β€œBefore he shuts me down…”

I do love collaborations and if one of your personal photography idols asks you, if you would have an idea that would go with his actual styling… that feels like Christmas, easter and birthday together :p

I always admire people with strong visions, intense emotions, powerful moments and driving colors. As well I am amazed by peoples skills in doing raw shots and how they post process their pictures. It is exciting to see what gets snapped in world and then see what the end results are for the picture, that mostly turns into an art piece then πŸ˜‰

So, you can imagine how excited I got, when Master Nefekalum came into my IM box and asked, if I would have an idea for a styling to what he just had put together. He as well sent me a gyazo of his look and when I saw it, immediately the movie Ex Machina came to my mind. The Android girl Ava and Caleb, who has to judge whether Ava is genuinely capable of thought and consciousness, and if he can relate to Ava despite knowing she is artificial.

When I told Master Nefekalum about it, he seemed interested. So I did hurry to put a style together, to show him what I was thinking of. When I sent him the gyazo he had some minor ideas to adjust my look and then he TPed me over to his studio. It is always exciting to me, when I see how other photographers work and I always try to be as easy to work with as I can, to not disturb or interrupt other peoples ideas and visions.

It is so amazing to see how others picture your look and what they do see in your styling. Sometimes it even can go a complete different direction, than you initially thought about.

This time it did not and Master Nefekalum liked my little vision to his style and I was speechless, when I saw the picture and the perfect title he did. So today I just adapted the title of my post to hims and I hope he will not mind it πŸ˜‰

I would like to thank Master Nefekalum for this amazing moment and picture! I secretly hope he will have a situation or style that he will see me fit into again in the future maybe πŸ˜‰

Master Nefekalum’s Style details:

https://ephemeralskye.com/2018/04/04/before-i-shut-you-down/

You definitely should take a look at his amazing work work on his flickr or blogΒ  to see all his amazing art work!

My Stylecard:

Outfit & Accessories:

Corset: Pixicat – “Temptation Corset – Dark” (Gacha, RARE, XS Size)

Collar: .:Avanti:. – “Nayomi Collar”

Shoes: [CX] – “Implant Revived – Trashed Steel” (Maitreya)

Spine: Salt & Pepper – “Skeleton Spine” (Maitreya)

Rings: Meva – “Maitreya Bento Rings – Silver” (Maitreya)

Claws: Meva – “Bento Claws – Silver”

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: A&Y Cybernetics – “Cyro”

Body & Tattoos:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Upper Arms & Legs, Nip Cover & Panties: [V-Tech] – “Forbidden Experiment Set” (Maitreya)

Skin: *YS&YS* – “Ginny Zafiro Skin” (LeLutka/Maitreya Applier)

Teck Skin Appliers: *YS&YS* – “Pris” (LeLutka/Maitreya Applier)

Eyes (right): CURELESS[+] – “Surgical Eyes”

Photographer:

Master Nefekalum (Ephemeral Skye)

Silent Crying

“The most painful tears we cried, were the tears we cried in silence…”

When was the last time you cried in silence?

Usually the emotions and the pain are way deeper if you cry in silence, than if you let people see it. But why we are crying in silence?

Maybe because we think no one would anyways understand why or what we are crying about, so we feel the need to hide it to not make things worse or complicated with other people involved?

Maybe we do not want to look weak and fragile and hide it, to not give people the idea we are an easy prey?

Maybe we do not want to worry the people, which are close and dear to us with issues and thoughts that might not even be real problems?

Maybe we do not have a reason that can be spoken out loud, as we do not have the words about the emotions that we are going through?

Maybe someone (accidentally) disappointed and hurt us so much and we do not wanna risk our future with that person and just have to play nice to not ruin everything?

Maybe we are scared that people won’t believe us or believe the reason we do cry?

There is so many reasons why we do it and each one must be very deep and painful, if we try to hide our emotions and feelings towards other people. The tears we cry won’t be seen by anyone. No one will come and put arms around you, because no one thinks you need support. Silent tears are one example of so many fights we have with ourselves. Even if no one can see them, after we released the tears and let them flow, we usually feel better and sometimes we even question our tears afterwards and then we are happy nobody did see them and we do not have to explain.

Do not be afraid to cry if your best friend is with you. Your best friend will understand, not feel bothered, not judge your strength in that moment, not question the reason for your tears, believe in every reason and maybe even put the arms around you and hold you silently until you feel better.

I am very grateful I have such a person in my life β™₯

Todays pictures were the hardest for along time… do you know the feeling, when you have a complete vision of a picture in mind and then you run around like mad and can’t find what you were looking for? So it was today with my set. I had something in mind in a light, nearly purely white hallway with flying sheer curtains. I looked on MP and as well in world and I found a few things that were close, but not what I was looking for. Then I was trying one of the awesome creations from Exposeur, which I anyways love for a long time. I fell in love with the poses, what made me dump the idea of light and white and rethink my picture idea. So I ended up building something with the “Girl At The Window” pose prop from Exposeur and the “Flying Curtains” from Kalopsia.

The style of today was as well a little special as well. I wanted to do a post about the new “Lady G Pumps” from [Gos].

“What kind of Lady will you be today? Let Lady G help you decide. Out now at FaMESHed,Β Lady G is a classic high platform pump that is anything but basic. Four shoes in one, choose between a sky high stiletto or block heel and a open foot or Mary Jane strap.

