From Russia with Love… maybe not Russia, but with Love ;)

Yesterday we had the first real snow over here, which was on the ground longer than just a few minutes before it did melt again. But it did not survive the night ;(

But while it was snowing big flakes yesterday, I was in such a winter mood, I could not resist to grab the awesome “FRWL” gacha set from Salt & Pepper and play with it a little. What caught my attention was one of the rares. FRWL means From Russia with Love and the set was built for the actual round of Epiphany. What caught my attention, was the way how the coat falls and the incredible texture of the fur. I rarely saw a coat falling so realistic and even moving awesome with all kind of poses. But the texture did really blow me away. Usually if you see fur in Second Life, it is a lot of alpha and some blurry textures to get the feeling of fur and that often gives you a headache with pictures as you have all kind of alpha glitches all over with your background and hair, if you not just use a plain wall.

The cool hair certainly was made by no.match πŸ˜‰ I never made a secret out of the fact, that I am a no.match addicted for hair :p This time it is the release for the actual round of the Tres Chic event. With the curly hair, it gave the whole look a not as strict and classy look and I could use some sexy boots with over-knee socks from Eudora 3d to complete the look.

I was thinking a lot about a background for this look. First I was thinking about an airport scenery, but I could not find any with snow around. Then I tried some kind of shopping mall, but that just did not look right at all. In the end Í decided to look for a sweet winter location, which I found with Luanes Winter World. When I joined the goup wich was for free, I even could rez my pose stand and some extra snow here and there πŸ˜‰ Certainly there is a way, where you can still put stuff around you even if you can’t rez – you simply can attach everything to your body and when you found your pose you can edit it and move it all in place. But just rezzing it is way more easy! When I was done I just explored the sim a little more and found a lot of other corners, which would be great for pictures, so I am sure that was not my last visit there…

Outfit

Coat: Salt & Pepper (S&P) – “FRWL Coat RARE” (Maitreya, Gacha)

Dress: Salt & Pepper (S&P) – “FRWL Dress Black” (Maitreya, Gacha)

Gloves: Salt & Pepper (S&P) – “FRWL Gloves Black” (Maitreya, Gacha)

Shoes: Eudora 3D – “Yana Boots” (Maitreya)

Tights: Izzie’s – “Sheer Tights Basics” (Maitreya Applier)

Accessories

Bag: *{Junbug}* – “Cute Coin Purse Worn” (Gacha)

Glasses: [Steinwerk] – “Aviator Custom”

Necklace: CODEX – “Vintage Time”

Septum: [ kunst ] – “Anuket Septum Ring”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Body” – NEW @ Tres Chic

Lipstick: alaskametro<3 – “London” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Poses & Props

Foxcity & Luanes World

Location

Luanes Winter World

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

New Group Gifts @ Wicca’s Wardrobe

It’s cold outside and that means it’s time for something cozy to wear! We have our Allison outfit made up of jeans, pullover, vest and scarf all separates so you decide how toasty warm you want to be. Allison is made to fit Maitreya, Slink’s Hourglass and Belleza’s Freya.
Let’s not forget about your feet! We have something cozy for them too, our Gypsy boots designed to match! The boots are made to fit Maitreya, Hourglass, and Freya.

So come visit the store, pick up your gifts and do a lil shopping πŸ˜‰ We appreciate you!

TAXI: Wicca’s Wardrobe

Electric Blue

TUNES

I just freeze every time
You see through me
And it’s all over you
Electric Blue

[Icehouse]

It was time again for some futuristic ideas πŸ˜‰ Some times I do like to give myself some challenges and today, I wanted to bring together the awesome “Aglaya Latex Cyber Collar” – made by A&Y – and the super cute “Frenchie Ankle Boots” from [Gos]. Latex collar and some rough cloth looking ankle boots with a shiny leather tip. I made it a challenge for me to combine 2 complete different fabrics and none of both should look out of place, or have more impact than the other – if that makes sense. I wanted them to shine together with each other and not compete against. I looked though my inventory to balance out the style. The first day I tried it I was nearly giving up as nothing seemed to work – I already was about to use the full “Aglaya” set from A&Y as it goes so perfectly together. But I already blogged the other parts a few times (I still do love them like mad), plus I did not want to throw my first challenge of the year so quickly πŸ˜‰

