2012 Color Challenge: Week 13 - Green Tea

I had a lot of fun doing green tea, and it came from an entirely unexpected purchase I made during Fashion For Life - which is still available at the store, I checked! VoguE is an amazing store, with a specialty for filmy lingerie which carries over into amazing clothing. I especially like how the alpha prims are managed - they are over a layer of solid prims, which means a lot of the alpha occlusion errors are stopped before they can even start. I also love the flip-up of the jacket in the back - it makes me so happy! I thought Wasabi Pill's 80s inspired mini-ponytail was a perfect match, being slightly classy and very perky. Up close, you can see the multilayered bangs which are very, very fun, and it's mesh so it bends with your head instead of cutting through your body. I really like how this style frames my eyes, which are a mesh version of my favorite eyes from De La Soul. You can really see how the mesh versions have a much brighter and crisper color; these weren't rigged, so I was able to stretch them to fit my oversized anime eyes. The necklace (with matching earrings) is a fantastic new release from Elemental that includes two color changing stones - which can be green, black, red, or purple. I went with the malachite, which is this fantastic shade of green. The shoes, which round off the whole look, are another fantastic group gift from Felicity. If you need flirty heels, Felicity is definitely a group to join - she keeps all of the old group gifts out indefinitely, which is fantastic for filling out an inventory. Most of her shoes have feet attached and the tinting system is a very simple one where you tint a prim to match your skintone, then apply it to the feet.

I was not an official blogger for Fashion For Life, though I did get a pack from a dear friend - not shown here - and I did my usual spin-round the sims to pick up clothing which would give donations to the cause. I saw with some trepidation the recent bruhaha regarding bloggers who said they would blog but ended up not being able to, in one case ironically due to a reoccurance of her cancer. I now receive a lot of free items from store owners, a lot of them from people I have blogged independently before starting to get offered free stuff. In two cases, those offerings come with strings - an expectation of blogging the items within a week. Part of me lives in fear of missing a release and being dropped, but I decided a long time ago to just take that if it comes and not worry about it. The rest of the generous store owners have pretty much explicitly said their gifts are given no strings attached; often I feel more comfortable in those cases because I know some of my money has already gone to them and that I would spend money even if I wasn't on their list, and I never forget to be very generous. I think the drama brings up an underlying tension on the side of many store owners, though, where they don't have trust in their bloggers. I'd like a world where we could all support each other and give each other the benefit of the doubt, but I'm honestly not sure where to start.

( 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
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A Planty
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Cosmetics: Mock, Pandora's Gingersnaps and Champagne (group gift)
Glasses: Air, Cresta
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Kumi Pony esh Hair (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Jewelry, Elemental, Oracle Set - Silver and texture change
Dress: VoguE, Daisy Dress - Olive
Shoes: Felicity, Gianna Stilettos - green (group gift)

Poses: Dare

Location: Caisteal
Light Settings: TOR, SCIFI Whirld Spinnin
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Fuzzy on the Details

This has been a very frustrating week for me, as a person who photographs in the wild. Every night I've tried to take the pictures for this post, and while I finally managed tonight - it took me the better part of five hours, with nearly a crash an hour, and you'll see in the pictures that I didn't manage to actually get them all clear to the way I'd like (as you can see above - that picture took an hour and a half and I finally gave up on rebaking my textures because it did nothing). It's completely maddening, especially since the outfit I'm wearing was at Fashion for Life, and I'd wanted to blog it before FFL ended but I kept crashing! Or not loading! or loading, managing to cobble together a picture, and then crashing! I have uninstalled and reinstalled more Second Life browsers in the past few days, and I seriously want to strangle my LSL bridge (which keeps having scripts added, wtf?) and the SL media plugin webkit which was loading just fine before I upgraded to the latest Firestorm, but which is now crashing there times each time I open my browser. Not to mention the flickering to black happening every minute or so and sometimes followed by a crash. Grrrr!

