A Walk in the Park

Walk in the Park

You go for a walk in the park ’cause you don’t need anything
The hand that you sometimes hold doesn’t do anything
The face that you see in the door isn’t standing there anymore
In a matter of time, it would slip from my mind
In and out of my life, you would slip from my mind
In a matter of time
[Beach House]

Outfit & Accessories

Jacket: *COCO* – “Denim Jacket over Shoulders” (Maitreya)
Top: Maitreya – “Bali Boho Blouse” (Maitreya)
Pants: Kaithleen’s – “Frill Denim Shorts” (Maitreya)
Tights: Izzie’s – “Sheer Tights Basic” (Maitreya Applier)
Shoes: N-Core – “Rogue” (Maitreya)
Bag: GizzA – “Soho Tote Bag”
Glasses: EarthStones – “The Yesterday”
Necklace: Kunglers – “Melita”
Rings: .Drastic. – “Fairy Silver Rings” (Maitreya, Bento)
Nails: Nailed It! – “French Manicure Pastels Set” (Maitreya Applier)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Nothing” – NEW @ COSMOPOLITAN

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”
Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4,1”
Face:  Izzie’s – “Pores & Blemishes” (LeLutka Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity

Location

Model & Photographer

Nude or Naked? – A Tribute to Flora Borsi

The past weeks/months I was allowed to be part of the latest VISIONAIRE batch. VISIONAIRE offers classes/workshops for inworld photography. When I first told a few friends, that I am excited about VISIONAIRE, they asked me why I would want to go there. I would already do pictures for such a long time and as well, I would work with Photoshop and could do PS tutorials instead.

I tried to tell them, that I am working on my own for such a long time and that I kinda felt stuck in my own world with my pictures. I love going to schools and workshops and learn new things or even get pointed out some things that I might have forgotten over the time. I do not know how to describe it, but it is like even if you know things, you can forget about them so easy and with classes and workshops you get a sweet reminder. Sometimes you learn something, you cannot use it right away and then you forget about it, even if it would be very useful for something else. Sometimes you try things and you do not like it at all and feel overchallenged at the moment you practice, but after some time you might be able to work it out, but you forgot about. And in the end it is always great if you get some critique on your work, that most of the time will encourage you to try better in my view.

I was very excited when we met the first time – I nearly was nervous, because the classes were going to be in voice and I am always afraid, to not able to follow properly if it comes to technical terms and stuffs. Soon I realized, I am not the only non native speaker, which made it a little easier. When I started to cam around, I again got scared seeing some big names beside me and I nearly fell for the same weird question I was asked “What they are doing here, they are so good!” :p But since I had my own reasons to do the course, I scratched that thought quickly 😉

The classes, even if they took hours, were awesome. For many weeks, Sundays were completely dedicated to that chatty, funny and passionated people and I do not regret one minute. I have to admit, I felt strange sometimes and again the old discussion “it is because you are unique – it is because you are special” came up and I wanted to quit. I hate that term!!! There is times where you just want to be one of many and not the one, that stands out because of weird thoughts and craziness. I remember one Sunday, where we were supposed to look at pictures to find the spot in the picture, where our eyes where pulled at and then explain why. You start to get frustrated, if your eyes mostly get attracted by other things than the rest of the group sees…

I really had moments, where I thought I am just too stupid, or too weird to understand/see things. So I started to remain silent – Certainly Wren and Koko caught that and asked me why and told me that this would not be the solution. Since I am not a kid, I was aware of that and I tried to explain my problem. Wren was very understanding and I have to say she was so striving to calm me down and back into the ‘chat mode’. It took me a week to get back on track, but since we had fun homeworks all week, it was easy to step back into the group – they made it super easy for me too and did not even bring it up again.