I had to find the right balance and fabrics to put together my look. After a while I found a top, that played directly in my hands with those different fabrics and so I had hope again that this could work out nevertheless! The “Ellie Corset Top”, a collaboration of Azuchi and Vinyl. I do have that for a longer time and for today it was the perfect choice. The top has a matte fabric, while the corset has the perfect shiny look. For the arms I used one one arm some classic opera gloves, which I pimped with the cool “Pyper 69 Upper Arm” bracelet. On the other arm I went with the bento enabled “Nemesis Arms” from Wicca’s Wardrobe with the shiny metal plates. The latex skirt from United Colors and some Nylon stockings connected the upper with the bottom and the crazy “Medusa Cyber Hair”, as well from A&Y, combined with the “Disco Glasses from #187#gave the whole style a futuristic look. Since the look already is so full of details I decided to use a more simple background to get a more editorial looking picture.

Let’s see what mood I am in for the next post πŸ˜‰

Outfit

Top: Azuchi+Vinyl – “Ellie Corset Top” (Maitreya)

Skirt: United Colors – “Jen Skirt” (Maitreya)

Left Arm: Wicca’s Wardrobe – “Nemesis Arms” (Maitreya, Bento)

Gloves (Right Arm): AE – “Natalie Opera Gloves” (OMEGA Applier)

Stockings: .:Avanti:. – “Harlot Stockings” (OMEGA Applier)

Shoes: [Gos] – “Frenchie Ankle Boots” (Maitreya)

Accessories

Collar: [A&Y] – Aglaya Latex Cyber Collar” (Maitreya)

Glasses: #187# – “Disco Glasses Black”

Upper Right Arm: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Pyper 69 Upper Arms”

Nails Right Hand: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Obsess Claws” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: [A&Y] – “Medusa Cyber Hair 1”

Lipstick: Izzie’s – “Black Lips” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Tattoo: [White~Widow] – “Arctic” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Backdrop: Foxcity – “Photo Booth – Limitless LTD EDT”

Poses: Foxcity, <EMOZIONE> & .::shi.s.poses::.

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Now @ Wicca’s Wardrobe Mainstore

For the past round of We β™₯ RP we went cyberpunk and created Nemesis Arms. These cyber arm prostheses have been designed for Maitreya only and come with a HUD that provides you with 10 color choices for carbon, stripes, plates, fingers and claws.

TAXI: Wicca’s Wardrobe

Makeup Spotlight: ALMA Makeup Part I

ALMA – “Symphonie Makeup”

I know it was a while since my last post, but sometimes RL hits you right in your face and you are kinda knocked out for a while

Holidays were unexpected not that nice as I planned it. My ex boss man, the principal of the school I am working for, nearly a paternal friend of mine, died on the 22nd of December while he was on tour with his bicycle. I was in shock as that would have been the last I expected… I saw him a week before that happened and he seemed healthier than ever before, he even said he never felt so good. He had great plans for his pensioner life. He wanted to travel, visit his family and even do some really exciting things he wasn’t able to do while he was working. But life planned different… while he was enjoying nature – he did that a lot – a cardiac infarction pulled him off his bicycle…

ALMA – “Butterfly Makeup” + “Heat Lipstick”

As if that would not be enough, 2 days later a friend of mine told meΒ  – while I was sending him Merry Christmas – that the doctors stopped his medical treatment and he would only have a few more days to live. Coming right after the first punch it really knocked me down. I wasn’t able to really think straight for about a week and I needed another to recover from that and sort my brain again. Those things show you, how lucky you are if you are still alive and kinda healthy – besides a few things that age brings with it.

