Twisted Color Challenge: Week 42 - Peruvian Way

I'm so far behind on the Twisted Color Challenge that it isn't even funny, but Peruvian Way was a real joy to set up, and a chance to revisit items I'd picked up long ago in a new way. I wanted a sense of warmth and comfort; something sweet and pure and gentle. I ended up revisiting Happy Mood, a lovely store sim which is a reminder of the positive effects of stores on the Second Life geography - many store owners have impeccable taste and place their stores in sims full of their own creations, as if they manifested a dream.

I had originally looked for something from Peru, some windswept heights of Machu Pichu where I can pose like the uncaring invader, using unfamiliar cultures as a backdrop. I've been thinking a lot about colonizations and the scars it leaves on cultures and societies. One of the blind spots inherent to being white is a perception of every culture being within range - both an individual being able to join those cultures without incident, and being able to take aspects of that culture to use them as decoration and augmentation.

I feel that same impulse.

I own a Dreamcatcher I bought in a roadside store full of kitch which sold "Authentic Indian Bread". For a long time I coveted the long headdresses covered in Eagle Feathers which are reserved for the most revered within a culture. I gathered up bits and baubles of the hearts of other cultures, and to a certain extent I still do - cosmetics and kimono from Japan, learning recipes from Indonesia and Mexico, wondering about the lines between appreciation and appropriation. I don't buy in to the idea that we can, as adults, divorce ourselves from our roots, or how we were raised. I believe we can grow beyond it; I believe we can expand it with new cultures we enter as members; I think we carry our past with us and that it's woven into our bones.

This can be viewed in many ways. We often want to escape who we are, but I've experience multiple times that recreating me in a new place, where no one knows me, I still recreate me - with all my flaws and foibles, with all my pettiness and nobility. I'm still painfully earnest and well meaning. I'm still desperately wishing I could be sweet and bouncy all the time. I still have deep veins of darkness and the ability to read and manipulate people. I still spend a lot of my time protecting myself from being hurt in my personal life, and laying my heart on the line professionally - and I still struggle with that balance. I draw lines, and cross them, and think I know everything and am frequently wrong. I can leave who I am behind in the short term, in small space and within narrow lines, but not with any length or breadth or depth - and I think this is a fairly universal thing with humans. Who we are is rarely a conscious choice; it is usually a series of subconscious reactions and assumptions which require concerted effort to change.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Rene
Flowers: Wishbox, Rose Headdress
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick: Mock, Fruitilicious Gloss
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe Wings
Hands and Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands and Feet
Nails: Orc Inc, Glitterslash
Hand Fade: Orc Inc, Blend Hands
Dress: G Field, Winter Coat "Natalie" with Fur Cuffs and Tippet
Stockings: Stellar, In Bloom
Shoes: Whatever, Wing Sneakerheel

Poses: Dare

Location: Happy Mood
Light Settings: Jessica Light 02
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Monday Meme: Questions about Linden Lab TOS

One of Strawberry Singh's Monday Memes I missed while out of town was on the Linden Labs TOS - which I have to admit I have mixed feelings about.I have, to be frank, mixed feelings about TOSes in general. Companies seem to be adding an ever expanding laundry list of conditions and trying to enforce them through continuous internet access, and while a lot of them haven't hit the courts yet, I am troubled by a long history of individual rights being negated in the face of governmental and corporate rights. Yes, ultimately, governments and corporations are made up of individuals, but they are also a means of generalizing risk and responsibility, which can have troubling implications for individual action. The US is a place right now where the President can both commend Whistleblowers as Patriots and condemn Julian Assange and Edward Snowden as a traitor with most people seemingly unaware of the irony and hypocrisy inherent in doing so; this leaves me both feeling uncomfortable and feeling powerless at the same time. I usually focus on what I can do and what I have power over, so there is a certain extent too which I don't look too closely at some of these larger issues besides registering my discomfort.

1. Do you usually read the TOS thoroughly before you hit accept? No. I used to, years ago, but TOSes are written so obtusely and at such length that I eventually gave up. I'm fairly certain this was a feature of how they were written, not a bug, as non-professional TOSes tend to be comfortingly brief.


