Nuts in the Boom Room

“It’s your fault!” A high-pitched squirrel shriek wavered in the wind.

“How could I know humans disguise explosives as delicious nuts!” Exclaimed another voice.

“It said they were explosives! It even had a picture of a boom!” Third voice joined in.

“It was dark! …and …and I can’t read! I’m a squirrel!”

“SO ARE WE ALL!” The chorus sounded furious, if screechy small voices could be such.

“She’ll ground you for life once we… you know… hit the ground!”

“No more flying ships and adventures for you-uu!” The chittering sound managed to convey a very strong nyah-nyah tone.

“No more nuts either! Explosive or otherwise!”

“Serves you right, too!”

“Oh for Tesla’s sake: boys, just shut up for a moment.” The human voice sounded more amused than angry, although it attempted to stay stern. “We’re all alive. We’ll land somewhere, get a new ship, I’ll lock up the boom room and no one gets grounded. Although someone might have to be in the coffee delivery duty a few months extra.”

“But for now we’ll fly until we find a good landing spot. In the meanwhile: here, have a nut. A real one.”

The steampunk squirrels and human-sized goggles by Ohmai, boots by Beetlebones and the propeller by *MishMish* are available in Collabor88. The hair by Wasabi Pills is from FaMESHed and the dress by :{MV}: can be purchased in the current round of Genre that is open only few more days, so hurry!

Body: Skin: League – Sia Fair Bloom | Eyes: Poetic Colors – Classic Frozen Silver Bright | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Lipgloss: M.O.C.K. Cosmetics – Clear Lipgloss | Hair: Wasabi Pills – Rene Mesh Hair Night Shadow | Hands: Slink – Avatar Enhancement Hands Casual

Outfit: Dress: :{MV}: – Gearhouse Corsetry Steampunk | Boots: Beetlebones – Fowler Laced-Up Boots Mud | Stockings: League – Ella Stockings Light Brown-Black Garter | Necklace: KOSH – Rapture Necklace | Armlet: KOSH – Rapture Upperarm Bracelet | Ring: KOSH – Auna Ring | Goggles: !Ohmai – Steampunk Squirrel Goggles Human Ver | Propeller: *MishMish* Propeller Copper

Squirrels: !Ohmai – Steampunk Squirrels

The Cottage that Culprit Built…

…and Ely decorated. As most of you might know, I tend to skip to Ely’s sim to take pictures often. Her latest decoration project is a mesh cottage by Culprit, furnished pretty much completely with furniture from the same place.

If you want a closer peek at the cottage and furnishings, check out Ely’s blog post about it, she did a really amazing job at making it all warm and cosy before I arrived with my wintry windlights. If you’re familiar with Unhinged Festival, you might want to know that one of Culprit’s creative minds is Eku Zhong. ❤

The Sister Death makeup by Fallen Gods Inc. is available in the Where is the Concert Hunt 2. The nod toward Death felt appropriate with the delicate skull work of Bonedance necklace by House of Rain.  The necklace, the Eku tank top by Geometry, Sugarskull boots by lassitude & ennui and the special editions of Steph II hair by Alice Project are all available in Unhinged.

Yes, it’s too cold to wear a tanktop, but at least the sea isn’t frozen yet…

Scene: Cottage & Furniture: Culprit

Body: Skin: League – Sia Fair Bloom | Eyes: Poetic Colors – Classic Frozen Silver Bright | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Makeup: Fallen Gods Inc. – Egyptian Makeup Sister Death Eyes | Hair: Alice Project – Steph II Black/Teal

Outfit: Top: Geometry – Eku Tank White | Pants: KOSH – Corduroy Pants Night/Grey | Boots: lassitude & ennui – Sugarskull Boots black greyscale | Necklace: House of Rain – Bonedance Silver-Jet

Poses: Part of furniture | N/A | LAP – BG2-Barbie12 PR4 

52 Colours: Cosmic

For once I did not go straight to scifi even though the name of the colour practically demanded it. Guess Miss Cosmic is an aspiring starlet artist name instead!

The hair was in one of the past 50L Fridays by Wasabi Pills, but you can still get it in their normal colour selections for normal price, of course. The dress is actually the Liaison-chemise by Volstead, available in Cinema that just opened today. Sheer mesh is a wonderful thing, providing allure to less slinky shapes.

The Charleston slippers are also by Volstead, but the Dauphine socks are by Sn@tch. As is obvious by the purple hair, I was not even trying to make a historically accurate look, more like the new coming of the twenties far in the future.

