A Malt Quickie

I just wanted to drop a quick post - I popped over to the Kozmetika summer event yesterday and stocked up on even more makeup to adorn my nice bare CheerNo Femme skin.

I especially like these sheer earthtones eyeshadows from cheLLe. I'm not always a fan of tattoo eyeshadows but these are really nice. They also have a set of more vibrant colors. I'm wearing my red eyebrows from LAQ, of course, my usual lashes from Sin Skins (I just like prim lashes better than tattoo), and Mink lipstick from Heartsick.

I'm wearing Malt's Allyn shirt (look, a peek of midriff! I'm so daring!) and you can just glimpse the aubergine leather pants from Adam 'n Eve. My hair is Milano from Novocaine, which I think doesn't exist any more but I like it so there it is!

UrbanizeD

I just got back from a hunt at the great furniture store UrbanizeD. Actually, I bought more than I hunted, and I made a discovery about this furniture!

I already have several of Pitsch Parx's creations but I didn't have any chairs or sofas. I'm small as avatars go in SL - no Amazon woman here. And so generally furniture dwarfs me and any built-in poses or animations leave me sitting somewhere in the stuffing. But Pitsch's sofas and chairs are sort of normal-sized and the poses and animations are perfectly designed for my tiny body. (On a side note - can anybody explain how I can simultaneously be too small for furniture and too big for clothes?)

The things I bought today are from the new Masai line. The textures are really nice and everything's changeable, although I'd never change them. Look how no part of my body sinks into the cushions! That never happens.

Each piece is loaded with several animated sitting and laying down poses and they all fit my little body perfectly.

To show off this great furniture I'm wearing Maitreya's Bastille top in cool mint and jean shorts in regular. I'm also sporting Maitreya hair (Lila in ginger), white espadrilles from Gos, and bangles from Petunia.

I may just have a new favorite skin. This is the Dahlia skin from CheerNo Femme and while it does come with a variety of makeups, I'm in love with the bare version. It looks great on my shape and seems to work with all of my makeup. Here I've added Sin Skin's Vanity lashes, my LAQ redhead eyebrows and hair base, and the Irina lipstick in natural from Amacci. Here's the bare version of the skin:

The hunt at UrbanizeD is still on, by the way, and you can collect a complete living room set. I've been too busy enjoying my new purchases to even open the gifts, but I'm sure they're fantastic too! ;)

The Secret Store

Doesn't it suck that we all have RL taking away from our inworld time? My RL totally took over for a bit but I'm trying to sneak back into SL now and then to listen to music, shop and blog. Today I'm going to show a few things from The Secret Store along with some other new stuff I've been picking up.

This is the Scottish Dahlia dress, which I really like. Even the belt fit pretty well right out of the box, which is usually a problem for my oh-so-chunky avatar.

I'm wearing the new Apple skin from Rockberry in fair, and I added some blackberry lip stain from Mock. The skin's not perfect, but I really love the eyes. I'm also wearing Shag's Forget Me Knot hair in dark copper and the Boho earrings and necklace from JKTrends.

And yes, I am continuing to ride the shoes with toes train. One reason I've avoided it is that I don't really like ankle straps and so many designers use them to hide the seam between legs and prim feet. I like that these Chic shoes from N-core are brave enough to let it all hang out. The skin match isn't 100% perfect, but you have to get closer than anyone other than my camera is probably going to get to my feet to notice.

I also love this chiffon silk kerchief skirt. I'm wearing it with the bamboo wrinkle tank from PixelDolls (which really shows how much cleavage this skin has!) and the Fae wedges from Pixel Mode. More toes! The pose is from Clique.

Finally, this cute little Bow-lero jacket. I'm not usually big on boleros but this is really cute. I'm wearing it with Zaara's Isis shirt and indigo jeans (any excuse!). And I've taken off the lip stain so this is the natural color of the lips on the Rockberry skin.

In Love With A Look

Okay, I have to blog this outfit because I haven't taken it off in a week. This is really THE outfit I've been looking for during all my time in SL. I may never change again.

Pants are a huge peeve of mine in SL - I rarely find great slacks that I love. These guys from Purple Moon (part of the Tango outfit) are just what I always wanted. Nice texture, legs not too flared. They make me so happy.

I'm always on the prowl for the perfect white shirt. This is Zaara's Isis shirt. Perfect AND primless - what more can you ask for?

