Mostly New from Fleur, ETD and (luc) Fashion Jewelry

Between the end of winter term and a lovely 4 days in sunny WARM Arizona, I've been neglecting our blog. However Fury and Elaine seem to have taken up the slack nicely :) Thanks ladies :) And I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack.




The big news is that ETD is open again, with 4 new hairstyles and a few new clothes. I'll show the hair later, but for now here is the classic and perfect Scoop Neck Shirt in Orange, worn with my old favorite, ETD Jeans in Silver. Hair is Writer from Detour in Carrot. It just seemed to go with the top. I was dancing at an art opening and not quite happy with what was on my head. So while others were chattering I was perusing my inventory and trying things on. This is what won for the moment :)

The star of the show is the (luc) Gaea Necklace in Quartz/Lucite. Lucas took a break from SL and has come back with such wonderful new items that we are all panting with joy. Luc--you ROCK!

My skin is one of the new Spring Shoujo skins from Fleur, #4 in my favorite tone, Azalea. These may be anime-inspired, but for my pixels, they are just plain INSPIRED! The soft glow, the yummy lips-more please? Shoes are my old standby from ETD, the Heel Strap Platforms in Linen. They come in many wonderful and useful colors, but we could always use morrrrrrrrrrrre.

My eyes are Miriel's Quiet Green and my prim lashes are usually the Deviant Nation ones from Celestial Studios.

It's spring time!

Spring quietly arrived while I was busy organising my new clothing fair acquisitions, but the weather has been just glorious these last few days, and I was truly looking forward to dusting off my springy outfits. Today I heard that Daylight Saving Time starts this weekend for us Euros, which means that days get realllly long here in Spain. People spend more time outdoors, indoor cafes get empty and meeting points move outside. The city comes to life.

Of course, one could say that in weatherless SL it is possible to wear summer clothes in mid-December -- and in fact I do sometimes, if the mood strikes. But when it's below zero outside (yes, we get that where I live!) I tend to prefer warm and fuzzy sweaters on SL too, and likewise, if the weather is nice, I'll probably be inclined to choose lighter fabrics.


For my first outfit this season I picked two of my last year's favourites: the Helena shirt and waist sash from Persona, and the Boing Fromage Hot Summer BoHo skirt in beige. The skirt is also available in black, but I just love the summery feel that the beige one transmits. As to the sash, I'm wearing it in pink here, although I bought the fatpack in order to get the full choice of bright and happy colours that really make it stand out as a central piece of the outfit, especially when paired with the black shirt. Gone are the days in which I dreaded saying "see you next year" to my boots, and although I miss them (especially when I see SL toes), I think there's rather nice choice of sandals around the grid that will be just as loved by the end of the summer. Here I'm wearing the Dhali Bow Platforms in bole by Armidi Gisaci.



I have no idea why, but I like turquoises as accessories for the warmer seasons, so for this outfit I was really looking forward to rescuing Zaara's Kaya turquoise bracelet from the bottom of my jewellery folder (obviously, because Z goes last on the alphabet, heh). I also recovered the Treasure earrings from Paper Couture, which I bought on a whim ages ago and then never wore. And finally, to divert attention from the really low cut of the shirt, I added one of the goodies included in the LeLutka gift bag for group members, the Grace pendant by Miabella.

The skin I'm wearing is Deviant Nation's Ether-Nothing in the champagne tone (which you can get at Celestial Studios), hair is ETD's Yvette in scarlet and eyes are Miriel's Quiet Green, with Feather eyelashes. All poses used for the pictures are from LAP... I'm already back to my pre-blogger pack ones, I think I prefer them for the attitude they have. Oh, and since I'm still on my experimental phase with picture backdrops, I went a step further and borrowed a springy photo, then edited it.

See full credits on my Flickr. For store slurls, check here.

Clothing Fair freebie megablog, part two

Yay! I've reached the last one of my Clothing Fair posts, I have no more pictures left besides the ones I'll show you today (that's not too bad, I just finished 3 days late!) and will get back to normal blogging soon... I'm enjoying these chronicles a lot, but at the same time I'm aware that, since I'm mostly dealing with outfits that are not available any more, these posts could be considered irrelevant to some extent. Anyways, I've included two dresses that are still on sale, so you may want to pay attention to these.

For this post I've collected all the formals that I got hold of, so if you compare with my previous post, you can see the variety of styles that were available. First off are the two RFL specials from Nicky Ree, which you can now get at the Tropical Orchid main store, and in the middle, a fair freebie:
1. Nicky Ree - Satin shine in lime
2. Indyra Originals - Paulina (golden)
3. Nicky Ree - Satin shine in steel


And to round up, three lovely gowns for the more formal occasions:
1. Kouse's Sanctum - Constanze Relay Fair Gift (which even includes jewellery!)
2. Ookami Ningen - Durga's Promise (ultraviolet, worn with opaque skirt)
3. Sysy's RFL 2009 Faith Gown

Not bad, huh?