The surroundings are one of the dream scenes by Garden of Dreams, this one called The Piano Bar. The perfect place for scandalously dressed starlets for career-starting! When you go to Cinema, you can find Volstead here. It’s also good to remember to prune down your scripts before going: easier for everyone shopping, yourself included.

Scene: Garden of Dreams – The Piano Bar*

Body: Skin: League – Sia Fair Bloom | Eyes: Umedama Holic – GemStone eye G04 | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Eye makeup: M.O.C.K. Cosmetics – Glitter Pop Eshadow in Plums at Midnight | Lips: Izzie’s – Lipstick plum | Hair: Wasabi Pills – Alice Mesh Hair Licorice

Outfit: Dress: Volstead – Liaison Chemise Plum* | Socks: Sn@tch – Dauphine Socks Black | Shoes: Volstead – Charleston Slippers Plum* | Ring: KOSH – Auna Ring | Hat: World’s End Garden – Romance Le Noir Hat

Poses: Bilo – Ode to Antidote Four | Poise – Burlesque 1 | Bilo – Ode to Antidote Five (Bilo-poses not available yet.)

52 Colours: Feldgrau

Feldgrau, field grey, is usually associated with military uniforms. It’s very dull green, almost grey as the name states and I had trouble finding it in my inventory, especially since I wanted to keep some sort of nod toward military. …yes, it’s a corset. I said a nod, not actual accuracy of any sort!

I tinted the blonde parts of this bob by LaViere to feldgrau, just to have more of the colour in the picture than just some parts of the SAKIDE mesh corset. It was a part of a hunt prize a while ago and I don’t actually know if they have it for sale or not, but it was perfect for this. Speaking of perfect, the surroundings are Kaaos Das Boot U-Boat, which was also a hunt prize from MadPea at some point, I believe.

When I was going through my makeup folder, I wanted to go for that night-time look, even if Eddie Izzard calls it a bit of a slapdash. Combining three different tattoo layers did the trick, I think our U-boat captain looks perfectly believable. In an anime film, mayhaps.

Scene: MadPea – Kaaos Das Boot Uboat Vers6.2

Body: Skin: Glam Affair – Roza Natural 03 D | Eyes: The Plastik – Jerusalem Brown Sea | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Eye shadow: M.O.C.K. Cosmetics – Glitter Pop Eshadow in Livy | Lip stripe: Pin Me Down – Lip Markings 1 | Face tattoo: Zibska – Whee Black | Hair: LaViere – Ambush/Creative Dye Black tip (tinted feldgrau) 

Outfit: Corset: SAKIDE – Army Girl (mesh) | Pants: Sn@tch – Backstage Croc Pants (green) | Boots: lassitude & ennui – Wanderlust Boots black | Gloves: Sn@tch – Finga Gloves (black) | Jewelry: KOSH – Rapture Set

Poses: Amato – pose play 04 & E.inK – fwee4

Crowbar Engineer

If everything else fails, get a bigger hammer. Or a crowbar. Perfect engineering rule! This particular character started with the steampunk bandana by Calico Ingmann Creations, available in Hair Fair. Remember that Bandana Day is on Sunday! There’s a bandana booth in every sim for easy shopping.

The tweed capris and Marching Orders corset are both by Sn@tch, perfect for a tomboy with a feminine twist. I love Ivey’s corsets and the buttons and patterns in this one mixed military order with an extremely cleavage-friendly cut, making it perfect for both posing and ass-kicking.

The Nostalgia-boots are a new release by lassitude & ennui, a more romantic take on the Wanderlust-boots. Girly tomboy to boot. Excuse the pun. The boathouse by Greeny Beetle is from The Rebel’s Playground Hunt, same with the eyes by Rozena, poses by Amato and handwraps by Mulholland.

Now to find out who or what exactly left the door open…

Credits – Scene: Greeny Beetle. – Raven’s Boathouse (TRPH)

Credits – Body: Skin: Glam Affair – Roza Natural 03 D | Eyes: ROZENA – Real Black Eye (TRPH) | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Makeup: La Malvada Mujer – Mechanical and Reasoned 

Credits – Outfit: Top: Sn@tch – Marching Orders Corset Brown* | Pants: Sn@tch – Tweed Capris Brown* | Boots: lassitude & ennui – Nostalgia Boots Sepia* | Bandana: Calico Ingmann Creations – Bandana 2012 Womens (Hair Fair) | Scarf: *Connors* – Scarf and Oops Bob is! | Earrings & Armlet: KOSH – Rapture | Handwraps: Mulholland – Rebel Bandages (TRPH) | Belt: Sweet Leonard & Needful Things – Bloody Skull Belt (Old ZPH) | Crowbar: ^Re.Birth^(from earlier hunts)

Credits – Poses: *.amato.* – pose play 04, 05, 01 (TRPH)

 

 

 

Alice in a Box

Hair Fair will finally open tomorrow (Saturday 14th) to appease all the not-so-patiently waiting shoppers about to tackle the new releases. As you all surely know by now, the fair supports Wigs for Kids and you can see the donation percentages on the booth walls. There’s also the traditional hoards of gifts from the designers, Tessa below from *Alice Project*.

