Faces and Hair..

Hello! I’ve got a quick post for you this morning. For a lot of people in SL, their avatars get tweaked here and there over time, creating an ever evolving desired look. My shape has been no different and I still have tons to learn about proper shape proportions and feature alignment, I’ve made tons of huge mistakes in my shape and will likely continue to do so until the end of time! LOL Anyway.. I’ve been working on some adjustments, mostly in the nose area and would welcome any feedback on any face shape tips anyone has! Keeping in mind that shapes can look very different from skin to skin, I think I’m fairly pleased with how it finally turned out after many failed attempts the last couple days. Could be more changes in upcoming stuff though, who knows.. maybe in a week, my face will be totally different if I get fed up with it! Ahh, the strange wonders of SL..

My main purpose for today wasn’t shapes though.. it was hair! I love long hair styles, but they can be tricky to pose in sometimes as they go through the shoulder and/or chest frequently. Some pose makers have even made some great pose sets specifically to combat this a bit. You won’t have that issue with either of these two new hairs from Magika and Wasabi Pills.

Magika’s hair releases continue to amaze me and every time she puts out another style, I become a bigger fan. This is the first style I’ve tried since she updated the texture/colors as well and I couldn’t be happier. The ponytail piece is completely separate from the main hair part so no matter your pose, it’s staying on your shoulder, not in it! And the main hair piece could easily be used alone for front facing snapshots without the ponytail.

The hair from Wasabi Pills is another new release called Nicole. It is mesh, so you’ll need a mesh viewer to use it. Because it’s mesh, again, you won’t have pose problems! Keep in mind however that you cannot adjust mesh to fit your shape, it is as is, always try a demo first! I was really excited when I tried this hair on because while I adored some of Wasabi’s last mesh releases, they didn’t quite look right on me style wise, which I was totally bummed out about. So when Nicole came out and looked good, I grabbed!

On a minor side note, none of these images are edited, except crop and putting the two side by side ones together. Mostly.. because I recently upgraded my photoshop and haven’t reloaded all my presets to it and didn’t want to deal with it just yet. Not sure what I was doing differently when I took these either, they came out soft but kinda pretty at the same time and the shadows didn’t have as many odd edges. I can only hope for more small blessings like this next time!

Credits-
Skin: Al Vulo – Polly – Natural Sunkissed
Eyes: Insufferable Dastard – Shine v2 – Blue/Basic
Eyeshadow: Apple May Designs – Base Eyeliner Retro Shimmers – Midnight
Eyelashes: Redgrave – Natural 06
Ears: MW ilweran – Elven/Elf Ears – Natural
Sweater: Nyte N Day – Beguile II – Blue
Jeans: Aqua – Unisex Lowrise Jeans – Black (store no longer in business, sorry!)
Hair (1): Magika – Promise
Hair (2): Wasabi Pills – Nicole (MESH)
Poses: !Bang

Sunday Morning..

I know, double blog for today.. sorry! A new post for The Fae, The Faun and the Wardrobe! Sunday specials and Collabor88 stuff.

Coat: Slink – Marigold Winter Coat (for Collabor88, MESH)
Jeans: Jane – 52 Jeans – Ebony (year end sale)
Piano: Lisp – Piano Rustic Woods – No Music (for Collabor88)
Gazebo: A.D.D. Andel – Lighted Gazebo (for La Venta)
Trees: A.D.D. Andel – Sparkle Tree – White (for Lazy Sunday)
Hair: Magika – Promise (new)
Skin: Iren – Dani – Light
Boots: Sakide – A Bit of Ostrich Boots – Black

Coral Stress..

You know.. I had mild issues finding something in champagne last week for the 52 weeks of color challenge, which was unexpected in my inventory. I knew this week I wouldn’t have much already, but didn’t know how hard it would be to find something in stores either! It could be though that I attempted to find this obscure color when I was tired and already a little burnt out from my previous shopping spree. That and.. coral is hard to get accurate. There was tons of stuff I pondered over but was too red, too orange, too yellow or too pink. It was darn stressful! Ok not really, but it does things to a person, especially when it’s late and you’re already sleep deprived.. Luckily, I was chatting with the awesomely funny Lucie from Embody at the time about all sorts of things, including hunger, to which she fed me cookies! Cookies always make it better. The hard part next week will be deciding what to use..