Oh, and I nearly forgot... credits for hair, skin and pose are in the previous post, but I should mention that the shoes shown with the Indyra dress are Maitreya's Grace heels in black.

Clothing Fair freebie megablog, part one

Oh dear.
Clothing Fair is over, and I've still got my (*coughs*) booty to show! If you didn't have time to go, don't fret: creators have the possibility - if I understood correctly - of placing the RFL vendors at their main stores for us to buy the specials, and I'm sure many of them will. So if you didn't have time to go and buy the RFL items, give it a shot and tp to their stores -- I know, for example, that the Bleeding Heart set from EarthStones is available at their refurbished main store.
In any case, almost all of the outfits on this post are not available any more as far as I know, as I'm going to show off the fair gifts I grabbed (see? booty!) and consider blog-worthy. I'm sure I missed out more than one, as I did all 9 sims in one day, but I wanted to mention a few of them as a way of saying a big THANK YOU! to every single one of the designers who created a free item, as they served both to attract more people to the fair and to increase the chances of raising money for charity.
I've overheard that there's a big debate about whether freebies kill SL economy, but IMHO, if you place a good quality freebie at such an event and include your LM in the folder, chances are you're letting a whole lot of people see the quality of your business and therefore probably attracting them as future customers. But that's just an opinion, and how it works for me. Anyway, clothes!


This first set includes casuals, from left to right:
1. Diversity - Blossom top (guava) *non-free, RFL special*
2. Moonshine - Bacon Tee and LoRise Denim shorts (dark) (comes with a second T-shirt)
3. Zullay - Cynthia (here in blue, also available in coral)
4. eLDee - Treasure Hunter
5. Sn@tch - Friday 13
Shoes, from left to right too: Armidi Gisaci, Enkythings, Detour, Shiny Things, Maitreya


I have called this second set "retro outfits"... you can see why, right? Again, left to right:
1. Devilish Cupcake - Claire Dress (lucky)
2. StoRin - Julia (wearing: top on jacket layer and light skirt)
3. Ingenue - Bye bye baby (plum)
4. StoRin - Julia (wearing: top on top layer, dark skirt and bolero on jacket layer)
5. A Touch of Ireland - Minnie Mouse Outfit (yes! it's supposed to be part of a Minnie costume, but beyond the mouse ears and the gigantic shoes, the dress is actually quite cute and well made)
Shoes: Shiny Things, Maitreya, Armidi Gisaci (same as above), Maitreya again, Tesla

All pictures: free woman's skin from Belleza (available at their store), Truth's Elizabeth 2 in cranberry, pose from LAP and background from Torley Linden's collection of seamless textures on Flickr-- yeah, I'm going through an experimental phase!

Nice Lyric!

I have soooo many formals that I don't have time to wear them all. I have, therefore, decided to blog some of my favourites as well as anything new that crosses my path.

First up is a Simone dress called Lyric. As with most of Simone's creations it comes with a variety of options to allow the dress to be worn in different ways. In this case I am showing the long, flexi version because this is how I would wear it inworld.

The bodice is a wonderful cut with a very pretty stone detail. The skirt flares from the hip coping well with both dancing and walking. There is lovely shading, 'folds' and 'creases' all in strategic places to give the dress depth and movement.

Other options not shown here are the long system skirt that can be worn alone, giving a truly elegant silhouette, and the short system skirt, that can be worn for less formal occasions.

Altogether a simple but elegant dress.

I have teamed it with ZY Creation black pumps and Truth's Gillian hair to keep the look fresh yet elegant.

Styling:

Shape: Custom, FuriousDesigns
Skin: Fleur Allure Truffle Smudged 1 in Truffle
Hair: *TRUTH* Gillian - Black
Eyes: (Miriel) Eyes - Platinum (Big)
Eyelashes: Cake - Separated Lashes - Tintable*
Dress: (Simone!) Lyric in Black
Shoes: ZY Creations Black Leather Pointed Pumps

Highlights from Clothing Fair, Vol. 4

Next stop: Icing. I couldn't leave out one of my favourite creators on this tour of the Clothing Fair! The dress shown here is called Dame de Lotus - I picked the grey version, but it's also available in red at the fair (more precisely, on sim #4). Adding an Asian touch, the outfit includes the parasol depicted, which comes with its own holding animation. Also from the fair is Alienbear's Zivanit Necklace RFL 2009, which you can buy on sim #3 at a very special price, and which I personally find awesome. Nicely fitting were Dark Mouse's RFL pink tourmaline stud earrings in silver, which belong with the necklace I showed on Highlight vol.2 but I didn't show back then. You won't find these at the fair, but at the Dark Mouse main store. The last piece from the Clothing fair in this ensemble is the bracelet - it was part of the Kouse's Sanctum Constanze set, which is free and you will find on sim #5.
Other items shown are, in no particular order: hair from Truth (Natalia in Cranberry), skin from Celestial Studios (Purple-Smoky in the champagne skintone), shoes from Zhao Shoes (Sadie, an old hunt gift), eyes from Miriel (Aquamarine) and poses from [LAP] (blogger appreciation pack).
The fair closes its doors tomorrow, so if you like any of these items, hurry!

