They’re coming to get you…

“When there’s no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.”

[Dawn of the Dead]

God I enjoy Halloween and the dark season way too much ๐Ÿ˜‰

Today I started watching the 8th season of TWD – go figure where the inspiration of todays post came from…

Ok it wasn’t only TWD, it was the uber cool gacha from Salt & Pepper in cooperation with another one from Mina Hair as well. Salt & Pepper does some exciting interactive gachas for a while now. To me she did something completely new with those “changing” gachas. I guess it started with the wet clothing options, where you could go into linden water and had all of a sudden wet clothing, that dried again after some time when you were outside of water again. As well you certainly had the option of a drying towel as well if you wanted it quicker. That already was a great idea for roleplay scenarios. The paint ball game was an other one, that even had a HUD where you could fight with other residents , who owned the same set and HUD. That are only a few of her interactives… there are way more!

The one I would like to showcase today, is my personal favorite so far. The “Zombie” (Gacha Key) and the “Beatriz Zombie Hair” (Gacha Key) gachas were created for the special pop up round of the Arcade in October. Besides the interactive clothing and hair in both gachas you will find two different vents and fire-hydrants, that let you transform by walking by and a transformation HUD where you just can do the change by click.

To make my Zombie complete, I had to add 2 more creepy, scary things*grins*ย  The first one are the “Zombie” nails from FORMANAILS. When first saw them I was like “Are you kidding me?!?!??” I thought something like this would not exist but then.. who else than Ivi Bing should have done them ๐Ÿ˜‰ She is the one to be reckoned with, if it comes to extraordinary nail and hand designs. Nevertheless those nails are more than perfect for my Zombie look. They make me seriously look like being a Zombie for quite a while with my nails being damaged and ripped… just so kick ass cool ๐Ÿ˜‰

The second thing is that super scary facetattoo from CURELESS [+]. Actually I mixed a facetattoo and one of their eye makeup to make it even more creepy. The “XXX” face art and the “XXX” eye makeup made the perfect match to achieve the look I was looking for. CURELESS [+] always was one of my favorite stores for dark and scary things, the more I go there and shop the more I find things I want to use and due the fact of their designs, I see even more dark posts coming ๐Ÿ˜‰ I guess it was always inside of me and I just did hide it behind too much casual posts and ‘political correct’ do’s and don’ts ๐Ÿ˜‰ Maybe i should follow my dark and creepy mid a little bit more now and then ๐Ÿ˜‰

The only thing left was, to exchange my normal teeth with the LeLutka “Beast Teeth” and cover them in blood with their HUD. To me that worked beter with the bloody heart that looked so delicious :p

I found a new sim lately – my heart jumped higher when I found out it is a dark and scary place that will last the whole time and not just for Halloween! I am talking about Pendle Hill, another amazing creation of Lauren Bentham. She did a lot of amazing places already like Arranmore, Everywinter, the Baja sims and many more, but this one probably is my personal favorite. She used lots of DRD buildings and the environment is perfect for all creepy, spooky and darkness lovers!

Talking about creepy, spooky and scary places, I have to run to find more before Halloween is over and I can’t just do creepy things without having to explain it :p

Outfit & Accessories

Outfit: Salt & Pepper (S&P) – “Zombie” (Maitreya, Gacha) – NEW @ The Arcade

Shoes: Astralia – “Bloody Bandages” (Maitreya)

Nails: FORMANAILS – “Zombie” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: MINA Hair – “Beatriz Short” (Gacha) – NEW @ The Arcade

Makeup: CURELESS [+] – “Undereye Lines & Eyeliner” (OMEGA Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka โ€“ โ€œSimone 3.0โ€

Body: Maitreya โ€“ โ€œLara 4.1โ€

Ears: ^^Swallow^^ โ€“ โ€œDarkness Earsโ€

Eyes: Clemmm – “I’m Tired / Black Bloodshot”

Teeth: LeLutka – “Beast Teeth”

Facetattoo: CURELESS [+] – “Psycho Face” (OMEGA Applier)

Poses & Prop

Poses: Poseidon (First 4 Pictures) & EMOZIONE (Last Picture)

Location

Pendle Hill

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Cherries!

Do you know that feeling? When you unpack something and immediately get an idea in front of your inner eye, what this should look like on your pictures? Usually I do not have that too often with my first piece that I put on, but sometimes it happens ๐Ÿ˜‰

Today it was the case when I put on the Sakushi outfit and cap from Entice. I have no idea why – I did not see that movie in ages – but when I looked at it, I had a scene in mind from the movie ‘Catch me if you can’. The moment when Leonardo DiCaprio walked into the airport with all this blue dressed stewardesses. Maybe it was the cap and as well the vintage touch of that cherries, but I was stuck with that thought in my head.