Home work always sounds bad, but in case of VISIONAIRE they were amazing as the challenged me every week and go me out of my ‘same procedure like always’ mode, which kinda crept into my photography habit. It sometimes dragged me out if my comfort zone and made me re-think a lot of things not only technique wise, but as well composition wise 🙂

It was interesting to get critique and opinions for the home work every week. Sometimes I did not even think about things, that others saw in my pictures. Again the old term “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” made its point 🙂 Even the never ending story “Why this picture of mine got so many faves while the other – which I personally like so much more – got less likes” got touched and Koko had some very interesting ideas to that subject, which again gave me a new perspective – Did you ever think about, if you do pictures with male or female gaze, or what even would be the difference on that in terms of art and photography?

Another great part was the using of glow, lights and projectors. While I hate glow, I always liked using projectors and lights but I never was able to really use them to their full beauty. I normally used 1 or 2 lights or projectors, not thinking about the fact that I could have more to highlight certain parts of the body, even certain spots of the whole scenery. In the past lights and projectors were my personal “OMG that never does what it should” overchallenging situations and I usually gave up on them. BUT if you have a homework… you damn try :p.

In one of the classes, when our home work was to create a portrait. Linda Reddevil, did one being inspired by Flora Borsi. I saw some of her pictures already, but I never was familiar with that artist. When Linda brought her up, I googled again and was so impressed that I wanted to to a picture inspired by Flora Borsi.

It was luck, that to the same time Jian has their amazing flamingos at the FLF and so I took it as a sign and started to work on my idea. While I was doing the shoot, my mind went back to a subject we had at our VISIONAIRE meetings as well. A discussion about an ongoing trend in SL or on SL Flickr pictures – nudity. It seems if you throw and press your private parts into peoples faces, you get a lot of favorites on Flickr. I never was against nudity in arts in general, as long as it was done with class and not only or all of the time. There is much more, what can appeal sexy, than just simple show-offs in a crude way. Does it really have to show ‘everything’ all of them time? Is sometimes not just a basis idea the key to let the imagination fly? I remember very well a scene of movie, where people still going on about, if you see something or not. The interrogation scene in Basic Instinct, which is probably the most famous scene of that movie. The moment where Sharon Stone switching her one leg over the other, so many people did rewind that moment, to see if she would have panties on or not and we still do not know, because we saw… nothing, while the imagination was taking off.

Maybe it is because I am a German. I know it is not everywhere like this, but in Germany, if you strip naked on a public media source (internet, magazines, Youtube, etc.), you need back some more attention to your person. In 90% of the time it is done by people, who suffer from fading popularity or fading fame. Before they become an extinct star on the sky of fame, they do that as a last try to get back into social media and in the heads of the people. For a while it works, but it basically for most is just to protract, what anyways will come and they just win a certain period of time before it happens. That is one of the reasons, why I never even thought about having my boobies all over my Flickr, as well I never had the desire to share that with everyone, even if it is just pixels. To me nude does NOT have to be naked all the time 😉

With Flora Borsi in the back of my head, I started experimenting with my naked body and the flamingos, how I could show everything and nothing the same time. Since I even wanted to try again to draw hair, I even was bold. I only had changed my lashes to something unusual, while my whole body and head was completely nude and natural. They key was a pose I got from Falbala Fairey called “Crouched 6”. It previously was a gift for a store and now it is back in her own store for sale. With that pose and pushing the flamingos in the right position I only needed a pillow to sit on and I was done.

Drawing hair still is a huge, exciting and time consuming project for me and again I was not yet even close to be satisfied with what I tried, so I again did lend me some instant painted hair to work with from Rayne Morgan aka Nina Rosario (in SL), only added a few strands of my own on those spots, that did not quite fit to my pose or avatar shape and colored it to match the flamingos.

I had a lot of fun working on the concept and the pictures and I hope I did make sense with my words as well. I am not just a prude German, I just prefer artistic and tasteful nude over just blunt views on others private parts on social media 😉

Special thanks to Linda Reddevil for making me looking deeper into Flora Borsi’s art again and VISIONAIRE for their amazing course!