Spring has come to Fleur!

Roslin Petion just dropped 6 of the most gorgeous Fleur Shoujo skins that I have ever seen on me. Each is a total expression of spring and will complement nicely the wonderful floral dresses we are seeing on the grid. I'm going to keep it simple and just show you the 6 makeups in my preferred skintone, Azalea. I hope you can see how totally tender, flirty and gently sexy these skins are:)



Fleur Shoujo Spring Skins 1-6

Only fashion notes are Violet Voltaire's Melancholy earrings in White and ETD Tyra hair in Auburn Burnt.

The Fleur Shoujo Spring Skins will be released tomorrow, Sunday, March 22!

Don't be Shai!

OK..so I had to revisit this gorgeous ensemble from Shai...to do it some justice. It is available in 4 colours and I chose champagne.

It is principally underwear with a delicate lace bra and French syle knickers. The many layers means it becomes a corset with a high waisted bodice with a beautiful key detail. Matching stockings and suspenders are also included.

To add to all of this is a system skirt...which means you can slip from sexy bedroom siren to sexy about town siren. The skirt appears high waisted thanks to the bodice underneath...clever and stylish.

I am wearing Black-Gold Stiletto Pumps by ZY Creations as they matched the champagne detailing and my custom made Fleur skin that is Allure based, in Cinnamon skin tone, with the Kitten make up eyes and nude lips.

Shai has many other stunning lingerie sets, as well as outfits...go check the shop out...it won't disappoint!

Styling:

Shape: Custom, FuriousDesigns

Skin: Gift, Fleur Allure Kitten in Cinnamon

Hair: Cake, Faith, Black

Eyes: Miriel, Platinum (Big)

Eyelashes: Cake, Seperated

Outfit: Shai, Adrianna Lingerie Set, Champagne

Shoes: ZY Creations, Black-Gold Stiletto Pumps.

Highlights from Clothing Fair, Vol. 3

Yup, I've still got a few treasures left to show you from my shopping adventure at the Clothing Fair!
Today's highlight is this dress from Total Betty: Bohemian Chic in teal. As you can see, it comes with a ton of options for you to mix'n'match at your convenience -- it even includes two different skirts, so you decide where you want those embroidered flowers, and how many! No worries, the set even includes a notecard with instructions for those of you (like me) who tend to mess up with layers... just make sure you're not in public when you try ;-) You can find the Total Betty store on sim #3.

The rest of items used for this outfit are not RFL exclusives, so here goes the list, top to bottom, straight: hair is Maitreya's Apple (red), skin is the Fleur Vivant Basic Pink 1 (buff) jewellery is from EarthStones: Peace necklace in golden calcite and Peace on Earth bracelet in chrysocolla and silver (*yes! I unboxed a POE hunt item!!* but that's a different story...). Shoes are J's Gladiator Sandals in darkbrown.
Keep your eyes peeled this weekend for the last items!

Highlights from Clothing Fair, Vol. 2

The central piece of my Clothing Fair special number two is the Candy Kisses dress, from Riddle, which you will find on sim #5. I opted for the black version, but it's also available in green as an RFL special. The bonus: it has both sculpted and flexi skirt options. Coincidentally at the fair I found a bracelet that matched perfectly - the Digital Eyes plastic bracelet in yellow, which I got for free (as part of a fatpack) when I hit their subscribe-o-matic. Interestingly enough, it's not a jewellery store, neither an eye one - they sell FANS! Anyway, since the bracelets aren't a RFL special, you don't need to go to the Fair to get them, but it's not a bad idea to do so at their main store.
The almost-matching shoes are Stellar's Open Toe Stilettos in green, which you can visit on sim #4.
Last is the Dark Mouse RFL spheres in pink tourmaline and silver necklace that Sam showed not too long ago, an RFL item you will *not* find at the Clothing Fair, but at the Dark Mouse main store.
Seen in the picture: hair from Truth (Missy in blood), skin from Fleur (Vivant Basic Pink 1 in Buff), eyes from Miriel (Forest) and poses from [LAP] (Blogger appreciation pack).

Fury Returns

Not so much of a review...altho these Shai undies are to die for...more of a YEY! I am back online after 6 weeks away.

It has taken that long to move countries, find a house, move in, get connected and then have the sea container deliverd with all our gear. To say I am glad to see all our belongings is an understatement.

The above picture is how our house looks at the moment...box city...and how I feel...frazzled....lol

Needless to say...I had to shoot within 24hours of being back in sl....lol.

I'll be back blogging properly when I have found my feet again.

Fury :)

Styling:

Shape: Custom, FuriousDesigns
Skin: Gift, Fleur Allure Kitten in Cinnamon
Hair: Cake, Faith, Black
Eyes: Miriel, Platinum (Big)
Eyelashes: Cake, Seperated
Outfit: Shai, Adrianna Lingerie Set, Champagne

PS My thanks to Samara for her help last night <3

Top o' the Mornin' to Ya!

