A secret

Oh-my-god. I shopped. Not just a quick log-in-to-TP-to-TDR (The Dressing Room, I presume everyone knows it by now), buy what's being offered that I suspect I may like, log off and forget. Nope - last weekend I actually went to shops where all the items were made by the same creator and set at full price. How did that happen? It started as a fairly normal TDR routine, when I had to notice (everyone has, apparently) the amazing skirt by a guest store called The Secret Store. I have no idea how long they've been around, but they were new to me so I went to have a look at what they had to offer. They're on a sim called Cheesecake, so I decided there could be nothing bad. And oh boy, was I right. Almost as good as cheesecake.

Amongst the (many) items I bought, a dress in particular, called Pretty Poppy, caught my eye. I wasn't disappointed on unpacking: the textures and the sculpted primwork are just incredible; it comes with an accessory belt plus the chest ruffles in two attachment point options. If I had to find a fault with it, I guess it would be that the glitch pants only come in the underwear layer, which makes it kinda not-so-easy to find appropriate tights to wear it with. But hey, I managed.

After buying all those pretty clothes, I decided that it would only be fair to get new hair to go with them, so I paid a visit to my two old loves: Elikatira and Truth. [me sighs] How I love them, and how grateful I am that they have stores on the Marketplace, so I can avoid the infernal lag. With that excuse, I proceeded to try every single demo, and eventually settled on Elikatira's Mood (Red 08 being my colour) to go with the dress. I was tempted to buy a new skin too and went straight for Tuli's demos, but then I decided to give Belleza's group gift Erika a try - and it won my heart. There are two Erikas in the gift box at the store, I chose the one with turquoise eyeshadow for the pictures with the dress, but here's a closeup of my new face in the bare option. It's not for me to say it, but it's lovely, innit?


Since I was at it I tried to renew my eyes as well (Miriel's probably been closed for over a year now, it's time to move on) but, to be honest, I found nothing that convinced me. I picked both the Poetic Colors and the Amacci gifts, but if those are anything to go by, I'll pass. So, I'm back where I started. If anyone was a Miriel lover and has found a convincing substitute, please let me know. Otherwise, I'll just stick to the oldies and goodies. To round up the look, I added the Delphine pumps in gold by Shiny Things, another group gift, SBJ's gold necklace (FabFree gift) and Glow Studio's Lowicz thick wood branclet (TDR item). The tights are a prehistorical tintable pair, but still work for me. Poses are from Samara's photosphere, by various creators participating in the 2010 pose fair [hey, that's what Sam's poseball said!].

For full credits, check out my Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/elaine_lisle/

A bit more about me

Hi! As Sam has already said in her wonderful presentation, I am the new addition here at "The 3 Fashionteers" – after all, if the 3 musketeers had D’Artagnan, the Fashionteers could do with a Freebie Queen, right? I couldn’t say no when Samara asked me to contribute in this blog – she’s let me squat on her land for months and I have a lease on her photosphere, so I couldn’t not be here as well! ;-) You’ve got to know Sam to understand the depths of her generosity: after camping for my 100L to buy my first proper ETD hairstyle, I found myself unable to decide between two of them, so she just got me the other one – almost before we even talked! I guess she took pity on my noobness, and that was just the start: afterwards she got me a job, a place to live and a ton of dress hints – and see where it got me! I am very fortunate to have a friend like Sam.

During my nearly two years on SL I have made some very good friends, met my SLove/RLove, learnt how to use Sam’s photosphere and gathered a huge inventory – and I mean huge! I’ll try to show you the best of it on my posts. As we’ve already pointed out, I am a bit of a freebie hunter, so I’ll throw in some nice free stuff in my outfits for you to go grab - if you want. I figured for my first post I’d try to give a sense of my style, so, let's get to work:

So, what’s best to define one's style than a dress from one's all-time favourite stores? In my case, that's *Icing*, the right place for wonderfully elegant and retro-style clothing. In the picture I'm wearing Passion Flower, a special and limited release (i.e. not on sale any more) for the Heart of Love fundraiser, which I’m certain everyone’s heard of by now. I paired it with my beloved Maitreya Verve pumps in violet, another classic: they are so versatile that I can’t stop throwing them in every outfit I put together. Finally, I accessorised with jewellery from my other favourite shoe designer, Shiny Things’ Fallingwater Cellardoor: the Florina earrings and Florinagon bangles in silver. Finishing off the look, on my left arm are Eolande’s Inida Pink Bangles, which I got for free through Eolande’s Picks Reward Programme (just add Eolande to your picks and in 24 hours you can click the gift giver in-store). The skin is Fleur’s Allure Smudged 2 in the Cinnamon skintone (being a Fleur Insider, it figures I wear Fleur skins 24/7). The hair is ETD’s Yvette in Scarlet, best shade of red on the grid. Eyes and lashes are from Miriel, and poses by the genius of Long Awkward Pose. The wedding band is from JCNY. Done.

(For full credits, see flickr)