Second Style Magazine

Hi all, I was doing some catching up on my blog reading today and got caught with Salome Strangelove’s Spring Forward entry on Linden Lifestyles. Oooh…. How I could use some spring too… although not located in the Sunny State…. more like in the european drizzling low lands, I’m so done with this non winter 2006-2007. If only we had real snow , real ice and so forth this year… but none of that, just grey, rainy, windy days with a temperature way above the acceptable for our winter standard. So when I lagged around in the Quad and saw this uber sweet Sweetie dress at Celestial Studios I could not resist and knew I wanted to share it with you.

I am in love with the millefleurs fabric of this dress. It’s sunny, it’s feminine, it’s innocently sexy. The neckline is awesome, and so is the double layered skirt. The black transparent layer under the flower design is so subtle. I just might go back and buy the other versions of this dress, I just like it so much. This one is called Spring, and I think it’s the sunniest one of them all. There is also a purple Summer, a dark red Sanguine, a dark blue Midnight and a B&W (yes, black & white) version of this lovely little number. No matter which one you choose… you will feel great wearing this.

OMG, I feel like bikinis, sandals, tropical island bliss, sipping rosé wine at sunset at my favourite beach bar and dancing the night away on mellow reaggae tunes…. and it’s only February… Hang in there…. sooner or later it will be daylight when you hurry to work.. and still be day when you get back in the evening… until then.. we’ll have to do with the sunny designs of Starley and her fellow SL designers and force daylight.

Celestial Studios is located in Celestial City (36, 219, 26)

In this picture I’m wearing ETD’s Janette in Smoke Burnt and Starley’s (DN) Vogue Skin – Amber (Ether – Nothing), available at Last Call

Seen in world: yes ~ Review Copy: no ~ Friends list: no

For a while I couldn’t get Elika’s blog into my feed reader (for a SL fashionista, missing out on ETD new releases is the equivalent of taxi driver without a car! Eeek!) so I missed out on a fantastic article that Elika posted around the end of January/beginning of February giving tips — including tons of screenshots — about how to construct and build your own prim hairstyles. As of right now the series consists of two posts: Post one is about Elika’s construction and design philosophy and getting started making hair. Post two consists of watching Elika build a hair, step by step, prim by prim. Highly instructive and informative.

It’s been a while since I did any coverage on new hairstyles that have really caught my attention, so I thought I’d go ahead and collect some of my recent favorites.

I just love this hair. Loove it. Ginny Talamasca actually pointed it out to me, first — and you can see her wearing it in some of her ads. I am (was) a huge fan of the original Bonita hair style. (Although, I have to confess that I do miss the fabulous hair flowers from the original). The revision has the a similar look to it — it’s still a messy chignon. Elika’d probably be the first to admit her skills with alpha blending on texturing has really improved since the original Bonita– which is why it’s great to see Bonita II have some great side brushed bangs. Shop ETD Isle for Bonita II and the bushel of new hairstyles released a few weeks ago. (S: Yes, R: No, F: No)

When I saw this style flash across the FashCon group, I pretty much went “SQUEEEE!” right at my computer. No — it’s not a dignified thing, but usually I’m only being observed by my dog so it’s not as humiliating as you might think. Abby is the name of this super cute double-bun style. Aleri has spent a lot of time and effort over the past several months revamping her textures — including my often requested frosted and colored tips (thank you, Aleri! ) Abby comes with two super cute prim bows with some absolutely gorgeous satin texturing. Shop the Diversity Hair main store in Dacham. (S: Yes, R: Yes, F: No)

I’ve been teasing Six Kennedy for a while about making a “totally 80s helmet hair” with huge puffy bangs. Well, she went half way (still waiting on the John Hughes prom queen bangs!) with Ivana — which gives the helmet hair shape I was craving without the dated bangs look. I’ve been wearing this hair around quite a bit recently — especially with some of the retro 80s looks I’ve been trying on and it looks divine. You can find Ivana along with 4 million other hairs at the Gurl 6 hair warehouse on Gurlywood. (S: Yes, R: Yes, F: Yes)

