Tag Archives: Jewelry

“Visionaries and dreamers have always been dusted with a little oddity.”

by

“The key to success is to risk thinking unconventional thoughts. Convention is the enemy of progress.”

[Trevor Baylis]

Today probably is the last chance to visit this incredible, awesome sim if you not yet did! Cica Ghost did it again… she amazed me with one of her installations and over exploring her newest built, I again forgot to take pictures and when she said it will only last a few more days, I really had to make something!

I really think that our RL affects our SL, especially in the creative department. I was kinda paralyzed the past few weeks. I never ever had experienced mobbing at one of my working places before and now, being over 40 I have to learn about that. I still have no clue what the motivation for those people can be, but to me it is just a senseless power game for no reason. Probably just because they can and they are bored in their own little life. A mixture of disappointment, anxiety and anger did really throw me out of place because of that and I had a hard time to be creative while all this bullshit was going on. Now that I do have holidays and started to sort myself again, some creativity seems to come back even if it is weird. Yesterday I already had those weird thoughts about that poor little octopus and today I had the strange vision about taking my goldfish out for a walk. Certain the “Dogwood by Cica Ghost” did parts of that too as I loved the idea, IF iI should take out goldfishes for a walk it does have to be in a super dry and dusted environment to make it even more surreal :p

Both of my quotes, the title and the one below the first picture are from Trevor Baylis. I recently discovered him and I do have to admit, many of his quotes hit right into my soul. He was an English inventor best known for the wind-up radio (LINK). With thinking a lot about myself and the world in general the past weeks, I read a lot of biographies and just let my mind flow over the world wide web finding some really interesting people that I never had heard of before. Reading some of their statements about certain things, really changed my personal visions and thoughts a little. Most of them were not actual celebrities but older ones or some that lived in past centuries, but still their visions do apply to the present tense. I feel weird saying it did help me but some of their thoughts really made me think about myself again and I was able to step out of that weird mood that RL and my work situation had put me in.

Clothing

Dress & Headpiece: Fellini Couture – “Yuko” (Maitreya)

Panty: Scandalize – “Nicole” (Maitreya)

Jacket: [Azuchi] – “Amber Jacket Black” (Maitreya)

Shoes: EQUAL – “Nixie Platforms” (Maitreya)

Accessories

Leg Bands: Gemini – “Sis Leg Bangles” (Maitreya)

Collar: CODEX – “Perception” (Maitreya)

Glasses: HAYSURIZA – “Eyewear Lawyer”

Rings: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Thunderstrike” (Maitreya, Bento)

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

Hair & Makeup

Hair: .shi – “Kuwn”

Makeup: Look At Me – “Submissibe Eyeshadows” (Omega Applier)

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

Hairbase: Mina Hair – “”Myla” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Akasuna”

Tattoo (Leg): Redfish – “Masa” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Poseidon

Fish Props: *[BB] – “The Friendly Fish Companion Set 04” (Gacha)

Location

Dogwood by Cica Ghost

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

A little Midnight Snack?

by

Talk about her like a Queen
Dancing in a Eastern Dream
Yeah, she makes me feel like a river
That carries me away

[Deep Purple]

The eastern Asian culture always was very interesting to me. It has a great feeling of elegance, mystic and as well a high traditional one. I rarely dare to touch that kind of style, as I am not too familiar with it and I do not wanna hurt anyones feelings. Sometimes I do feel the desire to try and when I found that cute Octopus gacha from ::Static:: called “Octopet Prize” I could not resist to combine that with the try of a Japanese look, in a way how I would imagine it. I have no idea why, but when I was holding that little bag with the pet in my hands I had the strange feeling, that I just had bought my dinner… I know a little morbid but sometimes my brain does those funny jumps *giggles*

So I was looking in my inventory for something that could go with that idea and found a sweet short Kimono from Luas, which is quite naughty as you can see the bits above the seam. I did not want that kind of look for my todays pictures, so I added a bra from Blacklace and a cool tattoo to cover that lightly :p

First I thought about making a set by my own, but I do not really own many Asian things so I decided to take a look what comes up in search if I type “Tokyo”. After trying some places I found a really cool sim called “Rieri Town in Tokyo” and they had a super cool mall with some food shops and that was exactly what I had in mind 🙂

Today I am again wearing my “Simone 3.3” bento head from LeLutka. Seriously, those heads never stop to amaze me in terms of versatility. When I did put on the “Geisha” makeup from ALMA, and tweaked my shape lightly, I immediately got an Asian touch to my face. Usually I never wear any eyebrows, that became kind of a trademark over the past years, but sometimes I cannot resist to wear some penciled eyebrows, especially, if I decide to tint my hair dark or even black.

