Genre: Blown Out

As I've said before, the Genre theme this month is Rockabilly - and this month is continuing for another couple of days, until the twelfth, so you have time to get your country on! I went for super saturated color and blown out highlights for this set of pictures - it seemed to fit the comic book sensibilities of my DRBC dress, now available at Genre. The dress itself comes with a ton of textures, but the second I saw this one, I knew what I wanted to wear! Look elsewhere for your vibrant red and blue, or your stylish black and white poodle skirt - I'm bringing pulp fiction to the grid! The bright colors of my skirt really stand out against the black base dress, a few white polka dots here and there to cut up the darkness. The cap sleeves of the blouse are cut and rigged well - I have a very wriggly animation set, but the sleeves always stayed in place and moved naturally. The scoop neckline is mirrored front and back, the perfect setting for a variety of necklaces, though here I selected a collar from Enfant Terrible, available as part of the TAG! Gacha event, which echoes the polka dots and brings in some stripes. The DRBC dress' skirt has nice, large folds which make it adaptable across a variety of poses; I'm always watchful for what happens to a skirt when legs cross or move together, and in this case the folds bunch naturally with very little of the "cutting" which can occur when a skirt isn't rigged as well.

I kept with the 1950s theme with with hairstyle by Anachron which combines the best parts of Rosie the Riveter's kerchief practicality with a forward bang curl and a long chignon over the back of the head. Much to my glee, the entire hairstyle is editable - both all of it and in pieces - which means I was able to modify it to fit over and around my larger-than-average ears! It's always a blessing when a hairstyle lets me shift it around in the small ways necessary for a non-standard avatar, and in this case it was a breeze to make everything fit. Like my DRBC dress, this hair from Anachron is re-texturable via a HUD, and the kerchief has a variety of patterns; here I selected a bright red and skull pattern to match my monstrous skirts. The skulls make a subtle polka dot design, which holds the whole outfit together, even the final matching pieces - my shoes and glasses from Eclectica. Both are re-texturable via blue touch menu, but as an added bonus they are also editable - meaning I could custom tint the bow and trim on my shoes to draw out the colors of my skirt - in this case bright red and orange with a slightly duller teal. I love how Eclectica always gives options for individualization of her creations so I can add touches like this; the look would work without it, but I think it adds a bit more polish to subtly echo colors in multiple places. They're fit for medium SLink feet and available in a bunch of other polka dot colors.

To finish out my look I wanted to keep the theme of historical monsters and the bright colors without introducing alpha which might conflict with the alpha of my glasses. To that end, I went with demon wings - in this case a set of chibi demon wings I picked up from Illusions a long time ago at Halloween. These have a wonderful shape and fit beautifully above the scoop neckline of my DRBC dress. I also pulled out one of the dragons from Avatar Bizarre to perch on my shoulder and add some green to my brightly colored mix. I picked up a whole bunch of these at Fantasy Faire and I'm looking forward to pairing them with a bunch of outfits! The tail and head curve are particularly fun, offering up a sense of personality and interacting in an interesting manner with the rest of my look.

The lighting was an experiment, playing with bright and shadows in a more extreme manner than I usually do. I think the effect was wonderful especially using some of the more interestingly shaped items around France Portnawak. One of the blessings and curses of photographing in the wild is a basic lack of control - it offers up chances for serendipity, like the star I found in the top picture, or the pinup pictures below. It's always an adventure on the grid!

2014 Fantasy Faire: Between Courts

One of the nice things that Fantasy Faire does every year is set out a few no lag outfits, most of them excuses for going about without any clothes. I agreed with this basic premise, mostly because Trap style skins can be seen best with as little clothing as possible. I started with the skin, a collaboration between Trap and Gauze that is truly lovely in application. It also comes with a hair and eyes, not shown, all of them zero script. I augmented my look because, well, I'm me; first I added these wings from Deviance and ripped the scripts out of them to make them no script. I did the same with a copy of my awesome ears from Illusions - since they are manually tintable I could have kept the recolorable ones I use for these situations, but I wanted to make a complete low-script look for ease of use in the future. The hair I added is from Ploom, and I did the same thing - copying it, tinting it with the HUD the way I wanted and then cruelly emptying it of any and all scripts; I've covered this hair before, and I really love how it falls along my back. Since the Gauze and Trap skin did not have SLink appliers, I used a fade effect created by Orc Inc to smooth between the hands and my arms. I also tinted my nails with De La Soul's latest tentacley release, though this time in fingernail form. The only place where my script removal didn't work was with my SLink hands and feet, which stymied my every attempt to de-script them, but it still leaves me with only six scripts and a very low kb count, which I think makes this still work even with my vanity intact.

For the sake of these pictures, I added a new gacha release from Sax Shepherd Designs, a gorgeous set. There is a rare HUD which has twenty-four total stone and pearl shades, and a ton of commons which come with a simpler, twelve-option HUD. Bracelets and anklets are available in addition to the usual necklace and earrings, this gorgeous belt I'm wearing, and a lovely circlet that didn't work with my hair. You will very likely see it again - this is one of my favorites of his releases.

We're six days into the Fantasy Faire and I'm a little behind, which I always seem to be - eleven days is never, ever enough. In my defense, I've been trying to cover another event and I've done walkthroughs for one hunt and one hunt-like-event, but really I'm feeling quite behind. The sims are lovely, though, and I really encourage you to seek them our while the faire is still going on - we have until the eleventh before it all vanishes like mist.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Gauze & Trap, Dragon Koi (Free Fantasy Faire Skin)
Hair: Ploom, Camille
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
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
Fades: Orc Inc, Blend Hands & Feet
Jewelry: Sax Shepherd Designs, Nia Moon (Fantasy Gacha Carnival)

Pose: Don't Freak Out

Location: The Faery Court
Light Settings: Places, Abracadabra
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 39: French Quarter

French Quarter is an amazing combination of colors, a soft dull brown and a gleaming gold, and I was instantly inspired to something a touch more... sensual than is my usual style. This gorgeous, flirty bit of lingerie from Baiastice seemed perfect for a burlesque review when dressed up with stockings and spike heels, and the color was simply perfect when I saw it at My Attic. It's corset-centered with soft, fluttery cloth over the top of my butt. I really love the shape and style of it, especially when I could dress it up with a flash pair of heels, like these beribboned ones from SLink. The steel heel is a particularly nice touch - perfect for keeping off customers who get a little handsy. These were the first SLink heels I picked up, and what really sold me were the thin ribbons wrapped around the foot - I simply adored how it looked, and now that is can add these stockings from Adam n Eve over top, they're simply sublime.

