more interesting. I featured a limited edition version of these shoes for 21 Shoe, and the shape is just as much fun in a brighter shade! I still love the starburst of gold, and how lived-in the sheen of the leather is. The heel is very narrow, dressing up an otherwise simple spring gown to match my somewhat over-the-top jewelry choices. And in the same line as the elegant but simple effect of gown, jewelry, and shoes, I went with a sleek hairstyle with a little curl for interest - this gorgeous shoulder length style from Ploom with fun little tendrils and a row of curls along the back. I liked the bang-line in particular, how it flopped over the eyes without obscuring them - the kind of style which looks like you brushed your hair and went out, but which is cleverly held in place with several cans of hairspray or, in this case, clever rigging. I rounded out my look with some deceptively simple cosmetics from Wicked Peach - firstly a subtle combination of cream and red which stayed in the range of my gown while hinting at the contrasting color of my shoes, and secondly some sparkly nailpolish that remained more in the range of my jewelry and bodice - a bit of shine, but subtly so. The final touch was my lipstick from Mock, a creamy violet lipstick which caught the hue of my shoes but in a pastel shade to more closely hew with gown and jewels.

There is a lot going on, but I think the final effect is breezy, elegant, and just a touch too expensive for you.

My Alpha and my Omega, and All that was Ever Mine

It's been a rough year so far, and I can feel how it's affecting what I do - making every step and every moment of focus more of a challenge. I've also been thinking a lot about Canary Beck's words for [SL] Blogger Support on why someone should make a niche for themselves and the challenge I have with making any sort of niche which would show up on a list of Second Life blogs. In the terms of Second Life blogs, my blog would seem to be a fashion blog - and women's fashion in particular. I view it as more of a personal travelog that includes some details on what I like and why, but I can't deny that one of the things which drew me to Second Life was the opportunity to create unique and beautiful outfits for a mostly-static avatar of myself. I think part of why I bristle so much to be included in the masses is because I'd like to think there's something which sets me apart, even while being afraid that nothing does - and as such I find it impossible to respond to what she says in any sort of measured way; it's all snippy hand-wave and airy defensiveness. I'm reminded of a dynamic I experienced a while ago, early on in my receiving items from creators to blog, when I would write about my mixed feelings about that and confuse one of the creators who was sending me things! I am, if nothing, a giver of mixed messages and a writer of mixed blogposts. Consider this a uncentered splurch of feeling to my blog, expressing some mix of tension, fear, annoyance, and general malaise - it has been a very conflicted year, and we're only three months in.

The new Omega Point sim fit my mood very well, being lovely and natural where one lands with gorgeous shadows cast by the trees, and rapidly descending into a nightmare of blood, lightening, and the depths under the earth where all fear to tread. This is an updated sim in much the same spirit as the old one - the color palette is very similar but the build is much more detailed and economical, and the texturing is more naturalistic. I also really liked the huge maze of passages under the ground, found by following not-at-all-subtle giant teal arrows down into the ground. Around the entrance to the depths and within those depths there is a fun combination of primitive and futuristic, wild and violent animals goring bodies next to piles of manufactured steel supply crates; durt passageways that give way to malfunctioning doorways of light. I am a fan of high contrast, and Omega Point is centered around the meeting point of dirt and steel, all of it bathed in blood.

I centered my look around my hair from Wasabi Pills, currently on sale at FaMESHed, a versatile style that can be aged up or down depending on dress and accessories; in this setting it felt rather like the business woman, taken aback by the land she is unceremoniously dropped into. FaMESHed is much more sleek and professional than my usual trend, but I've been trying to find the challenges within all of the events going on within the grid, and I felt I was up to the challenge. The Wasabi Pills hair on sale there this month is a high ponytail that drapes over one shoulder and can be styled a number of different ways. The asymmetric nature combined with the heavy fringe can play very young, especially when combined with an adorable headband like this one from Dream Things that's currently being sold at Fit for a Princess. The blossoms on my headband are color changing, and it's natural enough to work in non-royal contexts and on adult heads. I played up the youthfulness by adding in this group gift from .:Soul:., a rainbow cupcake styled on my actual platform and given out to try to cheer everyone up in the face of a very challenging year - Charlie is always so sweet to me! Combined with more mature clothing with a simple silhouette, though, these childlike touches at whimsy and charm without seeming underaged, and the Wasabi Pills style adds a touch of elegance with the simple flow of hair over one shoulder - one of the more formal qualities of the hair style.

One of the nice things about a sheath dress is that it can be dressed up or down, professional or casual, and while this dress from Valentina E. Couture, also at FaMESHed, flirts with the risque by showing a bit of lace along the low bodice line, adding in a jacket buttoned high would do a lot to turn it from slinky evening wear to stunning professionalism where the lace hints at a naughty side without being too sexy. The three tone tartan caught my attention as well, the pattern standing out but remaining more simple than a complicated or starkly colored tartan might. By limiting the color palette, Valentina made it much more versatile and set the dress up to be paired with a lot of different accessories. My absolute favorite touch is in the mesh, though. Look at the line along the upper thigh - a shape often seen on offline dresses. It looks like a texture added for verisimilitude, but it's actually cut into the mesh in such a way that the dress bends at the thigh in an incredibly realistic manner. This is often a tricky area where the bend can look rubbery, but with the addition of this curving inward to a bend at the upper thigh and some clever rigging, this dress looks wonderfully natural as you move. I would have never though of it, and now I don't want a sheath dress without it!

