In Memory of John Hughes: Blogger Challenge

Zero Style, League, Exodi, Creamshop, Aoharu, Niniko, Boing Fromage, amerie’s Naughty, Shiny Things, UBU.

Dove Loves….

I have been meaning to do a blog post for awhile now, I just haven’t had the time or the motivation. But lately I’ve bought a few things that I just can’t seem to get enough of and they’ve been screaming at me from my inventory ‘blog me you twat’ and so I must give in to their constant wailing. These are items that I’ve either had on my avatar’s body consistently the past few weeks, or can’t stop switching into/thinking of every time I try to put a new outfit together. Pardon the image, I thought it would be fun to try something new and tinker in photoshop a bit – I was wrong, it wasn’t fun and I won’t be doing that again.

0. *DP Yumyum – These are a pair of pants that I can’t seem to remove from Dove. I had them for awhile now and just hadn’t ever put them on… but when I did I was a little surprised. Not surprised because I know DP YumYum to sport quality items, but I guess I didn’t expect the attention to detail and that level of realism. I did a quick zoom and cam job and then I saw the backside of these jeans and couldn’t stop staring. They give Dove’s ass such a high-and-tight appearance (and make me very jealous of her). I was impressed at the sharpness to the texturing too, I don’t think I own many pairs of jeans that are able to maintain the detail in those tiny bits, like buttons – it usually gets fuzzed out but these do a really good job avoiding that. Also, the leg cuffs are prim and nicely done.

1. Whippet&Buck – I didn’t think W&B would ever open, and when it finally did I went and grabbed just about one of everything in my favorite colors! This Boatneck top is a real staple gem. It’s just so versatile and yes it does come on all layers. I love that when Dove is wearing it, it feels like it says so much, without being too much – if that makes sense? And one thing I truly love about it, not sure if this was intended, but the shading on the breasts creates this look that is so natural….no perky balloon boobs here, just shading that looks about how a natural set of tits should look on the body. High five!

2. Tiny Bird – How can I not love a hair I designed and that’s named after me? Hee. Autumn recently retextured her hairs and rebranded her store and since then she has been taking the grid by storm with her quirky-cute hairstyles. This one is called Dove (version II) and it was a hair I specifically requested and if you saw the picture I drew for her, you would know how freaking talented she really is to have produced this hair from it. Her textures come in so many shades, and she has some blondes and reds that almost make me want to change hair color – almost. The headband is also texture-change by menu, very easy to use.

3. Kumaki Glasses – I actually found this designer on Xstreet and I’ve been keeping an eye on their listings for awhile now. The other night while I was browsing the listings I noticed a new pair of glasses listed but that wasn’t even the best part – they were listed for 0L! I grabbed a pair and then spread the news and since then have noticed that the designer listed another pair for 0L too. I’m not sure how often they are changed, or how long they stay free, but it would probably pay to keep an eye on them. The styles are very chic and clever, great prim work and nice textures with tons of scripted options built in. Even if you don’t manage to snag some for free, they’re worth the L to pay for them.

4. & 5. Miel – Both the shoes and the stockings are from a shop called Miel. It’s sort of “all the rage” right now and usually I don’t buy into that except this time it’s the rage for a good reason. First of all, all it took was the word ’sock’ to get my attention but when I first tped to the shop and found so many nicely textured pieces with great prims I was sold. I could have probably done a whole post on nothing but the items I bought from Miel – which including whole outfits and accessories but I know that has been done and will be done plenty more times by others. I’ll just say that when I got the notice about these new flats last night I wanted to tp over first thing. Something I am learning quickly about this shop is that the designer likes to put a very different twist on the usual – what I mean is that something that could be just another pair of flats is now made cute and original by changing it up just a little…adding a button, putting some flaps on it, sticking a little decal on there. If you stop by you’ll find this is true of most of their items, they all have this special and unique twist to them, as well as some scripted goodness.