 

As usual, that idea did not work out as I found no vintage airport that went with my 50s/60s idea for my picture. So I went back to my platform and tried to built me a set, that at least catches the vibe of what I wanted to do.

While I was rezzing all kind of things I remembered the propellers I got at one of the last FLF from NOMAD and they completely rocked. When I found them all the rest fell into place really easy ๐Ÿ˜‰

Now I needed shoes, that went with my idea and when I saw the “Heidi Slingbacks” from [Gos], I first was curing as on the picture they only had flower prints showing and I could not imagine flower prints with my cherry dress. But, when I opened them and saw all the amazing different HUDs, I was doing the happy dance. when I found out that the red of the ‘Boutique HUD’ even matched the red of the cherries, I was sold ๐Ÿ˜‰

When I was done with the pictures, I did some sim hopping and while I was roaming around,I found that fabulous “Time Portal”ย  location, with all those different mini locations of all kind themes and times and there was one 50s location too! They had a wonderful diner and as well this cute little pet shop, which you can see in the background of the first picture. As if it would have been fate, there was a bench with some really cool animations in front of it. One of the poses even had a vintage newspaper as a prop and I could not resist to just add one more picture in for this post.

I have to go back and explore this place some more and see what other cool posts I could do with inspiration of different centuries ๐Ÿ˜‰

Outfit & Accesories

Dress & Hat: Entice – “Sakushi Baby & Cap” (Maitreya)

Shoes: [Gos] – “Heidi Slingbacks” (Maitreya) – NEW @ FaMESHed

Socks: Entice – “Sweet Dreams Socks” (Maitreya Applier)

Gloves: Sweet Tea – “Formal Gloves Essentials” (Maitreya Applier)

Necklace: :::NOIR::: – “Ava Chocker”

Glasses: Glamistry – “Sunglasses PU2003”

Ring: .:E.A.Studio – “Ring Opal Diamond Gold”

Bag: =Zenith= – “Spring Rattan Bag” (Gacha Rare)

Makeup & Hair

Hair: no.match – “No. Come On” – NEW (Groupgift)

Makeup: Izzie’s – “Aego Sal” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: Izzie’s – “Fae Lipgloss” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Face: Izzie’s – “Pores & Blemishes” (LeLutka Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity

Set:

Cigarette Machine: FIN – “Fifties Cigarette Vending Machine”

Coke Machine: 22769ย  ~ [bauwerk] – “Vintage Soda Machine”

Propellers: NOMAD – “Clean Propeller Fan // Floor & Wall”

Lamps: NOMAD – “Industrial Neon Lamp”

Crates: floorplan. – “Old Crate Stack”

Record Player: Ariskea – “[Record50] Vinyl Record “

Boxes: ..Tuesdays.. – “Keepsake Boxes – Vintage”

Location (Pic 1)

Time Portal, Time Machine Laboratory

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

 

Music was my first Love

Music was my first love
And it’ll be my last
Music of the future
And music of the past.
To live without my music
Would be impossible to do
In this world of troubles
my music pulls me through

[John Miles]

When I saw the outfit from today, I immediately had something in mind for pictures. As usual it did not wanna come out as intended and I had to think about something else.

The “Melodic Doll” from CURELESS[+] is another masterpiece of their amazing design. I always loved CURELESS[+] as they are creating things that are usually outside the box and very special. The details and the incredible skills of designing always was something that was marvelling. Every little detail is sharp and crisp and their creations usually need more than just one look to see their full beauty.

The whole set is rigged to fit the Maitreya Lara mesh body and with the alpha HUD you can fit the outfit perfectly to your avatar. The arms and legs of the “Melodic Doll” look typically like the ball jointed dolls, which we all might know from your childhood play toys ๐Ÿ˜‰ I totally love the look on my avatar now as well ๐Ÿ™‚ The limbs are a little thinner as your regular mesh body ones but that even more gives you the doll feeling.

The “Quaver” shoes of the gacha set are only working with the common dolly legs and won’t work with normal human feet. Some other unrigged shoes of mine did fit the dolly feet as well, but for the post I certainly chose the matching ones from the “Melodic Doll” gacha of CURELESS[+]. The box has no special animations in it but you can adjust it to every pose that you use easily.

The RARES of the set do have a HUD for full customization, while the COMMONS only have little HUDs that change the details.

As a musician, I adore the whole set and it was a must have for me. I hope you will have the same fun and happy feelings that I had when you get your “Melodic Doll”!