Mystikal Faddoul created Angeleena as a long mostly straight but wavy hairstyle with a simple straightforward middle part. I like to wear Angeleena with cute casuals, just like its pictured in the ad. (I can’t spend /all/ of my time in SL dressed in gowns and formal updos!) This hair — like some of the other invisi-flexi hairs that are around — has a really excellent sway to it due to the physics on the flexiprim pieces and the revamped shiny sheeny texturing that Mystikal has applied. Find Mystikal Hair Designs on Bali Hai. (S: Yes, R: Yes, F: No)

It’s always easy to tell when Lost Thereian releases a new hairstyle that sweeps around the grid. On this occasion, it’s Winsome II. First, there’s the IMs from friends: “OMG, have you been to Naughty??” And then there’s the ads with the hair, and finally, there’s Swirly Cyclone, my SL fashion barometer; if Swirly likes it, there’s almost no question that I will too. (Awfully nervy of Ginny Talamasca to steal your look, dear!) It’s super fun to see this ultra-retro sex kitten style hair take the grid by storm. Shop Naughty at Naughty Island. (S: Yes, R: No, F: No)

Tami McCoy just released Babylove last night. I had to rush over to try on a demo because when Tami keeps a hair on for multiple days it must be pretty amazing. That was my conclusion as well. My favorite part about the design is the way the sides of this hair hang in front of the shoulders to give such a strong frame to your face — and the clips are really cute too. Babylove comes in Tami’s 10 standard textures, and caboodle packs too. You can check it out at Hair by Tami McCoy in the Dixie sim. (S: Yes, R: No, F: No)

My friend Lucas has rented a new shop in Fashion Mode Too (Funky, Freude) and told me about this neigbour of his, a new designer called Cloe Tomsen. My curiousity triggered by a snapshot he sent me, I headed over to FMT to look for myself. NIIIIIICE!

Cloe has made some cute dresses -of which the shown Pomdor is my favourite- and girly tops, as well as some nice jeans. All in all a very good collection to start out with. Pomdor has a prim skirt that I adore, not the usual “prims on the hip” thing, or the “am I pregnant or is it my skirt” empire look… no… this skirt is right where it belongs… in your waist. The fabric has this snake skinlike texture… but it’s so soft… you can easily mistake it for a paisley. I would not say that it’s an animal print anyway. The coral wrap top (available both on the shirt and the jacket layer) which has a daringly deep cut comes with the cute bra…. too bad there aren’t any matching panties for that.. it would make lovely lingerie as well. The jeans are Cloe’s as well, I adore the dirty wash and the worn look that they have.

Just like Truth Hawks, I told you about him last week, Cloe is also brand new to SL…. I love seeing such talented designers coming to our world… we’ll all benefit from them developing into really great SL fashion designers.

Cloe’s shop is located in Fashion Mode Too: Funky, Freude (180, 159, 22). She also has a shop in Plush Altstadt: (133, 102, 22)

In this picture I wear ETD’s Nicole in Smoke Burnt and ND’s Alina Singles Fair Natural Beauty skin. The necklace is Cailyn’s Long Drop Gold Heart Necklace.

Seen in world: yes ~ Review copies: no ~ Friends list: no

I seem to be spending a lot of time talking about Norwegians on this blog! I just wrote about countryman Max Milosz’s just-completed custom project, and now I wanted to show off Neferia Abel’s new Marilyn Monroe inspired Travilla dress.

It’s composed of a system skirt, so even if you stand on a subway grate, the skirt won’t embarrassingly fly up around your waist — but regardless of whether it’d be suitable for machinima re-creations of classic films, it’s definitely an eye catching reproduction. This dress — like the original that inspired it — screams starlet, and with the plunging neckline and the beautiful shading of the ruching and pleats, definitely distinctive.

Let me also give a preliminary “Brava!” to a brand new skinner, Lovey Darling. (Sorry — I don’t know if she’s also Norwegian! ) I only had the pleasure of meeting Lovey for a handful of minutes, but she’s just released 8 new skins in 5 different skin tones. The best feature about Lovey’s skins is definitely the lips — they’re super pouty and vividly colored. The body shading is also very good — I will be posting a more complete review of the skins as soon as I get more time in world to take the photos. In the meantime, her skins are extremely affordable (L$800/single, pack of 4 for L$2400), well worth trying on a demo at least. (You can find the landmark for her store, Lovey’s Boutique, by looking at her profile picks.) I will say that I am in love with how well the mulberry makeup and the TaP “claret” prim nails color match each other — it’s almost uncanny.