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

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

Hair:  Rayne Morgan (modified & complemented by me)

Lashes: Stardust – “Kira” (LeLutka Applier)

Pose: Fairey Poses – “Crouched 6”

Animals: JIAN – “Flamingo Collection”

Pillow: Le Poppycock – “Book Lovers – Tell Me a Story”

Model & Photographer: Wicca Merlin

Shades of Purple

TUNES

In the still of the night
Once again I hold you tight
Tho’ you’re gone your love lives on when light beams
And as long as my heart will beat
Sweet lover, we’ll always meet
Here in my deep purple dreams
[Ella Fitzgerald]

Outfit & Accessories

Top: [The Forge] – “Xella” (Maitreya)

Pants: Maddict – “Seren” (Maitreya)

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

Gloves: Salt & Pepper – “Winona Gloves” (Maitreya, part of an outfit)

Collar: CURELESS[+] – “Sentinent Collar”

Choker: Mossu – “Temptress Choker Black” (Maitreya)

Earrings: !Rebel Hope – “Tassel Earrings”

Rings: *Bonita* – “Rings Love” (Maitreya, Bento)

Nails: Meva – “Nails 3” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Tansfer” – NEW @ MoM

Makeup: Flair – “Eyeshadow – Sheer” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Tattoo: Queen of Ink – “Legend Tattoo”

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

Lashes: Flair – “Eylashes – Diva” (LeLutka Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Fairey Poses

Backdrop: FOXCITY – “K-POP Star 2 – Ringa Linga (3)” (Gacha, Rare)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Into the Groove

TUNES

Music can be such a revelation
Dancing around you feel the sweet sensation
We might be lovers if the rhythm’s right
I hope this feeling never ends tonight
[Madonna]

I am a kid of the 80s. Music, fashion and the whole lifestyle is something, I was not really able to enjoy when it happened, as I really was a kid in the 80s and sometimes I wish, I just would have been born a little bit earlier 😉

The 80s fashion did not last too long but it did and as well does influence the fashion trends a lot. The 80s was the time of big fashion icons like Lady Di, Madonna, Cher, Grace Jones and many more big names. Certainly most of the ones I called by name are musicians – I am a musician myself in RL, so that is my personal favorites not only for fashion.

The 80s brought out some really avant garde models and creations. Even today if you ask people – young and old – they remember leggings, shoulder pads, stretch dresses and skirts, leg warmers, graphic tees and certainly vibrant and neon colors. The other side of the coin for the more cool kids was the vinyl, latex, denim, fingerless gloves or oversized top looks.

 

Even if my style would have been a bit darker, more towards the rocker styles of the 80s, when I saw the “Chala Ice Cream” dress, made by Rosary, I immediately wanted to do a color pop style. I had no idea for along time how to illustrate the look I had in my mind, but when I saw the “Debbie” poses from BellePoses with those huge records – I had what it needed 😉

When I was styling and snapping the pics I heard a lot of Madonna and Cyndi Lauper to get the right mood and groove. The last one even wore this kind of colorful stuff mostly paired with waist corsets.

Certainly according to Grace Jones stylings, I had to find some really vibrant and colorful makeup. What better place I could have thought of that Zibska. Zib ha a great sense for strong and bold colors and how to bring them on your face as an incredible makeup.