I added these amazing wings from Illusions and tinted them to match - the gold is one of the vein textures included, but you can edit the membrane separately to tint it to any color you want - which is such a boon to rainbow fairies like myself.Topping my head, and rounding out the brown a little bit, is this new hair from Wasabi Pills - this really cute, casual style worked surprisingly well with the higher glam style of this burlesque outfit. I really like how loose and easy the braid is - it looks natural and fun. I added some bright red lips - a combination of Heartsick and Mock - to make sure the whole look didn't get too casual. I love Mock for the glossy and rich color it adds to solid colors below. Finally, my amazing jewelry from Eclectica rounds out the gold end of the French Quarter - this is one of her older releases, but I really love the chunky style of it, and the double chain. It also comes with a bracelet (worn) and a belt (not shown), which really add to the set as a whole. Finally, a look is only as good as the poses which show it off, and I was able to pull out some of the more fun dance poses from Grafica to show off, thanks to the abbreviated bottom on my outfit, and I really had a ball. I need to invest in some more micro-minis so I can show off the rest.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene Skin porcelain
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Akiko
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick 1: Heartsick, Morticia
Lipstick 2: Mock, Mizu Venetian
Wings: Illusions, Apsara
Hands and Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands and Feet
Nails: Nine Inch Nails, Deco
Jewelry: Eclectica, Deco Knot
Outfit: Baiastice, Lingerie Corset (My Attic)
Stockings: Adam n Eve, Brown Seam Stockings
Shoes: SLink, Lulu

Poses: Grafica

Location: The Looking Glass
Light Settings: Abracadabra 2

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 33: Wine Cellar

I went more to the red than the purple of Wine Cellar, but it's a gorgeous combination and I really embraced the Twenties in Europe and the US - the shapeless sheaths that were early reflections of women's desires to be equals to men, along with the widespread embrace of smoking as a symbol of empowerment. Short hair served the same purpose, as well as being easier to take care of; World War One had given women a taste of the public life, and they wanted more. In retrospect, there is a headlessness to the time between the two World Wars; although we know no one could have known what was coming, the combat which would shatter an empire and set the ground for another to take root seems to be reflected in the metal and glass, in the delicate roughness that exemplifies Art Deco and the Twenties. I have always loved Art Deco and the detached, stylish, ironic air which surrounded it. It seems like a desperate, beautiful time, when everyone knew things were profoundly disordered, no one knew what to do, so we might as well drink. The class war was still reasonably well hidden, colonialism loomed largely, and people would non-ironically name a largely European War a worldwide affair. I found an exquisitely rendered Twenties haven in Mad City, the sim built for MadPea's latest two hunts. This set is centered mostly around the Hotel, which is gorgeous, but there is also several other areas as well as an enormous park and a multitude of cars. I really encourage you to go check this sim out before it vanishes in the maw of MadPea's next game.

My hat is a very old release from Eclectica that I gleefully ripped the hair out of and resized to fit new hair. I love the style of it, and the slightly uneven brim, and her gorgeous textures. I tucked into it this bob from Alice Project and tinted it blond with rainbow streaks using her amazing HUD system. I love how versatile that makes her hairs - I can really shift them to fit a lot of different looks. My cosmetics are from Mock - I layered two shades for a dull, brownish red to match the reds of the rest of my look, and it worked beautifully. One wonderful thing about Mock's lips is that most of them are at least a little translucent, which makes customization a matter of layers. My pearls are these lovely knotted ones from Deco, the colors delicate and the arrangement just a lot of fun. It looks like I've been out dancing all night and not noticed what happened below my chin. I'm semi-saturated on jewelry these days, but something unique and quirky like this always seems to steal the Linden out of my pockets. My wings are free - f r e e - and do not look it; they are the Apsara wings from Illusions in rainbow, and part of the Taste the Rainbow Hunt. I simply adore them, and the curls and colors fit the Art Deco aesthetic beautifully. My dress is an astonishing release from Volstead which is a lot more scandalous than it looks - the mesh dress is actually semi-translucent, and it's only the texturing layers on my skin which make it look like clothing one could wear in public. It also moves beautifully, and wasn't quite as square as some of the other dresses I've seen. My cigarette, and my poses, are all from Flowey; I have Whiskey Monday to blame for turning me on to her, and I've never regretted it; one wonderful thing about her poses is how natural they often seem - not posed or false but rather how one stands when no one is looking. Finally, I've shown off these shoes before but they deserve a second look - released by Schadenfreude, the heels have a gorgeous Art Deco style heel and are tintable in five different places, which means they can be adapted to an awful lot of looks.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: Alice Project, Mary
Hat: Eclectica, Cloche Hat
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Mesh Eye Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick 1: Mock, Sahne Bitter Chocolate
Lipstick 2: Mock, Lucir LipColor Vin Rouge
Jewelry: Deco, Marilyn Pearls
Wings: Illusions, Apsara Wings (Taste the Rainbow Hunt)
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Nine Inch Nails, Deco
Cigarette: Flowey, Heirloom Cigarette Holder
Dress: Volstead, Scandal Dress
Shoes: Schadenfreude, Casinelle Shoes

Pose: Flowey

Location: Mad City - The Silent Peacock Hotel
Light Settings: TOR, MIDDAY Herr Gracken
Water Settings: NB, Sparkling Depths

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 32: Evening Preserves

This adorable dress from Pink Outfitters was sold at the food faire (since ended), and I fell in love with it on sight. The pattern is cute and highlights one of my favorite fruits, the shape of the neck and shoulders is good, and I love the ruffle - which is short enough to be flirty, but not short enough to show too much off. It;s not often I get to encompass a Twisted Color pairing in one outfit, but I think this one captures Evening Preserves even if it's not the usual kind of fruit and there's a lot of gold along for the ride with the orange). I paired it with these thigh-high sock boots from Souzou Eien, though I don't think the color is quiiiite right, edging from a tealish green more toward a perfect green. I love the sockish-effect of the boots, though, and am strongly reminded of some of my favorite accessories from G Field, which were socks to put on over shoes released before mesh was even a dream. My hair is probably th emost perfect bit of Evening Preserves, though - this is a single hair from Analog Dog, but she released a set of colors with fades and this teal-to-orange was simply perfection. I love how it's an imaginative updo, with big and bold curves that really take full advantage of doing hair color fades.

My wings are an amazing new release from Illusions - right now the rainbow version are out for the Taste the Rainbow Hunt, but soon the whole set, with on-touch color changing capabilities, will be up for sale - and you all should buy them like tons of times. I love the curves and curls, and the texture just makes me incredibly happy, like little scales each catching the light at different angles. It's also modifiable, and the veins and membrane can be tinted separately so that you can match anything. Finally, my jewelry is a totally tintable set from Virtual Impressions with pearls and curving gems. I love how many options there are with Virtual Impressions, since it means it can be remade to work with so many different outfits.