Lady G is available in 3 colour HUDs – Boutique, Blueberry, and Metallics – each sold separately or as a collection. The Boutique HUD includes 21 current, in-season colours perfect for any fashionista, the Blueberry HUD includes 28 colours which coordinate with clothing from Blueberry, and the Metallics HUD include 7 metallics which will have your feet shining. Each HUD also includes 5 sole, 2 metal, 3 lining options and controls heel and strap wear options. 56 colors in all!” [Gospel Voom]

First I went for the typical casual elegant look, which usually is expected for pumps like that. If you imagine pumps, what style you imagine on the first thought? Casual elegant, lingerie or formal/elegant. When I was fully styled, I looked at me and thought… “Nope, that is not you!” and took off everything but the pumps. But now what else…? Usually if I get stuck with ideas I dive into my accessories folder and see what I find there to kick in some creativity :p

The first thing I tried was the “Mouth Silencer” from AsteroidBox. As a German I was curious what a mouth silencer woud be. When I unpacked it and put it on, the first look – I have to admit that – was kinda terrifying. It looked very harsh and martial and with the blood applier that comes with it – I had to swallow a few times before my curiosity won and I thought that this could be an interesting challenge. So I looked at me, standing there in pumps and that bloody iron piece on my mouth. Usual lingerie would be too nice and I anyways did not wanna go for that. Pure fetish would be too obvious too now with that special accessory. Maybe a mixture would do it!

I found the “Sex Vixen Princess” outfit from Dirty Princess, which made the perfect combo of cute and strong with the little ruffles on the lingerie and as well the strong leather harness on top of it. To drag it back a little bit I added the ripped stockings to get a more gothic touch in it and I loved the contrast of the elegant pumps and the ripped nylons πŸ˜‰ Needless to say it was luck that the nylons were just as high to meet the garters of the outfit, but since .:Avanti:. has so many different heights for their stockings I did know I would find one that matches :p

Certainly a tattoo could not be missing in that look and what else than one of the [White Widow] tattoos could work better to bring the sweetness back again as well. The “It” tattoo with the cute roses just perfectly did what I expected from it. I did say more than once already, that I adore the texture skills Julie Hastings has and I would give my right arm for it to know, how she archives it to have all of her tattoos so needled-sharp on the mesh bodies πŸ˜‰

Even if the pictures today turned out completely different than I first thought, the emotions and feelings I wanted to transport with them still remained the same. It was a great experience for myself to start with a mouth piece and heels and I hope there will me many more like those in the future πŸ™‚

Details

OutfitΒ  & Accessories:

Outfit: Dirty Princess – “The Sex Vixen Princess” (Maitreya)

Shoes: [Gos] – “Lady G Pumps” (Maitreya) – NEW @ FaMESHed

Collar: Wicca’s Wardrobe – “Misaki Collar” (Gacha, Maitreya) – NEW @ Gacha Garden

Gloves: .:::G.ID:::. – “Hazel Gloves” (Maitreya)

Stockings: .:Avanti:. – “Ripped Nylons” (Maitreya Applier)

Gag & Blood: AsteroidBox – “Mouth Silencer” (with LeLutka Applier)

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: Sintiklia – “Oona” (Monthly Midnight Madness Gift)

Makeup: Izzie’s – “Tears HUD” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoos:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

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

Poses & Props:

Props: Exposeur – “Girl At The Window” (filled with all the poses I used) & Kalopsia – “Flying Curtains”

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

Vibrant Lights

“I think there is beauty in everything what ‘normal’ people would perceive as ugly. I can usually see something of beauty in it.”

[Alexander McQueen]

YAY! Fetish Fair extends for one week! More time to get all the goodies πŸ˜‰ Speaking of goodies, many parts of my todays post are from exactly that Fetish Fair…

The cool mask, what made me start with my styling today, comes from E-Clipse Design. It is part of a full outfit called “Anu”. The outfit comes with dress, mask, boots and as well a whip. The boots and the whip I did not use for todays post.

The mask caught my attention immediately – I LOVE such neat accessories that are outside the mainstream range… I am sure thats nothing new πŸ˜‰ All the little details, the gear and tubes already make this a stunning accessory and if you take a closer look at the textures, you will see why I fell in love with it. The dress as well is something special. The fabric is opaque, but has a wonderful shining texture and you get the imagination of it being slightly sheer even if it is not. Speaking of details… take a look how awesome the strings are wrapped around the body held by those amazing metal rings!

The cool boots would fit perfectly into the Fetish Fair as well, but those are out now at the Cosmopolitan event. The “Camala” boots are calf high boots with an amazing lace down at the sides of the feet. I have no clue how Elisabetta Hyun does her textures, but they are so incredible realistic and you never have any seams where the shoes have none. The “Camala” boots come with a huge HUD to customize several parts of the boots like the main boot, the laces, the inner and outer sole as well as the heel and metals. I know I already mentioned that, but what I do like a lot with the UTOPIA@Design shoes is the preset tab on the HUD where Elisabetta already makes 9 presets ready to wear and as well the possibility to choose about the glossiness of the whole shoe.

The collar and the cool garter – yes, it is a mesh body rigged garter that is a standalone without the stockings – I as well found at the Fetish Fair. Recently I look into .:Avanti:. more and more as I really do like the way Intoxicate, owner and designer of .:Avanti:., creates her things. I rarely saw so many different way of stockings like she did and what I love the most – they are different high on the thighs depending on their style. That makes it possible, that you can either connect them to garters or wear them even under thigh high boots and see the tiny boarder peeking still πŸ˜‰ and certainly I cannot forget to mention that I adore her texture skills for her appliers!

