Second Style Magazine

Tomorrow, February 2, at 1pm SLT/PST or 10pm GMT+1 Simonh Sandial, a new italian designer, will present his first collection to the public. Simonh and location owner Ecxcellent Yost  would like to invite you all to attend this maiden event. Being RL from the romantic city of Verona, Simonh says he wants to put the magic of his home town in his designs. The venue will take place in Legenda, a new Italian sim. I suggest you IM Ecxcellent for a TP shortly before the start, or use the co-ordinates below to get there.

Legenda (191, 70, 44)

Meeting Kit Maitland yesterday at a crazy game of ACRO in one of SL’s friendliest bars, I suddenly remembered that I had been struggling in my studio (sounds negative, but I’m just not much of a photographer) to make some nice pics of her recent releases for this blog. As stated previously things have been rather hectic lately… so using Update Wednesday to do a little catching up on things, and Kit’s pics instead of my own.

Kit has been working some psychedelic, hypnotizing texture into an outfit called Assimilate…. all resistance is futile, every objection irrelevant…. this is soooo gogo, you just need to wear it to get this 60’s feeling and get into the Mary Quant mood. This top will catch everyone’s eyes and turn them into powerless objects… have them eat lemons believing it’s pineapple . The sheer shirt is fun to wear with other things too… Í’ve been playing with it for quite a bit. The total outfit is cute, but for me a little too much…. I rather wear the stockings with a black outfit for a more existentialist look, but the total pack offers lots of possibilities to mix and match which I positively adore.

At the same time she released another outfit which is totally different from the previous one.Kit states on her blog:

“So then in my b/w frame of mind…I started thinking about this dress with an inverted V bodice…white on top…black on bottom…and then it sort of evolved into what I have here…which is a set that includes a cpl different skirt styles…a top with or without the sheer lower portion…some leggings…foofy sleeve ruffles…kinda girly and fun and versatile. Sometimes I just make outfits and kinda keep thinking…’Oh that would be nice…and THAT would be nice…’…and before I know it…BOOM…cajillion pieces. But I like to mix & match things from different designers…so hopefully the versatility is helpful. I decided to call this one ‘Harmony’. Not sure why…I just liked it. “

Need I say more, cute and girly… love that.. versatility… my middle name lately. Cajillion pieces? The more the merrier! Love this piece. Sorry for not having blogged these before.

CKS design is  located in Selby 33, 31, 58

Seen in world: yes

Review copy: no

Friends list: no

Finally it seems that designers have picked up the desire from many women in SL to provide us with classy business style outfits. Pukk Abel with her First Impressions does a great job, and many others have more or less recently released outfits that I wouldn’t mind wearing to my RL job.

Sachi Vixen from Adam n Eve is on a pro style flow. Yesterday Sabrina over at Linden Lifestyles blogged a cute looking business outfit from Sachi (http://lindenlifestyles.com/?p=351) and to my pleasant surprise, not long after reading that Sachi dropped me another perfect office outfit. Sometimes you see something that makes you want to drop everything you are busy with and go after it… well…. this is it. As soon as I saw the picture on the box, I rushed over to my modelling table and shot some pics.

This plaid outfit is Elegant, yeah, Elegant with a capital E. I love the ankle long flexi skirt, the cute top and panties that make a sassy lingerie set (who says it’s all about decency in the office…. spice it up) and the slacks that are so well drawn. Now that I think of it… too bad the grid is down… I would have liked to show it to you with Caroline’s double pearl strand which I blogged a couple of days ago, or with some Other nice accessories, but ok.. I might just add that later…. for now… this is it.

Credits will have to wait too…. I came home late today, my car broke down, and I really don’t remember what skin I put on last night to make the pictures.But then again.. now that I look at the pics… hair is The Chignon in Smoke by ETD, and the skin is my trusted Alina singles fair, natural beauty by Naughty Design. The shoe’s are Sylfie Minogues. That covers about it.

Adam n Eve is located in Genesis… I’m sure that you’ll be able to look that up in search…. if update aftermath permits us

Seen in world: yes

Review copy: yes

Friends list: yes 

Real Life has been pretty intense lately, so that’s why I get to look only now at something Jolie Lumiere dropped on me more than a week ago… so… not really a new release anymore, but still the most recent at Jolie’s Boutique.

