pretty-pretty dress-up

pretty-pretty dress-up has moved!

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:41:00 +0000

After seemingly endless planning and hesitation, finally I've finished all the necessary prep and moved things over to Wordpress.

New address: http://prettyprettydressup.wordpress.com

moving

rezday massacre

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 14:37:00 +0000

rezday massacre (a)

hyasynth Tiramisu of silent sparrow celebrates her fourth rezday today, and in her honor I am a bit past expiration. At least in SL I can avoid the grosser aspects of being corpsified, and where else is death so pretty?

I've been a bit cut and then pieced back together, but the stitches on my limbs are mostly hidden. The Y-incision on my chest is on display for all to see, and I wonder, do I still have a heart? Has it been cut out, consumed? Kept, in a jar or urn? Or did my butcher simply gaze upon it to assure himself or herself it did exist and no longer beat?

rezday massacre (b)

Still in love with this photo set from La Petite Morte. Newly enamored with the silk blindfold from Illusions. Clothing all silent sparrow, with butchery-themed .meat jacket and a kohl Severina shirt, whose plunging neckline displays the chest stitches ever-so-nicely. Pants from the redone House of Leaves suit I plan to feature in a terribly predictable but potentially pretty photo series when I secure the focus and nerve to see it through. I've bought a few pair of knee-high black boots, most recently these Kensington Boots from Tesla, and these were an immediate favorite. The skin is one of the Meat Train series from Rotten Toe, and the hair is the Lola style from Tiny Bird, which has a just-bedded (or recently-deaded?), slightly-tousled look to it.

Skin: Rotten Toe (Meat Train - stitches f1 body stitches)
Hair: Tiny Bird (Lola - Pepper)
Blindfold: Illusions (Silk Blindfold)
Jacket: silent sparrow (.meat)
Shirt: silent sparrow (Severina - kohl)
Pants: silent sparrow (House of Leaves)
Boots: Tesla (Kensington Boots - black)
Pose (a): Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - SD-Comfy)
Pose (b): TorridWear (*TorridWear* - Curves 3)
Set: La Petite Morte (Photo Set Hall)

look of the day

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:16:00 +0000

lotd - 2009-07-23 (a)

There are approximately 5billion things I'd like to blog. Unfortunately, depression and insomnia have robbed me of so much focus lately. I'm making a little progress here and there on setting up the new Wordpress blog to which I plan to move soon, but it's really easy to see the huge pile of neglected things and harder to give myself credit for what I have done. I often feel, however, that each day slips through my fingers too easily.

Yesterday I woke up to a lovely Ornamental Life group gift, a bra and panties set called Hickory Tree. I tried on a bunch of skirts with the April version of the bra but couldn't settle on any in quite the proper colors to complement it without distracting from it, then decided to wear these DP*yumyum jeans.

lotd - 2009-07-23 (b)

I was already wearing the new Girl Anachronism hairstyle from Tiny Bird, which I haven't taken off since purchase. Updo with the hair styled in a big bow, with delicate wispy bits all over? I'm in love. I'm also totally in love with the Curio June skins right now, which I barely take off these days, and I'm quite fond of these facial piercings from Studio Sidhe and ellabella I tinted a coppery, rose-goldish tone to match one another.

Finishing things out are the Alexa Heels in Latte from Decoy and the faded black versions of the Henna Royalty upper-body and arm tattoos from the Henna Black Pack of tattoos from HUZ. One of the things I love about my henna tattoos from HUZ is not only are the pieces offered on every conceivable layer, but I can choose which bits of art to wear and between original and faded pigmentation.

When I do finally move over to Wordpress, I'll announce it here. I may post links here to the first handful of posts as I make them, since it's easy to miss one announcement among many, many posts in one's feed reader, or to forget to update one's bookmarks. It won't be a huge change in format or tone, I don't think, since I'm still me and I've no lofty ambitions in my personal somewhat-fashiony blogging, just a change in URL and software that'll enable me to conceal lengthy and/or nude content behind cuts and do some other fancy magic behind-the-scenes.

Skin: Curio (June - Petal [Light] - Doe 2)
Hair: Tiny Bird (Girl Anachronism - Pepper)
Eyes: Poetic Colors (summer - blue blue sky (m))
Lashes: Miriel (Lashes - Natural)
Bra & Panties: Ornamental Life (Hickory Tree - April) *group gift*
Jeans: DP*yumyum (yumyum Jeans:03)
Shoes: Decoy (Alexa Heels - Latte)
Nose Chain: Studio Sidhe (Gold Nose Chain with Bells) *tinted*
Lip Piercing: ellabella (Xerim's Conundrum) *tinted*
Tattoos: HUZ (Henna Black Pack)
Pose (a): TorridWear (*TorridWear* - Curves 5)
Pose (b): TorridWear (*TorridWear* - Curves 2)
Set: La Petite Morte (Photo Set Hall)

time is running out!

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:00:00 +0000

This weekend marks the end of this year's Relay For Life fundraising drive in Second Life, so now's your last chance to grab limited edition items from the special RFL vendors! This is a very small sampling of what's been offered this year, basically my top favorites I acquired this year that I could track down current SLURLs for as of midday yesterday when I was gridhopping like a madwoman trying to figure out which items to blog.

RFL-2009-silentsparrow-LottieIrgazine

The Irgazine Lottie Ballgown Suite from silent sparrow has several pieces to mix-and-match: bodice, shorties, stockings, two skirts, jacket with optional capelette, two shades of gloves. It's only available at the New Babbage spot at the big RFL shindig this weekend (direct SLURL).

I previously blogged the katat0nik Derby Girl outfits (khorndog & pink taco) here; vendors are now in the main katat0nik shop (direct SLURL).

RFL-2009-katat0nik-LeCupcake

The other katat0nik RFL offering is a special version of Le Cupcake in light colors, with hearts instead of skulls. Grab it at the main shop (direct SLURL).

RFL-EviesCloset-AventineGown

Purple version of the Aventine Gown from Evie's Closet, which includes both ballgown version and the short "fairy" babydoll version of the dress. Available at the Evie's Closet main store (direct SLURL).

RFL-2009-HavenDesigns

Haven Designs has a poopton of RFL items at the main store location (direct SLURL). Suri, Avalon and Flourish are my favorites. I'm wearing the Suri shorts with the Flourish camisk/top and nipple stickies also from Haven Designs with the Avalon silks for modesty's sake.

RFL-2009-toastface

Finally, something way more casual and unisexy, these supercute tees from toastface. Available at the main shop (direct SLURL).

I meant to get this up yesterday but time ran away from me. Curse my poor time-management skills! *fistshake* See individual Flickr pages (links below images) for credits beyond the broad ones below (pose credits to be added once I'm less braindead).

Skin in all pics is Curio June in Petal [Light] tone, various makeups.
Hair in all pics is Curio Babycakes in Black shade.
Eyes in all pics are the Slice of Summer hunt prize from Poetic Colors.
Lashes in all pics from Miriel, which is no longer open in-world.

Mainstore SLURLs for all the creators whose RFL items I've featured here:
silent sparrow
katat0nik
Evie's Closet
Haven Designs
toastface

Schadenfreude: Electro-cute

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Schadenfreude Electro-cut (dresses)

Newness from Schadenfreude! Electro-cute is a dress set that includes tank and skirt versions of the shirts and glitchpants, on multiple clothing layers, for maximum versatility. The overlayered tanks have cute animal decorations and are a bit lower-cut than the underlayered solid tanks, with a slightly asymmetrical neckline.