Maybe I should dig more into that kind of style, as I really do like the look and the mystic feelings that are attached to that. Plus I really should explore more again and find some new awesome photo places for future pictures 🙂

Clothing

Dress: Luas – “Mei Xing” (Maitreya)

Bra: Blacklace – “Niki Red Leather & Lace Set” (Omega Applier)

Shoes: MOMOCHUU – “Hoshi – Stocking +Geta Red” (Gacha)

Accessories

Headpiece: [CX] – “Sai Kanzashi”

Rings & Nails: Pure Poison – “Victoria”

Animals: ::Static::– “Octopet Prize” (Gacha)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Further”

Makeup: ALMA – “Geisha”

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Tattoo: HoTINK – “Geisha” (Maitreya Applier)

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Akasuna”

Eyes: ARISE – “Haya Eyes”

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity

Location

SSOS – Rieri Town in Tokyo

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

There is so much Life underneath the Water that we don’t know about…

by

“And everywhere, just as there were animals on land, were the animals of the sea.
The tiniest fish made the largest schools- herring, anchovies, and baby mackerel sparkling and cavorting in the light like a million diamonds. They twirled into whirlpools and flowed over the sandy floor like one large, unlikely animal.
Slightly larger fish came in a rainbow, red and yellow and blue and orange and purple and green and particolored like clowns: dragonets and blennies and gobies and combers.
Hake, shad, char, whiting, cod, flounder, and mullet made the solid middle class.
The biggest loners, groupers and oarfish and dogfish and the major sharks and tuna that all grew to a large, ripe old age did so because they had figured out how to avoid human boats, nets, lines, and bait. The black-eyed predators were well aware they were top of the food chain only down deep, and somewhere beyond the surface there were things even more hungry and frightening than they.
Rounding out the population were the famous un-fish of the ocean: the octopus, flexing and swirling the ends of her tentacles; delicate jellyfish like fairies; lobsters and sea stars; urchins and nudibranchs… the funny, caterpillar-like creatures that flowed over the ocean floor wearing all kinds of colors and appendages.
All of these creatures woke, slept, played, swam about, and lived their whole lives under the sea, unconcerned with what went on above them.
But there were other animals in this land, strange ones, who spoke both sky and sea. Seals and dolphins and turtles and the rare fin whale would come down to hunt or talk for a bit and then vanish to that strange membrane that separated the ocean from everything else. Of course they were loved- but perhaps not quite entirely trusted.”
[Liz Braswell, Part of Your World]

As I promised before, with all the amazing designs at the Mermaid Cove event, done by Flair for Events, I could not resist and do a second post. This time it isn’t quite a Mermaid, more an underwater creature, as I did not want to post my favorite mermaid tale again, plus I wanted to showcase those amazing leg wraps, which I found at the Mermaid Cove as well 🙂

To do an underwater picture, but actually not being under water was quite a challenge I have to admit. I first tried to set up everything underwater, but with the windlight and lightning I wanted to have it did not really work out that well plus, I realized that underwater in SL… doesn’t look like it should anyways. So what I did was, I created a small set with rocks and some grass, which I tinted in blue, purple and white color and some underwater creatures beside my self. To get a little bit of an ambiance I used some designs from E.V.E Studio with inbuilt lights and some glitter. All the bubbles and plants I had to add in Photoshop afterwards, as I could not find any non-flexi plants, that did look right for what I had in mind.

It was something new and I even learned some new Photoshop tricks about fx styles, so it was a win-win situation to try something new and non familiar. I hope you enjoyed my underwater creature as much as I did and for now I do not have any plans for more mermaid or underwater styles 😉

I am happy with the result, even if it was a little bit of a rock road until it came together as I imagined it 😉

Clothing

Top: SynCo – “Mermaid Bralette” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Pants: -:zk:.- – “Bella Panty” (Maitreya)

Accessories

Head- & Shoulderpieces: Zibska – “Helmine”

Nails: Ama. – “Mermaid Claws” (Maitreya, Bento) – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Handjewelry: .Drastic. – “Tentacle Jewelry” (Maitreya, Bento)

Legwraps: *Merlific* – “Sea Stars Pearl” – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Toerings: Elle Boutique – “Talluah” (Maitreya, High Feet)

Feetchains: Salt & Pepper (S&P) – “Keisha” (Maitreya, High Feet)

Tentacles: – Fika – – ” Sirens Song – Hip” – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Collar: .Quirky. – “Scales Collar” – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Bracelets: E.V.E Studio – “Scorpion Spikes Bracelet” (Maitreya)

Hair & Makeup

Makeup: Zibska – “Araceli” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – Simone 3.3″

Faceart: .Arise. – “Face Scales 3” (Omega Applier) – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Meraxes”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Bodyscales: ~ Cynefin ~ – “Body Scales~Shades” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Fashiowl – “Undersea – Pose Set” – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Set:

Rocks: Fashiowl – “Undersea – Pose Prop” – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Grass: Little Branch – “WildGrass*1Li{Lavender}” & “Grass1l{Winter}” (partwise tinted)

Fish: 22769 ~ [bauwerk] – “Floating Fish Iron”

Jellyfishes: *HEXtraordinary* – “Jellyfish” (Gacha)

Ambience: E.V.E Studio – “Sunny Spells [M1] W/Tile”, “Dancing Bubbles {White}” & “Sunny Spells M02 – KOI Glitter”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

“I am not here to fit in your World – I am here to make my own!”

by

“It is a law of nature we overlook, that intellectual versatility is the compensation for change, danger, and trouble. An animal perfectly in harmony with its environment is a perfect mechanism. Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is no change and no need of change. Only those animals partake of intelligence that have a huge variety of needs and dangers.”