Just a quick St Patrick's Day post to share Primagine's new Sandy set in Pastel. Trixie Bumbo keeps making wonderful jewels for us to wear and this springtime fantasy is no exception. Colette in Green, Gala's Leaf skin with freckles [I'm "Irish" right?] in Lumine, Zhao's Precious color-change shoes, Elizabeth 2 in Cranberry from Truth and that's about it!

Poses by the exceptional Dove Swanson :)

Highlights from Clothing Fair, Vol.1

Starting off this series is the Saiyge gown from Evie's Closet in purple, which has been set as the store's RFL item at the Clothing Fair (located in sim #2). At Evie's stand you can also pick up Studio Sidhe's Floral Bangle in purple, which is meant to complement Evie's Aventine gown, but I thought it didn't look bad at all here. Finally, the necklace and earrings are from the EarthStones RFL Bleeding Heart set (available in Rose quartz & carnelian or Amethyst & onyx, which was the one I chose). You'll be able to find these if you stop by sim #4.
Other items shown: hair from ETD (Patootie II in scarlet), skin from Fleur (Marni 1 in buff), and poses from [LAP] (The Cat's Meow set).

Reporting from Clothing Fair

Yesterday I was blessed (no kidding!) with a fabulous prize. Did you hear there was a Clothing Fair Contest on Flickr? Well, I did! The requirement was to dress up as pirates and take a picture and then post it *unedited* on the Flickr contest group. Here's the one Keris and I submitted:

As you can imagine, it was great fun to take the picture: getting the clothes at stores we'd never shopped, finding the right spot at sims we'd never visited, learning to speak like pirates, killing all the pirates who got in the middle of picture (oh srsly!), and finally reaching the "Keris, can you please move the sword two millimetres to your right, honey?" phase... *coughs* And then, to round it off, everyone won! (Kudos to Amethyst and Nevar, the organisers, and to the lazy jury!)

The prize consisted of early access to the Clothing Fair sims... early access meaning no lag, no greyness, no crowds... shoppers' heaven! So, 16+ hours before the general public was allowed in, camera on one hand, lindens on the other, we headed off to paradise - which takes up 9 different sims! 8 of them are for shopping, and one is for entertainment... Heaven! And the best thing of it all, I've seen them all! As you probably know already, the fair is pirate themed, so don't wait, rescue your best Jack Sparrow ensemble (but watch your ARC) and head off!

(click on the pictures to view them larger)

A lot of the merchants have already added the special, limited edition RFL items in their shops, and from what I saw I can tell you that many of them revolve around the pirate theme too -- so maybe you'll want to wait to see them before you buy anything -- my personal favourite was Tuli's full ensemble. Nevertheless, I restrained myself from buying any more pirate stuffs, as I'm already served for a couple of seasons -- how do you think I took the pictures in the first place? Rather, I went for "all-year-round" clothing, which I will be showing you in my next few posts. I'm not sure I'll be able to show everything, but I'll try - you know, I had a bout of solidarity... it's not about the clothes, it's about supporting a good cause -- so I supported it A LOT! ;-)

Oh, and one last thing for today. If you go to the entertainment area you will find a good excuse to spend some extra lindens by placing your bid on one of the seven one-of-a-kind dresses on display. Each represents one of the seven deadly sins, and at the end of the silent auction, all proceeds will go to the RFL campaign too. Save Sloth for me, though!

More Relay for Life Generosity:)

As you will learn, if you don't know already, my relay team is The Passionate Redheads. We won Team Hero Award last year, but more importantly raised over $10,000 USD to help fund a cure for cancer. And THIS year we are back, with many new members, all of them enthusiastic and generous. I'll be blogging the fashion contributions they have made to support our team's fund raising efforts. If you can't wait to see them here you can always check our Relay Blog!

First up are two wonderful jewelry sets. The first is Hibiscus Flossberg's RFL Complete Passionate Pink Gypsy Set. Whew, that's a mouthful ;) It is available at her store Purangi Designs.




This set isn't new, but what IS new is that she has packed absolutely EVERYTHING in one nicely priced box. Not only do you get the necklace, earrings and bracelet I am wearing. You also get another bracelet, belts, anklets and belly rings, several with two attachment points. I have had the Gypsy set in green for a while, but couldn't resist the packed box of pink goodness, all for Relay for Life.




Next is Mouse Mimistrobell's Pink Tourmaline Spheres in Silver, a RFL for life exclusive in her Spheres series. I got the Peridot/Copper set when it first came out and when I suggested PINK for the RFL version, Mousie said sure :) I've blogged this set before, but it still bears repeating that the square earrings and clasp make the set just that much more fashionable and smart. And in Pink Tourmaline, it rocks! This relay exclusive is available from her RFL Kiosk at her Dark Mouse store.

For both jewelry sets I am wearing Michami's Glitter tube and leggings in Purple and Black, Zhao's Precious color-change shoes, my custom Soda skin in sand and ETD's Tyra hairstyle in Auburn Burnt.

Thanks so much to Hibi and Mouse for such beautiful donations to the RFL cause. [And YES I bought mine too!]