2. How do you feel about the new LL TOS changes, specially from August 15th and section 2.3. I don't like how the TOS seems to be setting creators up to fail again. Second Life is a pretty unique platform,and I'm not happy about threats to that. It's also a business, though, and businesses are pretty notorious for not caring overly much about their customers, or defining caring about their customers very differently than I would.


3. Do the changes affect you directly? Not really. I create very little inside of Second Life, so insofar as they are affected I will be part of the splatter damage, but I don't see a direct effect.


4. What do you think people should do about this new change? I really don't know. One of the issues is that any sort of actual broad social disobedience is unlikely to take hold in a virtual world - there aren't direct lines of communication, the ability to stop people engaging in the disobedience is easier and with fewer consequences (one of the parts of the Civil Rights Movement was to get arrested so that the jails would clog up; there is no virtual equivalent as a deleted account is simply gone), and the injuries are far less lasting and severe. Most of the remedies I see are through the Courts, and specifically through pro bono work as anyone injured by Second Life TOS matters are unlikely to be wealthy enough to single handedly engage in a lawsuit. I have no doubt that the lines between individuals and Corporate TOSes will end up in the Courts, but I doubt it will be through Second Life that it happens.


5. Are you or have you ever thought about leaving Second Life? What would you do with your time/blogs/career if you ever did? I tend to not think about leaving things until I do. There are definite eras in my life which are defined by the media I was engaging in, and I'd imagine if things offline became busier I would spend less time on Second Life; I might pick up some of my other blog challenges, or write a book, or... who knows. I always seem to land on my feet and make a few friends, though, so I figure no use worrying about it until it happens.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: Fallen Gods, Scarab (Lucky Fortune Gift)
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Akiko
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: Fallen Gods, Glowing Eye
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick: Elymode, Dripping Blood
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe Wings
Hands and Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands and Feet
Nails: Orc Inc, Rich Darks
Hand Fade: Orc Inc, Blend Hands
Dress: Violent Seduction, Criminal
Shoes: G Field, Pumps "Eve"

Pose: Exposeur

Location: Enchantment
Light Settings: Phototools, Horizon Building Light 02
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Pod People Back from Vacation

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

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

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

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

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

Pose: Grafica

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

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Not Quite Broken Yet

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: Clawtooth, Windswept
Hat: Remarkable Oblivion, Twintail Magician Hat (Oh My Gatcha)
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyeshadow: Elumode, Solstice
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick: Rue, Lip Service
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe
Hands and Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands and Feet
Nails: Nine Inch Nails, Deco
Jacket: katat0nik, Wishy Woman (Collabor88)
Dress: Schadenfreude, The Boozle (Collabor88)
Stockngs: Stellar, In Bloom
Boots: Ison, Lace Up Gladiator Sandals (Collabor88)

Poses: Long Awkward Pose

Location: World's End Garden 
Light Settings: Phototools, Dorm Light
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

MadPea Hunt Guide: Dark Dimension

From October 7th to November , MadPea is hosting a new hunt - Dark Dimension. There is a blogpost on the MadPea Blog covering the prizes both for the main hunt and for the additional mini hunt. You begin on Death Row Island, a prison island converted to a super mall that somehow didn't eradicate the darkness left behind - people from the mall keep vanishing, and no one knows why to to where. 

Monday Meme: Google

I always find Strawberry's information gathering memes fun, and she invited us to do her Google Meme as well as the recent meme on SLTimeWasted - a Digital Footprint Meme. Part of the trick is to open up a search window as unaffected by your browsing history as you can - which can either be through a browser you rarely use, or in "Incognito Mode" in Chrome.

1. Google your Second Life name in “quotations” and share your results. About 7,750 results (Compared to just Deoridhe which is about 25,700 results)


2. What is the first link that comes up? The link to the main page of my blog, followed by my Plurk, my Second Life Profile, and a profile of me done by SL Blogger Support this year. (My facebook comes up for Deoridhe.)