Schadenfreude Electro-cute (dresses)
Available separately: Black Skull, Blue Bird, Green Octopus, Orange Owl, Pink Dragon, Purple Bat
Fatpack bonuses: Blue Fish, Green Alligator, Purple Elephant

Six versions are sold individually (Dragon, Owl, Bird, Octopus, Skull, Bat), but the fatpack is the best deal: 9 decorated overshirts, 7 solid-color tanks for layering, and scripted skirt with HUD for any combination of skirt and petticoat colors. The 3 bonus decorated tanks (Fish, Alligator, Elephant) may only be purchased in the fatpack, but the Fish and Alligator shirts are amongst the current custom prizes at the fishing area by the Schadenfreude main shop.

I'm wearing the sneak preview group gift Elizabeth skin from Blowpop in these pics. The new N2 lines are in store now, and now through July 5th there's a 30% off sale at the Mischief location! I've come to the conclusion I need to tweak my nose sliders before I buy any more skins (old nose, seen here, gets more distortion at the nostril edges than I'd like), so I'm playing around with that in-world today and seeing if I can settle on something more skin-friendly that still feels like "me."

The 50% off sale for Make-A-Wish at the Exodi mainstore runs through tomorrow, July 3rd, so if you've been meaning to stop by but haven't yet, don't forget! (See Exodi blog for more details.)

Credits for Schadenfreude Electro-cute (dresses):
Skin: Blowpop (N2 Elizabeth -tone B- Pre-Release Group Preview) *group gift*
Hat (left): Gritty Kitty (fanceh squid hat - Hya) *Koreshan Bake Sale item*
Hair (right): Schadenfreude (Veronique - Witch Black)
Eyes: Poetic Colors (summer - blue blue sky (m))
Lashes: Miriel (Natural - Lashes)
Cleavage enhancer (right): Ayumi (Cleavage 2.6.3)
Top, Skirt, Dress: Schadenfreude (Electro-cute)
Stockings (left): Sheer (Fishnets - Pure GreenDeep>CyanBlue)
Shoes (left): House of Curios (Bolts Sneakers)
Pose (left): Lazy Places ([LP] *katatOnik* 1)
Pose (right): Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - F-Blogger5-Systemskirt PR4)

Credits for Schadenfreude Electro-cut (tanks):
Skin: Blowpop (N2 Elizabeth -tone B- Pre-Release Group Preview) *group gift*
Hair: Schadenfreude (Veronique - Witch Black)
Eyes: Poetic Colors (summer - blue blue sky (m))
Lashes: Miriel (Natural - Lashes)
Tops: Schadenfreude (Electro-cute)
Shorts: Exodi (Nadia Shorts - DarkBlue)
Pose: Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - F-Blogger8-Systemskirt PR4)

silent sparrow: .meat

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:19:00 +0000

sometimes you're nothing but... (a)

The silent sparrow offering at the Koreshan Bake Sale last weekend was the .meat ensemble, which is a blood-red jacket with belt and inspection-stamp tattoo. Prim lapels and cuffs are included, plus an alternate version of the jacket with the lapels as part of the jacket texture. The .meat set is now available in the silent sparrow main shop, just south of the landing point by the RFL vendors for now.

Probably I am going to hell for choosing to be a panda girl in a meat outfit. Um... oops? But I'm such a cute panda girl! And this is really about objectification rather than actual eating, so... please don't shoot me. I am finally showing off some Hair Fair hairstyles here. I've been stumped for how to present things without looking like every other Hair Fair blogpost—and I wouldn't want to copy the more unique ones!—and feeling generally creatively-blocked, ugh.

Above, I'm wearing the Bia style from Curious Kitties, which comes in a pink color with purple hair accessories. For more color options, you have to buy a HUD at the main shop—there's a HUD with all the color options, and then several "lite" versions for color groups. The skin I'm wearing is a lucky chair prize at the Wasabi Pills main shop; lucky chair was in the attic when I stopped by last night. My panda bits are old versions from ATOMIC—the current ones are scripted texture-change, so you don't have to pick your color when you buy. I don't think the pierced option is currently available, but I expect those and other accessories are amongst the products being redesigned for re-release.

Below, I'm wearing one of the Calico hairs, Megan, and the Curio style Babycakes because I can rarely resist piggybun styles. I'm wearing Exodi Shiloh skins again to remind me to remind you that there's a 50% off sale on at the Exodi main shop now through July 3rd with the proceeds to be donated to the Make-A-Wish foundation; see the Exodi blog for more details.

The red tones of the scarlet moonchild suite are a good match for the .meat set, so I wore the moonchild bra and capris above, with the Shiny Things Ving boots and SiniStyle Vengeance Cuffs for added straps-and-buckles factor. Below, I wore the moonchild bra and panties for the fleshy look, and the .meat cuffs and belt in the clothed look to show them off. The belt has lots of little rings, a tag and a really nifty little steak charm.

sometimes you're nothing but... (b)

This morning, I've asked myself what the appeal is for me in dressing provocatively in SL, or stripping down to do a photo shoot in SL. I think the bulk of the appeal is it's so easy to find sexy clothing and so easy to mold one's avatar into an ideal. I can create sexy imagery without having to find lingerie that fits my RL body, I can represent myself as a sensual woman without inviting criticism of my weight. In meatspace, I'm fat, and I'm insecure about my appearance, but I'm pretty sure I've engaged in enough unsubtle PDA at the grocery store by now to earn the evil eye from folks who just don't want to see unpretty people in love in the coffee aisle. Whatever. In SL I can be thinner, there's tons of sexy things I can wear, and no lace will ever itch me, no stocking will get a run unless I want the snagged look, and I can wear high heels every day without any pain. Also, perky boobs! I don't think mine have been perky since I was 13, so having perky tits in SL is quite a treat.

... And that was probably more than you really wanted to know.

Hair Fair 2009 has been extended an extra couple days, so it'll be running through July 6th now. Teleporting is routed to a landing point in each sim, but if you plug this info into your client you should get a red beacon to head toward. Here's the locations of the shops mentioned in this post:
Calico Ingmann Creations: Beta Business Park (50/57/22)
Curio: HF 2009 (122/182/22)
Curious Kitties: HF 2009 (140/134/22)

Credits for sometimes you're nothing but... (a):
Skin: Wasabi Pills (Miss Zero) *lucky chair prize*
Hair: Curious Kitties (Nyanotech 09-1A Hair - Bia) *Hair Fair 2009* *color HUD sold separately at main shop*
Eyes: Poetic Colors (summer - blue blue sky (m))
Lashes: Miriel (Lashes - Natural)
Jacket & Tattoo: silent sparrow (.meat)
Bra & Capris: silent sparrow (moonchild suite - scarlet)
Cuffs: SiniStyle (Vengeance Cuffs)
Fingertape: SiniStyle (Taped Fingers W/ Black Nails)
Boots: Shiny Things (Ving boots - black)
Panda Parts: ATOMIC (Black Panda Tail; Black Pierced Panda Ears)
Pose (left): Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - Awmahgah PR4) *DSN sample*
Pose (top right): Reel Expression (*Luth* - Sex Sells v2 11)
Pose (bottom right): Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - F-Blogger3-Mirror PR4)

Credits for sometimes you're nothing but... (b):
Skin: Exodi (Shiloh - Honey - Nosferatu)
Hair (left): Calico Ingmann Creations (Megan - Midnight) *Hair Fair 2009*
Hair (right): Curio (Babycakes - Black) *Hair Fair 2009*
Jacket, Belt & Tattoo: silent sparrow (.meat)
Bra, Panties & Capris: silent sparrow (moonchild suite - scarlet)
Fingertape: SiniStyle (Taped Fingers W/ Black Nails)
Pose (left): Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - Preg-Still Got It)
Pose (right): Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - F-Blogger6-Systemskirt PR4)

"Sometimes you're nothing but meat" is a line from the song "Blood Roses" by Tori Amos.

