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El and I celebrated our RL birthday today… well, maybe celebrate isn’t the right word. I woke up in a pissy mood and my SL and RL friends and loved ones were able to pull me out of the mood only intermittently. At least Feles knows better than to take my attitude personally and made sure I had a proper birthday: cake, candles and even our birthday suits.

The cake and birthday hats are just one of the awesome prop sets from RC Cluster that Feles gifted to me, I see many fun shoots in our future. My bracelet is part of the Shanti jewelry set from Burroughs that was given to me by the lovely Krystanna Wycliffe, and the crazy high heeled pink pin up stilettos with sculpted feet in color change bobby socks from N•core are so freaking adorable that it’s no surprise they were sent to me by Tuli Asturias. Love you girls, and thanks for brightening my day.

other credits:
skin: Feles-fnky Angel, Ely-Tuli Hope, El-Gala Phoenix June
hair: Feles and Ely-Cake, El- Magika
feet: El bare feet from SLink
poses: Feles and El - [lap], Ely -pudge

New releases from Bijou almost always elicit an immediate tp over for me. I love the colors and textures, there are often multiple ways to wear the clothing, and everything has personality. When I saw these pants/shorts/jumpsuit I was fast on the fatpack buy button… I know it’s only digital fashion but some things just feel so good! As you can see, Groove comes with long and short pants option. The wide-leg pants on El, left, are fantastic, but I just wasn’t feelin’ it; my solution was to mod the lower leg prims to look more like slouchy flares. You won’t find them like that out of the box but it didn’t take too long to make them work this way.

The top options allow for three looks, and that’s before you start to mix the pieces up with other items. The white corset is adorable and I’m glad it’s included as a standalone jacket layer (with a sculpty bow to tie off the laces) as well as the undershirt. I let Feles have the cleavage shot for this set, but you bet I’ll be wearing it just like that!

The Adagio dress wasn’t really my style, but I know my girls and all I had to do was send a snapshot to Feles; I already had the teleport request up when she replied “tp me!” Included are both the big sculpted open skirt and the flexi parts that attach to the legs. You can wear all the attachment together for a full skirt too, but Feles has killer legs to show off, and El tends to flutter about too much to be confined by that much sculpt! The pants/underpants layer of the dress is not glitch pants, it turns the dress top into a teddy or bathing suit.

Charlie’s Angel pose set from Lost Dog
middle photo poses from Leafy
last photo poses from [lap] and Reel Expression

:bijou: Groove [Khaki]
:GP: Sundust FREX [Dark] June-Doe 1
LH_hair05_claudia_chocolate_L
[Decoy] Jully Boots - Cocoa
:: Exodi :: Aidan Bangle

Bijou Groove Navy
GP acorn dark June Raccon 2
Raspberry Aristocrat Krissi Hair
Decoy Francisco II Wedge navy
Exodi Autumn jewelry set, color change

:bijou: Groove [Purple]
[]::Tuli::[] Hope (tan/bl) vivid
Stiletto Moody Glam Bootie (Patent Colorset) (reg)
>TRUTH< Twiggy - night
**EMJ* Elegance Bangles

________

Bijou Adagio dress in Frappe
GP acorn dark June Geranium 2
Dernier Cri Madeline brown
Maitreya slinky stiletto in nude
(jewelry got borked by SL grrr…)

:bijou: Adagio [Strawberry milk]
:GP: Sundust FREX [Dark] June-Allium 2
Little Heaven_hair05_claudia_chocolate_L
ETD Starley Pumps (Silver)
**EMJ* Elegance Bangles
*EMJ* Platinum Amethyst Swing Drop Set

Sometimes I forget my SL roots: within two weeks of entering the world of SL I had horns and wings and dressed in a lot of red and black and fancied myself as a beautiful succubus. A recent reminder planted a seed in my head and I’ve been waiting for just the right outfit to break out those horns for; I found it in DE Designs Feral. I even dug into my inventory for the first wings I ever owned: Draconis from Material Squirrel.

DoC Eldritch has such a way with textures, the wrinkles and gathers and grommets are wonderfully rendered and shaded in a way that give the material real weight. The panties are on their own layer so you can were them separately if the single-leg, bare-ass pants are just not revealing enough for you. Beware tattoo lovers, the pants will use up your jacket, pants AND sock layer… so the only way you are getting tattoo on your lower body is if you are prepared to go commando. You do get the top on the shirt and undershirt layer, so upper body tattoos or some additional clothing can be worn.

