It's coming up to Christmas, are you ready for it?
The start of December signifies a very big change in all of the shops in Second Life - the Christmas sales! And, of course, all of the designers start making clothes and outfits specifically for Christmas to bring us all a little bit of festive cheer.
So let me share with you a couple of things I found around the stores that are perfect for the wintery weather this Christmas.
First let me show you the new Christmas items from Exodi. Specifically for this Christmas, Ms Beck has created some lovely little items for sale. In the picture above you can see the Exodi Unisex Mini Santa Hat and Melted Snowman cookie. These two can brighten up any outfit, giving a festive feeling with additional cute factor.
Next is what we will call Winter Outfit Number 1.
This outfit consists of a couple of my favourite wintery items from Fishy Strawberry and Surf Couture.
The Top - Fishy Strawberry Oversized Cardigan Brown
This cosy looking top is one of the latest releases from Fishy Strawberry. Coming in a variety of colours, the majority of the shape is made up with prim attachments, coming to a total of ten. The quality of the texturing itself is good and the prims run smoothly into the rest of the texture, making for a very professional looking cardigan.
The size of the cardigan makes up for the fact that you can't fit anything else on - unless you wear trousers on the underpants layer! Although wearing nothing else you still look cosy and warm, with just that little hint of sexy.
The Boots - Surf Couture Elsa Boots Stjordal
These boots are now one of my favourite pairs. Coming from Surf Couture, this particular pair came as a special from the Fifty Linden Friday group. However, instore these boots are available in a wide range of colours at a very reasonable price.
The quality of the boots is outstanding, with the ability to change the colour of two sections of the leg warmer once bought. They have a realistic leather and wool appearance and the prims fit nicely together.
Definitely a buy not to be missed. Especially right now, in which Surf Couture have currently got a Christmas sale on!
And now onto Christmas Outfit 2. This outfit is made up of items from Emjay, Argrace and Kitties Lair - a store I have just discovered with some lovely shoes.
The Top - Argrace "Joy" Black Ladies
This coat is one of the cosiest I have seen on Second Life so far. With a lovely puffer effect and a gorgeous fluffy hood, this is the ultimate Christmas coat. It comes in a variety of colours with a variety of different options for wearing, including different attachments for the hood and a long and short coat option.
You also get the option of wearing the sweater - that you can see in the picture above - or not. If you decide you'd like to wear the sweater, it is built into the jacket layer with the rest of the coat. However, this means that other tops can fit easily into this outfit to add a different flare or taste to the whole outfit.
The Trousers - Emjay Super Dark Jeans
Made to a very high quality, these jeans come as a variation of many of the Emjay jeans. They have additional prim cuffs which fit smoothly into the rest of the texture and leave a very smooth, professional appearance.
As you can see, there are a number of ripped sections within the jeans, leaving a peek of sneaky flesh showing through from underneath. A lovely, high quality piece of clothing suitable to wear with any outfit.
The Boots - Kitties Lair Boots Venice Black
Stunningly elegant and well textured, these boots add a little finesse to the entire outfit, with realistic leather texturing and lovely small tassles hanging from the back of the calves.
This is the first pair of shoes that I have bought from Kitties Lair and I must say I'm impressed by what I see. The texturing and prim work is professional and good looking with the prims lined up nicely so that the two textures blend smoothly into one another.
The Accessory - Amerie Umbrella Black
Last but most certainly not least is this lovely umbrella that I picked up from Amerie. The shop was a chance find, but I'm glad I did. The texturing itself is lovely, very detailed with a nice delicate feel to it, making this umbrella most definitely a ladies umbrella.
Adding to the elgant feeling of the boots, this umbrella is ideal for rainy days and emphasises the feeling of winter, giving your avatar something to protect them from the rain or snow!
A little bit of festive clothing...
Exodi Sneaky Peek
Whether you know about the much awaited release of the newest Exodi skin or not, you should understand that this is an exciting prospect. All of the Exodi skins up to now have been of a top quality, with some beautiful makeup and shading, making an avatar look stunning.
Well, the Sienna skin is no disappointment! Due to be released on the 5th November, this skin is available in four different skin tones, with the biggest range of makeups I have seen. Each tone and makeup option has a cleavage enhance and freckles option, along with the option to have light or dark eyebrows. Altogether, this has got to be one of the most option packed skin that I have seen up to date in Second Life.
Above you can see a sample of each of the four different skin tones, each with individual makeups. The muscles definition and shadowing of this skin is delicate and toned, leaving the shape of the avatar looking slim and elegant. The makeup options themselves range from dazzling colourful eye shadows to wonderfully dark, smokey cheeks and lips.
I love the new option for cleavage, it's stunning and should get all the guys running in flocks! Suitable for tight tops and lingerie, it's perfect for showing off the female body and flaunting what you've virtually got. The freckles available in another option are delicately placed around the nose and add a feeling of innocence to each variation of skin.
A beautiful product and something that Ryker Beck should be very proud of.
However, this is not the only thing that Exodi will be releasing!