One of the funny things about Second Life photography is that like offline photography there is the moments one is caught up in taking the shots, where each shot is it's own world, and then there's the wakeup the next morning when one looks at them all together uploaded, and things which didn't stand out suddenly are totally obvious. In this case, the dimness of these pictures wasn't obvious to me until I was looking at them today post-upload, and I realized one was brightly lit by the on-sim lighting and the rest were decidedly dim and somber. While I don't consider this high art, I do think it is by nature artistic and that often what our mood is reflects itself in what we create simply because it's what seems the most natural at the time. One effect of the lack of post-processing that I do is that I can't post-hoc correct for things I notice later. One bonus is that my level of photographic skill is always reflected back to me in the shadows of my avatar's eyes.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: Analog Dog, Tunnel Cake
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Mesh Eye Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Mock, Cleo's Sooty Olivine
Lipstick: Pididdle, LipCreme Peaches
Jewelry: Virtual Impressions, Dionne
Wings: Illusions, Apsara Wings
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Flair, Set 98
Dress: Pink Outfitters, Foodie Tahnk Dress
Stockings: deviousMind, Sweet Rose Valentine (Taste the Rainbow Hunt)
Shoes: Souzou Eien, Leg Warmer Heels

Poses: !bang

Location: Sea Salts
Light Settings: Phototools - Quiddich
Water Settings: NB, Sparkling Depths

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 19 - Morning Glory

It all starts with a smile is a new-to-me sim, and I have to admit I am deeply grieved by the fact that all too often I first hear of beautiful sims in time for them to go away. This one is particularly charming, a small town surrounded by gently rolling hills topped with cherry trees in full bloom. Since cherry blooming season is so short, it's nice to be able to visit a facsimile of it in-world, to pose beneath the cherries and enjoy the gently floating petals.I also really liked the small town, with it's candy colored storefronts and pristine cobblestone steps. There aren't stores here, but there is an amazing Ice Cream Parlor with one of my favorite quotes: "You can't buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream and it's almost the same thing."

It's a very sweet sim, especially in the small details, which is what I love for my style of photography. When I am trying to photograph my shorter-than-average avatar in the world, these small details become much more important to me than they do for landscape photographers; the background, and how well made and interesting it is, is central to my pictures and what ones I take. I'm going to do my next photoshoot here as well and do some comparing of how different windlights change the mood and style of a sim; here, to match my Twisted Color Challenge shades of bright blue and pale pink for Morning Glory I went for a sweet blue and pink with clear, white light. I wanted to bring out the pastels in the world, lightly gleaming in the sweet morning light.

My hair, with it's adorable pigtails, is a new release from Wasabi Pills which is unrigged mesh, which means I was able to stretch it a little to make the pig tails only cover the ends of my ears. I really like the fan effect and curls down, which sets it apart from other pigtails I always have in my inventory. My cosmetics come from another sadly-closing place - Croire, which is having a 50% off sale for a while as the last hurrah. There is some lovely stuff there, so go check it out. Crowning my ears is a new release from Illusions, simple bands of string which is texture-change on touch as well as tintable, and are just a fun addition to my ears. It's been a while since I was rocking my massive-jewelry ears, and these are a sort of sweet throwback to them while staying more simple. My jewelry is an older release from Eclectica, her antique heart set which I simply adore. I've reshaded it to gold and pink for this look, and it along with my amazing stockings from G Field, really represent the soft and sweet pink of Morning Glory.

My dress and shoes are from a new-to-me store which I found through some of the cross-sim discount programs called Liv Glam; for a very low price, you get some really pretty dresses and shoes with HUD-based retexturing. I was particularly struck by how it was packaged - it is actually packaged in the HUD, which means that HUD serves two purposes; it both recolors the clothing and serves as a redelivery for other sizes of mesh if necessary. These are template-based dresses, but they are priced in keeping with that which makes them much more within reach of an ever-dwindling pocketbook; I ended up picking up a whole lot in a short amount of time, so you'll be seeing them here again sometime soon. Finally, my amazing pale blue nails and my Sheepie accessories are releases from Adore and Abhor, and I simply couldn't resist pairing a purse and a stuffie even though the pink of my stuffie is much brighter than Morning Glory; I simply love them together, and I thought this fit my child-like, sweet look very well. I entirely failed to get a good picture of the nails, but they are simply and clear colored and a simply gorgeous pastel without any of the graying that sometimes happens with very pastel colors.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Candace (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow (promotional item)
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Ear Deco: Illusions, Wrapped Cords
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Cosmetics: Croire, Psychadelic Palette
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Sunny (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: Liv Glam, Jasmyne Print Dress
Jewelry: Eclectica, Antique Hearts
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Nails: Adore & Abhor, Sheer
Purse: Adore & Abhor, Sheepie Purse
Stuffed Animal: Adore & Abhor, Aries Sheepie
Stockings: G Field, Button Socks
Boots: Liv Glam, Sandy Boots

Poses: Glitterati

Location: It all starts with a smile
Light Settings: Gwen's Light
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Fantasy Faire: Evensong Woods

Evensong Woods is a gorgeous, snowy sim with peaceful, quiet areas interspersed with narrow rivers. All of the colors are muted and quiet, what hues there are remain dusty and chilly. Pale icy pinks and dull milky blues with the rich dark green of moss cluster around and cling against dark gray stone buildings and wide, dark wooden pathways. Most of the sim is above the ground, leaving room for strange flowers to bloom, but a few flank the entrance and exit, shielding the enormous mushrooms which pop out of the frigid ground. It really fit my mood of the last few days; a variety of personal and professional events have coalesced into a sort of dull ache in my heart, one well met with the peace of Evensong Woods at night. I'm hoping I'll be able to cheer myself up gradually, but something I've learned - hard won - is that often the best response to any emotion is to embrace it, feel it fully, and then let it go; the bright and sparkling days of our lives can be rooted in long, dark quiets and the dull ache reminding us of so many paths not taken.