I love this outfit, though, and while this is a Fashion for Life exclusive, it's available in other colors at Falln Angel Creations. The curving snakes are absolutely my favorite, and I thought they fed in nicely to the temptress-in-the-garden feel of Happy Mood's awesome sim of gorgeousness (and sadly, lag). Azriel's prims are always fully editable, which makes it easy to modify the snake to fit if ut hugs a little to tightly to your curves. I usually find things a bit thin and long for me, being a small and plump Deoridhe, but very easy for me to fit. The boots are a very welcome gift from Kcreations; I had mentioned when I blogged her fantastic mesh ponyboots that I hoped she'd make ballet boots, and low-and-behold what found it's way into my inventory! Like her ponyboots, these come with a fantastic tinting HUD which allows for extreme amounts of customization and matching, are a wonderful fit out of the box, and simply come multi-colored for one astonishingly low price - literally cheaper than a single thigh high boot from other stores. A final new shiny thing is this amazing cosmetics set from Mock - the eyes and mouth come together and are really striking and powerful. They were in a gatcha, but kindly there was an option to just buy them all, and that's the tack I took~!

( 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
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A Planty
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Cosmetics: Mock, Aos Si Leaves Red
Eyeliner: Adam n Eve, Hepsut
Glasses: Air, Cresta
Hair: Analog Dog, Bound
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: Falln Angel Creations, Toria Dress (FFL Exclusive, promotional item)
Shoes: Kcreations, Ballet Thighhigh Boots (gift)

Pose: Olive Juice

Location: Happy Mood
Light Settings: Places Cromac

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Occlusion Error

I received a comment on one of my promotional posts recently which really surprised me.

I am sorry you chose to feature my work in such bad light, in front of another alpha...any feather, any fur would respond in this way in front of another alpha such as the background you choose. As a serious designer in rl and sl, its a challenge, but a great challenge to create beauty within presets such as transparencies and alphas of digital networks. However, negative press does not offend me, inaccuracy does, your comment "alpha occlusion issues" is not journalism at its best, as a great journalist would complete the report on how this happens throughout the grid, with feathers, fur and any alpha texture needed to create an outstanding dress. Thank you for your efforts.

I have to admit I was nonplussed; it took me a while to realize that she interpreted my top image - one of my favorite from that particular set - as meaning to be a critique in some manner, rather than what I thought was an amazing effect similar to a photograph taken with a thin dress backlit in a smokey area - something attractive, in short, rather than unattractive.

Opinions often disagree on matters of taste, and people who take time and effort in creating things (in this case this picture took forever to get the angle, and then I had to wait for the smoke effects to obscure the wings as well so I looked insubstantial - like I was fading away) often feel hurt and defensive when critiqued, however mild; given I'm posting this, I am obviously no different. In the interests of being accurate, even though I'm not a journalist and don't aspire to be one on Second Life, I want to make it clear - I like this picture. I think it's pretty. I like how the semi-transparent part of the dress looks semi-transparent, and how it adds to the general mood of the picture.

I don't take pictures to provide "bad press" but neither do I want to be a "journalist". I do object to being called inaccurate given "any feather, any fur would respond in this way in front of another alpha such as the background you choose" is how the comment in response begins and yes, when I say "alpha occlusion errors" I am referring to something which occurs with any texture of this type (I've noted this effect elsewhere in reviews for different creators). There are ways to mitigate it, using slightly smaller prims that have no alpha in them are are tinted similarly (I've actually modded dresses in this manner when I wanted to), but in this case, in this dress, I think the effect is really attractive.

To be clear, I have no wish to be a "great journalist". I only want to post pictures I like with a few words, either based on my thoughts of the day or to respond to the creators I value so highly in Second Life, sometimes even with critique. Any creators who don't wish to be reviewed by me, given this, are free to let me know and I will abide by your wishes and not purchase or wear your clothing.

Edited to add 3/29/2012:

I received a notecard titled "We Love Bloggers" today from the esteemed Paris Metro Couture with the following description:

Deoridhe Quandry        "serious alpha occlusion issues" bad mouthed   

I have a case of the giggles, now, especially since she listed me twice, once without the fearful quote. I totally feel the love.

