Pod People Back from Vacation

You may have noticed a distinct lack of Deo around for a while, and there's a very simple explanation - no internet. I was on vacation, a vacation that involved a lot of sleeping in cars and waking up in new and amazing places. I apparently really needed the sleep because until the last couple of days, any time I was in the car for longer than twenty minutes I would be snoozing. I had planned on catching up on a ton of podcasts, but it turns out that doesn't work so well when one keeps falling asleep and waking up at random times, so I switched to music or silence pretty early into the vacation. I had a ball, though; I was out with my family, seeing more distant family and beautiful places, and sometime soon I should upload a few videos of animals, as it seems like I'm no longer capable of going to a zoo without ringing out my phone to make animal videos. It's like some sort of weird sickness, or something. I missed my bed and my cat, but I'm afraid, darling internet, I didn't really miss you much. It still feels a little weird to be stepping back into the routine, but I did manage to pull together a new outfit and snap some pictures, and I'll be gradually catching up on memes and challenges over the next week or two. Right now I'm trying to get into the Halloween Spirit by being creeeeepy in a sort of understated, cute way, and I had a lot of help from some really fun designers.

These amazing, really fun horns are a recent release from Remarkable Oblivion at the Body Modification Expo, which I have to admit I bailed from early. Not to rant too much (I'm totally going to rant), but events where there isn't a single path to follow reasonably easily just frustrate me to no end; if I am feeling lost and not sure where I am one layer into your event, there's a better than even chance I will just give up. I was really glad Remarkable Oblivion was near the beginning because the discounted price on these horns tempted me to buy them even though they aren't my usual style - and they ended up blending so perfectly into the hair from Alice Project (currently a special deal at her store - one free a day - go and get and join her group for more free stuffs) that I couldn't resist building the rest of the outfit around a sort of creepy, bloody punk look. I also wanted a drizzly, smeared mascara, and Virtual Insanity came through for me - there were a bunch of different styles, but I really liked this totally drippy one. I think is sort of looks like oil is leaking from my eyes... eyes of the pod people. The pod people eyes are totally the creepiest from Rue, free and shiny as part of the Horrorfest Hunt (I totally have drowned in hunts now that I'm back - yay hunting). The necklace is also part of a hunt, specifically the EarthStones Mystery Hunt, where you pay a certain amount of Linden for an unidentified item, but all of them are really cool.

The new corset and sleeves from Dilly Dolls are really awesome and unique. They come separately, so you can add the sleeves to another look, and the bows on the wrists are totally cute. It has a peek-a-boo back, too, so you can wear it alone for that extra-sexy effect, or show off a pretty blouse underneath. One thing I love about the corset in particular is the enormous jack-o-lantern smile across the front; very festive and halloweeny. Under it I tucked this miniskirt from Rue, which has once again finished a corset look. One of the really fantastic effects of getting blogger packs is the inevitable Object That Isn't Your Style. I usually keep them kicking around in folders just in case, and in this case, with this micro-mini, this has been an unexpected butt-saver. It fits beautifully under almost every corset I've gotten so far, and in this case it perfectly bridged the divide between the richer, redder orange of the corset and sleeves, and the yellower orange of my tights and boots. My tights are from Frick (yay Frick - pretty Goth Loli clothes nao?) and were a cursed color in her tights gatcha; I have about ten million of these, even after passing them to everyone who was still online when I was spending (too much) money on the gatcha. Ironically, I got doubles of both of the Rares before landing a green - see, cursed? The gorgeous bats of my tights are echoed in the batty blue of my nails, too; also from Frick, there is even a candy corn coloration. Finally, Dilly Dolls returns with these awesome ombre boots which, in a stroke of unexpected luck, matched my tights perfectly. I really like how they're styled, with the heavy fabric wrapped around the calves and angling over the heels like legwarmers but without losing the boot feel at the top. I've long liked the combination shoe effect, and this one also has a fade, which is totally my favorite.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: Alice Project, Delirium (Halloween Massacre Special)
Horns: Remarkable Oblivion, Baphomet Horns
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: Rue, Lotus Eater
Eyeshadow: Virtual Insanity, THE DIRT Face Tattoo3
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick: Skinthesis, Liquid Heat
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe
Necklace: EarthStones, Karin Necklace
Hands and Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands and Feet
Nails: Frick, Halloween Nails
Corset: Dilly Dolls, Vivian Halloween Corset
Gloves: Dilly Dolls, Vivian Gloves
Skirt: Rue, Threads/Artist Miniskirts
Stockings: Frick, Batty Tights (Gatcha)
Boots: Dilly Dolls, Calypso Boots