All poses are from Dove Swanson's generous Female Bloggers Pose Set.

Two Friday Mashups!

I started this post Tuesday and the title, "Two Tuesday Mashups," was better than this one, but life conspired. It's Friday and that will have to do.




In the first one I am wearing my first Skin Flicks outfit, the Georgette Blouse and slacks. To complement the orange and rust of the blouse I am wearing ETD's Camille in Auburn Burnt and Elika's Kristin booties in Spice. I've yet to find a color that I don't like these boots in.My Fleur Allure skin is Exotique 3 in Truffle. Jewelry is Lucas Lameth's Feuille Naturelle in Silver & Forest.



In the second mashup I am wearing all of Dani's Fine Fashion's Plaid Retro Dress *except* the belt and skirt. The scrunched up legging bottoms are pretty nice:) Earrings are Coccoon's Cradle, skin is Celestial Studios Deviant Nation Vamp-Beguile in Champagne. Hair is the old ETD Couture, The Knot, with Left Swept Bangs. Since the couture colors were specific to that line, I tinted the bangs in Elika's Brown to make the match. Shoes are my ever-faithful Heel Strap Platforms from ETD. If the Lindens evere were to say, "you have to move to a new grid and you can only take one pair of shoes with you," these would be it ;)

Here endeth the Friday mashups :)

Belle of the Relay Ball!

Thanks to Samsara Nishi's generosity, this beautiful dress will be available at the 2009 Relay for Life Clothing Fair to benefit cancer research. The fair doesn't open until March 16, but Sam offered me a sneak peek as this is the dress that she is giving to our relay team, the Passionate Redheads, for fundraising. Thank you SO much Sam:)




Now to the details. It is called Escaping from Pirates and if you note the textures on the bodice are reminiscent of the seams on a ship and the obligatory pirate's map. The grays contrast beautifully with the Teal [a perfect redhead color!] If the bodice were not enough, take a look at the skirt! It's light, floaty and shimmery and in Teal very deep-sea looking with the wavey pattern on the net and the water texture on the satin. But then there is the velvet pillbox hat, with its totally teasing veil and the gold flower decorations on the sides. There will be other colors available to benefit Relay for Life, but, for my money, THIS is the color to have!

Other details: ETD Camille hair in Auburnt Burnt, Tuli Meredith skin in Captivating Copper/Light and The Feuille Naturelle in silver & forest green.

Thank you so much Samsara!

So similar, yet so different

This post has been inspired by two different PixelLounge sets that have one piece in common, the skirt, yet the final looks are very far from each other.



This is the first ensemble, which I actually wore a while ago and just showed off on Flickr. I liked it so much, though, that I thought it would be worth rescuing for this blog. It originated with me looking for something to show off what was my newest Fleur skin, a special group gift that members got for the Fleur sim reopening (so it’s no longer available, I’m afraid). It is from the Shoujo DNB line and as you can see it includes some cute little pink flowers framing the eye, so I decided to pick up on that for the rest of the outfit. Unfortunately, being a redhead, I don’t wear pink too often (although it would be fitting in order to say ‘yes!’ against bullying, but I think I can say that in whatever I'm wearing), but I knew I could make it work with pink and black, which is a combination I absolutely love. So, I pulled an ‘out-of-the-box’ with the Princess Set, tights included, and I paired the dress with the Redgrave black boots. (For those interested, both PixelLounge dresses are currently available at the PixelDolls outfit sale, at 50L each.) In order to keep focus on the skin, the only accessory I wore was a paw necklace I got ages ago at a shop called 9 Lifes, which I’m afraid no longer exists. Finally, for hair I picked ETD’s Peyton (in scarlet), which fitted so neatly in order to show off the flowers on the skin, delicately framing the other side of the face.



The second outfit is much more casual (although I’m sure with the right accessories it can look much more formal). In this case I tried to keep my out-of-boxing to a minimum, so I only used the dress from the original set (Embroidered), and for a more casual touch I used completely opaque tights (which could as well have been leggings): the metallic lycra tights from G.L.A.M. (a retired freebie), tinted by moi to match the top, and flat boots – the Shiny Things comfy ones in charcoal. The coverage was a bit unbalanced, so I decided to add something underneath the dress top - first I had the idea of something light and sheer, but I came across this sweater, Eva by Pink Outfitters (black, of course), and I knew it would fit just right, with the neck ruffle adding the touch of lightness I was looking for. Once dressed, it’s time for hair and skin – this time I felt like trying something different, so I cheated. I confess, I’ve been unfaithful... to Fleur. Shame on me, I’m a bad, bad Insider, but I wanted something a bit more punkish and... *coughs* I did some market research with the competition. ;-) I ended up buying one of the Deviant Nation skins (Last Call – Fishnet), which at the moment are still on sale for just 100L, freckled and unfreckled, with complimentary prim lashes. I mean... how could I say no? And finally, on my cheating spiral I went off somewhere else for hair too – as the pictures testify, I was green with envy after seeing how fantabulastic Armidi hair looks on Keris, so I decided to try myself and got me The Roxy (in red, of course).
All poses have been brought to you (once again) by Long Awkward Pose – for the first set I picked random poses from my posing stand; while for the second I only used poses from the Female Blogger set – Dove's token of appreciation towards bloggers, which is also available for sale at her store.