2012 Color Challenge: Week 12 - St. Patrick's Blue

Being pagan, being a polytheist, I'm not terribly enamored with St Patrick - who drive the pagans out of Ireland. I have a soft spot for his blue, though, so I'll give him a pass for this week. Religion is a funny thing, though. I was a seeker in my teens, and am now fairly settled in my religion, comfortable with it. It's never far from my thoughts, but I'm released from a lot of the demands of other religions since there's no proselytizing, or regular prayer demands, or even dietary restrictions. I participate on a few online forums; I had a long period of trying to show people I was right, which seemed to be my analog for the proselytizing stage of other people's religious life. Now... I'm much more interested in interesting conversations. New conversations. It's very difficult to find those - with people I interact with int he contexts of philosophy, the vast majority are atheistic and often openly hostile to the version of Christianity they dislike most, which is the only type of religion they want to discuss. Within pagan contexts, a lot of people are concerned with things I don't care about - like casting spells to get things and finding their spirit animals, or accumulating a series of gods to call upon in prayer.

And even when I respond, I tend to be somewhat scholarly and blunt, which doesn't always make me friends. Recently I did a very long response to someone's questions about prayers and got an incredibly rude response, and then a begrudging apology after a couple of people let the individual know how long I had been a member of that community (lets just say a Long Ass Time). I felt the momentary urge to crush with a scathing response, but I've grown really tired of that response, of the one-upmanship of debate where you are less interested in an interesting discussion and more interested in scoring points and winning. I still feel that urge to win, to crush, to hear the lamentations of their spouses as I return their twisted carcass to the doormat of their front door, but I've been down that road so many times before and it seems to hold nothing new for me. Novelty, if nothing else, will drive me away from being an asshole on the internet.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee - rainbow (mesh, promotional item)
Eyeshadow: Mock, Charquoise (group gift)
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A Planty
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Lipstick: Mock, Opal Lipcolor - Puce
Glasses: Air, Cresta
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Kamiko Mesh Hair (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Necklace 1: Axiom, Transmigration of Souls
Necklace 2: Little Boy Blue, Luxor Necklace - small
Necklace 3: Earthstones, Knotty Beads - Labradorite
Dress: Evie's Closet, Fable Gown - Blue
Shoes: Poised, Queen Boots - tinted (Closing Sale Until the End of March)

Poses: !bang

Location: The Labyrinth of Absurdity
Light Settings: Riverrock Night
Water Settings: TOR, Waterslides

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Fashion For Life: Time Heals All Wounds

Every year, Falln Angel Creations does some amazing exclusive items for Fashion for Life, and this year is no different. He has a shocking number of custom things, all only for Fashion for Life, including two styles of kimono - Geisha and Oiran (each with two overall styles and three obi styles) - a suit, and two gorgeous dresses. I'm wearing the Oiran kimono, which is in a fantastic style that is the closest to an actual kimono that I have ever seen in second life - from the puffed hem along to back to the layering of the collar, this is exquisitely designed. I particularly like the lush textures - notice the shine on the skirt visible under the curve of the kimono right above my Azoury shoes. Both kimonos come with shoes, but I decided to go slightly sideways in styling, including Azoury's stylistic pattens and a blond updo from Exile with wild spikes meant to echo the elaborate Oiran hairstyles. I continued the off-center echoes in the cosmetics, mirroring the elaborate eyeshadow and cheek blush that is usually in pink in other colors but a similar shape - cheLLe's Tropical set was perfect for this and I think .la petite morte's stripe is the perfect finisher for the face, minimalistic and hinting at the highly stylized cosmetics historically used by Oiran.

Fashion For Life FAQ (inspired by a user who seemed entirely unfamiliar with event):

Do The Displays Change Every Day? No

What Are You Wearing? Oiran Kimono, from Falln Angel Creations, which is exclusive to this event.