The rest of the hairs are the new releases by *Alice Project*, all available exclusively in Hair Fair for the fair’s duration. If you are truly new to Hair Fairs, it’s always just new releases and for as long as the fair is on, the styles are not sold in the main stores.

Since it’s conveniently Friday, I yoinked things from Fifty Linden Friday: the boxy by Glitterati to provide the poses and background and the adorable vintage-vibed bikini by Adore & Abhor to pose in. Thus Alice in a box, with fittingly lush big hairdos. It was all really like a cutesy old school pin-up shoot.

I used the same skin throughout the shoot, it’s Roza by Glam Affair, available in Collabor88. I changed makeup and eyes depending on the hair, just to show how wonderful and necessary skins with minimal makeup are. These days there’s really no need whatsoever for a skin with makeup, just an excellent base and then plenty of makeup shopping!

Speaking of eyes, most of them I dug up from my endless folders, but these ones are the latest group gift by IKON. If really pale blue eyes are your thing, go join the group!

Sudden change to red! If you’ve never tried *Alice Project* before, you should know that the hairs are base white when put on and then you control the colour change with a HUD. It’s very convenient, works for any mood and you can choose if you want streaks or not.

As for Hair Fair, I recommend joining the demo group and trying out all the hair today in the comfort and laglessness of your own home and having a shopping list ready for tomorrow!

The Hair Fair DEMO Group is listed in search, or you can copy and paste ( secondlife:///app/group/2e30d166-f3e5-e2de-ff72-b3da2d06ded2/about ) into chat and open history to click on the link and join.

Edit: Now that the fair is open, you can find *Alice Project* in Flower sim.

Every picture: Skin: Glam Affair – Roza Natural 03 | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Hairbase: Amacci – Hairbase Tattoo | Bikini: Adore & Abhor – Hot Heat Bikini | Box & poses: Glitterati – Boxy / FLF

First picture: Hair: *Alice Project* – Tessa* | Eyes: Poetic Colors: Summer Breeze | Jewelry: KOSH – Auna Earrings & Ring | Liner: Pin Me Down – Liner 7 | Makeup: M.O.C.K. Cosmetics – Oceans Breeze Heart’s Desire Makeover 

Second picture: Hair: *Alice Project* – Kumi* | Eyes: Umedama Holic – GemStone eye G04 | Liner: Pin Me Down – Liner 5 | Lips: M.O.C.K. Cosmetics – Opal Lipcolor Mocha | Earrings: Finesmith – Noir

Third picture: Hair: *Alice Project* – Namie* | Eyes: Insufferable Dastard – Colors of Fall Brown | Makeup: M.O.C.K. Cosmetics – Ginger Chocolate Makeover

Fourth picture: Hair: *Alice Project* – Helga* | Eyes: IKON – ‘Sunrise’ Eyes Bleached Blue | Liner: Pin Me Down – Liner 5 | Lips: M.O.C.K. Cosmetics – Clear Lipgloss | Bangles: Zaara – Sadaf paua bangles silver

Fifth picture: Hair: *Alice Project* – Hyori (left) & Bliss (right)* | Eyes: Poetic Colors – Summer Breeze | Makeup: M.O.C.K. Cosmetics – Lucid Copper Nights Makeover | Ring: [HANDverk] – Geode Ring