Last but not least, I would like to drag your attention towards the amazing hand accessories I am wearing. I always look for something I can wear on my hands, I am addicted to all kind of nails, rings, gloves and what not πŸ˜‰ This time I chose the super cool “No Mercy Rings” from [Since1975].Β  They combine some leather straps wrapped around your hands and as well unusual, kick ass rings and little gems on the fingernails. All are perfectly rigged for bento hands and react awesome to all kind of finger movement and posing. With the HUD you can decide what metal colors you would like to have and as well you can hide rinsg and gems single, to not have a perfect mirror on both hands. That I like a lot, as you usually never have all the same rings mirrored on each hand at the same time and I am anyways a lover of non symmetric things.

But now I will make my way back to the Fetish Fair again – since I have one week more to go – and see what neat accessories I can find for my next post πŸ˜‰

Details:

Outfit & Accessories:

Outfit & Mask: E-Clipse Design (ED) – “Anu Dress” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Fetish Fair 2018

Shoes: UTOPIA@Design – “Camala” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Cosmopolitan

Stockings: .:Avanti:. – “Ripped Nylons” (Maitreya Applier)

Garter: .:Avanti:. – “Mina Garter” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Fetish Fair 2018

Collar: .:Avanti:. – “Nayomi Collar” – NEW @ Fetish Fair 2018

Hand Accessories: [Since1975] – “No Mercy Rings” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Fetish Fair 2018

Nailpolish: alme. – “Silver Lines Dark” (Maitreya Applier)

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: [KoKoLoReS] Hair – “Oakes”

Hairbase: Mina – “Myla” (LeLutka Applier, comes with a hair style)

Makeup: ALMA – “Hela” (LeLutka Applier)

Makeup:

Body & Tattoo:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Tattoo: [Hipster Style] – “Black Tattoo” (Maitreya & LeLutka Applier)

Poses & Props:

Backdrop: anxiety – “%bedside” (Group Gift)

Poses: s26 – “Soraya” (Bento), Belle Poses – “Mi” & “Margery” (Bento) & Body Language “Fine Sand” (Bento)

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

Vintage Impressions

Recently I got asked, if I do set myself any kind of styling challenges, because I have so many different looks on my blog. No I don’t! :p

Usually I get my ideas in the very moment when I put on clothing or accessories. Sometimes it evenΒ  starts with a completely different idea and turns into the opposite in the end. Like today, when I put on the new “Sasha” outfit from LX Essentials. “Sasha” is a cute and sweet ensemble of a solid skirt and a beautiful laced top. With the HUD you can change the sold AND the lace colors! First I had a lingerie or sweet casual style in mind and even was playing with the color HUD between pink and red.

While I was looking for the matching accessories, I stumbled over one of the newest releases from Enfant Terrible. The “Large Fur” is an amazing rigged fur piece, which goes down from the left shoulder to the bottom, only the hand is visible. Because it is rigged, it moves perfectly with an inbuilt pose for the arm with your AO and poses.

As soon as I saw the outfit together with the large fur attachment, I pulled back up the HUD for the outfit and changes the color to something black and cream to match the fur. From there on the vintage impression was set. I wanted to have some more fur around the neck and found another, for Maitreya body rigged, fur from Enfant Terrible.

 

I think it must be really hard to make fur for Second Life. Most you see is either blurry, has alpha glitches or it looks like many little sharp triangles added up. You rarely find some real cool and realistic looking fur with most of the mesh items. But rarely you get the impression of something really smooth and fuzzy but LeEnfant Terrible, owner and creator of Enfant Terrible, really did an amazing job with her fur!

For the shoes I used the “Smilla” heels from UTOPIA@Design, With the awesome HUD it was relatively easy to match them to the tones of the outfit and the way how this amazing peep-toes are made even the style looked perfect vintage. Besides all the colors and presets you even can control the glossiness with the HUD and decide if you want a more latex shinny look or a more matte leather looking one… really amazing and so versatile!

An elegant – never thought I would call me that – vintage Lady certainly needs a head and certain accessories and what hat could fit better than the “Vintage Romance” one from LODE – The name already proves. I will turn around for the next picture so you can see all is beauty πŸ˜‰

So all I had left to add was some jewelry – certainly some ivory pearls – and a long vintage cigarette holder πŸ˜‰

Lately I more and more try to built my own sceneries, as it takes me ages until I find a place or sim where I can shoot or even rezz a posestand, plus you have way more control how busy your background will be if you not wanna spend hours to derender everything around you what you think you will not need and relog like a million times because you derendered the wrong thing or too much of something πŸ˜‰

The basic mostly are 2 prims that I use to texture them with wallpaper and floor textures, so I can start building a room/set.

Since I had no idea what I was looking for I just typed vintage into my inventory search and looked what came up. That was how I found that amazing little set from Tuesdays with the table and the frames. After I rezzed it, I saw I do not need much more than just some little decor and maybe a few light resources. Sometimes it does not need much to have a proper scenery if you want to showcase mainly your style.