Outfit & Accessories

Outfit (incl. Torso, Arms & Legs): CURELESS[+] – “Melodic Doll” (Gacha,Maitreya, Bento) – NEW @ Epiphany

Doll Key: Cybernetics – “Ornamental Doll Key”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Arrest”

Hairbase: MINA – “Myla” (LeLutka Applier)

Makeup & Lipstick: Zibska – “Agafia” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Skin: .la petite morte. – “Amalthea Unicorn” (LaLutka, MaitreyaApplier)

Eyes: Anatomy – “Angel Eyes – Silver”

Poses & Props

Backdrop: CMYK// – “2. pastel magical studio” (Gacha)

Butterflies: Wasabi Pills – “Butterflies Swarm” (FaMESHed Birthday Gift 2018)

Poses: Foxcity

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Unique? Different? Special? Outstanding? – Human!

Not too long ago I had an interesting discussion with a good friend of mine about modeling and how it changed over the past years. It was interesting and a few things she mentioned really had me think about a lot.

I went back to the basic idea of a model… what is a model? The model usually is a blank vessel, where a designer can project his vision on (quote of Wolfgang Joop). That means it is not about the model at all, it is about the designs. Certainly a designer might have special preferences about certain shapes and faces, but in general they are just a mannequin wearing the designers creations, styled after the designers imagination of how he wants to see the outfits.

So why some models throw a tantrum, when they get told certain styling requirements? Like short hair, a certain makeup and strict regulations about jewelry and accessories?

I was thinking a lot about that and where in Second Life that could have come from…

Maybe it is because people got mixed up by pageants and modeling? Both of them have nothing to do with each other. A pageant is about the person doing it, modeling is about showcasing designers creations!

In the beginning, there were not so many models in all those pageants that were held in the past. All of a sudden everyone had to be the face of whatever and to win the “Miss Whatever” title – I never understood why to be honest, I never had that desire. I was talked into doing this kind of things 2 or 3 times and I regret each time, as it only did cost money and time for nothing. It was not what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a model, to showcase designers creations and their hard work – not being a beauty pageant participant, being all pretty and smooth and kiss my way up to where ever it was necessary. We all know beauty is in the eye of the beholder and with a good relationship to an event owner, designer or judge, your chances get higher by nature – we are all humans. In the end no one wants to work with a winner, that he/she can’t stand for a certain period of time, again we are all humans after all ๐Ÿ˜‰

But what did that do to SL modeling?

All of a sudden people wanted to be recognized for their avatars when they were walking a runway. One started to pose “fierce”, the next one tried as hard as possible to ‘accessorize’ the shit out of every outfit – anyways if it did fit or not – to be noticed on the runway.

By all means, I do love expressive posing myself on pictures and at themed shows or productions, that request those kind of poses. But for a general casual, formal or regular runway show, to me it makes no sense to spread all limbs out as far as you can, even if for quite some time it was called “fiiiierce” posing.To me fierce or dramatic posing doe snot have to be all spread out and hands up in the air like I would be ready to take off or acting like a GoGo dance animator in a discotheque.

If you ever watched a RL runway show for general fashion – not talking about special shows like Alexander McQueen had – the posing is very clean and simple. Again models showcase a designer, not being actresses on a red carpet – and even those keep it quite simple usually as they represent a designer with their clothing most of the time as well ๐Ÿ˜‰ I am not saying there is no room for anything else, but for ‘usual’ runway shows I can see, why people prefer the more simple way of posing and styling. Simplicity can be the key and it can be so much more modern if you keep your poses updated and re-invent your posing each time and not just use the same 20 poses over and over again.

There is as well 2 kind of shows in Second Life, that require two completely different ways to approach them with posing and stying. We have the ‘usual’ runway shows like fashion weeks or special designer showcases and then we have the theater, show or event like shows which are mostly themed. For example a special Halloween show, where the main focus is on the event itself and in opposite to a fashion week those kind of shows are more to entertain people. Last summer Trouble Dethly and his group did an amazing example how fashion, event and as well a theater fashion show can be combined with their Thereafter event. Designers provided outfits, but as well did know it is not just a runway show but more of a ‘happening’ to entertain the main grid users. There we can go all crazy with posing as long as it follows the story, you even can use little animations to underline your character while on a runway I am all for static poses.

For accessories it was quite the same and all of a sudden avant garde was the way to go on the runway. I love avant garde BUT in Second Life avant garde seemed to mean you put a bunch of metal scraps on your head, go half naked and try to fill as many attachment points that you can and certainly do not forget your wings… If you look for the general idea of avant garde fashion that is so way off… it could not be more away from the subject, but thats a completely different story ๐Ÿ˜‰

But I can understand why modeling is kinda dead in Second Life at the moment, because of all this things besides an economic/business aspect as well which made fashion shows not anymore profitable for most of the designers.

I get that models were taught to be unique and to stand out, but there is so many ways how you can do that without taking all attention off the clothing and onto your avatar… It is so much more important to make a brand out of yourself on your flickr and blog instead of runway shows. When you are making pictures or go out window shopping all prim-perfect styled, it can do a lot. Especially on blogs and pictures you can express your styling abilities, your way of posing and you kinda have no limits if you are not blogging a certain piece for a designer. That is why I love posts and pictures so much where you do not have to showcase any specific item and just can go with the flow of your imagination.