This meditteranean gown is called Flamenco. Well… gown…. the outfit comes fully equipped with a full length, a medium length and a mini skirt as well as a poofy full length skirt to wear it as a ball gown, so it’s really up to you how to wear it. I prefer the full length of which the prim skirt moves gorgeously around your body when you walk. It makes me want to dance the flamenco, so if there is any animator in SL who can provide me with such a dance… please let me know.

Ok, back to the gown. Jolie has released in three stunning colours, the passionate red that I’m wearing, a deep blue and a lovely violet that is shown in the ad that I’ve included. Whe you take a close look at it you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the subtlty of the lace trimming at the skirt and the prim ruffles at the sleeves. The fabric shines, but not too much.. it just gives the impression of a very rich very luscious satin. All with all an outfit that is worth havind in your stuffed inventories. Btw, the medium skirt looks also very cute with a black top and some good boots and the top is just too cool on a pair of tight jeans.

Jolie’s Boutique is located in:  Topgol 185, 140, 53

In this picture: skin by Gala, Sun Kissed-Mod Lips Sanguine, hair Snood black by Rita Groshomme (available at Gala), earrings by Yummy

Seen in world: yes

Review copy: yes

Friends list: no

Rebel Hope posted a note on her blog that she’s holding a half-off event right now on selected styles as she and RH prepare to rebuild their stores. She writes:

We are preparing for a complete island rebuild in the next few weeks and wanted to pass on some savings to our faithful customers and ring in the new year with a half off sale. This sale is on all red tagged items and no refunds will be issued for sale items. Some items will be retired at the end of the sale and the others will remain at the sale price or go back to original price.

Sounds like there might just be a few weeks left to take advantage of this sale, so stop by and check it out.

Nicky Ree also sent me this ad about her new swimwear and the sale she’s holding from now until the end of February. These are cute bikinis and casual coordinating pieces in a huge array of colors which can you check out by visiting Nicky’s blog here. She writes:

The new swimwear and casual dresses will be at 25% discount from today till the end of Feb. These new items are MOD & TRANSFER, so you can buy that sexy item as gifts.

I will be adding more stuff for the Guys during valentine Month, so do check my blog and Deco for new updates in a couple of days time.

Nice that these are mod/transfer, because normally Nicky sells her items as no transfer — they’d make a nice gift. (And since I’m on the topic of Valentine’s Day, I will also tell you that we have some stellar looking lingerie featured in Second Style #7 — which should be published around the 14th of February.)

Torrid Midnight, of Torridwear wrote on her blog over the weekend:

I’ve decided to reduce the price of every clothing item in the TorridWear line (not Iki or The New Zero) to L$50 or below permanently. I feel like this is best because I’m no longer devoting my time to creating fashion. If I ever go back to designing again one day, I’ll create an entire new line seperate.

For cute casual essentials and some really fun skirts and dresses, Torridwear is still a great place to shop — especially if you’re just getting started out in Second Life.

I have been on a Luth Brodie pose kick for the last little while (you may have noticed her mentioned in picture credits on my last few posts.) When my parcel mate and I moved to a larger space, she decided to buy new poses for her modeling studio. “Where should I shop for poses?” she asked me. And I responded, “Reel Movement.” So we have two dozen new Reel Movement poses in the modeler which makes me a very happy Celebrity indeed.

So when Luth dropped this new pose set on me, it was a lot of fun to think about how I might choose to photograph them. This set, entitled “RAWR” even comes complete with the classic “We can do it!” Rosie Riveter pose. Rawr is a collection of 11 very forward and fierce poses. Some of them would look awesome in an animation override as a stand pose, others would just make really strong photography subjects. The way the body language is composed in these poses is really strong, independent — nobody’s little girl, in short. If you’re looking to inject a little sass into your Second Life, you’ll have a lot of fun finding ways to put these poses to good use.

Seen in world: Yes
Review copies: Yes
Friends list: No

When Sylfie Minogue opened her new island sim she gave me an opportunity to have a sneak peak of the landscaping and the store design — and she was wearing this fabulously high fantasy inspired outfit by Solange Cerveau. Called Shiva, after the Hindu god, this outfit could be described as a silk, but her broken chains at neck, ankle and cuffs seem indicate that she’s no one’s servant. (In fact, you may find Sylfie wandering her sim wearing a bow and quiver fierce enough to make Artemis envious.)