What's The Cause For This Event? Like it says on the signs, Fashion for Life is associated with the American Cancer Society.

How Can I Help? If you purchase things from the event vendors, the money goes to the American Cancer Association.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, Radiance - Spectrum (mesh, promotional item)
Eyeshadow: cheLLe, Tropical - Green/Gold
Eyeliner: Boom, Midas Touch
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A Planty
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Lipstick: La petite morte, Orange Stripe Lips
Glasses: Air, Cresta
Hair: Exile, Dragonfly - sahara
Hair Stick: Falln Angel Creations, Megumi Hair Sticks Single - green
Kanzashi: Falln Angel Creations, Katsumiyo Kazashi - silver
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Kimono: Falln Angel Creations, Oiran Kimono FFL Exclusive (promotional item)
Lantern: Nonino, Lantern "Sakura" (2012 Tsunami Relief Fund)
Shoes: Azoury, Les Bottines Victoire Vert

Poses: Glitterati

Location: DreamSeeker Its Time
Light Settings: TOR, EUPHORIA sunset 1
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

2012 Color Challenge: Week 11 - Aquamarine

I love the color Aquamarine, so I was glad to see it come up - but I was surprised by how little I had that was called aquamarine. I found a lovely set from the sadly defunct Kyccie's that had a wonderful aquamarine and pearl design. If comes with two headbands - I've wearing both - a collar, a necklace, and earrings. There are delicate flower details on one of the headresses, the collar, and the earrings which inspire my choice of rose detailing in the other bits of clothing. I ended up pulling out a very old dress from Umi Usagi that my friend Tomoyuki lured me to (he of the temptations!). Umi Usagi tends toward complicated prim attachments that curve smoothly into the textures of the outfits, often incredibly well. The skill of the store has only been increasing, but even in this dress form well over a year ago you can see how the sleeves are given a sense of fabricness through the clever use of semi-translucent prims. The skirt is also very complicated, with an apron included (there is also a skirt without an apron) and delicate layering of ruffles and lace. The stomach area is open, nicely counterpointing the otherwise formal Lolita style to make it fully Ero Lolita. The erotic is a common theme on Second Life, and this doesn't fit the standard images of sexy, but I like to think this subtle, flirty sort of sexy is more consistent with my personality.

 

The hair is from Wasabi Pills and is another of her skillful mesh designs, this one with adorable loose braids going over the shoulders. I indulged in a more unusual color, and while it's darker than aquamarine, I think it suits the rest of the look nicely. The eyes I'm wearing are part of a new set called Radiance from De La Soul, and since I have serious blackmail material on the creator she passed me the rainbow ones as soon as they were made and I popped them in right away! I love how bright they are, and the colors are simply amazing. The Umi Usagi outfit also came with shoes but I'm not as fond of those (the newer shoes from Umi Usagi are much better), so I substituted in my absolute favorite shoes from G Field, which you can see more closely right below.I bought the fatpack because I always buy G Field's fatpacks, which means these shoes can color change on touch (her newer color-changing shoes are HUD driven, which is a wonderful touch). You can see in this close up just how skillful G Field's shoes are, from the texturing - which is divine - to the delicate curves of the roses, which look real enough to inspire smell. She also uses those roses in other pieces of clothing, jewelry, and even some enormous posable rose bushes, and you can see why! These are my absolute favorite roses in Second Life, and I never tire of looking at them.