For full outfit details and slurls, check here and here.

Meet Cassandra

In Ancient Greek Cassandra means "she who entangles men," but there are no tangles here, only tender tendrils in the first hair release from skinner & clothier, Launa Fauna. She acknowledges that there will be some changes en route, but it's looking very good indeed! I am wearing what is now called "red 2."

The rest of my outfit consists of some old and new favorites. I'm wearing Second Wave Apparel's Ruffle Top in Orange, my old standby, the Soft Black Leather Pants from Ibizarre and the HAYSURIZA Earth-wedges. My necklace and earrings are the Spheres in Peridot Necklace & Earrings from Dark Mouse.My skin is Meredith Captivating Copper in Light from Tuli.

Poses are from Dove Swanson's Femal Blogger set offered to those of us who pledged to support our local posemakers :)

Save me a waltz ...

The Second Life Relay for Life Kickoff is this Saturday, with the Relay itself being July 18-19. One delight of the Relay season in SL is the many proms and balls. Today I'm sharing two wonderful dresses that I'll be wearing when the occasion prompts.




The first is Marguerite by Clio Cardiff of Pret a Porter. I couldn't decide between the green or the burgundy, but finally decided GREEN! The textures are simple, but luxurious. The drapes on the front add a bit of risk to what is a very open backed bodice and the flowing train has a lovely shape indeed! One of the issues with a high neck for me is that of what jewelry to wear. A necklace tends to look odd, so I chose the Meadowlark set from Balderdash and just repositioned the brooch a bit for good placement. The closeup is to show you a bit of the amazing prim work involved in this delicate, yet substantial brooch. The lovely gloves are included. My hair I discovered through Milla Michinaga and is called Akami from MADDesigns. My skin is a Fleur Shoujo DNB 2 in Azalea.




The second ballgown is a complex creation from Paper Couture. The various parts attach in surprising places, but they all more gloriously on the dance floor. Yes, this one has been "waltz tested" LOL The textures are rich, brocade that is "sequined." The ARC is brutal, but it's worth every tick on the FPS ;) Shoes are from Prim Seduction, Glamour in Silver. Hair is the old ETD Couture, The Knot, with Left Swept Bangs. Since the couture colors were specific to that line, I tinted the bangs in Elika's Brown to make the match. My skin is Celestial Studios Vogue Deviant Nation Drama Queen-Backstab in Champagne.

So bring on those balls --I'm ready to waltz!

Poses are mainly from [LAP] and {flowey}

The Sunday Blog-a-thon--Michami Mash

This post includes two mashups that include at least one Michami item :) I'd make you guess, but then it would be a short post ;) And you will also see how bad a blogger I have been.




The first outfit was made to show off the Fleur Vain Valentine Hunt skin that is no longer available :( I'm wearing it in Allure's darkest tone, sable, to show off the sparkles. My slacks are Ibizarre Basic Red Sequin Pants. I'm not sure if they are still available or not as I picked up the fatpack at her amazing sale a while back. Shoes are Aoharu's Jeweled High Heels in Red. And ............ yup the top is Michami's Laila in Cream. I'm not sure which bra I am wearing underneath, but you can see the lace peeking in any case. Hair is Truth's Elizabeth 2 in ... ummm I'm not exactly sure, probably Carrot.


My second mashup began with another goodie from the Vain Hunt from Ibizarre. I'm just wearing the Siv Sequin Dress in Copper and the wonderful black scarf, which I want in many, many colors. I hope Anyusha is listening! My heels are Moody's Elegant Slingback in Rose Gold. In this case I like the red soles peeking out. And ............... which is from Michami? Can you guess ?

Hair is Truth's Elizabeth 2 in Auburn. The skin is the Limited Release Fleur Allure Valentine Red skin in Truffle.

Still can't guess? Ok my leggings are from Michami's Glitter Tube & Leggings in Black.

Poses are from my old pose ball and include ones from [LAP], the dreaded *MM* poses, some of Ana Lutetia's early poses and heaven knows what else!

The Sunday Blog-a-thon--Michami: Part II

And now we have the Noomi Jacket from Milla Michinaga for her Michami label. Now I have NOT been a fan of sculpty open jackets up until now, but Milla has banished all those concerns.




Not only has she provided two presized options for the prims, but also ones with a resize script that works beautifully! She dropped me the fat pack out of the blue so I just popped it on with pretty much what I was wearing at the moment. I chose the jacket in Camel so you could see the sculpty goodness of these prims. My top is also Michami, the Laila in Cream. My trousers are Persona's Itaparica in Brown, boots are from Tesla, the Hylda in Brown. My hair is Ivy from Truth in Apricot and my skin is a Shojo DNB 2 in Azalea from Fleur. Both Milla and Myllie are generous with the layers they provide so you can make many choices in your layering.