Details

Outfit & Accessories:

Outfit: *LX* Essentials – “Sasha” (Maitreya) – NEW

Fur 1: Enfant Terrible – “Large Fur” (rigged) – NEW

Fur 2: Enfant Terrible – “Winter Fur” (Maitreya)

Shoes: UTOPIA@Design – “Smilla” (Maitreya)

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

Stockings: AviCandy – “Vintage Hosiery Collection” (Maitreya Applier)

Hat: LODE – “Vintage Romance”

Earrings: *C:K* – “Simple Pearl Earring”

Collar & Bracelets: SECRETS – “Pearl Jewel Set”

Rings: Slipper – “Cadence Rings” (Maitreya, Bento)

Cigarette: [ht:apparel] – “Cigarette Holder”

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: EMO-tions – “Tragedy”

Makeup: Slackgirl – “Rose Gem Shadow” (Omega Applier)

Lips: alaskametro<3 – “Fey” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoos:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props:

Poses: Foxcity

Props:

Table & Frames: ..TUESDAYS.. – “Vintage Whimsy Decor”

Chair: GizzA – “Vintage Wedding / Victorian Chair”

Candle: *HEXtraordinary* – “Reindeer Antler Candle”

Decor: {anc} – “mannequin. vintage” (Gacha)

Spots: Poisoned Diamond – “Theater Lamp”

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

Wiccattitude with HelaMiyo!

Pose: HelaMiyo – “Wiccattitude” set

When I saw HelaMiyo has a “Wiccattitude” pose set.. certainly I had to play with it and make some pictures πŸ˜‰

If you like the more edgy and unusual posesΒ  and as well love the option of a mirrored version of your pose… then you should take a closer look at HelaMiyo. I got one of my first picture pose set from HelaMiyo and since back then Miyoko Magic never disappointed with new and exciting pose sets!

Pose: HelaMiyo – “Wiccattitude” set

It is always exciting and as well a huge honor if you have products named after you in Second Life, and when Miyoko Magic – owner and designer of HelaMiyo – even mentioned she thought about me when she was trying to find a name for her new pose set, I was completely blown away and certainly had to make a post about it πŸ˜‰

Like I mentioned before, mostly we all use poses for each and every picture we do. We kinda see poses as matter of course and rarely think about all the work and effort each single pose needs to become real for SL. I often catch myself, to just use poses and not looking at the brand it was made from or even the name which sometimes as well says something about a pose set, for example a special purpose. That is why I made it as a task for myself for 2018 to have more pose centered posts or pose studies, to just do justice to all the amazing pose creators in Second Life, who make all our amazing pictures possible.

The “Wiccattitude” set is a very energetic one, which can be used in many different ways. You can even turn around the poses and use them laying or even 180Β° vertical twisted with many different angles to shoot from. Yes, I have to admit I love not just shooting but playing with poses as well, even if they are completely working out different as intended sometimes πŸ˜‰

Pose: HelaMiyo – “Wiccattitude” set

If you do a shooting focused on poses, the question of the clothing and accessories is not always easy as you want the most flexibility for all kind of movements. I love to use skin tight clothing and look for even those posts the most. This time I started with the boots. The stunning “Syberia” boots from UTOPIA@DESIGN. I have a love for overknee boots, but for many looks you can’t wear them especially if long mesh pants are involved. 99% the pants stick through the boots except if you wear applier pants.

Speaking of appliers, the awesome “Cozy Tights” I am wearing are from .:Avanti:. and I love the details she puts on her fabrics and designs as well as her awesome ideas for appliers.

Pose: HelaMiyo – “Wiccattitude” set

The amazing outfit was made by Salt & Pepper. Originally the “Teisha” was released on We β™₯ RP in December but I am sure you can find it in the main store now. I chose to go with the silver/black option for the outfit, that even includes the cool headpiece, that I used instead of wearing hair. On the HUD for the outfit you will find black and white for the shirt color and 5 different metals (black, silver, rose-gold, light gold and gold) for the body suit and the hair part. The outfit as well contains boots with those 5 color, which I did not wear for todays post.

Happy New Year 2018!

Pose: HelaMiyo – “Wiccattitude” set

Details

Outfit & Accessories:

Outfit (incl. Headpiece): Salt & Pepper (S&P) – “Teisha” (Maitreya)

Shoes: UTOPIA@DESIGN – “Syberia” (Maitreya)

Tights: .:Avanti:. – “Cozy Tights” (Maitreya Applier)

Nails: >glyph< – “Apex” (Maitreya, Bento)

Necklace: Codex – “Charlotte”

Hair & Makeup:

Makeup: Zibska – “Araceli” & “Noir Pack 06” (Maitreya & Omega Applier)

Lipstick: Zibska – “Araceli” (Maitreya Applier)

Body & Tattos:

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Poses & Props:

Poses: HelaMiyo – “Wiccattitude” set

Props: ChiC Buildings [Cb] – “SEA Jugs” & DRD – “Gold retreat wall art -reaching – “

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

Last Day before Christmas…

Again we only have one day left for Christmas. In Germany we celebrate Christmas on the 24th, in my family usually in the afternoon or evening. It never was a huge party we we only have the closest family around. This year it will be my mom, my brother and his girl friend, Red and myself.

Usually the last day before Christmas was very hectic, as I never made it to have all Christmas presents together in time πŸ˜‰ This year I am all set and done \o/

So all I have left is preparing the apartment and do some Christmas tree decorating. It is a great feeling if you have everything ready and just can relax and enjoy the pre-Christmas feeling πŸ˜‰

You can make your self a nice cocoa or – what I like even more – a nice ‘GlΓΌhwein’. It was really a wonderful day today and that brought me on today’s pictures and post.