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

In this photo: skin: Mulberry (chai skintone) by Lovey Darling, Lovey’s Boutique; hair: Annie (light blonde) by Six Kennedy, Girl6; prim lashes: Vogue by Starley Thereian, Celestial Studios; jewelry: Trieste by Caliah Lyon, Muse; dress: Travilla by Neferia Abel, Ivalde; on location: Bartlett House, Elysian

I’m not usually one to moon over a house. A dress — definitely. Shoes? Certainly, there will be plenty of admiration. It takes a pretty special house to make me swoon rhapsodically. So — it must be true, given my swoon — Charlotte Bartlett’s new house is probably the most completely fabulous house in Second Life. It’s a custom build by Scope Cleaver with furniture and interior work by the equally talented Max Milosz. One of my very favorite features of the house is the interior atrium — which consists of glass panels inclosing what must be at least a 20 meter cube of space filled with the most delightful pond, with lots of bamboo, the occasional lilypad and flowers. The house is spectacular in the daylight, but it’s most impressive at night time.

I felt like I should shoot photos of outfits worthy of the house — and Ginny Talamasca’s new releases at Last Call proved to be the perfect starting point for my photo tour around the house. (You may have noticed that my post from yesterday about Fifth Avenue also has a wide angle background of the interior of the Bartlett house.) The new releases consisted of five new outfits — and I’ve pictured two of them here: the Supermodel gown (shown in platinum on the right, inside the aforementioned atrium) and glamorous Kerry outfit (shown left, pictured just behind the central hearth of the home.) As usual, Ginny delivers top notch texturing and beautiful Lightwave enhanced color depth and shadowing. I was especially impressed with the corset inspired bodice on the Supermodel gown which softens so dramatically at the waist line. Kerry is also a bit of a paradox — it has just the tiniest hint of transparency in the flare prims and that added a lot of intrigue to the overall look. It’s casual, but gauzy too — as if the avatar wearing it can’t quite decide if she wants to cover up or show off.

Something else that has really been fun about Last Call outfits is that Ginny’s been including more “comes-with” accessories in each outfit combination. Just as an example, Kerry comes with the strand of beads the cameo and it comes with a pair of fashion forward sunglasses — in short everything you need (aside from shoes) to look totally put together. The Heiress outfit (blogged here by Willow, and much loved by me too) comes with a lot of prim accessories: wrist cuffs, prim ties on the pants and another fabulous set of sunglasses.

Seen in world: Yes
Review copies: Yes
Friends list: Yes

In the left photo: skin: Deviant Nation (Ether / Nothing) by Starley Thereian, Celestial Studios for Last Call; hair: Carmina (golden burnt) by Elika Tiramisu, ETD; jewelry, top, pants and jacket: Kerry by Ginny Talamasca, Last Call; shoes: Vamp Stilettos by Devyn Carmichael, Last Call; pose by Luth Brodie; on location: Bartlett House, Elysian

In the right photo: skin: Deviant Nation (Ether / Nothing) by Starley Thereian, Celestial Studios for Last Call; hair: Bonita II (golden burnt) by Elika Tiramisu, ETD; jewelry: Pearl/silver by Caliah Lyon, Muse; gown: Supermodel (platinum) by Ginny Talamasca, Last Call; prim nails: Glitter (silver) by Roslin Petion and CJ Carnot, Tete a Pied; pose by Luth Brodie; on location: Bartlett House, Elysian

Sherona DeGroot of Innovations really delighted me with this latest release that she calls “Fifth Avenue.” The neck scarf put me in the frame of mind of all of the RL fashion week photos I’ve been scanning for the last month — and the hat (which I opted not to wear in this photo) is actually really cute — and composed of reasonably stiff flexiprims so it has a bit of flounce and bounce when your avatar moves. Fifth Avenue is a little black dress all fixed up with an artfully arranged floral print in silver. In my photo I’m wearing the shorter skirt option, but the outfit also comes with a longer prim skirt which transforms it into a beautiful evening gown. The only thing I wasn’t very thrilled with were the included wrist-length gloves. They were just a flat black in color and while gloves would fit with this dress and the sort of events it might be worn to — I just wasn’t that impressed with them compared to the quality of the rest of the gown. Fifth Avenue is available in Black and Plum — and you can see the longer skirt length in the forum post I linked above.

