2012 Color Challenge: Week 47 - Barley Corn

Barley Corn was a difficult color to find by name, though I found a couple of barleys. My De La Soul skin, which I think was a limited edition with lovely snakeskin detailing around the eyes, was a limited edition - but Beatrice is still for sale in her store, and barley is an awesome olive-toned skin a few shades darker than my usual Cream. The hair is also called barley and is a more golden tone; from Truth, it's a delicious updo with a fantastic wavy bang which is what attracted me to the style to begin with. I paired it with Felicity's Thanksgiving release, which is a two toned pair of shoes with multiple lacings. Finally, the dress - an old purchase from G Field - is the bit of sweet in the barley, caramel richness which leaves me warm and satisfied. In a little while I might make a sundae - pure vanilla ice cream with warm caramel and fudge dribbled over it - a combination which always makes me smile. If only I had malt, my sundae desires would be purely met.

Cooler weather is always a blessing for me; I overheat pretty easily, and I enjoy the sensation of snuggling down into blankets and feeling them warm up around me. It also inspires that most pleasing of tendencies in my furry companion - the impulse to snuggle. Over the years I've gotten him from pathologically afraid of blankets to happily snuggling under them with me; even as I type this, he's snuggled up next to me, wrapped under the blankets I have across my lap, purring occasionally when I pet him.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De la Soul, Beatrice, Barley - 2012 Dragon
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: SLink, Eyelashes
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Hair: Truth, Mayim - barley
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Jewelry: League, Pearls & Lace - natural ivory
Dress: G Field, Classic Dress "Erica" - caramel
Shoes: Felicity, Farah Stilettos - Thanksgiving Special (on sale through Monday)

Poses: D.Luxx

Location: Frisch
Light Settings: Places
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Single Frame Stories - Humility

Where we come from, the earth we are formed and fashioned from which holds the bones and breath and blood of our ancestors, the hummus we walk upon and disregard and see so little of, terra incognita right under our feet. Humility is a loaded word, one heavy with the wine and wishes of religions, the detachment and discernment of philosophies, the tricks and trickery of removing from they who suffer the fruits of that suffering. Wherever our feet touch down, there is earth beneath. Through concrete and stone and wood and foundations, all of it lies on the earth, tied into the ground, pulled tightly to the surface of a spinning ball hurtling through space.

It is through our ancestors that we are given the benefits and responsibilities of life. They give us both gifts and burdens, and our connection to them and the honor and dishonor of family ties shapes us into who we are. Some ancestors are made through ties of blood, others through promises and will, but relative to our ancestors, to all ancestors, we know ourselves in the world.

It is important to know the texture, strength, and nature of the earth which supports us.

Voices of my People
Kate Price
(transcribed from the audio)

The voices of my people fly high on beating wings.
They sing the seasons of the moon, the thawing of the spring.
The melodies of sun danced on rise through us to the sun.
The voices of my people are one.

The dances of my people pound deep into the land,
Calling those who went before to join us hand in hand.
We call upon our ancients to guide us through the night.
The dances of my people unite.

In the darkest hour
Before the break of day.
You can hear them call,
Calling you away.

The visions of my people, illuminations clear
Beyond the dark horizon, beyond the veil of fear.
With our hearts we wander where there is no journies end.
The visions of my people ascend.

In the darkest hour
Before the break of day.
You can hear them call,
Calling you away.