First I only wanted to do a shoe post about the amazing “Kendall” ankle boots from [Gos]. The Kendall boot is a peep-toe leather biker ankle boot. Accented by double buckles and exposed zipper detail, Kendall is sure to add flair.
Kendall is available in 3 colour HUDs – Boutique, Blueberry, and Metallics – each sold separately. The Boutique HUD includes 14 current, in-season colors perfect for any fashionista, the Blueberry HUD includes 21 colors which coordinate with clothing from Blueberry, and the Metallics HUD include 6 metallics which will have your feet shining. Each HUD also includes 5 sole, 3 metal, 7 lining, and 2 heel options.

Based on the shoes I wanted to do a winter, cozy look and I just took the awesome “Lila Sweater” from .:Avanti:. and an older gacha hair, that I never used as I never found the right style for it. To not have bare legs with my denim shorts, I wanted some tights and remembered the cool socks/tights combination I got a few weeks ago, which even had a toe-less option – perfect for the peep-toe boots!

While I was playing with poses and some decorations… my sweet little niece India showed up and we all know how kids can be… curious especially one day before Christmas. She sat down with her little Rudolph cuddly toy and wanted some hot chocolate. She had a lot to tell from Kindergarten and about Christmas and certainly she asked me all those questions about Santa. she did not forget to mention that she hopes Santa got her wish-list in time this year and when I would think that he will come. I told her that we still need to get the cookies out the fridge later and make a little plate for Santa with them. I should not have mentioned the cookies I guess since India is the biggest cookie monster I ever met :p I had a hard time to tell her we cannot eat the cookies for Santa and that she better keeps her hands off them and that they are only belong to Santa and how important it would be to give them to him.

Finally I made it, to get her into her bed and after a little bedtime story she closed her eyes and fell asleep with a smile on her face. I closed the book and turned the lights off before I left the room and went back down to continue decorating and drinking the last few sips of my ‘GlΓΌhwein’ before I got sleepy myself and went to bed.

If you want to see India’s little over nightsecret… just take a look at her cute story πŸ˜‰ https://indiaamari.wordpress.com/2017/12/23/its-almost-christmas/

I wish all of you Merry Christmas and hope you can enjoy the next days with your family and friends as much as I will πŸ™‚

Details

Clothing & Accessories:

Top: .:Avanti:. – “Lila Sweater” (Maitreya)

Pants: GizzA – “Betsy Demin Shorts” (Maitreya, store closed)

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

Knee: .:Avanti:. – “Knit Knee Warmer” (Maitreya)

Stockings: .:Avanti:. – “Cozy Tights” (Maitreya Applier)

Gloves: Blackburns – “Short Knit Gloves” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: Sleepy Eddy – “Handknotmuffler+Nao” (Gacha, Rare)

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

Lipstick: alaskametro<3 – “Fall Runway” (LeLutka Apllier)

Body & Tattoo:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props:

Ladder: 22769 – “Library Stepladder” (Gacha, Common)

Tree: [Chic Buildings] – “Holiday Trimming Tree Pale” + “Ornaments Box Pale”

Drink: RazzBerry Inc. – “Sugar Cookie Cocoa”

Reindeer:Β Sweet Lies – “Female Reindeer Bow” (Gacha, Common)

Hot Chocolate Set: -tres blah- – “Cozy Winter – Hot Chocolate”

Poses: Poseidon

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

First Snow! – Winter Trend 2017

Matching the actual season the Winter Trend Fair 2017 is going on on the grid.

Amazing winter designs, that put you in a snow mood even if RL is not yet willing to gives snow yet πŸ˜‰

SL’s best designers again digged deep in their creativity sources to bring us amazing winter designs, certainly Utopia cannot be missed at such a great event!

Today the amazing “Wania” boots, made for the Winter Trend 2017, were the basic for my todays post and pictures. I always adored Utopia.. their shoes are one of the most stunning and realistic designs on the grid. The awesome high heels go up to the knee, while the bottom has some sexy toes peeping out πŸ˜‰ The fatpack or multi HUD has amazing features. You get 9 presets, which you can apply quickly and you have 5 options to raise the glossiness of the fabric. That comes in very handy depending, what kind of outfit you have on. If you tick the second tab of the HUD you get very detailed texture changing options. 6 different parts of the shoes can be color changed to 8 different colors! Can you just imagine how many possibilities that are? What more you can ask of such an awesome and sexy high heeled boot?

The cute knitted knee warmers and the cardigan with the fur collar, I found as well at the Winter Trend 2017 – I am sure no pixel animal has to loose its skin for that amazing design πŸ˜‰ The sleeves are an old favorite of mine from a store that sadly already closed years ago. For the basic outfit I used the Lyra outfit from Wicca’s Wardrobe. With the awesome ruffled top and skirt and some tights, it made a perfect match for a cool winter look! “Lyra” as well comes with a huge HUD to customize many single parts of the outfit and so it was easy to match the incredible “Wania” boots from Utopia.

The amazing simple but stunning makeup I found at On9. Alaskametro<3 did an amazing job with the “Soiree” eyeshadow, the shimmer metallics are a perfect choice for a everyday look and as well work for an evening party look. The “Fay” lipgloss with its sheer colors and the little flecks of glitterΒ  are perfect for a pixie-perfect lipstick!

With all the fur I needed a winter scenery and so I thought it is time to get some winter on the parcel beside our store and India helped me with some Christmas decoration… I am not THAT much of a Christmas person, so I just added the amazing wolves and cat from Jian to get some sweet and cozy winter feelings πŸ˜‰

One more week to go until Christmas… and I still need some presents – like every year I again did not make it to have all together one week before Christmas*snickers*

I hope you already have yours and can have a relaxed week to prepare your apartment/house like you want it for Christmas!