I also decided to pair this dress up with the new makeup set from Tete a Pied: Fevrier. Roslin Petion — my Second Style colleague and makeup artist for Tete a Pied — sent me a pack of them and I was so happy to find that they are available in my favorite red-headed coppery eyebrows. I made a close up of the makeup named Cocktail — which has a very definite mid-80s sort of color palette — but I just can’t get over how the subtle teal on the outer corners of the eyes really amps up my favorite pair of blue eyes in Second Life: Miriel Enfield’s DuoTone “Pre-Dawn.” Although Roslin planted the seeds of the Fevrier makeups with the new TaP outfit for February, it took a little longer than normal for her to finish up the four-pack of makeup because of the fabulous prim nails that were released last week. (Poor Roslin — I must send her nail color requests every other day.)

Sherona’s clothing is available on Innovations sim.
Tete a Pied skins (and Miriel’s eyes) are available on Nouveau sim.

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

In this photo: skin: Fevrier (Cocktail; redhead skin tone) by CJ Carnot and Roslin Petion, Tete a Pied; hair: Bonita II (copper burnt) by Elika Tiramisu, ETD; earrings: Couer (silver) by Caliah Lyon, Muse; dress: Fifth Avenue (black) by Sherona DeGroot, Innovations; prim nails: French Beige by CJ Carnot and Roslin Petion, Tete a Pied; on location: Bartlett home, Elysian; pose by Torrid Midnight

In the close up: skin: Fevrier (Cocktail; redhead skin tone) by CJ Carnot and Roslin Petion, Tete a Pied; hair: Bonita II (copper burnt) by Elika Tiramisu, ETD; prim lashes: Vogue 2 by Starley Thereian, Celestial Studios; eyes: Duotone (pre-dawn) by Miriel Enfield; earrings: Couer (silver) by Caliah Lyon, Muse; scarf: Fifth Avenue by Sherona DeGroot, Innovations

I had planned to make this post last week, but I realized three days ago that the pictures I had taken of the gown were not very flattering to me or the garment — and I didn’t have a lot of time to take new ones — so instead I will show you Sparkle’s ad texture for this line of gowns she’s named Sweet Heart.

There’s a whole series of entries on Sparkle’s blog which shows off all of the gorgeous saturated colors that are available: red/white, black/red, three spring pastels: lavender, pink and baby blue, and three brilliant jewel tones: aquamarine, ruby, and amethyst.

As she’s done in the past, Sparkle has packed a lot of gorgeous trim detail on the bodice and skirting. The amethyst review copy I wore actually has a delicious combination of black lace, purple rose accents and vibrantly saturated satin texturing. Sweet Heart has three different prim skirt options too: a knee length skirt, a “tea length” skirt, and the very formal, very full skirted ball gown option.

Chatting with Sparkle about this design, she mentioned that she wanted to create a line of dresses which would work with the recent Princess Bride wedding gown release as bridesmaid dresses — but would still have some utility to the bridesmaids after the wedding was over. Of course, even if you’re not an attendant in a wedding, these are really lovely creations full of eye catching color, superb attention to the flower detailing and well tuned flexiprims.

Sparkle’s store can be found in ImagineNation.

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

Launa Fauna and Nephilaine Protagonist recently joined together to produce fourteen lingerie ensembles, leading up to Valentine’s Day. But the fun didn’t end there. You can still get in on the sexy underwear goodness that these two powerhouse designers cooked up, all artfully displayed at Lovelace Lingerie.

The outfit on the left, from Launa Fauna, is called Goddess, and it comes in black, red, a black & blue combo, peacock and the purple & teal combo that you see here. The grassy feather skirt is a real original, and if it doesn’t have you wanting to sashay your hips and try a little hula dancing, I don’t know what will.

