Fantasy Faire: Sylvan of Spells Up Close

Although I centered this post around Sylvan of Spells, Odyssey is getting a tiny call-out for this really fun hair from Wasabi Pills, called Jasmine. It has Wasabi Pills' standard awesome curls and tendrils, with an added dose of her fun 50$L Friday colors. I tucked into it's waves a wonderful lily circlet from Talevin's Designs (Fantasy Faire Location), the first of a long selection of items you can find on the sim Sylvan of Spells. The sparkling staff in my hands is from the same store, along with a whole slew of other accessories and weapons - definitely more than I could show here! I love the sparkled on it and the shape is mesh and editable - I made it a bit smaller, to fit my hand, then lengthened it out with complete ease. Thank you editable mesh!!! My accessories are actually a combination of two sets, both of them RFL Donation items, from Plastik (Fantasy Faire Location). They sport gems of official Fantasy Faire purple, and in addition to the necklace and earrings I'm showing here there are circlets and rings and second necklace styles galore. Each sign states exactly what comes in the set. which includes the gold metal I show here, silver, and black.

My outfit is a fun recolor of one of my favorite fluffy mesh dresses from Tayren's Fantasy Fashions (Fantasy Faire Location), and the purchase actually includes an entire avatar, including skin, shape, and shoes. I love the sparkles, which catch the similar sparkles in my Talevin's Designs (Fantasy Faire Location) staff - above you can see the striking pinecone top which made me fall in love with it. I couldn't resist the pink-to-yellow fade even though wasn't immediately obvious it went with the rest of my accoutrements! I think everyone has one of those days they want to combine sparkles and combat boots, though, and clearly this was my day. And finally, said combat boots come from FDD Stories (Fantasy Faire Location) and are part of another full outfit. I'm showing off the dark brown, but there's also a lovely antique blue. I fell in love with the design of these, from the button up the front, to the added knee pads, to the band over the ankle to hold everything in place. They're fitted mesh, which means they fit out of the box, and I had to increase my foot size to bring myself into proportion - definitely a first, and a welcome one at that.

All in all, my look may be unconventional, but I rather like it!

The building in this and the one after the next are from Independent Objects (Fantasy Faire Location), a pair of fascinating Moroccan style houses with open entrances or roofs. I really like the shape of them, and the included door hangings and sun shade are  festively patterned. I had fun placing a bunch of other things around them, like this rose bush from Fantasy China (Fantasy Faire Location), a full mesh rose bush inside of a simple stone urn. The lanterns - which are lighting this whole scene - are both from Gypsy Wolf (Fantasy Faire Location) and come in five different colors - more of them shown below. They have a lovely shape and pattern on them, and light up an area prodigiously. Finally, the welcome sign up front is a free gift from Kaerri (Fantasy Faire Location), and set to match the other floral and fairy themed offering from her at the Fantasy Faire. I love the little animals perched all over it; such fun!

I filled this Moroccan style building from Independent Objects with a bunch of offerings from Kaerri (Fantasy Faire Location), all with a floral and cafe theme. The relay for life offerings are the piano and clock, both of them sweet additions to any set. I really love how the flowers are woven in and how the grass sprouts up from the ground - even on this stone floor it looks surreal and soft.I'm definitely keeping these for the next time I want to plan a real garden party!

I hope you enjoyed brief peek at some of the lovely things available on Sylvan of Spells at the Fantasy Faire. Please drop by to see the rest - there's more than I could cover in a month of Sundays!