6. [Decoy] – This shop has been around awhile now and let me just go ahead and get this out of the way – Annette Voight does amazing texture work. There are some of her clothing items that I take the prims off just to wear them as the clothing layer because I almost feel it’s a sin to cover the texturing up with *anything* at all. She has the cutest shop full of goodies for you, very colorful, stylish, fun and seriously – the texture work is to die for, you can really tell that she takes that extra time for attention to little details…the perfect wrinkle in the exact spot, a button shadow just so-so. And yes, she does all layers, bless her!

So there you have it, some things that Dove loves.

YES

Stop. Bullying.

Fashionable Relay Challenge

I’ve been nervously waiting since the beginning of the fashion relay challenge for my turn, and of course I had to go after the supa-fly Brandy Rasmuson! Not only is she too cute for words, but she presented me with my fashion bane; the SHOP SEU taitsu tights! Damn her, it’s as if she knew my stubborn streak would not be able to resist giving them a go, no matter how badly I suck at trying to create an outfit around them. So, with tights in hand…or on leg, whatever, I began my outfit. Cue mystical magic music, please.

Ha! I knew what you were all thinking, you were thinking that I would wear black from head to toe, with a bit of white thrown in between. In your face, suckas. No, actually I knew before I ever got the baton, and knew what piece I would be relaying, that I wanted to step outside my normal box of comfort and challenge myself twice. First challenge, the tights. Second challenge, no black (okay, except the hair). For a bit of extra fun I decided to see how many colors I could pull from the tights and use as additional pieces to the outfit. Yeah, you’ve never seen Dove this colorful.

I knew these tights would call for denim, regardless of what I did, something about a casual-look with these tights just screams denim. I actually wanted to wear the new Maitreya skirt but I believe it was already used earlier in the relay and also it ended up looking like crap on Dove. Boo. So I dug up my tried and true denim-skirt (in black it says, actually it says ‘brack’ so maybe brack is the new blue?) from UnToneQuilt. This skirt is so full of win, I really cannot express that enough, and it adds this prissy-cute attitude to any look.

Once I knew I was going with the denim, the shoes had to go casual also, but it would have been too easy to pull out my UBUs so I opted for a pair that I never wear hardly ever – why? Because they’re pink and covered in hearts. But for this outfit they worked perfectly, and pink aside, these are some really, really well-done sneaks – the detailing is just insane. The fact that they’re from Detour makes me wonder how much I paid for them though, insert some side remark on how I have a shopping problem, thanks.

My hair wasn’t hard at all, I had literally just gotten done shopping for new hairs at Truth when I decided to start putting my challenge outfit together. This hair called Tahlia was absolutely begging to give my ‘cute’ outfit a little hippie-summer twist. I loved that the scripted-headband also included a – gasp – denim texture! Win! The only thing I find concerning is that Dove’s boobs seem to be huge because no matter what I did to adjust it or what poses I tried, those cute pigtails ended up in her chest. Quite frightening considering I never thought Dove’s tits were all that large.

There was one last staple I needed and then accessories are always easy to throw on; a top. Now, you should know that I originally wanted to use a cute green vintage-thermal top from Tres Blah, but when I went to make sure that it was actually for sale, I could not find it in the shop! Fail! I suppose it must have been a special or limited edition purchase. While I was there, though, I was able to aquire another top that, while changing my focus from greens to blues, still fit the bill perfectly! I love layered tanks and tops, this one didn’t fail the ‘cute’ theme I had going on I only wish that it came in more layers than just the jacket layer.

Like I said, accessories are easy once you have your staples…but for this challenge I had to keep checking the rules again and making sure I wasn’t leaving the next person out to dry. I wanted to give the next person some fun parts to toy with if they chose to, and from some random and totally unrelated designers. I snagged the glasses from Pink Fuel, and I was just tickled that they matched the shoes, in a really gross girly way (they’re scripted also!). I was going to wear both left and right sculpted arm-warmers from Maitreya, in two different colors, but they looked a little too warm for the look I had going at that point, so I opted for wearing only one and throwing some Boing Fromage heart-bangles on the other arm (again, scripted)! Of course I couldn’t let this entire outfit go, absent of my beloved black, without giving it a tiny-itty-bitty-bit of Doveness – the Milk Motion skull necklace was just the perfect and finalizing touch.