( More Single Frame Stories here. )

Credits:

Skin: Fallen Gods, Onyrica
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: SLink, Eyelashes
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Christy
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: Evie's Closet, Ariel

Pose: Glitterati, 

Location: Isle of Amras
Light Settings: Places District8

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Cream and Ice and Everything Nice

I started thinking recently about why I do what I do. I had considered it sort of a style of art or photography - yes, it's screen captures, but like photographs you have to arrange your figures and angles to create something pleasing out of things that you did not create. It can be an art, but it's more often for the pleasure of the photographer and a few people who might like the images created. I got my picture taken by a "professional" Second Life photographer, and what struck me at the time was how odd the process was, especially the assumption of the term professional. I've always done my own profile pictures with no photoshopping, so getting a photoshopped picture was decidedly odd, but if professional is defined by receiving money for something, than many photographers in Second Life are professional though I remain amateur. I've considered on and off taking some of my favorite images, texturing them a little with photoshop perhaps, putting them on prims with some sort of frame (or doing the bare canvas treatment of the sides of some prims) and then seeing if a gallery will take me - would that make these pictures "art"?

Part of my continuing bristling is an offhanded comment by some artists that Second Life art isn't real art, and that artists don't need prompts to create art, and I still twitch a bit to think of it, mostly because within myself I want to think of what I do as an art, if not art itself, but I know it's very different from putting acrylic on canvas even if the same rules of composition are being used. I've never been able to satisfactorily settle on what i consider art to be, though; taken in it's full context, art began as embellishment and decoration on functional things, and only shifted to non-utilitarian things, like paintings and conceptual art, as cultures became less survival-focused. In many ways, now many of us are as divorced from creating our own food as we can be. There is survival, but it's several pieces removed - earning money to purchase food other people farmed or even created. Likewise, our worlds have become less decorative as a built in function of walls and doors and ceilings, and more something placed on top - purchased and then displayed. Virtual images, like the ones I make, are even further removed - decorations for the walls of flickr and maybe a few folders, rather than anything more tangible. Where does the art live, then? Is it in the physical representations, the ideas behind it, or something else more ineffable?

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De la Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: SLink, Eyelashes
Eyeshadow: Elymode, A Little Drama - yellow & blue
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss - Santa Fe
Hair: Rosy Mood, Sweetbun
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Jewelry: League, Pearls & Lace - natural ivory
Dress: Schadenfreude, Bubblegum Ice Cream Gluttony
Shoes: G Field, Lady Rose Shoes - tinted offwhite

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Goatswood
Light Settings: Places Astryls Wild
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Pose Appreciation Week: Making Credits

It's pose appreciation week, in which we focus on the poses which make us all look good. My pose store of choice these days is Glitterati, at least in part because I have over four hundred poses from her which means I can fit a wide variety of moods and types of clothing. I have an advantage over some loggers because I take discrete pictures and don't combine them (unless I'm doing hunt prizes) so it's relatively easy to keep track, but I figured I'd share some of my process so that people who are struggling with how do do things behind the scenes might get some ideas. For a long time I kept the notecard in world, but now I use notepad (so that there isn't any extra code when I cut and paste it to different places) and edit it to match each new photoshoot. I actually have a separate one for petites, since the defaults I use are very different, but I'm using today's photoshoot as an example. I start with the note open so that I can easily put in the store name and item name of everything I'm wearing (even if it isn't visible, like the katat0nik shoes under my enormous Dressed By Lexi dress).

Skin: De la Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: SLink, Eyelashes
Eyeshadow: Glow, Crazy Eyes
Eyeliner: Adam n Eve, Hepsut
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss
Hair: Discord Designs, Calvin (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Jewelry: Primalot, Joy
Dress: Dressed By Lexi, Dangerous Beauty
Boots: katat0nik, Bowie Peep Toe Heels

Pose: Glitterati,
1) 227
2) 239
3) 298
4) Long Hair 4
5) 170
6) 210

Location: Enchanted Frost Hunt
Light Settings: Places Annamaria
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

SL, Second Life, De La Soul, Illusions, SLink, Glow, Adam n Eve, Illusions, Mock, Discord Designs, Fancy Fairy, Primalot, Dressed By Lexi, katat0nik, Glitterati, MadPea, Enchanted Frost

When I take pictures, I name them for the date (and sometimes a phrase for specific shoots) and they're numbered automatically, so for today I ended up with pictures 2012-11-19_001 to 2012-11-19_006. Since they automatically number, it's easy to track which pose I'm using for each on a list underneath the name of the posemaker. Flickr has a new uploading program where I can create sets while labeling each picture individually. I actually edit and cut and paste the set description into this post even before uploading the pictures.Then, once I've put into the descriptions of each picture in bulk, I can edit down for each individual number, and then rename the pictures. At this point, the process is so ingrained I could probably do it in my sleep.

