Skin: Filthy; Platinum Hunt edition
Hair: Elikatira; Changes, blonde 07 (Collabor88)
Ensemble: Indi Designs; Misha, (Platinum Hunt)
Shoes: Maitreya; Group gift pumps, black
Nails: Pixel Mode; V2 Sculpted nails
I’ve been really enjoying putting together these outfits from sale/event finds. Its amazing what you can throw together on the the cheap (not including the nails, this ensemble was less than $ 110L).
Skin: Al Vulo; Renzie, peacock tan
Hair: Exile; Aroha, vanilla roots
Shirt: League; Broderie Anglais blouse, off white
Pants: Fri.day; Checked Capri (FLF)
Shoes: Pixel Mode; Fae Wedges, white
Bracelets: U & R Dogs; Missa Luba, gold & Mandala; Kabuki, silver
I’ve been cutting back quite a bit in my shopping lately and being more discerning about the items I pick up from the bargain lists. Instead of just tp and grab, I check the blogs, look at the pictures and actually ask myself if I would end up wearing it. If the answer is yes, then I tp and grab.
Such was the case with these super-cute capris featured on the Fifty Linden Friday list last week. These were available in a solid and this plaid and though I don’t normally wear patterned pants, these were just too cute to pass up. By the way, did I mention how cute they are?
Also on my must have list since I saw the ad in my inbox was this top from League. Very soft and feminine looking. So very much not my usual style, but I’m spreading my fashion wings lately.
And look! Another of my treasures from Hair Fair! This year’s offerings from Exile were top-notch and I’m full of love for the rooted textures they’ve started offering.
Skin: Belleza; Aiko, pale 01
Hair: Exile; Caitrin, Vanilla roots
Dress: So Many Styles; Floral Tulip dress, blue
Shoes: Pixel Mode; Fae Wedge, Khaki
Necklace: Miel; Cue necklace
Bracelet: Twisted & Spoiled; ChiChi bangle
I actually first found So Many Styles a few weeks back when we did the “I Let My Boyfriend Dress Me” challenge. Xan had chosen one of the skirts from there and I put it on my Places To Check Out list.
I was looking for something to wear Friday evening and went to my handy list. After about an hour shopping there, I ended up with so many cute options to wear that I had trouble deciding on one.
The floral dress reminded me of some of the 80’s fashions I grew up with and it was a big hit with the boyfriend.
So Xan and I went to see another one of Maximillion Kleene’s live performances the other day. I’ve been a fan of his since his very first performance at the Hummingbird back in 2006. To end his show this time, he does this incredible rap/performance of Jason Mraz’s Butterfly (which I’d never heard before), but I’m only halfway paying attention to it because I’ve spotted a woman wearing an amazing dress. Turns out its someone from his management group who was nice enough in the midst of passing out group invites to tell me the creator…Zaara. Zaara? How did I miss this release???
Skin: Belleza; Aiko, pale 12
Hair: Angel; Alanis II, natural
Dress: Zaara; Svara dress, black
Shoes: Donna Flora; Milva, black/silver
Nails: Pixel Mode; Sculpted nails, V2 platinum edition
Jewelry: VG Republic; African Bangle & Uzuri; Noble bracelet
So I’ve apparently been living under a rock to miss both this Jason Mraz song and a Zaara dress. Anyway, the dress comes in two different versions, the one shown above with the cutouts showing skin and another with another layer of contrasting material underneath. Both are fabulous and I had a hard time trying to choose which to wear for the picture.
As you can see, I’m still playing with the SL shadows. Practice, practice, practice. Right?
Here’s an acoustic version of Butterfly I found you might enjoy:
Curl your upper lip up and let me look around
Ride your tongue along your bottom lip then bite down
And bend your back and ask those hips if I can touch
‘Cause they’re the perfect jumping off point
Getting closer to your butterfly
~Butterfly, Jason Mraz
So surfing around the SL blogs, I run across the sites by Lourdes Denimore and Salvatore Otoro where they both discuss the challenge they undertook that originated on the Beauty Riot blog called Dare: I Let My Boyfriend Dress Me. They took a cute concept, adapted it for SL and came up with a great experiment I wanted to undertake.