I am a tiny ox for Hair Fair.

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:45:00 +0000

I'll be blogging primarily as a human, but for the duration of the fair, if you see me on the grid, I'll be a Tiny Ox Amyla rather than Common Human Amyla or Slightly Demony Amyla or Emo Panda Girl Amyla or any of my other, um, several sometimes-appearances. I may or may not moo.

Pink Fuel Tiny Ox (scale)

Pink Fuel has released some other tiny avatars over time, and here's the three I have, shown to scale with one another. Yes, the ox is the smallest!

Pink Fuel Tiny Avatars
L-R: Ox Avatar, Sad Bunny Avatar, Tiny Panda Avatar

The ox and panda avatars are available at the Pink Fuel main shop; the ox is L$100 and the panda is just L$10. The bunny avatar (which comes with optional crying-bloody-tears version) was a Bunny Hop prize a couple months ago, so if you never finished unpacking from that hunt, go poke your inventory and check if you still have the Pink Fuel prizes!

Human credits:
Skin: Blowpop (N2 Ava -tone B- Pre-Release Group Preview) *group gift*
Hair: Tiny Bird (Stein - Brownie)
Eyes: Poetic Colors (summer - blue blue sky (m))
Lashes: Miriel (Lashes - Natural) **SHOP CLOSING SOON!**
Bra & Capris: silent sparrow (moonchild suite - scarlet)
Waist Cincher: silent sparrow (Gutter Glitter - lust)
Fingertape: SiniStyle (Taped Fingers w/ Black Nails)
Shoes: Shiny Things (Hyasynths - black)

Other credits:
Ox avatar: Pink Fuel (Ox Avatar)
Bunny avatar: Pink Fuel (Sad Bunny Avatar - Normal; Bloody version & eggs included) *Bunny Hop prize*
Panda avatar: Pink Fuel (Tiny Panda Avatar - includes Baby Panda Kick animation)
Strawberry chair: Rebel Xtravaganza (STRAWBERRY Chair)
Television: artilleri (TV Time! *black*)
House: Trompe L'oeil (The Silkhouse)

look of the day

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:40:00 +0000

lotd - 2009-06-17

Today's look is pink and girly and summery. Ryker Beck's released several summery garments at Exodi recently—bikinis, monokinis, coverups, shorts, tanks and more—and I'm wearing two here: the Nadia Shorts and Natalie Coverup. I'm wearing the non-sheer version of the coverup, but a sheer version is included to show more skin or show off a bikini beneath. Everything comes on multiple layers for layering options. Tiny Bird is my big hair love of the moment and Fuentes is a pretty updo with soft curls and a wreath of color-changing flowers. The shoes are from Five minutes after, a little shop I stumbled across last summer and then thought had disappeared, but now it's back at CREAMSHOP sim! Up close, they have flowers embroidered on them in a golden yellow color that makes them just perfect to go with the pink and gold tones of the coverup. Final touch is a simple pendant on a long delicate gold chain, a limited-edition necklace from Miriel. The Miriel shop and sim will be closing soon, but I'm not sure of an exact date, so best to rush there and stock up on jewelry, eyes, eyelashes and hair if you haven't yet.

Skin: Exodi (Shiloh - Honey - Girleh)
Hair: Tiny Bird (Fuentes - Licorice)
Eyes: Poetic Colors (summer - blue blue sky (m))
Lashes: Miriel (Lashes - Natural)
Top: Exodi (Natalie Coverup - Pink)
Shorts: Exodi (Nadia Shorts - DarkBlue)
Necklace: Miriel (Limited Edition Heart Necklace - Gold)
Shoes: Five minutes after (Ballet shoes - PINK)

Poses: Long Awkward Pose
Left: [LAP] - F-Blogger8-Systemskirt PR4
Right: [LAP] - F-Blogger2-Mirror PR4

roller derby

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:25:00 +0000

roller derby (view larger)

Two roller derby girl outfits from katat0nik are out at the RFL Fashion Expo! They are—as so much of Kat's stock—pervy-cute. Each outfit includes three shirt options (cropped, mid-length, long) on jacket layers, panties on pants layer, two prim skirt options (panty ruffle, short ruffled skirt), and rollerskates with legwarmers. Skirts are scripted for use with included Charisma HUD and the legwarmers and skates are scripted to resize with a dropdown menu on touch.

I'm wearing the long version of the shirt for both teams in this post; you can check out Achariya for Team Khorndog in the short shirt and Gogo for Team Pink Taco in the mid-length shirt. You can get both outfits for minimum donations of L$350 each to the RFL vendors just outside the katat0nik spot at the expo.

Ryker Beck's brand Genesis was rebranded the start of this month as Exodi, with two big skin releases coinciding: Shiloh and Eden Gen2. I'm wearing two Shiloh makeups in this post, Nosferatu and Girleh, and have a bunch of pics of both lines to process and share with you soon. (I've been a bit distracted by Sims 3 recently, and I'm planning a blog relocation, AND I've been trying out some shape modifications so I didn't want to blog much 'til I'd sorted some of all that out. I'm, er, still kind of hooked on Sims 3, but I did take eleventybillion pics last night so that's one-quarter the battle right there!)

Other lovely newness in this post are two of the new hair releases from Schadenfreude. Veronique had been released once before, but now is out in a full range of colors. As soon as I tried on the demo, I declared it my new favorite 'hawk. The frequency with which I've donned 'hawks in SL has been disproportionate to my love of 'hawks, but I can see myself wearing Veronique rather a lot. The second hair, Nekomi, is huge fluffeh pigtails with two fringe/bangs options. I'm wearing the "flat fringe" version here, but you can check out the "v fringe" version on Acha.

Left:
Skin: Exodi (Shiloh - Honey - Nosferatu)
Hair: Schadenfreude (Veronique - Black Witch)
Eyes: Poetic Colors (summer - blue blue sky (m))
Lashes: Miriel (Lashes - Natural) **SHOP CLOSING SOON!**
Outfit: katat0nik (Derby Girl RFL Outfit - khorndog)
Earrings: Violet Voltaire (Dia De Los Muertos)
Fingertape: SiniStyle (Taped Fingers w/ Black Nails)

Right:
Skin: Exodi (Shiloh - Honey - Girleh)
Hair: Schadenfreude (Nekomi - Black Witch)
Eyes: Poetic Colors (summer - blue blue sky (m))
Lashes: Miriel (Lashes - Natural)
Outfit: katat0nik (Derby Girl RFL Outfit - pink taco)
Earrings: Violet Voltaire (Cuppycakes - Pink)

Poses, left to right:
Lazy Places ([LP] Lazy Places For DSN Run Unisex)
Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - Prissy)
Lazy Places ([LP] Lazy Places For DSN Female 2)
Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - F-Blogger8-Primpant PR4)

1 night, 2 looks

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Sat, 30 May 2009 00:32:00 +0000

1 night, 2 looks

Last night I had two parties to hit up with very different themes. On the left is the outfit I wore to the Haven Designs reopening celebration; suggested dress code was "provocative black tie," which I interpreted as "semi-formal with a heavy dose of sex appeal." Most of my long gowns are more conservative, and while gorgeous, didn't seem quite provocative enough, so I went with separates in shades of silver, gray and black.