Mannishly

Emboldened by the androgyny I was inspired to through Genre, I decided to give menswear a whirl with FATEwear's latest release - the Jordan jacket - and found it fit well and was a lot of fun, despite being rigged to the male instead of female frame! I was particularly pleased with the sleeve length, as it covered the wrist without clipping my hand, and the asymmetrical folds and wide spaced collar is wonderful. I very much like how thick the entire coat seems; the edges are all rounded and thick, even on the sleeve detailing. This gives a real sense of the weight and reality of the coat, making it's folds over my hips and gaping at the waist all the more realistic. I also like how the pocket is three dimensional instead of simply a texture on the fabric, and even the buttons are three dimensional - which makes some of the angled shots I took amazing. It's very well rigged through the body and to the legs, leading to an excellent fit even in more complicated pose. All of these are little details, but combined with the soft texture of the jacket - there are a variety of colors and event he option of a color-changing HUD with the fatpack - the jacket manages to straddle the border of Second Life and offline life beautifully.I have always loved FATEplay's female clothing, and FATEwear is equally impressive.

With the masculine quality of the jacket, I decided to go ultra-femme in the rest of my look. I began with this corset from Rosal, part of a complicated set but equally impressive on it's own. She just re-released it with updated colors and I highly recommend it both as a set and as an individual piece. I went with the narrowest waist - unrealistic offline, and gorgeously easy online. The fit of the jacket demanded a pair of pants, and I found those in a pair of jeans from Decoy that I picked up during one of the sale events and squirreled away in my inventory for just such an occasion. They are hip huggers, leaving that fascinating band of flesh between hips and belly exposed. I almost ended the look topless - the jacket actually covered enough to preserve modesty - but I ended up deciding that was a little more risque than I preferred and I used an old favorite, a texture-top from G Field - to finish my outfit. The flower for the halter-top was too voluminous for the narrow opening at the top of my FATEwear jacket, though, so I substituted in an old prim collar from Plastik that has the distinction of not only being modify-ok, but also set up so the different bands around the collar can be tinted separately. The close fit of the collar also maintained the illusion of layers that I was going for, as it fit beautifully into the gaps left by the jacket.

So far, my look was equal mixtures of casual masculine style with high fashion, ultra-femme touches, and I wanted to push the latter over the top with the remaining pieces of my style. First I went with an extravagant updo, the newest release from Ploom being released at The Kawaii Project. It is a whirl of braids and curls, editable mesh which meant I could shift the odd curl here or there out of my ears and make it a wonderful updo from every angle. I went with one of her candy hair textures, a wonderful blond with a fade of pink tips to echo the pink of my jacket. I also went with very dramatic cosmetics - a heavy, glamorous shadow around the eyes from .:Soul:. and dark black lips from MiaSnow. The goal was to maintain the predominance of black in my entire look, leaving the pink in only two places, and also to continue the thread of evening-wear despite my casual jeans. My nails were equally dramatic - a gorgeous pair from A:S:S on a black base with silvery sparkles set in a fade from the tips, like snow falling on a dark night and just barely catching the moonlight. The final touch, absolutely required to keep the styling over the top, are my sleek and delicate shoes from Lassitude & Ennui. One way to dress up jeans is through stylish shoes, and these do that job to perfection.

2014 Fantasy Faire: Helping in Heavenslough

I'm having such fun purpling it up from the various donation items at the Fantasy Faire - white there are a number of stores which offer different colors as their donation items, they seem to be overwhelmingly purple. It offers some consistency as I'm trying to zoom my way around the sims snapping pictures, and makes matching colors across stores a bit of a dream. My hair is a fun design from Analog Dog which combines the flexibility of a mesh updo with the flexibility of a flexy ponytail in curls. They layers of transparency can cause some problems, but overall I really like how the hair looks, and how futuristic the extended braid is. I also added a new feature from a new store called Folly - rainbow sheen. It's essentially a faint rainbow glow on the skin as a tattoo layer, and I am completely in love. It covers a lot more than my pictures show - though sadly there aren't SLink tattoo appliers; given how variable the glow spots are, though, I doubt many people will notice. I'm planning on keeping this about a lot - it adds a subtle rainbow edge without being overwhelming and comes in a variety of levels of transparency and brightness of shading. My mask is from Star Kinder, and I really adore the delicate mesh around the eyes, and the single jewel. There are matching earrings, but I ended up pairing it with a crown and necklace from AZE, which are simply lovely. Usually they would be more appropriate on a mermaid, but even we landlubbers can enjoy the bounty of the sea. I adore the shape of the shells and the delicate pearls and curls of coral. I also added some cutely curling earrings from Plastik, which come with matching ears but which can also be worn with other ears. They have a wonderful, thick curve to them which I really enjoy.