The second, called Demure, is from Nephilaine Protagonist. It’s shown here in violet but is also available in rose, caramel, jade, blue and white, all with a semi-sheer, baby-doll, flexi-prim skirt and a thong.

You’ll also find pearl strands in a variety of shades and silk stockings with lace tops and back seams to help you get your sashay on.

Many of the outfits on display at Lovelace Lingerie–especially Goddess–remind me of the the Josephine Baker era, when the exotic dancer was all the rage in Paris in the 1920s. She’s shown here in her famous Banana Skirt at the Folies Bergère, courtesy of photographer French Walery.

Lovelace Lingerie in Plush Gamma (31, 54, 56)

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

Update: I have just published Issue #7 in-world and the PDF on the website [JH]

Wow! Here’s cover model Caliah Lyon photographed by Launa Fauna — the start of issue #7. Issue #7 was slated to come out on Valentine’s Day, but we had some last minute RL issues crop up which resulted in a delay.

In any case — we have a photo layout covering hot Valentine’s lingerie, several cool outfits to keep your avatar warm in the Second Life winter, plus romantic locations, flower bouquets, a column by Nyla Cheeky talking about how RL fashion and her SL fashion have intersected, a Style Girl interview with Colleen Desmoulins and our Second Style interview with Toast Bard. Plus tons more — including a Valentine’s Love Horoscope!

Coming soon!

[UPDATE GH] ladies, gents, for more information about Thruth Clothes see Catero’s entry at Second Man.

Last week, Catero Revolution from Second Man tipped me about new designer Truth Hawks who was about to open up his first shop. Truth has a small but edgy collection of urban men’s and woman’s wear, fun t-shirts, good jeans, some jackets and skirts and it’s really worth the while to check his old derelict garage shop out.

The first outfit consist of a skirt called “Blood Tartan” and indeed it’s a nice plaid… with a fun lace trimming for a sturdy yet feminin look. The spaghetti top is shaded with a hint of skull… not really a skull, just the holes of the eyes and the nose… but definately a dark, alternative looking design. I usually don’t complain about English not being my mother tongue, but I wish now I had a broader range of words to describe this.

The other outfit I would like to show you is called Agent 11. Named after the FBI dog in Spot? Well… this sure is an outfit with a bite. Well done textures.. I love the buttons and a prim skirt that looks like it was made for me. The prim snake belt did not need any adjusting for a perfect fit… that alone for me is enough to be raving over Truth’s clothes. But you really should go and try for yourself to find his hidden shop in Deviant. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

In these photos:
Blood Tartan photo: skin by Naughty Designs, Alina Singles fair/Eyeshadow Smoky- red lips, haid by Naughty Designs, Maya I in Mocha, silver lip ring by DDD, Tattoo, Old School by Artilleri, Leather Ring Writsband by ETD,fishnet stockings by Awori Cassini and the Old Laceup black boots from Shiny Things.Agent 11 photo: skin Vogue Deviant/Fetish-Amber by Starley Thereian at Last Call, hair by Naughty Designs Deception in Sable (yes it’s male hair), silver nose ring by DDD, Black Thorn Earrings by Goth1c0

Be sure to check in with Second Man as well since Catero will add his entry about Truth’s male line soon!

Look for Truth Clothes at Deviant: 136, 138, 27

Seen in world: yes ~ Review copies: yes ~ Friends list: no

Vivianne Draper sent me a notecard all about the Valentine’s Day celebration at Bare Rose Toyko this Saturday from 9am SLT until 8pm SLT. She says,

The event will feature a unique scavenger hunt for special Valentines day prizes: Hearts and the Love Kanji will be scattered around the sim. Some will have nothing. Some will have prizes, some will have pieces of Japanese love poems. Guests who find two halves of the same poem will win a special grand prize outfit. There will be dancing throughout the day, too, featuring Bare Rose DJs spinning live. There will also be story telling, a poetry slam, trivia for Lindens, and a big dance party at the end of the day and the infamous Bare Rose Raffle Trades in the morning and evening.

The grand prize outfit is awfully cute too — should be fun — and it’s running all day, so plenty of time to go check it out.