Silver Lining

It’s always there if you know how to look. The very least there’s the experience you’ve gained, but usually it’s much more than that. It’s difficult to see when in the middle of the events that make us wish for one: it tends to require stepping back, taking a deep breath and observing for a while from the distance.

It’s especially difficult to see if you’re dragged down by the weight of worries, kept too close to the problems by a collar of thorns that limits your sight and forces your gaze to be fixed and unmoving. Raising your head to look into the horizon can feel like an overwhelming task, but if you just dare to lift your gaze, it will be there to greet you: the silver lining.

The whole look was inspired by the Moriko collar and hat set by Zibska. They felt like they had a story to tell with their intricate sharp twists and turns. After I set them to silver I knew I wanted to play with whites and greys. The pictures are not desaturated, the look just consists purely of monochromes. I don’t usually credit windlights, but in this case I had to since it pretty much crowned the shoot.

Windlight: Strawberry Singh Silver

Body: Skin: Nuuna’s Skins – White Skin | Eyes: Fallen Gods Inc. – Glowing Eyes v.2 | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Liner: Nomine – Megaliner Tattoo Swirlique* | Lipstick: Zibska – Anya Nine* | Hair: Analog Dog – schnapp winter | Body tattoo: Fallen Gods Inc. – Children of Void Intense Silver

Outfit: Pants: LeeZu – Lea Vivendi Silver | Collar & Hat: Zibska – Moriko Set* | Brow attachment: Zibska – Zed*

Poses: aDORKable Poses – 3 of 25 2012 | PoseMonster – Behind 1*

Zodiac: Capricorn

Capricorn’s symbol is the goat: surefooted climber heading to the top of the mountain. Capricorn people are similar in their ambitions, heading steadily toward the top. They tend to be work-orientated and this often shows in how they carefully consider and evaluate the career and if it is truly worth all their energy and devotion. They might change their jobs or end up in eccentric professions because they know exactly what they want and they systematically go after it.

Capricorns are stereotypically stiff people, often accused of not having sense of humour at all. They dislike being ridiculed to the point of bearing grudge for such transgressions, but this does not mean they would not have their own type of humour: usually quirky and eccentric.

The penchant for traditions also shows itself in appreciating quality and being classy. They’re one of the signs who expect high quality of everything: work, food, material possessions, time spent together. They also seem to have trouble getting into relationships, but once they do, they are extremely devoted, revealing surprising warmth from under the cool exterior.

Capricorns rarely take time for play and are masters of multi-tasking. They are serious, responsible sign that will achieve whatever it is they set out to do. Since they are so business-like on the surface, they usually have only few friendships, but those that they have are deep and never forgotten.

The greenhouse by Apple Fall, the horns by lassitude & ennui, the skin by Ploom and the necklace by Perception are all available in the current round of Zodiac.

Scene: Z-Boutique – Cryogenia | Greenhouse: Apple Fall – Capricorn Greenhouse | Horns: lassitude & ennui – Capricornus mesh horns dark/silver*

Body: Skin: .ploom. – Harlowe Vanilla DB Capricorn | Eyes: IKON – Eternal Eyes Green | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Hair: *Alice Project* – Rose*

Outfit: Jacket: Erratic – Vanity Leather Jacket Grey Open | Shirt: LeeZu – WoolPulli Red | Pants: Zaara – Classic Jeans Black | Boots: lassitude & ennui - Embroidered Boots Brown Gold* | Necklace: *Perception* – Capricorn Horn Necklace Gold*

Poses: Olive Juice – Pretend | aDORKable Poses – 5 of 25 2012 | aDORKable Poses – Confident Leo 1

 

 

The Secret of the Sun Dial

I haven’t yet blogged much about the Steam Hunt, but today I’ll start by presenting what is probably my favorite thing from the whole hunt: Dr. Calgori’s Solarium by Malfean Visions. Not only is it awesome in its own right, it’s also an Abney Park reference! Thousand bonus points for that! The sun dial made me curious…

I’d also like to mention that LeeZu is having an End of Summer Sale on Marketplace alone. It was going on still when I tested it just now, but it might end any moment, so hurry! I yoinked the shirt and the pants from it and added older LeeZu tights to the look. So much casual-couture black makes me happy. The black-and-gold pumps are by Grim Bros., they just worked so well with all the lace, frills and ruffles. The curious pose is by Diesel Works.