Details

Outfit & Accessories:

Coat: Kaithleen’s – “Winter Cardigan & Fur” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Winter Trend 2017

Top & Skirt: Wicca’s Wardrobe – “Lyra” (Maitreya)

Sleeves: Cashmere – “Fur Sleeves” (store closed)

Knee: .:Avanti:. – “Knit Knee Warmers” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Winter Trend 2017

Shoes: Utopia@Design – “Wania” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Winter Trend 2017

Necklace: Kunglers – “Sabrina Necklace”

Rings: Slipper – “Cadence Rings” (Maitreya)

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: no.match – “No.Boarder”

Makeup: alaskametro<3 – “Soiree” (LeLutka Applier) – NEW @ On9

Lipstick: alaskametro<3 – “Fey” (LeLutka Applier) – NEW @ On9

Body & Tattoo:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Poses & Props:

.Focus Poses. – “Sexy Country Fence”

Location:

Wicca’s Wardrobe (@ parcel left side of the store)

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

Pose Studies with HelaMiyo

HelaMiyo – “Ankles Action” Pose Set

Poses are something very personal and as well to me they are a very important part to my pictures and blogging. We all spend a lot of time to dress up our pixels to get a cool look for our posts. I need the same amount of time as well to find the poses I do want to use for certain outfits. A real cool outfit can be super boring and not exciting at all when you use the wrong poses in my opinion.

HelaMiyo – “Ankles Action” Pose Set

If you have a wonderful detailed outfit and you just do a standing pose with lots of background and ambience around you, all those pretty little details simply vanish. It took me a long time until I figured out a way for me to keep those details and as well have a cool picture. Poses are very often too underestimated. Sometimes poses that look crazy and weird on the first view, can become very interesting if you play with them, turn them around or just have a crop picture where you only can see certain parts. Maybe that requires more pictures to showcase an outfit properly but I do not mind that at all if I am satisfied with the picture itself.

HelaMiyo – “Ankles Action” Pose Set

For shoes for example you can do so much more than just have shoes and feet on the picture. Like with the pose I used on the picture above. The shoes are the definite focus in that picture, but I still have nearly my whole avatar shown and the outfit it self as well. The same pose from another angle can showcase something different. So one pose can be used more than once and maybe sometimes you cannot even tell that it was the same pose with a totally different angle on it (at least I could not :p)

HelaMiyo – “Ankles Action” Pose Set

Sometimes I get asked, why I am doing more than one picture for my blog posts and if one picture would not be enough. Maybe sometimes one would be enough but then, if you style your avatar with time and passion, would you not like to show all the details you styled to it – Maybe a back view or a closeup? For clothing I usually do not have more than 3 to 5 pictures, if I do not have a picture story or something like that. Then I try to have one full body shot, one head shot and maybe one with shoes, nails or a little detail that would be overseen in one of the 2 others. But if I play with poses, I do have more than that. Usually, one pose set has more tha one or 2 poses in it and how I could showcase a pose set with just one picture if I do not wanna stuff all poses into one picture?

HelyMiyo – “Ankles Action” Pose Set

If I want to do pose studies with more than one pose set, I have to have more pictures to really showcase the work a pose designer put in to it. To be honest it is as well fun to change poses and angles while you take pictures. I sometimes find angles and crops I never would have thought about, by just turning and rotating my pose stand *giggles*

For this post I had over 80 snapshots and in the end over 20 pictures from them, that I wanted to use. but since 20 pictures is a lot I forced myself to cut it down under 15 for one post and do some more on a second post, so I will not beat you down with too many pictures πŸ˜‰

HelaMiyo – “Our Darkness” Pose Set

For todays post all poses are made by HelaMiyo.

HelaMiyo is not a new pose store. Miyoko Magic entered SL in 2008 and HelaMiyo was born back then as well. Miyoko always had very unique and impressive poses that not just were ‘simple standing’ poses. If you ask her you will find out that all of her poses have a linked story to her RL as she states on her website (http://helamiyo.blogspot.de/) . Maybe that explains as well why all of her poses are so unique πŸ˜‰

HelaMiyo – “Our Darkness” Pose Set

I still remember one of my first pose sets from HelaMiyo from when I started modeling and was working for a store named Staged back in 2009. We were standing on a round platform and we got a puppet hanger to wear so it looked like hanging puppet/string dolls instead of just usual store models – I really loved that idea and I still have those hanger and poses πŸ˜‰

That was the first time when I discovered HelaMiyo poses πŸ™‚

HelaMiyo – “Our Darkness” Pose Set

The more I was happy that now, about 8 years later, I got to know the person behind th poses! I am usually too shy to talk to designers if I am just one of a million customers, because I always think they are so busy with creating and I do not want to bother them with me and my questions πŸ˜‰

The more I was excited that Miyoko IMed me after one of my last posts, where I was talking about the difficulties to do pictures with gowns (https://wiccamerlin.de/i-am-a-pants-person-but-i-am-not-a-gown-enemy/).

She sent me 2 amazing pose sets for gowns (which I still have to post as well, as soon as I find a gown I do like) as she really proved me that there ARE gown poses who are not just boring and without any action πŸ˜‰

HelaMiyo – “Rock” Pose Set

What I do like a lot with the HelaMiyo pose sets is, that you always get a mirrored version of each pose. So you can decide either what direction you want to look at and as well you can do amazing pictures with a mirror or even fake reflection. It is really fun to experiment with that kind of pictures if you have the possibility of a second, mirrored pose.