To keep with the winged theme I went with something avian to match the “natural leather” version of Feral. Ember are my favorite bird wings, bold and strong, and are a fantastic example of the amazing texturing that Kala Bijou is capable of. I think most people know her for her demon and fairy style wings, but she does beautiful work with feathers too.

If you have an empty 30m x 30m space, and 200something available prims on your land, the Ciorcal Pavillion from Trompe Loeil is a great addition to your landscape. The round pavilion with stained glass panels comes in blues, reds, and greens and would be a fantastic area for a wedding reception, a drum circle, or a human sacrifice! sorry… that’s the succubus in me

Succubus, birds of prey, apocolyptic RPer, Feral is for you … the outfit is fierce, it’s not for the cuties out there. El tried to get in on the shoot and when I told her she just wasn’t tough enough she got mad at me. As I tried to explain she yelled at me “shut yer pie hole!!!” and I just laughed at her….”see, not tough enough at all”

DE Designs Feral - Black & Natural Leather
DE Designs Paper Angel Crop Jacket - Red
*blowpop* N2 Carmen -tone D- 2.2 La Cereza 2 & 4.2 Ay, Candela 2
“Circe” by Tekeli-li -Jewelry Set
Tesla - Kensington boots Scarlett & Chocolate
Magika Hair - Buns Black B & Brown E
poses: Torridwear

Let’s pretend, for at least one paragraph, that this post is not about hair, shall we?

A few weeks ago, one of my favorite designers–no, one of my favorite people on the whole grid, Annette Voight, released some adorable new dresses and tops. The Marisol dress is long and flowy, or, you can wear just the top as a tank. Not only can you wear just the tank, you get all layers: tank on all three top layers and both bottom layers, plus the glitch pants on both layers. Say it with me now “I LOVE YOU ANNETTE!” You can also purchase each of the tanks without skirt/glitch pants for less if you don’t see yourself wearing the dress option. The dress is available in almost a dozen colors, and if that isn’t enough, there are 4 additional tank top only colors.

The other new Decoy clothing release is the striped Lila top, available in a million color combinations too… ok 16, but still. I had a sneak peak at this top when it was a work in progress and this really is a testament to how amazingly talented with the template Annette is: look at how well the off the shoulder sleeve stripes line up…

Technically, this is paragraph four right? Sweet, on to the hair! Decoy made it’s official hair debut at hair fair with the release of 3 and a half styles. I say “and a half” because Nicole, the low ponytail shown above, comes with or without the bangs. Annette has been working hard on her hair textures, and has created over two dozen beautiful tones… you can really see the range in this next shot featuring the Katie style. I LOVE the back of this style and how she has pulled the hair together.

This last shot shows Feles and I wearing one of my all-time favorite updos. Zoey was first released as a group gift months ago and at 41 prims, no flexi, and very minimal sculpt and alphas… this is my choice for high lag events. Upgraded with new textures, my favorite just got even better. I got so distracted by color and composition here that, thought I got a great shot, it doesn’t really show off the hair, so go here for a closer look.

I told El we didn’t need a third for this shot but she managed to get in there anyway! Oversize flowers from Fallingwater Cellardoor.

El:
[Decoy] Marisol - Pink Lemonade Shirt
[Decoy] City Breeze Shorts - Sunburst
[Decoy Hair] Nicole - Espresso
:GP: Bean Frex [Light] June-Calla Lily 2
Ragged Fairy Wings, Natural, Green with Pink Edge
:: Exodi :: Aidan Bangles (Left)
:: Exodi :: Annah Hoops v2

[Decoy] Lila Striped Top - Classic Beige
[Decoy] Stevens Shorts - Midnight
[Decoy Hair] Katie - Light Golden Brown
*blowpop* N2 Ava -tone B- 6.2 Chocolat 2 (i think*)
:: Exodi :: Aidan Bangles (Left)
:: Exodi :: Annah Hoops v2

Ely:
[Decoy] Marisol Purple
[Decoy] Alexa Heels - Polychromatic
[Decoy Hair] Nicole - Champagne Blonde (Bangs)
:GP: Sundust [Light] Sunny-Anemone 2 (i think*)
:: Exodi :: Amarissa Set earrings and necklace

