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 50 - Gold

Gold is always a tricky thing to reproduce without the actual metal (and the ability to make things actually glimmer), but I don't think I did half bad.It is perhaps a little yellow for gold, but it was hard to find golds that weren't on the yellow side but still had a yellow hue - a lot were much more brown and dark. The dress is an awesome lucky chair prize from Indigo Oddities - the set she has up now are different, but equally awesome. I particularly like the snowflake detailing in the skirt, especially since they matched the awesome new shoes from katat0nik with snowflakes all over the socks! The ribbon along the top of the socks is totally cute, too, and if you look up close there are tiny white hearts all along the top ruffle. Seriously squeetastic! I matched it with this hugely puffy hair from Wasabi Pills; it has a slightly retro feel which I thought matched the outfit very well. The ribbon around the head is color changing with a HUD, and while it cuts into my ears a little, judicious angling manages that well.

The accessories were all pulled from a search for gold. Firstly, I finally got to use the awesome hair ornaments from Bliss Couture. I picked them up on a whim, but haven't found a look they worked with, so I was glad this one came along. I like how they poof up and weave into the existing ribbon on the Wasabi Pills hair. When I saw the bento box from Falln Angel Creations, I new immediately I had to include it. In addition to being totally cute and matching my hair ornaments, they also drop the cutest snacks all around when I have rezzing rights - snacks which anyone around can buy if they want! Finally, I added a cute jewelry set from Dark Mouse, a sort of mixed together style in the lighter shades of the dress. The cosmetics are hard to see due to the lighting, but I wanted a golden lip and so I layered a yellow gloss from Mock over a darker matte from Damned, and I think the effect was pretty spectacular. Finally, for the lighting shade I kept the red-yellow-blue tints from earlier pictures, and I think the hints of blue here and there keep the yellow from becoming too overpowering or cloying! Let me know what you think, though.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De la Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Eyelashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Glow, Crazy eye shadow
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick 1: Damned, Alice Lipstick Yellow
Lipstick 2: Mock, Lucir Lipcolor Narcissus
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Inchigo Mesh Hair - Golden (promotional item)
Flowers: Bliss Couture, Korin Hat - Gold
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Bracelet: Kyccie's Creations, Hopeful Flower Gold
Jewelry: Dark Mouse, Found Things Gold
Dress: Indigo Oddities, Nefarious Noel Gold
Bag: Falln Angel Creations, Bento Box Golden (rezzes buyable food)
Shoes: katat0nik, Snowflake T-strap Wedges

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Tiramisu Cafe
Light Settings: TOR, FOGGY Southern Delite
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

LEA 13: Flatland

One of the amazing things about Second Life is the extent to which something can be taken from the depths of the brain and made a reality, even if it violates physics and all sense. And then people can come in and place themselves within it, and blow your mind away. Such is the effect of C i c a's LEA display on LEA 13, made entirely out of flat drawings into which one can insert oneself as a fully formed three dimensional object. The effect is... well, you can see for yourself! I particularly enjoyed being full color in a black and white world, but now I'm wishing I had a black and white avatar to pose with too. I may be BACK.

By the way, I have to gush a little about Alice Projects' new infinity hair - which means every hair can be colored by any color in any HUD you get from her store. I ended up getting a HUD of massive awesomeness in a recent hunt which allowed for rainbow hair. You read that right - RAINBOW HAIR. I have been craving rainbow hair in a variety of sizes for a very long time - I may never take her hair off again (unlikely, but still... RAINBOW HAIR you guys!). I think the HUD is now for sale, but I suck at journalism. If it isn't we should all totally IM her CSR asking for it, yo. The jewelry is from Elemental and I got it last week for 60$L. She has another set out this week, and is doing a new four-color color change, which means effectively four times the necklace for 60$L. The Spectrum dress from Indigo Oddities was a lucky chair prize, and that wonderful person does a wonderful thing by putting her lucky chair dresses for sale for 10$L after their luck changes; this is a lot of dress, for very little linden. There's about half a million on her walls right now! Finally, these shoes are totally not a hunt prize, or on sale, but I love them so much! I pretty much buy fatpacks of G Field shoes whenever one comes out because they never disappoint, and this was no exception. In addition, her fatpacks are now HUD driven with the ability to retint multiple sections of the shoe, thus creating new and interesting combinations of colors to match almost everything! Inventory-saving and awesome, all in one package.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Cosmetics: Mock, Taste the Skittles - Rainbow
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Hair: Alice Project, Lola
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: Indigo Oddities, Spectrum Shades - Red (Lucky Board Prize, now 10$L)
Jewelry: Elemental, Chloris Set
Shoes: G Field, Mesh Wedge Bootie "Beth"

Poses: D.Luxx Poses

Location: * C i c a *
Light Settings: AnaLutetia - AvatarOpt
Water Settings: TOR, Glaznost

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Color Challenge: Week 20 - Deep Pink

Deep Pink is the color for this week, and happens to be a favorite of mine. I've mentioned before my love/hate relationship with pink, but the rich pink of deep pink is so vibrant that there is no way I could possibly dislike it. I love bright, overwhelming colors and this one, beautifully rendered by Indigo Oddities. This is actually one of her lucky board prizes; pretty regularly she puts up amazing outfits on the lucky boards, with them set for sale for a while (for only 10$L!) after they go off the boards. I've been collecting for a while, but haven't been photographing because they've gone into my enormous "to be opened" folder. When I saw this outfit and the theme of the week, though, I simply couldn't resist. I love the curls and combination of darker pink and bright pink; the lacing across the chest is really striking, too. My one, tiny wish is for a double-looped bow mid-chest; I think it would have been that final touch to make the outfit sing. I added a jacket and stockings from Silent Sparrow which I hadn't ever found anything to wear with before, but I was glad I'd kept them in my inventory. One of the reasons I often keep things which aren't quite "my style" in my inventory (thus bloating it) is because of moments like this, when I'm looking for something more on the top of a look, and a previously unthought of piece really shines. I was amazed how well the colors match, though; they look made for each other!