Here I am recruiting help in mystery-solving… meeroos are apparently really good at these things! Skin is by League and the hair is one of the old Lamb freebies, worked perfectly for my urge to have something updo-ish with an edge while showing off earrings. Specific hair-needs can be very specific. Meeroo paw-up pose by Olive Juice.

The secret was absolutely squeesome. The little bunny doll pair is actually a part of a book by Naminoke. They tumble about on the pages and end up sitting like that. The cuteness is lethal, I assure you. The gorgeous golden almost lace-like jewelry set is the latest subscribo-gift by .( bewildebeest ). and I simply had to match the eye make-up to that. The eyeliners by Chelle, the golden crystals by White Widow, prim lashes by Redgrave and eyes by Poetic Colors (the latest freebie).  Squee-pose by Niqotine Poses.

Disclaimer: There really isn’t any secret to the sun dial and the bunny doll book has nothing to do with the solarium, they just went well together in my mind~

Dark Beach

All the sun made me wanna do something darker, so I conjured up a beach-hunting pale girl, dressed up in a casual disguise of normalcy and then I posted her on the ZombiePopcornSL. Go see~

This also gave me the perfect excuse to buy this top by LeeZu and yoink the latest LaGyo peonies from the Dressing Room. Not to mention flaunt the latest gift from Coyo, La Morte Dolce necklaces by .( bewildebeest )., of course. Picture taken in Las Rosadas, which is honestly pretty-pretty sunny sim, I just darkened it with windlight. Quickie credits here as well: skin by League, eyes by Shiva, lashes by Redgrave, hair by Waka & Yuki, pose by Olive Juice.

Summer Lingerie

It’s not even the beginning of July and there’s randomly tons of events and sales and hunts again! Let’s see if I can catch up a little…

There’s the Taste of SL Hunt that promises to be full of goodness. I took both pictures in the gorgeous little house by LeeZu. It has a small yard, three rooms, gorgeous wall paintings… my only moment of sighing was when I realized it was no-mod so I couldn’t do my house-mutilation to let sunlight in for shadows. I loved the wall paintings so much that for once I didn’t care!

The rest of the furniture above is all by Dreamscapes Art Gallery and the gorgeous lingerie is by Blacklace, both from the same hunt as the house. The cute little monocle is a freebie from December. Pose by Olive Juice. The Elikatira hair and the League jewelry set are a part of the 50L Fridays today, so if you want them you better hurry!

Much to my surprise Blacklace had still their One Night in SL Hunt prize out and available. The hunt is over, so no guarantees how long it’ll stay there, but I did pick it up today. Two free Blacklace lingerie sets on one day? That’s a good day, that. The shoes are by Pixel Mode, a subscriber gift. (Not attainable afterwards, you have to be a part of the subscribo before she sends the gift.) Both chairs and the stack of cups with strawberries are from the Strawberry Hunt at Where It Begins Fleamarket. (It ends June 19th.) The yellow chair is by Zigana, the chair with a chipmunk (^.^) is by sur+ and the cups are by Art Dummy. Using the default Sonya combo of League-skin, Poetic Colors-eyes and Redgrave-lashes. Pose is randomly by yours truly.

Spring Shadows

The first week of every month is always such an inventory disaster in SL. All the new hunts and events begin and loots keep piling up! At the moment the big lagfest of a shopping spree is Culture Shock. I’ve managed to crawl through the lag a couple of times now, but no doubt I’ll return. Another squee-worthy thing is Where is… Hunt, which doesn’t seem to have a blog, but the starting point is in Cynful. Third thing I have to mention for this post is that LISP has set a little discount area where everything is 1-10L. Dollarbies were never this cute!

The top from Aoharu isn’t a part of any of those things, but I had to have it. Aoharu <3 It really comes in two pieces, making it a longer tunic (or a short dress by SL standards), but I love the cropped top. The fruity necklace is by Sweet Leonard (Where is… Hunt) and the feathery hairdress is one of the older group gifts by Sweet Leonard & Needful Things. (Still available, though.) The frame with the birdy and eggs is from the above-mentioned LISP sale. Pose is by LAP.