[H.G. Wells, The Time Machine]

Steampunk always had something that pulled me closer… I do not know what exactly it is, but maybe it has to do with today’s title. It always had something active to me… something that develops forward never staying still somehow. Maybe that is part of the attraction it has to me 🙂 The Victorian epoch, was a time of inventions, so no wonder that the steampunk era was put into that time frame somehow. But what exactly is steampunk? Lets see what Wikipedia has to say 😉

“Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction or science fantasy that incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Although its literary origins are sometimes associated with the cyberpunk genre, steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the 19th century British Victorian era or the American “Wild West”, in a future during which steam power has maintained mainstream usage, or in a fantasy world that similarly employs steam power. However, steampunk and neo-Victorian are different in that the neo-Victorian movement does not extrapolate on technology while technology is a key aspect of steampunk.

Steampunk most recognizably features anachronistic technologies or retro-futuristic inventions as people in the 19th century might have envisioned them, and is likewise rooted in the era’s perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, and art. Such technologies may include fictional machines like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or of the modern authors Philip Pullman, Scott Westerfeld, Stephen Hunt, and China Miéville. Other examples of steampunk contain alternative-history-style presentations of such technology as steam cannons, lighter-than-air airships, analogue computers, or such digital mechanical computers as Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine.

Steampunk may also incorporate additional elements from the genres of fantasy, horror, historical fiction, alternate history, or other branches of speculative fiction, making it often a hybrid genre. The first known appearance of the term steampunk was in 1987, though it now retroactively refers to many works of fiction created as far back as the 1950s or 1960s.

Steampunk also refers to any of the artistic styles, clothing fashions, or subcultures that have developed from the aesthetics of steampunk fiction, Victorian-era fiction, art nouveau design, and films from the mid-20th century. Various modern utilitarian objects have been modded by individual artisans into a pseudo-Victorian mechanical “steampunk” style, and a number of visual and musical artists have been described as steampunk.” [Wikipedia]

So steampunk is nothing that really existed back then, but was invented by the desire of the thoughts what time back then could have been with its future thoughts… yeah sounds crazy, but it does make sense if you get deeper into it 😉

Maybe it is as well the colors that are assigned to that kind of styles. I love the combination of muted, dark colors and the gold and copper metals. It just falls together so well most of the time and you always get a lightly elegant touch even if you do not wear a long gown :p Maybe it is the feeling of strength, that all the gear and leather gives most of the outfits and the huge buildings, vehicles and structures you can find if you look up steampunk in SL or google about steampunk in RL.

Whatever it is, steampunk does have a huge fascination for me and I do enjoy those styles and looks a lot, so that won’t be the last time I am styling up like a Victorian steampunk or a dieselpunk ‘Conqueror’ to discover new and unexplored space and maybe get more information about the mystery of the time machines 😉

Clothing

Dress: Wicca’s Originals – “Cecilia”

Sleeves: Wicca’s Originals – “Amity Arms” (Maitreya, Gacha, Rare)

Shoes & Socks: Eudora3D – “Yana Boots” (Maitreya)

Accessories

Mask: [ContraptioN] – “Maskineri II Eye *???*”

Necklace: Codex – “Vintage Time”

Rings: Meva – “Victorian Bento Rings” (Maitreya, Bento)

Nails: Formanails – “Cris Claws” (Maitreya, Bento)

Wings: Luas – “Steam Commander Bento Wings Beige” (Maitreya, Bento, Gacha, Common)

Hair & Makeup

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

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

Hair: no.match – “No.Ring” NEW @ Salon 52

Body & Tattoo

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Head: LeLutka – “Piper 3.3”

Skin: *YS&YS* – “Petal Tone 02 Skin Applier” (LeLutka/Maitreya Applier)

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Nepthune”

Shape: .{ wren’s nest } – “Piper Shape for LeLutka Piper Bento Head”

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity

Set:

DRD – “Steampunk Airship – Ground”

22769 – “Steampunk Salon – Antique Gramophone” (Gacha, Common)

22769 – “Steampunk Salon – Drum Table” (Gacha, Common)

22769 – “Steampunk Salon – Pipes Lamp” (Gacha, Common)

22769 – “Steampunk Salon – Armchair” (Gacha, Common)

22769 – “Steampunk Salon – Bike Figurine” (Gacha, Common)

22769 – “Steampunk Salon – Cart Table” (Gacha, Common)

22769 – “Steampunk Salon – Glass Of Red Wine” (Gacha, Common)

