Emilia

Just because Hair Fair is open, don’t forget that the SLB19 Shop and Hop event is still going until the 10th of July too!

Here’s another FREE gift from the event.

This top and skirt are separates and are sized to fit Lara, Legacy, and Reborn.  The outfit also comes with a set of puffy elbow sleeves, which I’ve chosen not to wear.

A HUD is included with four denim textures for the top and sleeves, and four solids for the skirt.

Here’s a list of direct teleports for all creators at SLB19 Shop & Hop, where this gift can be found.


Mix and Match – Kawaii Edition

I have a soft spot for cute… and then I just go nuts and keep tossing things at an outfit to make it cuter, lol

So here I’ve done my usual thing and just gone totally to town with everything except the kitchen sink. This first one is my unicorn look, with three major pieces from three vendors with three different unicorn patterns.

The Hawt jacket from Promagic comes in 30 prints, as singles and a fatpack, and is just for Maitreya mesh. I added some cute lace cuffs from Sweet Thing to it. The jacket fits just right to be worn without a bra or shirt underneath, if you are so inclined (as I am). The skirt is Brianna from CandyDoll, available in fatpacks of 10 solid light colors, 10 solid dark colors, and 30 patterns; or as singles, for all the major mesh bodies. It has a nice cut up one side with a long mesh tie. The shoes/socks are the Smexy Babydoll Heels by Candy Kitten, in fatpacks for 12 solids, and 12 patterns, for all major mesh bodies.

Now if you want silly cute, I got that too! The basis for this one is the Crazy Kawaii outfit from Envious. It is old school, for system bodies, but hey does that stop me? Not on your life! I use all the mesh bits and then add my own mesh top and skirt and there you go, one super silly (but cute) outfit.

The mesh bits of Crazy Kawaii come in five sizes and include the winged headband, arm and leg warmers, hoove boots, and backpack. I supplemented these with an applier top from Butterfly Design’s Pauline outfit; and my fave full perm skirt, Angel from Gunshot. For the latter, I textured it to match the knit pattern of the Pauline top.

To round out this round, here is a sweet-but-not-too-sweet ensemble built around the Celebrity Rebel leather jacket by Dirty Princess. This features exquisite detailing all around, and a proudly open front to display… whatever bra or shirt you might choose to wear. Or not. In this case I chose to wear (barely) one of my full perm bras from Cool Big Bird along with the Angel skirt from Gunshot which I textured to match the jacket’s color and patterns. The shoes are Candy Kitten’s Fairy Princess Heels that include the garters.

The jacket features a texture HUD of 20 pastel colors and a metal changer of silver and gold; it comes for Maitreya, Slink, and TMP mesh bodies. The shoes come with 14 styles in a HUD and are for all the major mesh bodies.

Who’s ready to come do some cute Kawaii-style shopping with me? Cheers!


Do It Yourself Part 1

Lately I have taken an interest in doing clothes texturing, using purchased full perm models that allow one to selectively edit texture faces. While I have pondered selling some of these, which is what most people do who work with the full perm models, so far I have just been tinkering for myself, in order to get unique looks and/or make outfits that reflect ‘me.’  The full perm models are not inexpensive, being in the range of 500L to 1500L typically, as the expectation is that one is selling your new creations and thus eventually recoup your expenditure. However, if the cost does not deter you… follow me on a little path to see what you can do 🙂

For this first installment I will focus on something simple (and very small!). The common component in all of these outfits below is the Angel skirt by Gunshot, which is also a very reasonable 250L. This is a teeny-tiny skirt that really doesn’t cover much at all (which… frankly, was my goal). 😀 Now most people would supplement this with a pair of panties but I chose not to.

The skirt contains three material faces that can each be textured in different ways. They can also be different between front and back but the design of the skirt tends more toward it being the same all the way around front to back. The Gunshot package for the skirt contains models for all of the major mesh bodies as well as four sample textures, a shadow map, and a UV map. All of these latter items can be used in an external graphics program to create your own textures, which can then be uploaded to SL and applied to the mesh model.