Shiva is available in 8 different colors (Sylfie and I are wearing the black and the opal versions, respectively) and it’s a HUGE maxi-set of options. At first, I felt a little overwhelmed — there are 32 pieces in total, with 6 different prim skirt attachments alone. There’s also an available Shiva cloak which looks amazing in my drow skin (but that’s a picture set for another day ). As Solange writes in her blog post about this outfit:

[T]his outfit says I’m strong, I’m sexy and mess with me and I’ll give you a whole world of hurt. It could also be worn as a slave silk but the cuffs on wrists and ankles include broken chains so in my book this girl can’t be tied down! … I put a ton of work and a ton of detail into this one…

A little later Solange says that the box picture doesn’t really do this outfit justice and I completely agree with that. When I dropped some “proof” pictures on Solange a few nights ago, I think her boy just about had a heart attack from the sheer amount of sexy we’d packaged into one picture. Solange said we looked “feral” and I totally agree with that adjective — mrow!

But Shiva isn’t the only new delectable new outfit at Solange. Check out Gunslinger — which has seperately sold hot hot boots in both white and black. (Read more about Gunslinger and the boots here on Queenie’s blog.) (Gunslinger boots also rock with the Shiva outfit too!) I think the corset in Gunslinger is probably one of the best authentic looking photosourced corsets I’ve seen in Second Life. And I love the little lace ruffle prim that Solange created as an accent piece. Gunslinger has three different skirt options and two differently sized bullet bandelero belts to sell the impression you’re going to hit them with your best shot. (Also, as promised, I’m wearing the Cake skin in the Gunslinger photo.) One other great feature about the Gunslinger outfit is that it has a menu driven color changing feature. Just click on the prim pieces and then choose the color from a menu — and presto it’s been modified. You can even modify the clothing textures — so you can mix and match colors as you desire.

Seen in world: Yes
Review copies: Yes
Friends list: No

In the Shiva photos: skin: Hyperfusion (Glamour) by Storma Amarula, X2; skin sheen: Nyoko’s Body Oil by Nyoko Otamu; hair: Ember (ivory) by Calico Ingmann, Calico Creations; outfit: Shiva (opal) by Solange Cerveau, Solange Fashions; shoes: Hope (white/silver) by Sylfie Minogue, Sylfie’s Prim Seduction

In the Gunslinger photo: skin: SunKissed (Heather) by Stumbelina Ophelia, Cake; hair: Party Girl III (sanddollar) by Lost Thereian, Naughty Designs; outfit: Gunslinger (black) by Solange Cerveau, Solange Fashions; boots: Gunslinger (black/silver) by Solange Cerveau, Solange Fashions

With the current discussion on this blog about the market value of the work of top designers and the used methodology in the research, one might think fashion in Second Life is getting an expensive thing. Well, here is my opinion to it… you spend as much money as you would like to spend and not a cent more…. either on a whole bunch of items or just on a couple. Raising prices will affect consumer behaviour in Second Life. But I really do not want to enter in this discussion or my second life would be approaching my real life way too much…. my second point is the main topic of this post: cheap clothing is available and can be cute too!

In a small shop in Italian sim Parioli I found quite cute clothing for as little as L$ 65-L$ 75 per set. Giovane Amore is the name of the brand and if you are new to Second Life, or when you just don’t want to spend much money, this is a very good place to find really fine bargains. Like for instance this jeans and jacket set Honey. Ok, these clothes are not hand drawn, but they don’t look overly photosourced too. The jacket has quite a cute texture and is nicely designed. The jeans is just very classic and can be worn with basically anything.

The second set is Cargo… a simple, and thus versatile, black cropped shirt with a pair of sassy camouflage workers. I would like to tell you something about the rest of the look too as I’ve been trying too look as good as possible for as little money as possible. THe hair in all pictures is from ETD. Elika Tiramisu has 2 hair packs in her shop that are heavily discounted and they have a great variety in colours in each pack. The whole lot is available for as little as 10 L$. The skin is Gala, Sun Kissed Peach. It’s not cheap compared to the rest of the items in this entry (L$ 500), but being from the permanent discount corner of the shop, it comes 50% off the normal price Gala charges for a single skin. And the skin being the basis of your look… well… it’s worth a little investment. Sabrina from Linden Lifestyles has done a nice review about Gala skins some time ago (http://lindenlifestyles.com/?p=158). However there are other nice skins available in SL that will cost you less.