But the other "newness" in this post is the Charms Necklace from Bonita Popinjay. I bought the earrings and loved them, but the necklace looked a little sparse--so we chatted and I suggested that she just add an earring or two to the necklace and voilà it was done and she gave it to me. Bonita goes on my "really nice" creator" list for sure! Do look at the picture in the large size to see how the earrings were added in. I'm thrilled!

Poses are from my old pose ball and include ones from [LAP], the dreaded *MM* poses, some of Ana Lutetia's early poses and heaven knows what else!

Here endeth the Michami part of The Sunday Blog-a-thon ;)

The Sunday Blog-a-thon--Michami: Part I

I have such an astounding backlog of pictures ready to go I thought I should take a rainy Sunday and spam y'all.

I've been meaning to do a Michami "retrospective," if you will, because I have so many of her clothes and have blogged so few. Also her work improves by leaps and bounds with every release.


The first image includes the early Bustier and Shorts in Coffee and the "reveals much" Stella in Beige, both of which I have blogged before. On the right isthe wonderfully versatile Carmela. I had this picture ready to go when Achariya caught me wearing it in her "People at Work" series. I subsituted the Fleur Patent Leather Belt in black for the outfit's prim belt. I'm wearing Decoy's Jully boots in black and the Icon BC Necklace and Earrings. On the left is the Fearne Limited Edition for Hearts of Love in Pink. The shoes are Moody's Gladiator Sandals in Black. Jewelry is the NoLove Lost set from Violet Voltaire. All hair and skins are from ETD and Fleur of course ;)


Here are a group of later outfits from Milla; from left to right, The Malina Jacket in Plum worn with the cigarette pants from Joanie, Pippa in Black with the shrug, Joanie in Black with the green belt and Agnes in Beige and Black. Shoes are from left to right: Phoebe from Kookie, Marie in Black/Charcoal from Tesla, ETD Heel Strap Platforms and, again Phoebe from Kookie. Hair is ETD's Patricia in Auburnt Burnt and all skins are from Fleur.

Poses are from my old pose ball and include ones from [LAP], the dreaded *MM* poses, some of Ana Lutetia's early poses and heaven knows what else!

I hope this gives you a good feel for Milla's work over a period of time. Next up will be the new jacket, Noomi :)

A Fleur by any other name.

Is still a Fleur even if I am late to the party. I've had this image ready to blog for a bit, but what with my winding down my work at Fleur and closing down my translations agency the lovely Fleurs slipped through the cracks in the pixelated ether.



What I am wearing is the result of a collaboration between Fleur and ~silent sparrow~ --hyasynth's dress is named "Fleur" and the Fleur Allure China skin is called "L'Oiseau." in honor of hya's twittery birdie-ness. I'm wearing Fleur in Violet without the modesty tummy panel. The beautiful tattoo is included. Hair is Scarlet from Truth.

Posemaker Appreciation Continued :)

I really want to thank Achayira for reminding us we couldn't blog successfully without the creations of the posemakers on the grid. For this blog I reached into my considerable supply of poses from Dove Swanson's Long Awkward pose. To show off the poses I am wearing ...




newness from Cupcake! I'm wearing three of the newly released separates:The Spring Floral Skirt in Green, the Cropped Cardigan in Gold and the Simple Shimmer Tank in Lemon. Shoes are by Dela, Stella in Ecru Beige. I'm wearing the necklace from (luc) Fashion Jewelry's Athena and the earrings from his new set, Undine. My skin is a new to me Meredith Captivating Copper in the Light skintone and I'm wearing my first hair from *DP* Yumyum, *berbaryumyum*06 in Cocoa .

And the poses are from [LAP]

You can't "shrug" this one off ;)

hyasynth Tiramisu makes glorious outfits, but she also makes wonderful smaller things, among them the Grimly skirts, her cardigans and now, Shruggie.




Shruggie comes in some wonderful colors [I'm wearing it in Creme] and has nice primmy bits, but I left them off as they didn't look quite right with the rest of the outfit. Besides this way you see how wonderful hya's textures are on the system layer. Shruggie comes in the jacket and shirt layer, which is VERY helpful as the top of the eLDee Kiki pants is on the jacket layer. I'm wearing Celestial Studio's Trixie cami in Rouge on the undershirt layer. Shoes are the Tesla Marie in Red & Tan. I think they pick up the colors in the outfit nicely:)

Hair is Ivy from Truth in Carrot and my skin is Fleur Allure Lounge 2 in Truffle. Earrings are an old group freebie from SLink. Poses are mostly by {flowey}

Don't "shrug" this one off -- you'll find many uses for these little wonders from the hands of hya :)

Love me, love my boots

Hello again, my friends! With spring around the corner (at least here in Spain), the dreaded day is slowly approaching in which I will have to toss my boots and welcome sandals again... so I bought a new pair – but it all came to pass by accident, I promise.