3. Which link were you surprised to see? I'm apparently being completely reposted on another blogspot blog, but they didn't edit the posts to take out my SL name; idiots. (No real surprises on Deoridhe; there had been a guy who used a poem of mine in his sig for years, but it looks like his posts have moved out of the aggregate.)


4. Click on the “Image” tab and tell us where the first 5 pictures listed are from. They are all from me through various sources of mine, which is sort of reassuring. (For Deoridhe, four are form me and one is of the hair named after me from Discord Designs.)


5. Click on the “more” tab and then click “news” and share your results. "Your search - "deoridhe quandry" / deoridhe - did not match any news results."

For the purposes of comparing my digital footprint, I'm going to use my full legal name but just Deoridhe, since my Deoridhe footprint is significantly larger and older than Deoridhe Quandry.

• How did the two digital footprints compare, and did that surprise you? My Deoridhe footprint is a lot larger than my Legal Name footprint, and that doesn't surprise me at all. What did surprise me is that my legal name footprint is also smaller than my Deoridhe Quandry footprint - and that's taking into account there are people in the world who share my legal name. I try to track how I stand in terms of my legal name in search engines as a matter of safety, though, and have grown fond of the other mes across the 'net, even if we'll likely never meet.


• Does anyone interesting share your name? Both Deoridhe and Deoridhe Quandry are completely unique to me, still, which is a bit incredible but also very fun. I have one person who shares my legal name who has a very large footprint (she dominates the rest of us) and since she's a feminist and into social justice, I think she's really awesome. Now and then someone will contact me on Facebook thinking I'm her. It's an interesting contrast, especially given how Facebook and Google+ view identity; I am far more easily identified, and far more unique, under Deoridhe than under my legal name, but very few people would think Deoridhe is a "real name".


• Are you happy with the size of your digital footprint, or do you wish either one was larger/smaller?  I'm very pleased. Since I got online I've tried to keep my legal name footprint miniscule while expressing myself on Deoridhe. 


• If you woke up/ logged in one morning to discover over night you had suddenly gained rock-star status, and everybody knew who you were and wanted to know what you were doing… what would you do?  I'd freak out. Under either identity, I'm not a very public person and on a basic level I fear what could and would be said about me if I became too well know. The world in general is not a kind place, and there are people who really enjoy insulting and harassing people online, so being front and center for that kind of treatment sounds like the opposite of fun. 

( More pictures here. / Click on Images for Credits )

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 41: Bayside High

Last week's color was Bayside High, a lovely combination of aquamarine and pale pink that I accomplished through largely artificial means - have I mentioned lately how much I love modify-ok clothing? There's a decided trend with mesh clothing to make it no-modify, but with faces placed properly they can be as individualizable as any other kind of clothing; in this case I tinted the bottom of my gorgeous, HUD color-changing gown from Junebug, which I picked up at the We <3 RP Event. The flower is not color-changing, but the gown itself has six options, as does the overskirt, and the effect is gorgeous. My enormous pearl jewelry is from Glow, and I love the drama of it; often pearl-style necklaces are simple and demure, but this one has a bold pattern and really stands out. My extremely unusual hair is by Gauze, and the second I saw it I knew I had to have it. The curling horns of hair, and the curving ivy over them are terrifically unique, and I love having hair in my inventory for more unconventional looks.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: Gauze, Demara
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyeshadow: Belleza, Neon Eyeliner
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick: Mock, Fruitilicious Gloss
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe
Hands and Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands and Feet
Nails: Orc Inc, Glitterslash
Jewelry: Glow, Gypsy
Dress: Junebug, Bel Fiore

Pose: HelaMiyo

Location: Mysterious Wave
Light Settings: Phototools, Dream Book Light 02
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Music by Moonlight

I was last here for the Surrealism Challenge, but I vowed to return for more shots and I finally made it back tonight. Musiclandia is a lovely sim full of musical instruments, water, and whimsey, and it looks lovely under moonlight.  I had some fun playing around with windlight this time - shifting where the moon is, adjusting the cloud layer, making the stars larger and smaller as it suited me; you might be able to tell now and then from the hue of the light that a lot of things have change, but overall I think the changes are seamless. In one picture, I used an attached light to make things brighten up; can you figure out which one?