[Decoy Hair] Nicole - Light Ash Brown (Bangs)
[Decoy] Lila Striped Top - Pink/Orange
[Decoy] City Breeze Shorts - Raspberry
*blowpop* N2 Carmen -tone D- 6.2 Clavel Rosa 2
:: Exodi :: Aidan Bangles (Left)
Fairy Bat Wings, Tintable BW

[Decoy] Lila Striped Top -classic purple
[Decoy Hair] Katie - Medium Auburn

[Decoy] Dalini - Grape
[Decoy[ Genesis 10 Jeans - Grape
[Decoy] Alexa Heels
[Decoy Hair] Zoey - Soft Black (this is a neutral black in world, the blue tint is due to my WL settings)
[]::Tuli::[] Faith (dark tan/bl) sunny
:: Exodi :: Amarissa Set earrings and necklace

Feles:
Decoy Nicole dark red
GP Acorn dark June Grass 2
Decoy Marisol dress, green
Decoy Francisco II wedge, kiwi
Malt brown/gold bracelets

Decoy Katie espresso
blowpop N2 Carmen D Hipnotico 2
Decoy Manzano Ruby Halter
Decoy Stevens shorts faded
Decoy Francisco II Wedge, ruby
EMJ Elegance bangles, colorchange

Decoy Zoey dark blonde
LAQ Jennie 07 Peach
Decoy Dalini top, sky
Decoy Genesis 10 capri, aqua
Decoy Alexa heels (color change)
Bare Rose wood plate bangle

I’m not always available for El when she’s in the mood to style and shoot for a blog; sometimes she needs to sneak up on me, fully styled, and say “lookit how cute I am you have to take pics pleeeeeeaaaassssse?” Apparently, over the past week, El has managed to hit the Silent Sparrow sale, the hair fair, and score a big box 0′ skins from Domestic V… and she’s been styling while I sleep.

The Grimly skirt set is her favorite find (ok, actually, she said that about everything in this shoot). It’s available in six patterns, El chose Serene, and each pack comes with 4 skirt lengths! The texture is wonderfully done: the pattern is crisp and has just the right amount of contrast to achieve the black on black look. Because the glitch pants come all the way to the top of the pants layer, pairing it with any of the Velvet Corsets creates the illusion of a dress. The corsets are available in various colors and patterns.

El was very excited about her choice of accessories and her matching colors. The crown and doll key are from Violet Voltaire, and the key turns, of course. She has a tendency to forget about things she’s got, and came to me barefoot asking for suggestions. When I mentioned the Bax boots she put them on and enthusiastically went about customizing the colors.

Of all the new styles at hair fair, Exile’s Lolita is the one that looks like it was custom made for El. The adorable pig tails have a good mix of sculpted and flexi, solid and alpha, and comes with two barrette options, both with color change hearts. After shopping hair fair and the silent sparrow sale, El’s funds were running low but she was itching for a little skin variety. Skin variety, on a budget? good luck with that. Luck was with her when she found the 500L box of skins at Domestic V. The box of over 150 skins* contains a wide range of makeups and skin tones, and has everything from sweet to soft to sultry to novelty skins.

All poses for this shoot are from Long Awkward Pose; Dove does some of the best cute poses on the grid.

(serene) grimly skirts ~silentsparrow~
pansy velvet corset ~silentsparrow~
(ash) shruggie ~silentsparrow~
Exile Lolita astral
Domestic-V -01- Silver Plum Skin
BAX Ankle Boots Black+ Suede
{Violet Voltaire} Their Cell Crown and Doll Key
::Violet Voltaire:: Hethr Necklace - Violet/Silver

*Some of the skins were a little grainier than we like, and had some visible seams, but a good deal of the skins were smoother and more polished. I believe this is a year’s worth of skins produced by the artist, so I attribute the variation of quality to the evolution of skill and style. Considering the number of skins in the box and the price, we both agree it’s totally worth it. You can’t demo all the skins in the box but some of the skins are available for sale separately and you can demo those.

A few months back, new hair designer Kimmie Mosten dropped some samples on me. I admit, I don’t send feedback to everyone that sends review copies my way, and her samples never made it to my blog because I felt she hadn’t yet achieved a professional looking product. When I realized this week that new hair fair star “Head Mistress” was Kimme, I began kicking myself in the virtual rear end for not recognizing up-and-coming talent.

