Second Style Magazine

Okay, so I lied. I said I didn’t wear hats in Second Life, and then I turn around and buy this outfit. But I must admit…I do not regret breaking my word. Not for this gem of a headpiece.

Nymphetamine Boutique is what I would consider high class Gothic wear…many of the clothing pieces are very rich satins, lace and velvet. However, there is seriously something for everyone there…cute little dresses, lingerie, costumes, classy formals, even casual wear.

“Pandora’s Penchant” was posted onto the SL Forums by the creator, paeoti Pomeray, a few days ago. I made the mistake of looking at the picture at work, and if I could have installed Second Life on my work computer, I would have at that moment. This dress is a work of lacy art (and I’m not a huge lace fan).

In my opinion though, what really makes this dress something incredible is the attachments. Poofy shoulders, arm ruffles, a half-skirt, and a cane (a cane!) add dimension to an already lovely bodice and skirt. And we absolutely can NOT forget the hat! For the pictures, I tried going without it, and I couldn’t bear to…the hat really changes the look from “pretty” to “wow!” And it fit my head with minimal adjustments…a wonder in itself. Oh…and did I mention the cane? (I’m easily amused.)

The main set is displayed on the top pic and includes the attachments I mentioned, the mesh skirt, and two different bodices – one with the necktie, one without. The available add-on set is displayed in the bottom picture and comes with a half-skirt, panties, thigh-highs, and a butt ruffle (really, that’s what it’s called!) There are two other color variations, as well: pure white, and purple/black.

Paeoti models this dress in a darker skin and it really adds a unique gothic flair (who says you have to be pale to walk the nights?). However, since I’m *always* pale, I used one of my Deviant Kitties skins, and I feel it gives more of a Victorian Gothic doll look. If anybody cares.

Available at Nymphetamine Boutique.

Hair by Analog Dog, boots by Lassitude and Ennui.

Seen in world: Yes | Review Copy: No | Friends List: No

When Dexter Bachman sent me a message that he was working on something new, I got excited. Dex is one of Second Life’s most skilled jewelers and he does awesome things with diamonds.  His latest set is called Pave, after the diamond beaded pendants on both necklace and earrings. He took his inspiration for this set from the pavé panthère jewelry by Cartier and worked it into a typical Dexter Bachman set.

Chic, simple, totally perfect, a gorgeous combination of platinum and subtle gold details. The pendants are practically gold leafs studded with diamonds and they have that unique Bachman bling script, that I rather call a shimmer script. This is no screaming-all-over-the-place-yoohoo-I’m-here-bling, no this is the subtle lifelike glow that diamonds have with the occasional sparkle when the light catches one of the diamond’s facets. The necklace is made of threaded rod chains that up close look like bamboo, platinum with the tiniest gold beads to connect them as if they where mini joints. I know… I’m letting myself go, but Dexter’s jewelry always does that to me. Guilty as charged.

In this photo I am wearing Lovey Darling’s Caramel skin in café, ETD’s The Chignon in dark blonde and Last Call’s Boardroom Barracuda in bordeaux.

Dex’s Jewelry is located in Porcupine (11, 83, 106)

Seen in world: yes  ~ Review Copies: yes  ~  Friends list: yes

There’s no doubt that the incredibly talented Camilla Yosuke has just swept onto the Second Life lingerie scene with a shooting star blaze of glory following behind her.

Yes, believe the hype — her stuff really is that good. I almost feel like talking more about her lingerie is already rehashing a good bit from other sites — so I wanted to spend a moment to talk about shoes by Insolence.

They are, of course, color coordinated with the lingerie sets — but they’re more than just mere CFM after thoughts to be tossed aside once you and your special someone cozy together on satin sheets. They are in their own right a very fashion forward statement with a long pointed toe, edgy steel rivet detailing, a super slender heel and a glamtastic ankle strap. I’m wearing the black and tan mules (respectively) in these two photos to the left. While they look great with Camilla’s lingerie, they’d be equally at home in denim, a business suit or even a cocktail dress. The shoes are available in several different colors including the fashionista trinity of black, brown and white.

To the left is Leia in misty rose (powder pink Retrohoochie shoes by Fallingwater Cellardoor, Vamp (pink) skin by Munchflower Zaius). I can hardly do anything but admire the technical construction — the lace tops of the stockings with hardly any distortion, the extremely beautiful corset with it’s completely seductive fabric texturing. Camilla even put tiny little stress wrinkles on the side panels — just fantastic.