The third set I want to share with you is a real bargain… it consist of as much as 7 different components for a large variety of outfits. A black skirt, as well as the shown bandana fabric one, this top with the sleeves just over the shoulders, a strapless top and a long sleeved one. This all, plus matching panties and fishnet stockings and you can change your look over and over again.  Great value for money over all. Oh… btw… the shoes are from Starley Thereian… not particulary cheap, but they go with just anything… so buying one pair, you can survive at least your first month in Second Life without feeling awkward about your feet. Remember to put your feet to size zero in appearance mode for a good fit of prim shoes in general.

Giovane Amore is located in Parioli (82, 155, 40)

Seen in world: yes

Review copies: no

Friends list: no

Pukk Abel of First Impressions — a designer specializing in sharp professional but feminine business fashions sent me a note about the grand opening of her new store with her new business partner, Irelyn Christensen on January 27th starting at 3pm SLT. The schedule of events includes

3:00-4:00- Dancing and Games– Come dance and play “Pick Up Line” and “Balderphobia” with us! A blast for all! While you are hear enjoy the random prize and money giver.

4:00-5:00 Spaceman Opus Concert– Spaceman will grace us with the honor of his performance. We are sooo happy to have him! Come check him out. Still giving out prizes and lindens!

5:00-6:00- Roller Skating Party–IndustriElle has always been a fun place to skate. Join us for the jump contest and skating on the quarter pipe. DJ Eudyptes will be spinning the 80’s tunes for us. Prizes and lindens to be won! We will also have a photographer onsite, so come for a complimentary professional photograph!

Sounds like fun! Good luck with the new venture, Pukk and Irelyn.

I decided to spice up my shoe collection and headed over to the Second Life forums to see what was up. Imagine my delight when I saw that Fallingwater Celladoor of Shiny Things–SL shoe designer extraordinaire–had revived the very first shoe she created more than one and a half years ago. It’s a vampy little t-strap–the only kind of t-strap that matters–and as Fallingwater says, her skills have come a long way since then. Lucky for us! I love the sturdy, well constructed but sexy look and feel of her shoe designs. Details are placed very precisely, and they always fit, just-so. The t-strap comes in two versions, a regular size for most avies and an extra pair with a wider ankle strap. Comes in 12 colors.

To get your vamp on head on over to Shiny Things’ new location (at 170, 180, 37).

Seen in world: Yes
Review copies: No
Friends list: No

Maybe it’s a sign of how much one misses when one doesn’t follow the New Products forum religiously, but I hadn’t heard about Cake until one of my friends sent me there to pick up a set of cool 80s style jelly bracelets — this to complete my Totally Rad 80s look, complete with 80s glam metal icon: video vixen long crimped hair. (I may not write about it, I’ve probably gushed enough about Calico Creations lately.) While I was browsing the store, I noticed that designer Stumbelina Ophelia had created a set of skins, and being the skin collector that I am, I asked her for some review copies.

One thing that was confusing to me was the naming scheme of the skins. Her first skin series, Sugar has a numeric component – 00 – and I wasn’t sure if Sugar was the name of the skin tone or if 00 was supposed to indicate skin tone or something else. Turns out that it was just the first in a planned set of skin tones. Stumbelina’s second generation set of skins are named SunKissed, with individual makeups named for a person (or avatar perhaps). In this review I decided to focus on the SunKissed skins because I felt like they marked several improvements over the first generation Sugar skins.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed modeling this skin. There are no visible seams, even on a bald head, nice ear and nostril definition and a gentle hint of highlighting on the abs. Stumbelina even has drawn in nice teeth for those moments when you need to dazzle with the pearly whites in your mouth. (Make sure you smile when you try on a demo skin!)

SunKissed skins are also modifiable, in that you can adjust the pigmentation from the default lightly tanned 50 to a lighter peachier skin tone to a more defined tanned look as you desire. Although early in my SL I bought a lot of darker very tanned skin tones, these days I mostly stay closer to light or medium skin tones and this range of tones suited my personal preferences quite well.

The makeups that I had for review were Winter, a glossy nude with dark lined eyes, Heather, a vivid fuschia lipstick coated with a glossy kissable sheen mated with a muted neutral eye makeup, and finally Vamp with dark red come-hither lips and smoky eyeshadow. I really liked all of these combinations, and I thought that the way the skin fit the contours of my facial mesh gave my avatar a sultry old-Hollywood starlet vibe.