The skirt is one of my all-time favorites, which I love wearing with corsets. I decided upon silent sparrow's maida corset in ash, with the shirt layer of the Avalon silks top beneath. I am still terribly in love with the Asian Flower Necklace from Haunted Zuzu—it's such a lovely bold piece, really more like an extension of clothing than mere jewelry, I think. Finishing out the look are the Verve Pumps from Maitreya and a "bum bow" from silent sparrow.

On the right is what I wore to Pin-Ups last night; theme was "Futurama." I wanted to wear these awesome boots from Tigerclaw but the only cybersuit I had was dark gray/black, so I went back to Tomby's and nabbed two styles of cybersuit in shades of dark yellow and green. I'm wearing the Type81 CySuit beneath, which offers full coverage, and then the Type82 overtop, which has supersexy cutouts to show off skin if worn alone. I love the shiny look of these suits, which make me feel like a sci-fi heroine every time I put one on.

The boots are so heavy-looking I always feel like I need more bulk up-top to balance out the look, so I went for big hair. This is the Arianna style from Calico Ingmann Creations, which is beautiful in pictures but also moves beautifully in-world. I tend to shy away from wearing primmy alpha-intensive hair while out-and-about but I'm totally in love with these curls, so I've been breaking my own ARC rules a lot lately. Eep. But it's so pretty!

I considered wearing some sort of goggles or visor to finish out the "futuristic" look, but once I settled on this Genesis Candace Bollywood line makeup, it seemed a shame to cover it up. Putting outfits together for themed events always seems to take more time than I expect—especially when I decide to grid-hop for items to complete the outfit—so I ran a bit late to both events, but still had lots of fun at each.

I'm not really a social butterfly, I just play one on SL! It feels good, though, to get off our little plots of land and be amongst people in a social setting. I often feel like I spend most of my time in-world idle and alone; even if I'm out shopping, unless it's new release time at a friend's shop, I'm probably on my own. If not for all the plurk chatter, I'd probably feel overwhelmingly lonely.

Left:
Skin: Tuli (Hope (fair/bl) natural) *group gift*
Hair: Maitreya (Aisha - Charcoal)
Eyes: Poetic Colors (ocean - blue surf (m))
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Sheer top: Haven Designs (Avalon - RFL Steel) *ltd. ed. RFL item*
Corset: silent sparrow (maida - ash)
Skirt: PixelDolls (2811 - Black Velvet - SkirtSet - Ragged)
Necklace: Haunted Zuzu (Asian Flower Necklace - Metallics)
Bow: silent sparrow (bum bows - ash - entropy)
Shoes: Maitreya (Verve Pumps - Black)
Pose: Lazy Places ([LP] I'm Not Cute! 3)

Right:
Skin: Genesis (Candace - Apricot - Padma)
Hair: Calico Ingmann Creations (Arianna - Mocha) *group gift*
Eyes: Poetic Colors (ocean - blue surf (m))
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Cybersuit (underlayer): Tomby's (T's-Type81-CySuit-kyl)
Cybersuit (overlayer & gloves): Tomby's (T's-Type82-CyLinks-dgl+gl)
Boots: TIGERCLAW (TC-boots 2009 Nc_olive-16) *Bunny Hop hunt item*
Pose: Lazy Places ([LP] Allegory)

Haven Designs: Silks

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Thu, 28 May 2009 22:27:00 +0000

Blogged previously: Haven Designs: Flourish.

*HD* Avalon (RFL Steel) (a)

Today I'm showing off three silks from Haven Designs. The mainstore has been redesigned and there'll be a reopening celebration today from 5pm to 8pm SLT; suggested dress code is "provocative black tie." I haven't decided quite what to wear yet, so in the meantime I'm still bopping around SL in the above ensemble.

The Avalon silks come on shirt and pants layers with prim skirt and prim armbands with scarves. This is the Steel color, a limited edition color for RFL (available for minimum donation of L$500 to the charity vendor at the store). The body of the outfit is sheer, so I wore the Sanrio bikini from Decoy in Storm color beneath for general running-around. The shoes are also from Decoy, scripted texture-change with three color options for each strap. The necklace is the stunning Asian Flower Necklace from Haunted Zuzu, released yesterday. It's also scripted texture-change, with several options for the center, inner petals and outer petals, available in Spring, Favorites and Metallics versions. It's more of an elaborate collar or neckpiece than a necklace, perhaps, but I love the boldness of it.

Avalon's available in six regular colors (Misty Blue, Rose, Emerald, Golden, Lilac, and Sea Green) which may be seen over on the Haven Designs blog entry for Avalon. Here's the Avalon silks with and without the bikini beneath, front and back views:

*HD* Avalon (RFL Steel) (b)

And now, something less sheer: Dara. Again, top and bottom are on the shirt and pants clothing layers. The scarves of this silk are longer and opaque most of their length, with lacy ends, and in addition to the skirt and armbands, there's also a shoulder cape which attaches to the left shoulder.

*HD* Dara (Pink)

I wore the Queen Anne hair in White from Curl Up & Dye with this because the corkscrew curls reminded me of the spirally bits on the prim bits of the Dara silks, and white hair looked so lovely with the pale pink and silver tones of the set. Dara is available in seven additional colors (Red, Green, Purple, Blue, Black, Navy, and White); I don't have a post at the store blog to point you to, but Gogo showed off the Dara silks in White (along with another white set from Analise) over on JuicyBomb awhile back.

*HD* Qadesh (DSN)

Last set to show off today is the Qadesh silks. I got this particular version through the Designer Showcase Network, a nifty subscription service that delivers product samples to me each day for each category to which I've chosen to subscribe. It's not just for fashion—there's categories for home decor, gadgets, and other coolness—and it's a pretty easy way to discover shops from the comfort of one's own Home location.

Like the other silks reviewed today, the top and bottom are on the shirt and pants layers. Qadesh includes two skirt options, one short and the other floor-length, and armbands with scarves longer than Avalon's but shorter than Dara's; they fall about mid-thigh on me here. The DSN sample version of Qadesh is multicolored—I think perhaps it's the same limited-edition recolor previously available only from the lucky chairs back around Valentine's Day—but the retail versions are more monochromatic, in these colors: Red, Purple, Black, Bronze, Periwinkle, and Pink. See all the colors over on the Haven Designs blog entry for Qadesh.

The backdrop to the lefthand portion of the above image is a little half-room I built while trying to plan a photoshoot for a contest; nothing came of that initial plan, but I've kept the set built for now, and the rustic feel of it seemed appropriate to a shoot for silks. The lounge is from NOTsoBAD, a shop which has some breathtakingly beautiful beds I'd be so tempted to buy if I were actually going to use one for anything other than occasional photo backdrops. But... maybe I'll splurge on one sometime. If I can't have a four-poster bed with loads of wafty, sheer silk drapes in RL, maybe I should indulge in SL, yeah?