Just to the right of Leia is the chic Alice set shown in bordeaux (hair by Elika Tiramisu, shoes by Sylfie Minogue, skin by Starley Thereian) which would be superb as a lingerie choice for our fashion challenge. I was definitely inspired that way when I put it on for the first time, as this picture attests. One of my favorite features of Alice is the delicate prim lace ruffle on the panty – so feminine and sensual — it adds a lot of fun “3dness” to the collection.

Here is the very new, very slinky satin Clara shown in purple (hair by Calla — the Marigold in RFL texture pack, shoes by ETD, jewelry by Earthtones, skin by Starley Thereian). Once again I marvel at the fabric texturing, the lace up sides and the lace trim on the bust line and the top of the panties. Like all of her other designs, sophistication and class just radiate from these garments.

Clara also marks the start Camilla supplying items on layers other than the undershirt/underwear layers. She told me that over time she’ll be adding these shirt/pant layer versions to her older releases, and going forward she plans to offer all of her new things with multiple layer options — those of you with tattoos, don’t fret. She jokingly told me that she’s gotten a million IMs asking for this change — and I don’t doubt it. I also happened to ask about future releases and there should be more new goodies coming soon. I know I will be grateful for more Insolence.

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

Hop in the way back machine with me and pretend you’re peering over my shoulder as newbie Celebrity struggled to find her way around Second Life. At the time I was renting an apartment over a club (and through some bizarre coincidence, my neighbors there were fellow newbies Ninja Petion and Zoey Pinkdot of Digital Dragon Designs — but that’s a story for another time) and they were constantly running “Best Of…” contests as clubs are wont to do. I remember asking the winner of one of those contests where she got her skin, because she was so amazingly well put together from head to pixel toe. The answer came back Munchflower Zaius. The second skin I ever bought in Second Life was from Munchflower Zaius (and I ended up buying many more than that first one.)

For a long time that skin was the skin — but eventually I started branching out and that original look mostly sat unused, sad and forlorn in a cobweb infested part of my inventory. But I heard recently from Queenie Extraordinaire that Munchflower had released brand new skin with brand new tones, new makeup, new body shading, everything. I had to get a demo — and then I bought 4 singles that I particularly liked.

To the left, is Vamp Red in the fawn skin tone. (A NSFW photo is below the fold.) Vamp comes in several different color configurations, but red is definitely the classic combination — super dark eye makeup and very sultry red lips. I also have Vamp in pink. Beyond the world of Vamp, there are 7 other makeup series, each with a unique look. They’re priced at L$700 for a single, with additional savings if you purchase a four pack or an entire skin tone fatpack set.

The body shading on these skins is fairly substantial. If you’re someone who likes a “softer” less shaded skin, then these may not suit your preferences, but since I am someone who appreciates a lot of shading and contrast this body shading really appealed to me. (I will be showing the skin under some of Camilla Yosuke’s fabulous lingerie soon.) Among other touches that tickled me were the shading on the front and back of the knees, the great highlighting/shadow work around the breasts, the contour work on the back and the booty, the abs (lil’ Miss Vamp looks like quite the gym rat), and the highlighting around the collar bones.

I was thrilled to get a chance to reconnect with some of the roots of my SL newbie-dom — and I am so glad to see one of the original skinners in Second Life (and certainly one of my original skin providers) release this fantastic new line.

Speaking in passing to Munchflower about her future plans, she said she’s getting a lot of great makeup suggestions (not every makeup she made for these skins is available for every skin tone — I wanted — for example Vamp Brown on fawn, but it only becomes available on Dark Fawn) and she’ll be working on those as her wrists and time permit.

You can check out the new Nomine skins in the eponymous sim.

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

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It’s been a while since I checked in with Portia Sin of Sin Skins — since my last major mention, she’s added at least three new makeup sets: Silver (in Glow makeup shown left), Navy, and Brood (for girls who like their eye makeup in black and blacker), four different sets of prim eyelashes (including Fluff, shown right), and one of my favorite new mini-shopping trends — a mini-boutique that collects all of makeup sets for a specific skin tone in one (reasonably) private space.

Silver really grabbed my attention because it’s a really pretty and versatile makeup set with four different takes on the same makeup pairing. Glow — which has a shimmery eye makeup and matte lips; my favorite — Noir — which has dark liner, smoky eyeshadow and glossy lips; Smoke which is Noir with a matte lipstick; and Demi which is dark liner with glossy vibrant red lip color.