This being said I try to find my way back into life and come back with some pictures I did before that all happened…

ALMA – “GEAR Makeup”

I had the great pleasure to do a makeup tutorial for the last Eclipse Magazine issue and I wanted to share at least a few of the pictures with you on my blog πŸ˜‰ ALMA probably is not a usual mainstream makeup store but they do have a few very unique and extraordinary face art pieces πŸ˜‰

Since it would have been boring to use only my face all the time I experimented a little bit with some of my mesh heads, which I usually wear only for vendors (for the same reason). It was a cool challenge, as I had a lot of attention on the different faces and so I was forced to work on shaping a lot again. I have to admit a few I really liked in the end πŸ˜‰ It again showed me how much you can work on a face to make it fit different makeups. Especially the “GEAR” makeup took me a while, until I had the shape figured out to not destroy the cool circle around the eye. First I thought about to do only head shots but with those impressive makeups, I wanted to add some attitude. With a few accessories and my awesome Axis HUD from LeLutka (to make facial expressions) it really was a lot of fun. I never worked so much with faces and expressions only before, but I have to admit it won’t be my last makeup special πŸ˜‰

ALMA – “Crow Makeup” + “Heat Lips”

 

Christmas Countdown 2018 @ Wicca’s Wardrobe

Christmas Countdown @ Wicca’s Wardrobe (Dec 14th – 24th)

Christmas is near so it’s time to count down! We have 11 gifts to mark each day closer to Christmas!

We have created our very own Advent Calendar to celebrate the approach of Christmas! We have 11 gifts just for you. Each day will be a surprise gift. Come visit the store each day and just like a real Advent Calendar, open a door to reveal your gift! All of our Advent gifts are made for Maitreya, and some include versions for Slink and Belleza. When the image of the gift is revealed the image will indicate which bodies the item will work with in the lower left corner. Each gift comes as they are seen in their photos and without color changing HUDS. On the day of the gift the item is free to group members and L$50 to non-members.

On the “OMG I MISSED A DAY!” calendar, items for missed days are available for L$50 to group members and L$99 for non-members.

Taxi: Wicca’s Wardrobe

Even Angels enjoy the first Snow?

I know I am usually not the white person, but I do desire the snow so much, now that it gets more and more close to Christmas. There are so many amazing winter designs around at the moment, even if I am not the biggest landscaper I tried to create a little winter scenery for my snow angel πŸ˜‰

The super sexy over-knee boots I am wearing, are one of the latest releases from [Gos] for the Holiday round of Epiphany. The “Frenchie Knit Boots” are a gacha a 21 items gacha with 3 rares (black, gold and the fatpack HUD) You have the choice between a slim and a block heel for your boots and the darker the colors become, the more you can see the knitted fabric. The boots are available for Maitreya Lara, Belleza Isis & Freya and Slink Hourglass, you just have to play the right button for your size πŸ˜‰

The amazing hair, that looks like waving in the wind, was made by no.match for the MOM (Mens only Monthly) event. Even if the event is called mens only… I like the hairstyles for females as well πŸ˜‰

I hope you slowly get into the Holiday mood as well and maybe even Angels enjoy the first Snow πŸ˜‰

Outfit

Dress: -:zk:- – “Miu Dress” (Maitreya)

Shoes: [Gos] – “Frenchie Knit Boots” (Maitreya, Gacha) – NEW @ Epiphany

Tights: Nanika – “Alina TIghts” (Maitreya Applier)

Accessories

Arms: Gemini – “Sis Bracelets” (Maitreya)

Gloves: amias – “ARI white” (Maitreya)

Wings: Blueberry – “Oakley Wings – White” (Gacha)

Collar: Happy Undead – “Charming Collar (XXS-XS)”

Hair & Makeup

Makeup, Lipstick & Lashes: Izzie’s – “First Snow Make-Up Set” (LeLutka Applier)

Hair: no.match – “No.Chains” – NEW @ MOM

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Thauron”

Poses & Props

Pose: Foxcity – “Sits VOL2-4m”

Set:

Lake & Stones: Mushilu – “Snow Lake & Formations” – NEW @ We β™₯ RP

Path: E.V.E Studio – “When Atlantis Fell / Cracked Ice Snow” (5 different shapes)

Branches: E.V.E Studio – “{MOD} Ivy Tree [M02-No leaves] Snowed” & “Ivy Bonsai {Snowed}”

Fountain: Atelier Visconti – “Fountain Clover Snowy”

Trees: Little Branch –Β “MysticBoardLeaf.v1{4Seasons}”, “Birch1_with_season_change”, “OldOakTree{4Seasons}”, “DownyBirch{Seasons}” & “WeepingWillow_4Seasons+Pink”

Grass: Little Branch – “Grass1l{Winter}”

Deers: Mushilu – “Ligth Snow Deer” & “Ligth Snow Bambi” – NEW @ We β™₯ RP

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Painting – I swear it was supposed to be on the Canvas!