Pose: Grafica

Location: Asalia House
Light Settings: Phototools, July Light 02
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Monochromatic

Monochromatic - literally one color - is when the shades of black and white are used in conjunction with a single color to create a rich field of view. These images aren't actually monochromatic, though - the Salamander eyes I chose from Rue's group gifts are of many colors, and that's perhaps why I'm not as happy with these as I might be (I'm already considering alternatives). One funny thing about how I do photoshoots, several pictures in a single location over space and time in a single outfit, is that while I have some artistic pretensions, I don't think about what I'm trying to convey as much as I might. It's more about the look and me, and how we both interact with the landscape; it's less about trying to capture a mood, or share a deeply held emotion, and I think sometimes that's a weakness to what I do. I am terrifically fond of this look, though; I think it's striking, almost overpowering, with subtle implications on oil and wildlife in the combination of Fallen Gods' dripping Coalborn with a much older Feathers skin of his, which I seem to return to now and then when I'm looking for white. My only wish is that he had adapters for the SLink hand system, as I would have loved to have superior hands, but in the end it's a minor point in an amazing look. I did augment the skin with a little cosmetics - lips from Rue and eyes from White Widow - but it was the blotchy dripping of the skin with the silkiness of the feathers which really dictated this black-on-white look.

The hair I all but backed into; a new, spiky, single sided hairstyle from Wasabi Pills. I didn't use the included texture for the skull - it doesn't work around my ears at all - and I think I like it better for being cleanly shaven. One of my favorite mandalas from my college years has a woman curving over the top, the long hair from one side of her head flowing around the circle of the mandala while the shaved other side mutely protests that extravagance. I was aiming for slightly unnerving, and I think the hair helps; it was pure luck there was a streaks addition to it, which enabled me to continue miking black and white as I went. From there, the outfit was obvious; I had picked up this new Moon Priestess silks from Deviance months ago, but never hit on a look which really called for it's opulent spareness. Since I had picked up the fatpack, I had a pick of the litter, and I settled on white, dark silver, and an opal gem texture available only in the fatpack. Something was missing on the ear, though, so I ended up copying and ripping apart one of the necklaces to make this dual-earring - I'm somewhat, but not entirely, pleased with it, but I wasn't in the temper to try to get the curving bands over the ear to work; perhaps another time. I really love the fit around the hips of the silks, though, and since the whole set is color-change on touch, I only had to fit it once. For the final touch of "priestess will cut u", I added this bindi from Souzou Eien after trying a few different options on. I think it well continued the trend of aggressive jewelry, for all that it is very simple.

All of these pictures were taken in world, in a sim with very muted textures which I further muted with the greying windlight I chose - you can see hints of green on the ground here and there, and a bit of other colors, but in general I aimed and cropped carefully. What I didn't do is apply any filters after taking the pictures - these are all possible in Second Life without anything more than cropping. Winter Moon is a fantastic place to try your hand at unedited black-and-white photography, as all of the buildings and such cooperate with a very monochromatic pallet with some nicely patterned trees. The only hitch is the waterfalls, which are plentiful and full bright, so when picking your windlight aim yourself at the waterfalls and make sure they work (or vanish). One thing I'm increasingly annoyed with, though, is the static nature of my expression in all of my pictures - that sort of calm, slightly smiley look which anyone who sees my photostream is well aware of. The actual facial animations available to us often distort and disfigure the face, being very extreme, but subtler effects can be gained by editing the shape, and now that I've adjusted my facial profile, I may start playing around with subtler emotions in the eyes, brow, and mouth to see how I can more subtly convey emotion. Yes, sometimes the snarling face above is fun - and even appropriate - but more often than not our anger and our sadness are concealed and quiet, not loud and distorted.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: Fallen Gods, Feathers (promotional item)
Tattoo: Fallen Gods, Coalborn (promotional item)
Eyes: Rue, Pluto - Salamander (group gift)
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: White Widow, Pisces
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick: Rue, Lip Service - Gothier Than Thou
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Morgan (promotional item)
Bindi: Souzou Eien, Precious Bindi
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Outfit: Deviance, Drown Moon Priestess
Shoes: Schadenfreude, Ivody Cygnette Shoes