My dress from Sublime Shroud Kreations is actually in three rigged parts - the gown section, a corset section with the jacket hanging down, and sleeves - giving you a great deal of room to make alterations. I would imagine the corset could even work over other dresses, which is really nice - one of the things I miss about the old texture-and-prim clothing is the ability to relayer, and mix and match. I adore the texturing, from the shiny leather of the bustle section, to the softer leather of the gown, to the intricate lace-like pattern which decorates the rest of the outfit in bands. The sleeves are long and fun, with a fall over the hands which fits around my SLink hands perfectly. I particularly like that the fabric appears pulled and rippled in the texturing, so that it looks more natural. Finally my shoes, which I've shown off before, is from De La Soul. Lovely cephalapod beauties clinging to my feet, this time with a mottled pattern that shows off the materials Charlie used perfectly. I made the eyes rainbowy, as I'm wont to do, and went with a simple purple on the little suction cups - the body, eyes, and cups can all be tinted separately using a HUD, and once you purchase one set of shoes, you can hunt down some add-on HUDs to diversify the available colors. The Fantasy Faire special is, of course, all sorts of purples, from mottled materials-rich shades like this, to fades like the last one I showed off. 

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: Analog Dog, Ever (Fantasy Faire)
Sparkles: Folly, Tintable Rainbow Sheen (Fantasy Faire)
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Earrings: Plastik, Malei Earrings (Fantasy Faire)
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Mask: Star Kinder, Curlicue Mask (Fantasy Faire)
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe
Hands & Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands & Feet
Nails: De La Soul, Cthu Nails (Fantasy Faire)
Jewelry: AZE, Golden Topaz Fluted Scallop Jewelr (Fantasy Faire)
Clothing: Sublime Shroud Kreations, Moroi Ensemble (Fantasy Faire)
Shoes: De La Soul, Cthu Shues (Fantasy Faire)

Poses: Exposeur

Location: Heavenslough
Light Settings: Sim Default
Water Settings: Sim Default

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Endless Movement Stopped

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

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

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

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

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

Pose: Elephante

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

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 21 - Bathroom Tile

This twisted challenge is named, rather depressingly, Bathroom Tile, but the color combination itself is absolutely gorgeous. I love the sea green and warm brown - very impressive, and incredibly difficult to find. Tinting the sky of the gorgeous sim Kick was a whole lot easier, making it a gorgeous shade of sea green with brown clouds that I promptly ignored for most of my pictures... opps. The sim is gorgeous, though - very watery with lots of interesting lights and plants all over the place, with a photography display in the middle up a few levels. My sea green bits are fairly straightforward - a gorgeous jewelry set from A&Ana is actually the only thing in this look that hasn't been tinted to match. It was a deal at The Dressing Room Fusion that at first I hadn't picked up, but when I saw the shades for this week I simply couldn't resist. It's in several pieces, but all of them are pretty inexpensive, so go ahead and splurge. The other sea green piece is most of this gorgeous dress from The Muses, a store I discovered during the fantasy faire and that I sought out hoping for this peculiar shade of greyish green. No luck on that front, but I did end up picking up this sweet dress in every color, including ivory, the ivory part turning out to be very helpful in this challenge. The shoulder flowers, skirtband, and dress are all separate pieces, making it simplicity to mix and match tint. One other thing I really liked was how thick the mesh was, both in terms of covering under the skirt and in terms of how it hit the skin; there's a substantialness to how it was made which really helped in a wide variety of poses, even relatively difficult ones like arms-over-head. A lot of mesh releases are very thin, a single face and invisible inside, but how this mesh was formed it looks and moves like a heavy sort of worked silk.