HelaMiyo – “Contemporary Jump” Pose Set

HelaMiyo – “Contemporary Jump” Pose Set

I really think, that poses are sometimes underestimated and we just use them for the purpose to have a pose for our amazing styles and we rarely see the work and effort that posemakers as well have to do, so that we can shine in our amazing outfits on our pictures and on the virtual fashion runways. Because of that, I like to do the “Pose Studies” posts here and there, where I can mainly focus on the poses and give them the attention and time they really earn.

HelaMiyo – “Contemporary Jump” Pose Set

As well that is a personal challenge as well as you have to find an outfit that cooperates with all the poses no matter what πŸ˜‰ You have to find a look, where the poses come out clean and proper without breaks in the clothing or having your limbs inside your body. Sometimes that even asks for lightly shape changes to make your shape fit the poses as well. I did not have to change my shape for the HelaMiyo poses but the outfit was quite a challenge as I wanted to use some specific poses that have a lot of movement to them.

I hope you enjoyed my little pose journey as much as I did while iI was doing the pictures andΒ  I am sure that will not be my last one as I have a few more amazing HelaMiyo poses left to showcase πŸ˜‰

HelaMiyo – “Ground Sit” Pose Set

Details

Outfit & Accessories:

Body & Jacket: [sys] – “Samhain” (Maitreya)

Stockings: .:Avanti:. – “Ripped Nylons” (Maitreya Applier)

Shoes: N-Core – “Ballet” (Maitreya)

Eyepatch: .Shi – “Patch Mechanics 4.1”

Rings: MEVA – “Bento Maitreya Rings Silver” (Maitreya)

Collar: Pure Poison – ” ‘W’ Love Collar”

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: Vanity Hair – “Crown Royal-Greedy”

Makeup: Zibska – “Augusta” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: Zibska – “Asya” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tatoo:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props:

Poses: HelaMiyo

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

HelaMiyo – “Ground Sit” Pose Set

 

“Dark Swan” or “Do we ever have enough pumps?”

Today I am very happy to showcase the amazing new “Cassie” pumps from [Gos]. Who can say no to such an amazing sexy, pointed toe pump with that kind of high blade heel? We all know women can never have enough heels so lets take a look on the newest release from [Gos] for November round of FaMESHed.

[Gos] always was one of my favourite designers in SL and for this month they have some really exciting changes and news. The HUDs have been updated and from now on you do not have any words in a menu, you get a HUD that has little colored squares and so you just have to click on those to customize your shoe to your style and favor.

Cassie – Boutique HUD (includes 18 current, in-season colours & 5 sole, 2 metal, and 2 lining options perfect for any fashionista)

With the new “Cassie” pumps you have 3 different HUDs available in your pack. The Boutique, the Blueberry and the Metallics HUD. The Blueberry HUD will be a new addition for future releases, so you can coordinate your amazing Blueberry clothing perfect with your incredible [Gos] shoes πŸ™‚

Cassie – Blueberry HUD (includes 28 colours which coordinate with clothing from Blueberry plus 5 sole, 2 metal, and 2 lining options)

Each HUD has a different number of colors on it as well as options for the sole, metals and lining. I only snapped a few colors to still make the full beauty of the show visible but as you can see there is a wide color range and you won’t hardly find any color where you cannot find a match in your “Cassie” HUDs.

Cassie – Metallics HUD (includes 10 metallics & 5 sole, 2 metal, and 2 lining options which will have your feet shining)

The “Cassie” pumps are made for MaitreyaLara, Belleza and Slink high feet. And now the unbelievable… That full pack is available at FaMESHed for only 495 L$. That is a steal of a deal!

Now I would just take a closer look on the rest of my look for today. To not over accessorize the shoes I decided to go for some body tight clothing. the lingerie I got longer ago from Apple May.Β  I loved the high-waisted panties and the look of the completely covering bra. The “Tigress” set are 2 appliers, which can be used on Slink and omega compatible bodies. For the harness I found the cool “Black Bird” harness from PurpleMoon. It just perfectly went with my lingerie and I loved the little wings in the back. To pimp the bra a little bit I added the “Skeleton Clamps” from Salt & Pepper which are a hunt gift for the ‘Once upon a Nightmare’ hunt. They are meant to be worn without any bra but I loved the look so much on it πŸ˜‰ The more I styled the more a dark swan grew in my head.

But I do not wanna bore with more text as I know you probably already trying to TP to FaMESHed to grab your “Cassie” pumps and I will put all the style details with LMs anyways below the last picture as always πŸ˜‰

Details

Clothing & Accessories:

Lingerie: Apple May – “Tigress Hot Pants & Sliced Top” (Omega Applier)

Harness: PurpleMoon – “Black Bird” (Maitreya, part of the outfit)

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

Shoes: [Gos] – “Cassie Pumps” (Maitreya) – NEW @ FaMESHed

Hand Jewelry: Drastic – “Tentacle Jewelry” (Maitreya)

Nails: Drastic – “Web Nails” (Maitreya)

Clambs: Salt & Pepper – “Skeleton Clamps” – NEW @ Once upon a Nightmare hunt

Choker: PurpleMoon – “Frozen”

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: KoKoLoReS – “Julie” (Gacha) – NEW @ Gacha Garden

Makeup: AiShA – “Be Dramatic” (Maitreya Applier)

Body & Tattoos:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props:

Chair: {RW} – “Roxie Swingin Spanking Chair”

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

Bound by Prejudices

β€œWhen dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures bristling with prejudice and motivated by pride and vanity.”