22769 – “Steampunk Salon – Wine Bottle” (Gacha, Common)

::Static:: – “Vintage Lighting – 15 Bulb Lamp” (Gacha, Common)

::Static:: – “Vintage Lighting – 11 Desk Light” (Gacha, Common)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Sirens – The Dark Side of the Mermaid Family

by

Ok, if someone would have told me, that I would do a mermaid post… I would have broken down laughing. I always faced mermaids as the sweet and cute pink, purple or pastel colored girly sweethearts… until I came across a TV show called Sirens last year. I read about the dark side in some mermaid stories but I never saw them so dark before that show. I love the events from Flair for Events and when this year the sign up for the Mermaid Cove came out, I could not resist to apply as a designer, thinking we could do something that works for those dark sirens.

We did –  we made the “Amatheia” claws. A combination of bracelet and claws, connected by chains and decorated with some shells. When we set up our booth, I saw the super awesome cool release from The White Crow right beside us. It must have been fate, that we were assigned right beside each other, both enjoying the darker side of the theme :p

-[TWC]- made those amazing tentacles, which come out of your nose and mouth together with a cool matching makeup/lips combo. I so loved the “Sea Witch” I had to make a dark and scary siren using  that one 🙂

There were so many other cool items, so the look came together really fast. Arise made those neat face scales in 3 different styles and the super cool “Sea Ghoul Eyes” with a matching makeup were made by BLAXIUM. I realized, that I discovered BLAXIUM for me lately as they to kick ass cool designs and piercings, that are not mainstream focused only.

First I tried to set up an underwater scene but, since SL water doesn’t really do much from below the water surface, I decided to go for a little dark cave, only lighted by a few moon beams, that come through the ceiling of it. When I had placed my siren on the awesome rocks (I really love their materials!) with the cool poses, that WetCat released at the Mermaid Cove event, I missed something in the back. Just open sea looked kinda boring and I decided to put a ship, that hit a rock because of the siren singing in front of the cave aka into my back.

To get a feeling of a rough sea, I had to cheat in Photoshop as I could not find waves and foam in SL that did what I wanted it to do. With most of the stuff I found, I ended up with weird pixelated white “something” in my back.

First I thought I do have to wear any kind of clothing to cover my chest, but the combination of the “Sandra” hair from MINA and the “Body Scales” from Cynefin did hide everything needed.

I had so much fun doing those pictures… I can’t promise that I won’t come up with another dark mermaid look and pictures in the future 😉

Accessories

Horns: [Eternus] – “Kirin Horns” NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Collar: .Quirky. – “Scales Collar” NEW @ Mermaid Cove

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

Handaccessoriess with Claws: Wicca’s Originals – “Amatheia Claws” (Maitreya, Bento) NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Face Tentacles: -[TWC]- – “Sea Witch / Dark Green” NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Bellypiercing: PUNCH – “Navel Piercing / Diamond Pearl” (Maitreya) NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Hair & Makeup

Hair: MINA Hair – “Sandra”

Facetattoo 1: -[TWC]- – “Sea Witch Ink -Full-” (Omega Applier) NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Facetattoo 2: ARISE – “Face Scales Style 2” (Omega Applier) NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Eyes & Eyeshadow: BLAXIUM – “Sea Ghoul Eyes” NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Skin: Lumae – “Eirtae – Storm” (LeLutka/Maitreya Applier)

Body Scales: ~Cynefin ~ – “Body Scales (Shades)” (Maitreya Applier)

 Tail: ~ Cynefin ~ – “Lorelei Bento Mermaid Tail (Shades)” (Maitreya, Bento)

Poses & Props

Poses: ::WetCat:: “‘Part Of Your World’ Mermaid Prop” (Bento, arms lightly edited with anypose) NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Rocks: [FOURTH WALL] – “Mossy Rocks Pack”

Ship: MUSHILU – “JonJamesV – Caravel”

Skull taken of the La Catrina pose set from Poseidon

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will…

by

TUNES

She is waiting to kiss my hand
But she will wait for my command
My chains and collar brought her to her knees
She now is free to please

[Manowar]

For those who know me, I am not a huge friend of nude pictures in general, besides some very artistic ones. I mostl try to cover my bits, but when it comes to fetish clothing, sometimes you have to make compromises, as many do show a lot of skin. I usually try to hide a little bit with poses and angles, most of the time that works out pretty well. I love to hide the “facts” and try to just give room for imagination 😉

For today my base to start from were the “Marie Ankle Boots” and the cool short hairstyle called “No.Commitment” from no.match. I had put on those 2 designs and was rambling through my inventory, to find some other things I could use for my pictures. When I stumbled over the “Elegents Harness” from Sorumin, I was clear it will be a fetish style. I loved the way how that huge ribbon at the front of the neck gave a contrast to the strong leather harness with its chains. Sadly it only came as a top and so I had to find some pants. I first tried with jeans and leather pants, but nothing really kicked my mind until I found the “Jennie” shorts of JF Design in my inventory. High wasted pants but not wit those mainstream looking high, sexy leg cut outs – had nearly had a light vintage touch to me with their shape (I hope that made sense*snickers*)

The “Marie Ankle Boots”, as usual for [Gos] designs, come with a huge HUD of 21 colors for the shoe and 4 different colors for the sole – I always love the red sole, it reminds me of the Louboutin shoes in RL*giggles. The booties are no leather boots, but some kind of stretch fabric, which is kinda unusual to find in SL and I immediately loved that.