As with all of Portia’s other skin releases, she has both a freckles and non-freckles version, as well as a “mature” and “regular” version of her skins. I think the freckles/non-freckles choice is pretty self explanatory, but mature/regular refers to the style of the bits down there. All of this means that for one skin tone, in one makeup four-pack, you end up with 16 different skins, and you even get an included set of prim lashes. I should also mention that for each skin tone (including even her drow skins) Portia has developed “cleavage boost” which really amp up the highlighting and shading of your skins’ breasts. There are three different shadings: corset, push up, and implant (if the mesh breasts don’t already look silicone enough.

One of the other innovative things that Portia’s done is come out with a line of “chromabrow” libraries. These are eyebrows that are color calibrated to several different popular hair creators’ hair colors. She has packages for ETD, Gurl6, Naughty, Diversity and LF (and probably more too, I bet. It seems like everytime I ask her — do you have a brow library for X she invariable seems to have it right at hand.) And yes, there’s even a tintable panty if making the carpet match your drapes (so to speak) is very important to you.

Aside from skins themselves, I often send friends and readers who want to find a good pair of prim lashes to Sin Skins. At only L$100 for a style, they’re definitely a bargain. They *do* take a bit of fitting in my experience (and actually, you have to check off the “edit linked prims” box to really get a perfect fit for every face) especially if you have eyes which are more almond-y shaped or upswept. But the difference between on and off is a notable and striking one, they are really worth sacrificing your nose attach point to wear. (And if you do wear prim lashes — make sure your shape has it’s system mesh lashes set all the way to 0.)

Sin Skins is found in Port Seraphine (135, 188).

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

A NSFW photo is below the fold. (RSS readers — sorry, you’re on your own.)
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A lot of third party aggregator sites have picked up the RSS feed from Second Style Fashionista and it’s starting to bother me a little that they’re not just publishing the first paragraph or two and no pictures. They’re publishing the entire article with lots of text ads around it. If anyone is going to putting a lot of text ads around the content on this blog, it’s going to be me! (But don’t worry, we’re not planning to do that — ever, really.)

Because of these marginal third party aggregator sites (which mostly seem to be Google link farms/typo bait to me), I wanted to ask readers if they really enjoy having the full text RSS feed or if they would be annoyed by only getting a summary. Let me know what you think, please.

[poll=4]

Speaking of new designers, here’s another one I’ve been following since her debut in February, Euterpe Zagoskin. Euterpe recently added several new colors to this jacket collection — in addition to the pink shown here. I’d say that so far this is my favorite release from Euterpe. The button detailing is quite good and I love the fur accent pieces at the wrists and collar. This wintery type outfit looks fabulous with a pair of dressier pants (I used Callie Cline’s “Basic” collection in the photo on the left.) I wish we could’ve included this set with our recent Winter Warm Up photoshoot in Second Style #7.

It’s not all coats and jackets either. Euterpe has taken on some interesting fashion fusion challenges like mixing aspects of classic Asian designs and fabric textures with a more Western flair or shape. The results are quite dramatic and worth investigating if you enjoy being a little more avante-garde — or just want to wear something a little different from ordinary.

I’ve also recently become addicted to Calla hair and I’m trying like mad to spread the fever. I love the prim work of the Calla duo Tigerlily Koi and Haedon Quine, but my favorite thing about Calla is the hair textures. My thought about prim hair is while the prims themselves need to be artfully arranged, it’s the texturing work that closes the sale for me. Just the other day, Calla released five new styles (including Sweet Violet, the hair in the photo to the left) and re-released several fantastic looking older styles in a special RFL themed texture pack — proceeds from those releases go toward Calla’s RFL team. (And of course, I just had to get a couple of those. Check out Marigold, for example. Marigold is my Calla hair crack du jour. I’m modeling it in a photo for a forthcoming post about Insolence lingerie.)

Find the coats at Zagoskin Haute Couture, Isles of Intrigue (210, 164, 28). Get Calla hair on Callatropia (125, 193).

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

P.S. I’m not an addict; I can quit any time I want. (Maybe that’s a lie…)

We fashionistas are reaping the rewards of an especially talented set of new designers in Second Life. A prime example of this “third wave” is Arielle Ceres. Arielle is the owner/designer of Chic Boutique and is probably best known for her denim and lingerie collection, so it was quite to my delighted surprise to see her recently branch into the businesswear SL mini-craze and debut a line of impressive looking gowns at the Second Convention Fashion show last weekend.