The brown pieces begin with The Muses dress, since i tinted the flower trim around the hem to match the sort of muddy brown; I had tried tinting the shoulder flowers as well, but next to this exquisite collar from Plastik it was simply too much brown at the neck. The collar was also tinted, from gold to this shade of brown, is also mesh, and is actually rigged, which means it frames my face beautifully as I change poses. I actually have hunted for this collar multiple times, having resisted it once on the feeds, wanted it for a look, bought it and lost where I put it, and now finally using it for an entirely different purpose. It also has a substantial feel - not a single thin layer, but a smooth, weighty curve of fabric. Finally my boots - the only other untinted part of this look - which are from my go-to boot store, G Field. The cool thing is, the teal feather is actually part of the shoe - it's darker than the sea green of the look, but it is still freaking awesome looking. Overall, I'm really pleased with this look, somewhat pleased with the pictures, and dreading going back into my blog to try to get my labels working so they are actually useful, instead of a mess. Wish me luck.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Candace (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow (promotional item)
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Mock, Turquoise (iced) Liz
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Sunny (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Collar: Plastik, Devastation Collar
Dress: The Muses, Memory
Jewelry: A&Ana's Fashion, Emeraude (The Dressing Room Fusion)
Hands: SLink, Enhanced Mesh Hands
Nails: Nine Inch Nails, Frenchie Floral
Shoes: G Field, Open Boots "Vilda"

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Kick
Light Settings: Nacon's Day Mood2
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Fantasy Faire: Titan's Hollow

Titan's Hollow is an absolutely amazing sim, and everyone should go and marvel.It's set up as a verdant valley with jewel-like buildings floating in the air above the water, with these stark, dark-leaved trees here and there, and I absolutely fell in love with it the second I landed - even if it wasn't the underwater environment I was originally seeking.It was an easy modification, though; I took off the fins I was trying to fit and put on this absolutely gorgeous gown from Falln Angel Creations, which is a Fantasy Faire exclusive release. I adore the sculpted roses swarming both over the bodice and at the hip, and the heavy fabric around the waist in an offset color. This is only one of many releases - I'll show off the remainder sometime soon, I promise. The skin I'm wearing is an astonishing new release from Plastik that came crammed with eyes, skin variations, and cosmetic additions. I ended up using the slightly reptilian face, but I also really liked the teardrop marks on the cheeks and I wish I could have combined them. Some of the eyes are in complementary colors, others in matching, and I ended up focusing on the latter for my look. A wide variety of colors are available from Plastik this Fantasy Faire - pretty much anything you can imagine - and I really recommend you swing by and take a look.

Pretty much the rest of my accessories, except for the ears and eyelashes, come from Bliensen + MaiTai, which I've already focused on once, but now I'm showing in the wild. You can see more the effect of the flexi-tendrils in my hair in these pictures, I think, and also how they change under different lights. I found as I wore the hair I got more and more used to it, almost not noticing that I have half an ocean in my locks. I ended up picking the shade of my Plastik skin to match my hair, and the forehead eye to also match my hair, and the dress... just because I really liked it. It's the sort of thing which happens when one has a folder full of things and starts mixing and matching and then gets distracted by a completely incredibly, gorgeous sim like Titan's Hollow. Seriously, go and check it out yourself - it is completely mind blowing.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Plastik, Arkasia - bras Kin (promotional item)
Eyes: Plastik, Bloodless - Gold (promotional item)
Ears: Illusions, Seelie
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Hair: Bliensen + MaiTai, Undine (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: Falln Angel Creations, Calena Gown (FF Exclusive; promotional item)
Jewelry: Bliensen + MaiTai, Mine (promotional item)
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Shoes: Bliensen + MaiTai, Pixie (promotional item)

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Titans Hollow
Light Settings: Phototools - Horizon Building Light
Water Settings: Mirror Glass

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Color Challenge: Week Thirty-eight - Patriarch

This week is Patriarch, which is a rather troublingly named color. I'm not a fan of the patriarchy, which seems to injure so many people. The color is a quite pretty one, though!


