Second Style Magazine

I’m looking forward to my first winter in a snowy region in real life with a sort of queasy excitement. Shoveling snow, putting my car into icy snowbanks and all the other things the locals have told me I’ll hate have me worried. The one part of it I’m definitely excited about without question though is the opportunity to upgrade my need for Uggs from frivolous fun to necessary. Love them, can’t wait to see them in the winter wonderland I’m picturing in my head. With this as background, you understand why I actually squealed when I saw the boots to the left for sale by SF Design of Second Life (Blog, Slurl). As part of this same set they have a shearling coat which will go great with my RL and SL Uggs!

Eloh Eliot of Another Shop (Blog, Slurl) released some skins that look great and at just L$100 for a whole batch of skins, brows, makeups, a shape, seriously, my mind boggles. (yes, all of that is just L$100!) The Demos are actually worth a trip too. Instead of coming with DEMO across the forehead you get an avie with bad teeth and a green tongue. I went to the shop to take a look and there was a mob forming, so I think that word is getting around about this great deal on some wonderful looking skins, or could it be that bad teeth and green tongues are coming back into style?

A couple of quick items I found; Nicky Ree (Blog, Slurl) has some new things on her blog today, including one outfit that she made in conjunction with Roslin of Tête à Pied and Miriel Enfield. The look is called Snow Queen and it looks gorgeous. It’s nice to see a regal and mystical winter item, especially from a team like that. Also, ETD (Blog, Slurl) has some new releases today, six new styles, four for women and two for men. I have to run there and take a look at Nadia, as I love Elika’s braid work and scarf up those designs when they come out.

On the Blog front, this week we added a bunch of good new sites, including The Dressing Up Box which is dedicated to costumes in Second Life. We also added First Flower, which is a shoe site, Aphrodite Outlander a fashion blog, and two designer blogs-Pushbutton Industries and Alchemy Angels.

Finally, it has been a long road, but I’m nearly done sorting and sifting through our extensive blogroll. There are still some sites I have to visit and some more I’ve put into the wrong categories by accident, but it will be all done by my next blog round-up for sure. Hopefully you will find the new organization a bit easier to browse, and I’m sure that we’ll refine it more going forward. I’m not a technical person (ask Celebrity how many times I’ve crashed the blog all by myself!) but I think that you will be able to import our links to your site if you want to and have them updated as I update them. I’ll hunt down the facts and have more info for you next time.

If you have a blog you would like included in our list of links, send me an email (justinebabii (at) yahoo) or IM me.

Free skins were all the rage this week, the week kicked off with Tete-a-Pied free NYC skin line that is available at The Gnubie Store. We headed over to the PRIMFActory for a look at the Insolence free skin which also offered lingerie and shoes. Sin Skin began a pearl hunt with has 5 different skins as part of the prize packs with lashes manicures and eyes as the others. CHAI Skins by LF gave their update group a set of skins in all 5 of their skins tones(freckled, too) called Brisque which comes with several color brows on bald bases.

Taco Taco Taco gave out 2 free shapes this week to their update group. For the ladies they offered a shape called Bettina which came in a regular version and a skirt version. For the men there was a Dennis Rodman celebrity shape that came complete with the famed piercings. Dennis needed some decent clothes for the casual male so I headed over to the The Gnubie Store and grabbed some jeans and a t-shirt collection from Rebel Hope Designs.

There were some gorgeous group gifts in the past week starting with CaLLie CLine’s Thanksgiving Day goodies that included a dress, sweater, and a belt. I live in the sweater. Battered Boudoir gave out their Eva Gown in tan. Encore sent their group a cute Freshman Set which went great with the free hair that Philotic Energy sent out to their group. The more beautiful gown I have ever seen called Tya’s Spice Gown was given out to Evie’s Closet’s update group. Artilleri sent out a gift of a cherries bra and panty set. Fuse gifted their subscribe-o-matic group with outfits for men and women which worked well with the Perry hair that Truth sent out to their group. Speaking of subscribe-o-matic, if you join Awesome’s group you get a free dress called Elena in Peach. Pixel Dust gave out a free unisex hairstyle to their group called Bailey. A holiday hat called Lady Peppermint was giving out to the update group for .

Diversity moved to a new sim and released new texture which you could buy for $1L on 4 different styles including 1 for the guys. Simon! has several freebies at New Citizens Incorporated including her beautiful Annalissa in Purple. Miss B put up a holiday outfit that comes not only with the dress but hair and shoes as well. Wilted Rose celebrated the redesign of their area by putting out a free holiday dress. YumYum is giving out a cute ruffled black shirt that I showed with the scarf and bangle set from new designer, Just for Fun. Down the road from YumYum, I found Honey Soul giving out a red knit dress and white sweater with muffler.