White I'm doing the brainless labeling, I'm also thinking of what i want to say, which includes whether this needs to be a "namedrop the creators" shoot, like mentioning my awesome hair with the teeniest tiniest cornrows is from Discord Designs and available at the Around the World Event, or if I can wax philosophical or even just self-indulgently off on various topics on my mind. I try to do all of this while still wearing the clothes because I usually grab the urls for stores from the creators' Picks (creators, I love it when it's the top one!) while stacking their profiles for ease of notecard distribution with the published blogposts url in it. I do my Plurk post, with a picture I think will suit that medium well, and finally, I put the url for the blogpost in each picture and add them to the appropriate groups on Flickr. Depending on my level of focus and how much I have to say, the whole process can take anywhere from a couple of hours to half a day, but a lot of my attention is on minimizing the boring stuff so that I can focus on what I really enjoy - taking pictures and exploring.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De la Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: SLink, Eyelashes
Eyeshadow: Glow, Crazy Eyes
Eyeliner: Adam n Eve, Hepsut
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss
Hair: Discord Designs, Calvin (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Jewelry: Primalot, Joy
Dress: Dressed By Lexi, Dangerous Beauty
Boots: katat0nik, Bowie Peep Toe Heels

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Enchanted Frost Hunt
Light Settings: Places Annamaria
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Mists and Mazes

Mesh has brought us many things, some foreseen and most not - but the latest release is a new mesh head. I tried a demo, like a lot of people, and I was really startled by how viscerally uncomfortable I was with a face different than my own. As in, I became deeply disturbed and took off the demo before really playing much around with it. The features were simply so different from what  view as "me" that I couldn't stand it. Like many new to Second Life, the first thing I did was my face, and it's remained mostly the same since I joined, with some time spent to trying to make it look like me (as much as skins and peculiarities of the Second Life mesh allow - like the shadow on the top of my nose isn't there, and neither are my two signature moles, and weirdly it's impossible to have less than Angelina Jolie lips, oh, and my ears aren't quite so big offline). I've grown attached to this face, though I wouldn't mind making it look more like me. I've considered for a while making my moles, though I think it could be argued that the level of verisimilitude is a bit much. How much we invest ourselves into our virtual personas, though, is an interesting question in an age where avatars are becoming an evermore present aspect of everyone's identity - from little squares on Facebook to fully three dimensional figures in a variety of games.

How we relate to these external representations of ourselves is at once similar and entirely different from how we relate to our bodies - because our avatars are completely within our power whereas our bodies are not; they change outside of our control, sagging and tanning and gaining different spots as we age. Avatars are much more within our power, however close or far they are from our bodies, but only within the allowance of the creators. I was dwelling on this recently in relation to a new game on Gaia Online, where my "lead character" of sorts is male, a choice I usually don't make. Even on Civilization, where my virtual alternate rarely shows up, I am almost always female. I really wanted my whole virtual army to be female - it tends to be how I roll these days. After a childhood spent imagining myself through the adventures of multiple men - wishing I could be Merlin, or Sherlock, or Robin Hood - I deeply and strongly want to experience adventure through the appearance and ability of a woman, like I am. It amazes me that even now most of the stories told can only be told with a male protagonist, that if there's a female protagonist on a show she's almost always paired with a guy - or several. Its getting better, it's shifting so that there is more parity (and don't even get me started on ethnic under-representation) but it sometimes seems like there's a long way to go.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De la Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: SLink, Eyelashes
Eyeshadow: Mock, Glitter Pop Eshadow - Iced Grape
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick: Mock, Lucir Lipcolor - Tall Poppy
Hair: Alice Project, Grace (Hunt Prize)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Jewelry: Elemental, Cross Your Heart
Dress: Blue Blood, Disgrace - Purple
Boots: Kcreations, Feline Boots