There is a new line of eyes coming out too!
Coming in five different colours, the 'Look into My' Eyes are available in Natural (featured here) and also in Tropico. Each of the different colour options in the packs comes with the options of veins or no veins and the veins option is scarily real. The images seen above show a copy of the veined eyes, and the thing that really hits me whilst looking at them is the realistic shine and shading on the left hand corner.
Definitely worth investing in to go along with your new skin!
New Furry!
Ok, so I have neglected my furry posting for a while so I thought I would show you the latest furry avatar that I've found and one of my firm favourites.
May I introduce to you, the Ringtail by the same people who made the Kani - shown earlier in the blog funnily enough.
I love this avatar. Going at a reasonable price of 800L, it comes in a variety of colours ranging from neutral tones to the more wacky bright colours. The texturing is of a lovely high quality, with a feel of shiny fur and lovely shiny eyes. The eyes are something that I am going to point out in particular as they are made seperately from the rest of the skin, with a lovely glossy three dimensional feel to them, they are fully customizable and give the user the option to change any colour of any part of the eye.
There are some lovely little additional textures on this avatar, coming with a lovely feathered fur detail on the heel and end of the tail, which adds a little shape and more fluffiness to the overall avatar.
The only problem that I did have - though this is a personal problem for me and does not deduct anything from the avatar itself - is that the tail is non flexi and moves a little awkwardly with the rest of the avatar as the hips wiggle. However, the avatar is flexible enough to fit with other tails, should you wish to find one, and the texturing of the default tail itself is very detailed, leaving this down to personal preference rather than lack of quality on the designers behalf.
The avatar does come with a very small tuft of hair - not shown in the picture - which tells the user to go and buy some proper hair. However, even without any hair I feel this avatar looks very cute and adorable, with lovely smooth joins between texture and prim.
Exodi: A Quest for Flesh
So, autumn has set in and Halloween is nearly here! Are you ready for it? If not, why not?
Well, to get you started on your costumes for the day let me show you the latest hunt from Ryker Beck at Exodi - A Quest for Flesh. Based entirely around Halloween, this hunt is based around a specially made village, with a number of small little cottages and numerous places for Halloween style pictures.
And, of course, there are the prizes. In total there are 23 possible prizes from this hunt, featuring eight male skins, nine female skins and six pairs of eyes! Each of these prizes is specially made up for Halloween and will be placed in the Exodi store after the hunt ends on October 26th, until the start of November - except for the Doc Manhatten.
Being the lovely blogger that I am, I thought I would give you a sneaky peek at the lovely sim and, of course, some of the prizes - namely the female ones.
The Prizes
The first set that I would like to show to you contains the Vamped Skins and the Bloodshot Eyes, both available for female and male avatars.
The skin is deliciously pale, with the luscious blood red lipstick being perfect for that of a vampire. The additional touch of a drop of blood running down the chin of the female skin - on the male version the blood splatter is slightly different and adds a little more variation - is a lovely touch and adds a slight touch of gore whilst still being oddly glamourous in that vampiric way.
The eyes are a matching deep red, with a certain deep feel to them. This skin can also be nicely paired with the Trapped in Amber to give that glowing, straight from Twilight, look. DO you want to be a Cullen? These eyes are perfect for you.
The second set, and personally my favourite, is the Death Becomes skin paired with the Bewitched eyes - which I haven't actually shown in this picture so you'll just have to imagine them!
The skin is available for both female and male, and comes in all of the colours under the Nazareth and Lily skin sets. The beauty of this skin comes from the makeup, with some lovely powdering really highlighting the cheek bones, and the lovely dark eye makeup with a gothic teardrop underneath both eyes. And I love the black lipstick - it's not often I go for the really dark lipstick but this really adds to the feel of the set.
The eyes are a really deep purple colour, with a lovely light shining in them, giving the wearer a distant but deep look - as though thoughtful. A lovely pairing with any black or white hair, which provides a lovely contrast to the dark colours of the skin.
This skin is perhaps one of the more 'freaky' of the prizes, featuring split eyes and wide gaping gashes and holes in the back and front. The pale tone of the skin gives a sickly appearance and really adds to the overall feel of the skin. The texturing is of a very high quality and this one would definitely be an effective costume to be worn on Halloween.
The eyes I have paired with it are Made of Glass, which are pale white and almost glowing - giving the impression of there being no iris there and further adding to the spooky appearance of the whole outfit.
One of the prettiest sets from the prizes is the Doc Manhatten set. Available for both men and women, this set of skin and eyes both seem to have a glowing quality, giving the wearer a mythological and insightful appearance. I love the eyes, which are specifically made for this outfit and have a lovely pearly appearance with no hint of an iris or pupil. This adds a slight sppoky touch to the outfit, yet it still remains elegant with that lovely pearly tone coming through.
Last, but definitely not least, is the Burn Victim skin along with the Melted eyes.
I think this is another slightly freaky one. The skin is available for both men and women and portrays the human body without any skin, allowing the muscles to be shown and featuring a bright red colour. The outline of the muscles and sinewy texturing is wonderfully detailed and definitely effective.