Let me tell you what happened: I was looking for furniture for our new home (Keris and I have finally moved in together!), and XStreet kept bringing the slouchy Lya’s Valentina boots among the results. Why? I don’t know. Coincidence? Destiny? Good marketing? Whatever, I’m an easy girl when we talk about boots, so I didn’t think twice and bought them in rust. My five cents: wonderful textures upon sculpty perfection, even though they’re no mod and they don’t come with a resize script. Given the chance, I would have shrunk them a bit, but hey, I won’t complain, their beauty makes up for that.

What really started this ensemble was Zaara’s Kashmiri shawl, which I had been trying to combine for ages, always ending somewhat unconvinced with the results. Finally I resolved that pairing it with neutrals would highlight the embroidery, so I dug out my inventory and found my long lost Maitreya Mirli sweater in brown – it comes with three cami options, but you can’t really see which one I was wearing (soft green).

Blue jeans complete the outfit – the Destroyed Wash version by Celestial Studios, strategically worn out to dress me down a bit.In that spirit, I kept accessories to a minimum, opting instead for be-hatted hair – the lovely Morgan from Truth (ok, I bought like 20 hairstyles at the 50L sale and I’m planning to show them all). The cap comes with a retexturing script, so I chose green for that too. Last but not least I added Maitreya’s sculpted Old Leather Belt in dark brown, an old group gift which is now available at their store.

As for the rest, can you guess? Correct! The skin is a Fleur, more specifically, the clean-faced, almost-no-makeup DNB Shoujo 3; while the eyes (mossy rock) and lashes (natural) are from Miriel. For a change, the poses used are Juicy’s Model 5 (group gift), Torridwear’s Free Model Poses and, on the second picture, Fashion S5 from Reel Expression (not free).

Full outfit credits and store locations on my Flickr.

Pssssssssssst...

I was talking with Lucas Lameth in IM and nagging him for some newness and then, WOW, he dropped Undine and Maya II on me. Can we say we are bowled over, thrilled and about to pass out from delight? Not only is it newness, but it is MAJORLY wonderful.




On the left is Undine, available in three different crystal colors and the metal is color change by touch. It's all wonderful, but I especially love the teardrop on the earrings. On the right is Maya II. I can see the resemblance, but it is in my opinion a whole 'nuther ball game. The shape, the gold overlays and the colors available are not your grandmother's Maya. This is the set in Rainbow Opal. The other choices include Bluestone, Green Silica, Onyx and Red Carnelian. Perhaps one of the reasons I am so taken by this set is that I would do many things to acquire this look in RL.

What else I am wearing is minor in comparison, but it includes Celestial Studios Deviant Nation Vogue Skin Vamp-Beguile in Champagne, ETD's Aiiyanna in Auburn Burnt and Nicky Ree's Brenda in Pink.

I think Lucas is baaaaaaaaaaack :)

Ready to Go!

I've gotten to know Clio Cardiff of Pret a Porter on Plurk, but never expected that she would drop such goodies on me. Yes, I'm a blogger, but I'm not on the main feed and I don't go looking for review copies. On the other hand, when a gift is given "just because," the review becomes a real pleasure!



First is Diane in Purple, an elegant ballroom gown. I love the skirt shape, very elegant and, of course, the color and textures are sumptuous. I can't wait for the first Relay for Life Benefit Ball!

I'm wearing Celestial Studios Vogue skin in Winter 1/Champagne. The eyes and lips seemed to have a slightly mauve tint that worked well with the color of the gown. Hair is from Truth, Lesley in Pumpkin-I wish Truth would stop renaming his colors LOL. Jewelry is the Poseidon set in violet from (luc) Fashion Jewelry.




Clio dropped her first sculpty skirt on me yesterday I think and when I popped it on I knew I had the right shoes in Shiny Things' Mary Jane Clogs in Apple Green. [now in their sale room] The dress is Blooming Flower in Rose. The sculpty skirt looks exactly like an upside down flower bell. It works nicely with the shoes and the (luc) Athena Crystals set in a greenish mix. The sleeve cuffs are similarly shaped for an over all feeling of "flowerness."

I am wearing an Adam & Eve skin, Grazia, in tone 2, modded, in the Jade makeup. Hair is Ivy from Truth in Carrot.

Just as her store name is in French, in these outfits I am "ready to go"!

An outfit to "Adore"

Sometimes outfits begin in a serendipitous way. I had bought the +plus Adorable Brown Snake Belt, which I had seen on Ana Lutetia's blog and when I searched for it in my inventory, this top came up, called Adorable, by laurine Brown. I have no idea where I found it, but I'm glad it survived my sporadic inventory purges as it suited the outfit nicely :).




The pattern on the belt and the color & texture of the top set off nicely Mouse Mimistrobell's DM Spheres in Peridot. I included the closeup so you could see the detail on the earrings and necklace.

I'm wearing Truth's Ivy in Carrot and the second of my two Soda custom skins. My slacks are the Sable Velvet Pants from Love Chic, while my shoes are the Tease Peep Toe Pumps in Gold from Kitty's Lair. I have these in 5 colors and I may need more ;)

Poses are by Sn@tch :)