So I approached Xan with the idea (though “approached” makes it sound like he had a choice). More like I begged him to help me with this blog post by shopping around and finding me a complete outfit to wear. He readily agreed until the anxiety set in when I pointed out I’d need hair, shoes and accessories. I took pity on him and pointed him to a couple of the blog feeds to help him get the names of women’s clothing stores. Instead, he fell in love (lust?) with one of the outfits and decided to try to re-create it himself.
Skin: Belleza; Aiko, medium 9
Hair: LeLutka; Inverted, glucose
Top: Mon Tissu; Lace crop top, white
Skirt: So Many Styles; Floral high waist skirt, blue
Belt: Miel; Cali cords, black
Lingerie: Mon Tissu; Floral lingerie, black
Socks: Kyoot; Lacey white knee socks, lace 2
Shoes: Pixel Mode; Baby T’s, black
Jewelry: Mandala; Necklace & Bracelets Pearl Rain, onyx
He did an admirable job copying the look and putting his own spin on it, creating something I would have never chosen myself, but ended up liking anyway. And because he was such a good sport and completed the challenge on a very tight deadline I set for him…I also took a picture without the top and skirt, modeling just the lingerie.
Its about a quarter of the way through Shoe Fair 2011 and I finally made it through two of the four-sim grounds. Each shoe designer has one or more items marked for the charity soles4souls.org
I received a couple of blogger packs with samples of some new releases being offered by Purrfect 10 and Pixel Mode and so far, these are actually my favorites of my finds this year.
Left: Purrfect 10; Florence heels, chocolate/brass
Right: Pixel Mode; Fae, khaki
Pay no attention to horrible color-matching job I’ve done, I have yet to find the perfect match for my new skin. But look at the level of detail on both of these! To be honest, I had never heard of Purrfect 10 before, but can I just say, WOW! They now have a new customer and I’ve been putting together outfits to match these shoes, just so I don’t have to take them off. I really love the very sexy, sky-high stiletto heel. Of course Pixel Mode has been one of my go-to shoes for the Baby T’s and Lady T’s that seem to match just about everything I own. Now I have a lovely summer wedge to add to my selections.
Left: Donna Flora; Milva, black/silver
Right: Donna Flora; Anna, texture change
These two from Donna Flora are just exquisitely feminine and lovely. I’ve not worn this designer before, but you can be sure I will in the future. I’ll be making a trip to the main store in the very near future to scoop up as many more as I can afford!
There are four sims for the fair which will be open from May 14-27. Here are the tp points provided:
Skin: Al Vulo; Ninni, Fairy, Red
Hair: Exile; Oceane, whiskey
Eyes: Exodi; Riven Eyes, Grasshopper
Lashes: Laqroki; Mascara 01, Black, Natural
Vest: Izzie’s; Draped Vest, Blue
Shirt: Twisted & Spoiled; Vest, Neutral Pack, White
Skirt: Maitreya; Cleo Jean Skirt, Light Wash
Socks: JANE; Lil Piggies socks, rugby knee hi, Milk
Shoes: Pixel Mode; Baby T’s, Royal
Bracelets: Frangiapani Designs; Black Pearl & Silver Cuff (r) & Double Plait Bangle (l)
One of the things I love about the special/bargain lists that come out weekly is that I find creators that are new-to-me (even though they may have been around for years). I haven’t lived under a fashion rock, but often I go gushing to a friend about some store I just ran across and they’re like, “Where you been, they’ve been around forever”. *Sighs*
I’m not sure how long Izzie’s has been open, but I just finally found them from the Lazy Sunday list this past weekend. The more I looked around, the more I wanted and I had to force myself to leave after buying a couple pieces or I would have bought out the whole store. I love the rich texture on the vest and the way the bottom prims flow. You can’t see the shoulders because of the hair, but there is some cute detailing there as well.
I also finally found Al Vulo skins. They are beautifully done and less than a thousand Linden each, which *I* consider affordable. Most of my SL life, I’ve favored skins with heavily-lined eyes with thick, black lashes, which seems to be a consistent feature with these skins. I decided to go all-out with the one I selected and chose a red lip (unusual for me).