The Melted eyes, in a similar way to the Doc Manhatten eyes, seem to have no pupil or iris, this time seeming to have been melted away in the fire. As a result, there is a soft, pink/orange colour in the centre of the eyes, adding a little variation and contrast to the Doc Manhatten ones, and giving that effect of fire in the eyes.
So there you have it. A sneak peek of a very detailed and well thought out hunt. And it was opened up to the public today! Interested? Get yourself down to the Exodi Quest for Flesh Hunt
Oh, and enjoy the candy!
The Faun
Ready for my very first post on a new hybrid avatar that I'm trying out?
May I present to you the faun avatar.
This one, specifically, is from Titania's Court and made by Riann Maltese. This is the first time I have encountered Riann's work and I am very glad that I have.
The avatar pack comes with a faun shape, the legs, the ears, the tail and the horns and is available in a number of different colours. Out of the possible complete outfit, the image above is missing the horns, ears and the additional shape, making way for the outfit which I shall explain about later.
The texturing and prim work of this avatar is stunning. I love the smooth transition between the human skin and the fur, then going smoothly on to the transition between texture and prim. There are some lovely little 'fluff' details on the knees and ankles and the tail has a delightful little wag every random moment - or when someone clicks on it.
Although I did not use the shape provided with the avatar, my original shape fitted nicely - though the legs needed shortening to level out the proportions. The shape provided features a short, curvy womanly body and is a good shape to compliment the prims. The horns are the classic goats horns, curving back over the head in a graceful dark grey arch and the ears are furry and project out sideways from the head in a cute manner.
On to the outfit - which is the best I have seen for a faun and has been made to a very high standard. Coming from Illusions, the Hedera Silks set comes with an abundant amount of options, giving you a top and bottom, along with additional prims that could almost cover the entire body in vines. As this avatar already has the additional leg prims and textures some of the prims and textures within this outfit are rendered as useless. However, it is still definitely a good buy.
The prims fit nicely around the shape of the body, with the head prim leaving a good amount of space in order to fit most hair styles under it easily. The loin cloth has two different options, giving the user the ability to select which body part it is attached to, in order to make room for any other additional prims.
The texturing, again is of a very high quality, giving a nice smooth appearance of leather and allowing the outfit to look suitably down to earth and yet beautiful at the same time.
Definitely a good buy for any fauns out there!
Also seen in this image:
- Exodi Lily Dove Blame LtBrow Faded
- Exodi Elemental Eyes Water Light
- Truth Hair Romy - Burgundy
Fishy Strawberry's New Fall Items
Now autumn is coming up, I thought I'd invest in some new clothes for the cold weather.
And so, I came across some of the new stuff that has been recently released by Fae Eriksen at Fishy Strawberry.
Outfit One - Lucille Oh'Doll Dress
As soon as I tried this dress on I fell in love with it. Depending on how you wear and what you wear it with this dress can look incredible cute, or deliciously sexy. The shape of the top section doesn't leave much to the imagination, being cheekily low cut and with an open back. However, you find that it's not too much, just cheeky enough but not too far. The large poofy skirt sections compliments this to a tee, giving some nice shape to the dress and also introducing the cute element to the outfit.
The texturing is of a very high standard, with no apparent seams or glitches and a nice smooth join between the main texture and the prim section. There is a nice little detail on the shoulders which shows the straps falling slightly off the shoulder and hanging around the upper arm. This adds to the loose, light feel and texture that the rest of the texture puts across, showing no signs of any stretch or tight fitting.
Outfit Two - Equinox Jeans
The second new item from Fishy Strawberry that I am going to show you are these lovely new jeans, Equinox. Coming in a variety of colours, charcoal shown above, they go with pretty much any outfit and have a crumpled, relaxed looking prim at the bottom which fits nicely over flat shoes.
The texturing is, again, to a very high standard with some lovely shading around the bum and a smooth join between the main texture and prims.
Definitely the perfect jeans for a casual day out.
Taboo Paris Rose Edition Shoes
One of my latest discovered shops is Taboo, owned by Siam Quan. When I went there the other day it was only meant to be a quick fly by visit, but I ended up spending!
May I introduce to you the Paris Rose Special Edition shoes.
This is the only pair of shoes I have seen in Second Life that are like this. Controlled by HUD, the wearer is giving the option to alter the skin tone, turn sound on and off and resize the shoe. There is also the option to choose between a long shoe which goes higher up the leg, or a shorter shoe where the plants concentrate around the ankle.
The texturing is of a high standard and, from my experience, the tinting is easily done. In fact, for me, these were impossibly easy to tint to my skin tone - I just wore them (matching up to Exodi Lily Dove) and they matched perfectly.
The only slight disadvantage is the lack of ability to change the colour of the nails, however the original colour is a neutral tone, allowing it to match with any outfit.
These shoes are pretty, unique and look natural, whilst still being seriously stylish. Love them.
Note: Sorry I've just found the feature to alter the colour of the toe nails and rings!