TUNES
In the Summertime
We’re not dirty, we’re not mean
We love everybody but we do as we please
When the weather’s fine
We go fishin’ or go swimmin’ in the sea
We’re always happy
Life’s for livin’ yeah, that’s our philosophy
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: //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: Besom – “Piggy Bank”
Makeup: Zibska – “Radi Eyemakeup” (LeLutka Applier)
Lipstick: Izzie’s – “Metallic Lipsticks” (LeLutka Applier)
Hair for Closeup: Rayne Morgan
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: 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”
After all those nice, sweet and girly posts, I really had the desire to do something more ‘me’ again 🙂
Today I wanted to do something with short hair and the “No.Scene” hair style from no.match was exactly what I felt for today. You can find the hair style for a few more days at the MOM event before it probably hits the main store. Yes you heard right – MOM (Men Only Monthly). The hair comes in 2 different sizes, so male and female short hair lovers can wear it. For the “No.Scene” style you have an optional add on wisp, which I completely loved as it makes the whole look a little more ‘messy’ and loosely.
With that kind of hair, you cannot do a pretty. beauty look only… it needs a bot more character and power. The first thing I wanted to add was the “Kings” tattoo from [White~Widow]. It was at We ♥ RP last month already, but I was not able to put a look together that made that amazing tattoo shine enough until now.
What I more and more enjoy are the braces that are part of all of the LeLutka heads. It is only a tiny detail but together with the septum from [ kunst ] it just made perfect sense to me. O love such little details that are barely to see, but I know they are there :p
The glasses actually are super old ones, but I still do love them for pictures. [Steinwerk] was always one of my favorite brands for glasses and it is so sad that they did not release any new designs for quite a while, but you still can find all the fabulous creations at their inworld main store.
When I was trying to place myself onto the “Alleyway” backdrop, I had a feeling that it needs a ghetto blaster and some headphones to complete the look.
Such a cool look requires kick ass poses and where else than at Poseidon you can find such poses :p. The set I used is the “Anime” set, which was released for the ‘Notice Me, Senpai’ event but O am sure they are already at the Poseidon main store now, since the event closed a few days ago. If you want to know which poses I used exactly, just scroll down to the credits, this time I named each single one I used in order of appearance of the picture.
Outfit: [sYs] – “Assia” (Maitreya)
Shoes: DECO – “Mesh Classic Sneakers small”
Glasses: [Steinwerk] – GT Sunglasses
Gloves: L’Emporio – “Fingerless Gloves” (Maitreya, Bento)
Headphones: [Figure 8] – “Gold Headphones” (Gacha)
Piercing: [ kunst ] – “Anuket Septum Ring”
Hair: no.match – “No.Scene” – NEW @ Mens Only Monthly
Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”
Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”
Face: Izzie’s – “Pores & Blemishes” (LeLutka Applier)
Tattoo: [White~Widow] – “Kings” (Maitreya Applier)
Background: Wartz Store – “Alleyway” (Gacha)
Ghettoblaster: [Since1975] – “BoomBox” (Gacha)
Poses: Poseidon – “Anime Ghoul 1rev”, “Anime Ghoul 2 rev”, “Anime Mako 2rev”, “Anime Saeko 7”
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 😉
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: no.match – “No.I Don’t” – NEW @ COSMOPOLITAN
Makeup: Zibska – “Delight” (LeLutka Applier)
Lipstick: Zibska – “Delia” (LeLutka Applier)
Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”
Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”
Face: Izzie’s – “Pores & Blemishes” (LeLutka Applier)
Tattoo: RedFish – “Sexy Flower” (Maitreya)
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
Wicca’s Wardrobe (Garden Parcel)
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?
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: .shi – “Hearken”
Makeup & Lipstick: Zibska – “Ventura” (LeLutka Applier)
Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”
Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”
Face: Izzie’s – “Pores & Blemishes” (LeLutka Applier)
Tattoo: [White~Widow] – “Dead Man” (Maitreya Applier)
Background: Mesh India – “Bon Voyage Escalator Background”
Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”
Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”
Face: Izzie’s – “Pores & Blemishes” (LeLutka Applier)
Back in Black 😉 As much as I experiment with colors, I do love black and it feels the most comfortable to me. Today I do have fantastic news from A&Y and no.match. A&Y is THE brand for everything cyber and futuristic looking and my personal favorite, if it comes to that kind of styles. Today I would like to showcase the very first gacha, that Anabel Crystal made for the Lootbox event. The gacha has 24 commons and 2 rares. The “Lorna Cybergothic Leather” gacha is composed of armwarmers, collar, panties, skirt and corset. “Lorna” comes in 6 different colors – Mono, Light, Dark, Red, Hot Red & Dark Red. While the corsets are the rare items all the others are amazing common items. The panties fit perfectly beneath the skirt but as well can be worn without it.
The cool legwarmers are made as well by A&Y and they got released at the Red Light District event. They come with 5 latex textures, unlimited palette of tint and it is materials enabled as well. Shine and glow options can be chosen, too and you have the choice of an linkset and separate objects for each leg.