Pose: !bang

Location: Winter Moon
Light Settings: Phototools - Mia Light
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 20 - Simply Cider

Simply Cider is a fun Twisted Color combination. I actually had the outfit set up, but ended up spending most of Saturday in a meeting and then the rest of the night as an awesome alpaca dancing in a row. One of the things I continue to love about Second Life is how untethered we are with out appearance - how in a moment's notice I can become something entirely transformed. Evens light changes can be unnerving, like adding these new eyes from Rue in, giving me dark, catlike eyes. She has a whole slew of releases, all of them the eyeballs which means that you can mix and match, but I stuck with a single set - the closest to rainbow. Aren't they gorgeous? Along with unnerving - the inclusion of black instead of the usual white really catches me off guard, looking at myself. I'm used to a much more innocent, less alien Deoridhe. My hair is from Wasabi Pills, a short, almost birdlike affair which adds to the disquiet; I think of myself as having long hair, so whenever I don a short hairstyle it's always an enormous change. My dress is an incredible release from Valentina E Couture, who has really come into her own with mesh clothing. I love the ribbon around the waist, and the dual-colored hem. My one complaint is how far down the invisible layer goes - far enough that I took it off for the picture below so that my upper legs are visible.

My shoes are a very old set from Alice Project, and I still simply adore them. They have so many options they still blow me away - you can change between the stiletto above to a wedge, in an enormous variety of colors; I pull them out every now and then simply because I love them, and the band over the toe of the shoe is perfect for dual color outfits. My jewelry, which is amazing, is another color changing marvel, this time from Virtual Impressions which has quickly become a favorite. It's also dual colorable, with a delicate winding pattern to it which is really enchanting. The store has some wonderful group gifts, which also allow you to pick up some fantastic sets with a lot of options for much less than expected. My nails are from Nine Inch Nails, a very new store with some amazing options for your nails. I particularly liked these divided nails, with the lace across the divide, and couldn't resist picking up several other similar styles. As time goes on, the additions for SLink nails are becoming more ornate and beautiful, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what creators come up with next.

patt

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Candace (promotional item)
Eyes: Rue, Pluto: Radium
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Elymode, Brown & Purple
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick : Mock, Lucir Lipcolor
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Skye
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: Valentina E Couture, Berries Dress Grape (Liason Collaborative)
Jewelry: Virtual Impressions, Cindy
Hands: SLink, Enhanced Mesh Hands
Nails: Nine Inch Nails, Deco
Stockings: Vextra Messing, Sheer Stockings
Shoes: Alice Project, Faelin Pumps

Poses: Glitterati

Location: .XVIMCI
Light Settings: Sim Default
Water Settings: Sim Default

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 18 - Pine’s Dawn

How do we know we're right?

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

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

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

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

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

Poses: !bang

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

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 12 - Hemingway in the Sienna

I think I'm going to be a week late for a while. Hemingway in the Sienna is another orange challenge, and I'm late once more! Go me! This has been a very busy end of the month for me, and I think one can tell in the sudden drop off in posts! Working my butt off at the Fashion Faire didn't help either! In the near future is the Fantasy Faire, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be an official blogger there again. This Twisted Color Challenge was surprisingly fun despite the surplus of orange, though; the combination of orange and creme is a very soothing one, though I'm not sure I quite hit the shade of orange head on. I adore this dress from katat0nik, though, so how could I resist showing it off? I particularly like the lacing down the back and how it blends into the skirt - which is a flexible prim skirt, not a mesh one. One thing I do miss in mesh is the sense of movement that you can sometimes achieve with flexible prims, and you can see that in the tilt of the skirt above. I paired the dress - which comes with the adorable nurses hat shown with it - with a curly-ended pony tail hairstyle from Alice Project. The color of the hair is a new one, though I'm not sure I quite managed to capture it in these images. Part of her new Sparkle Princess release, this new HUD of colors adds sparkles into the lives of all who love Alice Project. I chose sparkles at the tips of my hair, but it's hard to capture in images even if it's very pretty in avatar.

