I Can Haz Promoshunz: Beach Comber

I wasn't quite ready to give up summer yet - as you can see from my selections of bright, colorful, and warm weather clothing. One of the nice things about Second Life is that even when it's icy outside, you can find a bright and sunny place and live out dreams of a deserted island in summer. At Retropolis, I found myself on a storm-driven ship nearly swallowed by giant tentacles, but that horrific image was quickly replaced with blue seas and warm golden sands (click on the genie to escape the storm!).

I've crammed a lot onto one little avatar, so I'm just going to start from the top and move down. The hat is a special creation from De La Soul that I have on good authority will be released as a group gift in December. The texture is an explosion of rainbow, and the band and feathers are both color changing! It is, aptly enough, named The Deo. You'd think I tortured Charlie until he made me rainbows, or something. Hee hee hee. The hair is a fantastic release from Me., and comes in a wide variety of colors with a base color and highlights. I paired a slightly darker blond with a lighter one, to reflect the sunkissed nature of my avatar! The skin is from Perception, which is a new-to-me store! It has a very interesting philosophy about skins - seasons based with Summer being this rosy tanned one I'm wearing now - and cosmetics - based on time of day, they allow a variety of styles for different levels of makeup, from simple designs meant for daytime wear to the full eyecolor of this evening look. The lipstick is on the skin, and the eyecolors come separately, which allows for a lot of mix and match.

I added some piercings to celebrate this very different, tanned look I built - from Acide!, which does some amazing designs. Each section of the piercing comes with it's own shadow. On the one hand, this adds a real verisimilitude. On the other hand, this made fitting them to my face took a while! I had to edit and rotate several of the shadows to lie appropriately on the curves of my face. I added a gorgeous little butterfly from Je taime to my collarbone instead of a necklace, and I really like the effect with the rest of my loose, relaxed look. The dress from Paris Metro really fit the mood perfectly, too - it's lose, and flowy, with a tail style skirt which would hang in the hair for several seconds, allowing for some really fun picture opportunities. The prim parts are modify-ok, which made fitting the sleeves to my shorter arms a snap; you just have to edit single prims if your arms are shorter and/or wider than the usual. I finished the whole look off with a pair of shoes I bought ages ago from SHOEnique. I got them literally because they were rainbow, and then this outfit showed me why I had kept them in my inventory - they look made for this!

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: Perception, Sara - Summer (Promotional Item)
Cosmetics: Perception, Evening Set 1b (Promotional Item)
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Piercings: Acide!, Mel - Rouge (Promotional Item)
Hair: Me., Jacqui (Promotional Item)
Hat: De La Soul, Defora Basic - The Deo (Promotional Item)
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Butterfly: Je taime, Sculpted an animated butterfly (Promotional Item)
Dress: Paris Metro, Artist Series - Betty Tureaud Gown (Promotional Item)
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Shoes: SHOEnique, Flower Power Hippy Wedges

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Retropolis
Light Settings: Paulina, Fairy Blue
Water Settings: Pond

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

I Can Haz Promoshunz: Men Don't Make Passes

At women in glasses.

One of the things I am growing to love more and more about promotional gifts is the challenge of taking a bunch of things, many of them not things I would necessarily purchase on my own, and turning them into a cohesive and (I hope you agree) attractive look. The tattoo from v3 Tattoo is probably the farthest from my usual style, a cacophony of color and pattern it's a biker's daydream - and I though matching it with the pretty patterns of the Trendstyle dress (don't you see bikers and think pink?) made for an interesting contrast; biker chic meets uber girly.The detail of the tattoo is incredible and it comes in three shading types - dark, faded, and aged. The dress is the closest of the promotional items to my style, a frothy confection of swirls and I simply adore how the dual-color was arranged in both the bodice and the skirt. It comes in a plethora of other colors, but I'm terribly fond of the effect of pink and black together, so I couldn't resist.

The hair from Me. matched the more classy end of things, which was echoed in my retro glasses from {K}Rea. I actually had glasses like that once, only in blue and brown not black. I like the chunky styling of them, but they're very far form my usual look - like the Jacqui hair, which is short and sleek and very modern. The use of textures on the hair to add depth is really excellent, though as you can see there are issues with transparency. All of it is layered over the newest skin line from De La Soul, Aestali with the matching Aestalian for the males. I'm wearing a shade new to this release - Cream Rose - which is a reddened version of her longstanding cream shade. The list of things which come with this skin, including eyeliners and a wide variety of breast sizes, is incredible; my folder is simply brimming with Aestali goodness. It even comes with a complementary backpack with all the beauty supplies you could need in the pockets! A final note on the shoes, from Eclectica - they were a free gift through her group and I have to admit I've already splurged and bought the whole set. Between G Field and Eclectica I may not ever want for shoes again!