I am really curious what else will be brought back from the 80s besides leggings and white jeans and some more we already had in summer. The fashion industry already released some A/W 2018 fashion trends and I saw animal prints, western styles with cowboy boots and sequins coming back – lets see what else they will bring back! I am crossing my fingers for some rock or gothic creations *searches for her ripped fingerless gloves*

Outfit & Accessories

Outfit: Rosary – “Chala Ice Cream” (Maitreya)

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

Earrings: Ticky Tacky – “Lick Me!” (store no longer existing)

Headpiece: :Z.S: – “Retro Headband”

Bangles: :Z.S: – “Cheer Bangles”

Nails: Pink Hustler (*PL*) – “Nail #27” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: Sintiklia – “Mbali”

Makeup: Zibska – “Yumi” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: Zibska – “Peake” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Tattoo: Redfish – “Wonderland” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses & Records: BellePoses – “Debbie” (BEnto)

Backdrop: MINIMAL – “KPOP Garage”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

My Decision…

Not too long ago a very close friend of mine, Seaside, was IMing me, asking if I would be ok. First I was wondering why she would ask me that, but then she told me she was following my flickr and the latest, and very dark pictures did concern her. I thought that was very sweet and I tried to explain to her why I do have this super dark and destructive side as well. I was suffering of depressions a very long time of my life and I sometimes still do, but I learning to live and work with them. So if I do those very dark and morbid pictures, to me it is like checking up on an old friend, deep inside of me. This friend will never leave me, but we both learned how to co-exist. I just have to go there sometimes, to check on him and if he still is there in place, where I put him a long time ago. I do not know if that makes sense, but for me it is kinda like therapy and it does work out 90% of the time. The hard times, where I often was close to the moment of giving up, or even tried to give up are gone and that is what counts for me.

For quite some time, I did not want to see that. I thought with medicine, pills and therapy I can make it go away – I just wanted to ‘heal’. After many different attempts to do that, I met a wonderful person, that to me was more valuable than every therapist I ever met before. He was a therapist too, but I did not met him as a patient, I met him at one of my concerts and we became friends over the time. After we met several times we had a discussion about depressions and he gave me a completely new view on it. He told me, depressions would be kinda the same thing as being alcohol addicted, you can fight the symptoms, but not the facts, case or reasons. He stated, that I can decide, if I let the depressions take over my life or if I take control over the depressions. That sounds very easy , but it is not and I probably would not have been able to do that without any help. I was very lucky to have real friends and family, who helped me over the time of the learning process and it was not done in just a few weeks – it took years.

I decided to take control – even if I maybe never will have 100% of control, it made my life way easier that to just give up and live for the depressions. I wanted more from my life that what my depressions would have allowed me to do. But like I said before, sometimes that ‘old friend’ knocks at my door and I have to decide if I let him in, or if I just go out with him for a while or even go visit him at his place, where I can leave him when ever I want.

I know, depressions can be very different and there is no general solution for that, but you always have decision to fight against or to give up – I never won’t judge over someones decision, as either of both is an option to choose and while one can be good for someone, it can be bad for another person.

I hope, I could make sense with my words – English is not my first language 😉

Outfit & Accessories

Outfit: Enfant Terrible – “Kimi” (Maitreya)

Boots: Blueberry – “Celia Boots – High Heels” (Maitreya)

Rings: Elle Boutique – “Bloom” (Maitreya, Bento)

Collar: Salt & Pepper – “Slumber Party” (Gacha, Rare)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Role”

Makeup: Zibska – “Mina Liner” (LeLutka Applier, Ltd. Gift)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLeutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

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

Poses & Props

Prop: R.O.T. – “End Nature”

Poses: Foxcity – “Stairs (Sitting)” (Bento)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Cheeky Bunny

I do not know what it is, but something changed in the past month for me when it comes to taking pictures. I worry about a lot of things, I never thought about before, I do like playing with lights, projectors and “no light” or “low light” windlight settings. The less light you have around you, the more control you get about the lights around you. In the past I first chose my windlight and then added one or two lights or projectors – lately I do it the other way round. I first set up my lights and then look for a windlight, that supports my idea. In the beginning it felt weird to set up out of the darkness, but it becomes better with each try. As well I discovered different desires, which I would like to have for my pictures and so I started a few new “learning projects”. I watched a lot of tutorials, practiced a lot and learned many new things.