TUNES

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
Next year all our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the yuletide gay
Next year all our troubles will be miles away
Once again as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Will be near to us once more
Someday soon we all will be together
If the fates allow
Until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now
[Judy Garland]

After a rough week I finally can do a post again πŸ™‚

The time before Christmas seems to be a hard time for many people. I feel it a lot lately with the kids at school. The quiet time, the time of love and family – for some it seems to be the opposite of that. Maybe it is because they miss that feelings at home, or they do have problems they try to hide the whole year and when Christmas comes close they start to realize even more. I do not know what it is, but some do need more attention and care. I try as much to give them what they need, in a way I am allowed to, but I realized it really soaks a lot of power and energy off myself – more than usual and more than in any other year before. That means to me I need to find moments and ways to refill my own ‘batteries’ and making pictures in Second Life is one of them πŸ™‚

I had the great pleasure to meet Hattie Panacek – owner and builder/designer of Ex Machina – when she agreed to built us our new custom made Mainstore for Wicca’s Wardrobe. I never dared to even think about her as the builder for our store, as I know she usually not does any custom builts. Salt from Salt and Pepper encouraged me to ask her and even offered herself as reference. I hesitated for a while… I looked around to maybe find a store that would fit to us, our designs and our imaginations, but all that I found had one of those criteria but not more than one at the same time.

So I gathered my courage, took a deep breath and opened an IM to Hattie. I kinda was prepared to get a no to my request, but what I had to loose? I was a little worried, that she would be too busy to answer and so I thought it would take a while for her to come back on me and after I typed my proposal I closed the IM – maybe I just closed it so fast, as I was scared about the answer *snickers*

You know what?!?!?! It turned out to be one of the most amazing talk I had in Second Life. She replied kinda instant and I nearly fainted as I really didn’t expect that. She got our vision after just a few seconds and already had even some ideas for it. When she said she looked at our stuffs and liked the way we design and some of the stiff we do… I really was close to just pass out *giggles*. She pointed out some things and even did let our vision grow with her input. It felt like I would talk to an old friend – unbelievable. I always admired her work, her ideas and building skills and as well her incredible textures. She makes things look like used and not just shiny and nice – even if she certainly can do that as well πŸ˜‰ I just really really adore her way to do things. The more we talked when we met for sneak previews of what she was building for us, or for some more talks about specific things for the built, the more she became a friend to me as well and we discovered, that we share a lot of things, thoughts and likings.

One day she showed me her newest release for an event and I instantly loved it. I already did showcase the right side of that amazing backdrop before (https://wiccamerlin.de/late-autumn-soon-i-need-to-turn-on-the-heating-again/) and today it is time for the left side πŸ˜‰

I am talking about the “Atelier Baudelaire – By Ex Machina” backdrop.

The left side is a neat little atelier of a painting artist – according to Hattie the whole backdrop was inspired by the great French poet Charles Baudelaire. The backdrop has it’s own lights but since it is modify you can even turn them off if you want to use your own light setting. Did you ever see such an amazing love for the detail for just a corner of one room? The different paintings, the cool ‘used look’ details for the walls even behind the paintings and then the cardboard with the brushes and spilled paint… simply incredible and stunning. The more you look at that stunning backdrop the more details you will find like the awesome pipes at the ceiling. As well the materials are super awesome! If you are able to turn on materials the whole backdrop is like a new experience again. It does look already cool without but if you turn the advanced lighting model on in your graphics it does look like as you could even feel the little crackles or the bricks at the wall when you touch it – just breathtaking!

