What I wear

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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

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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

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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

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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.

Aysu

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I stumbled over this fabulous updo in a group notice today, and had to do a post featuring it!  It’s FREE for members of Maitreya Gifts, Sales & News.

The hairstyle is rigged mesh and it does not have a resizer, but it fits me perfectly right out of the box.  There are twelve colors available, each as a separate object: two gingers, one black, five blondes, and four browns.  It’s always nice to find a good updo to go with gowns!

Ronwe

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Sandalize always saves me when I can’t find something free to show you!

This dress is a FREE group gift.  Scandalize is L$20 to join, but as I’ve pointed out before, this must be the best bargain on the grid.  As soon as you join you get access to dozens and dozens of high quality group gifts!  Instant wardrobe!

This dress is sized to fit Lara, Freya, Venus, Isis, Physique, and Hourglass.  It has a color HUD so you’re sure to find something that works for you!

Perlla

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This dress is L$1, with no group needed.  It has a minor flaw which I’ve left in the photo below so you can see it, but the issue is actually less noticeable than my photos make it out to be, so for the price, you can hardly complain!

And I really like this light olive color too!  The dress comes with a HUD with six colors in total.  It’s sized to fit Lara, Freya, Isis, Kupra, and Legacy.

Rainn @ Redux 5th anniversary

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Redux’s 5th anniversary event is on until the end of the month, and most creators have a FREE gift available just for joining the FREE event group.

This top and skirt is one of the gifts.

Both the top and skirt are sized to fit Lara, Legacy, Hourglass, and Freya.  The top has a HUD with a further five interesting textures to select from too, so rush over and get yours.

Gianna

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Decoy’s VIP group is L$100 to join, but as an enticement to switch from a subscribe-o to her new update group, Fever Fae is offering a FREE gift in the group notices.  Simply join the new group for FREE and open the attachment in notices to get it.

The dress is only in this single color, and is sized to fit Lara, Lara Petite, Legacy, and Reborn.

Ashlynn

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While I was at Faida the other day, I also picked up this past group gift!  Their group is FREE to join.

I suppose this is a little hallowe’en-y but I like it just the same!  It’s sized to fit Lara, Lara Petite, Legacy, Legacy Perky, Kupra, Kupra Kups, Hourglass, Tonic Minimizer, and Cinnamon & Chai.