In this first outfit, I textured the skirt with an opaque white band around the top, and the two main layers all in lace, to match the lace top and the lace cuffs on the sleeves. This is an example of where I mixed and matched a ton of things, along with the custom pieces, to get just the look I was after, an innocent snowflake faerie (okay, maybe just snowflake faerie…)

For this one I wanted to match the skirt to the top, which is also a full perm model. Before I found the original model, I had purchased a version of it from a vendor who had made her own texture for it. As I liked that shade of blue I wanted to match everything to it, which I did with the Angel skirt and the full perm sleeves from another full perm creator. In this case the top two bands of the skirt are solid, and the small band along the bottom is a lace pattern that matches the lace along the bottom hem of the top.

Another vendor who took the Gunshot Baude top and created a nice texture for it is ArisArisB&W, who applied a pretty denim pattern. I created a matching version for the skirt across all three texture bands.

  • Top: Nicety top by ArisArisB&W (the model is the same Gunshot Baude top as I used in the Snowflake image above)
  • Skirt: Angel Skirt by Gunshot
  • Boots: Tessa Denim Boots by M&M; stockings from applier for Mishell outfit by Brii
  • Hair: Cheri by Dela
  • Accessories: Dragonfly necklace by Pixel Box; Elaine Belt and Garter by Nanika; Armour Waist Chain and Seacrest Waist Chain by La Sirena  (Marketplace store);
    Arm Harness by L’Emporio
  • Pose: THR33 Classics Pose 4 by Lumipro

And finally, back to lace, this time with a rose tint and a slightly Victorian look (is not sure the Queen would approve). Here I used the actual Gunshot Baude top with the Angel skirt, modifying the lace pattern from Snowflake to be a little softer in color (as well as a bit more see through… blushes!).

  • Top: Baude Top by Gunshot
  • Skirt: Angel Skirt by Gunshot
  • G-String: 5K Thong by DB Cultura
  • Boots: Winter Lolita Boots with Socks by Zenith
  • Hair: Heloisa and Bangs Set by Truth Hair
  • Accessories: Jabot collar by Cog & Fleur; Lolita Lace Cuffs by Sweet Thing; Armour Waist Chain and Seacrest Waist Chain by La Sirena  (Marketplace store)
  • Pose: The Irie Series – Four (m) by an lar (closed)

While these examples of re-texturing have been pretty simple, they’ve been fun in allowing me to make things that are just right for what I want. 🙂 In future installments of Do It Yourself I hope to show you some more complex examples.

Back to Photoshop! More lacy and frilly things await! Cheers!


Cleopatra

Among the fun things I get to do in Second Life is be a DJ for Sisters of Eden, a wonderful women’s club. On my weekly gigs I like to always have a theme and build a set decoration, as well as dress appropriately. Today I did a Sands of Egypt theme, and so of course had to do another mix and match (maxing out my attachments *again*).

I’m standing just inside the entrance to a grand pyramid, with steps leading down into the inner depths, where the dance floor awaits!

  • Skirt/arms: Ayanna Silks by RaMp;  Persian Dancer by Belle Epoque
  • Collar: Charm Banshee by Zenith
  • Jewelry: Kary Pasties and Bridget Belly Chain by Avaway; Your Inner Gooddess Arm Bracelet and Choker by Belle Epoque; Vipera armlets by Bliensen + MaiTai; Nipple Chain by Granada; Nubian Divinity Snake Headdress by Soedara
  • Wings: Scarab by Amethyst’s Accessories (Marketplace link)
  • Hair: Cleopatra by DieselDeluxe  (Marketplace link)
  • Pose: The Finnley Series – One by an lar (now closed)

Is that the bell I hear tolling? Is it tolling for me? Eeeeeek!


Mix and Match with Meli

A long time Second Life staple is Meli Imako, a purveyor of full perm clothing items. Most often their products are used as the base for other creators to produce ensemble outfits, adding and changing textures. While that is still their strong suit, recently Meli has been including some pretty decent textures in some of the models as well, allowing them to be used as-is for those so inclined. A very good example of the latter is the Vixen dress, a wonderfully frilly confection:

Vixen is available in five mesh sizes as well as Fit Mesh for all the major mesh bodies, with the hat available separately. Note the Meli Imako does not have an in-world store so all of their products can be found on the Marketplace.