The new hair from Head Mistress turned out to be the perfect way to frame the new face from Blowpop! Annyka Bekkers has revamped her Infinity skins and folded that brand into Blowpop to create the Blowpop N2 skin line featuring her four faces: Elizabeth, Ava, Carmen and Maya. Each of the four faces come in four tones, but not the same four tones. All together N2 covers a very wide range of tones from super pale to very dark…. there is something here for everyone. I tend to go towards the middle, if you want to see the full range, check out Anny’s flickr.

A quick note about the hair that makes me sooooo happy: often I need to do some heavy prim and photoshop tweaking, plus a little slider compromising, to keep hair from poking into my breasts. I did not need to do ANY significant work to the Head Mistress hairs to make them fit!

photo1
*blowpop* N2 Carmen -tone D- 5.2 La Mosca Azul 2
Head Mistress Carlita/loudmouth

photo2:
*blowpop* N2 Maya -tone C- 5.2 Grenadine 2
Head Mistress Alica/scorched bark

photo3:
*blowpop* N2 Elizabeth -tone D- 4.2 Granny Smith 2
Head Mistress Beautiful Disaster/fiery

photo4:
*blowpop* N2 Ava -tone B- 5.2 Almost Blue 2
Head Mistress April/coffee grounds

Tekeli-li creates some of the most wonderful fantasy gear on the grid, so when I got my hands on his hair fair releases I grabbed El and some coordinating items from our inventories and got to work on the task of exploring every color combination for the gems and metals and leathers and details possible. Tek, I both love you and hate you for this! I am a control freak and I just LOVE the idea of being able to customize an item to this extent, but you give me a few dozen color choices on a half dozen variables, and 2 hours and 3 cups of coffee later… I still haven’t decided.

ok, ok, I got it… The Undine style is scripted to change to any hair color you can think of (by changing textures and by tinting), the starfishes and seaweed and coral and metal also change colors and textures, and coordinate really well with the Nereid jewelry set. I saw this style on flickr a couple of days before the fair, and put it immediately on my “must have” list.

Another favorite new release of mine is Anemone… say it with me a..nem…o…neeee… it’s fun! This spikey style with leather band and teeth makes me smile. It’s like, it’s trying to be hardcore right? but it really does move like an anemone which is kind of laid back and lazy. El is wearing some items from the free treasure chest found at Tekeli-li’s shop at hair fair. The hair, Nixie, is scripted for all sorts of color change too and continues with the aquatic theme. The crystal earrings and hair stick also come in the treasure chest and are a great incentive to make it down to the fair.

photo1
Undine by Tekeli-li
“Circe” by Tekeli-li - Metal Bikini Top
“Nereid” by Tekeli-li - Full Set
:Gala Phoenix: Sundust [Dark] Sunny-Sea Glass 1

Undine by Tekeli-li
“Inanna” by Tekeli-li - Jeweled Bikini Top
“Nereid” by Tekeli-li - Full Set
:GP: Petal FREX [Dark] Breeze-Liquid Sky 1

photo2
Anemone by Tekeli-li
Lionfish by Tekeli-li - Blackgrey earrings
:GP: Sundust [Dark] Sunny-Anemone 1

Nixie by Tekeli-li
Chained Crystal Earrings by Tekeli-li
Crystalled hairsticks - single
:GP: Bean [Dark] June-Zenia 2

It’s a delicate balance sometimes… visit with family, spend time with my sweetheart, take photos and blog … and sometimes the timing just doesn’t work out. I admit it, as I sat next to my mom on Friday afternoon there was a nagging voice in my head saying “make it quick, we wanna get a second visit to hair fair before it opens to the public!” (My first visit lots of shops weren’t set up yet.) So, I hurry home and log in to find that my lover has a few hours of down time… sorry hair fair, you just can’t compete. It wasn’t until this afternoon that Feles and El and I got to brave the lag… so you’ve probably seen most of these styles already. We’re gonna show off some of our favorites anyway!

Asuka Martin of Dernier Cri put out a few new styles that stopped me in my tracks when I saw her booth. Not only was it obvious to me that she has worked on new textures, I can see a definite evolution on her prim/sculpt work. Asuka’s new styles, we are wearing Michelle, Kim, and Madeline, are scripted so that you only need the one copy of a hair in your inventory, along with the texture change hud to switch to any of the colors in the pack. I LOVE this as my inventory just recently rose above 40K…

Next up are Truth’s new releases Esme, Sophia and Twiggy, which I am so sure you have seen 50 times today and have either already purchased or are coveting pretty hard. Too bad, look again, I am way to self-absorbed to think about sparing you. El did have to bring her breasts down to about 65 and mod a few of the prims to make those pig tails work, but most of you will be just fine.