It’s as busy as ever over at SLShopper.com and I have been having a blast this week shopping the grid from these classifieds. It was just the thing I needed to snap out of last week’s turkey induced stupor. But don’t let me ramble about it, take a look for yourself!

Some people love animal prints, others love polka dots… but I love cherries. So when these adorable Deanna lingerie sets came out from artilleri, you know I just couldn’t stay away. (Although please note, they come in all three!) The detailing on these is fantastic, as always. I’m especially impressed with the smooth way the straps lay and the detailed clasp in the back.
Seen in world:Yes Review Copy:Yes Friends List:No

After I settled on some lingerie, I saw these very classy Winter Wonder dresses from Aphrodite. At first the dramatic hat caught my eye, but then I noticed the great fabric texture. And everyone should be happy that the skirt comes in three different styles to suit every need. Plus, all the skirts have scripts built in so they adjust for sitting and other poses. I feel like a proper lady taking a winter stroll in this rich outfit.
Seen in world:Yes Review Copy:Yes Friends List:No

Later I found this gorgeous Wooden Necklace Set from Cailyn’s. The set comes with a necklace, chunky bangle bracelet, and earrings all to match. And it’s no secret I’m a gal who loves to match. But I also love the realistic texturing on these pieces and just the overall style of them.
Seen in world:Yes Review Copy:Yes Friends List:No

If it’s more formal jewelry you need, check out this Black Tie Pearl set from Argyle Boutique. Pearls are always a classic and these triple stranded necklace and bracelets are no exception. But these pieces have the added detail of a little black satin bow for a clasp. I fell in love with the attention to detail and can’t wait to wear them for the winter formal season!
Seen in world:Yes Review Copy:No Friends List:No

But I can never stay too formal for too long, and I can almost never resist the lure of cute little pigtails. Especially not when they look as good as Babycakes from Tami McCoy. These are definitely not new to the grid, but they’re new to SLShopper.com so I get to talk about them now. With just the right amount of flexi, these little piggies are full of spunk and sass. And the optional flexi color change ribbon that comes with them lets them match any outfit you may own. I think they’re perfect for getting comfortable after a long night in that formal wear.
Seen in world:Yes Review Copy:No Friends List:No

Just remember, this is only a small portion of the great things I’m finding over at SLShopper.com. Head over yourself to see what I couldn’t fit in here. And I’ll be back next week with more great items.

Daphne Abernathy and Tamara Kirshner are planning on presenting their favorite formals on the December 12 episode (show #11) of Second Style Stylecast! If you would like to submit your designs for their consideration, please send each of them a review copy along with a full permissions picture of the gown(s) by December 7. Daphne and Tamara will each choose their three favorite formals and present them on Second Style Stylecast.

Thank you for your assistance!

First and foremost I have to thank everyone for their overwhelmingly supportive response to the first issue of our magazine. It was a scary thing to hit the virtual “publish” button, and your kind comments really meant more than words can adequately express. I thank you.

So while I recuperated from magazine mania, our blogtastic team picked up my slack. Arabeth Laval reviewed some wonderful clothes from the very talented Adrina Welders of AW Design, including Erin, shown left. She also introduced me to SLink and Sand Dollar, showing off very nice lingerie from both.

Fannie Carter blogged a couple of different pieces of lingerie by Camilla Yosuke of Insolence. The set shown to the left is unbelievable in its texturing, even from the picture. The set is called Clara and comes in several colors, and yes, I’ll be at Insolence as soon as I’m finished typing this to get it for myself.

Just as I sat down to write this I saw that Justine Babii had dropped by to review some swimsuits and an outfit from Ciera Bergman of Vitamin Ci. In my part of the world it’s far from bikini season, but as SL is a global kind of place it’s nice to know there are warm places to go, even if just as pixels. The bikini set shown below is called Sasha.

Next week we’ll be back with more from our corner of the Second Style Network. I hope your week is happy and fashionable, and that you’ll stop by and see us sometime at SexySecond.

~Muse~ jewelry designer, model and fashionista Caliah Lyon posted about optimizing Windlight to keep those harsh shadows off your avatar’s face. The article takes a lot of guess work out of the settings, giving you step-by-step instructions about what settings to tweak and how far to tweak them.

If Windlight has been frustrating you no matter how many facelights you’ve attached, take some time to read Caliah’s post. It’s well worth the five minutes to tweak the otherwise gorgeous visuals in Windlight.

Sometimes it is just great to indulge yourself with some historically correct costumes. Especially when they are as detailed and well done like these. Adam & Eve have been inspired by the soon to be released movie about queen Elizabeth I who became queen of a bankrupt country when she was only 25 and managed to become one of the most impressive monarchs the UK has ever had.