I've been bouncing around in this outfit for a while, thoroughly enjoying it. The gown is a quite old one, but still lovely; Blue Blood makes the most exquisite clothing, and I think her wide-hipped ones like this are my favorite. I love the sleeve design, too, and the gray and white quality of her whitegoth styles. I substituted lovely stockings from Stellar for the included ones, though, so that they could slip over my SLink feet - feet I'm rather loathed to go without, these days. Luckily for my sense of completion, though I didn't angle a shot to see this, the Blue Blood gown included garters separate from the stockings - so there are still little hearts holding everything up under my skirt. I had to wear my SLink feet, you see, because of these sweet, simple update on his shoes, slipped to me on the sly by Sax Shepherd Designs - like the other SLink shoe I reviewed, these have a color changing HUD which changes pretty much every part of the shoe; bliss for my inventory. This time I went for a soft set of gold hues to catch the threads of gold and the hearts in my dress - something small to tie the whole look together. In the same way, I covered up the fact that my SLink hands cut a little high on the Blue Blood dress sleeve by moving up the prim finishing piece on my wrist so it becomes a forearm design instead - just another of the many ways one can alter prim and texture clothing with rigged mesh attachments; I doubt you'd notice the alterations unless you were looking for them.

The rest of my look was calculated to echo the whimsy of the Musiclandia - sweet, a little geeky, and exquisitely textured. My dear reptilian friends are a release from Silent Sparrow - the latest in her quest to populate all of our inventories with the cutest animal friends on the grid. For a single purchase, one gets three rezzable, single prim turtles and two wearable ones - I'm showing off both wearable locations; the forearm turtle also comes with an included pose to keep him up against your chest. The green of Mr. Keylime on my head modulated beautifully with this strawberry patch headpiece from the Gatcha machine for World's End Garden, which can be found at her RMK store (I have extras of most of them, gained in my failed quest to get them all); remember her full sim is closing later on in the month, so make sure to swing by and enjoy it one last time. Sadly, a lot of the more complicated builds that had been there are gone, but there are a couple very simple ones, and if you move to the right spots, you can find the same soothing music that used to comfort me for so many hours. I added katat0nik's recent group gift strawberry glasses to this, just to tip us over toward geeky in the best way; these have the most adorable pink strawberries along the edge, and the green was a perfect match for my Head Turtle. My Clawtooth hair is another gatcha prize, but this time an extra from a dear friend so I've no idea which event it's part of;  Finally, I echoed the red again in my lips, a sumptuous color from Adore and Abhor that was exactly the color of my World's End strawberries; mmmmmm... tastes of flame and apocalypses.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Jade
Hairflowers: World End's Garden, Primavera K
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyeshadow: Virtual Insanity, Spring
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Glasses: katat0nik, Strawberry Glasses
Lipstick: Adore & Abhor, Fluff Lips
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe
Hands and Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands and Feet
Nails: Flair, Set 98
Pets: Schadenfreude, Turtles
Dress: Blue Blood, Inima
Stockings: Stellar, In Bloom
Shoes: Sax Shepherd Designs, Frills

Pose: Don't Freak Out

Location: Musiclandia
Light Settings: Phototools, Moon Light 03
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Monday Meme: Your Avatar’s Private Life

Strawberry asked a difficult question for this week's meme - when we log off, what does our avatar get up to without us? I was baffled, and a friend suggested putting a security camera on her and seeing what she did... and I got this shocking evidence of the Faerie Thief in the Night. I'd been wondering where all of those Wasabi Pills Fatpacks were coming from.... opps.