I have a couple of other very special releases to show off, and the first are these simply breathtaking new boots from Rue. Now, those who know Rue, know her mostly for her eyes and her horns - and for both of them she does these amazing color combinations and fades which really blow me away. She has decided to tackle shoes next, and I have to admit I'm amazed at the result. These boots are color-changable by a HUD which allows for changing the main part of the boot, and the alternate color heel and toe. She started with the normal pack, but for Ostara she released and incredible variety which simply gave me the vapors - seriously, I felt a little faint when I first began to try on the different HUDs. There is also an extra special release just for her group, because she really loves us, but what I'm showing above is one of the ones for public release. She also told me, though I haven't tried it yet, that you can mix and match between different HUDs. I love customizability, seriously! The other recent release that I'm just in raptures about is the headwings - earwings? - from Remarkable Oblivion. These were sold at L'Accessories, but I live in hope they will show up in his store afterwards because they rule! I ended up buying another set on an alt, since I'm setting her up to look awesomely weird.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusions, Seelie
Headwings: Remarkable Oblivion, Elysium White
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Mock, Makeup Gold
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss - toast
Hair: Alice Project, Persephone
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: katat0nik, Happy Nurse - orange
Jewelry: Mariposa, Simplicity
Heels: Rue, Soles/Sass

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Gayhaven Parish
Light Settings: Places Abracadabra
Water Settings: Mirror Glass

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 11 - Crucible’s Pom

I am very, very, very late for Crucible's Pom. In my defense, I did blog the entire Fashion Faire inside of a very busy week, but still I might have been able to combine if I'd had a brain to do so. I'm catching up, though! And I began by checking out a few of the recent events and piecing together something orange and gray. It was almost inevitable I'd end up revisiting Halloween, this time pulling out an awesome dress from Pinkmares (sadly closed) that I'd been meaning to blog for a while. Sometimes I feel like my inventory is a vast well of things simply waiting for me to blog them too late! I love the little gray skulls along the edges of the skirt, and the grinning yellow Jack o'lantern head makes me giggle every time I look at it. Keep your fingers crossed - Pinkmares may re-emerge on the marketplace in the future, and you too might be able to get something gothy, cute, and funny all in one. The other base items I chose was this awesome new hairstyle from Discord Designs. Cornrows are always entertaining on my very whitebread avatar, but these are simply divine. The braid-to-head-tattoo is seamlessly perfect, and I love the fall of braids down my back. I used to see this hairstyle sometimes on other women, and I simply loved it; it's even more fun to see it on me (without the eight or nine hours of braiding! Bonus!). Also as a bonus, it fit perfectly behind my ears, which is always a challenge with me and hair. I capped off the bottom end of my outfit with these gorgeous heels from Dilly Dolls which were released as part of Adore & Abhor Birthday, which has such a fun collection of gifts!

With the basics of my orange and gray look established, it was time to seek out some accessories, and L'Accessories seemed to be the perfect place to go. I find this event very challenging, because on the one hand I really love a lot of the stuff, but on the other hand I can easily drop $1kL on a given store, and that's a lot of Linden going out the door very quickly. After the Fashion Faire, where I went through $5kL easily and very likely more, I'm feeling the need to reign in my spending - something this event does not make easy! I started with this enormous hat from Lode, which is a major departure from my usual style, but I loved it so much. It's an oversized, soft felt hat with a huge poofy flower, and comes in a variety of colors - each of them with a color changing flower! I really like how it covers only one half of my head, which makes it easier to pair up with different hairstyles.The other purchase was practically a sinecure from when I first saw it - this gorgeous pearl collar from Lassitude & Ennui. I love the delicate patterning of the pearls over the lace, and I ended up buying the whole display out (see what I said about me and Linden? It's a curse!). The final touch was the cosmetics; I wanted to echo the coloring in my outfit without becoming too cartoonish, and so I turned to Virtual Insanity again, this time pairing two eyeshadows to get the orange and yellow effect I wanted. One nice thing about her eyeshadows is that the silhouettes of color vary widely from style to style, meaning that layering them really has a significant effect. The lips are a very old release from Rue which I simply love; they're one of the only lipsticks I have which contour to my unusually wide and narrow (for Second Life) lips, and I always seem to turn to them when I need a very dark, precise lip. It's too bad she doesn't have a whole line available now, since I'd buy the Hel out of them (*clears throat, tapping foot meaningfully ;)*).