Credits for *HD* Avalon (RFL Steel) (a):
Skin: Tuli (Hope (fair/bl) natural) *group gift*
Hair: Calico Ingmann Creations (Arianna - Mocha) *group gift*
Eyes: Poetic Colors (ocean - blue surf (m))
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Bikini: Decoy (Sanrio - Storm)
Silks: Haven Designs (Avalon Silks - RFL Steel) *RFL item*
Necklace: Haunted Zuzu (Asian Flower Necklace - Metallics)
Shoes: Decoy (Alexa Heels - Moonlight)
Pose: Long Awkward Pose (newfemao-stand1)
Location: Zaara

Credits for *HD* Avalon (RFL Steel) (b):
Skin: Genesis (Shiloh - Honey - Beta)
Hair (curly): Calico Ingmann Creations (Arianna - Mocha) *group gift*
Hair (updo): Maitreya (Aisha II - Charcoal)
Eyes: Poetic Colors (ocean - blue surf (m))
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Bikini: Decoy (Sanrio - Storm)
Silks: Haven Designs (Avalon Silks - RFL Steel) *RFL item*
Pose (front): Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - F-Blogger10 PR4)
Pose (back): Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - F-Blogger3 PR4)

Credits for *HD* Dara (Pink):
Skin: Genesis (Shiloh - Honey - Beta)
Hair: Curl Up & Dye (Queen Anne - WHITE)
Eyes: Poetic Colors (ocean - blue surf (m))
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Silks: Haven Designs (Dara Silks - Pink)
Pose: Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - F-Blogger6-Systemskirt-Mirror PR4)

Credits for *HD* Qadesh (DSN):
Skin: Genesis (Shiloh - Honey - Beta)
Hair: Calico Ingmann Creations (Arianna - Mocha) *group gift*
Eyes: Poetic Colors (ocean - blue surf (m))
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Silks: Haven Designs (Qadesh Silks - DSN) *DSN sample*
Lounge: NOTsoBAD (Lounge Chair SEFANA)
Pose (left): Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - SS-Come On In)
Pose (right): Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - F-Blogger5-Systemskirt PR4)

Haven Designs: Flourish

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:33:00 +0000

*HD* Flourish (with jeans)

Flourish is a recent release from Haven Designs. The shop is temporarily located here; there will be a reopening celebration at the rebuilt main shop here tomorrow, Thursday, May 28th, from 5pm to 8pm SLT. Haven Designs primarily stocks silks and camisks—some of which I'll be showing off in a separate post tomorrow—but Flourish is sort of like an asymmetric microminidress hiked up to show off one's ass...ets. Ahem.

Flourish dresses down nicely with jeans, and comes in all clothing layers so it could be worn under a skirt, as well. I love the swirly silver details, and in the outfit above I wore the devana ash (alternate) tattoo from silent sparrow (from the limited edition ash recolor of the devana suite) underneath due to its similar swirlies. I wore some pieces of The Monarchy from Genesis in silver for additional silvery swirl.

Here's a closer view of the front in back, in the Silvered Rose and Black colors:

*HD* Flourish (Silvered Rose & Black)

I wore panties from Insolence beneath for modesty's sake. The Jade panties in Blush go really well with the Silvered Rose top. I didn't have any panties in quite the same warm shade of black as Flourish's, so I wore some of Insolence's new Emily panties in Pink for contrast.

Flourish is available in six colors (Blue, Gold, Green, Periwinkle, Black, Red) PLUS the limited-edition Silvered Rose color, available for a minimum donation of L$125 to the Relay For Life vendor at the shop. You can view all the colors available at the Haven Designs blog (NSFW, contains female avatar nudity).

Credits for *HD* Flourish (with jeans):
Skin: Tuli (Hope (fair/bl) natural) *group gift*
Hair: Truth (Minx 2 - espresso)
Eyes: Poetic Colors (ocean - blue surf (m))
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Tattoo: silent sparrow (devana - ash) *ltd. ed.*
Top: Haven Designs (Flourish - Black)
Jeans: Calypso Giano (Stonewash Jeans - Classic A - F3 - F)
Jewelry: Genesis (The Monarchy)
Shoes: Shiny Things (Jane Wedges - black)
Pose (left): Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - F-Blogger1-Primpant PR4)
Pose (right): Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - F-Blogger3 PR4)

Credits for *HD* Flourish (Silvered Rose & Black):
Skin: Genesis (Shiloh - Honey - Beta)
Hair: Curl Up & Dye (Princess Leia Double braids - DEEP BLACK)
Eyes: Poetic Colors (ocean - blue surf (m))
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Top (left): Haven Designs (Flourish - Silvered Rose) *RFL item*
Top (right): Haven Designs (Flourish - Black)
Panties (left): Insolence (Jade - Blush)
Panties (right): Insolence (Emily - Pink)
Pose: Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - Sexy Salute)

Naïve

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Sun, 24 May 2009 12:42:00 +0000

Naïve: Aya Skirts & Carolina Top

New skirts from Naïve! I've paired them with the white Carolina top, also from Naïve, which comes in sets of two colors (white comes with black, others come in two shades of a color). The skirts are very long, at least on my regular shape, so I could go barefoot under them and no one would know. I like running around the grid barefoot sometimes—as much as I love my collection of pixel footwear, what safer place could there be to go bare? Real ground has dirt and bugs and rocks and trash, but we can run around all day, anywhere, in SL and still have clean feet.

Left:
Skin: Genesis (Shiloh - Honey - beta)
Hair: Maitreya (Piper II - Chocolate)
Eyes: Poetic Colors (ocean - blue surf (m))
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Shirt: Naïve (Carolina Top - White)
Skirt: Naïve (Aya Skirt - Green)
Necklace: Genesis (Morski Pas (female))
Armband: Shiny Things (Spring leaf armband)
Pose: Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - F-Blogger1 PR4)

Right:
Skin: Genesis (Shiloh - Honey - beta)
Hair: Maitreya (Apple - Chocolate)
Eyes: Poetic Colors (ocean - blue surf (m))
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Shirt: Naïve (Carolina Top - White)
Skirt: Naïve (Aya Skirt - Blue)
Shoes: Shiny Things (Jane Wedges - blue)
Pose: Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - Bolly4)

caLLie cLine

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:58:00 +0000

caLLie jeans (view large)

Big, big thanks to caLLie cLine for prompting and spearheading Blogger Appreciation Week! Here I'm wearing one of several designs of jeans available at her main shop at caLLiefornia. Another signature caLLie cLine item is fluffeh feathery boas. Below, I'm wearing the two special caLLie cLine "rainbowas" included with the Jade set from Insolence.

caLLie boas

I'd like to also thank the other officers of the fashion bloggers group, all the designers who participated, all my fellow bloggers, and especially Winter Jefferson, who told me to stop selling myself short. <3

Skin: Genesis (Shiloh - Honey - beta)
Hair in caLLie jeans: Truth (Linda - espresso)
Hair in caLLie boas: frangipani designs (Chelsea - Espresso)
Eyes: Poetic Colors (ocean - blue surf (m))
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Tattoo in caLLie jeans: ~momo~ (FlowerBunny tattoo)
Jeans in caLLie jeans: caLLie cLine (fLoraL wash - sky bLue)
Shoes in caLLie jeans: Shiny Things (Supernovas - aqua bloom)
Lingerie in caLLie boas: Insolence (Jade - Blush)
Boas in caLLie boas: caLLie cLine ("jade" blush custom rainbowa; jade "off the shoulder" rainbowa) *included with Insolence Jade set*
Pose in caLLie jeans: Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - SS-Back Talk PR4)
Poses in caLLie boas: Boudoir Rouge (*D* Boudoir Rouge - Naughty - Bootyful); Reel Expression (*Luth* Sex Sells 08)

a face to rez 1000 ships

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:55:00 +0000

Helen of Troy

Okay, I had all these vague ambitions to come up with some kind of superfabulous costume for the History Repeats party last night. Helen of Troy was just my emergency fallback, but turned out pretty well. Since I accidentally slept all day yesterday (oops!), Helen of Troy it was.