There you have it, that’s how Dove got her groove back. Errr….I mean, that’s how she does every color of the pastel rainbow, while longing for warmer weather! Anyway, I’m passing the baton on to Monicuzza Babenco, and looking forward to seeing what she does with it!

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The Other Stuff:

Skin – Curio-Gala: Breeze Petal-Light Frex – Liquid Sky 1
Eyes – Poetic Colors: Dark Wood
Poses – All Mine! :p

Gala Converted Me Once Again

Okay I want to preface this post by saying that I am in no way a skin reviewer…but I recently aquired (along with half the grid) the newest skin release by Curio-Gala and since doing so, I’ve noticed that a lot of people are really confused about them. I thought this post might help with some of the confusion and in the process I thought I would share some good and some bad points…in hopes of being a fair perspective even though I am totally biased – you figure that one out!

First I want to say that I love my new gala skins, I bought a fat pack of my favorite tone and face (and can’t wait for more makeup options), so the things I’m about to say are irks, but they were obviously not major enough to keep me from making the purchase, just keep that in mind while reading and decide for yourself. Here you are, the unveiling…

This is the new Vibrant skinline in the Petal-Light tone with the Breeze face (mauve mist type 2 makeup). Before I continue I want to break down the explanation of the skinline for those who are still confused.

The skinline is called Vibrant.
The tones are Acorn, Sundust, Petal and Moonbeam.
There are three new faces, they are Breeze, Lovely and Vixen (yes the faces are different from one another).
Each face has six new makeups.
Now if that weren’t already enough choices and names to keep track of, you should also know that each skintone comes in two variations – light and dark. The variation is subtle in most cases but it allows for, technically, eight new tones.
Also, each makeup comes with two lip variations, it’s usually a lighter or darker lipstick but a dramatic enough change to qualify as twelve new makeups per face!
Add on top of all of that that each skin also comes in a freckled version.

What does that mean? It means that when you purchase the fatpack of a tone/face you are getting 48 skins! Now with all that said, in this post I’m probably only going to address the face and tone that I chose, mostly because I’m too lazy to take pictures of all of the others. I’ll make a quick note about the other two faces:  Lovely has this really odd ability to make any avatar that wears it look somewhat concerned or saddened, try it on and see for yourself. Vixen is probably the most different of the three and to me could have easily been another skinline entirely, I believe that Redgrave lovers will feel right at home in that face. So…

If you’ve ever owned a Gala one thing you’ll know is that the skins have always been so beautifully blended together and really flawless. This skin, for the most part, is no different in that respect…with the added bonus of what seems a growing trend – this lovely ‘glow’ or ’shine’…Redgrave or Laqroki skin-wearers are probably already very familiar with this. While I would have personally loved for the shine to be an optional feature, I really can’t complain, it’s done very well and already so many other options were included with this skinline debut.

Now here I want to take a side-step and mention that this tone I’m wearing, petal-light is probably the most equally shaded and blended of all the tones. My personal opinion solely. I feel that the darker you go in the tones (sundust and acorn) the more harsh the shading becomes and in some of the tones the use of shine almost looks a little streaky (see: the upper arms).

Another point of interest and for some a bit of an irk (myself included) is the way that the face on these new skins appears to be a shade or two lighter than the actual body of the skin, it almost looks like your avatar is wearing a lightly painted mask. I suppose this is to give the face the appearance of ‘glowing’ or ’shining’ along with the rest of the body, I’m not sure and as I said, in this tone combination I find it less harsh. See below and note the face and neck tones…

I took two different snapshots of the same because I wanted to show something else that I’ve been finding kind of interesting. These skins are some of the first that I’ve owned (and I am a two-generation previous Gala skin owner) that react so oddly and sharply to light settings. I don’t know if these skins were intentionally created with better WL settings in mind or not, but as you can see from the top and bottom photo comparison – they *love* Caliah’s WL presets. Look at how much depth and detail is lost in the mid-day normal setting below. The lips have no plumpness, the collarbone looks like a flat line. It’s really interesting, I’ve never owned a skin that took so well to windlight and seemed to be better because of it. And no…I’m not just talking about face shadows that we all loathe…if you compare the two back and forth you will see what I’m saying.