More and more I love the extra ears you can get at many different places. One of my personal favorites is Eclipse Art Studio. I do love her ears and as well her accessories, like the “Thunderstrike” Nails and rings. They are available for all popular mesh bodies and bento enabled. With a HUD you can change the metal and nail colors.

It felt so naked with the harness only and I decided to have a cool, huge tattoo besides my 2 little duck-tape pasties – with tattoos I usually only feel half as naked :p

I enjoyed to do a black & red shoot again so much, that I certainly ended up with way more pics than I could use for this post, but sometimes just shooting is a cool learning process for me too as I always discover new angles and possibilities. I always find something new even with playing with the windlight options… I am really looking forward to the offical release for the new EEP viewer with all the new graphic options!

Clothing

Top: -Sorumin- – “Elegents Harness” (Maitreya)

Pants: JF Design – “Jennie Shorts” (Maitreya)

Pasties: CURELESS[+] – “Sterile Pasties” (Maitreya)

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

Accessories

Rings & Nails: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Thunderstrike” (Maitreya, Bento)

Septum: [CX] – “Drop Septum”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Commitment”

Lipstick: Sintiklia – “Lipstick Zipper” (Omega Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Akasuna”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Tattoo: Redfish – “My Soul” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity

Pillows: Stockholm&Lima – “Pillow Pile (PG)”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Honey Don’t!

by

TUNES

Well, how can you say you will, when you won’t
You tell me you do, baby, when you don’t?
Let me know, honey, how you feel
Tell the truth now is love real

[Carl Perkins]

Again I am running after an event, because RL keeps giving me unlovely moments. At the Vintage Fair I found so many amazing things and could only do 2 posts so far. But all the goodies were so nice, that I could not resist to do a 3rd one with some amazing designs done for that event. I am sure you will find all the cool things at the designers’ main stores (listed below) by now.

Ok I have to admit, initially I wanted to write something more about the items, but at the moment, there is so much in my head what even kills my sleep for quite some time now.

Maybe you know that feeling… You start to work on something, something that really develops to a passion over a couple of years and then out of the blue someone – that you brought to that project – becomes jealous and tries to ruin it with all what it takes? Just out of a power addiction and the fact that they want to show you they can take it away and destroy it, just because they want with no real reason.

I use to teach and work with kids for years besides my music “career”. I never had own children and I never will have, but I always felt I could help kids, who do not have such a nice start in the first years of their life. Over the past 6 or 7 years I had a very special project.  I was allowed to work with the school I was teaching and giving music or instrumental lessons already, for a little more after the usual school times. Something kinda like homework done under supervision combined with special projects like a Musical a few years ago and recently we did a little theater for kids. It wasn’t only me – one of my best friends, nearly a sister I never had, started the whole thing with me. We grew over the years from a handful kids to over 70 – being a small school outside the city with a total of round about 110 pupils, that was quite a lot. Everything was fine and while we did grow, we had to find more staff. Since we already were a teacher and a social educator, it wasn’t mandatory to find more specialized staff and we had the freedom to look for people that we thought would fit into our vision for the project. If we would have known what one or two people only could do if the they are good intriguers… I swear I would have wished we would have kept it smaller, so that we would never would have needed those people. I never even would have came on thoughts about how mean and ugly people can be, just because they want more power or even prove they can ruin you or a project you run for nothing else than their personal satisfaction – AND what is the worst part for me, those who will suffer the most are the kids. Most of them signed up, because of our concept and because they developed some kind of connection to us. In the beginning I thought, that their bad games would be discovered, but as always before in my life, it seems at the moment as those will get away with it and win… again… sadly. I am not worried finding something else, but if you put your heart into something, it does hurt if someone rips out that part. I still have a tinly little piece of hope, that justice will be done, otherwise I will see where my journey goes to in September 2019 🙂 . Ok… enough for today, but it felt good to write all that down and off my chest. I promise next one will be less emotional and private 😉

Clothing

Top: *By Swirly* – “Dixie Shirt” (Maitreya)

Pants: *By Swirly* – “Dixie Jeans” (Maitreya)

Shoes: Ghee Originals – “Alice T-bar Shoes” (Maitreya)

Accessories

Glasses: :Z.S: – “Gemmed Retro Glasses”

Necklace: [ abrasive ] – “Romance Necklace”

Earrings: EMO-tions – “Cherry”

Bangle: *Ticky Tacky* – “Insomniac Bangles” (stire closed)