I have a love/hate relationship with Mon Tissu. I love the clothes. I hate the prices. But I had to spring for the softest cinch cardigan. Great cardigan sweaters, like great pants, are something that I think are rare in SL and this one is gorgeous. It even comes with an alpha layer that makes your hips invisible, so no more hips popping unattractively out of the sides.

My necklace is from EarthStones. It's the ladies' Travelers Journal locket. You can actually add you own pictures to the locket. It's packed with functionality that I haven't explored, because I just think it's pretty!

Shoes are my old reliable High Oxfords from Tesla.

For hair I've revisited an old favorite - Gurl 6. When I first joined SL I bought all my hair from Six Kennedy because she had the only orangy-reds that I liked. Then other designers tempted me away (cough-Truth-cough) and it's actually been a while since I wore a Gurl 6 hair. This is January in Sexy Red.

My skin is the recent Heartsick gift of My Valentine from the Spirit line. I've added two makeup tattoos from Amacci, the day blush in light mauve and the Irina lip in plum.

Little Town

Today I pulled Little Town out of the hat. It's a store that no longer exists, but one that is near and dear to my heart so I decided to blog it anyhow. But I found a beautiful sim to share with you (thanks to Chestnut Rau's blog) so even though you can't go shop at Little Town you can visit the amazing build at the Monastery of St. Michael and St. Francis Church.

You don't have to be religious to appreciate this beautiful sim. The grounds are gorgeous and include an open-air chapel in a stand of trees and a full-size labyrinth. The church is huge, with colorful stained-glass windows, a massive pipe organ, and, my favorite of all, an underground crypt. There is also a cloister with individually decorated monks' cells and a garden and chapter house. Even the audio stream is lovely - a mixture of polyphonic chant and quiet, new-agey music.

Where'd this one go?

Is this thing on?

I have to say just a little about Little Town. This was one of the first stores I discovered in SL and I was so happy to find nice clothes that were cheap and didn't require any adjusting. I actually have both this skirt and sweater in three different colors. I know there are better sweater textures (I own most of them!) but I actually love this simple cable knit. The woolen tights are from Persona and the shoes are Tesla's high oxfords in chocolate. These are one of those shoes that I really wish I had in RL.

I have my usual default skin on - Julie from LAQ - but I've added the stained face tattoo from Ag that I think is still free at Kozmetika. It adds a nice light red layer to the cheeks and lips. My hair is the Saturday hair from Miel in red 4.

SLink!

Back from the long, bronchitis-imposed hiatus and ready to take on the next store in my random inventory sampling.

The first time I visited SLink was when I was on the prowl for some good boots that would fit my freakishly large calves. (Yes, I'm one of those who refuses to change her shape to fit clothes. Except those system skirts. You've got to give in to those!) I bought the black version of the Angelina boots, then later came back for these bronze ones.

Also from SLink is the button down dress shirt. Although simple, clean white shirts are everywhere on the grid now, time was they were hard to find and SLink had the only good one. I was so thrilled when I found this shirt! I've paired it with Zaara's Larin skirt in copper-rust.

Now check out this skin! I couldn't be more excited. Red eyebrows! On a Heartsick skin!

This is the beta of Spirit that was recently given to the Heartsick VIP group. And right after this I'm going to send an IM to Amesha Jewell and beg her to put these eyebrows on a tattoo layer. I adore Heartsick skins but up until now the only eyebrow option was the original black. If Amesha keeps offering these eyebrow options I will be one happy camper.

My hair is Truth - Paige in Jupiter.

Update! I did IM Amesha and she told me that she is planning to release the eyebrows on the tattoo layer when the new skin line is released. You have no idea how happy this makes me!

Sugar Cube

Sugar Cube came up today. I only have one dress from Sugar Cube, and it took me forever to buy it. I'd see it on a feed, think it was cool, head to the store, then decide I didn't really need it. After the 4th time I finally decided if I was coming back that often, I really DID need it! And I do love it. Admittedly, the shoulder straps get all wonky on my shape, but it doesn't bug me enough to make me figure out what to do about it. So with no further ado: the Goldfish Dress!


I'm wearing the dress with J's Real Toe Belt Platform Sandals, Truth's Valerie hair in pumpkin (which somehow manages to be red but not clash with the orange dress - wish my real-life hair could do that!) and Plastic Flowers' Shattered skin in pale (with my LAQ red eyebrows, of course).