I went back to the Haven of Rogues and Mer Sanctuary for some more pictures and ended up wandering in completely different area - even headed into the second sim. Even tinting it pink, I ended up with some really fantastic color contrasts that really set off the gorgeous dress from Kouse's Sanctum. I don't even remember when I got this - but the color seemed perfect. Initially I was doing a color combination for the dress - drawing together Evie's Closet and Kouse's Sanctum - but the more I looked at the total look in different lights, the more dissatisfied I was with it. I ended up switching entirely over to the Kouse's Sanctum dress and really enjoying the flow of the maple leaves down the layered skirt.

The hair was a recent purchase from Majika, who is getting rid of a bunch of her older hairs for cheap. Awesome chance to pick up some excellent hair - her new stuff is even butter, but her old stuff is still worth the Linden! The hairband is color change on touch, and I love the curves of the hair; the back is very unusual and I really like the curves even though it's much shorter than my usual hairstyles! The skin is from De La Soul - violet stripe. It was one of her hunt prizes, so I'm not sure it's still available - but you can get others of the Charlie skins in her store. The collar, from Plastik, is a fantastic accessory that is full modify, which means I could multi-tint to match the different colors of purple in the dress. The bracelets are simple plastic ones from Digital Eyes - I really like how the colors are off-set from each other.


It's been a very difficult week - mostly via work, but a bit outside of it, too. One the one hand, I glory in my weekends, but on the other they bring their own kind of pressure to accomplish things, to respond to things, to listen and sympathize, two write things up and get things settled. I'm surrounded by plants these days - inside and outside - so there's some shiny watering in my future and a kitty cat to snuggle.

Gender, gender expression, sexism, and identity have been on my mind a lot recently. Despite the internet being "anonymous", being female on the internet can be a pain in the ass. Being female alone can be a pain in the ass. Patriarchal values, being rigid and inflexible, aren't good for anyone, but women are usually caught in a serious of double binds, where there is no way to win. For example - motherhood is held up as the ideal a woman can be, and single women are pressured to marry and then to become pregnant as part of fulfilling that purpose. However, once a woman is a mother she is singularly blamed for everything involved with her children, she is expected to keep them under control constantly, be ever vigilant, if anything goes wrong it is her fault, and even years later her children can blame her for all of their problems and be widely accepted as speaking the truth.

There is no win.


Likewise, women can't win in terms of protecting our own safety. If anything goes wrong - be it domestic abuse or rape - we are blamed for it. We should have seen, we should have taken extra precautions, we shouldn't have trusted the people we trusted or valued the people we valued (especially if they're male, because "you know how men are", and "boys will be boys"). However, in anything short of being beaten or raped, we need to trust the men around us, never behave as if they should hurt us, certainly never imply by word or deed that they might be a threat or might actually hit or rape us. If we take logical, rational precautions to protect ourselves we are man-hating shrews who assume all men are evil and live constantly in fear. Even if we live in fear, if we get hurt it's our fault.

Ironically, it's bad for the men, too. When they aren't incapable of controlling themselves due to being overcome by lust upon the sight of any bare female skin, they are psyching themselves up to prove to other men how masculine they are, or being portrayed as mindless forces of violence who must be protected from themselves by women. See the catch-22 for women above.

Patriarchy is bad for men. It's worse for women.


( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Charlie VioletStripe - Cream (with blond brows)
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Hair: Magika, Mary Cherry - Golden Blond
Collar: Plastik, Recluse Collar - Bound
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings
Bracelets: Digital Eyes, Plactic Bracelet Purple
Dress: Kouse's Sanctum, Cristina Deux - Twilight
Shoes: G Field, Bow Strap Shoes "Kate" - white

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Haven of Rogues and Mer Sanctuary
Light Settings: TOR, HORROR - Rancid Milk
Water Settings: TOR, Waterslides (tinted pink)

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Color Challenge: Week Twenty-Seven: Olive

Olive week!