Steam for Five Hundred

There’s another 500L Avatar Challenge going on and they are always so much fun that I had to poke at it. The idea is to make a new avatar under 500L, everything used must be available and accessible now, so you cannot use old hunt prizes and such. The last time I made a sorceress, a goth and a rocker, so this time I focused on steampunk. I like doing something out of the norm casuals for these challenges, because roleplayers need shopping guides, too! The clothes and goggles took most of the budget, but they were so worth it. The pants and the jacket can be found in League’s discount area upstairs and the goggles are by Grim Bros., because you can’t talk about SL steampunk and not mention them. The jewelry by KOSH was just 2L altogether (from their discount basement) and the hair (Exile), shoes (lassitude & ennui) and the lipstick (M.O.C.K. Cosmetics) are freebies. The skin is a group gift by bilo (50L to join the group) and I used it for both characters. The other girl being a more doll-styled gaslight romance heroine. The dress is an old Steam Hunt gift by Orquidea, but fortunately it’s for sale in the shop and thus still available. I love all their hunt gifts, it’s a delightful store. The cutesy ribboned pigtails are a group gift by Lo*momo (group free to join) and I got tattoo lashes by *BOOM* for 25L to add to the skin’s makeup. Eyes are from KOSH’s discount room, just 1L. Speaking of lassitude & ennui, there’s plenty of wonderful footware perfect for steampunk when you’re not trying to build a whole avatar with 500L. These Miss Dandy shoes were very affordable on the Marketplace, though, so both my girls wear Jackal’s things! The stockings are a freebie by *Sheer*. I picked the poses from my regular HUDs, so no guarantees about their prices. The location is of course New Babbage, an excellent stop for a newbie steam personage.

Adventurer Credits: 483L
Shape: self made
Skin: bilo – Pixie (Nasreen Skin Preview) – Group Gift (50L)
Hair: Exile – Eva/blackberry – freebie
Lipstick: M.O.C.K. Cosmetics – Sahne Bitter Chocolate – Wearable Demo
Jacket: League – Leather Jacket (195L)
Pants: League – Wild Angel Leather Pants (125L)
Shoes: lassitude & ennui – Laudanum Shoes black/silver – freebie
Necklace: KOSH – Rapture Necklace – 1L
Earrings: KOSH – Rapture Earrings – 1L
Goggles: Grim Bros. – Sepia Gogglets – 111L

Dolly Credits: 426L
Shape: self made
Skin: bilo – Pixie (Nasreen Skin Preview) – group gift (50L)
Hair: Lo*momo – GroupGift (Apr 2012) – still available, group free to join
Eyes: KOSH – Crystalline Eyes 8 – 1L
Tattoo lashes: *BOOM* – Love my eyes Liner and Mascara medium – 25L
Dress: Orquidea – Steampunk Doll – 200L
Shoes: lassitude & ennui – Miss Dandy Bronze Gears Shoes – 150L
Tights: *Sheer* – Zebra Tights – freebie

Poses: Glitterati – Drink 4 / aDORKable Poses – Love Gun II GroundSit 2 / Art Body Store – My Cute Wings 09 / WetCat – Modeller 4

Crimson Wyrm

I’m sure I don’t have to go into details about why people are so fascinated by dragons, but I did want to mention that one of my favourite dragon versions has always been those who can assume a human form. A human with a dragon’s nature just seems such an intriguing concept. Strength, power, arrogance, greed, vanity, intelligence, experience, cunning… and for this particular shoot, an apple.

The crimson beauty is one of Nomine‘s new limited editions: the wedding gowns in darker colours. I had already forced Sonya (in disguise) through one wedding shoot, so instead I just went and indulged in the glorious gothic wickedness these gowns can provide. If you are so inclined. Obviously they also work perfectly as wedding gowns as well. (You can always turn the groom into a frog and ditch him out the window to grab the kingdom.)

I confess that I went originally for just an evil sorceress look, but since I ended up in Isle of Wyrms to take pictures, the next step in character attitude was obvious. I walked around the cathedral and then fell into a hole. No, there was no white rabbit. Unfortunately. There was, however, a puzzle room! …yes, I had to solve all the puzzles. Yes, I wandered around in underground tunnels for ages, just exploring. So much fun!

There was plenty of water in the tunnels, so I figured the gown got too heavy for her and the hairdo stopped screaming defiance to the skies. Of course I had to show off the lingerie that comes with the gown, although I changed between sets and instead of crimson went for orchid. I am claiming this as a manifestation of her inner dragonfire simmering lower in the cold, yes. Nothing to do with just liking the purple fripperies more!

The gowns were released today, there’s six colours and 12 gowns per colour. They are for sale until the new limited edition outfit comes out or they are all bought, so go get yours today!

Outfit: Nomine – Ariel Wedding Gown Dark Edition; Crimson Gown, Abyss Duster, Orchid Lingerie* | Skin: Glam Affair – Layla Light skin – my sweet vampire D HB | Eyes: Umedama Holic – Gemstone eye g04 | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Hairs: Sky Everett – Rivenspire (1) & Truth – Brenna Raven (2) | Jewelry: *Amaranthus* – Blood Thorn Zirconium/Blood Locket & Poison Ring* (1) & KOSH – Auna Ring (2) | Makeup: M.O.C.K. Cosmetics – Bella Vetro Gloss [Lepore Red] (1), Saffy Violet Lip Gel Redux & Clear Lipgloss (2) | Lace tattoo mask: Izzie’s – Lace Mask Black | Apple: Shade – Hand Apple | Poses: D.Luxx – Vogue 04 / Art Body Store – My Cute Wings 03 / LAP – SU-HandsUp7

Back to the Crypt

The World Goth Fair ends on 31st May and is thus almost over. Just a few more days for the last moment shopping, then it’s time to slink back to the crypt to rest and recuperate.