I've been doing a lot of show watching, and people watching, and reading, and I have a pain in my paw - like the lion with the thorn in the old story. People so often seem to default to mocking each other, wanting to hurt each other, wanting other people to be upset or suffer. To be sweet and kind is, often, to be a figure of fun, or mockery, or simply something to be ignored. It makes me wonder about myself, about my place in the world and the various social nets I'm linked into; the contrast between cynical and kind, between sweet and adult - can a person live there, encompass all of those things, and still relate to others? Still be of interest to others? Sometimes I feel like the backup friend - the person trotted out when those one would rather spend time with are gone;  more and more I'm wondering how much of those feelings are of my own making.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De la Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, Roomee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyeliner: cheLLe, Cleo Called Black
Eyecolor: Elymode, Magenta and Pink 1
Lipstick: Rue, Lip Service ~ Sweetlips
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ear
Glasses: {K}Rea, Old Nerd Glasses (promotional item)
Hair: Me., Jacqui (promotional item)
Tattoo: v3 Tattoo, Oriental Express (promotional item)
Wings: ni.ju, Glow Dragon Wings LB Set B(4)
Dress: Trendstyle, Doll Endless Love pink (promotional item)
Bracelets: Amaris, Laced Cuff - black
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Anklet: Linc, Ruffled Cuff Black
Shoes: Eclectica, Hollywood Shoes - Elsie's Red (gift)

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Heaven4D
Light Settings: TOR, MIDDAY Rebranded Skies
Water: TOR, Maldives

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

I Can Haz Promoshunz: Demon

I have a glorious set of pictures this time, with some really fun combination of promotional items! One nice thing about promotional items is that I'm often confronted by things I wouldn't normally wear - and trying to turn it into a cohesive, attractive look can really push me. In this case, a top that isn't quite my style, and a dress that I like but probably wouldn't have thought to use this way, are combined into a fluid whole. The top is from De La Soul and is a Limited Edition version of a new top she's coming out with - called The Seeker and this is the Tomoyuki version. It comes with a HUD to change the textures of the obi and the catches; the obi changes to a variety of shades, most of them dark, and the catches change through a variety of colors, including gold, green, and the red shown here.

The "skirt" part is actually part of a dress from Paris Metro - a store which does gorgeous fancy gowns, often quite daring and sexy. In addition to the central skirt, it also included a variety of leg-attached pieces for the skirt, which is a touch I always like. I didn't keep the central red skirt, because it layered strangely with the alpha in the textured skirt, but I love how the prims are canted and swirl in interesting ways as you move and pose. The mouth-jewelry is from Acide!, and I have become a necklace-in-your-mouth convert. I had to do a little fitting of the jewels around the cheeks, but since it's a modable necklace it took only a minute or two to do. I love the effect of the stones hanging out like that; a charming and funny idea, and a great way to add a necklace to a nigh-necked outfit!

The skin is a gorgeous fae-style design from mythic that comes with and without sparkles (I'm wearing with, of course - who do you think I am?). The gray is a lot of fun, and I really enjoy the bright colors of the other versions of the skin included. They'll be a small army of pastel, sparkled fae set loose upon the grid! There are matching eyes, too, but I couldn't find a red pair that worked with the rest of my planning, so I ended up using Flare eyes from De La Soul (not promotional).

The hair from Me. is a lot of fun, and very floofy, which I enjoyed! I don't normally wear big, fluffy hair, but I thought the style suited this quasi-Japanese/sexy dress shift. The bangs are nice and heavy, but they are partly alpha so your eyelashes with fight with them (hence no eyelashes in these pictures!). There isn't any movement on this hair, though, so keep that in mind if you love movement in your hair. The poses are another bit of fun! I used a mix of promotional poses from EverGlow (which really gives good pose!) and Apple Spice, which I'm still getting to know as a pose-maker. EveryGlow tends to do solid, smooth pose set with a mix of different levels of pose, from sitting to standing. Apple Spice's big strength seems to be sexy, canted poses which go well with the single slit of my skirt (but less well with the fitted obi).

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: mythic, Maeve ~ Fire ~ Ash (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, Roomee Eyes - Flare
Lipstick: la petite morte, Red Stripe Lips
Jewelry: Acide!, Dead Pearly Kiss V.2 (promotional item)
Hair: Me., Kara - everything (promotional item)
Wings: Favole, Cawthorne Vermillion
Top: De La Soul, The Seeker - Tomo (promotional item)
Gloves: Eclectica, "Swoon" crimson
Skirt: Paris Metro, Carnation Salsa Gown - ruby (promotional item)
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Shoes: Nadia, Okobo Red

Pose: Apple Spice and EverGlow (promotional items)

Location: Annon, The Gate
Light Settings: TOR, Suppression Band
Water Settings: TOR, Linear Puddles

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only