Bracelet: L&B – “Swear Holiday Corded Bracelet”

Rings: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Thunderstrike Rings” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: TRUTH – “Sadie”

Makeup: Look at me – “Eyeliner Pack 1” (Omega Applier)

Lipstick: LIVIA – “Juniper Lipstick” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoos

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Tattoo: Ivory & Rose – “Tender” (Omega Applier)

Nailpolish: Nailed It! – “Polka Dots Set” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity

Set:

Backdrop: *~*HopScotch*~* – “Backdrop 50’s Diner”

Popcorn: [Noxturnal] – “Vintage Popcorn Machine- Classic”

Counter & Sweets: Bee Designs – “Retro Ice Cream Counter Blue” (little color modified to suit the rest of the set)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

I’m lost in a dream…

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I’m lost in a dream, with a mind’s full of sadness,
I remember the good times, that we had in our madness,
Frozen tears with illusions of fire,
All of my life was filled with desire

[Axel Rudi Pell]

Sometimes you sit there, staring at your inventory and have no idea what you can do. You put on various outfits, dresses, pants, tops and nothing screams “Yes.. it’s me! Do something with me!” I am not saying, that all the stuff would be ugly or not nice… it all looks perfect and it is made amazingly, but just nothing touches you, nothing catches your eyes or heart.
There are moments in life where just nothing can grab your attention or drag your brain off some things that happen in your life. For me it was a RL situation, that really had tied up my brain and mind/mood completely. If you love your job and you put everything you have and can into it, if you even started a project and work on that for years and suddenly someone comes and tries to steal that from you and even get you kicked out from it, it really can go very deep and it does hurt like if someone rips out a part of yourself, throws it on the ground and tramples on it like crazy with a big grin in her/his face.

In exactly that mood I was nearly the whole past week and that was when this style grew over days, not knowing what I want to do. It did look like a bunch of things not belonging to each other on the first view for me, until I told my self to let it flow and see where it would be going. First I thought of a kind of fairy or “Galadriel” looking pictures in a fantasy environment. But while I was trying like an idiot I came across the amazing pictures of Alles Klaar (HERE). She has a lot of water based pictures, like her and her friends posing on water, having those amazing reflections. That reminded me of the never ending story if we could have real mirrors in Second Life (LINK). I did not want to download anything and I tried to remember how you could cheat on that fact with using mirror water (MIRROR WATER).

I do have no water available at my home at the moment, so I am very grateful, that – after a talk explaining my issue – Tour gave me the opportunity to use his sim for my experiments. While I was trying to fool with that water mirror effect, I realized, it isn’t what I wanted or my skills are not good enough to do what I had imagined. It was the first time, that I wasn’t alone while I tried to set up a scene. Tour was with me and we even had a voice conversation for some time while I was trying to find what I wanted to do. What really was fun, he as well did some snaps and we shared our visions about my project. That was quite interesting! I always thought I never could have somebody with me while doing this, but it even did inspire me somehow 🙂 Thank you Tour for your generosity to let me experiment on your land and ruining your terraforming for me, because of my need for water!

The more pictures I shot, the more my vision changed and my mind could let go of my RL situation and I found my fun back in doing weird and crazy things. My feelings and emotions changed from weak, frustrated and depressed to stubborn, stronger and willing to fight my way out of my actual mood. I rarely had so different emotions on my pixel face during a shooting I have to admit, as I usually try to make an indicating series of pictures.

Again Second Life was kind of a therapy to escape from real life, but as well it did help to free my mind again and not being stuck inside a certain situation. I am not saying SecondLife is the best therapy you can find, I am just saying sometimes it helps to allay concerns or get your brain some relief 😉

Believe me, after 12,5 years SL I know, that you need to step away from it sometimes or even shut it down for a while to solve RL problem… I hope you get the idea of what I was trying to say 😉

Since I changed the point of my blog, not only being a fashion catalog, but as well being a part of me and both of my lifes, my pictures do matter for me. After I attended Visionaire classes (I sometimes still do), it as well felt right to do so. I am not saying, fashion only blogs are not cool, I just decided for myself that I wanted to have more than just that after so many years of blogging 🙂

If you are one of those, that actually read the whole post, I would be happy if you would be brave enough to comment on it, or maybe even dare to tell about how or even if your SL does change your RL or any situations sometimes ♥

 