The subject of sexiness, attractiveness, the erotic, and women is something I always end up swirling back around to. Second Life is rather steeped in the common dichotomies of gender - women who are tall and thing wearing very little clothing combined with men you have absurdly broad chests and huge muscles wearing only slightly more. My own sense of style and sexiness tends to be much more subtle and closer to cute, though I've been known to rock a pair of silks pretty well. This outfit is a good example of a more Victorian sense of sexiness, where the erotic implications come not from showing every curve but rather come from careful showing of some bodyparts with being entirely covered up, and even obscured, on the rest of the body. I think the flash of throat or wrist, the hint of thigh, a flash of stomach can be so much more interesting that the bald reveal of every bit of skin. That is a personal style, though; the showing of a lot of skin shouldn't imply anything about the person. There's a common line of thought that particularly scantily dressed and inaccurately shaped women are actually men, but think that implies that women can't internalize those standards of beauty, and I really don't think that's true. Women are often complicit in the continuance of unreasonable standards of beauty, and it is unsurprising those standards would continue into a world where you can be anything and look like anything you want to.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, Radiance - Spectrum (mesh, promotional item)
Eyeshadow: Kosh, Lost Souls Eyeshadow - frozen
Eyeliner: cheLLe, Cleo Called Teal
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A Planty
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss - Apple Blossom
Glasses: Air, Cresta
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Cherilyn Hair (mesh, promotional item)
Jewelry: Kyccie's, Hopeful Flower - Aquamarine
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: Rabbit Kiss, La bebe gothique
Shoes: G Field, Flower Pumps "Eve"

Pose: MiaMai, Lazy Sundays June 05

Location: Mermaid Temple
Light Settings: TOR, SCIFI Albedo 0.39
Water Settings: TOR, Maldives

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

I Can Haz Promotions: Anatomy of a Blogpost - Advertising

I realized that, in the tail end of the last Anatomy of a Blogpost post, I left off with taking that shot. The final piece of a Blogpost is advertising - and also the most boring part of it, frankly. First of all, I had joined a wide number of feeds. I don't get a lot of traffic from them, but joining is What Is Done. There's a section on my blog which lists all the feeds I've applied to, and I believe I'm on all but one. Secondly, I send out a notecard to the designers that I reference in the text. I credit everything I wear, but I only send a notice to the creators when I talk about their items in the text of my post (though in one embarrassing case, I referenced them in the text but failed to have a picture clearly showing their product - awkward!). Some of this is self-protective; in the case of my usual items I wear, I'd be contacting those poor designers every couple of days. Some of it is because it doesn't seem fair to claim I'm promoting someone without spending the time to note what I like about their creations.I'm going to give you the text I use; feel free to swipe it if you're stuck for a semi-professional manner to alert creators to your blogpost.

I just wanted to let you know that I featured your store on my blog in the post address below.

[blog address]

Thanks so much for your beautiful creations! Please keep up the wonderful work.

Sincerely,

Deoridhe Quandry

With designers who are personal friends, though, I just IM them with the address and some smart-ass remark.They like me anyway. Thirdly, I add the address of my blogpost to the description of each picture in the set I took, even if they aren't in the blogpost, before adding the pictures to as many groups as I can. I have found groups by looking at the lists of other people, and I try very hard to stick to the rules of each group. Over time, I've gotten a bit of a following on flickr, but I'm still small potatoes compared to a lot of fashion blogs. I'd love to be more popular - but you can't exactly force it!

This look really came together, even though the shoes I started with ended up by the wayside (you'll see them in a later post). I am slowly becoming addicted to Paris Metro's dresses. Sometimes there are serious alpha occlusion issues, but in the case of this dress those effects simply add to the style, making them seem even more fluttery and featherlike. I love the shade of blue, too, and the lovely gloves which came with the dress. I ended up tugging the hair out of my inventory - it's an old release from Tribal Soul and is an awesome, over-the-top design for your best styling cocktail look. I love the piling on top, and since the hair is modify-ok, I could easily move the few strands cutting through my hair into a better place. I capped it off with a hairflower from Rose Princess, which is sadly a store which is no more; I picked it up in their closing sale, and I'm really glad since the flower and feather combination is very unique and striking. My cosmetics come from my two favorite cosmetics stores; Elymode's eyes are among my favorite, and though Mock does do eyes, I'm really fondest of her lips - which are well made, unique, and come in a huge variety of shades to match any outfit. I joined Mock's group recently, and I have to say her group gifts are frequent and well worth the group slot and joining fee. Elymode is another pay-to-join group with wonderful group fits and the occasional chance to get an entire release as a gift! I received a set recently, though I haven't had a chance to blog them yet.