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow 1: Virtual Insanity, SPRING Tangerine
Eyeshadow 2: Virtual Insanity, La Ligne - Yellow
Lipstick: Rue, Gothier Than Thou
Hair: Discord Designs, FBR01 - Dirty Blond (Promotional item)
Hat: Lode, Magnoli (L'Accessories Event)
Collar: Lassitude & Ennui, Viola Lace (L'Accessories Event)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: Pinkmares, Pumpkin Potion (Closed)
Heels: Dilly Dolls, Saula B-Lace Heels (Adore & Abhor Birthday)

Poses: Alchemy Immortalis

Location: Neva
Light Settings: EUPHORIA Fin de Siecle
Water Settings: Mirror Glass

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Color Challenge: Week 43 - Ghost White

I'm getting Ghost White in early so that I can focus on a few other things on my plate, but I really had a good time with it! I set it at MadPea's latest hunt, the Praying Mary hunt, which goes until the end of the month, and what I was aiming for was a ghostly figure in the darkness - an attempt at in-world, unedited chiaroscuro using a combination of windlight settings and body lights. Chiaroscuro is the purview of one of my favorite artists of all times, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn,and the idea behind it was of things rising out of the darkness, highlighted by the halo of humanity which illuminated his subjects. My favorite of his works is Lucretia, a moment poised while she's still contemplating the actions she will take; I'm unsure what I find so compelling about this (and I admit, on the computer screen it is significantly less inspiring) but I would linger by it every time I went to the National Art museum, leaning close to see the scraping of his pallet knife across the canvass, singing into the expression in her eyes, the slight smile of her lips as if she found some peace in a desperate act, the luster of the pearls and heavy weight of her gown. You can't see it on the screen, but in person the contrast between the smooth, soft texture of her skin and the harsh, angular, scraped texture of her dress is all but tactile. I adore his other work, but Lucretia transfixes me every time.

In my own, paler imitation of chiaroscuro, I shifted to a feathered skin from Fallen Gods and paired it with a similarly feathered dress from Angelwing, complete with little details along the sides and feathered fans for dancing. In the absence of anything more ghostly, I felt the effect of the feathering was reminiscent of a snowy owl, often the ghost of the evenings - but a violent ghost, moving silently through the night until he prey is spotted. The hearts of that prey are transfixed on my horns, from Rue, which were part of the Twisted Hunt sometime in the recent past. More ghostly hints come in the form of my wings, a lucky chair win from ni.ju a while back; the effect of them, when angled correctly, is really impressive - fading from light to shadow in smooth lines of demon wings.The only other detail was my hair, an old release from Wasabi Pills in a perfectly pale white. I felt like the final effect was a little demonic, a little owlish, and a little uncanny all at once.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: Fallen Gods, Feathers (Promotional Item)
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Cookie (Promotional Item)
Eyelashes: SLink, Eyelashes
Horns: Rue, Horn'd Marchmaker
Outfit: Angelwing, Feather Fairy
WIngs: ni.ju, Glow Dragon Wings - Ghost
Floater: katat0nik, Freebie Ghost

Poses: Glitterati

Location: MadPea: The Case of Praying Mary
Light Settings: AmbientDark
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Happy Birthday, Second Life (Part 1)

I'm absurdly happy to have my picture be one of the many around Rue's display. This is a picture I took ages ago, but remains one of my favorites - I loved the effect of the dark gray skin with the bright flashes of color. Somewhat ironically, I ended up pulling that hair out again briefly today, for a reason I may share in the future. The whole look was a departure from my usual style, and yet looking at it now I think I still look undefinably like myself - maybe it's the shape?

I have a new artist to hunt down when I have free time! This glorious creature makes 2D art you can sit in - something I'd been lamenting wanting for ages - and usually the art even moves~! It's a wonderful play on the 2D and 3D aspects of Second Life, adding in motion just to keep things interesting. I totally love it. She has a ton of pictures - more than I posed in, to be honest - and many of them equally charming and wonderful.

The white on white on white display led to me being very confused - and I have to admit I'm not entirely fond of builds where you can't see where you're going and it's easy to get lost. I loved the white on white effect, just not walking through some sort of same-colored maze. I did make it through without teleporting out in a huff, though - go me!