Like the pictures for today’s post. I tried to put the idea of standing out off a crowd with not too much accessories and to underline my statement about being unique. I already posted all the items before when I wanted to showcase them and so I had room and freedom to play with them now and try to create my imagination in Second Life. It was not an easy way though and probably took the longest time I ever needed for a picture to be done. I wa struggling with the idea and the inspiration since March 2018. Now we have July and I am still not 100 % satisfied but this time it felt that was the best I can do with my actual skills – I am learning everyday something new ๐Ÿ˜‰

The face is something that makes every human unique anyways – if they do not have a twin and even those have their unique trademarks if you take a really close look. So if you ever were at a Second Life modeling agency you were told your face is the most important and unique trademark you have. Anyways what it looks like as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, if you push the limits of human face proportions slightly and well thought you really could create a very unique look in the past with system heads. Then for quite some time many models were struggling wit the first wave of mesh heads. The static mesh heads in the beginning were not really as ‘character’ friendly as the system heads were. Only a very few sliders reacted to customizing and the skin more or less was the only way to create a unique look somehow. I hesitated a long time myself until I gave it a try and I felt so relieved, when bento came to live and we were able to customize your faces and heads again more even with a few limits to bento bones. Nowadays I am very happy with the head and the skin and even if we are told constantly to update I am stuck with the head and the skin since I got it.

With the pictures I wanted to try to express a feeling or an emotion that follows me for quite some time in both worlds. I am not yet ready to really tell the whole story behind it, as it is a very vulnerable spot in my soul, but maybe with the ongoing process of playing with that picture idea, it will come out eventually and I am brave enough to tell. But for now it shows how you can have a face, how you can be unique with not much on yourself than just your face. I really hope i did make sense in what I was talking about, even if I tried t not go too deep into it and not let my emotions take over too much.

Big thanks goes out to Hill.S (Hillany Scofield) and her amazing exhibition that let me find those mannequins, which I needed so desperately for my pictures. She is an incredible artist and picture queen and has such an amazing installation going on – I have to go back and take a picture there, as I promised her ๐Ÿ˜‰

Outfit & Accessories

Outfit: .:EC:. (Enelya’s Creations) – “Norena” (Maitreya)

Face Art: Slackgirl – “Circles”

Nails: Slackgirl – “RingQueen Nai” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup

Makeup & Lipstick: Zibska – “Piper” (LeLutka Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity

Props: Snowpaws – “Static Store Mannequins”

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Skin: YS&YS – “Ginny Vamp” (Maitreya & LeLutka Applier)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Summertime and the living is easy…

… for those who like summer most likely yes *giggles*

Thank god in SL you do not feel any temperature and can enjoy summer quite a little more, without sweating all the time like in RL.

I again found a bikini, which I truly like and again I was facing the question… what else than laying on a beach or hanging out in a pool I could do for a picture. I mean there is nothing against those scenarios, but I do not like to do that in RL plus that would make just another of those kind of summer loving pictures. A&Y always is special to me – I love her designs, I love the way how the textures are and I do love the futuristic character that all her creations have. Because of that, I just do not wanna make an easy picture with it. To me it alway requests something strong and special.

For the “Electra Cyber Bikini” from A&Y you have the option to wear it as a full set (already linked) or you can wear only top or pants single as well. As usual you have the amazing HUD that we all know from A&Y to customize the bikini itself (2 parts), straps and metals. To underline the amazing straps I added an arm harness from L’Emporio.

While I was looking for shoes, I saw the latest release from [Gos] and it felt like the shoes were made for my look! The “Bella Thong Platforms” are part of the actual round of FaMESHed and with the straps all over the feet and around the toe they completely matched the outfit. Like always the shoes come for all the popular mesh bodies and with the Boutique, the Blueberry and the Metalic HUD. What I do like a lot os that [Gos] includes a materials and a non materials version for the shoes. You can decide if you want to take a picture with the ambiance occlusion shown or jut have a clear view on the shoes.

Yesterday I was talking to Falbala Fairey again after a long time. We both were busy with RL and even more I was happy when I saw her in the audience, when I did that interview with Trouble and Kess for SL15B (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=F8lihXKTySk)

After the interview we did a call on Discord and had a nice long chat about what has happened over the time. Many good news and a things were shared and I was in a really good mood when she suddenly asked if she could show me something. Certainly she could :p. A few minutes later I had a folder and very shy sis in my ears when she said “Maybe you can try them and tell me what you think?” I peeked and it was… POSES! I love poses and the more I love them when they come from a person I feel close to ๐Ÿ™‚ Little sis makes poses now! Here store is called Fairey Poses and what I instantly felt, when I tried the poses, was that those poses are done by someone that blogs fashion for along time. All the poses I got were strong and well thought poses for fashion photography. It was refreshing to see some edgy poses as well and especially the crouch and lean against the wall poses made their way right into my heart. It is so rare to find really cool and swag poses for fashion photography. The more I was happy to find exactly those 2 kind of poses made by Falbala!