Moving on to the bits, I thought that the cleavage shading on these skins was good, although I didn’t love the shape and color of the auerole and nips. I prefer a more defined darker color. The neatly trimmed kitty was quite good, in my opinion, with a natural look to it. (I say this only because some skins I’ve seen in world and in demos have more of, umm, an overly excited pink coloration with bizarre lip shaping) Since, aside from skin reviews, I don’t normally show off my nips and kitty in world these things aren’t as important to me as the overall skin and makeup options presented — if these things are more important to you then you may not like this skin as much as I do.

Overall, I really liked wearing the Cake skins with something as skimpy as a silk all the way to clothing with way more pixels like Tete a Pied’s recent Janvier release. They look good on and under all sorts of outfits and are in line with normal market pricing at around L$1,000 per makeup. (With savings if you buy a set, as usual.) I have some forthcoming posts where I’ve worn these skins in the outfit pictures so you can judge how they look in clothing for yourself.

Seen in world: Yes
Review copies: Yes
Friends list: No

In these photos: hair: Party Girl III (sand dollar) by Lost Thereian, Naughty, shoes: Hope (white/silver) by Sylfie Minogue, Sylfie’s Prim Seduction; skins: SunKissed by Stumbelina Ophelia, Cake; poses by Luth Brodie

(There are some additional probably NSFW pictures below the fold.)
Read the rest of this entry »

Prior to December 12, I hadn’t seen any new releases by Nymphetamine’s paeoti Pomeray. But with the new year comes some new releases. The “Socially Acceptable” corset dress came out about a week ago. It’s available in a few different colors (I’m showing the blue but I also have the red). There’s a lot of really rich detailing present here, from the brocaded silk sheen to the flirty lace cuffs to the sartorially sly slinky skirt. I really enjoyed the drama that the armlets add, deconstructing a dress that has a touch of a Victorian feel and remolding it into something that for certain would not be thought of kindly in those old mahogany paneled drawing rooms.

For a jewelry accent, I wanted something extremely glamorous, so I chose to wear Cailyn Miller’s super elegant Christobel. This ornate and regal jewelry creation is available in a variety of gemstone colors. The detailing on the piece is quite intricate, and it instantly elevates whatever you pair it with.

I can’t get enough of the recent Amy release by Calico Ingmann. I’ve really gotten attached to her hairs lately, and this style in particular really flatters my inner girly girl. It’s a soft and lush looking hair with more of those magical soft flexi-prim curls. The way this hair looks in motion and at rest is just tremendous. I get compliments on it all the time.

As for my other outfit, I just about died laughing when I unpacked pae’s “Smells like Teen Spirit” release. I had seen this hilarious set of photos on Queenie Extraordinaire’s blog the other day, so I was really thrilled when paeoti dropped a copy on me to check out. Smells like Teen Spirit definitely draws inspiration from the Anarchy cheerleaders on Nirvana’s eponymous video, but they’re way less punk, and quite a bit more sassy. I decided I’d just turn my set up to 11 in the fetish department, adding gauntlets and boots from Dark Eden — but if you want to be more perky than emo, paeoti has thoughtfully included a set of pom-poms with a low key fun particle effect.

Christobel is available at Cailyn’s in Butsu. Amy is available at any Calico Creations store (but her main store is in Furness.) All of paeoti Pomeray’s designs can be found at Lil’ SLurgis or Siren’s Grotto.

Seen in world: Yes
Review copies: Yes (except for the hair)
Friends list: paeoti Pomeray

In the left photo: skin: Vogue (fuschia, smoky, freckles) by Starley Thereian, Celestial Studios; hair: Amy (sunkissed) by Calico Ingmann, Calico Creations; jewelry: Christobel by Cailyn Miller, Cailyn; dress: Socially Acceptable (blue raspberry) by paeoti Pomeray, Nymphetamine; stockings: floral by Storma Amarula, X2; shoes: Black classic pumps by Nikky Clayton, Minx

In the right photo: skin: Hyperfusion (glamour) by Storma Amarula, X2; hair: Amy (midnight) by Calico Ingmann, Calico Creations; jewelry: Croix by Astry Mirabeau; top, skirt and pom-poms: Smells Like Teen Spirit by paeoti Pomeray, Nymphetamine; gauntlets and boots: Lilith (mother/bloodrage) by Etain Peregrine, Dark Eden; pose: Rawr by Luth Brodie