The amazing hair, comes from no.match and was released for the UBER event. I completely fell in love with the “No.Arrest” hairstyle. I am anyways addicted to short hair and if they have a slight punky style I just cannot resist anyways 😉 No.match is one of my favorite hair store for along time and I do love their textures and as well the different colors of their hair. Since Wicca does have the ‘no eyebrow’ look as one of her trademarks I do have to have a light hair color. That kinda limits me to a range from blond to light red if I do not use any kind of eyebrows – if I use them they are kinda unusual and the most I do love the penciled ones – no.match has the best shades of those colors for me, that as well match my skintone perfectly.
Since I am talking the whole time about favorite stores I cannot miss Zibska, one of my first stores to go if I am looking for extra ordinary and strong character makeups. I am always jumping up and down if I see new releases especially unusual lipsticks like the “Tista” one. It is just amazing what you can do with makeup and lipsticks apart from the norm and Zib Scaggs seems to have an unlimited sky of creativity for exactly those!
Outfit: A&Y Cybernetics – “Lorna Cybergothic Leather” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Lootbox
Legwarmers: A&Y Cybernetics – “Lexa Latex Legwarmers” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Red Light District
Shoes: PFC – “Forced Heels” (Maitreya)
Gloves & Claws: **RE** – “Livia Glove & Claws” (Maitreya, Gacha)
Hair: no.match – “No.Arrest” – NEW @ ULTRA
Hairbase: Mina – “Myla” (LeLutka Applier)
Makeup: Zibska – “Vargo” (LeLutka Applier)
Lipstick: Zibska – “Tista” (LeLutka Applier)
Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”
Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”
Face: Izzie’s – “Pores & Blemishes” (LeLutka Applier)
Background: House Of Shade – “Bright Lights Backdrop (Black)”
Poses: Poseidon, Nanika & Fairey Poses
… for those who like summer most likely yes *giggles*
Thank god in SL you do not feel any temperature and can enjoy summer quite a little more, without sweating all the time like in RL.
I again found a bikini, which I truly like and again I was facing the question… what else than laying on a beach or hanging out in a pool I could do for a picture. I mean there is nothing against those scenarios, but I do not like to do that in RL plus that would make just another of those kind of summer loving pictures. A&Y always is special to me – I love her designs, I love the way how the textures are and I do love the futuristic character that all her creations have. Because of that, I just do not wanna make an easy picture with it. To me it alway requests something strong and special.
For the “Electra Cyber Bikini” from A&Y you have the option to wear it as a full set (already linked) or you can wear only top or pants single as well. As usual you have the amazing HUD that we all know from A&Y to customize the bikini itself (2 parts), straps and metals. To underline the amazing straps I added an arm harness from L’Emporio.
While I was looking for shoes, I saw the latest release from [Gos] and it felt like the shoes were made for my look! The “Bella Thong Platforms” are part of the actual round of FaMESHed and with the straps all over the feet and around the toe they completely matched the outfit. Like always the shoes come for all the popular mesh bodies and with the Boutique, the Blueberry and the Metalic HUD. What I do like a lot os that [Gos] includes a materials and a non materials version for the shoes. You can decide if you want to take a picture with the ambiance occlusion shown or jut have a clear view on the shoes.
Yesterday I was talking to Falbala Fairey again after a long time. We both were busy with RL and even more I was happy when I saw her in the audience, when I did that interview with Trouble and Kess for SL15B (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=F8lihXKTySk)
After the interview we did a call on Discord and had a nice long chat about what has happened over the time. Many good news and a things were shared and I was in a really good mood when she suddenly asked if she could show me something. Certainly she could :p. A few minutes later I had a folder and very shy sis in my ears when she said “Maybe you can try them and tell me what you think?” I peeked and it was… POSES! I love poses and the more I love them when they come from a person I feel close to 🙂 Little sis makes poses now! Here store is called Fairey Poses and what I instantly felt, when I tried the poses, was that those poses are done by someone that blogs fashion for along time. All the poses I got were strong and well thought poses for fashion photography. It was refreshing to see some edgy poses as well and especially the crouch and lean against the wall poses made their way right into my heart. It is so rare to find really cool and swag poses for fashion photography. The more I was happy to find exactly those 2 kind of poses made by Falbala!
Enough for today… I need to take a look at Fairey Poses now, to see what else Falbala made!
Outfit: A&Y Cybernetics – “Electra Cyber Bikini” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Good Vibes Fair
Shoes: [Gos] – “Bella Thong Platforms” (Maitreya) – NEW @ FaMESHed
Arm (right): L’Emporio – “Harness Arm” (Maitreya)
Legs: [ Sakide ] – “Yleria Leg Straps” (Maitreya)
Collar: Happy Undead – “Charming”
Glasses: .::Nanika::. – “Agnes Sunglasses Silver”
Nails & Rings: [CX] – “Shredder Claws” (Maitreya, bento)
Hair: [NYNE] Hair – “Penny”
Lipstick: Izzie’s – “Fae Lipsgloss” (LeLutka Applier)
Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”
Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”
Face: Izzie’s – “Pores & Blemishes” (LeLutka Applier)
Tattoo: .pichi. – “Pretty Blossom” (Maitreya Applier)
Poses: Fairey Poses – “Crouched 1″ & ” Waiting for you 1″
Seat: .birch. – “Mery Ottoman Black & Silver”
Background: Foxcity – “Photo Booth – Short Circuit” (Gacha, Rare)
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