I'm wearing two pieces from Eclectica this week - something old and something new. The amazing shoes are the old - they are a vibrant pink and an amazing set of gems layered on in true style. She has a number of other, equally vibrant shades available. The hair piece is a little more subdued in shade, but really fun in design. It comes fit for the back and side of the head, but I adjusted this one to my forelock and renamed it to "front" so I can find it again; thankfully, Eclectica is always modify-ok, which means making multiple copies, fitting them, and renaming them so you can actually find them later is a breeze.My jewelry is an old hunt prize I think, from Ginza Jewelry. I love the little birds (which are fullbright) and I hadn't had a chance to wear them until now! I moved the earrings out on my ears; one advantage of these more outer ears is that I can showcase earrings outside of my hair. My makeup is a combination of Mock for the eyes (look at the glow of that color!) and a very old lipstick from Skinthesis which I still love to wear. Both stores earn my eternal love by releasing things in a wide variety of colors, which means I can pull them out to go with any look. The hair is from Wasabi Pills and is available at Culture Clash; now that the crowds have died down, it's a good time to swing by and check it out. They've set up the sim so you can walk around and catch all the stores as long as you focus either right or left; it took me about two evenings and a lot of Linden!

Windlight has become central to how I take pictures, altering the views in places radically. This is especially in cases where there is a lot of water, where you can almost completely alter the shades of a sim. In this case, Symbiont Host started in shades of blue and green with hints of other shades, and now is in shades of pink with purple and blue hints. I'll have to head back sometime with other shades to view it in other ways; one of my long-term plans is to photograph and make blog pages for each of the Linden Endowment for the Arts sims, so I can track what pictures I've taken where and what artists I've seen (and maybe even figure out their change over cycle between artist and artist). I'm really fascinated by the art scene in Second Life. On the one hand, people are doing amazingly creative and innovative things. On the other hand, it often seems to pass without notice, names known to a handful of others. I know I was deeply frustrated when I started looking at art sims to figure out who was where and when things were happening; there didn't seem to be a comprehensive guide. With any luck, I may eventually create that guide. Thought, given my other self-goals and the whole fashion blogger thing, I may be biting off more than I can chew!

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow MESH (promotional item)
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, Prim Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Mock, Totally Hot Peenk
Lipstick: Skinthesis, Liquid Heat - Fussy Biatch
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Shiori Mesh Hair (Culture Shock, promptional item)
Hairpiece: Eclectica, Vintage Barette Gold (promptional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Jewelry: Ginza Jewelry, Kohime slice of summer bird cage
Dress: Indigo Oddities, Twirls n Curls Pink (Lucky Chair Prize)
Jacket: Silentsparrow, Rose Krai Short Jacket
Gloves: Silent Sparrow, Rose Pidgeony Nemu Suit Gloves
Stockings: Silent Sparrow, Lust Beloved Stockings
Heels: Eclectica, Hollywood Shoes - Fuschia

Location: Symbiont Host
Light Settings: TOR, SUNSET Blue Inspiration
Water Settings: TOR, Negative Ultraspace

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Color Challenge: Week 14 - Royal Purple

I really love the royal purple this week - and amazingly a bunch of different things came together to make the perfect purple look. The jewelry set is from Elemental, and they're completely amazing! The necklace comes both with the double worn above, and a single version. The earrings match perfectly, and I love the silver curling design of it! The hair, with a perfectly matching kerchief, is a new release from Wasabi Pills and I completely love it. Her mesh line is completely amazing; I particularly like how it comes with a boobs and not-boobs version. The dress is from one of the lucky boards at Indigo Oddities, which has brought me much riches! This one is a flirty and there are shiny bands around the torso and a really amazing texture on the skirt. It also comes with the stockings, which are a really fun mesh. I added boots from Cypher's"Lamia" dress, which I really have fallen in love with. They're nice and heavy.

I really love some of the builds in the world, and particularly appreciate bloggers like Honour who bring it to our attention. This is one of those lovely, out of the way spots that I fell in love with as soon as I teleported in. I landed in the water, which was easy to fly out of. There are two castle areas, linked by an awesome bridge across the water, which causes a wonder effect over the water. In one of the towers there is an orrey, which I really enjoyed - a lovely globe with a moon curling around it and the sun underneath it. There are also lovely stairs and a couple of really enjoyable waterfalls. You need to be careful in a few places, because the doors have become slightly unhinged, but the grandiosity of it more than makes up for it! You have to come here for yourself, play in the water, and climb the winding staircases.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee - rainbow (mesh, promotional item)
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyeshadow: Kosh, Lost Souls Eyeshadow - loneliness
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Lipstick: Mock, Micare Lipglimmer - Cosmic Viola
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Lola Mesh Hair (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Jewelry: Elemental, Persephone Set
Dress: Indigo Oddities, Equinox - Purple
Boots: Cipher, Punk Lolita - Lamia

Poses: Apple Spice

Location: Fox Hollow
Light Settings: TOR, FOGGY - Sad purple
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only