First is one of Arielle’s new business wear sets, a dynamite pin striped jacket and prim-slacks combination. It’s available in several power colors: black, grey, navy and this tan/cream pin stripe set. I matched it with a khaki cami from Blaze Columbia’s business suit collection. Pin stripes are notoriously difficult to master in Second Life, mainly due to the way the avatar mesh warps textures as they wrap around your avatar shape, but I think Arielle’s done a good job of minimizing the warp — and I love that she chose to use prim flares on the slacks instead of the built in flare features on the system pant mesh. It gives the hems of the pants such a clean finished look to them — and they don’t flap around in the invisible “wind” either.

This lingerie set was so visually stunning when I saw it on display I just couldn’t wait to photograph it and show it to you all. It’s glitzy, it’s glam — it’s over the top and out of sight.

No man could stand a chance against your feminine wiles if you deigned to show him all of your sexy curves in this outfit. I love the depth of detailing here — the cutaways, the crystal and the sequins. I don’t know if Arielle bakes her textures in a post-processing application like Lightwave, but she has done a masterful job of punching up the sparkly pieces. Note also the lovely way she’s brought the thin bra straps up and over the shoulders — another major garment construction problem area for Second Life designers.

And then we come to this — dare I say it — chic gold gown. Look at the way the satin folds have been shaded below the bust and note again the painstaking attention to detail on all of the crystal beading work — work which shares the same highlighting and illusion of sparkle as the lingerie above. I don’t know if there was a RL inspiration for this gown — if it was an actual couture design — but this SL gown certainly bears all the fabulous hallmarks couture gowns display so richly: the luxe fabric, the minute beading, the stunning lace work.

The gown comes with several components, including a delicate gold lace overlay on the jacket layer which is optional (I’m wearing it in this photo). My sole complaint about this gown is that the physics on the flexiprims are somewhat more “sproingy” than “flowing.” But this is Arielle’s first set of gowns, and with her caliber of talent, I am certainly looking forward to future gowns.

You can shop Chic Boutique at several different locations on the grid. Check Arielle’s picks, or look up Chic Boutique in the classifieds.

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

I didn’t know how fast to rush over to Last Call when the notice of this new release came through. I don’t have a lot of time though, so here is what Ginny has to say about it:

“Only one new outfit, per se, for today – and it’s not even mine! But that’s where the new designer comes in ^_~ And a quick explanation :p

I am burning the candle @ both ends…in SL…in RL…and I have to slow it down in some ways to explore other projects and to keep my sanity. But I don’t necessarily want to drop the ball on Last Call. So I rounded up some great talent and expanded the design team. Lyra, Starley (who, as you know, has a lot of her goodies in LC), Iorek Dagostino, and Katterina Dagostino now make up the design team @ Last Call. You’ll see work by Iorek toward the end of the summer ^_~ Katterina’s a little edgier…more cyberpunk…but *both* new designers were trained by me so while some of the direction of the design work will differ? The same aesthetic finish will be applied – to keep a flow and theme with the releases. So what *other* projects are in the works? A special project with Starley (which will be released Summer ’07), a new collaborative line (which will launch this summer), and several new themed releases. EXCITING!

I am *SO* proud of these two and can’t wait to share their releases with you”

Antique Moto indeed is edgier than what we are used to from Last Call, but it is absolutely fabulous.  Last Call is starting to be a true couture house with apprentices and trainees WOOOOT! I love it. What a way to make an entry in the fashion field Katterina!!!!! Can’t wait to see what Iorek is about to come up with.

 Last Call is located in: Dazzle (54, 65, 22)

In this picture I’m wearing Lovey Darling’s Passion Fruit in Cinnamon for Perfect Image and ETD’s Nicole in Mocha Burnt

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

Timed almost perfectly with Grazia’s post, I decided I wanted to play around with the male and female freebie costumes that are available on the Silverscreen sim.

As Grazia noted, there’s a costume for men and one for the women — both of them are really cool. Because I wanted to spend the rest of the weekend playing the “THIS IS SPARTA!” freebie animation (and probably annoying everyone in my audio vicinity!) I needed to tweak the male costume to fit in better for girls.

So I took the amazing Valkyrie armor by Devyn Grimm and paired it up with components from the male costume: shield, spear, cloak, gauntlets, added the fantastic Helen hair by Calico Ingmann and the sandals from the female costume. (The skin is from the Last Call Deviant Nation collection by Starley Thereian.)

Friend and photographer Lana Miranda shot this photo of me in the Nine Wells sim, then she added some post-processing Photoshop tricks to present a finished photo in the style of the film. There are many more from this set on Lana’s Flickr site.