Poses: Glitterati

Location: The Kingdom of Alurel
Light Settings: TOR, FOGGY Das Fog
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Harlequin Unleashed

I've been going through my inventory, trying to sort out what I want to keep from what I don't, and trying to clear out some dross and detritus. Unfortunately, being who I am, I keep stumbling across things I wanted to photograph, or meant to, and never got around too - which is how we come to today's Harlequin, courtesy of Sublime Shroud Kreations. This is the rainbow colored one, which isn't entirely rainbow but is an amazing brilliant combination of orange and purple which simply explodes off of the screen, standing out no matter what windlight settings are used. I decided to have some fun sneaking around Rennister Castle, a new release from my friend Charlie at De La Soul. The idea of an impish harlequin sneaking around behind the Queen and her Captain's back amused me beyond telling.

Harlequin is one of the characters from Comedia dell'Arte, an Italian style of play beginning in the 16th century which established some of the traditions we still practice today - like female actors and improvisation, as well as prop-based styles of acting. Harlequin is a trickster, a comic servant who was known for his agility and gluttony. Later, he begins to be a more romantic character, but even in the early days he was sometimes paired with Columbina, one of the more intelligent of the archetypes in Comedia dell'Arte. He dances in motley, and here I'm in a style of brightly shaded motley, dancing like any Harlequin in the absence of my Masters.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De la Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: SLink, Eyelashes
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick: Adore & Abhor, Silent Star - Baroque Orange
Hair: Exile, Beyond the Waves
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Dress (includes mask): Sublime Shroud Kreations, Harlequin - Rainbow (promotional item)
Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Feet

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Isle of Amras, Rennister Castle
Light Settings: Places Astryls Wild
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Single Frame Story: Critique

I can be a little defensive when it comes to critique.

At my current job, critique is a necessary and central part of my job, but it's usually self-induced rather than other-induced. I've had jobs in the past, though, where the critique - while accurate - was so moving and disconnected that it proved entirely worthless, and having spent teenage years being compared to inaccurate and insulting descriptions of my mother (inaccurate twice over, as my mother and I have different natures, and their opinion of my mother was also inaccurate), I have sensitive nerves to misplaced and cruel critique. The gentle and loving critique of my current job is a soothing balm, but the sensitivities remain.

( More Single Frame Stories here. )

Pink Crush

Pulling together a look for blogging is always an interesting process, half impulse and half planning. I usually start with the look; some item of clothing which sticks and makes me want to take pictures. In this case it was the gorgeous crushed velvet on this dress from Nomine (briefly on sale for 100$L until sometime too soon so hurry there fast). I'm pretty sure the mesh itself is a template, since the same dress showed up at another store with different texturing (I bought some of those, too), but I have to admit to loving the style, and the rear end isn't as watermellony as others so it was a go for me. I also love the texture, and it's that which really makes this dress - the muted velvet softness, the richness of the color while it's still soft instead of bright, this is really a hallmark of Nomine's clothing style and I love seeing it applied to a well made mesh base.I'll be fascinated when Nomine starts making her own mesh, though; based on the quality of her sculpts, they will really be something special. So the impulsive piece, initially, was this dress - simply because the textures really captured me. The Eclectica jewelry was a present, and I put it on on impulse, since I'm trying to clear through my "new" folder, but the style was so perfect for the deep v-neck of my dress that I simply couldn't resist. It's color changing, two different gem sets and the metal. I really love the chandelier effect of the hanging beads all layered over each other.