I reinforced the "classy" read of this outfit and balanced out my more playful accessories with this lovely necklace and earring set from Ariskea. It was the necklace which caught my attention - I'm a sucker for wire wrapped around stones, and these dual-colored stones were particularly striking, with the blue catching the darker blue in the dress while the pink bridged some of the distance between outfit and headband. I echoed this combination of peachy-pink and steel-blue in my shoes from Eclectica, available at her Main Store. They are texture changing, so I combined steel blue on the main shoe with touches of pink and black trim - echoing the main look both in the sleep shape of the shoe, and also in the ornate swirls of the pattern, which capture the swirls of my jewelry. The ultimate effect is a classy date look with hints of playfulness and whimsy, sleeking out my style without losing the essence of a silly faerie who loves rainbows.

Fit for a Princess: A Red Red Rose

A Red Red Rose by Robert Burns

O my Luve's like a red, red rose,

That's newly sprung in June:

O my Luve's like the melodie,

That's sweetly play'd in tune.

Fit for a Princess is upon us again, with beauties raining down from above like dew! While I was taking this set of pictures, the poem by Robert Burns kept going through my head - and I simply couldn't resist a poetic flourish from a pen far sweeter than my own.

My gorgeous, ruffly, dress is a Fit for a Princess release from The Princess Shoppe; the skirt comes in eight different colors including black and brown, and the ruffles are simply to die for. They're textured on all sides, so there isn't a bad angle to take when photographing or wearing in the wild; I know it raises the cost to cover all the angles, but when trying for tricky shots, it's a blessing to not have to work around an invisible inner sleeve! The dress is also well rigged, even in the sometimes difficult shoulder and elbow areas, but it is extremely short, so remember to pack extra panties or a nice pair of tights! I love the detailing on the corset as well, complete with lacing and it's own subtle fringe, and the sleeve fall long but wide, which makes them fit perfectly around my hands with no clipping. The subtle finish of the mesh is echoed in the texture, which looks deceptively simple. The cream top has a floral shadow across it, which adds texture and interest without becoming over-wrought. The corset has a leather feel to it, with a shadowed emboss along the top edge of the bodice and perfectly placed seams. The skirt seems like it's a single color from a distance, but up close the pinstripe pattern is visible in a slightly lighter version of each color; it adds a flare to this Princess Shoppe dress that I really enjoyed.

As fair art thou, my bonie lass,

So deep in luve am I;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

Till a' the seas gang dry.

All those ruffles might make it hard for jewelry to stand out, but Cae was up to the challenge. A necklace, earring, and crown combo - like other Cae jewelry, each section including the metal is color changable via a HUD. I adore the line of the crown and the way it hugs my head; the design is so simple and yet elegant, and it's set off well by the dangling teardrops of the earrings and necklaces.I was especially appreciative of the size - large enough to hang over the ruffles of my dress and still stand out. When I showed this look to a friend, she actually thought they were a single piece and not a combination of awesome dress from The Princess Shoppe and gorgeous jewelry from Cae. I paired my whole look with a gacha win from NSP Florals. I was hoping for a deep red, but sadly those were all rares! There are enough flowers in the set that one can get a variety of flowers to match just about every outfit - including this lovely dull rose shade. I wanted something slim and simple to stand up to the rest of my blooming outfit, and this long stemmed rose definitely fit the bill.

I added a set of heels from .aisling. to my whole look - not available at Fit for a Princess, but perfect for a flowery look. I loved the ruffles of the petals along the edge of the heel, and felt like it echoed the ruffles of the blouse and skirt of my Princess Shoppe dress. The metalwork was also an attraction - lovely swooping curves like the stems and leaves of a living rose, and color changeable between five colors. I picked up a fatpack and have barely taken them off my feet since I bought them at the end of February!

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi' the sun;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

While the sands o' life shall run.

I tucked into the petals of my .aisling. slippers another gem, a anklet from Sax Shepherd Designs which will be a free gift from 21 Shoe this month - a new promotion for their group. There will be one a month, some special additional accessory from one of the 21 Shoe creators. The group is free to join right now, but I have heard on the grapevine that might no longer be the case come April - so jump in fast and wait for the glorious accessories to fall out of the notices and into your inventory!

One final announcement for the future - this time Skin Faire instead of 21 Shoe - .:Soul:. is releasing the awesome mouth I'm wearing in these pictures at the faire. In order to sell things so that people will be added to the redelivery database and to ease gift giving, Charlie has set it up so that you can purchase a gift card for a specific item at the faire, and then redeem it on any sim which allows scripts, which unfortunately won't include the Skin Faire sims. You can also pass the gift card to another person before redeeming it, which makes gift giving a breeze! I'll follow up with a more expansive post on how it will work, but this is a little note to prep anyone whose looking at my mouth and saying, "I want some of that!"

And fare-thee-weel, my only Luve!

And fare-thee-weel, a while!

And I will come again, my Luve,

Tho' 'twere ten thousand mile!