I actually quite loathe olives offline. The taste, the texture - ick ick! The color is fantastic, though; earthy and warm and green. Olives make me think of secret agents and my cousins, who love them and devour them raw.

The outfit I ended up in was complete happenstance. I'd been fluttering about in the Angelwing full outfit the day before, then switched to olive with the intention of taking off the Angelwing pieces after putting on my G Field olive dress and shoes. Then I realized the leaves matched perfectly, and an outfit was born! 


The stockings balance out the red in the wings and hairpiece perfectly, and the green on the new Plastik skin I just got highlights the contrast of green and red beautifully without being too overstated. I think it manages the red/green line without becoming garish or Christmasy, which doesn't fit the mood of olive in my opinion. And, of course, I had to use Olive Juice Poses. I mean... DUH!

The place I went to I found through Honour's Post Menopausal View, which is a lovely blog for finding new areas to explore. I lit it using Torley's Gelatto lighting scheme, which I've used before. I really need to spend more time experimenting, though; I'd hoped to be able to mimic the red and green in the sky, but it didn't work out well.


Since my last big post, I've been doing thinking about getting review items (none of which are in this post) and covering events in Second Life. I'm friends with a number of store owners, and have begun talking to a few more in the wake of reviewing their items, and one issue which comes up is that of "false friends", that is, people who try to be friendly and ingratiate themselves simply in order to get free things.

One aspect of current US culture which I've been uncomfortable with for ages is that of "networking" - that is, using your social interactions with others as a means of getting ahead in business. I ran into it via my mother, whom I love dearly but who also kept chatting up my hopes and dreams and trying to hook me up with people to further those ends. It feels false to me, though; showing interest and sharing information not for the reason of wanting to become closer to someone, but rather out of a desire to further one's own ends. Like so many things, I had the discomfort long before I had the language for it - and even now I struggle with the language, since on the one hand this seems to often be a mutual thing, on the other hand it makes me profoundly uncomfortable.


I'll admit to the very human desire to have everything I want without paying for it. If I could have the entire G Field inventory, I'd do so cheerfully; I only don't due to financial considerations and a desire to own things form more than one store! The same with many other stores I'm fond of, including Angelwing, Falln Angel Creations, Blue Blood, katat0nik, Hal Hina, Silent Sparrow, etc...

Sometimes I feel guilty about not covering stores I love, too. During the challenge, I seem to keep coming back to the same stores even though I love items from other stores as well. I struggle with time, with focus, with a want to promote the stores of my friends and a want to subsume myself in pure style, ignoring all external and social considerations. It leaves me in a tangle in the end, unsure exactly how to act, what to chose, how to spend my time. It can be overwhelming, and sometimes dispiriting, this drive to connect combined with the greed I find within myself which I'm truly not so proud of.


I want attention. I want things. I want love. I also want them for my own sake, and not due to an exchange of skills or influences. I want to feel as if people would like me even if I were (more) annoying, (more) demanding, (more) entitled, (more) of a bitch.

And I want to be perfect - the best friend ever, that everyone would want to be near. I want recognition, only for my own talents, and yet to be recognized as somehow unique and fantastic when I don't believe - lets be honest here! - that I am.

I want to be judged worthy and wonderful without being judged.

I want to not be a commodity.

I'm not sure I have that choice in this world.

( All of the pictures here. )

Credits:

Eyes: Tacky Star, Pride
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ear - Fairy
Skin: Plastik, Amber - Sacrilege
Wings and Flowers: Angelwing, The Spring Fairy in Blue
Hair: Exile, Liv - sand
Dress: G Field, Classic Dress "Clea" - olive
Stockings: G Field, Ruffle Socks - red
Shoes: G Field, Bow Strap Shoes "Kate" - olive

Location: Heart of Dragons
Light Settings: [TOR], Gelatto

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only