Enough for today… I need to take a look at Fairey Poses now, to see what else Falbala made!

Outfit & Accessories

Outfit: A&Y Cybernetics – “Electra Cyber Bikini” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Good Vibes Fair

Shoes: [Gos] – “Bella Thong Platforms” (Maitreya) – NEW @ FaMESHed

Arm (right): L’Emporio – “Harness Arm” (Maitreya)

Legs: [ Sakide ] – “Yleria Leg Straps” (Maitreya)

Collar: Happy Undead – “Charming”

Glasses: .::Nanika::. – “Agnes Sunglasses Silver”

Nails & Rings: [CX] – “Shredder Claws” (Maitreya, bento)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: [NYNE] Hair – “Penny”

Lipstick: Izzie’s – “Fae Lipsgloss” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka โ€“ โ€œSimone 3.0โ€

Body: Maitreya โ€“ โ€œLara 4.1โ€

Face: Izzieโ€™s โ€“ โ€œPores & Blemishesโ€ (LeLutka Applier)

Tattoo: .pichi. – “Pretty Blossom” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Fairey Poses – “Crouched 1″ & ” Waiting for you 1″

Seat: .birch. – “Mery Ottoman Black & Silver”

Background: Foxcity – “Photo Booth – Short Circuit” (Gacha, Rare)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Getting older not always has to be a bad thing ;)

I found something very special at the Vintage Fair and this time for the first time, the pictures took me nearly a week, as all I tried did not work out like I wanted it to be.

What I am talking about is the amazing skin from POEMA & AG. They released some amazing aged skins for the Vintage Fair. Since I do love my LeLutka head, I had 3 different skins to try – “Paloma”, “Eva” and “Sarah”. When I tried them, I felt immediately that those are made with phenomenal skills of designing, but as well with a great knowledge of human aging. When I tried the skins I immediately got a feeling, that they are 3 different stages of age. “Paloma” looked the “youngest” and “Sarah” the oldest. When I tried “Eva” I nearly fainted as for what ever reason it looked like an older version of Wicca without changing anything to my shape – even a perfect no-eyebrow version! The first thought was… that will be my skin for the time, when I will retire modeling *snickers*

I saw aged skins before and I never liked them as they looked kinda overdone, comic like or just awful, but the POEMA skins are really well thought and developed and have the most realism to that kind of ages that you can get in my personal view – That made me want to blog about them.

I have to admit, I used my usual “Pores & Blemishes” face ‘pimp’ applier, since the skin felt so ‘Wicca’ to me that I really could see myself in it. But since that only add freckles and some little folds on the forehead, I did not feel that it would ‘destroy’ or change the skin too much, especially because I put it to 50% transparency for this post.

Skins are something, that people are very picky about because it is part of the personality that you would like to show to others and that you have to feel comfortable with yourself. Who likes to look into a face every time time after login, that you do not like… ?

There are many different skins in Second Life and as well many different likings, that people have for their skins. Still you can find weird and awful skins that have no depth, structure or any kind of human traits to them even if they are meant to be human. There you can see that some designers spent hours, days and weeks to develop a skin and some just use free, basic templates – that are meant to be worked on – and just do them in different light and dark shades… no a black skin is not just a white skin pulled down to black with a slider in PS or any other graphic software. Every skin type has a certain ethic type , that it is based on and only then you can develop a character in my view. I am not a skin designer and I would never dare to make skins, as I never looked deeper into what it needs to do skins, but I am a user that tried various skins.. good and bad ones so I developed my very own sense for skins that I do like. I like it when pores and skin structure can be seen, I like it when you see wrinkles and non perfect spots in face or body as a realistic skin is rarely without any errors and usually never symmetric. All those little details make them real and ‘alive’ for me.

The “Evy” Skin from POEMA &AG, has all those things for me. The wrinkles that age the skin are not too blunt, they are very subtle but they are perfect to create a wonderful realistic look. You can see what you loved on your grandmas face if you take a close look onto the face and even the body skin was made in a way that shows that this is not a young woman. Since I am not a huge fan of naked shots and I felt a grandma should not wear a bikini, you have to take a look at yourself, but I can promise you you won’t be disappointed ๐Ÿ˜‰

That was the next issue… I wanted to have a grandma look not only for the face, but as well it should be in the theme of this years Vintage Fair. The sim is Asian, vintage themed like for example Shanghai in it’s 1920s – I guess the last was the one that it was … but since I am always so confused… do not nail me down on that one ๐Ÿ˜‰ You should go and see for yourself, how amazing those 2 sims are decorated!