My amazing, striking, and appropriate mask is of a spring chickadee from Illusions, a gorgeously textured and fitting mask. It is fully editable, which meant that when it was a little too narrow for my face, it was the work of a few moments to get it broadened out. I love the line along the beak, and how the white is gently textured into its surrounding black, and when I saw it in Evensong Woods on my way to finding places for pictures I couldn't resist picking it up. My hair is one of the latest releases from Wasabi Pills, also available at the Fantasy Faire. I love that it's asymmetrical, with a gentle curve over one shoulder, and the best eartuck I've seen on the other side - it perfectly fit behind my ear. The drippy front of the hair reaches almost my waist, and there's a large poof of hair in the back, largely unseen in these pictures. I really love how natural it looks on me. Lassitude & Ennui (last seen in boots) also released this amazing dress with a removable jacket. I mix and matched two different combinations of colors - one black and white for the jacket and the other black and gray for the dress. It's a heavily corseted dress worked in shades of velvet richness. I particularly like the band of see-through fabric at the bottom of the skirt, which adds a really classy edge to the entire look. Finally, the only color in my outfit is this amazing jewelry set from AZE Designs, specially colored for the Fantasy Faire. In her release, she said she made the shells when she couldn't find any to suit her in mesh, and they are really striking designs and beautifully textured - simply a treat to wear.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Candace (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow Mesh Eyes (promotional item)
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Cosmetics: Mock, Layla's Lilac Maurea Mod
Mask: Illusions, Chickadee Mask
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Erika Mesh Hair (promotional item)
 Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: Lassitude & Ennui, Gothic Doll (promotional item)
Jewelry: AZE Designs, RFL Limpet Set (promotional item)
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Nails: A:S:S, Spring (SLink Nail System)
Stockings: Vetra Messing, Sheer Stockings white
Shoes: Lassitude & Ennui, Phoebe Mesh lace-up boots

Pose: !bang

Location: Evensong Woods
Light Settings: Sim Default
Water Settings: Sim Default

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 7 - Truffle Valley

Truffle Valley really seemed more like chocolate and banana to me - but this dress is actually called chocolate and vanilla! An impulse purchase from Yulicie at an event - I forget which - it came with a bunch of other colors all in dessert shades. I really like the sprinkles on the skirt and the warm chocolaty goodness, and the dress itself is well made if a little sharp around the shoulders.  The style is simple and sweet, and the texturing is simple but solid. It really was perfect for this challenge, though! I paired it with chocolate tinted jewelry from Purple Moon Creation's, a heavy jeweled set with earrings and ring in addition to the collar-style necklace. I usually wear Purple Moon Creation's clothing, but I think this jewelry set is really well done and attractive. More solemn and fancy than the dress might call for, but I thought it dressed it up very nicely. The other ring I added to keep up the banana front - the cutest macaron ring from Sugar (which is re-opening in March). I have a bunch of these and they're a fun way to add some of my favorite foods to my ensemble without standing around with my mouth open!

I'm wearing hair from D!va - a gorgeous bun style with daisies included. It doesn't quite go well over my ears, but I used a few daisies from Nushru that blended in beautifully. One issue with having these enormous Illusions ears is that sometimes hairstyles I really like don't fit well. I probably should give in and buy them on my main alt, who rocks with her human ears. The cosmetics I ended up are really a tangle. The eyes are from Elymode, one of her earliest releases in chocolate and gold; she has fantastic dual tone eyeshadows which are a welcome staple. The lips are layered - underneath is a chocolatey Mock shade, then a brush of banana on top thanks to a stain from a new-to-me store called Delusions which I think really rounded out my look. The real end to the whole kit, though, are these awesome shoes from KS Creations which remain some of my favorite thigh high boots in world. I love how I can alter the texture and then tint it further to match perfectly.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De la Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Eyelashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Elymode, Brown & Gold
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick 1: Mock, Sahne Bitter Chocolate
Lipstick 2: Delusions, Candy Stain - banana
Hair: D!va, Mayumi3
Hair Ornaments: Nushru, Oh Daisy
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Jewelry: Purple Moon, Cycle dans la Chocolaterie
Ring: Sugar, Mesh Macaron Ring
Dress: Yulicie, Vellant Retro Dress - Vanila Chocolate
Boots: KS Creations, Feline Boot - Leather

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Split Screen: Yooma Mayo - Yes, Giovanni
Light Settings: In Situ
Water Settings: In Situ

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

This is Not what you Think it Is

It is always amazing to be able to insinuate oneself into other peoples' visions - something which is most easily done in a virtual world where that art can be expanded bigger than an avatar. Gracie Kendal's Ce n'est pas une peinture at Linden Endowment for the Arts Sim 15 is an example of this with more brilliance than most - she literally transported her offline art into digital format and then bent and curved it, making it move all over an entire sim. You can fly through it, but I have to admit I found that distinctly overwhelming; Kendal's offline art is brightly colored and modern in style, and experiencing it all mixing and mingling in three dimensions was too much for me to try to capture in two - though I highly recommend you go for a flight. I found it much manageable where art meets water - or rather where art meets its own reflection.

I loved the combination of the clarity of these reflections, my own form, and my reflection was a lot of fun - I think it hints at the three dimensions without making them overwhelming.Adding in light sources from windlight and you could gain some amazing effects - like the spotlight above which I found by accident then struggled to immortalize in a picture. The blown out effect of any light source is something I find particularly pleasing, and to be able to bring it into Second Life always gives me little shivers of joy. Now and then I was also able to find ways to take advantage of the effect when the objects hit their own reflections - they were layered forward and back in three dimensions, so like a kaleidoscope where the objects hit the mirror at different places for different effects, the art simply seems to burst off of the screen.

I had originally thought to put myself together in shades of black, something simple and severe to stand out from the riotous shades, but then I couldn't get into the sim! Fearing the worst, I ended up contacting the illustrious artist and it turned out there had been a technical snafu; by then I had put back on my blush outfit from the recent Single Frame Story. Surprisingly, I really liked the effect against the colors - the slightly more neutral blush shades sometimes seem to fade into the background, other times to stand out distinctly, and with one windlight I tried I actually almost vanished into a peach and blush dream world.

The outfit is made up of combinations of many items, based on the Rosal corset and boots which I have absolutely fallen in love with. They are tintable and have several textures besides, making them hugely adaptable. The shirt is a very old purchase from G Field which I paired with a recent purchase from G Field in the form of her mesh shorts. I topped it off with a braid from elikatira which I fell in love with ages ago but only put on now. I crowned that with a gorgeous new group gift from World's End Garden to celebrate the newest remake of that amazing sim, a lovely band of flowers or around the brow. All in all, although it was a difficult look to accomplish, I was enormously pleased with the result!

