Author: blue

Itty Bitty

blue Reviews

To my absolute surprise, a reader of the blog, who I’ve never even talked to in-world, sent me a Maitreya gift card the other day.  She sent me a notecard saying that having read my article “What I wear”, she wanted to say “thank you” in some concrete way, and to let me know that she thinks I’m missing out on a more realistic modeling figure, she said I should use the gift card to get the Petite add-on for Lara.  After sending her a huge “thank you!” in return, I went and got the add-on, although with a certain amount of trepidation.

I like how my body looks, I think I’m nicely in proportion, having based myself on photos of a real life model.  I was worried about how I’d look, how I’d change.  I know I change from human to feline, but both my felines have similar proportions to my human form (the snow leopard wears my human shape, it’s all trickery with skin, paws, and head!).  But this, this was a fundamental change to my body image.

But I was surprised again.  After reading the information that comes with Petite, I added it, leaving my shape the same.  The add-on surprisingly changed the shape of my breasts while only slightly changing their size.  If you want larger breasts with the add-on, it’s possible with the sliders, and I upped my normal number to compensate just a bit.  And again I’m surprised that after all this time being in my shape, a fundamental change immediately looked in proportion and well, just right.  This is probably more of a reflection on how well the Maitreya team have modeled and rigged this than my shape!

Over the last couple of days, I’ve been wearing Petite out shopping and while I’m doing the chores that go along with this blog, just to get used to it.  And I think my reader may have been right.  Looking at models in the real world today, despite the welcome inclusion of more representative models that started happening recently, they are, on average, more willowy that the girl I based my shape on way back in 2014.

So, while I’m sure I won’t be making a permanent switch, it’s nice that I now have the option to show you some clothing being made by some of the top designers thanks to a very generous reader!  I went back through my blog, noting down some outfits I’d listed with Petite sizes so I could find something to wear right away.

In case you’re wondering about Petite, it’s an object that you add while wearing Lara.  It automatically hides the bust of the normal Lara body, and as it’s a Maitreya product, the fit is seamless.  It also comes with a replacement HUD, the three Lara layers to suit Petite (tattoo, underwear, and clothing), and a set of lingerie from Addams.

If you’re offended by partial nudity, click away now…

 

 

Cosmopolitan 10th Anniversary

blue Events, LotD

I can’t believe a year has past since I wrote about Cosmo’s 9th anniversary, and here we are at their 10th!

As usual, most of the creators have gifts available, and you can pick them up just by joining the FREE event group.  This dress is the gift from Varsity.

It’s sized to fit Lara, Legacy, Legacy Perky, Kupra, eBody, and Freya.  It comes with a ten color HUD too.  Run and check out the event!

Mia

blue LotD

This body/swim suit is a FREE gift for members of the Mesh Body Friends group, available at Lexu.

There are sizes for Lara, Alice, Altamura, eBody Curvy, Freya, Isis, Legacy, Legacy Perky, Hourglass, and Kupra, Kupra Low, and Kupra Bimbo.  The outfit it materials enabled and looks fantastic under any form of lighting!

Charlie

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This black brocade and lace dress is a FREE gift for members of the Maitreya Gifts, Sales & News group, available at Maai.

The dress is only sized for Lara.  It has a HUD to allow you to hide or show the lace.

Maye

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Having shown you a past group gift from Blackbird Lace yesterday, I thought I better show you the most recent gift.  Blackbird Lace is FREE to join.

The dress is sized to fit Lara, Lara Petite, Legacy, Legacy Perky, Freya, Physique, Hourglass, eBody, Kupra, Kupra Low, Kupra Bimbo.  The platform heels (far too tall for me!) are included and will fit all the bodies I mentioned.

The outfit comes with a HUD for both the dress and the heels, and has ten colors to choose from.

Normandia

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Here’s a rather daring past group gift dress from Blackbird Lace.  You can get it for FREE simply by joining the store’s FREE group.  And while you’re there, there are a number of other past group gifts available too!

The dress and matching panties are separates.  The dress is sized to fit Lara, Lara Petite, Legacy, Legacy Perky, eBody, eBody Reborn, Hourglass, Physique, Freya, Isis, Kupra, Kupra Low, and Kupra Bimbo.  The panties will fit all the named bodies.

The dress comes with a fifteen texture HUD with various patterns and colors, so you’re sure to find something you like!

What I wear

blue Fashion

It’s been ages since I’ve done a full breakdown of what I wear, I haven’t done one since 2020!  Looking back at posts, you see “Lara, GA EG, Slink, Monso” so often you must all think I’m a broken record 🙂  There’s lots more to my look than just these four of course, so let me explain the bits and pieces that help me achieve the realistic look I’m aiming for.

I use the Lara body by Maitreya.  When mesh bodies first appeared on the scene I demoed every single one that was available.  Back then, for me the choice came down to Lara or Venus by Belleza (Freya and Isis didn’t exist back then).  I chose Lara mostly for the ease of use of the HUD, and because I found I could get the shape I wanted fairly easily.