Before I continue on I wanted to share this odd-angle shot to show what a friend pointed out to me about the face on these skins and how the actual ‘face’ seems to just …end…at the edges with a lack of blending on back along the skull and sides of the face. I personally am not irked by this, mostly because hair and such will probably always be hiding this but I thought it only fair to show it if it could possibly be a bad point in someone else’s book.

While I’m still up here on the head, I might as well note that these skins have drawn-in eyelashes. It’s not something I prefer but it’s also not something that bothers me, but I just thought that if you are normally wearing prim lashes while demoing skins (like I was) you might want to know that these do have drawn-in lashes so that you can make a better informed decision! The second picture there is of the ear – it’s not a bad thing but these ears are super realistic, they almost border on kinda creepy they look so real and might I add again that Gala is the queen of blending…so yeah, there you go, an ear.

Now, these next two items are actually things about this beautiful skin that *do* annoy the hell out of me. I am so not a fan of deep body shading, and especially certain areas, like say the buttcheeks and the underbust. Luckily, the butt on this skin is still as darling as all Gala skins, but the underbust shading is a little too heavy for my taste. Some people prefer it and love it, I’m just not one of them…good thing for me that Dove is rarely showing off her tits. I’ve heard from some people that the nipples are a little too, uh, perky, but I have always loved Gala nipples and these are no different. I just want to pluck them!

This next point was actually a shocker for me…I demoed my skins with my socks and shoes on because I’ve never had an issue with Gala skins below the waist really and I could careless what feet look like really. So, I had already made my purchase when I got naked to admire it and then I saw this…

I don’t know what that is, but it looks like my grandmother’s knees. If you take a look at my first picture up there you’ll see how these knees look perfectly fine from afar, but if you get even the least bit close they look like a horror show. I just know that I won’t be showing off Dove’s knees any time soon, which is alright, I am the sock queen, it’s not like I show Dove’s knees much anyway.

Lastly, and this is purely for my own amusement, Autumn brought it to my attention that these skins have a tiny little easily missed detail that should be much more appreciated in the skin world: a butthole. Isn’t it just darling?

There you go, so long winded but I had a lot to get out from all the conversations and questions I’ve heard since the skins were released just a few days ago. Again, I really want to emphasize that I lovelovelove my new gala skins, they have such a huge attention to detail, and such fun little quirks to them that make them unique and special and oh-so-cute. Try them on and find them out for yourself. Oh! And if all of that wasn’t enough to convince you to make the plunge and purchase one for yourself, I did want to add also that Gala has some of the best customer service I’ve ever experienced in SL.

Alright, now I’m done.

Oral Fixation

I like putting things in my mouth. Oh baby, do I. Mmm…

Today I’m going to take this blog to places I never thought it would go. Okay, maybe I could have predicted this but still…pretend your shock and amazement, plskthx. The inspiration for this blog came from the past few weeks reading about the oral fixation on the feed/plurk/blogs/chat/younameit. You know what I’m talking about…toast hanging from the mouth, candy poised so sweetly between the lips, or really, pretty much anything a person wants to stick in their avatar’s mouth.

My personal take on it is this: who the fuck cares? If a person wants to put shit in their avatar’s mouth (I just might), or wear a diaper on their head, or put pig’s feet in place of their legs, or wings on their back, or horns on their skull, or fangs – who cares? If that’s their method of expression, defining themselves or just plain having fun – who cares? Someone go ahead and close up the recruitment office, we’ve filled the position of ‘SLife patrol’ well and good!

To me, it’s a form of expression no different than covering your avatar in tattoos, or piercings, dressing her up as a dolly today and a masked robber tomorrow. But all of that brings me back to the highlight of today’s post and this awesome ensemble – apparently it’s quite alright to put odd things in your mouth if you are a whore. I give you, Dove, the whore (and yes, that’s different from every other day!).