Credits-
Hair: Maitreya – Zoe – Pecan
Skin: Iren – Dani – Light (from the Black Friday sale)
Eyeliner: Ricielli – Gold Eyeliner (from the Ricielli Christmas hunt)
Eyes: D-Skin – D-Eye 04
Eyelashes: Redgrave – Natural 06
Blush: Tuli – Rosy Cheeks 3
Lipstick: Mock – Luxe Lip Crème – Happily Ever After
Shirt: Fri.Day – Longsleeve Boatneck Tee – Orange
Jeans: Rezipsa Loc – Orange Flower Jeans
Feet: Slink – Womens Natural Barefeet (MESH)
Poses: aDORKable – My Padded Room pose prop

Brightly Colored Shopping Spree..

New post for Look What The Cat Brought. All credits listed so you can shop but read the post if you want more info/details, as always!

Hair (blonde): Alice Project – Wonderland II
Hair (black): Exile – Betty Lou – For TDR Blue
Skin: Atomic – Grace – Winter Kiss – For TDR Blue

Mesh dresses!
1 – Dress: Jane – tiered strapless dress – paisley delicious (MESH)
2 – Dress: Jane – summer maxi dress – fiona powder (MESH)

Something more neutral. I really, really love this jacket from Jane.
1 – Sweater: Raspberry Aristocrat – vneck sweater – demi mocha (MESH)
Jeans: Jane – 52 jeans – gray wash
2 – Jacket: Jane – convict jacket – raven
Jeans: Jane – classic fit – shreds (MESH)
Tank top: Jane – intrinsic tanks

I love these blue tones. They’re so bright and pretty.
1 – Sweater: Jane – bella sweater – powder
Jeans: Jane – 52 jeans – ebony
2 – Blouse: Jane – mystic blouse – milk
Skirt: Jane – maxi skirt kokomo – blues (MESH)

And one more set from a store that was brand new to me! It isn’t huge but there are some bright and pretty darn cute things to be found. These psychedelic pants are totally something my RL sister would adore just for the fun of it and I’m kinda loving them too!
1 – Top: Pink Inc – Beach Baby Top – Sorbert
Jeans: Pink Inc – Trip Out Pants – Blue
2 – Top: Pink Inc – Hippie Tie Top – Trina Periwinkles
Jeans: Pink Inc – Janice Button Jeans – Light Blue

Additional credits-
Backdrop: My own collection of textures.
Poses: aDORKable – 25 days of Christmas pose pack
Feet: Slink – Womens Natural Barefeet (MESH)
Lashes: Redgrave – Natural 06
Eyes: Fashism – Sunrise Eyes – Azure Light

Gold..

Confession time! Well.. a couple of them, actually. This post is the second of the two weekly blog challenges I am taking part in currently. The first being the 52 Weeks of Color. This challenge is called Blog Hero and you can find out a bit more about it on Shay’s blog here. Now, I’m a huge music lover. I listen to an extremely wide variety and I really love hearing great lyrics. That said.. the first song up for this challenge didn’t do a darn thing for me! I had a very hard time interpreting the lyrics and it really challenged me to try to think outside the box. Still not sure that worked. Anyway, I tried! Here’s the song info: Gold by Spandau Ballet

Second confession.. because of my lack of inspiration, I’ll still list what I’m wearing, even though it’s a bit hard to see with the WL setting, but it’s also stuff from –deep- inside my inventory and may no longer be available. I know for certain the hair isn’t.

And third confession for tonight.. I admit I was entirely too lazy to go to aDORKable poses over the holidays each day to grab the one a day freebie poses that were so graciously set out as a 25 Days of Christmas type advent. That said, the entire set is available in one handy pack for just $150L! I don’t know how long this will be out but it’s entirely worth grabbing.

Enjoy!