It's the friend I want to talk about for the second half of the meme. I call him Keaniez, though he hasn't logged onto that avatar in ages and I met him as a sociopathic, asshole vampire named Remiel who ...really doesn't like me.Keaniez likes me, though, and is always there to be a comforting shoulder, and listening ear, to read my blog when I tell him to, and to play with me when I'm bored. I once filled a room with rainbow balls that I made physical, and pushed him around using them, and he just laughed. We don't play together nearly as much as we used to, but he is always a dear friend who I love to pester, and I'm always sure he likes me pestering him.

Credits:

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Jade
Hairflowers: World End's Garden, Primavera K
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyeshadow: Virtual Insanity, Spring
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Glasses: katat0nik, Strawberry Glasses
Lipstick: Adore & Abhor, Fluff Lips
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe
Hands and Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands and Feet
Nails: Flair, Set 98
Pets: Schadenfreude, Turtles
Dress: Blue Blood, Inima
Stockings: Stellar, In Bloom
Shoes: Sax Shepherd Designs, Frills

Pose: Glitterati, Feathered 10

Location: Wasabi Pills MAINSTORE
Light Settings: AnaLutetia - AvatarOpt whiter

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 40: Coffee House

Coffee House is a very sweet color combination - a dark, bitter brown with a greyish aquamarine; at once neutral and colorful. I was able to find things which worked form head to toe, and in honor of the contrast of these two colors I decided to keep my look otherwise fairly basic - no eyeshadow or lipstick, just the bare Izzie's skin I started wearing recently. I had briefly considered doing a whole post about the different skins I tried and what I thought of them, and then life happened and I didn't want to wait on taking a bunch of pictures to get started with my new skin. Since I tend to be very skin-loyal, I wanted this skin to serve me on a number of levels. Firstly, I wanted a tone that I really liked, and this yellowish base with peach overtones was simply perfect for matching my offline skin. Secondly, I wanted a simple nude base; while Izzie's has more eyeliner than I tend to prefer, it otherwise was perfect - the lips are only slightly pinker, and thus could easily be a natural tone. Thirdly, I needed features which worked with my somewhat unique features; my lips are thinner than the norm on Second Life, and my eyes are differently shaped - to better match my actual eyes - and that can distort many skins on my mesh. Again, as you can see, Izzie's fit the bill perfectly. Finally, I wanted a blond brow that was on the skin, so that I had all of my tattoo layers available for cosmetics, and Izzie's kindly comes with no-brow and different natural-brow shades on the skin. I've been really happy with how it's worked int he last half-dozen shoots, and so I'm ready to settle in with this as my next, semi-permanent skin and begin re-titing all of my HUDs and accessories. Ah, the life of a fashionista.

I took advantage of the blond brow by wearing this gorgeous recent release from Wasabi Pills, a rigged mesh short hairstyle with tintable hairband - which I tinted the proper shade of brown - included. My jewelry is an old, HUD recolorable set from Virtual Impressions, one of my many purchases since joining her excellent group - if you like having a wide variety of interesting and adaptable jewelry in your inventory, I highly recommend you join as well and take advantage of the sale price on new releases given to all group members, as well as the generous group gifts. My dress is from a new-to-me store called Panda Candy, which I found through an unsolicited notecard drop; it's a very simple gown accented by an unrigged, partially mesh belt with some flat prim attachments; the gown moved very well, but the belt could be a bit more finicky, and I repositioned it for most of these images so that it would seem to fall naturally around my hips. I would have loved to see it instead incorporated into the gown, perhaps unwrapped on a separate face so it could be tinted separately as I did here, but overall it's a store I'll be keeping my eye on. Finally, my fun shoes are on sale right now (yes, I actually managed to blog a deal while it was going on; I hope you didn't hit your head when you fainted) from Felicity. They're unrigged, HUD driven shoes with a whole slew of options, so hurry and check them out. Also, you would not believe how important angle is in the picture I took of them.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Jade
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Orc Inc, Metallic Fade
Jewelry: Virtual Impressions, Cheryl
Dress: Panda Candy, Haruki
Shoes: Felicity, Shayna (Steals and Deals)

Pose: Grafica

Location: Calas Galadhon: Armenelos
Light Settings: Nacon's Natural 10 am
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only