Fit for a Princess: Born of Snow

Fit for a Princess is about halfway through, and there are still lovely wintery and love related glitz and glamour for all of the most discerning princesses. My gorgeous gown is from Evie's Closet, and is one of my favorite styles from her - a sumptuous ballgown with silver accents. I'm an enormous fan of the tight corset sleeve down the forearm, shooting out of it's puffy clouds of white, and the textured quilting of the bodice with it's tiny center dots. The alpha layer is also well down, skimming low enough that my decolletage is perfect even from above.  Many other colors are available at Evie's Closet, but I love the white for it's simplicity. I paired it with a simple, purple-stoned snowflake necklace from Krystal, available in her gacha. I've been playing a few rounds each time I run into it and amassed quite a collection of jewelry. I liked the little touch of color against the pure white of my gown, and I reinforced that with incredibly bright hair from Ploom - in an incandescent combination of teal and purple - and a rich, dark lip from Pink Fuel. The nice thing about a large, simple gown is that it allows for significantly more variety in accessories - letting the accessories take center stage and acting as a canvas that is rendered all the more lovely by the contrast of negative space.

These really fun, quirky poses are all from Fashiowl - each with it's own fitting prop. I love how they inspire to sillyness - from me singing into the "cute princess" popsicle, to blowing kisses across the snow. They come in a box that is it's own pose-with-prop, a fantastic arm owl. The final pose, shown below, is from a previous Fit for a Princess event, and is available at their main store. All of them are fun and interesting - both the poses and the props. I love the idea of little images on blackboards, each one a different fun or flirty message going out to anyone watching. Fashiowl specializes in emotive poses with props, from cheerful divers with cameras, to princesses kissing a hundred frogs in search of that elusive prince. Definitely check out not only the four popsicle poses on sale at Fit for a Princess, but also their wide variety of poses at their main store! I selected Cadenza as a spot for my pictures because if it's use of white and light colors, which would allow me to keep the bright hair and lips the central focus of my look and show off both through these various playful poses.

Fit for a Princess: Rose Angel

This amazing, ankle-length gown in contrasting colors with a metallic sheen is a new release for Fit for a Princess from Greymoon. I've had the pleasure of watching this store mature through time, and this dress is one of the best yet. It is hard to pick a favorite aspect, but I'll pick a few and wax rhapsodic. Firstly, there is the silhouette - a high necked gown with a cutout along the back. I love how it brings us almost all the way to fully covered, only to bring in some sex appeal from the back. That combined with the three quarter length sleeves and the cross-cut colors truly make this an amazing, interesting gown. Secondly, there is the rigging and folds. The skirt is beautifully designed with enormous, rounded folds that move gracefully with a variety of poses. The quality of fabric is most evident here, something heavy and glossy that will buckle heavily under it's own weight. Thirdly, there is the texturing. I love the interlocking diamonds and how varying their shades is used to set apart areas without making it too blocky - the golden hues on this red gown are particularly fine. The gloss is simply amazing, and made pictures a lot of fun to light; you can see how the reflections really sell the contrast between gown and skin, one mostly matte while the other is high gloss. Greymoon has really outdone herself with this gown, and left me hopeful for future wonders.

I paired it with delicate jewelry set from Krystal, also released at Fit for a Princess. Perfect for Valentines, these gold hearts are set with perfect diamonds set within lovely swirls that frame a second, internal heart with a single, teardrop jewel. I love her jewelry and these are particularly fine - different thicknesses of gold wire adding to the verisimilitude. I love how simple the chain is as well - just a band - and I was able to increase the size of the necklace to fit well over the high collar of my gown.

My other favorite accessories for this look aren't from Fit for a Princess, but they are lovely none-the-less. The crown I'm wearing is a Gacha Mania prize from Modern Couture - one of about five, of which I landed two. I love the style, the delicate branches, the well-formed roses, and the dangling gems. The colors are lovely, and I had fun placing it so that the metal wires fitted into the braids of my gorgeous Wasabi Pills hair from Love is in the Air - it forms a heart in the back! The biggest addition to this look are these amazing wings from Remarkable Oblivion which have taken over the grid, however. I love the perfectly formed and enormous roses a lot, but even better is the streamer-style of the wings, which make them at once decorative and intriguing. Wing tops and roses are set to catch the light like metal, but the feathers themselves are more dully textured, like leather or felt, which offers up a fascinating contrast under light. The also fit well, with the main part of the wing slightly curved; with a little angling I was able to set each wing into my shoulder blade so that it was seamless. They are a striking addition to any look, adding both drama and class to the mix.

Fit for a Princess: Thistledown Fae

Fit for a Princess is having a quieter month, exhausted in the wake of a very busy December, but what's on hand is as gorgeous as ever. I've shown off this dress from Evie's Closet before in different shades, but the delicate texturing of the silver version is simply out of this world - from the pillowy pale velvet of the bodice, to the delicately hued shadows of the puff sleeves, all the way to the ribbon texture down the arms, it is utterly gorgeous. I had fun placing it in front of patterns of white and gray, seeing how the shades and shadows played over each other. One other thing I liked was the fit along the bodice and the arms; often, invisi-layers cut in over the breasts, leaving one with a cut-out triangle that makes extreme angles difficult to shoot, and the entire effect seems slightly off. Here, though, the edges are all thicker and textured over so that it is a smooth effect over the skin, a blessing for photographers. My one wish would have been for the effect to continue under the skirt, perhaps in the form of layers of ruffles or something of the like - or at least some fabric up to the knees, to make shoe shots possible. The ruffles of the skirt are wonderful, though, allowing for a variety of poses without ever stretching too far to make the texture seem stretched, or cutting to close and making the mesh buckle - a true balance in a challenging area.