The stockings are a transplant from Sn@tch, who always do glorious accessories (and clothes!) and add just the right amount of darkness to the bottom. I capped them off with adorable flat Mary Jane shoes from Duh! (available in a wide variety of colors, and a perfect traditional style of shoe for your Lolita wear in particular). What made me giggle was that as I was taking these pictures, another set of promotional items from Duh were entering my inbox! Sometimes I swear designers know when I'm thinking about them! I added in a truly original set of stone necklaces from Elemental, which I wore a turquoise set from recently, and I really like the styling of it as well as the slight shininess which makes them look like polished stone. The final striking piece to this look are the wings, which are a double feathered set from Favole. If I wasn't so attached to my Fancy Fairy wings, I'd be wearing Favole all the time; not only are they interestingly made and often quite unique, but they look amazing from any angle, which is really a lot of fun.I love how they react to light in particular - like in the picture below, each feather simply seems to catch the light.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow (mesh)
Eyeshadow: Elymode, Solstice - midnight blue
Eyelashes: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Lipstick: Mock, LipGlimmer - Burning Sands
Glasses: Air, Cresta
Hair: Tribal Soul, Rehab - Platinum (promotional item)
Hair Accessory: Rose Princess, B-Feather Chain Cross - blue
Jewelry: Elemental, Liquit Logic Cabochon Set (promotional item)
Wings: Favole, Wrath (promotional item)
Dress: Paris Metro, Feather Leather Blue (promotional item)
Stockings: Sn@tch, Ribbed Tights
Shoes: Duh!, Mary Jane - blue (promotional item)

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Metamorphoses
Light Settings: TOR EUPHORIA smoky blue

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only 

Edited to add on 3/29/2012: For anyone drawn here by Paris Metro's kind advertizement of me as "bad mouth", you may also wax lyrical on my lack of journalistic integrity in this post. You can also check out old examples of said lack of journalistic integrity on all my posts featuring Paris Metro, where my praise of the clothing is a clear indication of what a poor judge of fashion I am and how little respect I have for creators in Second Life.

Formal Turquoise

Across my bow came an interesting challenge - to pair up this turquoise set from Elemental with formal wear as a way of re-imagining what is often viewed as a "casual" jewelry set. I had it as a vague thought, fitting the jewelry and then leaving it on as I tried on the wide variety of things in my 'new' folder when this group gift from Purple Moon Creations came across my deck and I absolutely fell in love. I'm not sure what it is about the color combinations of ivory, black, dark crimson, and turquoise, but it really appealed to me. The belt of the dress isn't editable in separate pieces, so I ended up making two of them and overlapping them so that I could keep the slenderness of the silhouette while still surrounding my entire waist - sometimes being thicker and having a belly leads to some odd fixes.

I find the challenges of combining things which don't immediately seem obvious really fires me up -I like when things are slightly tilted off, slightly strange. Turquoise itself is a stone with a fascinating history, found in the Southwest in the country I'm from, it's strongly associated with the Navaho, Zuni, and Hopi tribes. One of the symbols found in various styles in the Southwest is something called the squash blossom design - different tribes and individuals have different styles - and part of my inheritance from my grandmother was a full set of necklace and earrings purchased from a Navaho craftsperson. There are laws in the United States now which forbid people outside of the tribes to sell tribal symbolism, crafts, and ritual creations - but it still happens, so whenever purchasing something from a native tribe, look for the indication that it is being sold in accordance with the law, both out of respect for the rich culture such beauty springs from but also as a point of honor - to honor those who should have been honored all along, and who even now are not given even a tenth of their due.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow (mesh)
Eyeshadow: Mock, Gunpowder Indifference
Eyelashes: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Lipstick: Mock, Micare Lipglimmer - Mandarin Sparkle
Glasses: Air, Cresta
Hair: Truth, Eden - golden
Jewelry: Elemental, Panache - Turquoise
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings
Dress: Purplemoon, Spanish Lady (12000 Member gift)
Gloves: Eclectica, Swoon - ivory
Shoes: G Field, Lady Rose Shoes - wine