Clothing
Dress: Moon Elixir – “Fenris” (Maitreya
Accessories
Collar: ((LovelyAlien)) – “Amaranthine – Necklace – Silver”
Headpiece: -Elemental- – “Feronica Circlet”
Claws: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Thunderstrike Claws” (Maitreya, Bento)
Rings: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Thunderstrike Rings” (Maitreya, Bento)
Horns: :[P]: – “Kratus Horns”
Bracelets & Anklets: E.V.E – “Scorpion Spikes” (Maitreya)
Armlets: Gemini – “Sis Bracelets” (Maitreya)
Hair & Makeup
Hair: no.match – “No. Gain” – NEW @ Tres Chic
Makeup: Zibska – “Rowan” (LeLutka Applier)
Body & Tattoo
Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”
Eyes: ANATOMY – “Angel Eyes – Silver”
Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”
Skin: YS&YS – “Ginny Zafiro” (LeLutka/Maitreya Applier)
Tattoo (Arms): [White~Widow] –  “Ran” (Maitreya Applier)
Tattoo (Legs): [White~Widow] – “Okja” (Maitreya Applier)
Poses & Props
Poses: Poseidon
Set:
Statue White Girl: E.V.E – “Rapunzel in Evie White Tower”
Statue Steampunk Guy: R.O.T – “”Illusion Light Blue”
Statue Couple: R.O.T – “Soska Metallic”
Brushwood: E.V.E – “Rosina’s Undergowth M01”
Sphere: E.V.E – “Cubic Dreams {White Glow/Black}”
Heart: E.V.E – “Frosted Hearts Silver M1”
Model & Photographer

Tonight is the Night!

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As promised… one more Vintage Fair post, even if Vintage Fair ends today. But while you have a last chance today to go shopping, I am sure you will find all the great creations and designs at the main store of all brands soon.

Today the main inspiration was the idea to prepare for a first date back in the good old days 🙂 The amazing gown from Salt & Pepper and the incredible jewelry from Tres Beau made me do a classy and elegant  post! Not happening that often, but with that awesome designs, I could not resist 😉

As I mentioned in my last post, I really do love The Vintage Fair – I do have to admit I do have a weakness for vintage looks, even if usually show my dark side mostly. Most of my addiction comes from the music of that times. Music was/is always very close connected with fashion at all times and sometimes musicians even were style icons. The Beatles, Elvis, The Rolling Stones, Edith Piaff, ABBA, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Grace Jones, Marlene Dietrich, Ray Charles, Paul Anka anyways what name I would drop, I am sure you could easily recall how they have looked 🙂 Being a musician in RL myself, I always looked about the development of music – maybe thats why I like some of the vintage styles, when I do like the music that belongs to that certain time.

Let’s go back to the actual purpose of my post today. It was really fun to use some poses I never had used before, but they made total sense in this picture series. It started wit the cool “Eau De Parfum’ Prop Set” from WetCat, where my idea was born to kinda go through a whole series of how you prepare before you go on a date :)you make your way into your room, sit down and think about what you would to look like and then you start doing your make up and perfuming 🙂

I have to go back to the 2 amazing designs, that are center of my today’s style and post idea. The “Evelyn” dress from Salt & Pepper certainly comes with a texture HUD to change the color of fabrics and metals. and  is rigged for Slink Hourglass, Belleza Freya and Maitreya Lara. The way how Salt created and formed her fabric is just awesome as it does make it look so realistic. The shape of the dress already screams vintage all over but the colors really underline that too. The outfit usually comes with a matching head-wrap too, but I wanted to use the amazing hat made by Tres Beau for this post.

The delicate veil and the amazing feathers as well as the “Betty” jewelry really caught my heart. I adore Kimmera Madison for years, not only because she is my sister, but as well for her incredible awesome skills of designing and texturing. Kimmera was the first who released the first Wedding Gown in SL, her brand Tres Beau is one of the oldest fashion brands in SL. When she started back in 2004, ther was not even an idea about flexies, scupties or even mesh… she started the hard way with pure system layers painted on the avatar itself and made her way through all the changes Second Life made about designing. You rarely find designers, that are still around and in business after such a long time and all the changes! To me that is something I highly respect – we all saw how many designers left Second Life, when mesh was invented.

Even if this post and style is something non usual for me, I do enjoy it immensely. Maybe you noticed, that I do not wear my regular “face” for this post. I decided since Wicca is not really an elegant person, that I would like to try the “Cate” head from LeLutka. Cate looked very young to me on the vendor, but after fooling around with skins, I was able to give her a ‘grand dame look’.

Clothing

Gown: Salt & Pepper (S&P) – “Evelyn” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Vintage Fair 2019

Accessories

Hat: Tres Beau – “Featherd Pill Hat” – NEW @ Vintage Fair 2019

Veil: Tres Beau – “Veil White” – NEW @ Vintage Fair 2019

Jewelry: Tres Beau – “Betty” – NEW @ Vintage Fair 2019

Bracelet Right: Kunglers – “Elvira Combo Crystal”

Bracelet Left: Kunglers – “Misha Crystal”

Nailpolish: DP – Koffin Nails – “Flapper Fancy” (Maitreya Applier)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: KMH Hair – “F112” – NEW @ Vintage Fair 2019

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

Lipstick: Navzar – “Wild Lipstick Palette” (LeLutka Applier) – NEW @ Vintage Fair 2019

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Cate 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Skin: Navzar – “Ashley” (LeLutka / Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity & WetCat

Perfume Flask (With Pose): WetCat – “Eau De Parfum’ Prop Set” (Bento) – NEW @ Vintage Fair 2019