My hair is a new release from BluPrintz with this charming crown worked into the style itself. It has some lovely detailing on the texture, giving forth almost a glow depending on how the light hits it, and I love the shape of the spires. The bang line is an unusual one for me to try, cutting rather lower than is my usual tendency; the severe line works in this case, though, drawing attention to my eyes in closeups and offering a hint of mystery from a distance. I'd love to see the flyaway bits done using mesh strands, but the fit on the head is excellent - loose enough to seem like a regal chignon but close enough to remain elegant. I love that it tucks neatly behind my ears - always a challenge with fae and updos!

The delicate ring on my finger is from Cae, and lives up to their usual unique and detail-rich style. It's a single pearl set into a ring of gems, the settings for the gems arching upward from the band in delicate swoops. The band itself is set with a row of gems on each side of the setting, and there is a HUD which can recolor pearl and gems alike, offering up a remarkable variety in a tiny package. As a bonus, the rings are sized both for the Second Life mesh hand and for the often narrower mesh hands that are all across the grid, now.  

My necklace is actually won from a gacha at Fit for a Princess, a delicate snowflake pattern which I simply couldn't resist. There are tons of colors available for very few Linden, and I'm looking forward to gradually filling out my collection as the mood hits (and passing my extras out among my long-suffering friends). The chain the snowflake hangs from is actually woven from several silver strands, which makes it more textured and unique - a touch I appreciate!

A couple notable non-Fit for a Princess things - my gorgeously textured nails are from By Snow, and I picked them up ages ago. This is the chrome set, which offers up a white, silver and single color selection - in this case blue to match my gorgeous necklace. I love the circuitry patterned onto it and how that is layered over a French manicure. My wonderful poses are from Grafica, which has massively expanded his sets over the past year and sent out some wonderful group gifts. The sheer variety, from dance poses, to floating ones, to straightforward casual poses offer a lot of options for a photographer in the wild. One thing I appreciate in particular is how well he poses shoulders; with other stores they can become deformed and twisted, but that never happens with a Grafica pose.

Fit for a Princess: Winter Cliché

Another month has started, and with it comes the festival round of Fit for a Princess - which offers up a festive display and a few shiny gifts for the holiday season. I'm showing off a gorgeous hair from Sweet Thing again, a sweet bow updo that comes with a variety of ombre tips. I tucked a lovely new crown from Hopscotch along the bang-line, a delicate row of stars set above a simple band. It comes in gold or silver with a wide variety of jewel colors - here I went with pure silver for the simplicity. I love the starburst design, and how it can be tucked into a variety of hairstyles. I kept with the pale silver theme with my dress, selecting this gorgeous little cocktail frock from Greymoon in a combination of smooth and textured silver. The snowflake detail on the waistband is lovely, and I really like how she used the shape of the dress to add the textured panel and take this from a simple little dress into something perfect for a variety of holiday parties. I especially like that it's a more unusual neckline - there's a tendency for sleeveless gowns to be very similar, and I like the additional flair along the top; I hope this becomes more common!

My ears, which I've  been wearing for about a week now, are a new release from .:Soul:. at We ♥ Roleplay - opening tomorrow at 3PM SLT. This is the High Elf, made a bit larger because I like them that way and Charlie is always nice enough to make things modifiable. They come with a HUD for Charlie's skin tones, which will match with his latest release Catalina along with his older skins, and with a graytone to tint to match other skins. He's also created developer kits so that other skin makers can make appliers for his ears - something which I hope a lot will take advantage of! There are multiple other ears, including smaller and longer ones and a special mer style ear with jagged edges. The other feature of these ears which I really love is the tattoo layer overtop. Charlie includes a tinter and some textures, but using the developer kit one could make all sorts of patterns to add on to ears - I'm really looking forward to seeing what people make!

My final recent pieces come from two other events which are ending soon. From the Seelie Court, I'm wearing Bliensen + MaiTai's finger claws - which come pre-set for SLink hands in Casual and Elegant, and include both all of the fingers and the index fingers only. The nail guard of this sorOne example of nail guards originated in China, and were a symbol of the lack of physical activity women of high rank could indulge in - since they didn't have to work with their hands, they could grow their nails unusually long. The longer they became the more brittle they became, however, and so metal and lacquer nailguards were made to protect them. These are nicely assertive, though, and seem to carry a distinct edge - a reminder one can be lovely and lethal. I'm also wearing two other Bliensen + MaiTai pieces - the foiled leaf necklace and shiny silvery nails with a snowflake motif, both of them already released and still amazing. My amazing shoes are from Lassitude & Ennui, released at Geeks n Nerds, and I've loved them since I first saw them come across the feeds. The shape of the mule itself is a lot of fun, with the vamp arching away from top of the foot in an interesting manner. The platform section is digitized, with small cubes supporting and crawling up under the sole - as if, indeed, nanobites ate a chunk of my shoes! It's a fun and funny idea, and they look lovely to boot.

Both Seelie Court and Geeks n Nerds end on the tenth, so hurry by if you haven't already!