This build blew me away. I love Escher, I love fractals, and this take on the idea of metamorphosis (which is actually 3D - you can see hints of it on the sides) really made me happy. Pictures don't do it justice, seriously. I started at the HUB, which this was near, so it should be relatively easy to find. Remember to pause to let things rez!

( More pictures here. )

2012 Color Challenge: Week 22 - Cobalt

I love the color Cobalt! The funny thing is that it turned out to be three different colors in my inventory - which is testament to the variation on how colors are perceived. Is Cobalt the rich dark blue, or the bright blueish green? I think the former is more accurate than the latter, but I love all the colors so I can hardly complain! The names for colors are an interesting thing; many companies will trademark colors, not the color itself but the unique name for it. As things have become more and more divorced from nature, so have our colors become more and more separated from their sources. Cobalt is actually an element, one used for centuries to make blue pigments for various purposes. The element itself is a silvery gray color, but oxidized for use as a dye or smelt it becomes a rich blue color - closer to the blue of my gown and eyes than my hair! I'd be inclined to place the "second" cobalt as closer to Azure, which is a separate color in some languages but not in English. It refers to a certain shade of sky seen in Southern Europe, once again pointing us back to color's historical rooting in nature.

The hair is from the source of my hair addiction, Wasabi Pills, dyed to match my G Field shoes; it's rigged mesh, which means no adjustments, but you can still tint it and while I found it snuck through my ears a little, I love the curves of braid too much to let that dissuade me. The cosmetics are a mix of a very old Rue lipcolor, which may not be available anymore, and one of Mock's Faerie Punque set (I bought the fatpack); they look made for each other - and in particular I like Punque and the set of lipsticks I got from Rue for the richness of their huge; a lot of cosmetics try to match reality, but these safely fly above it - which I where I prefer to live. I added on a cameo-style jewelry set from Eclectica (check out the delicacy of the connections - I love how unique it is!), and built it all around this amazing gown from Sublime Shroud Kreations, which shares it's store space with De La Soul (who supplies my eyes and skin).

( 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: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyelashes 2: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyeshadow:  Mock, Faerie Punque in Cobalt
Lipstick: Rue, Painted: Lip Service - Nightshade
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Anais Hair - tinted to match shoes (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Jewelry: Eclectica, Rococco - Cobalt
Dress: Sublime Shroud Kreations, Lady Xith - Cobalt
Stockings: Unknown, Cobalt Carter Stockings
Shoes: G Field, Ribbon Slingbac Shoes - CobaltFlower Pumps "Eve"

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Cloudchasers 'Tomasik'
Light Settings: Riverrock Night
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Wear Gray

This is the season of Second Life Charities, and Wear Gray for a Day faire is one of those, found on a lovely sim in the style of a small town of stores. It's a little difficult to find your way around, having an internal 'c' of stores plus a circle of stores all along the edges, and a couple of little blocks of stores in free areas. All but a few stores are set up, and the quality of things is high but canted toward modern, casual female in general. You can also donate directly to the American Brain Tumor Association, either in addition to buying donation items (all of which were 100% that I saw) or instead of visiting. There's also a hunt going on, with pictures of some of the prizes shown on the website. I ended up picking up an almost complete outfit while I was there, aiming to match my awesome shoes from Forsaken. Multiple versions of the spiky, animal print wedges are available in a variety of electric colors all as donation items, but this is the official gray version!

The skin is an amazing creation of Rue, available in a few different colors for donation. Available for both men and women with a variety of characteristics, the white marks on the forehead and cheeks, and the pink blush under the eyes are part of the skin, as are these adorable freckles (it comes in a non-freckled version, too). I was beginning to think I needed to use another hair until I ran across Discord Design's glorious foray into rigged mesh hair, with this braided style I fell in love with. You can get it in sets of light or dark, or get all the colors in one. This is one of a couple of styles available for donation. I paired the whole look with a gorgeous dress from Blue Blood, with a thin trim of hot pink that I thought perfectly matched my cheeks. The outfit is prim, with an invisi-layer for the lower torso and upper legs, just to avoid flashing a bit of thigh. Across the chest is a white and pink band which handles the difficult SL mesh body well.