Another good outfit right out of the box is the High Seas Pirate Corset, which is equally at home as a Gothic style Lolita dress. Here is an example of the dress with one of the three included textures, the black:

To add to the atmosphere on this one, I mixed in a chiffon dress held aloft by ravens, from The Dark Swamp. The Meli corset dress is available in five Fitmesh Sizes plus fits for all major mesh bodies and three included textures. And true to the premise that Meli supplies meshes for other creators to adapt, I know that this dress is available in pre-made sets from at least two other vendors: Sn@ocks in five separate colors; and Adris King Designer in an eleven-color HUD. Both use the same basic pattern that comes with the texture set with a few modifications.

Now just because other vendors mod these items doesn’t mean you can’t as well. Here is the same dress with colors I changed using Photoshop and uploading the texture back into Second Life, this time on the happy side of the Disney aisle as Snow White. I added some mesh bows, one for the front and one in my hair, and found nice boots and stockings to go with.

And finally, to show that sometimes just a little bit of modification can give you just what you are looking for, here is the Women’s Cravat Blouse and Corset skirt. I wanted a librarian sort of outfit but one with a little sexy appeal; so I was able to adjust the transparency on the top and add a lacy bra underneath. The outfit is available in five mesh model sizes (not Fit Mesh).

Ready to do a little custom modifications, my sweet friends? Cheers!


Leader of the Band

Well, I have been told I beat to the sound of my own drum…

Today let me show you some cute fantasy outfits with wonderful detailing. Often it is those mesh details that really sell an outfit and make it unique. First up is a great little uniform outfit from Cureless called Rose Duelist, which gives new meaning to the term hourglass figure. In addition to its cute shape, it includes nifty pauldrons with looped cords and a HUD with seven colors for the jacket and separate color options for the collar frill, jacket borders, pocket, underskirt, lapel rose, jewels, cuff base, cuff frills, cuff borders, pauldron jewels, pauldron braids, and the included shorts. Goodness that is a lot of options!

I’ve paired the outfit with a highly detailed pair of boots from C & S called Rubby, which come with a 40-color HUD, along with five metal options. The laces can also be in any of the 40 colors. The boots can be worn as thigh-high as shown here, or the top portion can be removed for a mid-calf look. (I should note that the mesh for this boot is not exclusive to C&S; if you are particularly interested in black, I found a pair of the same boots from Ghee, with a more limited HUD of six colors but a much richer looking leather texture to them.)

  • Outfit: Rose Duelist Uniform by Cureless
  • Boots: Rubby Boots by C&S
  • Hair: Haku by Argrace
  • Pose: The Bella Series – Three by an lar

When it comes to detailing, one of the absolute best is Zenith, who have created a spectacular steampunk ensemble in eight colors. The leggings with the belt-purse are available from their main store; the corset top was a recent event release at We Love Role Play and is not yet in the store but hopefully soon! The perfect matching boots for this outfit were my favorite Xulia’s from FashionNatic.

  • Outfit: Steampunk Corset Armor and Steampunk Waist Pack with Leggings by Zenith
  • Gloves: Criminal Police by Zenith (a gacha item)
  • Boots: Xulia Boots by FashionNatic
  • Hair: Haku by Argrace
  • Jewelry: Ladies Key by Earthstones
  • Pose: Candy Pose 1 by K&S

This last outfit is another extremely versatile dress, which was released by Eliavah for an event and has not yet made it into her in-world or Marketplace stores but is worth waiting for when she does. Everbloom is a sweet corset-style dress  with two HUDs having 33 colors plus 8 metallic shades, with separate color sections for the shirt, corset, skirt top, skirt bottom, and ribbons. I’ve matched it with the Candy Lolita Boots from Candy Kitten which comes in twelve colors via a HUD with separate color sections for the boots, bows, laces, socks, and garters.

Let’s go marching together, my sweet friends! Cheers!


Morning Daydream

Happy Aloha Friday, my lovely friends!  I know, pink normally isn’t my thing, but my wonderful friend Ems got me this lovely dusty rose dress for my rez-day, and I just had to share it with you.  🙂 

I really really love the lacey detail work on the bodice.  It’s perfectly done, and appears to be actual mesh as opposed to a texture done on a mesh panel.  The edges of the lace appear to curl up!

Thank you, Ems, for the lovely gift.  It’s beautiful, and definitely not something I would have ever gotten for myself – but all the more cherished.  🙂

Happy Aloha Friday, my wonderful friends!    Mahalo!  A hui hou!