So with two basic pieces in play, it was time to round out the outfit - and that is always a bit of a challenge, especially with starting colors this lush; the hair I picked up at collobor88, one of D!va's gorgeous releases. It doesn't quite fit my ears right, but with the right coloring and angle who can tell? The loose updo style also fit the dress well, being both classy and yet still carefree. It struck me as the kind of style where initially it was tightly bound but hours of bright lights and partying has loosened the braid, sent little tendrils flying free, and in a few hours I'll finally take it off and pull off my high boots after a long night of partying. The boots were the final, hardest thing - I ended up pulling out a set I'd picked up from Lassitude & Ennui, which is fast becoming a favorite shoe store of mine. I couldn't find the right color, though, and this is where I thank creators for leaving their items modify-ok! I was able to take the gray and tint them, and I think they really look lovely with the rest of the ensemble.

Now to put my feet up and have a cool drink.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De la Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: SLink, Eyelashes
Eyeshadow: Virtual Insanity, Post Pink
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss - Flirt
Hair: D!va Hair, Daria (Collobor88)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Jewelry: Eclectica, Cascade (gift)
Dress: Nomine, Mesh Zipper Dress (100$L Sale)
Shoes: Lassitude & Ennui, Phoebe Mesh

Pose: Glitterati

Location: : ) B C C
Light Settings: CB, Rouge 6
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Color Challenge: Week 46 - Juniper

Nothing I'm wearing is named Juniper - and indeed, the metallic quality of my outfit (a very old purchase from The Abyss) belies the naturalistic quality of Juniper, an enormous conifer with blue-gray berries that grows in the upper reaches of some mountains. Juniper berries are actually the flavoring gin, though I have to admit I've only drunk a couple gin and tonics, mostly because it glows under blacklight and I loved drinking something that glowed. There is glow in Second Life as well, but due to the rarity of glow offline, I think online it often comes off inaccurately - even unnatural. In a world where we fly, though, and where we can look like anything we want, what really is "natural"? One of the more common, ongoing bits of friction between people is the issue of appearance - both independent of offline reality and in reaction to it. In the case of the latter, many people do and will continue to remark on the dearth of true multiculturalism on Second Life.

I'm as much a part of that reality as anyone, being usually blond and pale skinned in Second Life. This is a reflection of my internal view of myself - my avatar is as close to an internal me as I can easily accomplish - but it is also one which is part of a large narrative about skin and hair color and how that influences culture and prejudice alike. I have a lot of "mes" in Second Life who are auxiliary, though, and their appearances are much more diverse; one is Irish, one is edging toward darker skin - not the Ghanese of Agbala but a lighter cream or chocolate color. This brings up other issues of appropriation, though; with Agbala being from Ghana but spending a good chunk of her life (she's Fae and so her life is quite long) in the Caribbean and having more of a Caribbean accent than a Ghanese one, but with me - her driver lets say - being white and growing up apart from any of those cultures, it would be reasonable for someone from Ghana or someone fromt he Caribbean being less than pleased that I not only named her after an Igbo god, but that I also write ehr with a tinge of accent (usually in an approximation of what I hear when I hear people speak who are from the Caribbean, but not exact).

I have the cultural and financial advantages to be apart from the realities of being prejudiced against; weirdly - or really perhaps not - prejudice and judgement of peoples appearance continues even unto the internet; in fact, some people seem to view that since here you have absolute control over how you look, your personality should be even more clearly reflected in online appearance. I buy into this to a large extent as well; the appearance of my avatar is very important to me - and was before I began photographing it, though photographing it has reinforced that importance. I would say I tend more toward wanting peoples' appearances to be coherent, if not realistic, but I will admit to feeling twinges of annoyance at styles like the Invisible Unicorn Riders, whose hips are so broad the mesh deforms between the legs, and who tend to have enormous pouting lips. I cannot deny, however, that often their looks are coherent - and often clearly thought through.