The costume starts with the dress, the Theda Bara Gown from The Laughing Academy (comes with additional poofy skirt, but I went for the sleek version). I got some lace-up sandals to go with, high-heeled for a modern look, from Armidi. The hair's one of the styles that came out in ETD's recentish reopening, Chel, which I always thought would look lovely as part of a Greco-Roman-inspired look. Skin's another of the Candace Bollywood line makeups from Genesis, and the jewelry is also from Genesis.

Genesis: Autumn (metal/wood options) (view larger)

The Autumn set, like so much of the jewelry at Genesis, is scripted texture-change. There are seven metal options and five wood options. View the larger version of the above pic to better appreciate the differences in textures and detailed workmanship of the necklace!

Skin: Genesis (Candace - Apricot - Kalpona-Kari)
Hair in Helen of Troy: ETD (Chel - Elika's Brown)
Hair in Genesis: Autumn: Magika (Poofy - Brown E)
Eyes: Poetic Colors (ocean - blue surf (m))
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Dress: The Laughing Academy (Theda Bara Gown)
Jewelry: Genesis (The Autumn Set)
Shoes: Armidi ([Armidi Gisaci] Viniani Heel - Bole)
Poses in Helen of Troy: Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - Come Closer; [LAP] - F-Blogger6-Systemskirt PR4)
Pose in Genesis: Autumn: [LAP] - F-Blogger9-Systemskirt PR4

look of the day

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:47:00 +0000

Blogged previously: Genesis Candace Release Line.

lotd - 2009-05-11

I'm totally in love with this wavy hair from Magika, called Curl. I picked it up last week and only took it off for a back-baring look on Saturday. It moves beautifully, but like much long flowy hair, likes to bury itself in the bosom and shoulders when posing for photos. I took two snapshots, one with hair and one bald, to combine into the frontal shot you see above. I try to keep post-processing to a minimum when showcasing products here, so didn't clean up the hair ends on the left, just combined the shots to free my other shoulder from the hair invasion.

This top is from the Romany Kiss dress from Evie's Closet, Passion color. I love when dress tops are wearable as separates! I looked through my inventory trying on about a zillion jeans and other pants trying to figure out what complimented this top without being either too light, too dark, or otherwise distracting. I finally settled on two layers of pants—the underlayer just shows up in the side gaps between top and the main pants, but is a similar shade of indigo to one in the top and keeps distracting side flesh-glimpses to a minimum. The overlaid pants are a teal version of the entropy suit pants from silent sparrow, part of the sterling suite from the Magic of Oz Candy Cane Frolic last December. The ETD Buckle Boots in purple complement the lavender and indigo in the top.

When I decided to convert some of my birthday money to L$ to splurge in-world, I knew one of my big buys would be the Genesis Candace Apricot Bollywood Line fatpack. The makeups in this line are dramatic and colorful. I love the color combinations, eyeliners, and touches of shimmer in the various looks, and chose the bright Basanto look to wear today. The multicolored eyeshadow picks up more colors from the Romany Kiss top, and I love the touch of shimmer at the outer corners of the eyes. You can view larger versions of the following close-up face shots in my Flickr set for this release.

Genesis-Candace-makeups-Bollywood
Row 1: Ganda, Ghum-Parani Gaan, Chokh Tepa
Row 2: Jaba, Padma
Row 3: Basanto, Kalpona-Kari, Khoab

I also picked up some eyes from Poetic Colors to try out and see if they suit me as well as my beloved Miriel eyes. I play around with eye colors when in costume, but my default appearance tends to stick with a single color for long stretches. When I started out in SL, it was all blue eyes for me, then I went for blue tinged with green, then fully-green, then recently aquamarine. I love the illusion of depth to these eyes, and this tone is another step back toward blue, which I expect is where I'll eventually end up again—at least when I'm not dressing up as a mousegirl or demon.

Credits:
Skin: Genesis (Candace - Apricot - Basanto)
Hair in lotd - 2009-05-11: Magika (Curl - Brown E)
Hair in Genesis-Candace-makeups-Bollywood: Magika (Something v2 - Brown E)
Eyes: Poetic Colors (ocean - blue surf (m))
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Shirt: Evie's Closet (Romany Kiss - Passion)
Pants: silent sparrow (sterling suite) *past Magic of Oz hunt prize in Candy Cane Frolic event*
Underpants (tiny glimpse at gap of top & pants): silent sparrow (ryou suit pants - frost) *past group gift*
Boots: ETD (Buckle Boots - Purple)
Poses: Reel Expression (*Luth Pin-up 03; *Luth* Sassy 08)

skulls & bones

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Wed, 06 May 2009 08:17:00 +0000

skulls & bones

I picked up a few lovely things at Nomine during the recent sale there, and love the look of the bottom of the Medea dress in white with this corset that takes its boning in a more literal direction than most. Still in love with the Hyasynths shoes, obviously, and I'm wearing a group gift makeup of the Genesis Candace skin here.

Last night I went on a quest for some orange jewelry to wear with a black/orange/yellow kimono-esque outfit and wound up at Schadenfreude, where I could not resist these beautiful lacey, gothy accessories. The Jerry's Lament full set includes all the pieces you can get in the mini-sets (headband in two shapes, choker in multiple starting sizes & attachment points, cuffs in two starting sizes, barrette in multiple attachment points, earrings) plus the HUD that allows for eleventybillion color combinations of lace and ribbon. I think I'll be wearing this set a lot...

One more thing about this outfit... ran into a friend, and guess the last time we saw each other I was pandering to his schoolgirl fetish, so joke was I wasn't dressed "in theme" this time. So I said, "I'm a schoolgirl in a steamgoth brothel?"

Skin: Genesis (Candace - Apricot - Glitterati) *subscription group gift*
Hair: Celestial Studios (Annie May Hair III - Cocoa)
Eyes: Miriel (Standard Eyes - Aquamarine)
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Corset: Nomine (StEaMpUnKt - Cloisonne bone corset)
Skirt: Nomine (Medea Dress - White)
Jewelry: Schadenfreude (Jerry's Lament - Barette, Earrings, Choker, Cuffs)
Shoes: Shiny Things (Hyasynths - black)
Poses: Reel Expression (*Luth* Sex Sells 08; *Luth* Sex Sells v2 11)

look of the (birth)day

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:12:00 +0000

Hey, hey, it's my birthday! I had this cuppycake crown from Violet's birthday last year, so I looked through my inventory for something suitably pink and yummy to wear with.

lotd - 2009-05-01

I need to remember to snag the rest of the Birthday Cuppycakes from Violet Voltaire before the main shop closes May 16th! (Links: the main shop, where most stock is on sale; little old shop out back, with old lucky chair, gift & dollarbie items.)

I'll be spending the bulk of this weekend offline on a belated-honeymoon/birthday getaway with my mister, so I'll probably catch up on my in-world birthday partying Sunday or Monday evenings.

Skin: Blowpop (Tuesday - Honey - Amyla Bay)
Hair: fashionably dead (Sunday Shoelace w/ tinted shoelace - Sticky Honey)
Eyes: Miriel (Standard Eyes - Aquamarine)
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Corset: katat0nik (Rina Top from pink Rina Dress) *Juicy sim birthday gift last year*
Skirt: Sn@tch (Impact Skirt - black)
Gloves & Stockings: katatonik (Fruit Swirl Gloves & Fruit Swirl Stockings, come with Fruit Bra & Panties sets)
Crown: Violet Voltaire (Cuppycake Crown - Birthday)
Shoes: Shiny Things (Hyasynths - black)
Pose: Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - Preg-Still Got It)

Genesis: Candace

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:25:00 +0000

Ryker Beck's new skin line is out now at Genesis! Candace is available in four skin tones with eight makeup options in the release line.