One project that started – I tried to start that, since my vacation had begun – was to paint hair. I do have a graphic tablet forever but besides using it for textures I never touched it for pictures, as my mouse felt so much better with that. But try to paint hair with your mouse.. even if you really think you can control your mouse perfectly, but things like the pen pressure, I only get with the tablet. I forced myself to play with it and watched many tutorials. Slowly it starts working, but it really needs a lot of practice and I am not yet ready to show it off  more than a few strands of hair 😉

To not loose my motivation, I started to play with some ready made hair strands and wisps as well as hair brushes for Photoshop, as those as well helped me a lot to understand the basic hair drawing. When I found the strands from Rayne Morgan, I was completely speechless. I rarely saw such a well drawn hair in all it’s details and if you are willing to credit her work, she even offers a few free downloads on her Deviantart site (https://www.deviantart.com/raynemorgan).

There I found some interesting ready made hair as well for instant use. I always had wondered, how some photographers were able to paint or photograph hair and have such amazing results on Flickr. When I saw the website of Rayne Morgan… I immediately did know how a few did that 😉

It is really breathtaking how that hair can change a Second Life picture like it did for the closeup above. You get the hair as a PSD file. You are able to color and as well warp it, until it matches your Second Life snapshot. I could not resist, to even work on that one by adding some more wisps and paint some little strands myself. It is not the end of my hair-paint experiences, as I really want to archive painting my own hair completely one day, but I wanted to share the progress and as well the way of keeping up my motivation to do so 🙂

Outfit & Accessories

Outfit: //Ascend// – “Diora” (Maitreya) – NEW @ The Fetish Fair 2018 – 2nd Edition

Panty: .:Avanti:. – “Adara Panty” (Maitreya)

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

Hand & Rings: [Since1975] – “No Mercy Rings” (Maitreya, Bento)

Mask: FnH – “Bunny Mask”

Earrings: Elle Boutique – “Jaclyn Earring”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: Besom – “Piggy Bank”

Makeup: Zibska – “Radi Eyemakeup” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: Izzie’s – “Metallic Lipsticks” (LeLutka Applier)

Hair for Closeup: Rayne Morgan

Head & Body

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Legs: Zibska – “Wild Thang” (Maitreya Applier) – NEW @ TheSecret Affair

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity

Set:

Couch: [Ds] – “Contempo Ladies Chaise” – NEW @ The Fetish Fair 2018 – 2nd Edition

Lamp: Trompe Loeil – “Wiggle Modern Light”

Statue: NOMAD – “Bright Headed Mannequin C”

Mirror: [Figure 8] – “Narcissus Mirror Silver”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Who says it always has to be a Bikini?

Do you know that feeling, when you get told by people what you can do and what you can’t do?

I do and sometimes I am getting tired of it 😉 That usually brings out the little rebel in me and I do want to prove them I can do everything I want – usually in SL that is easier than in RL, but it works in both worlds somehow 😉

I was in such a mood, when I put on the new lingerie from [Gos]. With the “Diana” lingerie set, I was thinking about an idea for pictures. I tried all the usual stuff first – laying n a bed, a couch or a sofa… on the ground with some aerial, wavy cloth… all looked ‘ok’ but none did the ‘WOW’ for me. That made me think of something completely different. Why not doing a summer, pool inspired scenery. Like you come from work, or you were on a walk with your dogs and you see that amazing pool and have no swimsuit or bikini? If you have a lingerie like the “Diana” lingerie from [Gos], it is not a problem to use that for a quick refreshment *snickers* Who says it always has to be a bikini?

When I saw the cute “Fun in the sun Frenchies” gacha from Bee Designs, I fell in love with the little puppies in a blink. The gacha holds 4 different kinds of little dogs in 4 different coat colors – Swimmers, Held Puppers, Companions and Wanderers besides the 3 special rares. They are so cute and adorable I simply could not resist to not have them in my pictures 😉

The amazing pool decor you can find at the actual round from the Liaison Collaborative, made by Bee Designs.