Lashes are Wild Brush from Perse.

Riddle

I am in serious trouble. My linden balance is dangerously low, it's two more weeks before I give myself my allowance, and yet still I shop! My next blogging stop is Riddle, a store that I had no memory of ever visiting. But there in my inventory was a cute sweater with little skulls on it that sent me right over to check out the other offerings.


Riddle is a very nice store with some fantastic items. Somehow I managed to find a coat I absolutely needed to buy. Never mind that I have about 50 other coats, 25 of them bought this fall. This pretty red one is part of the Winter Blues set that comes with a sweater dress as well, but I've paired it with a different Riddle sweater, Skully, in pink. I especially like that I can wear the coat hood at the same time as my sweater neck.


The sweater is also a dress, but I like a little more coverage so I threw on the Essential Jeans from Nyte & Day in stone wash. The shoes are are just something I found tucked in my inventory - I have no clue where they came from. The hair is Maitreya's Lila in ginger. And no, I still haven't taken off my Julie skin from LAQ. I don't see that happening any time soon!

Reale

Today I pulled Reale from my randomizer, which made me very happy. I haven't been over there in a while so the first thing I did was visit the store. And then I bought a few things. And then I tore myself away to concentrate on my blog post.

Reale is one of my favorite SL stores. Maxi dresses have been big for a while in world and I think the ones at Reale are standouts. I love the Floratta dress (here shown in Pansy). It's romantic and pretty but not over the top for a non-gown girl like me. I've put it together with the April skin from LAQ (worn, of course, with their red eyebrow tattoo) and hair that's also from Reale, Francesca in dark red.


For my shopping trip I went with the polka dot bolero top and tank (which is possibly the only cropped top in my inventory) and paired them with Zaara's Mitya shorts in blue and the Ginger boots from Shiny Things. When in doubt, always go with Zaara and Shiny Things! I'm also wearing my Julie skin from LAQ and Maitreya's Dylan hair.

Going Random

I really, really need to get my inventory cleaned out and under control. So I turned it into a game! I've randomized all the designers in my clothes folder and am picking one for each blog posting. This has already forced me to visit folders I never peek into and delete things that I thought were cool when I first rezzed three years ago. You know, before I knew about prim skirts.

When I land on one that's actually worth keeping, I'm going to blog it. Today I was assigned Gemini Couture. Now, Gemini Couture doesn't exist any more, so you can't buy the cute outfit I found in that folder, so to give you something worth reading about I put the word "Gemini" into my search window. I expected exotic space-themed stuff or something. Instead I found this:

You really can get everything in Second Life. I never thought of anyone needing barns and stables, but of course, someone must! This is actually a fun little area. There are several rezzers to rez both large and small barns, stables and tack rooms, and you can ride on all the tractors and hay wagons. They're all covered with fun pose balls (we know how I love pose balls). Plus the sim has a nice Celtic music stream running which makes your shopping experience very relaxing.

Here I am checking out the hayloft in one of the bigger barns. These things really are cool. This one has loft doors that open individually or together and room for tons of horses, if that's your thing. I'm wearing my no-longer-available Vivienne dress from Gemini Couture, the always-reliable Clover pumps from Zhao, the Luna hair in auburn from Calico, and my Julie skin in pale from LAQ. I never get tired of this skin.


I always dress like this to visit the stables. Don't you? :)

PixelDolls

PixelDolls always has something interesting, so despite my assertion that I never wear gowns, here I am in another one. This is Knockout in red, and you can see that the skirt is pretty sheer. The dress comes with the fishnet stockings. I just can't resist those pretty PixelDolls textures! I'm not sure if you can even see my shoes, but I trotted out an old reliable, the Laque pumps from Storm Schmooz.



My skin here is another from Heartsick (the sales! the freebies!) This is Very Berry. The hair is the Model hair from Waka and Yuki. It was a freebie a while back and I like the pairing of lacy dress and short, modern hair. For jewelry I went with Earthstones' Karin set in the Fire Agate tone. Eyelashes are Sin Skins' tipped vanity lashes.


I keep forgetting to mention that the poses here and in the past few posts have all been from EverGlow. I went there to pick up a couple and ended up with something like 20! Normally I don't like poses with hands near the face or head, but EverGlow seems to be the exception to that rule for me.