Genesis-Candace-body(clothed)

You should check out the nude version of the full-body shot for an unhindered view of all the glorious bitses. I am so in love with the cleavage, and the butt dimples, and the glossy nails, and the toned abs, yumyumyum! And the face, oh, what a beautiful face!

Genesis-Candace-makeups-Release

Those brows are tintable, baby! Go ahead, match 'em to your haircolor no matter how dark, light, or crazily-colored! (Tintable pubic hair options are included on underwear and pants layers, too.) More makeup packs are in development, to be released later on, like summery makeups and pin-up-style makeups, and I may be drooling in anticipation. You can view larger versions of these close-up face shots in my Flickr set for this release.

Genesis-Candace-tones
Apple, Apricot, Peach, Coconut

Above are the four skin tones for Candace. Ryker's first skin, Eden, came out in a wider range of tones from quite light to very dark, but Candace focuses on a tighter range of tones. Apple is a fair skin with pinkish undertones, and the rest sort of build in degrees of tanning. I love how the skin softly glows—not in a scary "shine a light on me and I'll blind you!" way, or in a greasy way, just a sort of gentle glow like I'm a girl who knows my way with mineral powder and a big soft brush.

In addition to the skins and aforementioned tintable pubic hair clothing layers, the skin packs include pre-tinted brows (black, blonde, brown, red), tintable gloves for use with prim nails, and some other bonuses, plus notecards with information on the tintable bits and on Windlight settings.

In related news, Rez Magazine has a recent interview with Ryker wherein she touches on the utility of Plurk and Flickr during the skinmaking process. Ryker's used both sites to post previews and solicit feedback on the skins-in-progress, even calling for beta testers and interested bloggers on whom to drop preview packs. I think it's pretty awesome how two websites can connect so many people and facilitate a creative process.

Credits:
Skins: Genesis (Candace, Apricot tone)
Hair: Celestial Studios (Annie May Hair w/ modified pigtails)
Eyes: Miriel (Standard Eyes - Aquamarine)
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Lingerie in Genesis-Candace-body(clothed): Insolence (Lilly - Red)
Pasties in Genesis-Candace-tones: silent sparrow (selador - grape) *ltd. ed. color*

Poses:
Genesis-Candace-body(clothed): Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - F-Blogger5-Systemskirt); Boudoir Rouge (*D* Boudoir Rouge - Naughty - Bootyful)
Genesis-Candace-makeups-Release: Reel Expression (*Luth* Sassy 08)
Genesis-Candace-tones: Reel Expression (*Luth* Sex Sells 08)

look of the day

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 02:33:00 +0000

lotd - 2009-04-24

Skin: Blowpop Infinity (Elizabeth - fresh cream - Look #1)
Hair: fashionably dead (Sunday Shoelace - Sticky Honey)
Eyes: Miriel (Standard Eyes - Aquamarine)
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Shirt: Pig (Unisex V-Neck - Eggshell T)
Corset: League (Ella)
Skirt: Last Call (Amelia)
Boots: Shiny Things (Ribbon Boots - brown)
Bracelet: silent sparrow (how we quit the forest feathery wood bracelet)
Pose: Vain Inc. (*V*Busted5)

Firefly Style: Serenity's Ladies

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 11:30:00 +0000

Not looking to copy or directly emulate, just evoke a little of the personal style of each of the characters while remaining recognizably Amyla Wakowski-Swindlehurst, my character in our recreation of the Firefly 'verse.

Firefly Style: Zoë-esque (view large)

First up, Zoë, first mate of Serenity. She's a tough chica, lots of leather, firepower, determination and loyalty. She can kick ass and look damn fine while doing it. I'm wearing the corset from the Ella outfit from League, which is the closest thing to Zoë's leather vesty-thing I've got, over a top from Zaara that's a little dressier than Zoë might wear everyday, but is well-fitting and flattering as anything I'm sure she'd pick. I don't have anything quite like Zoë's necklace, but the dangly flexy bits on this Zeyla necklace from Shiny Things remind me very much of hers. Zoë tends to pack a Mare's Leg sawed-off shotgun, but Amyla's a pistol kinda girl, so I wore my Carlos AR-4s.

Firefly Style: Kaylee-esque (view large)

Next up, Kaylee, ship's mechanic. She spends a lot of time getting covered in all manner of gunk and grease, so I wore one of the Filth skins from [42]. Kaylee's personal style is quite young, cute but sexy, with bright colors and cute details and shoes you'd not expect to see a mechanic sport. She had her hair up in cute little piggybuns in the pilot episode in her scenes at the docks, and I just loved that look on her, so I went with my favorite piggybuns, the Annie May III hair from Celestial Studios.

Firefly Style: Inara-esque (view large)

Inara, a Registered Companion, is elegant. She tends to wear a lot of Asian- and Indian-inspired clothing, sometimes infusing one influence with another. Always impeccable and well-accessorized, never a hair out of place. This sari from Zaara is gorgeous, but not so formal that I feel overdressed. This hairstyle, the Princess Leia Double Braids from Curl Up & Dye, has been my go-to style lately for "up, elegant, dark and not a beast to render" hair.

Firefly Style: River-esque (view large)

River's look tends to mix soft, flowy pieces with biker shorts and stompy boots—when she's not barefoot. One of my favorite River outfits is the blue dress she wears in the Miranda scenes in the film Serenity. I love the contrast of that soft, shimmery dress with her boots, and I love the look of this PixelDolls skirt with these ETD Buckle Boots. River tends to layer her clothes, wearing sheer or loose-knit tops and sweaters over dresses and such, so I layered this sheer shirt over a snug satiny top, both from Ornamental Life sets.

Zoë:
Skin: Blowpop (Infinity Ava - pure honey - Look #3)
Hair: Maitreya (Piper II - Caramel)
Eyes: Miriel (Standard Eyes - Aquamarine)
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Shirt: Zaara (Moksh black top) *part of old lucky chair set*
Corset: League (Ella - Underbust Corset & Front Buckles)
Pants: League (Wild Angel Leather Pants - Brown)
Boots: Shiny Things (Ribbon Boots - brown)
Guns: Carlos Inc. (AR-4s V1.08)
Necklace: Shiny Things (Zeyla necklace - black)
Pose: Reel Expression (*Luth* Sassy 08)
Location in ship: Bridge

Kaylee:
Skin: [42] (Filth - tan)
Hair: Celestial Studios (Annie May III - Cocoa)
Eyes: Miriel (Standard Eyes - Aquamarine)
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Tattoo: Nack Barnes (custom work)
Shirts: Zaara (Anjuna - green)
Shorts: Armidi ({Gisaci} Cambridge Shorts - Safari)
Shoes: Fuel (Bambee *Strawbs* Wedges)
Pose: Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - Prissy)
Location in ship: Engine Room

Inara:
Skin: Blowpop (Infinity Ava - pure honey - Look #2)
Hair: Curl Up & Dye (Princess Leia Double Braids - Deep Black)
Eyes: Miriel (Standard Eyes - Aquamarine)
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Clothes: Zaara (Menaka Sari - deep green)
Earrings: Shiny Things (Pyra Earrings - Gold)
Bracelets: Shiny Things (Ruma Bangles - Gold)
Pose: Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - Jewelrypose)
Location in ship: Starboard Shuttle

River:
Skin: Blowpop (Infinity Ava - pure honey - Look #1)
Hair: Maitreya (Apple - Chocolate)
Sheer overshirtOrnamental Life (Summer Feels Wee - Sprinkling Ocean)
Shirt: Ornamental Life (Dove - High The Sky)
Skirt: PixelDolls (Ragged Black Velvet Skirt)
Boots: ETD (Buckle Boots - Black)
Pose: Vain Inc. (*V*StreetBonusF)
Location in ship: Passenger Lounge

Sets: DP Designs (03-K64-Firefly - Serenity Replica) *taken at Blackburne display; official in-world display is at Paradiso*

The Monarch

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:47:00 +0000

Ryker Beck of Genesis has designed a gorgeous outfit to benefit Relay For Life called The Monarchy.