As well an awesome new release you can find at the actual anniversary round of the Cosmopolitan events which only has a few days left. The “No.I don’t” hair style from no.match.

The perfect hair style for a warm, sunny summer day. With the little knot up at the back head and the long hair falling down your back it is perfect for swimming as well 😉

Typical for no.match you get a lot of different possibilities for the color HUDs. I really love the hair textures of no.match an as well the special blond tones, they go so very well with my skin tone and the no eyebrow trademark that I now have for quite a few years.

Last but not least I would like to drag the view on the amazing “Diana D’Orsay” pumps as well made by [Gos]. With the delicate lace and the second color high light option at the back of the foot, they match perfectly to the lingerie, which as well has solid parts and amazing lace parts. The best advantage is, the color HUDs of both make a perfect match , because they hold all the same colors 😉

Outfit & Accessories

Lingerie: [Gos] – “Diana Lingerie Set” (Maitreya) – NEW @ UBER

Shoes: [Gos] – “Diana D’Orsay Pumps” (Maitreya) – NEW @ FaMESHed

Body Jewelry: (AMD) – “Body Jewelry – Gold” (Maitreya)

Jewelry: AvaWay – “Emmanuelle Back Necklace #1”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.I Don’t” – NEW @ COSMOPOLITAN

Makeup: Zibska – “Delight” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: Zibska – “Delia” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

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

Tattoo: RedFish – “Sexy Flower” (Maitreya)

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity – “Pool Bunny Vol 2” & Body Language – “FineSand” (Bento)

Set:

Dogs & Pool: JIAN – “Fun in the Sun Frenchies” (Gacha)

Pool Deco: Bee Designs – “Pool Decor Gacha” (Gacha) – NEW @ The Liaison Collaborarative

Location

Wicca’s Wardrobe (Garden Parcel)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Into the Underground – Composition can be frustrating sometimes!

Lately I got really frustrated about picture composition and why sometimes things work and if you try to do the same thing exactly as before it won’t work anymore.

Did you ever come across such as well?

You know you have the basic rules for picture composition down, you do as you learned over years how to align things and items and set your avatar in place and still you miss the “wow” on the picture? Then you start playing with lights and shadows, push around prims, add more lights and delete them again, change the angles and anyways what you do always looks ‘ok’ but not that you would like to work on the picture more?

This time I forced myself to work on all of the pictures, anyways if I do like it or not. The purpose was to do a Visionaire homework and I wanted to discover why I feel so different or see different things in pictures. As well to see if all the popular art rules would go over my personal liking in picture composition.

I adore people who know how to place things for sets, it looks so easy and consistent while there is so much thinking behind it.  I only can imagine how long you have to play ‘prim nudger’ until you have everything in place for a huge complete scenery. I only do little sets, with a few selected props usually and that already feels like it would take forever. I do not mean to feel like a whiney but I really pulled my hair over that the past weeks and if you have a solution, you are more than welcome to put it in the comments – I would highly appreciate that :).

Now, more about my todays look…

It was time fo contrasts again for me. I went for a black and red look and wanted to combine it with a blue/black background, that I was eying quite a while already and never had any ideas what I could do with it.

When I saw the “Maggie” pants from Salt & Pepper, I immediately fell in love with them. They do have an amazing color HUD as well, but when I saw the black and red I was sold :p

I just had to find a jacket, that goes with the whole idea and that I found in the “Bubble Crop Jacket” made by Sabotage. Since I do have an addiction for tattoos – I always had – The amazing blank belly was able to be tattooed with one of the amazing creations of White Widow.

With that strong styling and as well the contrast I chose by using a blue/black background to my red/black style, I needed a strong makeup, too. And yes – you can make a guess – it comes from Zibska :p It is not a secret how much I do love Zib Sgaggs designs and the more I am happy, that I can showcase another amazing Makeup/Lipstick combo named “Ventura”.