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De la Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Eyelashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Elymode, Solstice - Moon
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss - Guardsman Red
Hair: elikatira, Wherever - Blonde 10
Coronet: Worlds End Garden, Le jardin de la fille hair wreath (group gift)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Jewelry: League, Pearls & Lace
Shirt: G Field, Floral Halter Top - peach
Corset: Rosal, Unmei Mesh Corset
Shorts: G Field, Frill Shorts - salmon
Boots: Rosal, Unmei Thigh Platform Boots

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Ce n'est pas une peinture
Light Settings: Various
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Walking on Sunshine

I'm having a complete ball wandering around the RFL sims and exploring the enormous displays people have created on either side of it. I have no idea if I'll manage to circle around again, but I'm enjoying myself as I go. The sheer diversity is amazing to me, and strongly reminds me of a similar diversity at SL9B. It makes me think of the mainland as well, a place I've started to explore, which has a gleeful disregard for surroundings. The state of things in Second Life always somewhat remind me of the effects of Home Owners Associations, where a neighborhood agrees on a certain look and the ability to, say, paint your house bright pink and have a flock of flamingos in front is no longer allowed. Mainland is a world without those restrictions and also without the restrictions of a great deal of money, so people put out all kinds of things with varying levels of attractiveness, leading to wars of walls and dividers. I remember when a roleplaying sim I adore got neighbors who built a city in the clouds, and proceeded to drive cars off the edge into the sim itself - they were less than co-operative about no longer doing that. Much like the wars of hedges and poison which occur offline, this online boundary war is a symbol of the difficulties of people getting along with people; the difficulties of diversity.

One downside to how diffused culture has become is that those opportunities for us to rub up against each other and hopefully learn to tolerate each other have been decreased; we can exist on our own little islands, expelling people who disagree with us at a moment's notice. I try to make a point of keeping a diversity of views, both in regards to Second Life (a listing on my side is not an endorsement, but it does mean I read you!) and in regards to the world in general. I have the hardest time with this in areas I take very personally, like abortion and rape. It's easier with contentious things that no one can take from me, like my religion, though I have lost friends who denigrated my intellect or sanity because of my religion. I've been friends with misogynists and racists as well, and argued points with them on those topics; I'm still on the fence as to how appropriate that is. On the one side, I am a trusted person who disagrees with them, so I might open their mind. On the other side, several have claimed that maintaining friendships implies endorsement of all of another persons' beliefs. I'm not sure that's true, any more than being listed on my sidebar means I agree 100%, but there are circumstances where I am significantly less sure on this point.

The outfit is a gorgeous new release from katat0nik, with matching shoes and socks. After I bought both fatpacks, kat passed me a fatpack of the socks - aren't they the cutest? It is mesh, but I'm actually wearing it in these pictures without an invisi-layer, which is a bit of a blast; usually my belly doesn't fit under dresses! It comes with panties but not a bra, so I hope I'm not flashing everyone. The hair is an awesome release from Discord Designs for the Hair Faire, which is another big event for charity.The thing I adore about this hair is how long it is, how the braid curves down and up and over the shoulder, how the ends dangle down - I haven't had hair this long since my early days in Second Life, before body clipping started really bothering me. This hair can be difficult to pose with, but it is completely awesome looking when you get it right and the mesh quality of it means it moves pretty decently in world. My one complaint, and it is a little one, is that one of the side bangs clip the front of my ears so close ups are single sided, but otherwise I could wear it for days in happiness.The gathering of hair in the back and throughout the braid is naturalistic and loose, it's like I'd braided it together in a rush and just left the ends hanging, because it's so damn long I can't be bothered with it! My only wish now is for a flower festooned braid a la Rapunzel; hopefully my dreams can come true! The jewelry is an amazing set of pearls from Eclectica with two types of earrings (one long, one short), which I managed to put on twice on my uber long Illusions ears. I love the delicacy of the pearls, each little fastening perfect.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De la Soul, RooMee Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Mock, eShadow Fall Festivale Pumpkin
Lipstick: Mock, Opal Lipcolor Mocha
Hair: Discord Designs, Phoenix (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings
Jewelry: Eclectica, 'Enchant' Pearl Jewelry - amethyst
Dress: katat0nik, Allura Dress
Socks: katat0nik, Allura Socks (gift)
Shoes: katat0nik, Allura Wedges

Poses: Long Awkward Pose

Location: Relay For Life
Light Settings: Bentham
Water Settings: Atomist 2

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Sprightly Summer in Amras

This is a combo outfit which I thought of almost as soon as I saw the second piece, this awesome top from Apple May Designs. It comes in three colors (cream - shown, pink, and black), and when I picked it up a few days ago it was 25$L, though the price may have gone up since then. The shorts are a special release for Culture Shock by G Field, and I love them to bits (I'm also wearing her shoes)! There is also a limited edition blue, plus the entire fatpack - which I totally splurged on. The large, which I'm wearing, is wide enough to accommodate my round belly, and I love how the ruffles move with my legs. The entire outfit seems loose and springy, which is what I was aiming for - I even like how things aren't an exact fit, so that it looks like real clothing over the surface of my skin. Both items are rigged mesh, which means no resizing, so make sure to try a demo before buying them. I'm a pile of rigged mesh, too, since my hair is rigged mesh from Wasabi Pills. I love the curve of the pony tail over the shoulder - these are some of the reasons I'm becoming increasingly addicted to mesh, even with it's downsides, lie how rigged mesh is only linked to a few skeletal dimensions and not all of my curves.

My ears are also mesh, but not rigged, new from Illusions. It took me a while to fit them; if you do it right, and use the included alpha to remove your ears, they can look absolutely seamless into your skull. There is a mesh shadow which is included, but I ended up moving it into my head and going for the seamless look instead, because I couldn't make it work with the curve of my skull (I have a rounder head than many). The ears are double-layered, meaning the shadows are on separate mesh right above the mesh of the skin tone. This means your choices for skin tone are infinite, and can be put in through the standard Second Life editor, but that the shadows won't ever become muddy. My lipstick is from Mock, one of a fatpack I picked up ages ago and have been steadily using since. You can see I'm smiling in most of these pictures; I ended up modifying my Flugeln Brise and *X*plosion eyelashes for a smile, narrowing them down. It was a pretty quick job, but I think it gets the effect across! I think I love Tomoyuki forever for convincing me to try on lashes. I layer alpha lashes under a set of prim, and it really brings out my eyes. My jewelry is a new release from Elemental which will be on sale for 60$L over the weekend, so hurry by for some amazing pieces!