Credits-
Hair: Magika – Curl – Charcoal (no longer available)
Eyes: Negaposi – Fairy Eyes – Peridot
Eyelashes: Redgrave – Natural 06
Eyeshadow: Boom – Down to Basics – Gold
Skin: Cupcakes – London – Copper Natural
Dress: Lark – Fae Dress (2011 Etheria- Unable to locate brand in world or on MP, sorry!)
Feet: Slink – Natural Barefeet (MESH)
Pose: aDORKable (from the 25 Days of Christmas set)

Champagne Supernova..

Ok, so my blog title doesn’t match the quote on the picture at all, but it couldn’t be helped! Through last year, prior to really starting to blog myself, I read a lot and viewed a lot of pictures from bloggers taking part in the 52 Weeks of Color Challenge started by Luna Jubilee. I like the idea of challenges, even the ones that require more thought than others, though I can’t promise to be successful at the harder ones until I’ve actually completed it. This one though, I think I can do and it’s started up again for 2012! You can find all the details and rules on Luna’s blog here. Week 1’s color was champagne, of course. Ever since reading that, I’ve had the Oasis song stuck in my head, Champagne Supernova.. hence the title. Surprisingly, this was a tricky color for me, I honestly thought I had more. However, in my search I proved to myself just how badly I need to organize and catalog my inventory.. it’s just plain bad.

I wanted to make note of my location this time too. This was such a cool sim with tons of options for pictures and I highly recommend some exploration. Check it out here.

All details are listed below, as always. I’m off to try to get ahead for next weeks color!

Credits:
Skin: Sorry.Asia – Jane (previous XYRoom item- believe this designer is closed)
Eyes: Tuli – Sparkling Eyes – Amber
Eyeshadow: cheLLe – Sheer Earthtones (Sepia)
Eyelashes: Redgrave – Natural 06
Lips: Mock – Luxe Lip Crème – Fhqwhgads Veronique
Hair: Truth – Tatiana – Champagne
Jewelry: Eolande’s – Basic Essentials Pearls (no longer available)
Dress: Kouse’s Sanctum – Ivyana – Sunlight
Pose: LAP
Location: Gilmour

Mr. Tumnus’s Girlfriend..

(Pose- Exit)

Happy 2012! I hope everyone’s holiday was a good one. I’ve finally finished a project I’ve had in the wings for a couple weeks now, just hadn’t had the opportunity to complete it. This inspiration came from a couple of places.. It started first with this incredibly well done female faun avatar from Aura. It comes complete with the faun legs, ears, horns (not used) and a gorgeous skin that can be used with or without the rest of the AV. One of my favorite movies overall is the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Call me dorky if you want but I adore it! Anyway.. the second thing I thought of after seeing this faun (the first being how great it looked) was Mr. Tumnus’s girlfriend! Feel free to laugh at me now, it’s ok. Not long after this, I came across this flickr picture of a male faun and knew it was time to build my project. The male av actually comes with some shapes in different “age/gender” sizes, but does not come with ears, skin or horns. So there you have it! All credit details below.

(Pose- Exit)

(Pose- Glitterati)

(Pose- Glitterati)

Credits-
Pose Pics 1 and 2: EXIT – Couples Pose 33
Pose Pics 3 and 4: Glitterati – Kiss
Backdrop: Erikiya’s Shop – Xmas Background Snow
Texture Overlays: My own stock and InSight Designs

Her-
Faun AV (includes skin, legs, tail and ears): Aura – Winterfell Faun
Makeup (rosy cheeks, snow eyelashes, lipstick): Izzie’s – Baby it’s cold outside set
Eyes: Negaposi – Lunar Eyes – Azur
Hair: Truth – Becky – Snow
Sweater: Tentacio (May’s Soul) – Tricot Sweater – Blue
Scarf: Boom – Slim Scarf – Grey

Him-
Faun AV (includes legs and tail): FOXcute – Black Faun
Ears: FreakyDesign – Sad Faun Ears
Skin: Belleza – Jacob – SK (Christmas 2011 gift)
Rosy Cheeks: Tuli – Rosy Cheeks
Eyes: Fashism – Sunrise Eyes – Dark Brown
Hair: Truth – Jason – Night
Scarf: Boom – Righteous Muff – Burgundy

Mamboo Chic for New Years

It’s New Years Eve already! I cannot believe how fast this year has gone. In both RL and SL, things have changed for me quite a bit, and yet.. not at all, really. For me, New Years is kind of like I take birthdays, a time of reflection of where I’ve been and where I’m hoping to get to. However you spend your New Years, may you be safe and have a blast and a terrific 2012!