The dress as well you can find at the vintage Fair, if you make your way to Senzafine. To the long, tight dress was perfect for my classy, elegant and sophisticated idea for my granny. The textures are amazingly crafted and with the nigh neck but the little cut out at the chest I was able to even wear a necklace, which I found as well at the fair. So many amazing items, designs and creations are to find there until the 24th, so make sure to not miss it ๐Ÿ˜‰

I was looking all over SL to find something Asian tea house looking – until I realized I had a wonderful “Tea Ceremony” from 22769 – DOH… sometimes it really helps to look into your inventory before you spend hours teleporting through SL. I did set up the lovely tea house and all it’s parts on our photo parcel right beside the Wicca’s Wardrobe main store.

You will not only find clothing and accessories at the Vintage Fair, but as well amazing decorations and furniture from all kind of different epochs and continents. For example the great room divider and the beautiful pictures on the back wall were made for the fair as well by paper.crowns.

Satisfied now with my look for that amazing skin and as well for the background and set I really had fun doing those pictures… maybe even too much as I did not even take off the skin for a few more days enjoying being called Grandma for that time ๐Ÿ˜‰

Outfit & Accessories

Dress: Senzafine – “Mei-mei – Qipao Palette” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Vintage Fair

Gloves: Wicca’s Wardrobe – “Misaki Short Gloves” (Gacha, SoI)

Shoes: kisetu – “Basic Geta” (Slink Flat Feet)

Jewelry & Cigarette: [Glitzz] – “Tiffany’s Jewelry Set – Gold” – NEW @ Vintage Fair

Glasses: Hatpins – “Kelcey Pince-Nez – Gold”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: :::Sn@tch::: – “Dolores Hair & Sticks” – NEW @ Vintage Fair

Makeup & Lipstick: Izzie’s – “Fae Eyeshadows & Lipstick” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka โ€“ โ€œSimone 3.0โ€

Body: Maitreya โ€“ โ€œLara 4.1โ€

Skin: POEMA & AG – “Eva” (LeLutka & Maitreya Applier) – NEW @ Vintage Fair

Face: Izzieโ€™s โ€“ โ€œPores & Blemishesโ€ (LeLutka Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Selfmade with Anypose & FATE Hand Poser

Set: 22769 – “Tea Ceremony” (Gacha)

Pictureframes: paper.crowns – “Split Panel Canvas 1” – NEW @ Vintage Fair

Paravant: paper.crowns – “Ming Divider – 2” – NEW @ Vintage Fair

Location

Wicca’s Wardrobe (parcel to the left of the store – open to public)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Expand your Horizon!

Summer is coming without mercy… I am more of a winter type and the heat in summer just knocks me out usually. What is nice about the fact that you sweat with every movement and cannot even sleep tight and without any breaks because it is just too hit and not even at night it cools down to a ‘proper’ temperature…?

I never got that ๐Ÿ˜‰ So I just suffer every year and shower like 10 times a day until autumn is coming again and rescues me again…

I lately took a look at the Pantone colors for Summer 2018. I love how they name their colors and sometimes it is even a little bit funny. This time I found 2 colors that did touch me somehow and I did not even know why. Especially because they were so bright and kinda pastel looking – Meadowlark and Arcadia. Comparing those 2 I got a strong and intensive vibe. As you know usually I am no the most ‘colorful girl’ but some colors just pull a trigger for some reason. The more I was happy when I saw one of the latest releases of [Gos] having exactly those 2 colors in their amazing huge HUD. The “Bella” crop top and shorts are the actual release of [Gos] at UBER.

What I do like a lot os the way how the top is wrapped or twisted under the chest. It gives the whole look something loose and cool and the wrap looks amazing realistic as well. The pants do have the option to be worn with or without belt and certainly both are made for the most popular mesh bodies.

To complement such a great outfit, you certainly need matching shoes and as well the right makeup and accessories ๐Ÿ˜‰ To match the colors in a perfect way I chose the “Monza Belted Boots” as well made by [Gos]. For the shorts I loved the look of the over-knee boots, and the color perfectly matched to the belt as well.

With pastel and bring colors, I certainly had to find hair, accessories and makeup, that feature that kind of colors even more.

Sintiklia became one of my favorite hair stores lately. I love her hair textures, the possibility of the tint HUD, the way how the hair connects to the head (you sometimes do not even need a hairbase) and the most I do love her styler HUDs. How often you wished your hair strand would come down on the right side and not on the left? How many times you thought about pushing your hair back just for one pose in a picture series? Exactly that you can do most of the times with the Sintiklia styler HUDs!