Sonya is such a skirt-girl that I swear I’ve -bought- maybe three pairs of pants in all her SL life. Of course I’ve kept more than that from hunts and whatnot, but… still. I don’t know what it says that this pair of high-waisted flared floral pants by Peqe is one of the rare few. I just couldn’t resist the texture and it was the first thing that I yoinked from Culture Shock. I added the necklace top by LeeZu to it and it really doesn’t need anything else to be stunning. The fun feather-decorated bag hanging from the frame on the wall is another of old (still available) group gifts by Sweet Leonard & Needful Things. The noms on the table are sweet rice cakes wrapped in oak leaves, a freebie from Nonino-Zacca for Kodomo-no-hi, Children’s Day. The rest of the furniture is from that LISP sale. The skybox is by Zacca, an old hunt prize. Sonya’s wearing her usual League skin, Poetic Colors eyes and Redgrave lashes in all the pictures, as well as a fun bob by LOQ Hairs.

52 Colours: Periwinkle

Periwinkle was problematic. As usual, I had the colour swatch Luna had posted visible while checking my inventory. Some of the light blues were close match, but nothing really clicked. So I went colour-shopping for the first time since the skirt for Miss Ecru. Periwinkle continued to be problematic. The colours that seemed to match ranged from baby blue to pale lilac. In the end I made the decision based on ‘I’ll actually wear this later on’ principle. *grins*

Miss Periwinkle is a mix of spring casual and sophistication. I’d imagine she walks around in the gardens with that hat on while handsome gardeners tend to the actual plant life. There’d be ice tea with a mint leaf in it and fresh strawberries. Chirpy birds and flittery butterflies don’t even have to be mentioned.

Miss Periwinkle is made out of skin by League, eyes by Poetic Colors, lashes by Redgrave and hair by LOQ Hairs. She’s wearing a summery blouse and shorts by LeeZu and a wonderful summer hat by G Field. The cute tiny branch with a butterfly in her mouth is from a lucky chair in Love Soul.  The pose is by Boxed Heroes, one of their freebie Jean Grey ones. The background has parts of the curtains by North West and the bench by LISP visible, both from the Seasons Hunt.

The Evolution of Sonya

It’s Sonya’s rez day today! She logged onto the grid as a clueless newbie on April 19th, 2008. There’s been breaks from SL during that time — usually to give a new mmorpg a go — but somehow I always seem to return and find new things to squee about. Everything changes so fast and on the other hand, some things never do. Enough familiarity to return to, but enough novelty to intrigue.

I originally compiled these pictures for The Evolution of an Avatar thread in the SLUniverse Forums, but decided to wait with blogging them until now. They were so perfect for a rez day post.

This pretty much covers the first half a year, easily. The small top one on the left is the very first picture I took. Behold the noobness! I was roleplaying in a Vampire: the Requiem game at the time, so white skin was the obvious choice. When the game ended and I stuck around on the grid, I gradually shifted into an ooc-avatar with a human skin from the same maker (Bodies by Oh!).

I found Sky Everett and became addicted to the hairs. (The top right one is Curious Kitties, though.) I also found Evie’s Closet and added her fantasy outfits into my growing addiction list. I learned to use colours! Gothic colours, I admit, but colours nevertheless. This skin carried me from late 2008 to December 2009, after which I felt like I wanted to update it somehow…

Which I did when I found this skin by Djinn & Tonic. My SL style began mixing vintage and rock moments into the fantasy and goth. I also found bobs by various makers — Lamb’s top left and LOQ Hairs’ bottom left. LeeZu, Miamai and Aoharu got their shares of squees as well as Mandala, who continues to kill me with jewelgasms. The lotus chain bracelet combos are probably the most worn piece of jewelry I’ve worn, ever.

When the tattoo make-up layers became widely available, I began twitching about wanting a skin with less make-up. It took actually months of searching and eventually waiting before the skin I wanted was released. I bought League’s Sia almost precisely a month ago and it still astonishes me with its quality.

I thought that I’d wear more make-up with it even on daily basis, but instead I’m actually really happy with the fresher look. Combined with the bobs that are these days my favorite, it feels like Sonya has grown up.

Picture 1, Bodies by Oh! skin in white: (too long ago for proper credits, but let’s see what I remember) Hairs by Cake, Random and Gurl6 (top left, top right, bottom). Top right: ankh choker by Bastchild, stockings by LaPointe, hand jewelry Celtic Myst, no idea of the rest. Bottom: fur shawl thing by Crave, ankle pearls by Bonita’s and the couch by Relic! …yeah, no idea of the rest.

Picture 2, Bodies by Oh! skin in human pale: Top left: dress by Mimikri, gloves by Atsuki Kayo, pearls by Ztique, rose hat by G Field. Top right: dress & gloves by Discord, jewelry by Perturb/ation. Bottom left: outfit by Cynful. Bottom right: dress by Evie’s Closet, boots by J’s. All the hairs are by Sky Everett except the top right from Curious Kitties.