I dedicate this post to all the whores out there, please don’t let the naysayers stop you from shoving things in your gob. You keep doing what you do best! <3

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I am not doing credits, I’ll just toss out some hollas yo.
Curio Damselfly UTOPIA Digit Darkes No.9 Lazy Places BP* lurvebite FNKY KUROTSUBAKI Celestial Studios Immerschoen Fashion Eolande’s ….and Malk’s cock.

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Oh yeah…here’s a random shot of Dove’s tits just to give this post a little something extra. Titties, titties, titties. Thanks.

Purple People Eater

I think I had been wearing the same outfit (or rather a collection of non prim layers I threw on when I needed to tp somewhere…um, not naked) for about two weeks straight and when I decided to go on a shopping spree the other day, I knew I had to actually get dressed. I should be doing fifty other things right now so this has to be quick and easy.

Here are things I told myself not to forget to mention:

The turtleneck and jacket are new from DP Serendipity. The turtleneck is scripted (supposedly) but I swear I haven’t been able to get it to work. It also does some really ugly things in the back, hence the really poofy hair from BP*…well not just that, it’s also very cute. I modded it to ditch the hair band that came with it. The skirt is an absolute gem, as far as skirts and prims go, this one is a winner, from Untone. (By the way, I’m blaming my shopping spree and rebel-like spending entirely on Miabella.) The leggings are from DP Yumyum but I tinted them darker to match a bit better with my jacket. The shoes from TOSL are cuuute, a bit expensive but cute, and also, you should know they have a touch of glow applied that I turned off while taking pictures, but I find the glow cute while wearing them about, so thankfully the shoes are mod.

I think that’s all the notes I made on the outfit. And that’s certainly all the time I have left to devote to this post today. Now back to work with me! (oh the poses used are just a sneak peek of unreleased newness!)

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Skin: Curio – Radiance-Sienna Frex
Hair: BP* – hippie girl hair 1
Flower: /artilleri/ – leo lily
Top: DP Serendipity – Uniiiqlo Turtle Knit
Jacket: DP Serendipity – JK Midnight Purple
Skirt: UnToneQuilt – Denim Skirt Black
Leggings: DP Yumyum – purple leggings
Shoes: TOSL – Sweater Wellies v1.6 Snow

Old. Fashioned. Girl.

I’ve been putting together outfits the past few weeks that had either a very winter feel to them, or very holiday-spirit kind of approach, I actually want to photo them all but I just haven’t had time. Today I’m feeling a bit antsy and put off so I thought a little distraction from the norm might be in order. So you get a blog post! Yay! Right…

I decided the other day that my inventory was a total mess after the mad holiday rush and shopping sprees and it was high time to get it in order. Not that I actually accomplished that, mind you…but while attempting to do so I ended up in this really cute outfit. You ever feel like your avatar is so cute you just want to throttle her for managing perfection so easily? I hate her sometimes, I really do.

Anyway…I think this outfit kind of brought together both winter-y goodness and holiday-style and so I decided it deserved a little mention. I’m not gonna chitchat and pretend the process involved a lot of thought, because honestly I was just flipping things in and out, trying them on until this happened. So yeah..

I will say that I adore that hat-hair from Exile, and it’s totally scripted full of goodness and just way too cute, without it this outfit just wouldn’t …work. And I wanted to mention that I own a TON of flats, any time I see flats I buy them, but these shoes from Truth just jumped to the tippytop of my favorite list as soon as I put them on Dove’s feet.

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Skin: Curio – Radiance-Blossom
Hair: Exile – Maureen (inclu. hat, scripted)
Top: MNK*Shop – Lace Blouse Ensemble (Cardigan + Lace Undershirt)
Skirt: MNK*Shop – Tiered Skirt (red, includes longer option and multiple attach points)
Necklace: luc Fine Jewelry – The New Grazia Necklace (gold/crimson)
Socks: Shiny Things – Prim socks, creamblack
Shoes: Truth – Mina Flats

Rosebud Challenge

So, Winter posted a blogger challenge, a ‘Barerose Appreciation Week’ style challenge. Basically you just had to showcase your favorite Barerose outfits or mashups. I don’t like to out-of-the-box it so I opted for the mashing, but I decided I’d only allow myself to mash Barerose outfits. I really truly wanted to spend more time on this and show a bunch of different styles …lolli-cute, business-chic, grungy-punk, etc. But every time I started putting together a mashup, I ended up looking very well dressed for winter. Hmm. I also realized very quickly that I could spend countless hours doing this so I had to stop myself at three attempts and let it go – I have sooo much I need to be getting done.  I have no words for the outfits really, I guess they kind of speak for themselves. I just like the idea of showing how very every-day-use Barerose pieces can be.