I’ve got some SL goals for the year, including the dreaded inventory management and clean-up. I also hope to get a little more brave, signing up for Blogging Second Life’s directories and once I pass that 3 month/30 posts average mark, applying to some feeds. I’m going to attempt some challenges as well, starting with the 52 weeks of color (pt 2). Whatever your goals and aspirations are for the new year, I wish you happiness and peace for 2012! I may scrounge up the energy later tonight to post a longer, much more reflective post for my other blog. I have a lot on my mind, so it’ll probably be long and lots of rambling.

Something that makes me happy this New Years Eve? Mamboo Chic! She set out a group gift in the mainstore, comes in 5 tones and is so pretty once again! Honestly, my favorite skin designer out there right now. There is a fee to join the group but very much worth it. Exile resent their last years New Years gift in the new texture tones. My earings are from Eluzions for just $1L! I’m trying out more and more mesh items lately too. These wide leg pants are from Jane and fit my shape perfectly! I have some mixed feelings about some mesh items that have come out and more often than not, I end up disappointed in one aspect or another. These pants though? No disappointment! And the cute sequin top is from Koketka for the Where Is…? Hunt. My “studio” today is a skybox I randomly came across on the marketplace. It comes unfurnished and is fairly simple, but has a cute layout, kitchen island/bar, small garden and pool out front. More pics are up on the marketplace listing, and for just $50L.

Happy New Year everybody!

Credits-
Eyes: Tuli – Sparkling Eyes
Eyelashes: Redgrave – Daily 01
Skin: Mamboo Chic – Sophia (special – New Years gift)
Hair: Exile – Nikki NYE (New Years gift)
Top: Koketka – Natali (for the Where Is…? Hunt)
Earrings: Eluzions – Idaline
Pants: Jane – Wide Leg Pant Zooey (MESH)
Shoes: Nardcotix – Mana Edith (70% off year end sale)
Poses: [doll.] – No longer available (sorry!)
Skybox: Scarlet Creative – Paradise Circus Skybox (unfurnished)

Thanks Aura and Post Christmas, Christmas!

Wow I am still totally overwhelmed at all the events, sales and specials hitting, crossing and blowing up the grid this Holiday season. Every time I turn around there’s something else I need to go check out and my poor inventory is simply bursting at the seams while my wallet is starting to make threats on my life. But, of course, this is good news for everyone! Countless stores are having holiday sales, end of the year clearance sales and just plain holiday goodness. Because it’s the holidays in RL, of course, I’ve got tons of family stuff going on at the same time along with other medical and general chaos family stuff that’s preventing me from blogging all that I wanted to before the end of the year, though I’ve got a couple days yet! I’m going to kick off a few of them here, though and hopefully you’ve been following the other numerous awesome(er than me) bloggers who have been feverously covering pretty much everything.

Heartsick has a few gifts under the tree as well as 12 $10L candy canes hidden throughout the store. There are female skins, male skins, some sweaters and jeans as well as a couple other goodies! Nardcotix is having an end of the year sale, 70% off if you’re in search of good heels! Belleza sent out a group gift for both the guys and the girls. Aura, along with a few other stores collectively, are having a big end of the year blast as well. Embody just announced an end of the year sale on their Christmas poses. Even though Christmas is over, it can get you ahead for next year (or do late pics like I did). Dernier Cri sent out a message to their subscribers today about discounting all their hair. I think that covers what I’ve used in this post? Seriously, check out some feeds, there’s so many great things going on right now but many of them do end when 2011 does! I have to say, this couples thing with the outfits and posing reminded me just how badly I’ve neglected both the upkeep and actual use of my male alt, poor guy. Next year he’ll see more daylight.