Hair: Exile; Nikki, Sahara
Skin: Laqroki; Nellie, Fair 01
Lingerie: Solange; Nightlife, White
Shoes: Pixel Mode; Lady T’s, Baby Pink
Wings: Material Squirrel; Sofiel Angel Wings
Halo: SoLur Industries; Color Changing Halo
I had been looking forward to the White color challenge since it was first announced. I knew which outfit I wanted to wear (something very different from where I ended up), how I wanted to style the accessories and what setting to use. Until I put the ensemble on and discovered that my memory had failed me and it wasn’t exactly white. So quick change midweek and I went with my version of a Victoria’s Secret Angels look.
I’m having a bit of a love-fest with Pixel Mode shoes, particularly the Baby T’s and the Lady T’s. I noticed I’ve used them in just about every picture I’ve done for this blog so far. I really do own other shoes, but having the fat packs of both styles has really been a convenient source to match my outfits.
Next week’s color: Banana Mania. Hmm, one of the colors I don’t really own much of is shades of yellow. I sense a lot of shopping this week
Hair- Elikatira; Melody, Blonde 07
Skin- Laqroki; Phoebe2, Fair 05
Shirt- JANE; Francie So Innocent blouse, Milk
Pants- Zaara; Chirudar slacks, Mint
Shoes- Pixel Mode; Baby T’s, Dew
Bracelet- League; Wanderer set
Bed- Mudhoney; Mia Palette Bed
I’m still on “Spring Break” and using my laptop, so I’m away from all my nifty Photoshop editing tools. I knew this would be the case, so I edited a few before I left home. But what’s a blogger to do when she’s just not feeling any of the pre-made pictures? I remembered that Flickr has some editing tools called Picknic (found under the Actions menu on each photo).
I had been searching for a new bed for the skybox I just built and finally found one by Mudhoney that was featured in one of the Saturday specials this past weekend. The home-y patchwork fits in wonderfully with my new decor and it has several individual and couple poses built in. I also picked up this adorable flowy blouse from JANE and wanted to show it off as well.
Since I was on my laptop, I decided not to attempt a high-rez photo, so the quality isn’t up to my usual standards to begin with. But Picknik has some very basic editing and effects options for Flickr users and more available if you pay a fee for a premium account (yearly is approx. $25.00 USD). Its layout is straightforward, simple to use and there’s is even an option to load the edited picture back into Flickr with the click of a button.
Skin: Laqroki; Phoebe2 – 10 [Fair] Glow skin
Hair: Truth; Minka, Macaroon
Eyes: Negaposi; Silent Eyes, Garden
Lashes: Apple May; Ultimate Lashes, Hot Mess (from Lucky Chair)
Miamai; XGen Makeup, Basic Lashes C Black
Bikini: Kitties Lair; Microbikini, Santa Cruz Sky
Shoes: Pixel Mode; Lady T’s, Silver
Tattoo: Garden of Ku; Bao Bao, soft
Jewelry: League; Wanderer Bracelets
I considered alternate post titles this morning based on the bikini in the picture, like “Read My Lips” or “Oh, No! Cameltoe!” but I decided to keep it simple. I knew I HAD to do a bikini because my son just started Spring Break and I was in a rush because we’re leaving tomorrow morning.
I remember when Spring Break meant driving hundreds of miles to the beach crammed in a car held together with duct tape and bondo, living in cramped quarters at cheap surf-side motels, eating meals from vending machines, working on your tan (read: burning to an un-flattering and painful shade of lobster red), consuming mass quantities of various alcoholic beverages while partying, dancing and puking…and of course, boys, boys, boys.
Now, Spring Break is driving 400 miles each way with a whiny 8 year-old (that would rather be at home) to his grandmother’s house. This is one of those times that I really miss those wild days of my youth.
Sky Blue was a wonderful color to work with this week, but I’m really looking forward to next week’s White! Bubbles talked me into catching up on all the colors I’d missed since I started the challenge late, so I powered through them. Instead of posting them all here, they’re on my Flickr stream and to cut down on the number of uploads, I combined four weeks into each picture. Here’s the links if you’d like to check them out:
Weeks 1-4: Gray, Blue, Goldenrod and Plum
Weeks 5-8: Sepia, Yellow, Cerise and Green
Weeks 9-12: Silver, Sienna, Indigo and Taupe
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