I've been thinking a lot about who we support and are friends with recently, both in the context of blogging and outside of that. I have a lot of dear friends, and a lot of creators I like, and sometimes those two groups collide. Sometimes also, designers can believe that I don't really like their work, I'm showing it because we're friends. Speaking with a dear friend recently, he claimed my addiction to one of his creations was as a result of bias; it took some work to convince him that yes, I liked him, but no liking is enough for me to wear things I don't like! On the other hand, some of the stuff I love is created by people who my friends don't always like, and I've had to wrestle with the issues of whether one should pass money to people who behave badly, or if the bar is set way too low for avoiding or boycotting people because everything in Second Life feels so immediate and critical (even though it really isn't). It's easy to have strong emotional reactions to people and things in a walled garden like Second Life, where there is no real effective power for anyone on the grid except for Lindens, and the Lindens are virtually absent. These sorts of oddly closed systems, where social influence is the only means of gaining influence (and by extension power) lead to some predictable results which aren't always showing people in their best lights. Maybe if we all extend a little compassion and understanding, things might ease a little.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow MESH (promotional item)
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, Prim Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeliner: Adam n Eve, Hepsut
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss - Blush
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Shiki Mesh Hair (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Jewelry: Elemental, Butterfly Kisses (promotional item, 60$L weekend deal)
Undies: katat0nik, Gift Wrapped
Top: Apple May Designs, Hazel Mesh Top - Cream
Skirt: G Field, Mesh Shorts - yellow
Heels: G Field, Ribbon Slingback Shoes - mustard

Poses: Adorkable

Location: Isle of Amras
Light Settings: TOR, SCIFI Oyster Bay
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Color Challenge: Week 19 - Pueblo

I've been really enjoying how much easier it is to go out and about since I fixed my computer settings so that Second Life runs well - these pictures in Pueblo were a dream to take, even running at high. I also got a chance to enjoy a wonderful display at the Linden Endowment for the Arts, which I'm making a page about and will likely be posting about more in the future. I reached far back into my inventory to put together this Pueblo look - all the way to one of Silent Sparrow's limited edition releases, which she used to put out every few months. Her store's been mostly quiet for a long while now, but I think you can see why I hold out hope of her returning in force in the gorgeous detailing of this outfit. Silent Sparrow was the first pay group I ever joined, and I can remember stalking her lucky chairs for hours to get the glorious contents. This outfit came with two skirts, and also a set of matching arm warmers I'm not wearing - I love the warmer cuffs, though, and the longer skirt allows for a much more decorous, less garter-flashing style.

I added on a jewelry set from artME fashion in simple wood to match the browns, and hunted out this gorgeous cinnamon hair from Wasabi Pills to match. It's mesh, but not rigged, and based on some time spent this afternoon trying to work around my new ears, non-rigged mesh is as customizable as their equivalent prims. The ears are my newest purchase, and mark a shift from me in my ears - I moved from faerie ears in the prims to these gorgeous, layered Seelie ears from Illusions. They don't yet come with the attached jewelry, but on the plus side they are completely tintable (on a HUD) and customizable (yes, also non-rigged mesh). I still have some work to do to make these fit perfectly, and I have some layered shadows to mess with, but I think I did pretty well at setting them up. Finally, my shoes are my favorite Flower Pumps from G Field, one of the only shoes in my entire sizable inventory to match the reddish-brown of Pueblo.

One of my recent frustrations - wanting to have a handle on what's going on at the LEA Sims - has led to my latest project - a review of the sims, their functions, and hopefully eventually details like how long they are in the hands of each artist, maybe some more details about the artists, etc... I may at some point expand it to include a few other art sims I like outside of the LEA sims; I love Split Screen, for example, though they do pretty well at sharing what's going on in their land. I have an internal drive to try to explore art, and Second Life is perfect for that; not only can art be made relatively easily, but also it can be experienced in three dimensions. My favorite art is when sound and self-incorporation (poses in different art things) are included; someday I'd like to make art of my own - true art, not just combined photographs.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow MESH (promotional item)
Ears: Illusion,
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, Prim Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Mock, Morrocan Indifference Eyeshadow (group gift)
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss - Lepore Red
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Annette2 Mesh Hair (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Jewelry: artMEfashion, Driftwood
Outfit: Silent Sparrow, Rustnoir
Heels: G Field, Flower Pumps "Eve"

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Fae Varriale
Light Settings: Places Greed 2

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Tuesday's Child is Full of Grace

One of the biggest difficulties with taking pictures "in the wild" so to speak, is the sheer number of builds that far outstripe the size of an avatar. Finding angles where both I and the surroundings can be seen is no easy feat - and one very promising place was left in my rearview mirror because I simply couldn't easily insinuate myself into any pictures of any of the things - they were all too far apart! Add in the difficulties of standing half a meter above sculpties, and it's enough to make a photographer pull her hair out! One of the joys of taking pictures in the wild is the unpredictability - and I suppose this is just of a piece with it all; when you step outside of your own space, you can no longer control everything but things can also become so much more rich - at that edge where you and I meet.

( I was somehow missing my eyelids, which is a very frustrating thing. Big, ugly, bug-eyed Deoridhe. I've reinstalled the latest firestorm - twice - managing to pick up a make-everything-pink glitch, and my eyes are still missing both lids. Have this picture of my butt; the only way there's going to be any grace tonight is if I finally just snap this picture and call it a night - so here I am in my "changing room". Enjoy!  )

Credits:


Skin: De la Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De la Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Eyelashes 1: Sauce, Sidewinder Lashes
Eyelashes : *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyeshadow: Elymode, Green & Sky
Eyeliner: Boom, Midas Touch
Lipstick: Mock, Micare Lipglimmer - Hypoxia
Hair: Truth, Kalia - driftwood (with flower)
Jewelry: Eclectica, Nouveau Rose - moss
Lingerie: Dilly Dolls, Renna's Weeklys (promotional item)
Ring 1: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring
Ring 2: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger Talisman
Stockings: G Field, Button Socks - green
Boots: Dilly Dolls, Bastian Boots

Pose: Studio Sidhe, Artsy 2

Location: Spring Azure
Light Settings: AnaLutetia - AvatarOpt - whiter

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only 

I Can Haz Promoshunz: Anatomy of a Blogpost

With I Can Haz Promoshunz posts, it all begins with the blogger gifts, also known as the Promotional Items. There are a lot of terms for them, and attitudes range from "why should I give you free advertising" to "why should I give you free stuff" to everywhere in between. In my case, I'm grateful for the free gifts (which is why I think of them as gifts) but I am also aware of the unspoken - and sometimes spoken - expectations. In all honesty, even though I'm on the blogger side, I think the store owners have more to lose. They are offering out free items and there are a lot of people who seem to get into blogging so they can accumulate free things. I can't imagine trying to figure out who I can trust and what "trust" should look like when I give away free products. In the area of gifts, there are a few people who give me things where I know there is no expectation - where we have a relationship beyond and outside of our sometimes relationship as Store Owner and Blogger. I still sometimes blog their things, but I don't feel quite the same invisible strings of expectations as I do with Store Owners who I don't know.