Fit for a Princess: Growth in Black and White

I'm back with couple new pieces available at the Fit for a Princess event - which I highly recommend you check out, as it's wrapping up in the coming days! The gown, an elegant shape with interestingly cut sleeves and fascinating bodice detailing, is from Enchantment! and comes in a variety of colors besides this rich green with it's satiny kirtle. The sleeves are short but full with a scalloped edge which looks interesting from every angle - a real bonus in a world of cuff sleeves. The deep V neckline contrasts nicely with the otherwise conservative look. The corset itself is heavy and solid, with large ribbons holding it together down the front and a fun, spiky edge along the bottom to add some interest. It's also well rigged, staying close to the legs but not splitting with wider leg stances, and the textures work well with the movement of the mesh through a variety of poses. Speaking of textures - it is fully lined, something which I appreciate as a blogger given to somewhat extreme angles; I was never in the position of having to shift perspective to cover up invisible insides, which I really appreciated! I paired it with BluPrintz's necklace again, this time in a dark brown wood to pair nicely with the bodice shade. The reflective quality of the stone can be clearly seen in my pictures, offering up some nice verisimilitude in addition to chunky adornment. I love the shape and hang of it in particular; it falls so nicely over the collarbone.

My hair is from Wasabi Pills, a lovely swath of curls and wisps which is delightful. It has a fantastic brown line in particular, the hair curling up and over in a waterfall of waves. One of the wonderful things mesh hair gave us were these fantastic details of tiny wisps of hair curling out from the whole - not only does it guard against the ever-present and unfixable alpha occlusion error, but it also is simply lovely and detailed. The curves are also wonderful, especially where they fall over the breasts in loose and realistic waves, and the cut of the hair works well with crowns and flower bands, like the one from Persefona (sold at the Seelie Court Event) which I indulged in. The twists of branches around the brow is very realistic and lovely, and I adore the leaves attached to it. The leaves floating around the head are an attachment, and are fantastic for a sense of motion. Autumn, winter, and other shades of leaves are also available, so you can match yourself to the season more successfully than I have.

This entire look was inspired by a sense of young growth cut off in an untimely manner, something which has been occupying my mind over the past few weeks. There are so many young people who leave this world long before they should, so many wonderful people whose potential is cut short. Who knows what futures we are doing without due to the murder of the young.

Fit for a Princess: Flowers with a Metallic Tang

I am a huge fan of Cica Ghost's whimsical worlds, and her newest creation, Little Town, is a pleasurable romp of hills, dales, blinking buildings, floating beds, and a fun car to drive! It seems to me to be a spiritual successor of her Rust - one in which what was rusting has become overgrown with plants and life. It's been really neat to watch how she's changed over her different builds, and seeing what has stayed the same. Her sense of playfulness is probably what I appreciate most - a lot of art in general tends to become all but leaden with meaning and implication, but Cica's builds always make me want to frisk and play like a kid. This one is nicely interactive, too, with flying cages, floating beds, and the cars - if you sit in one you can drive it around!

My skin is an absolutely new release from .:Soul:., the image rebranding of De La Soul - maker of my eyes as well. I went with a slightly darker shade of Frappe in Catalina, as if I'd gotten some sun. The skin texturing is soft, and the lips are very sweet. I also quite like the knees and cheeks - both can be problem areas, but the texturing is smooth and naturalistic. This skin is individualizable to the extreme - including brows and no brows versions, and brows in many colors including a white, tintable one. Pixie-cut style hairbases are also included in all of these colors, offering a soft hairline for stubborn hairstyles. There are several breast shadings, and also a 'soft belly' shading for larger and plumper avatars. It comes with a ton of appliers - including Lush, LOLAs, Loud Mouth, and Slink - for no additional cost. And then, as if to tempts us all, he includes a series of cosmetics to go over the skin, most of them applicable to any skin shade. I'm wearing the rainbow lips and rainbow eyeliner because of course I am - they are for me, after all! There are pink, purple, autumn, and spring sets, among others. The sheer volume of things included fair take my breath away, and all of it packaged in HUD-style unpackers with a tree growing on them. Who could ask for more?

My outfit this time was entirely driven by the Nomi dress - which was the first thing from Fit for a Princess that I put on, and which stole my heart completely. I really loved the combination of a heavy sweater dress with a hem of creamy lace. The sleeves are long, which is only a problem if you look where my palm cuts through the fabric. I think they work perfectly with the short skirt, though, all ending at about the same level, which allows for a playful sense of consistency. The collar is very high, which means the majority of skin showing is thigh and down - which allows for a sense of innocence and sweetness; more skin showing would have made it seem much more adult. I selected a more restrained shade from the number Nomi made available in the fatpack, a peach and pink design with little flowers, and kept the lace white instead of going with the black that was also available. I wanted to keep that playful sense in the rest of my look, and I really lucked out with the single hair available at Fit for a Princess this month - this adorable bow updo from Sweet Thing. It also is a slightly more mature version of cute, with the slicked back sides and the restrained size of the bow; larger and the whole look might have tipped over into childish, which is always the risk with looks like this. It had been pink tips on blond when I put it on, and I liked the effect so much I left it that way - however the blond set comes with a number of shades, both solid gold and with a variety of different tips.

All of the poses are also Fit for a Princess releases - this time from Sweet Sacrifice. I love the playfulness of them, which worked well with my overall look, and they all worked really well with the often finicky Second Life body. Even in the lying down pose, the shoulder isn't distorted or bent - quite an accomplishment and a sign of a good pose-maker! The inclusion of lying, sitting, and standing poses also allowed for a broader variety in images.