The jewelry is an old release from Eclectica - not being released at the faire but a valuable and useful addition to any inventory; the beads are recolorable in a bunch of shades in two separate sets, and the metal has three options. It comes with earrings, a necklace, and a ring, all showing in these pictures. The orange and purple eyeshadow is also not from the faire; it's a group gift from Mock that I put on to test and really enjoyed with the rest of the look. The eyeliner is from the faire, though - Silken Moon released a bunch of eyeshadow and lipstick for donation, as well as a variety of other items; the eyeliner is thick and dark, and the lipstick is actually editable and recolorable. Finally, the flower in my mouth from !bang was not only a donation item, but also a gatcha prize. I ended up with two of the white ones, but it was the perfect touch for my look! There are other colors, though, and a special rare silver one if you're willing to put in the linden.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: Rue, Anima - Neuromancer
Eyes: Rozena, Lively Eyes - cold dream
Eyeshadow: Mock, Carribean Twilight Elegance (group gift)
Eyeliner: Silken Moon, Stella Khol
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelases 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss - Lepore Red
Flower: !bang, Euphoria Mouthie (white)
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Hair: Discord Designs, Ohna - mid grey
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Jewelry: Eclectica, Clusters Jewelry Set (promotional item)
Dress: Blue Blood, Spring - yellow
Boots: Forsaken, Rawr! - Snow Leopard (promotional item)

Poses: aDORKable

Location: Cherry Manga
Light Settings: TOR, HORROR Namob islet
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Color Challenge: Week Fourty-nine - Wenge

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

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

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

WTF, Second Life?

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

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

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

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

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

Poses: Glitterati

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

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Color Challenge: Week Forty-four - Firebrick

Firebrick was actually a lot of fun to do, as I had a lot of things brick-colored, even if not specifically firebrick! Hair, dress, shoes - all of them were brickly! All of the brick items are pretty old, too, which is always fun. I like shaking outfits out of my inventory that I haven't looked at for a while, and this gave me another excuse to put on those gorgeous G Field Boots - though you can't easily see them under the long skirt of my Purple Moon dress. I'm pretty sure the hair from Plume came from a hunt - probably the Hair Hunt that was going on a year or so ago. I love the flowers in it, and I think they mimicked the spottiness of the dress pretty nicely - almost fawnlike. The horns are also an old prize from the Sugar Skull Halloween hunt from Rue - perhaps two years ago? It was the last prize before Rue closed for a while, and I can remember scouring the store for them because I found the candy horns so charming.


I ended up pairing the older brick-items with something brand new from Favole - wings which came from the mini-hunt going on at that sim along with the Fall Twisted Hunt. I've been picking up some of the items early, but I'll freely admit to picking and choosing my stores; the days when I tried to do an entire hunt are long behind me and are unlikely to return unless it's something unique, like MadPeas' Peaster's Castle was. Twisted in particular is a hunt I like to skip around on; I stopped finding a lot of the things done to keep the hunt "interesting" entertaining a long time ago. I know I'll likely be dismissed as looking gift-items in the mouth, but I think at the very least we have to have the right to not hunt for things in peace!


I think I lost my taste for the Twisted Hunt during the last one, when I went to a store and was IMed by someone asking me not to fly; the store was textured almost entirely in the box texture and set to fullbright, which made my eyes want to cross, and I was already in a bad mood from derendering twenty visible boxes a store or two before because I kept losing track of which I had found, and having decoy-box notecard names insulting me in a store a few before that, so getting IMed by someone asking me not to fly - when it was my AO - because it would 'ruin the hunt' was just the nail in the coffin. The store offered the next landmark in a giant box out front, labeled for cheaters or pathetic people, or some insult of that sort - and I just skipped. I enjoy hunting, but the extent to which I've had to deal with being called a cheater for camming around things, or a cheater for camming inside of a wall, or dealt with people telling me not to do something before a sim has even rezzed, has soured me on the more "difficult" stores and lead me to focus on the stores where I'm reasonably certain I'll like the prize, and where I'm not being insulted everywhere I go.


I've been reluctant to say this much about hunts, as there's a solid history of some store owners banning people who complained - and that's part of why I'm naming no names. I have stores I avoid, stores I delete the prizes of, stores I refuse to hunt in, but I won't put their names on the net. I greatly appreciate the generous gifts from store owners, and enjoy hunts - especially fun ones which take me around a store or through interesting places - but I'm done with being collateral damage for the anger and frustration of store owners. Since I made the decision to skip when my frustration gets too high, I've enjoyed hunts a whole lot more!


( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Kei Cream
Eyes: De La Soul, Roomee Eyes - Rainbow
Horns: Ruin, S.E. Sugar Skull Shaman - black
Eyelashes: Flugeln Brise, Eyelash 05
Eyecolor: Esk-Imo, Red Japan Makeup
Lipstick: De La Soul, Red
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Hair: Plume, Spring - Brick
Wings: Favole, Destruction Black
Dress: Purple Moon, Elie - Red Brick
Ring: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Shoes: G Field, Open Boots "Vilda" - brick

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Doomed Ship
Light Settings: Places Midian

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Tears in Tokyo

Rue is back! And her texture testers are a glorious set of flowered unicorn horns! I totally fell in love, especially when one matched this group gift from Blue Blood. I've been bouncing form thing to thing today, and I'm feeling a bit discombobulated, and a little more achy. I'm wishing for sour cheese and asparagus soup with celery. I have cereal and cocoa, and they will suit until the morrow.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Kei Cream
Eyeliner: Adam n Eve, Hepsut
Lips: Skinthesis, Liquid Heat - Brash
Eyelashes: Flugeln Brise, Eyelash 05
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Horn: Rue, Horn'd/Innocent - Copper
Hair: LeLutka, Nicole - Glucose
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings
Dress: Blue Blood, Tears - Brown
Ring: EarthStones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Shoes: G Field, Flower Pumps "Eve" - chocolate

Pose: Glitterati, 019

Location: Neo Tokyo
Light Settings: TOR, NIGHT - Under a Yellow Moon
Water Settings: Murky

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Color Challenge: Week Forty - Apricot

Apricot week was rather difficult for me because most of my apricot was more orange or brown! I ended up settling on peach instead (it's a similar fruit!), swinging around to one of my favorite stores of all time, Blue Blood. A while ago, Ghanima started making whitegoth styled clothing as well as standard gothic clothing, and it's really been a wonderful way to extend my Classic and Sweet Lolita styling.


This dress also comes with a black checked vest and skirts to match, but I liked the paler color for this challenge. The delicate ribbing is very sweet and adds some texture to it. I paired it with G Field shoes; the square toe and simple band is meant to carry over the simplicity of the dress. The outfit was rounded out with a set of pearls from Wretched Dollies that I simply couldn't resist (someday I will return and buy them ALL!).

I went with simple cosmetics to match - eyes a combination of two Adam n Eve designs, a peachy blush that I thought suited, and a very dark lipstick from Rue. It's a little dark for Sweet Lolita, but then I'm not your average Sweet Lolita! The hair is a Hair Faire purchase from Raspberry Aristocrat, and they may be on my list as a new store to check out semi-regularly. I love the bits of hair flying loose, which makes the whole style look casual and natural.


I've really been grateful for my friends this week - complementing me, teasing me, listening to me whimper and complain, worrying about me, and giving me advice. When things are hardest in my life, they always seem to be there to cheer me up and make me feel like I'm a valuable person. It encourages me to take care of myself - something I'm not always the best at. Indulging myself, yes. Taking care of myself... not so much.


I don't know if all the exploring and picture taking counts as taking care of, though. it's definitely distracting. When I'm cursing shattered unicorn horns for being so hard to find, I'm distracted from the pains in my life. When I'm impatiently waiting for my auction spot to go, to see how much I'll make, I'm distracted from the pains of my life. when I'm trying on new clothes, or sorting my inventory, there isn't room in my mind to fret over the many things I could fret over.



( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Kei Cream
Eyes: Adam n Eve, Winter Garden and Hepsut
Cheeks: Honey Kitty, X'mas Cheeks 3
Lips: Rue, Cold Kiss
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Hair: Raspberry Aristocrat, Jane Hair - Blond Honey
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings 
Necklace: Wretches Dollies, Pearls & Diamonds
Dress: Blue Blood, Piper - Peach
Shoes: G Field, Square-toe Shoes "Sophie" - white

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Enchanted
Light Settings: TOR, MIDDAY Why So Blue 1
Water Settings: TOR, Atomist

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only