On a side note, I’d like to ramble a bit about customer service. I’ll start that saying I’m my own worst nightmare, really. I’ve been in customer service since I was 12 and started waitressing. (it was legal, my mom was the head cook) I don’t often have any issues that really require me to contact designers in SL, it’s very rare. Within the last week though, I randomly had two incidents. The first was a failed delivery. I followed the normal routine and the requested instructions on the designers profile. Sometime later that day, the server dropped my purchase on me but I never heard a single thing back from the rep I was requested to send the notecard to. I won’t ever know if it was the hippo server that kicked in or if the rep resent my purchase to me. Maybe I’m tedious and cranky and mean, but I find this rather rude and annoying. If it was the rep resending, I’d like acknowledgment of this.. partly because in the back of my mind all I can think of is that if it wasn’t, then my request was totally ignored.

This leads me to my other customer service experience a couple days ago. Since I don’t have many of these experiences, it isn’t earth shattering or anything but I still feel the need to call out those who do a great job no matter how small the issue is, when I actually have one. In my mass shopping rounds, I stopped over at Aura. Had a minor issue with the jeans I picked up on the end of the year sale and sent Tyr a notecard. That afternoon she IM’d me and apologized for the issue, fixing it and sending me a fresh product all in the midst of fending off a starving cat in RL. (I have much respect for this.. my cat is 25+lbs of monsterous drama and demands) One of the best parts of the experience, aside from quick resolution of course, is that she was like talking to a real person.. not a designer that’s up on some pedestal and too good for anyone else. She was totally down to earth and very friendly when she could have simply said “The issue has been fixed, here’s your replacement, have a nice day” but she didn’t. Coming from my background in customer service, she’s right on track and deserves what little recognition I can send her way in a world (and grid) full of people that are too busy or too “high and mighty” to come down to their customers level for even a few minutes. It makes a huge difference, in my opinion. Thank you, Tyr!

On Neida (me, in case you were confused):
Skin: Heartsick – Love – Muse – Peppermint Crème ($10L – Candy Cane Hunt)
Hair: Dernier Cri – Audrey
Sweater: Heartsick – Snowman Sweater ($10L – Candy Cane Hunt)
Jeans: Aura – Worn But Loved Ultra Low – Smog (End of Year Sale)
Eyes: Fashism – Sunrise Eyes
Shoes: Nardcotix – Edith (70% off End of Year Sale)

On Charlie:
Eyes: Redgrave – Jan – Bright Blue
Hair: Truth – Jason
Boots: Shiny Things – Old Boots
Skin: Belleza – Jacob (Christmas gift)
Sweater: Heartsick – Snowman Sweater ($10L – Candy Cane Hunt)
Jeans: Heartsick – Unisex Lowrise Jeans ($10L – Candy Cane Hunt)

Couples Poses:
Embody – Mistletoe (Christmas Pose Sale)
Embody – Christmas Morning (Christmas Pose Sale)

Merry Christmas..

“Where are you Christmas?
Why can’t I find you?
Why have you gone away?
Where is the laughter
You used to bring me?
Why can’t I hear music play?”

For the last week or so, I have been thinking, plotting and attempting to plan what would be a Christmas card/Holiday image to post. I sit here during the late hours of Christmas Eve without having accomplished the task I had set out to do. I dressed up, found a Holiday sim and even took pictures. But none of it seemed right nor could I accurately portray the message from my heart. I have struggled this season, for mostly RL reasons, in finding the Christmas spirit that normally is very powerful and begins for me, around Thanksgiving. It wasn’t until yesterday that I truly began to feel it.

“I feel you Christmas
I know I’ve found you
You never fade away
The joy of Christmas
Stays here in silence
Fills each and every heart with love”

There will be plenty of posts of beautiful group gifts, sale items, new releases and fantastic creations in posts to come and many more throughout the new year. Tonight however, I simply wish to say God Bless and Merry Christmas to you and yours. Whatever your place in this world, whatever your religion, and however you celebrate, may it be as magical as possible and filled with love and hope.