In reality, they put pressure on my own internal values, both of beauty but also of cheerfulness and a certain modesty of presentation which the more colorful and extreme presentations belie. The same goes for those with the watermelon butts (which also has some troubling offline implications; while IURs tend to be pale skinned, Watermelon Butts tend to be dark skinned and watermelon is strongly associated with US black culture), who often have matching enormous chests and torsos without room for organs to exist - this is the internet, though, and no one needs kidneys or stomachs, so why does it bother me so much? Part of it is philosophical; the objectification of women is a major issue in self-created media and extreme exaggeration of secondary sexual characteristics is a part of that in media-created media which often seems to move into our minds and settle there, like shadows. My realistic-except-for-wings avatar is my attempt to combat this internally, but I've been considering playing around with it more in my alts - perhaps even making an Invisible Unicorn Rider or Watermelon Butt avatar and seeing what it feels like to put on those shapes, what it calls up within me. Our prejudices, and our assumptions about those we are prejudiced against, often reveal uncomfortable truths about who we are which can only be understood through acceptance.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De la Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: SLink, Eyelashes
Eyeshadow: Virtual Insanity, SPRING Cockatoo
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick: Mock, Micare - London Glitter
Hair: Secrets Hair, Cristina - Blonde (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Jewelry: Eclectica, Manhattan - topaz
Dress: The Abyss, Hydrogen
Shoes: G Field, Mesh Long Cuff Boots "Willow"

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Tryst
Light Settings: TOR, EUPHORIA smokey blue skies
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

The Garden: A New Interactive Game in Second Life

The Garden is a new interactive game, much in the style of an enormous game of Clue where you get the hints not from cards, but rather from items and figures placed all over the sim - some of them static, while others move around erratically, taunting you with information.

Or, at least they taunted me.

Taunted me with their little yin yangs  and bags of stuff and secretive apples.

You can play alone, as I have a few times now, or in small groups if you all start together. There are also different achievements you can get - like going through around only talking to the guardians, or around only finding the moving hint givers which taunt, taunt, taunt like taunting things which taunt!

I haven't found a single Gemini yet!

They must have it against me, since I'm Pisces.

It is a little laggy sometimes, so I recommend paring down more than I did, and try to not have more things running when you're wandering around hunting for little taunting objects that hop around in a taunting fashion, but even with my first crash in a very long time, I had a complete ball.

Now... where is that damn yin yang.

Quick notes - this awesome dress is actually two mesh layers, one of the sleeveless dress and the other the semi-transparent vest; they fit together perfectly, but also allow for mixing and matching if you pick up multiple styles. Volstead gives away a wearable demo in purple for all of the mesh items, which I found a completely charming option. This was my favorite of the dresses, but I saw a couple others I may end up picking up as time and finances allow. I thought the Art Deco of the dress was best served with older style accoutrements, so I pulled out this gorgeous pearl-decorated hat and gloves from Eclectica, which is always a good place to find things in older styles. I ended up pulling out some of the hunt prizes from Earthstones, including this purplish-blue solitaire jewel necklace and a lovely bracelet. Finally, I rounded out the outfit with a pair of peekaboo shoes from katat0nik, a new release which completely entranced me. I especially love the delicacy of the lace. This is the first of her shoes with toes, and I really think they turned out well - both in shape and texturing. Depending on what you purchase, you may get a selection of colors or a HUD which offers every color imaginable, with both a texture and a hue changer built in. Since it's HUD driven, they're very low script, however there is no resize function and they come in only one size, so try the demo before purchasing.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De la Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick: Mock, May Lipcolor - Rose Rouge
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Alice (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Necklace: Earthstones, Trillian Solitaire Necklace
Gloves and Hat: Eclectica, Little Black Pillbox Hat and Gloves
Bracelet: Earthstones, Wave Bracelet - Labradorite
Dress: Volstead, Empire Dress - Sky
Shoes: katat0nik, Bowie Peeptoed Shoes

Poses: Glitterati

Location: The Garden: Mermaid Lagoon
Light Settings: Places Imagine
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only