Enough about history, back to your world, your imagination… In a world where you can be anything you want to be, a furry, a fashion victim, hell even a SLebrity (seems to be very fashionable lately) why not be Elizabeth for a day and have some fun with your own Lord Dudley. To the left in the photo is Bess, the more regal and severe outfit. The textures on the jacket and the prim choker that is part of the outfit are really amazing, as is the hair that is also part of the deal and comes in red, blonde and blackt. To the right the light blue Elizabeth R gown, that I chose to wear not only with the skin that was especially made to match these outfits, but also with the shape that was created for it and that resembles a lot the sharp features of the Virgin Queen. These are being sold as full outfits, with the hair, the jewelry and a cute fan with gesture, but without the shape and the skin (L$ 1500). However, you can choose to buy the Multi Buy Pack and buy both gowns in preselected colour combinations as well as the shape and the skin (L$ 4000).

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

I am sorry I am late with this but the holiday took over a bit. Now that I am out of that turkey coma: Wow, what a week this has been for freebies.

There were so many quickies this week that I hope you all jumped on them while they were around. For Thanksgiving we saw pajamas from Style Your Destiny with a turkey theme and a cute cost from LeeZu on the Fashion Consolidated group. Diversity’s group gave out free hair called Marci in all their new yummy textures. Bossa Nova has a free swimsuit for her update group which went great with the groupiehair over at Mau’s and Mej’s. Tuli update group not only had an amazing fall outfit but a goth skin with shape as well. Tete-a-Pied gave their group the Vivant Paon Skin 4 in every skin tone they sell. She’s So Unusual gave her group a special AO gift. Relika gave their group a golddigger dress. Ingenue gave out a gown to celebrate their new location.

I even found some stuff for the guys. Sure it is mixed in with some girl items but it is worth the stroll for the rare male freebies. I took a fantastic stroll around the Silverscreen sim that was loaded with goodies from Adam N Eve for movies like Die Hard and 300. Body Basic is a store that is completely free with shapes, skins, hair, and some formal wear.

LaynieWear put out the cutest free dress that matched perfectly with the silver Mary Janes from Digit Darkes. Philotic Enegry added a new $1L hairstyle to their shop. Steamstress has a bunch of freebies on their front wall which includes a novelty mustache. Another Shop has released another great free skin for the ladies. Icing added a new free dress to their shop.

Liquid Velvet Studios has a shop filled with $1L dress for the holidays with about different lolli dresses to pick from. Kiki’s Closet has out a Christmas lolli dress for the visitors to her shop.

Truth has given out so much hair to their subscribe-o-matic group that you really need to head over there and join. It doesn’t cost you any of your 25 spots on SL so you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Go to http://www.subscribeomatic.com/groups/index and subscribe to any groups that interest you.

I don’t have the monehs for the real life day after Thanksgiving sales, but I have been drooling over the SL blogs all day looking at bargains and great new releases. To the left you can see one that actually made me squeal. Pixel Dolls (Blog, Slurl) is in the last day of their “thank you sale.” They have some great things on sale at 50% off right now, including these awesome buckled boots and some gorgeous Rumpled boots too as well as some great looking clothes. The sale goes until midnight SLT on the 23rd.

Tête à Pied (Blog, Slurl) has come out with a new make-up to go with the new Gala gown from Rebel Hope (Blog, Slurl). The skin, called Soirée, is one of those special projects that comes about from true inspiration. Roslin was looking for hair to go with Rebel’s gown and ended up making a whole new make-up to go with it instead, something timeless and fabulous, with gorgeous red lips to match the “perfect red” of the gown. I love it when my favorite designers work together, and I love it even more when great designers are inspired by each other naturally. I look forward to trying out both Soirée and Gala, which also comes in black.

As the blogmistress here, I kind of keep a very informal track of which blogs haven’t been updated in ages and which blogs haven’t been updated in even longer. One blog I was a little worried was going inactive belongs to Daphne Molinari, who promptly surprised me with a couple of updates. One of them is a call for designers to help with a group she is starting called Autism Speaks in Second Life. In her words, “What I am looking for is designers and content creators willing to donate items, for events that will be taking place here in world. This weekend kicks off an event hosted by the SL Starfleet.” If you’re interested in getting involved, contact Daphne or her alter ego.

If you have a Second Life blog related to fashion you would like to have added to our blogroll, or have an event coming up that you would like to have added to our calendar, please contact me, Justine Babii, in-world or via email at justinebabii at yahoo dot com

Well the US holidays have made me run late this week, and it will be a short roundup as I am still caught up in the madness. But there are a few things on SLShopper.com this week that were just too good not to show you, despite everything to be done!