The rest of my accessories I aimed toward mature with. Firstly, I selected a slim tiara from Apple & Eve, with a strong shape that curved well over my brow in a simple gold shade to match up with the yellowish-peach of my outfit. I wanted to keep the entire look warm. The simplicity of the tiara keeps this elegant - something with more frills and gems might tilt the entire look immature. Green was then brought into the look through the addition of these adorable pink flowers from NSP Florals which came in a hair ornament and in an enormous bouquet. The green is a warm rather than cool green, which was important to me overall. Another lucky stroke was with the necklace from BluPrintz, with it's very high and simple shape. I went with white to echo the ring of lace at the bottom of my dress - a sort of visual echo - and then I tried several shades on the stone before settling on green. It's a cooler green, but it's also quite small, so I hoped the bit of chill wouldn't be too discordant. One thing I like to do when I'm covering an event, as opposed to just making a look or working with things from a specific store, is use as much as I can from that event while still making it all look good. In this case, I managed to combine things from six different stores at this round of Fit for a Princess without it seeming forced or inappropriate, and so I was very happy.

I rounded out my look with shoes from outside of Fit for a Princess, however, from Bliensen + MaiTai. I have loved the Dahlia shoes for a while, but the combination of sleek and flowery was difficult to match harmoniously with a full look. In this case, however, they were perfect. The smooth, simple curves of the shoe contrasts nicely with the sweet and spiky flower. I went with the green shoes with a soft pink flower, and then selected the shoes separately (something I was able to do because the shoes were modify ok - thank you!) and tinted them with a very strong yellow to bring the green more in line with the yellow-green of the flowers. While the stone in my BluPrintz necklace was small enough to not overset the overall warmth of my look, I feared the green of the shoe was large enough to upset the balance; being able to tint saved the shoes for me in this particular look, and it's something one can use to combine items from different stores which might otherwise be too differently shaded to work together. This is one of those tricks I sometimes wish I could teach budding fashionistas as they begin the difficult task of matching and contrasting colors in their outfits.

Fit for a Princess: The Dragon's Gate

In my search for a place for pictures of this modified, Japanese-style princess, I stumbled across a rather fun hunt / game, with an interactive component and a battle at the end (which I utterly failed to figure out) called Shadow House 3. The hunt starts on Virtual Ryukyu, and costs 10$L. It's charming, and funny, and takes you through a number of lovely vistas and buildings, with a veritable slew of prizes along the way. I highly recommend doing it for the fun story, at the very least; it runs through the end of October. If you want to dress in style to match - this lovely, miniskirt-kimono is at Fit for a Princess, and is from Greymoon. There are seven total colors, all of them fairly muted and reminiscent of autumn, with one brilliant splash of scarlet as memorial for the dying leaves. The sleeves and collar in particular are excellent - moving well around the edges and with good elbows. I also quite liked the bust line, the first break from a traditional kimono shape, which is followed up by a narrow waist and beautiful obi. The bow in the back of the obi is wonderful as well, small but well-shaped. The skirt is a true mini as well - even showing a little belly and cutting in close to the legs. The final fun addition to the silhouette is a train, which is rigged closely to the legs; it cuts a little close in some poses, but it's so fun I don't mind working around that at all.

My bright orange shoes are also from Fit for a Princess - a variation on one I showed before from Stargazer Creations, only this time without the flower accessory attached. Up close, you can see the delicate detailing of the front strap. I also love how slim it is - a narrow shape that stands as elegant support for all sorts of outfits. The last Princess-like aspect of my look is my poses - three poses with accompanying fans from Uncertain Smile. I adore the included fans, sweet and simple, with a cherry blossom motif. The poses are also quite unique, various flashes of face behind the fans a delight, and they would work with most small, hand-held fans. To finish the look I had to step out from under the Fit for a Princess parasol, though. First, my hair is a very old release from Asset which has lingered in my blogger folder waiting for the perfect outfit - and I think it adds a severe edge which fits the modern lines of a mini kimono. It's a very full queue style with bits of loose hair here and there, adding verisimilitude. Although I believe this is traditionally a men's style, I thought with the number of traditions I was bucking with this particular look, that gender-bending wasn't really beyond the pale. Finally, my earrings are from Lassitude & Ennui, and are being released at the Jewelry Faire and will be available there through this Sunday, the 28th. They are a layered, angel-wing style earring with enough simplicity that they work with any number of styles, and are available in several colors including this rather cunning black. Definitely make your way there and check out their other offerings as well!

Fit for a Princess: Sakura in the Weeds

This is my first post on my new computer, and it's amazing the amount of things I had to do to get things pulled together. Somewhere in this apartment is a box with Photoshop in it - but it's no where near findable, and so I cut my teeth, and my photos, on Gimp. I can run shadows much more easily on this new setup, which made taking pictures a dream. I've also not had much in terms of crashes despite running very high graphics so far, which makes things a lot more fun. Having an all but naked computer is always interesting in terms of deciding what one needs for day to day running, and one remains on the archival hard drive, and also seeing what a new setup with different costs in the build period has in store for me. So far I've installed a bunch of other games, a bunch of free programs, and Second Life - and all of them are running splendidly, often at the same time. I've also been in a state of bliss from being able to type exclamation points again; for the past nine months I've had to cut & paste several symbols and numbers, which was tolerable most of the time, but I lamented the loss of my favorite punctuation.