In any case, if you enjoyed 300, stop by the Silverscreen sim to check out the costumes. They’re a lot of fun!

No… that’s not the price in L$ that you pay for a custom made avatar. 300 is the title of a new movie by Zack Snyder based upon an epic graphic novel by Frank Miller about the battle of Thermopylae, starring Gerard Butler, Lena Headey and Rodrigo Santoro.

Yours truly was invited to the press conference last Friday at Silverscreen sim where the above mentioned people joined the SL and RL press for a 1 hour Q&A. The stars, Snyder and Miller where gathered in a London studio connecting via audio and their custom made avies where right there with us in the auditorium. I will not entertain you with hilarious anecdotes about total noob RL journalists panicing over moving and acting in SL although I must confess I was ROFL more than once, but I would like to point out the skilfull reproduction of the crew members in SL by Sachi Vixen and Damen Gorilla from Adam ‘n’ Eve.

Sachi and Damen had only a couple of weeks to produce 6 avies that had to be approved by Picture Production Company (the commisioner and in world organiser of the press conference) Warner Brothers and the celebrities themselves. But you will agree with me that Adam ‘n’ Eve did a great job on them. Gerard Butler, a RL hottie looked equally good in SL and boy would I have given something to trick him into participating in a Relay for Life date auction. Unfortunately the photos I took during the press conference are hardly presentable because of lag and ok, I admit my rather powerless computer. Crashing was hight risk as sook as I dared hitting the ctrl+shift+s.

Upon my question to Lena Headey if she was pleased with her looks in SL and if she would consider playing SL for leisure she answered that the resemblance was striking and that she feared she would not be able to play without being recognized, so chances you will stumble upon her avie are little. For more information about this project you can take a look at Adam ‘n’ Eve blog.

In the spartan village that was build in the Silverscreen sim you will find some spartan freebie outfits. A warrior costume for the boys and a gorgeous white tunic with matching accesoiries for the ladies. Go pick them up and enjoy the great builds by Liam Kanno of the V3 group.

When I first began to understand the ways of Second Life, and started to search for items I wanted for clothing and accessories, I realized very quickly that jewelry was mostly limited to 1) giant blinging gems or 2) necklaces with a one-prim pendant. Now everybody has their own taste, and being a jewelry fiend (and occasional creator) in RL, I knew what I wanted…which was a more natural look.

For months I wondered if I was the only weirdo that liked to see beads and fancy metalwork. Then one day, to my amazement, I stumbled onto Shiny Things and found happiness…soon after, it seemed like jewelry fashions underwent a makeover, and now natural-looking metals, smooth (non-blinging!!) gems, and beadwork are becoming the rule instead of the exception.

My review today is on three pieces of jewelry that I recently discovered, necklaces with large pendants. If paired with the right clothing and accessories, and with minimal other jewelry, a large pendant can be very striking…you wear one when
you want all eyes on you!

“Crescent Wish” is one such necklace, found at Earthtones Boutique. I have to admit that out of all of the stores I know and love, Earthtones is the only store where I really wish I could pull the jewelry out through my monitor, so I could wear them in RL. Ah, well.

This set actually consists of a necklace and earrings. The gems are color change, and run on two different color scripts, so the pieces can have alternating gem colors if you wish. Lucas Lameth, the creator, consistently delivers high-detail, beautiful work, and this set is no exception. If you haven’t already, take some time to look through his store…in addition to the eye-catching sets like this one, there are some very lovely simpler sets that will enrich any type of ensemble.

Have your Wish granted (yeah, I know, that sounded cheesy) at Earthtones Boutique.

Seen in world: Yes | Review Copy: No | Friends List: No

Awhile back, Sabrina (and earlier, Salome) from Linden Lifestyles posted about the accessories available at Illusions…their hats and masks are truly works of art. Since I typically don’t wear hats often, and haven’t found a need for a mask recently, I had put off checking this store out, and boy was that a mistake, because I missed out on some incredible jewelry!

On the left, I’m modeling “Entranced”. The adornment in the center is a peacock feather, but the other available varieties in this style have stones in the center instead. On the right is a delicious, elaborate piece called “Gothica” – also available in several other stone varieties. The chunky neckpieces on these are very different than what I’ve seen in world before, almost reminiscent of old-world torques. These rest very nicely on the neck and have some great detail work.

There are a few other pieces available…and of course, be sure to take a look at the masks, hats and veils while you’re there.

Available at *~*Illusions*~*.

Seen in world: Yes | Review Copy: No | Friends List: No