I'll also be honest and say that the biggest downside of Blogging is these invisible strings, and my own desires to have Second Life be more about responding to my whims and desires than the demands and expectations of others. I know no relationship can exist without expectations, but sometimes I can find myself running from those expectations. That's part of why I started the I Can Haz Promoshunz series, in fact - to differentiate between the 'you have given me fantastic things and here are the ones I like along with some color commentary on them' and the 'I take pretty pictures and babble a while about whatever's on my mind' posts that are the mainstay of my blog.This post will be a little of each - an amalgam, if you will.

In between my other activities today, I get some gifts from a couple store owners I'm becoming friendly with; one is explicitly a blogger's pack, the other is more ambiguous. I hit the last midnight mania and teleport in a few alts who I think it will suit; I'm fairly confident it will lock without me bringing out the full force of my alt army. "Chores" taken care of, I hop back home to begin to plan out my outfit. Every ICHP post starts in the same folder - my "To Be Blogged" folder. In it I put things which are given to me, or things I have ideas for so that they're set apart. Every couple of months it becomes unruly, and I spend an afternoon opening old boxes, sorting through offerings, organizing and deleting. Things given specifically to me tend to rank a little higher than things which come through the blogger groups I'm in, but I try to do one Fashion in Pixel's post a month (if not a week).

I catch a midnight mania I wanted to hit and I swing by (too late), only to find the Store Owner there to switch out the lucky boards (Pinkmares is a totally generous store!). She turns many of the boards into question marks - briefly unleashing a swarm of clicks as people try to pick up what they hadn't managed to get yet. Even though I have "Do ICHP: Anatomy of a Blogpost Pictures tonight" on my brain, I get totally distracted as I wait to see what the new offerings are, all the while trying hard to not thing of the wave of unopened boxes waiting for me in my inventory. Timely I am not. Finally dragging myself away to lock down a midnight mania, I head for a friend's sim where I can rez objects that take up loads of prims - more than my tiny little house can support. Nothing like friends in high places (literally, in this case; we have islands in the sky).

Back home, I strip down to see if one of the review items (a set of skins and an outfit I'd been eying when the notice came through my inventory) suits me. The face is most critical, since I tend to wear fairly covering clothing, but I like to see the all over in case it will affect both whether I'll wear it and what I will wear it with. For example, I love wearing low-cut in the back things with De La Soul skins because there are little butt dimples and the cutest butt cleavage ever; highlighting the unique and fun aspects of a skin is part of what I enjoy. I rarely show skins because I don't like the change my shape, but Fallen Gods is one of my most likely exceptions, and it proves to be the second addition to my look (the first being my hair, which like I said in my last post I'm not taking off for a while) for the blogpost - as does the included, group gift tattoo. I simply adore the built-in iridescence; it's completely gorgeously tempting. The shadows continue the same theme beautifully while maintaining the illusion of translucence.

I set the included dress aside for another day, though, thinking I'd like to diversify to a different outfit and cover more ground in this blogpost since I do multiple pictures of the same outfit instead of single pictures of multiple outfits. Now the immovable pieces - hair (Wasabi Pills), ears (Illusions), wings (Fancy Fairy) - are all recolored to match the skin - in this case I go for a white shade for the hair and make the ears and wings match the skin tone as closely as I can using a tint. The hardest recolor is the ears; I shift to one of my recolorable ear sets so my usual set don't lose the tone of my usual skin, and select just the ear part so that the jewelry remains unchanged.This really sets the pallet for the rest of my look - I can either aim to match it with shades of white and blue, or I can try to make it "pop" in the current vernacular using orange shades, but whatever comes next will have to work with the base already in place.

So I'm back to my "To Be Blogged" folder in the clothing subfolder (I organize by type of thing so that I can find what I'm missing). I already have a backlog of boxes to open that I've tossed in here, but I focus on what's already open primarily. I'm tracking what wears well on me - where is there alpha occlusion and how much does it interfere? Does this work with the skin, the hair style, how I'm feeling today? If there is alpha occlusion (which is very common), is it something I can work with or will I be glaring at my legs through multiple layers for the rest of the night (note to designers - if you can put a slightly smaller layer of non-alpha but the same colored prims underneath, that can correct for a lot of the alpha occlusion; sometimes, if I like a dress enough, I even make one myself).

Tonight it's a wave of alpha layer options that leave me peering at the included picture and wondering how they managed to conceal; wishing the alpha was due to a transparency setting, so I could make a second, non-transparent level. After some more searching and some box opening, I finally find it! The first color I try on, blue, is to close to my skin color, but the second color is perfect, and so an outfit from SLC Couture joins the rest. I adore the texture - all those little flowers flowing smoothly over the pieces.

Fitting it is next; I'm a shorter, rounder avatar than most, and fashion tends to be made for the tall and the skinny, so fitting has become a necessary step when going through my inventory. I've become good at it, too; in this case, there's lower levels attached to the legs and an upper level for the skirt which require the most fitting. I take the top level off to fit the legs (temporarily confused since they're resizable through a script, not editing), then fit the top level (which is resizable through editing). Then I tilted the hairflower to fit my hair, which was simple as cake. I've sometimes fit outfits prim-by-prim if it were particularly complicated and worth it, but this is a relatively simple design, which makes things easy.

Likewise, selecting accessories - in this case an amethyst set from Elemental Earth Designs - was really fast I saw amethyst, tried it on, and it fit the overall mood perfectly. I love when outfits begin to come together like this; there's something magical about adding each element and seeing the cohesive and attractive whole. All I have left is selecting a pair of shoes, which most likely won't be seen. I have a whole folder from Duh! waiting to be tried on, and even though the chances of these shoes being seen are near nil, I put them on. Poor Duh! I need to do a shoe-focused shoot sometime soon. At the last minute, I remember the other gift I got earlier in the evening, and take a second look - finding a tiara from Eclectica which will go perfectly with my princess-pretty look. I actually had picked up the dawn version of the tiara, a lucky break for me since this pack includes the noon! And the noon is silver, which fits the coolness of the overall template. Recoloring it was a snap - it recolors on touch, and the purple, in a fit of synchronicity, is almost identical to the purple of my dress and shoes.

So that's the dressing half of my photoshoot! I hope you enjoyed it! Sometime in the future I'll have to share how I find a place to shoot and pose my shots, but I think this post is long enough already~!

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: Fallen Gods, Ice Crystals (Promotional Item)
Face Tattoo: Fallen Gods, GROM (Promotional Item)
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: *X*plosion, Prim Lashes
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Cherry Mesh Hair (Promotional Item)
Crown: Eclectica, Regency Tiara - noon (Promotional Item)
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Jewelry: Elemental Earth Design, Kiowa Set - Amethyst (Promotional Item)
Dress: SLC Couture, Lovely Flower - Lilac (Promotional Item)
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Shoes: Duh!, Mary Janes - Violet (Promotional Item)

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Dimrill Dale
Light Settings: Places Astryls Wild
Water: TOR, Yung buk

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Dreams Come Alive

Through the Lens of Dreams is a new sim put out by Madcow Cosmos and Lorin Tone, much in the style of Peaster's Castle - a rounded, organic curve to everything which is quite unique in my experience. The other thing, which quickly becomes apparent, is that the entire sim exists in a frozen flash of the fourth dimension - that is, as you move around the sim, you follow the various paths of different things which transform over time and yet exist simultaneously.