Raspberry Aristocrat was the last shop we were able to get to before the northwest sim went down and we decided to call it quits for the day. Feles had been there earlier and found the fun messy Krissi; El picked up Adora, this fantastic casual loose bun, and was SO excited that they offered a “faves pack” including black, brown, blond, red and white.

We had to end the shoot with something fun. MiaSnow’s Special Day and Prom Queen bow brought out our silly sides and when El put herself in that pose well… interpret it for yourself!

clothing from these shoots is available at my studio for free for a few more weeks. After that they will be sold as part of my larger collection!

photo 1:
hair: Dernier Cri
skin: Gala Phoenix, Chaisuki, Tuli

photo 2
hair: Truth
skin: Tuli

photo 3
hair: Raspberry Aristocrat
skin: Gala Phoenix, Dernier Cri
hair:MiaSnow
skin: Tuli, Dernier Cri, Artilleri

I was able to pick up one of the new Maitreya hairs before the sims opened to the public and the lag hit. By the time Feles and El had a chance to make their purchases the sim was down… they aren’t taking it very well.

When Evangeline Miles invited me to model during her interview on SLTV’s Fabulous Fashion, I was delighted. How fun to get dressed up and stand around looking pretty without thinking about taking photos or being responsible for anyone but me. She even allowed me to wear one of the limited edition colors of the Ophelia gown, which is one of my favorite dresses in her whole shop.

El was a little jealous, and kept bugging me “tell her I can be a stand in if someone isn’t on line” and I told her “fat chance” but wouldn’t you know, one of the models DID have some technical difficulty and El got to stand in! She logged on with no idea which dress she’d be wearing, trying not to explode in a burst of excitement. She found the folder Evie had dropped on her and that sent her over the edge; she started screaming “it’s the Aventine dress!!!! AND IT’S PURPLE!!!! OMG imma purple FLOWER!!!”

Both gowns are beautifully detailed with sculpted bustles. The sculpted petals around the waist of the Aventine gown give it such a unique personality and add to the element of fantasy. When I first saw photos of this dress, I questioned the collar, what was this growing out of the shoulders? Now that I have had a better look, I see the delicate chain that creates a perfect illusion of securing the collar around her neck. As someone who admits my lack of genius when it comes to accessories, I love when designers include matching items like that collar or the hair flowers included with Ophelia.

Most residents don’t wear gowns like this on a daily basis, we wear them for a romantic date or to take some pictures; and for those of us with a huge inventory, a gown like this might only see the grid a few times. Evie gives us some incentive to wear it more often by including multiple options. Ophelia comes with a tea-length skirt option, and for the limited edition colors she has added a baby doll too! The Aventine also includes an adorable flowery baby doll and offers a different sleeve option not photographed here.

Truth be told, I am not usually a big fan of baby doll style skirts in SL, but, well, I had been wearing the gown when I jumped on my sweetheart, and ballgowns and poseballs just don’t mix. I wasn’t quite ready to take it all off yet and the babydoll was the perfect solution. Evie does such a fabulous job with the flexi that after walking around in it for a while later on, it won me over. Now I’m in love with these fun flirty babydoll dresses.

We had our graphics settings down way low for the actual Fabulous Fashion filming, so we headed to the Oubliette sim, home to Evie’s Closet for some photos after the show. Come on, you didn’t think I’d be able to keep the snapshot window closed for long, did you?

el:
*Evie’s Closet* Aventine Gown Purple
:GP: Bean [Dark] June-Geranium 2
-(luc)- Butterfly Frolic Chain Bracelets Silver
Analog Dog - Mia brown sugar

me:
*Evie’s Closet* Limited Edition - Ophelia Passion
[]::Tuli::[] Hope (tan/bl) avenue
:: Exodi :: Monarchy Set
Sky Everett Designs-Quiet seduction-Raven
*Shai* Duchess Black Panties with Garters and Stockings

poses from: Luth, Sweet Lovely Cute, Striking Poses, Tuli and Maitreya
the clocks in the photos are for sale from Balderdash, one of the shops located on the Oubliette sim