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Seen On All -
Skin: Curio, Refined
Hair: KIN, Liv
Shoes, L-R: Maitreya Billow Boots, Maitreya Verve Pumps, FUEL LE Chibs

Outfits –

Left:
Scarf: Wakaz-O-Matic Girl (brown scarf)
Vest: Argyle Vest (brown)
Socks: Argyle Vest Socks
Shirt: Bellezza Shirt
Pants: Donna (black pants)

Center:
Shirt: Fantasy
Jacket: EGA Noble Black
Skirt: Black Witch
Socks: Showgirl
Gloves: Showgirl

Right:
Shirt: Ethinica Lightbrown Shade (plus gloves)
Parka: Frilled Parka (pink)
Pants: Valia
Socks: Tutu (white)

Dear Designers and Creators

Why don’t you offer giftcards?

It’s a total pet peeve of mine, and one that I run into quite often. I am not saying that I expect every designer out there to go and purchase an expensive giftcard system to place in their shop – but there are alternatives, such as the old fashioned texture and notecard method. Sure, it’s a hassle and a chore, but if you want happy customers, it’s a nice perk!

I am one of those people who does not, at all, enjoy buying gifts for friends and loved ones. Call me lazy or call the offering less involved/meaningful – whatever you want – but giftcards are by far the method I prefer. The main reason is that I don’t like buying things for people knowing good and well that I might get it in the wrong color, or they might not like the style exactly – why waste L and a perfect gifting opportunity on something they won’t even like? I could give them a giftcard (probably worth more than the gift itself would have been anyway) and they can pick and choose as they want and we’re both happy.

I understand that some designers and creators think that by offering things as transfer-okay, they have solved the gifting problem – please see above. Even if you do offer things transfer, it would still be nice to have a giftcard option. Truthfully, at the end of the day what does it really cost you? Time, if you go the old-routine. Or a one-time payment of lindens if you go the new method of storecard systems. But in the long run you are being paid for that time, or you will make that investment in profit-return eventually. So…what’s the loss?

I can tell you what the loss of NOT having them is. I have a lot of people on my friend’s list, they often have weddings, birthdays, rezdays, holidays, and the list goes on. I try my best not to forget any of them and as soon as I receive an invite to an event/party I go shopping for giftcards. Let me use an example – for females I tend to try and give them a variety of giftcards: a hair shop, a jewelry shop, and maybe a shoe and/or clothing shop. Let’s say I go to oh…I’ll just toss out one like say….Maitreya. I love their shoes and would love to share them with friends – up until recently every time I went I could not find giftcards there and do you know what I did with my thousand lindens? I took them to Shiny Things and bought a giftcard from there instead. Sure, it’s only a thousand lindens, but I would make a guesstimate that I’ve done that at least ten times. Now you have ten thousand lindens hanging in the balance – that’s enough off of one person that would practically buy and pay for one of those storecard systems – which also happen to be hassle free and fully automated!

Why don’t you have giftcards?

Don’t get me started on the lack of giftcards available for men’s stores. There’s a handful of about five or so that I have to cycle through every time a male on my list has a birthday or rezday. Oy. Come on, hoorenbeek, akeyo, soreal, armidi (can you get your system functioning?), laqroki, aitui, and the rest of you! Give me giftcards!

What would be REALLY cool would be an official LL giftcard type system. Imagine if you could pay an object a certain amount of linden and have it retain that value so you could gift the object itself to a friend.  A giftcard spendable anywhere! That would be rad. Probably also highly unstable and insecure…but it’s a nice thought.

End Rant.