Even before I went Lara, I had Slink hands and feet.  If you wanted a presentable avatar back in those days, replacing the hands and feet of the system avatar was an absolute must.  Mostly because of the number of nail polishes I have for Slink, I wear them to this day.  I only have Slink High and Flat feet, so I use Lara’s feet for mid heels, which I wear often with jeans and shorter dresses.

Nail polish… special occasions sees me looking for special matching nail polishes in my collection, but for day to day, I wear button #8 from a collection called “Sea Deep”.  I’ve had this polish for ages (since 2015!) and it’s my absolute favorite.

Now for some cringe realism 🙂 I have Lara set to BoM, so I can wear system layer body hair tattoos to give my arms a layer of fine hair.  I can’t get that “smooth as a baby’s bottom” look under my arms in RL without irritation, so I have a tattoo for underarm stubble in SL to match.  As a side benefit, this gives the illusion of actual armpits, which avatars just don’t have 🙂  I also wear an applier on the Lara tattoo layer for visible breast veins which we pale skinned redheads are susceptible to.

And speaking of skin, for the longest time I wore a skin from Lumae called Adore Peach, but because Lumae, while being a fabulous skin creator (and a wonderfully generous person to boot) was never considered a main stream creator, it was always difficult to get exact skin tone matches for applier enabled add-ons.  So, back in 2020, I switched to a skin from 7 Deadly s[K]ins called Genie Apricot, and have been wearing that ever since.

Next, I wear a Jennifer mesh head from GA EG.  Similar to my experience with selecting Lara, I must have demoed over 20 heads.  I’ve detailed my mesh head adventure before, so I won’t repeat all that here.  To summarize, my shape is totally custom, and this includes all the settings for Jennifer.  All my shape settings are aiming for a realistic girl next door look, with certainly nothing exaggerated.  While I think my avatar is pretty (I based my look on a real life model after all) I’m not so outrageously glam that it looks silly.

I wear hardly any makeup, except on special occasions.  My standard look only includes a neutral lipstick from the “London” pack by AlaskaMetro.  I also use some subtle green eyeliner to highlight my eyes, which is done using the “Smoky Eyeshadow” add-on for Jennifer.

My eyes were originally freebies from Mayfly.  Sadly, Mayfly no longer has an in-world store.  But you still can purchase the same eyes on the marketplace.  Eyelashes and eyebrows are both done via the Jennifer HUD.

Hair… oh dear… I have absolutely hundreds of hairstyles, they are one of my favorite things to change my look in SL!  Over the years, I’ve gravitated to a couple of favored creators, chief amongst them Monso and Exile.  I favor short hairstyles because they don’t get in the way of the dress or top I’m trying to photograph for the blog.  It’s not like RL where you can just flip your hair out of the way!  For the longest time I was wearing a lovely bob from Monso called Chahong, until I spotted a girl on a beach wearing this hairstyle and I though to myself “that looks like Chahong, except messier” and I clicked and… Monso!  I ran out and bought Ruda2 right away and have been wearing it for at least the last half year.

Is that it? she asks, checking the “Wearing” tab… It looks like it!

Wait!  I have one tattoo that I wear all the time too.  It’s on my right foot (and only when I’m wearing Slink feet, there’s no applier for Maitreya).  Lilies happen to be my favorite flower.

Here’s a list of all the items I wear on a day to day basis.

Mademoiselle

blue LotD

Here’s another FREE gift I found while looking through the SLF&O gift list.

The top and skirt are separates and both are sized to fit Lara, Freya, Isis, Venus, eBody, Hourglass, Physique.  There’s also a fitmesh for standard avatars.  This outfit is really called Mademoiselle Pink, and this becomes obvious when looking at the HUD, which has six color combinations to select from, the one I’m wearing being the only one that doesn’t feature pink 🙂

The texturing on this is a highlight and I hope you can get an idea by looking at my photos.  I really like subtle patterns like this.

Vera

blue LotD

While I was at Giulia yesterday, I also picked up this FREE gift for members of Maitreya Gifts, Sales & News.

The outfit includes the strappy dress and the boots.  The boots are sized for Lara, Freya, Isis, Venus, Hourglass, and Physique, while the dress is sized to fit Lara, Freya, Isis, Hourglass, and “Original” (which I can only assume is a one-size-fits-all fitmesh).  A six color HUD is included for the dress.

SLF&O HQ

blue LotD

Did you know that the Second Life Frees and Offers group has a headquarters in-world?  If you go there, you can pick up the latest gift list by touching the mailbox located just to the left of the door!  Currently there are about 260 gifts on the list!

Every now and then I browse through the list to see if there’s anything interesting to show you, and this time I came across this dress from Giulia Design, which you can pick up for FREE with the SLF&O group tag active.

There are two versions of the dress in the pack, this one I’m showing you, and one with the white done in semi-sheer lace.  Both are sized to fit Lara, Freya, Isis, Venus, Hourglass, and Physique.