The Monarchy

The set includes a special Monarch makeup of the Genesis Eden skin in all eight skintones (plus freckled versions), tattoos on underwear layers, a full jewelry set (earrings, necklace, bracelet), and the clothing shown here (jacket and pants layers) plus an alternate gown skirt and a no-glow version of the showgirl skirt.

The Monarchy (face/jewelry)

I am in love with every piece of this set, especially the jewelry. Ryker makes absolutely beautiful jewelry and The Monarchy set is no exception. I especially love that the necklace fit me perfectly with only a height adjustment! Necklaces never fit my neckline that easily!

The Monarchy (alternate)

Get your own copy of this limited edition set at Genesis by donating L$1500 or more to the RFL vendor there.

Other items worn:
Hair: Celestial Studios (Annie May III - Ebon)
Eyes: Miriel (Standard Eyes - Aquamarine)
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Shoes: Pixel Mode (Kavika - Black)

Poses:
1: Boudoir Rouge (*D* Boudoir Rouge - Rouge - Celebration 6)
2: Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - Jewelrypose8)
3: Maitreya (MaitreyaFModel16)

I'm a sucker for skulls, okay?

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:42:00 +0000

Show me something in black with a skull on it and I may be compelled to acquire it. This is especially true of artilleri shirts. My husband has the classic shirt w/ skull patch from artilleri's men's department, and as soon as I saw the new Vicky women's shirts were available in black with optional skull patch, I was all over that. I also snagged one of the new simplicity pencil skirts, also in black, because black is my go-to color in SL and I can mix it up with just about anything else. (There are much lighter, cheerier colors available, but I just wasn't sure how bright I'm prepared to go—it doesn't quite feel like spring in my little corner of RL just yet.)

artilleri - flames, skulls (a)

The Vicky top comes in three layers (undershirt, shirt, jacket) with the optional patches in additional jacket layers—which means you can wear the patches over other shirts, too! Ten patches are included: 8-ball, 13, anchor, cherry, dice, flames, kitty, nautical star, skull, swallows. Most of the designs are over the left breast, like the skull, but the swallows and flames are on both sides, as shown above.

The close-up below is primarily to better show off the gorgeous jewelry from Violet Voltaire I'm sporting. The earrings are part of the Dia De Los Muertos collection and the Kawaii Cameo is from one of the collections that premiered at the Armoire Jewelry Showcase. I love how real the little beads and findings and everything in her jewelry looks, and it's so much like jewelry I'd love to own in RL. Yum, yum, yum.

artilleri - skulls (b)

This hair is one of two currently available free at Truth as a color demo for the current crop of hair textures. The headband is scripted for texture-change, and includes several color variations.

(a) left:
Skin: Infinity (Ava - pure honey - Look #5)
Hair: Truth (Deanne - walnut)
Eyes: Miriel (Standard Eyes - Aquamarine)
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Upper arm tattoos: Nack Barnes (custom work)
Lower arm tattoos: Schadenfreude (Sparrow Forearm Tattoos - from Blue Sparrow Corset set)
Shirt: artilleri (Vicky top *black* w/ patch *flames*)
Jewelry: Eolande's (Jade Longevity Women's Jewelry - copper)

(a) right & (b):
Skin: Infinity (Ava - pure honey - Look #4)
Hair: Truth (Deanne - walnut)
Eyes: Miriel (Standard Eyes - Aquamarine)
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Upper arm tattoos: Nack Barnes (custom work)
Lower arm tattoos: Schadenfreude (Sparrow Forearm Tattoos - from Blue Sparrow Corset set)
Shirt: artilleri (Vicky top *black* w/ patch *skull*)
Skirt: artilleri (simplicity pencil skirt *black*)
Stockings & garters: Insolence (Dolores - Red)
Shoes: Maitreya (Group Gift Pumps - Black) *subscription group join gift*
Earrings: Violet Voltaire (Dia De Los Muertos Earrings)
Necklace: Violet Voltaire (Kawaii Cameo Necklace - Skull)

Poses:
(a) left: Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - F-Blogger5-Systemskirt)
(a) right: Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - F-Blogger6-Systemskirt-Mirror)
(b) Reel Expression (*Luth* Sex Sells V2 11)

look of the day (Saturday)

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 07:32:00 +0000

lotd - 2009-03-28

Okay, I don't know that the new Sasha boots from ETD will displace my beloved Buckle Boots from their near-perma-status on my feet, but love the slouchy look! I kind of agonized over color choice before deciding to go with "Viridian," a blue-green, on the principle I don't have enough blue-green footwear.

I'm a bad fashionista, I don't shrink my hips or booty when donning a system skirt. Honestly, I love the additional oomph it gives my girl's curves. This one's part of the Nouvelle Librarian set from Casa Del Shai, the Corn/Brown combo. This shirt from the Bout Du Monde set from PixelDolls is a similar shade to the shirt included in the Nouvelle Librarian set. I dig how the brown strappy bits coordinate with the skirt.

The necklace is part of a set from Zaara. Only the fatpacks seem to be available at the mainstore at Zaara sim, but I found the individual components still available separately at the Tesla location. Four versions of the necklace were included in the purchase: silver (shown), gold, silver with largest stone in black, gold with largest stone in black.

Skin: Infinity (Ava - pure honey - Look #2)
Hair: Maitreya (Apple - Caramel)
Eyes: Miriel (Standard Eyes - Aquamarine)
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Shirt: PixelDolls (Bout Du Monde - Brown)
Skirt: Casa del Shai (Nouvelle Librarian - Leatherbound Skirt - Brown)
Necklace: Zaara (Kaya Turquoise Necklace Silver)
Boots: ETD (Sasha Boots - Viridian)
Pose: Long Awkward Pose ([LAP] - Dayum)

look of the day

noreply@blogger.com (Amyla Wakowski) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:41:00 +0000

lotd - 2009/03/27

This tunic is a Malt sim opening gift. It was still out on the rocks (slurl) when I checked this afternoon, along with a Spork gift. I paired it with bits of an Ornamental Life outfit, the ETD Buckle Boots I rarely take off except to swap colors (I have five, I should probably have grabbed them all during the big sale), and past group gifts from Earthstones.

Got monster tips last weekend and blew a bunch on more Maitreya hair. The newest styles (Apple, Faye, Piper, Piper II) aren't so earring-friendly, but this style, Yasmin, affords better glimpses of ear jewelry.

Skin: Infinity (Ava - pure honey - Look #2)
Hair: Maitreya (Yasmin - Caramel)
Eyes: Miriel (Standard Eyes - Aquamarine)
Lashes: Sin Skins (Portia Lashes)
Tunic: MALT (LE AUTUMN Tunic B/W)
Vest & Pants: Ornamental Life (Saturday Afternoon - Nightly Passions)
Boots: ETD (Buckle Boots - Black)
Jewelry: Earthstones (Stone Donut Earrings/Necklace/Bracelet - Amber/Black)

Poses:
Left: Reel Expression (*Luth* Sex Sells 08)
Right: part of AO stand; Abranimations (f stand 11)