Picture 3, Djinn & Tonic skin: Top left: hair by Lamb, dress by Miamai, jewelry by Mandala. Top right: hair by Sky Everett, dress by Rotten Toe. Bottom left: hair by LOQ, roses by Sn@tch, fur coat by Aoharu. Bottom right: hair by Sky Everett, jacket & tights by LeeZu, mini skirt by League, hand jewelry by Mandala.

Picture 4, League skin: Hair by Waka & Yuki, eyes by Poetic Colors, dress by Miamai, hand jewelry by Mandala, butterflies with the pose by Lauria, orient express skybox by Blue Sky.

The Same Damn Thing~

…well, this has been probably my most active blogging week ever. Stuff just keeps coming up and demanding to be blogged! Like this one: What if we all wore the same damn thing? – We’d still look different. I love blogger challenges and this one is a tribute to one of the best bloggers I ever had the pleasure to read: Achariya. No, I never met her, but I read her blog all starry-eyed long before I ever considered fumbling with this stuff. I spotted awesome non-mainstream wonders from her blog, enjoyed her writing and admired her imagination and creativity. There’s a hole in the blogverse after she stopped. Sadness.

The basic idea and concept of the challenge is this: “Fashion blogging on SL is about self-expression, not neurotically making sure that nobody else has written about my shirt before.” So, the challenge is to wear the Oxford Shirt by Schadenfreude in your own style. We all wear the same damn thing, but we do it in our own way~

I was so, so sure I’d end up doing a teacher look. Then I was trying on hat-hairs and ran into this subscribo-gift from Amacci, blinked and began digging through my weapons folder. So we have a classic ganster girl instead! The tie is by Miel and I adore the way it’s tossed over the shoulder all casual like. The skirt is by Kyoot, there’s a 50L sale going on for the weekend <3 The gun is by Coco Colonial, I think there was some freebie promo way back in the day in the xstreet of the time. Tights by LeeZu, skin by League, earrings by Kosh.

Skybox by Zacca, wall decal by What Next?, raven paintings by Kosh, absinthe tray by The Fooding and the piano by Glitterati. It had awesome poses, but they didn’t work with the gun, so using one of the gun poses by Niqotine Poses instead.

Keep on eye on this post’s comments, people are linking their own versions of the Same Damn Thing there, so much fun to see!

Pink Bunny Avenger Appears!

…I might have lost my mind. Yes, I’m aware that this is the second post in a row with pink in it. I apologize. See, I was dressing for a costume contest with theme Awesome Anime. I’ve watched a fair share of various animes and am a fan of several series, but for some reason actual virtual cosplay has never been my thing. I rather mix-match my own looks than wear a ready character. So, the thought process went something like this: ‘Hmm, something cute and kawaii, and then make it kick-ass! Innocent face, pink hair, oohh bunny ears! …and lolita dress and then… blood and ridiculously oversized weapons!’ Without further ado, I give you the Pink Bunny Avenger!

And this is only a minimum of weapons any self-respecting anime heroine should have! Battle fans from OMFG, the big demon sword on her back and the katanas on her side from Bare Rose. I haven’t quite figured out what she’ll be avenging, but I’m sure it’s a good cause! Possibly cruelty toward bunnies, like not giving them noms or petting them when they feel snuggly. The horror!

Obviously our heroine has a comfy throne where to lounge in and …waitwhat, are those tentacles? …perhaps I shouldn’t be so fast to use the h-word, maybe… ‘main character’ would work better… *coughs* The throne and the AO with the fitting poses for it is from Creative Insanity (Twisted Hunt prize). The house with obvious after-battle wallpapers is by Sugar.Snap.Me. The pose in the first picture is by Niqotine Poses. The Avenger is wearing a dress from Rotten Toe (only slightly blood-spattered!), socks by LeeZu, shoes by Grim Bros and gloves & bracelets combination from Loulou&Co (Twisted Hunt prize). Skin is the lovely Amaterasu skin from Pink Fuel, the same place the lil white minion bunnies are from, too. Eyes by Umedama Holic, hair by Curious Kitties and the bunny ears with a lovely little cherry blossom by Poetica (Pacific Crisis Fundraiser). Oh, and the cutesy ribbon around her neck is by Nightshade.

So you better be nice to bunnies, you never know who might hear about it if you don’t!