Poses: Ks2cool

Location: Foul Whisperings - Strange Matters
Light Settings: TOR, EUPHORIA low saturation
Water Settings: TOR, Claira

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Crimson Prezzie

My birthday was recent, and I had some dear friends spoil me with some very, very shiny shoes from Azoury. Never have I been so glad for Firestorm's settings where you can move yourself up and down - I need them for these shoes to not be half in the ground and that would be oh so sad, since they are entirely awesome. Something this dramatic needs a dramatic outfit, and I think this special release minidress from Epoque that was released as part of the Escher display in the Epoch event (thorugh March 11th). I bought a few Echerish things, being a great fan of his art; I've always wanted a room sized so metamorphosis can go around the top of it (or barring that, somehow make my own Metamorphosis). Ironically, I noticed when I was taking these pictures that I didn't pair the metamorphosis dress with the metamorphosis sim! Clearly I'm not thinking clearly. The Dark Side is an amazing sim, though; the default windlight is a silvery gray - very modern - but the nice thing about the overall tone being black and gray is that you can radically change the mood and tone - in this case a striking echo of my black and red outfit. I'll probably be back with a different outfit and windlight, playing with how deeply malleable someone else's creations can be.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow (mesh)
Eyeshadow: Lilapop!, La Llorona Eyeshadow - red
Eyelashes: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Lipstick 1: Damned, Alice Lipstick - Red 4
Lipstick 2: Mock, Mzu Venetian Red Lipgloss
Glasses: Air, Cresta
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Reptilia Hair - Flaming Cherry
Jewelry: Axiom, Anthropic Principle Set
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings
Tattoo: Silent Sparrow, Cherry Birdie Tattoo Top
Dress: Epoque.s, Metamorphosis Minidress - red
Gloves: Bubble, Laced Corset - Red
Stockings: Violent Seduction, Lingerie Masquarade
Shoes: Azoury, Les Bottines Victoire Noire et rouge

Pose: Pffiou!, Ready to Rumble

Location: The Dark Side
Light Settings: TOR, HORROR Asian Red
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Metamorphoses

I love art displays in second life - especially interactive ones when I'm not lagging. Metamorphoses is an imagining of hell - which of course I  try to make all pretty and pose in front of in a cool new dress and shiny hair. There are some more serious things - I focused on the pretty - including a rather disturbing image of execution - not entirely fashionista material. The entire sim is fascinating, though - alternately beautiful and disturbing. With the right lighting, everything seems to be in a halflight glow on the edge of forever.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyeshadow: Mock, Turquoise 2 Chocolate
Eyelashes 1: Flugeln Brise, 05-A Planty
Eyelashes 2: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Lipstick: L.Fauna, Black
Glasses: Air, Cresta
Hair: Mikan, Ai Princess - rainbow
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, "Tiwi" Nestling Finger Talisman
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring
Dress: katat0nik, Ruby - green
Gloves: Latte, Black Gloves
Legwarmers: G Field, Leg Warmer for heels
Shoes: G Field, Ribbon Slingback Shoes

Poses: Magnifique

Location: Metamorphoses
Light Settings: TOR, EUPHORIA Realm
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