I'm happy to show off this sweet pink look, though I can only hope I got all of the settings correct - apologies for any errors! I'm decked out in things from the latest Fit for a Princess from literal crown to toes, which is always a fun way to show off the sheer variety and ingenuity in Second Life. My starting point was this adorable dress from Nomi which comes with black and white banding on the bodice, underskirt, and lacing, and a variety of sweet pastel colors for brightness. I went with pink and black, but the purple and white was a very close thing! The narrow ribbon over the shoulders is a delicately sweet touch, and one which highlights the advantage of mesh. The textured equivalent never looked good, cutting jaggedly across the shoulders even int he hands of the best creators. Mesh allows for a smooth line, though, with a delicate bow at the top of the bodice. It's rigged well, keeping close to the body, and the skirt itself only goes a little jagged around the edges with some of the more energetic leg poses.

It was the hair - an adorable bow style from Sweet Thing - that cemented the pink. I bought the blond set and it came with pastel tipped edges, the pink already in place; I was in love in seconds. There are tiny tendrils along the back of the neck which add verisimilitude, and the curve of the hair around the temples is lovely. It isn't editable, but the included editing script allows for single axis adjustment as well as more universal resizing - useful for me, as my head is wider than most. I perched a delicate crown from Krystal on top of my head, and I haven't loved a tiny crown so much since Kyccie's was open. It's from a gacha, as is the lovely not matching but equally lovely armband, and both the price (25$L) and the variety (at least twenty shades of gem, all set in platinum) made it fun to try to get a matching opal set. I have a few more sets, and may very well go back and try to capture a ton more jewel shades simply because I adore the crown so much. The final touch were these adorable pump shoes from Stargazer Creations, also a gacha prize but again a quite reasonable one. It also had the bonus of giving me a wide variety pretty quickly and easily, including both the black and white ones - which means I'll be able to use them with a bunch of different looks. The flowers are separate from the shoes, so you can wear them either with a simpler band or with a more complicated clip-on; fantastic versatility.

Fit for a Princess: Ice Princess in a Tower

There is less than twenty four hours left for Fit for a Princess, so if you were planning on checking out all of the awesomeness, now is the time to go. It closes at 3PM on Tuesday the 26th, though many of the items will be rapidly winging their way toward stores everywhere. My awesome set pieces are all from Fit for a Princess; first there is a fantastic table with a filled goblet on top of it from the Jewel Garden. It's 7 land impact made up of a variety of different pieces, and it is editable so that you can shift things around to fit your individual style. The goblet itself, it's stone filling, and the flower tucked against the side can all be moved around or used separately, and they are quite lovely both together and apart. The scroll I show on the wall is one of a set, all wit images and beginnings of fairy tales on them. They are made by the Second Star and are both perfect for being piled up on a desk, and hung gently on a wall as decoration. I love the artistic flourishes - a rose for Beauty and the Beast, or a tower for Rapunzel. The lovely light fixtures, which come in three different styles and one with three different heights, are all from Alouette and they give off a gentle glow. I love the different styles and the gentle glass holding the candles, each with a flickering flame. Each is freestanding, and they work extremely well against wood and stone.

My look was inspired by the blue and white gown from Les Femmes à Barbe, beautifully colored on a well made mesh basis. I love the Celtic pattern along the neckline and hem, soft gold layered over the blue of the outfit. The ribbons wrapped around the torso are actually a separate element, so you can show the dress with or without them - a lovely touch which can let you customize it for a variety of situations, and there are also arm ribbons in a similar style up to the elbows. The dress is pretty well rigged - tied to the legs but loosely enough that it doesn't distort too badly with unusual leg configurations; the wrists get a little hinky here and there, but that is likely because I wear SLink hands. The final piece from Fit for a Princess are my amazing shoes - a new release from Eclectica. They are astonishingly three dimensional, especially with the jeweled pieces over the toes, and the texture is layered and sumptuous. I highly recommend you run over to Fit for a Princess before tomorrow - this is only the tip of the iceberg of awesome.

My necklace is from tea.s, and is one of the items you can purchase to get stamp cards for the Enchantment Event this month, which also likely will be ending sooner rather than later. It's another event i highly recommend you check out, as many of the items are simply divine. I ended up with an enormous folder of awesome things, and I'll try to show more of them off soon. It's been a busy month. My final note is something just starting, though - Devae, formerly Rue and always awesome, is having a 75% off sale at her main store in preparation for reworking her store. My amazing nails are one of her releases, and I got them for pennies you guys - pennies. Everything currently released is there, including her completely saturated skins of many colors, some wonderful horns and eyes, and even a little clothing - a tempting example of what she can make if inspired. I live in eternal hope for her to turn her alien eyes toward something rainbow, but even if she keeps with her usual entirely gorgeous textures, I will remain a happy faerie.

Fit for a Princess: Lacquer and Gilt

We're heading toward the end of the month and the wrapping up of Fit for a Princess, the romance edition, and I managed to make an entire outfit out of things available at the event. For instance, I'm wearing the cutest mini dress ever, from Nomi, with gorgeous detailing in the shape of elegant chandeliers and dangling chains. It's designed as overall style bands over either a white or black top, and rides the line between casual and elegant beautifully. The skirt and top look like different pieces but aren't, and sadly they're no modify, so you won't be able to tint your white shirt interesting shades of puce. The edges are extremely well done, however, with no jaggedness or oddness around the edges, and it's fully lined. It's also very well rigged and moves well in a variety of poses, even in the always difficult shoulder area. I also really liked the fit round the neck and over the bust - it's plunging without being indecorous, and necklaces layer well under it. It comes with a HUD which allows you to change the shirt color and skirt color - two colors for the top and four for the bottom. I love the growing trend of bundling colors under a HUD, even if it makes my sorting them more complicated. My largest accessories are all from Cila; the wings, bracelet, and ring all echo the same design and are pleasantly chunky. I really love the layered curves and curls which are reminiscent of wood carvings painted in gilt. They are a gacha prize, with gold as the rare set, and the other options are all pale pastels in red, green, orange, blue, and white - all lovely and tinted as if a soft lacquer was layered over them, ending up heavier in the cracks.