With the tint HUD (included in the fatpacks or available as single item) you can tint the monochrome hair packs to unusual colors without making them look dirty or just over colored and you can pimp certain hair colors with it as well. To me all those possibilities paired with amazing hair textures are the future for hair styles.

Who else that Zib Scaggs, owner and designer of Zibska could make such cool colored makeup *winks* She again made an amazing combo called “Delia”. You can find “Delia” at the actual round of the Blush event.

It is always exciting to me to experiment with colors since that really is way out o f my personal comfort zone, but I have to admit – each time I do it, I feel like I expand my horizon a little more again ๐Ÿ˜‰

Outfit & Accessories

Top: [Gos] – “Bella Crop Top” (Maitreya) – NEW @ UBER

Pants: [Gos] – “Bella Shorts” (Maitreya) – NEW @ UBER

Boots: [Gos] – “Monza Belted Boots” (Maitreya)

Nails: *PL* – “bento nail #27” (Maitreya)

Necklace: Zibska – “Bellie Necklace”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: Sintiklia – “Mimi”

Makeup: Zibska – “Delia Eyemakeup” (LeLutka Applier) – NEW @ Blush

Lipstick: Zibska – “Delia Lips” (LeLutka Applier) – NEW @ Blush

Body & Tattos

Head: LeLutka โ€“ โ€œSimone 3.0โ€

Body: Maitreya โ€“ โ€œLara 4.1โ€

Face: Izzieโ€™s โ€“ โ€œPores & Blemishesโ€ (LeLutka Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses:

Pic 1: Belle Poses – “Santa Honey 2” (Bento)

Pic 2: Belle Poses – “LadyCrow 2” (Bento)

Pic 3: Belle Poses – “Mi 3” (Bento)

Pic 4: Body Language – “FineSand 2m” (Bento)

Background:ย /\/.ษชแด„แด‡ – “The Mod Backdrop – Yellow”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Post Apocalyptic – What is that?

As promised, I will today talk a little bit about post apocalyptic styles in comparison to cyber/cyberpunk, which I wrote about in one of my last posts (https://wiccamerlin.de/cyberpunk-what-is-that/).

Maybe lets start again with a general description from Wikipedia and then go from there ๐Ÿ˜‰

Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of science fiction, science fantasy or horror fiction literature in which the Earth’s technological civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; natural, such as an impact event; man-made, such as nuclear warfare or resource depletion; medical, such as a Pandemic, whether natural or man-made; or imaginative, such as a zombie apocalypse, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics, or alien invasion. The story may involve attempts to prevent an apocalypse event, deal with the impact and consequences of the event itself, or it may be post-apocalyptic, set after the event. The time frame may be immediately after the catastrophe, focusing on the travails or psychology of survivors, the way to maintain the human race alive and together as one, or considerably later, often including the theme that the existence of pre-catastrophe civilization has been forgotten (or mythologized). Post-apocalyptic stories often take place in a non-technological future world, or a world where only scattered elements of society and technology remain.

[Wikipedia]

Post apocalyptic is the time after an apocalypse, that means the world like we know it is gone and we have to live from all that is left over. Most likely electricity is not working in general.. maybe via a few generators that are left as long as we have the fuel to run them. Water might be rare, so the everyday shower probably has o be skipped as well ๐Ÿ˜‰

It probably is a martial, warlike environment, where all just try to survive – anyways how.

Let’s think about what you could wear then or what kind of fashion would be most certain…

I would say makeups will be a rare case, maybe we can use coal or clay, maybe even some berries or fruit that survived, to bring color on our faces. I do not see that very colorful or even neon looking.

For the clothing, when we looted all existing warehouses and clothing stores, we most likely have to wear what we can find, or what we can create out of that. Maybe that’s why I love that genre so much as it is very simple but as well can be very creative in terms of fashion and creating outfits.

Because of the fact, that I really do love post apocalyptic clothing and environment, I really was happy when I heard that there will be an event exactly for that. From the 18th to the 27th of August, the Thereafter event is taking place.

A full sim created in a post apocalyptic style, with many amazing designers who designed fashion, furniture, ambience, poses or landscaping items for exact that futuristic imagination.

Thereafter has a tight schedule of many events. Dj’s, live musicians and a cool fashion theatre are taking place! Event Schedule: https://thereaftersl.wordpress.com/event-schedule/

The outfits and props for my todays post are all from the event and as well the pictures are taken there. Don’t you love it when you can go shopping and as well take amazing pictures or walk around in the perfect environment for the event?

For my first post I chose the “Bena” dress with the amazing belt and scarf. The dress comes in many different colors and together with the 2 amazing accessories it just looks totally amazing, even if you can wear the dress without those as well.

From Boom I used the super cool shoulder plates, that are made of car plates – I just love such neat little details!