I enjoyed playing with artistic rules in mind like ‘Lines & Diagonals’, ‘Repetition or the ‘Rule of Thirds’. For some I even found the Fibonacci sequence applying – can you guess which ones?

Outfit & Accessories

Jacket: ..S.. – “Bubble Crop Jacket – Red” (Maitreya)
Pants: Salt & Pepper (S&P) – “Maggie” (Maitreya)
Shoes: PHEDORA – “Abby Heels” (Maitreya)
Face: +XAnSA+ – “JianDi Face Straps”
Piercings: Meva – “Bento Hand Piercings 2” (Maitreya)
Rings: Meva – “Bento Nails 3” (Maitreya)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: .shi – “Hearken”
Makeup & Lipstick: Zibska – “Ventura” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”
Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”
Face: Izzie’s – “Pores & Blemishes” (LeLutka Applier)
Tattoo: [White~Widow] – “Dead Man” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Background: Mesh India – “Bon Voyage Escalator Background”

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 😉

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 😉 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 😉

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 😉

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 – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Face: Izzie’s – “Pores & Blemishes” (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

Retro Feelings!

It MUST be the Vintage Fair, that always puts me in some weird retro and vintage moods 😉

Vintage Fair is one of my ‘must go’ every year.

First of all the event owners always do an incredible job with their sim building and second… all those creations of all kind of past time epochs! It was a hard choice to decide what to wear for a  post first…

When I put on the dress from Kyoto Couture, which I found at the Vintage Fair – choice was made :p I do have an addiction for 70s and 80s things … maybe it is because of my age… and that pattern on the dress sold me. Retro is trendy again anyways!

First I had an Austin Powers moment but I did not really find all the part to do what I had in mind and so I changed my vision more towards a retro moment feeling between records and a real record player. All over 30 years will remember those huge vinyl records, that made that special noise when you listened to the music… sometimes I really miss it and pull out my old record player – yes I still have one out of nostalgic feelings – and listen to some old ABBA songs.

Certainly even a retro style has to have my own twist and so I decided to wear the some legstraps from Sakide and the awesome “Electra Cyber Gloves” from A&Y Cybernetics. I know I already blogged them before, but that even more shows how versatile they are!

Talking about Vintage Fair goodies… as well from the Vintage Fair are the incredible booties, the hairstyle, the glasses, the earrings and the cool makeup from Zibska! It is really fun if you set yourself a challenge and see that you put together a look from a certain event only (more or less) – That brought cool looks out for me actually and even some I maybe would not have done without that 😉

I do not wanna talk to much today, as I do have some more amazing Vintage Fair styles to snap… I hope you enjoyed my retro mood as much as I did 😉

Outfit & Accessories

Dress: Kyoko Couture – “No.38[Abby]Blue” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Vintage Fair 2018

Gloves: A&Y Cybernetics – “Electra Cyber Gloves” (Maitreya)

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

Shoes: (*<*) 1313 – “Go Go Boots” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Vintage Fair 2018

Glasses: Cae – “Catherine” – NEW @ Vintage Fair 2018

Watch: ChiMia:: – “Timemaster 200” – NEW @ Vintage Fair 2018

Earrings: .ZGURSKY . – “Alla” – NEW @ Vintage Fair 2018

Hair & Makeup

Hair: ICONIC – “Betti”  – NEW @ Vintage Fair 2018

Makeup & Lipstick: Zibska – “Gina” (LeLutka Applier) – NEW @ Vintage Fair 2018

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props

Background: MINIMAL – “Retro Backdrops *8*” (Gacha)

Records: 22769 – “Records in a Box” & Records for Sale 2″ (The Record Shop Gacha)

Rug: 22769 – “Record Rug” (The Record Shop Gacha)

Table: [ht:home] – “Record Table”

Player: Ariskea – “Record 50”

Model & Photrographer:

Wicca Merlin