More Kunglers

Another quickie, folks! This is the most recent group gift from Kunglers. I especially like the jeans, which have a really nice, subtle prim leg that doesn't flare too much . Very smooth. I'm wearing this with the Zimmy Flats in faded denim from the always wonderful Shiny Things. And some new bangles I picked up at the Perse sale.


My hair is another new style from Truth: Trinity. Skin is Heartsick's Long Hot Summer. My orange eyebrows from LAQ didn't quite match up with this one so I'm stuck with black. Still pretty, though!

Quick Look at Veschi

You're all going to have to forgive me. See my blogging folder is overflowing. And I have just enough OCD that I have to actually blog stuff before moving it to my actual inventory. So in the interest of speed, for the next little while no slurls. I know, bad blogger. If anyone desperately needs slurls, IM me.

In any case, I picked up Veschi's Jump Her! jump suit a while back just for the great wide-legged pants. I love that these pants are wide without being flared. Very nice. I don't much care for the top,though, so I paired it with a classic - the Isis shirt from Zaara. Shoes are the Alice Mary Janes that I picked up at Footworks.


The hair is one of my few Hair Fair buys (sorry, but I found the pickings slim this year). It's Dala from EMO-tions. And the skin is an old classic as well, Curio's Elf, which I have once again doctored with my favorite orange eyebrows from LAQ. I seriously wish more skin creators would give us eyebrow tattoo options.


Onward and upward. Who knows what I'll find in that folder next?

Back!

I ended up taking an unexpected and extended trip out of town this month. Now my blogging folder is massively over-packed and I have to hop to it! So starting right off:

I headed over to Modavia Fashion Week just at the last minute, which is good, since I only had time to buy three outfits. It's over now, but you can drop by Kunglers to pick up the Sophia dress, which is awesome. I don't really buy gowns in SL because I never wear them, but I could not resist this one.


Truth Hawks is really upsetting me these days. He will not stop making gorgeous hair! And then I have to buy it and then I don't have money for anything else. Seriously, will it ever end?! This is the most lovely Orchid (without the actual orchids) and I think it's my favorite updo ever. I'm also wearing the Cue jewelry set from Miel.

My skin is interesting. It's Mango, Mango!'s Honey Bee in pale. I almost tossed it out, actually, because I didn't like the black eyebrows and the eyes looked weird to me. But I LOVE really dark lipstick so I messed around with it. I added lashes from Sin Skins and my tattoo layer eyebrows from LAQ. The eyebrows add color to the forehead, so they won't work with every non-LAQ skin, but I think they work really well here. Voila! A skin I wasn't in love with becomes perfect. I do love that tattoo layer! Here are the pics, first the original skin and then my doctored version.





More (much more!) to come. I've got to catch up to my monster blogging folder!

Ibizarre and My Navel

I know I swore in the beginning that I wouldn't be showing my navel, but you guys knew that wouldn't apply to swimsuits, right? And I'm calling this a swimsuit.

This is the Volant dress from Ibizarre. They call it a dress, but it looks like a bikini to me! And since I don't ever, ever succumb to EMS but I really like the "dress," I'm going with it. The hair I'm wearing is Malou in ginger from Maitreya. The pose is built into the fire and log set, which is from Dench Designs.


The shoes I'm wearing with this are the Venus sandals from The Hub. I know everyone is making prim toes now, but I still don't like them. I can never get them to fit right or match my skin. So call me a grumpy old luddite, but I'm sticking with my ugly SL toes for now! And I do like these sandals.

And of course I'm showing off my other new skin from LAQ. This is Pearl in milky and I'm wearing the LAQ cleavage pack as well. Also, since Pearl is a blonde, I can show off the eyebrows LAQ sells on the tattoo layer. On the left you see Pearl with the original eyebrows and on the right I'm wearing the red eyebrows in the eyebrow pack. The eyebrows are meant to go with only LAQ skins, but I'm going to try them on other skins and see what happens.

At Home in Santana

At the moment I'm all about my new SL home - loving the location and the extra prims! So as I fight may way through my to-be-blogged folder you'll be seeing a lot of it, I expect.

You'll also be seeing a lot of those Everglow poses. Still loving those!