Last but not least I am wearing the event exclusive from ~isil~, the extraordinary mask of the “Survival Mask & Helmet” design. You can choose to wear only the mask or the helmet with the HUD that comes with it and as well lets you retexture the whole item to many different colors – even the little light in the mask you can colorchange.

For the rest of the look I am wearing many parts of DeathRowDesign, that are as well the creators of the amazing building in the background of the pictures. The “Sewer Shelter” is a wonderful collection with all kind of fantastic furniture and as well a built that you can use as your perfect post apocalyptic hideout ๐Ÿ˜‰

Over the next few days I will have a few more exciting news from the event, as it became an addiction to make pictures on the Thereafter sim ๐Ÿ˜‰

If you like this kid of style as much as I do, or if you are just curious and want a kick ass experience, even if you just love making snaps in cool scenarios – you should NOT miss out on the Thereafter event!

Thereafter Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sarastro/159/171/26

Details

Outfit: Miss Chelsea – “Bena” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Thereafter

Right Leg: Wicca’s Wardrobe – “Naesala Boots” (Maitreya)

Left Leg: DeathRowDesigns – “Post Apocalyptic Prosthetic”

Shoulderpieces: BOOM – “Plate Armor” – NEW @ Thereafter

Arm Armor: DeathRowDesigns – “Female Armor”

Bracelet right: Lapointe and Beastchild – “Swear Holiday Corded Bracelet”

Mask: ~isil~ – “Survival Mask & Helmet” – NEW @ Thereafter

Hair: Discord Designs – “Senay”

Skin Dirt (incl. nailpolish): Izzie’s – “Body & Face Dirt” (Maitreya/LeLutka Applier)

Makeup: Zibska – “Noir Pack 06” (LeLutka Applier)

Props: DeathRowDesigns – “Sewer Shelter” – NEW @ Thereafter

Poses: Poseidon

Basics

Head: LeLutka – Simone 3.0″

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Shape: Selfmade

Model & Photographer: Wicca Merlin

Location: Thereafter

“The most beautiful makeup for a woman is passion…”

“The most beautiful makeup for a woman is passion. But cosmetics are easier to buy.”

[Yves Saint Laurent]

And again I find myself doing black & red tones pictures… I do not know what that is, but to me lack & red are a very strong color combination especially if you have a deep hued saturated red ๐Ÿ˜‰

For the set I used several items from E.V.E Studio. I love the way how she does her designs, as they can be used from casual to fantasy up to artistic surroundings.

When I unpacked the “{The Wall} Mural Tir Na Nog ” pack from E.V.E Studio, I was totally in love with all this tiles that make a wonderful structured wall and ground. playing with projectors was fun with this wall as the tiles reflect the lights in such an amazing way ๐Ÿ˜‰

The cool dress comes from [sYs] and I found out it’s ‘secret’ when I put on the HUD. Each color comes with a HUD and you can color 2 parts of the dress separate! If you own more than one HUD you can even mix the different colors :p

Tattoos – I rarely wear other tattoos that the amazing art pieces from [White~Widow]. Julie Hastings really is a genius with her tattoos and I rarely found such original, filigree and detailed tattoos somewhere else. Usually you have RL tattoos that, someone brings to SL, but Julie seems to hand draw hers one by one and it looks like her creativity has no limits ๐Ÿ˜‰ The “GetOut” tattoo you can find at the actual round of the Kinky event.

If we take a closer look on the glasses and the shoes you will remember both being made by Glamistry. The shoes come – as usual for Glamistry –ย  withย  several HUD options so you can customize them to your likings. The glasses are made the same way ๐Ÿ˜‰

I more and more like playing with projectors in combination with the SL windlights and I am sure, I will have something more for you soon ๐Ÿ˜‰

Details

Dress: [sYs] – “Symetra” (Maitreya)

Shoes: Glamistry – “Angelica” (Maitreya)

Gloves: .:Avanti:. – “Tessa Gloves” (Maitreya Applier)

Collar & Headpiece: [[RH]] – “Zakuro”

Glasses: Glamistry – “Sunglasses PU2004”

Hair: Fabia – “Luida” @ Vintage Fair 2017

Tattoo: [White~Widow] – “GetOut” (Maitreya Applier) @ Kinky

Lipstick: La Boheme – “Eve Set 1” (LeLutka Applier)

Set: E.V.E Studio – “{The Wall} Mural Tir Na Nog”, “‘Army of me’ Ink Flowers” & {anc} – “Mannequin [alice]”

Basics:
Head: LeLutka โ€“ โ€œSimone 2.7โ€
Body: Maitreya โ€“ โ€œLara V4.1โ€
Eyes: IKON โ€“ โ€œHope Eyesโ€
Shape: Selfmade

Model & Photographer: Wicca Merlin