[Dale Carnegie]

β€œNever judge others. You both know good and well how unexpected events can change who a person is. Always keep that in mind. You never know what someone else is experiencing within their own life.”

[Colleen Hoover]

How often you wondered why a certain person is not talking to you, even if you never ever had any conversation with that exact person before?

This post will be very personal out of my own experiences and opinions in my very own past and I will try my best, hoping I will make sense and will be understood right. I am not a native English Speaker so I hope that you will be lenient with me πŸ˜‰

I am sure you know that situation, if you poke someone, to get some information and then you are being ignored for a long time without any answer. The after some time you dare to ask again, because the information would be really important for you and you could not find any other source of information and again you are ignored completely. you start to be scared and question yourself what you could have done to that person before, but you cannot even remember that you ever spoke to that person before. so you think your pokes might have got lost and you take all your strength and ask a 3rd time because you think your first two attempts failed, since you heard nothing back and all of a sudden you get yelled at O.O Not with the information you asked for – more like how you can dare to ask 3 times after you got ignored already before…

That did not happen too often thank god, but those kind of situations happen here and there again and again. Usually not that harsh but in the end it hurts the same if you just wanted some information and just get silence.

I mean if you could figure it out by yourself… fine then I would not even say a word but sometimes you have to ask for information of you cannot continue working on something.

The other side of the coin… How often you caught yourself avoiding several people just because you “heard” something about them?

I was thinking about that a lot lately. sometimes I just tried to avoid people because good friends of mine had real bad experiences with them and I felt I would betray them by talking to those people or even work with them. One part of my heart – out of loyalty – still believes in that, but seeing it from a business perspective the other part of my heart calls against it.

Maybe it is part of being a human that you try to protect your true friends by not making relation ships with people who hurt them but on a business perspective should you not be open minded and not biased by some things?

What about the phrase that everyone deserves a second chance? Is it not possible to be with people not mentioning or talking about a certain person?

It is a tricky subject I guess and maybe the intensity of what has happened and as well the particular story and facts might have a great influence on that.

It would make a difference if someone was ‘just’ rejected for something or somebody, or if he or she really was personally hurt. That maybe leads to the next problem, that some people take things personal quite fast… and who would be the judge to decide if it was real bad or just a misunderstanding? I guess I did wrong decisions in that case as well but I always try to be as neutral as I can especially if it comes to business stuff. Saying that, if I maneuver myself in such situations without aiming for that (and I am good in that for what ever reason) I try to be transparent and honest with that, so every party knows very well about my role and intention.

All my life I tried to not hurt people in any ways and still it happens sometimes without me knowing it. If that happens I never did want it like that, but it happened. So I have to – if I get the chance to do so – explain why it happened and maybe apologize if that is still possible, as I probably cannot make it undone (I would if I could, ,that’s a given). I had to learn the hard way that if you have an own opinion you might hurt people with it even if you do not want to. Just because sometimes things hurt people, even if you not ever thought about.

My grandfather used to say “You are the only one that decides what can/will hurt you and what won’t”

It took a long time, until I fully understood what that means and even now, I know it does not always work. But I as well learned being open minded for new acquaintances and situations even if people tried to warn me.

Even if I sometimes wish – after having my own experiences – I would have listened, I as well got to know people different, than what I was told. I was allowed to see different and amazing sides of people who I was told to never talk to. Sometimes you need to take a risk, maybe to get your own experiences and your own point of view about people. I just can say for my own personal opinion, I probably would take the risk of being hurt again, over the fact of just being biased or ignoring/blocking people just because I was told to. Even if it is the minority in such cases, I was allowed to meet wonderful people by just ignoring warnings and having my own experiences and I would not want to miss them in my life πŸ˜‰ . Humans are different. Some do go along and some do not but without having my own experience I at least try (it does not work always 100%) to be open for my own experiences even if I might get hurt again, just because the only thing I dare to judge is myself (if that makes any sense… I hope it does).

Sometimes it is worth it to just slough off the ropes and bands that tie you down, to get up after you maybe got hurt and get rid of the bad feelings, that your experiences might have caused. The possibility that you can have a different experience with a different person is there, it just has to be made.

I try to tell that to myself everyday and most of the time it works. How we all could have learned to walk when we were young, if we would not have stood up all the time after we fell and had bruises and open knees? I am ready to get up again and to take off the blindfold and the bonds of my old experiences to make new ones, better ones and some that I never will forget. I won’t be infallible – I am human being – but I will try – every day again πŸ™‚

Details

Outfit & Accessories:

Top: Wicca’s Wardrobe – “Vixen Bra 1 & 2” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Bound Box

Harness: [Cynful] – “Shamless Top & Bottom” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Bound Box

Pantie: Enfant Terrible – “Locked Heart Chastity Belt” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Bound Box

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

Knee Bracers: .:Avanti:. – “Jersey Knee Warmers” (Maitreya Applier)

Shoes: [MODA] – “Dakota Heels” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Bound Box

Gag: ::Axix:: – “Beloved Nocturnia Gag” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Bound Box

Hair & Makeup:

Hair & Blindfold: +Spellbound+ – “Babygirl” – NEW @ Bound Box

Body & Tattoos:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Poses & Props:

Sari-Sari – “Puppet Skybox”

Model & Phototgrapher:

Wicca Merlin