First I found this adorable Ayasi Necklace from Curious Kitties. The prim work is nice and delicate and the necklace comes in eight different colors to match anything in your wardrobe. I like the contrast of the diamond and round shapes on this especially. The necklace is very well constructed and definitely worth checking out.
Seen in world:Yes Review Copy:Yes Friends List:No

I don’t know about where you live, but here it’s getting colder and I want to bundle up. The perfect accessory for those cold winter days is the Emily Fringe Scarf from Argyle Boutique. It’s no secret that I love this shop, but I really do love this scarf too! The patchwork velvet patterns make this scarf go with just about anything, and I love the black fringe details.
Seen in world:Yes Review Copy:Yes Friends List:No

Speaking of cold weather, how could I not mention the Czarina Fur Cloak from Ookami Ningen? The flexi fur collar makes this cloak look nice and toasty. But also, the cloak was designed to be open in the front to display whatever gorgeous dress you can layer underneath it. This is the perfect piece for the winter formal season.
Seen in world:Yes Review Copy:Yes Friends List:No

With that, I have a turkey in the oven that needs tending and guests arriving soon. Make sure to check out SLShopper.com to find these and lots of more great items, and I will see you here next week.

It is been way too long since I have written about Ivalde and its talented owner Neferia Abel and whereas the Ivalde section in my inventory has been steadily growing, well, I guess I can just not keep up with Neferia’s creative force. She just squeezes out one cute outfit after the other. But at the moment I have a couple of items in my inventory that represent  for me 3 things that every fashionable girl should have in her closet this season, virtual or not, so here we go:

First there is a very feminine but rather casual dress too. Donna is such a dress for me. Totally 70’s disco feverish… If Tony Manero were around we would dance everyone off the floor! I fell hard for the sequined waist, but even harder for the hem of the skirt wich has a frilly fluffiness to it that gives the illusion there is an underskirt that poofs a bit without being a petticoat. Second, a LBD, a Little Black Dress. I know, that is not just this season. That’s a must have period.  This one is the Marilyn Wiggle dress. Need I say more. Neferia is known to have made more wonderful moviestar inspired dresses and I happen to like this one a lot. Last but not least, a snuggly coat and Kita is absolutely lovely. It reminds me of a lammy coat I had when I was a little girl. If I remember well, it came from Lapland and it was so warm and cute. Kita comes in several colour combinations, but this one I like best. It also comes in a flexi coat version blogged a couple of days ago by Milla Michinaga. I decided to wear the long version.

The hair and hat with Donna is Slow Tempo, Karlie in black. The hat is originally in white, which I coloured to match the dress. The necklace is Celebrity by Swallowtail and the shoes are a match made in heaven, Shiny things’ Classics in blue sea. With the wiggle dress I wear Armidi’s St. Morits in Pearl and Maitreya’s enchant shoes in black. The Pearls are by Sue Stonebender. With Kita I wear ETD’s Amber in smoke burnt, Casa Del Shai skinny jeans and Damen Gorilla’s Arme boots in Tabac for Adam ‘n Eve. The skins are by Tête à Pied.

Seen in world: yes  ~ Review Copies: no  ~ Friends List: yes

This week at SexySecond we had all kinds of fun and more than our share of big news. First of all, we rolled out the first issue of our magazine. I’m so grateful for all the help I received from the SexySecond team, as well as for the faith and trust put forward by designers who chose to advertise with us, I can barely find words to express myself. I’m most pleased that the initial reviews have been very positive. It really is a great group exercise and I’m exhausted yes, but very pleased with the result. You can read the announcement and some details here, or if you want to skip that and go straight to the download page, it’s here.

In other exciting news, we gained a fantastic new blogger in Graciana McMillan who did some remarkable photography for our magazine. As both Nemi McCoy and Graciana came to us through the magazine, I must say I’m tempted to publish the magazine more frequently!

Speaking of Nemi, she’s keeping her eyes on clothing as well as our purses- she blogged about a couple of free outfits this week. The one to the left comes from Battered Boudoir and is called Oh My Gauze!

Arabeth reviewed Eve, Battered Boudoir’s newest release, seen left. She also reviewed some shapes by BodyCount, the first shapes we’ve reviewed. Given the look and the way that Justine has been raving about the fun she had with RaC shapes for a post here on Fashionista, we may review more shapes soon.

Arabeth also found a great store called Woodland Wind and just today put up a new post about Sexy Rose, new lingerie from Nicky Ree.

As you can see, we’ve had quite a week. I hope my avie will be better about controlling herself around the pumpkin pie on Thursday than I plan to be so she can fit into something sexy for you for next week!