2012 Color Challenge: Week 10 - Avocado

Avocado was a lot of fun, once I got my connection to second life working! I ended up in the starting area of Invisible Cities, a new multi-artist display at LEA Sim 15. I really fell in love with a bunch of the small details in this starting area - especially the poetry bushes! It was harder to place myself by the boats, so I mostly ended up getting my feet damp in the shoals of creative endeavor, but I don't think the pictures turned out half bad - despite only my shoes bearing the title avocado! The dress from The Laughing Academy is an old prize from one of the early OZ hunts - named Elphaba, it's from the book/musical that was never much to my taste, but this dress is sublime. I used loose locks from Wasabi Pills, reveling in their being rigged to my torso so that I can bend my head this way and that while they remain glued in place. The cosmetics are an old set from De La Soul and I love the viney delicacy of them, curving down my cheek like wavering tears.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Lipstick: Mock, Sang Lip Creme
Eyelashes 1: Flugeln Brise, 05-A Planty
Eyelashes 2: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Glasses: Air, Cresta
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Sybille2 mesh (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, "Tiwi" Nestling Finger Talisman
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring
Dress: The Laughing Academy, Elphaba Gown
Boots: Sweeter Than Candy, Mimsi Bow Flat - Avacado/Berry

Poses: EverGlow

Location: Invisible Cities - Level 1
Light Settings: TOR, EUPHORIA Realm
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Cipher Rose

Along the edge of various artistic sims, ones which show off art, you often find art in the build itself - in between the frames are little spots of beauty. One of the pleasures of enjoying the art on the wall, are also finding the little spots of elegance and enjoyment in the corners and middles of rooms of art.

And there are no people around to stop you from running around the chairs!

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Lipstick: L.Fauna, Lipstick - Purple
Eyelashes 1: Flugeln Brise, 05-A Planty
Eyelashes 2: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Glasses: Air, Cresta
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Ginger Mesh Hair - Golden (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, "Tiwi" Nestling Finger Talisman
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring
Dress: Blue Blood, Diana - Purple
Boots: Cipher, Punk Lolita "Lamia" - purple

Pose: Still Life, [twit] zoom zoom boom

Location: The Rose Theatre
Light Settings: Midday

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

It's my birthday! I'm all Older! It's my birthday!

It's my birthday! And I am having a ball so far.

I started prep for the festivities on the weekend, picking up all of the extra cooking supplies I needed (like a cooking scale, and almond flour) for the orgy of tastee that is to make up my happiest of birthdays (and bleed over to co-workers over the next few days, as I'm cooking a LOT of food!). I also splurged on some books - one of my favorite series had two, not one but TWO books out, and I spent last night reading the first far too late into the evening (and it was hard to put down the second today). Yesterday, I made jello stained glass pudding so it would have overnight to harden - I mostly screwed it up, but it makes for a pretty picture! I'm going to have to do it again from scratch, though. The differences in solidity between the "panes" and the "mortar" is just too great for it to be anything but funny to look at. Luckily, jello isn't that expensive, because I want to do this again soon! It was pretty easy (I just need a bunch of 8x8 pans).

I was telling Tomoyuki about my gastronomical plans (later in the day - calzones. Also, macarons. Yes, life is awesome. Crap, I forgot cooling racks.) and he shared a recipe for English pancakes with me, and they just made up my very, very tasty breakfast. I used sugar and lemon to dress them and YUM! I can also see some future with adding flavorings to them; like making a chocolate pancake and serving it with sliced fruit. I will say the base recipe is too much for just a single person; I have several pancakes which will be going into a storage container for a snack tomorrow or the next day. Yum! They're very filling, and made of just flour, eggs, butter and milk with a little salt - very simple and easy.

The calzone was another triumph - but it was HUGE! I want to play more with the recipes and thinning things out, making smaller pies that could be a single meal instead of three in one. I'm also reminded of these wrapped snacks we got at a mall in New Jersey years ago - I think I might be able to duplicate them. The bread coating of that and what I had tonight seemed very similar - very crispy. I'm going to have to experiment, once I finally eat all this calzone!!

Finally, the macarons - a French cookie I became aware of via Japan; funny how our interlocked world works these days. I made a set with my family during the winter that came out very thin; these seem to be a little thick - instead of flattening out to a flat sandwich cookie, they have little caps - and I needed to refrigerate the ganache to get it thickened.

I know this has very little to do with Second Life (except I found out about macarons through second life) but it's the tail end of my birthday (the day doesn't end until I sleep, damnit) and I'm doing what I want! This was a delicious day, even if I mostly fail at cooking!