I paired the heavier Cila jewelry with a more delicate necklace, tiara, and earrings set from Cae. The design is curving metal woven in and out of each other in a lovely manner, with a single gem set in the larger pieces. Again, there is a fantastic HUD included; two sets of metals and a vast plethora of stone colors. The curve of the metal is the best part - smooth with delicately curling ends. I also love the idea of two sets of metals to mix and match for greater effect, though I chose a solid gold in this case. I echoed the gold in my delicate slippers, made for the SLink flat feet by Dysfunctional Designs. They are a simple round toe base with delicate metalwork over the top and down the sides. I ended up looking really closely, and those delicate balls sewn into the shoe? They actually are three dimensional. The texture of the rest of the shoe is equally well done, complicated enough to fade into interesting lights and darks from a distance, and simply lovely up close. Finally my nails, from an old favorite A:S:S, provide a variety of fleur de lis in a variety of colors, all of them simply perfect. Using just shades of a single color, A:S:S uses different shades to make the fleur de lis stand out and seem like it's shining of of each unrealistically elongated nail. Absolutely a class act.

The only part of my look, in the end, that doesn't come from the hallowed halls of August's Fit for a Princess is my Adore & Abhor hair, which was a Hair Faire release and is now available in their main store. It's a lovely, slick updo with the cutest hairbuns ever, and I completely fell in love. My favorite touch has to be along the back of the neck, though - always a challenging part of the head. In this Adore & Abhor hair, though, it is a perfect curve under my skull. It is also made up of a number of shapes, which means that if your head is not the same as the creator that you can resize things to cover the necessary ground. It also fits beautifully behind my ears, which is always a bonus with updos and pulled back hair. If you're looking for something cute and perky, this hairstyle is one to try the demo of.

Beached White

This post is going to be more than a little event heavy. July has had a slew of events and there's no sign of us slowing down any time soon. Fit for a Princess continues until the end of the month, and it has lovely things for anyone seeking a Happily Ever After like this white gown from Kouse's Sanctum, also available in an amazing array of colors besides. It has a gorgeous, hip-length corset with delicate curls upon it. The sleeves  have pleasant puffs, and the neckline is a lovely square one; I had a little skin-bleeding through some of the ruffles since I'm a scooch fatter than the average avatar, but otherwise the fit is easy and good, and the included invisible layer works well without leaving any gaps. Each side of the skirt is strongly rigged to the legs, which means in poses where one leg is before the other you end up with a sharp angle, but other than that it moves quite well, and the length is such that you can see the peeping of shoes - or in this case bare feet - under the hem. I truly adore it; in fact, I'm considering adding to my considerable Kousely-Collection with a few more colors. I think the length of the corset is my favorite aspect, as I'm particularly fond of that smooth line over the hips with a flair out below. I'm also still wearing the nail shades from Frogstar on my fingers and toes, this time in a blindingly white shade which works beautifully with the rest of my look. I love how muted the colors are in this particular set, but the white itself is glorious.

My hair is a gloriously twisted updo from Ploom which takes full advantage of Ploom's divine ombre shades. I know I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating that these really add an incredibly punch to Ploom's styles - and you can see why in the gorgeous swirl where the color goes from a pale blond, through pink and green and ending on an eye-smartingly-bright blue. I love the effect of a relatively usual shade becoming suddenly rich and unusual - and in this case it adds a delicious pop of color to balance out darker shades elsewhere in my look. This particular look is one of several available at the Hair Faire, and well worth braving the lag and avatars to find. It fit perfectly, with delicate tendrils along the sides of the face far enough forward to not interfere with my ears; truly perfection held up with pins. Darker shades also come in with this set of color-changing jewelry from Elemental. This is one of the four cool color shades, a lovely rich purple, and the metals are color changing as well through a dizzying array of options, including several combination metals like a gold-tinted silver scale.

Oh My Gacha offers up another dizzying array, this time of gachas. I was completely floored by a sim full from edge to edge with gacha machines, often several from the same store, each with their own offerings. Naminoke is one of my favorite gachas to play, as the prices tend to be on the low side and the offerings are so adorable. In this case, it's sets of colored flowers to cling to several parts of the body - from growing out of the temples to twining around the wrists to clinging to the ankles. At least three different color sets - two shades of purple and a lovely blue - are available, and often they have additional flourishes like silvery strands from the hair or little creatures lurking among the blossoms. Sadly, I didn't end up with a full set of any color, but I have high hopes of running across these in a yard sale and filling out my collections. Finally, the ribbons around my toes are from BooBubbleGum and I was lucky enough to score the rare, which includes this cute charm above the heel. The ribbons themselves are rigged for the SLink high heels, but the charm is editable so that if it lands too far down your foot you can shift it around to fit smoothly. Since I ended up with the rare, I also ended up with a charming HUD to change the colors - including to this pure white shade. I've been wishing for foot ribbons for a long while, and these cheer me immensely.