See how far behind I am? Of course, everyone has already blogged the Ginger Boots from Shiny Things, so I should just let them go to their designated folder (Clothing - Shoes - Shiny Things) unblogged. But I have just enough OCD in me to prevent that from ever happening. What's in my blog folder gets blogged. And besides, anything as cute as these deserves yet another mention.

Today I've paired the boots with the Flower Garden dress from Rily's $1L shop. You can find this dress in many colors and several others there, all for $1L.

I have to confess I've been going a little skin crazy lately. Maybe it has something to do with being homeless and not needing to pay rent. I've never paid real prices for skin because the Eloh Elliot templates happen to fit my shape really well, so freebie skins have always done me well. But I seem to be completely addicted to LAQ. Feeling a little flush I headed over there today and demo-ed everything. After much intense scrutiny I settled on two lines, of which this is one. This lovely skin is April in Milky, and she's another natural redhead so I don't get to show off my tattooed eyebrows just yet. The hair is from Miel, it's called Sat and this is red 4.

Everglow

First, I've been remiss in posting because I was suddenly left homeless in SL and haven't had a spot to hang my hat (or change my clothes) until now. As a result, I have an inventory full of stuff that I need to get blogged! So I'm just going to throw a bunch of stuff out there and see what sticks.

I was recently invited to join the Everglow Flickr group, so I headed over to Everglow thinking I'd pick up a pose or two so I could post to the group. Well, I ultimately had to drag myself away. Fanny Willis has this way of making me love things I don't usually love in poses, like ground sits, and hands up in the air. I went just a little nuts. So all the poses in this post are Everglow poses.

I don't LOVE this skin, but I like it and could see wearing it in the right situation. It's the new group gift from Cupcakes called Dahlia. My shorts are the Stein Tailored Shorts from Whippet & Buck (worn without the upper buttoned portion) and the tank top is the nice basic white freebie from Fri.day. And, of course, I'm wearing the Zimmy flats from Shiny Things in black and white. There are only two designers in SL from whom I buy everything and anything they make, and Fallingwater Cellardoor is one. And last but not least, I've taken advantage of the $100L sale at Tiny Bird and have stocked up on hair. This one is Time To Pretend II in copper.

And now for something completely different! Still posing from Everglow (I even like that my finger shows through my hair), this dress is from Niniko and includes the white blouse and the jumper. I've matched it up with the Ilaida Mojri slippers from Zaara, the OTHER SL designer from whom I buy anything and everything. These shoes are pretty customizable, as the center part of the upper can be changed to almost any color and the little metallic detail can be silver or gold. I'm also wearing hair from Truth (Piper in Cranberry) and skin is from G&N Quality Design (Silvery Moss - I think this was a recent freebie).

Finally (I think three totally unrelated outfits in one post is enough, don't you?) here's Clio's Pandora dress. I have been waiting and waiting for Clio to put a front on this skirt, and she finally did it. You know I'm not really a gown girl, but I made an exception for this one! I even like the little hat, and I'm not usually into funny hair stuff. I paired this with my Tasha 2 skin from LAQ, jewelry from Donna Flora (Camelia), and another Truth hair (Milla in copper).

I'm also trying out some of the new lashes on the tattoo layer from Miamai. I like them!

Now I have to rush because I've just heard that LAQ has a version of their red eyebrows on the tattoo layer. My quest for great red eyebrows in SL is eternal. This alone could erase all my Viewer 2 complaints!

Like A Ruby

I know it's summer, but my blogging folder is still full of stuff that I picked up during colder weather. So thanks to Thelma Felix's Virtual Version blog I trotted over to the amazing build at Karoastoff to show off another pretty coat.


This is the Rose coat from Lika Ruby. It comes in a bunch of colors and is only $150L. I paired it with Adam n Eve's Leather Sculpted Pants in aubergine and one of my first ever purchases in SL, Lassitude & Ennui's black tapestry ankle boots. These are currently on big sale at the main store - you can get the fat pack for $40L. That's way less than I paid for one pair two years ago!


Of course, I'm still wearing my Julie skin from LAQ. I said I'd never take it off! And this time I've paired it with a recent freebie from Tiny Bird. This is Love Love Love in caramel.

So skate over to Lassitude & Ennui and pick up some boots then head to Karaostoff to explore the trains, lighthouse, and other lovely buildings.