The images are at once sublime and thought-provoking - everything from walnuts which become ships to war between two races who part ways at the corner. From the ridiculous, to the charming, to the sobering - I found around every corner a moment of delight. There seem to be new things under every level and around every curve - even flying up into the sky there were new things seemingly created for delight alone. It's an incredibly complex build, and I am not exaggerating when I say pictures, any pictures, any number of pictures do not do it justice. Only by wandering around and watching how things shift into other things, see the sly little hints of humor, will you fully be able to appreciate what they've created.

( The outfit is an oldie but goodie from Blue Blood; normally I don't go for shorts outfits, but the curve of the short bottoms on this are absolutely delightfully charming. )

( More pictures here. )

Credits:


,Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, Roomee - Rainbow
Eyelashes: Flugeln Brise, Eyelash 5A
Eyeshadow: Elymode, Cole & Magenta
Lipstick: Mock, Micare LipGlimmer - Flirtatious Kobi
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ear - Fairy
Hair: Majika, Noise
Wreath: Evie's Closet, Wreath of Flowers
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Outfit: Blue Blood, Amelia - pink
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Stockings: Violent Seduction, Lingerie Masquarade
Shoes: G Field, Strap Shoes "Alex" - berry

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Through the Lens of Dreams
Light Settings: Places Cromac
Water Settings: TOR Pretty Placid

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Verdigris and Theivery

I discovered Verdigris due to a post on the entire sim, lock stock and barrel, being stolen, replicated on a nearby sim, and it being in the process of being deleted by the apparent copybotters. Every dark cloud has a silver lining, though; I'm not sure I would have ever found my way to this absolutely breathtaking sim without that post - so I'll admit to some gratitude. One of my struggles in Second Life is that even with the effort I put into finding sims these days, particularly attractive ones for photoshoots, it always feels like I'm missing some marvel, passing some wonder by, and sometimes I only discover some glory of creation in retrospect as there's an announcement that it's gone. I'm glad to say I caught Verdigris and took a few pictures, though I feel like I need to return soon to take some more - I focused mainly on the buildings for this shoot, but there are wonderful bits of wilderness, curves of land in the water, and places to explore across the entire sim. The combination of building, plant, and terrain is harmonious from the widest vista to the smallest detail, and this is a place sure to not disappoint. I think next time I might go for a less misty windlight and give you a real taste of the layers you can achieve there.

A friend on my flickr commented on a recent shift in my picture taking toward a somehow richer style - and I wanted to put in a quick word that I'm in no way truly responsible for the shift; instead I started running on Firestorm's 3.x beta version, which is proving to not only be significantly steadier and less liable to crash that my 2.x prior installation, but also is allowing me to run with my graphics set to high instead of medium - and I think you can tell the difference in the quality of the pictures. The mesh of my avatar is noticeably smoother, fabrics have added quality, and I really like the soft quality when I take simply ginormous pictures. I haven't yet tried shadows again (I've never been able to get the damn things to work!) but I think that's in my future, on a day when I'm feeling calm and enthusiastic. If I can use depth of field I think I will truly be in bliss; I love the effects you can get with that, and playing with foreground and background is a passion of mine, even though it's hard in a Second Life where often things are twice as big as I am.


A couple quick notes on my outfit - the dress and jewelry were styled on each other - a cooperation between Kouse's Sanctum and Evie's Closet which made coordinating a cinch. All I ask for next time is to link up with a shoe store - maybe G Field? You guys can style things to go together, and I can put them on and look awesome with half the effort put it. That should be win/win all around, right? In any case, the theme was dragonflies (we need dragonfly shoes!) and I love how the wings are echoed in the jewelry, and the subdued gleam of the colors together. Kouse's Sanctum, in a flash of genius, made the jewelry not only modify-ok (THANK YOU!) but also color changing with the gems, so if you end up splurging on Evie's fantastic dress in multiple colors your jewelry can be shared between them. I, obviously, chose gold - for the royal touch. I'm a queen... dragonfly (somehow that doesn't have the same ring as Queen Bee).

The dress comes with a plethora of sculpted and prim extras, including some lovely shoulders and a chest piece that is as subdued as it is elegant. I've got to say, if I want to show off my cleavage Evie's Closet is the way to go; not only are the necklines low and interesting without flashing nipple, but she often adds extras to the neck and shoulders which serves to frame one of my better aspects. The jewelry from Kouse's Sanctum is a gorgeous addition, and includes an anklet in addition to the bracelet, necklace, and earrings. I have taken to fitting my earrings to hang as if from an extra hole from my Illusions faerie ears, and I have to admit it's led to me wearing a lot more earrings! Go-Go Multi-attachments! I couldn't have done that a few years ago, and it's definitely added to my styling possibilities (not to mention my arc).


The ability to run Second Life with higher resolution really makes a huge difference in what everything looks like. I'm blown away by being able to move around with things looking this detailed and clear. I'm already starting to play more with reflections, and shadows are in my future - though I'll probably start out small with props somewhere. I'm also starting to have fun with mesh clothing, which was what actually propelled me to install what Firestorm themselves said was a very beta release - I'm very used to beta meaning temporarily worse, but in this case it definitely means a big step forward for the graphics I can see! Expect some mesh posts in the future, though I'm planning on including images of what it looks like without invisilayers and also on non-mesh browsers, so you can get the complete picture! I had considered putting out a modified version of my shape, so people could compare with theirs (not being able to edit mesh is a huge con for me, being a plump faerie) but I'm not sure if anyone would care, much less show up to pick it up. Comment here if you think it's a good idea.


( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, Roomee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyeliner: Aesteli Makeup - Curly Liner and Lip Pinkener Medium
Eyelashes: Flugeln Brise, Eyelash 05
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ear
Hair: Truth, Orchid - driftwood
Wings: Evie's Closet, Damselfly Wings - Amethyst
Dress: Evie's Closet, Damselfly - Amethyst
Jewelry: Kouse's Sanctuary, Demoiselle - Gold/Lavender
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Shoes: G Field, Flower Pumps "Eve" - purple
Poses: Glitterati

Location: Verdigris
Light Settings: Places Terre Des Morte
Water: Atomist 2
Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only