This necklace by KOSH made me laugh, it’s so perfectly gothy-cutesy. It’s also one thing that SL jewelry has to be for it to work: big. You all know the LOD-issues, which means that small, delicate jewelry — no matter how gorgeous in closeups — pretty much vanishes the moment you are not cammed in on it. Much approval on big show pieces like this.

The Flame mesh corset is by *Perception*, the gloves and the Flirty pants by SAKIDE and the Wanderlust boots by lassitude & ennui. The skin by Pink Fuel is from the Skin Showcase and the Exile hair from the current Dressing Room Blue. I did vamp the skin up with an eyeliner by Pin Me Down, though.

The crypt is of course from *~by Nacht, I swear I could use these settings for all the pictures! The held candelabra is from the gatcha by The Muses; if you get lucky you might win a chandelier, too!

With that I shall leave the gothic heroine to sneak in and settle down for a …nap. Or some such. It’s been good indulging in gothness so much, I hope all of you went and shopped and enjoyed as well~

World Goth Fair: Crypt: *~ by Nacht ~ The Crypt (with candelabra 88 prims)* | Held Candelabra: The Muses – Candelabra Bronze 3 Arm B | Corset: *Perception* – Overbust Corset Flame* | Pants: SAKIDE – Flirty Leather Leggings Black* | Boots: lassitude & ennui – Wanderlust Boots black* | Necklace: KOSH – Demonica Necklace (WGF Edition) | Eyeliner: Pin Me Down – Liner 6*

Skin Showcase: Skin: Pink Fuel – Alena <Sugar> – Classic (dkbrow)

The Dressing Room Blue: Hair: Exile – Late at Night: Raven

Other Credits: Bangles: Mandala – Takara Bangles Buddha Black | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Eyes: Poetic Colors – classic frozen silver bright | Poses: LAP – MS2-Runway19 / LAP – SU-HandsUp4 / Glitterati – Drink 1

Escher in Epoch

It’s been a long time since I’ve been so thoroughly impressed by an event as I am by EPOCH-Legend. The designers have really embraced the three themes — Art of Escher, Beast and Clowning — and produced things that stand out. Art, quirk, quality, strong points of view. All four areas are worth visiting for the builds alone and once the sims get slightly less populated, they are going to be wonderful places for taking pictures in. I also love the way they made a handy window-shopper blog of all the things.

My first purchase that I knew I simply had to have was nordari.’s ratio fractus. The white surfaces, the water areas with random little boats, the Escher-stairs — a building taken apart and put randomly together again. Surreally fantastic and so very fitting in SL. Virtual worlds do not have to mimic our own reality, after all. I wish more designers did work that reminds us of that.

The second must-have was these Escher-tights by ISON. I fully admit that this photoshoot is pretty much about the tights. They weren’t so promising as a vendor texture, but the moment I saw someone wearing them and how they worked on an actual avatar, my jaw dropped. The rest of the look is built around them, keeping things simple not to clash with them or become too much, but playing a little with greyscale and strong lines.

The Metamorphosis-dress by Epoque is also from the event. I was tempted to buy it in another colour to show off the texturing better, but I knew this one I’d actually use a lot. You can never have too many well-made short black dresses, after all. Quick note about the star-make-up: M.O.C.K. Cosmetics has a fun fantasy make-up gatcha going on, feel free to bankrupt yourselves! I know I did.

 

EPOCH-Legend Event: Building: nordari. – ratio fractus | Dress: Epoque – Metamorphosis Minidress Noir | Tights: ISON – Escher Sheer Tights

Skin: League – Sia Fair Bloom | Eyes: Poetic Colors – classic – frozen silver (m) bright | Lashes: Redgrave -39- Luscious | Hair: Thea Tamura Fashion – AMORE – Pure/Confused – Hat w/Hair | Armlet: LOULOU&CO – Bracelet Willow | Ring: KOSH – Flaming Heart Ring | Shoes: Gallactic – Aphelion Graphite Booties | Make-up: M.O.C.K. Cosmetics – Aos Si Stars White Lip 1 & Opal Lipcolor Chalky [Lip 2] | Poses: DARE – Field Flower / [MAGIC NOOK] – Natural / E.inK – Headphones/Music 2