 

All the paintings, paint buckets and brushes reminded me of a fun mesh head/body applier of paint from Izzie’s I always wanted to use and never found the right chance to do so. The same I had with the super cool and amazing Paintball gacha set – I had no one yet playing that with me – where I had Redclaw shooting at me to get the paint splatter effect on the top πŸ˜‰ I guess I drove him nuts with that, as I wanted too have as many colors as possible on my short and he had to change between the guns all the time until I liked the way the paint applied to myself and the shirt *giggles*

Overall todays pictures where a lot of fun and I wasn’t able in a long time to just fool around with items, poses and things as my RL kept me so much. I hope the next days it will be a little easier going and I have more room for creative pictures and stuff to fool around with and getting inspired again πŸ˜‰

Outfit

Shirt: Salt & Pepper (S&P) – “Paintball Tank” (Maitreya, Gacha, Common)

Pants: Neve – “Pant – Destroy” (Maitreya)

Shoes: DECO – “Classic Sneaks”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: [INK] – “Colored Pencil w/Tanbarumori” (Gacha, Common)

Makeup: alaskametro<3 – “Bali Eyeshadow” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Tattoo: Izzie’s – “Color Explosion” (LeLutka/Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Le Poppycock – “Just Alice” (with ladder, paint bucket & brush)

Backdrop: Ex Machina – “Atelier Baudelaire”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Wicca’s Wardrobe @ The Snowbound Hunt 2018

Wicca’s Wardrobe @ The Snowbound Hunt 2018 (December 1st – 12th)

It’s time for another hunt! This time we are Snowbound! We took some of our items and made special Snowbound Hunt versions of them. We have 7 special edition items that are a part of this hunt and they range in price from L$7 to L$25. You don’t want to miss out on these. You are certain to have some fiercely frozen style this winter season!

Taxi: Snowbound Hunt Sim

Press Release

The Snowbound Hunt by Toxxic Rhiannyr
Event Dates: December 1st-12th, 2018

Once upon a Lucky Star, a little snow capped town received an unexpected shipment of tree ornaments from the elves at Amazon. It was late in the evening when these special prizes arrived, so the residents came out to grab a few boxes to secure at their front porches til morning. As they were tucked snug in their beds, outside mother nature switched moods and dumped mounds of snow and ice all over their cozy homestead. Littering the area with tree ornaments and mangled boxes. The residents set out to pick up tree limbs and debris left over from the wintery storm but they need help from you to locate the tree ornaments!

The packing slip stated that the ornaments are stuffed with prizes from 70 different stores from a game called Second Life! They are priced at 25L or less! As a token of our resident’s appreciation, you can keep the prizes found inside! We appreciate you assisting in this messy matter and we wish you all a Happy Holiday and Bright New Yearβ™₯

Toxxic Rhiannyr – Mayor of Lucky Star
secondlife:///app/agent/37c42d18-3eb3-4086-969c-c99351fd6b0f/about

The Snowbound Hunter Group
secondlife:///app/group/531cb104-7c37-bd58-75cc-fdd2374b5537/about

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/The-Snowbound-Hunt-711371592575130

Wicca & the Hungarian Horntail

Picture made for “A Harry Potter Coffee Table Book” (https://issuu.com/eclipsemagazinesl/docs/harry_potter_coffee_book)

I had the great pleasure to be part of a Harry Potter Coffee Table Book, hosted by Eclipse Magazine. The book is a photograph collection inspired by iconic scenes from the Harry Potter series and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Many amazing photographers and as well icons of mine contributed to the book and the more I felt honored and mega happy that Trouble asked me if I would be part as well.

I picked the “Harry in the first task versus the Hungarian Horntail” from the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire episode, after Trouble said we just should take the scenes as inspiration and I could be a female as well.

I love dragons and so that scene was right down my alley. I had something in mind, that I wanted to do and it turned out way harder than I thought. I never experimented with fire like that before and as well to find the right angle wasn’t as easy as I imagined. The next problem I came across was all my dragons had some poses but none worked out in the angle I wanted to shoot – I nearly lost my nerves about it *snickers* One of my old dragins from Manticore finally did what I wanted!

After some time – after I pulled out several hairs, bit fingernails and cursed like mad – it looked like, as it would come to a good end πŸ˜‰ Gone where the thoughts of giving up and getting frustrated – I did it! At least I really love what I could come up with for such an amazing book of all those incredible photographers!

Thanks a lot Trouble, for that amazing opportunity!

Once again you challenged me – Once again I learned some new techniques!