Cigrette: +Dreamcatcher+ – “Cigarette with mouthpiece”

Lighter:  :BAMSE: – “Shabby Gifts – Golden Lighter” (Gacha)

Backdrop: Hive – “Simple Skybox”

Furniture:  DRD – “Gold Retreat Vanity”

Book & Birds: Serenity Style – “Bella Dreams – Magic Book” (Hunt Prize)

Hand Mirror: Serenity Style – “Bella – Broken Mirror”

Light: ::Static:: – “Vintage Lighting – 11 Desk Light” (Gacha)

Wallart: DRD – “Gold Retreat Wall Art – Protection – Gold”

Wallflowers: ChiC buildings – “Wallflowers Gold”

Flowers: ChiC buildings – “SEA Flower Art – Brass”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

“Time of my Life!”

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Vintage Fair is going on at the moment and even if the oder was “pre 80s” for the theme at the event, I could not resist to do another colorful 80s post with some items and designs I found there. The center of my style this time was the cool “Discordia” top from The Annex. Certainly you can style that top in a 70s style as well, but as you can see 80s works too.

Believe it or not, the Vintage Fair is one of my favorite events in Second Life. I know many of you know I am a friend of weird and dark things, but vintage styles especially the 20s to 50s are times and styles that really touch me somehow. Maybe it is because of the music. I love Swing, Rock ‘n’ Roll and Rockabilly! I do have some more vintage posts prepared, but I wanted to start with that cool top as it caught my attention from the moment I put it on the first time. The top is available in 5 different colors and made for Maitreya.

What perfectly fit the 80s look where the “Star Boots”, made by [Gos]. The certainly come with a color HUD, but that silver colors was so perfect for that look. On the picture above you can see a few more colors, but not all of the them 😉 In total you get 15 colors for the main boot, 5 for the lining, 2 for the heel, tread and laces and 3 different metals. For the heel, if you want it the same color as the shoes, you simply can chose the main boot color as that includes the heel, too.

Another cool thing I wanted to talk about is the LeLutka Axis HUD. I know, it is around for a while, but I still get asked how I do my facial expressions apart from the ready made ones you can buy for the LeLutka heads. The HUD is not limited to LeLutka only. You can animate other brands heads as well. I tried it myself with LAQ and Logo and I was asking a friend, that uses Catwa and she said it works too. The only tricky part is expressions with the tongue involved as those seem to react a little different. Other than that, the Axis HUD worked on the other heads just fine for me (You always can try the demo). If you want the full information, you always can look at the LeLutka website (http://lelutka.com/blog/axis-hud/)

That HUD opened a new world of close up pictures for me – not only close ups but there you can see the most impact certainly, if you have the face in your focus. With the Axis HUD you can either create a fully new expression OR you can alter expressions that you already have for your head. Since my English is not the best I would like to quote something from the website that explains the most important infos of the HUD:

“Most of what you need to know about getting started can be found on the info pages which show on HUD itself when you first wear it. You can return to those info pages at any time you like by clicking the “i” button on the top of your HUD.

You can click and drag on the point grids to rotate each facial bone on one, two or three axis, depending on the bone. Three axis bones such as the lip bones have an extra row underneath the main point grid which you can use to rotate the bone on the third axis. There are also larger circles at the edges of the brows and lips which allow you to move several bones together. Once you have the expression just how you like it, you can save your animation set into a savorite at the bottom of the HUD if you want to recall it later.

You can also target up to three other avatars and individually set up unique facial animations for group photos or just a bit of fun.”

I tried the HUD not only o myself, but as well with my partner and me no a picture and it worked perfectly.I was wearing the “Simone” head while he was wearing a Catwa one and it worked without any issues (https://www.flickr.com/photos/wiccamerlin/45078595804/in/dateposted-public/)

I was able to create way more moods and expressions, what really raised the bar for my pictures in my view. I am able to even more expressing emotions or having fun moments that without that HUD!

Last but not least – yes that again is a longer post, but there was so many details that should not be overlooked 🙂 – I would like to draw your attention to my hairstyle. It was made by no.match and is called “No.Stress”. You can find it at the actual round of eBENTO. Usually I prefer blond, because of my no eyebrow trademark. But today, for my 80s look I felt I should have some more colored hair, that as well is one of the reasons for me wearing eyebrows today 😉 For me it was the first time, that I touched the ‘unicorn’ color HUD from no.match – after seeing it I know it will not be the last time :p

I hope you enjoyed my little 80s trip as much as I did, tomorrow we will go back a little more in time I guess 😉

Clothing

Top: The Annex – “Discordia Top – Red” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Vintage Fair

Shorts: adorsy – “Sharon Jeans Shorts” (Maitreya)

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

Gloves: L’Emporio – “Fingerless Gloves” (Maitreya, Bento)

Stockings: {Luxuria} – “Spring Summer 19 Knee Heighs” (Maitreya Applier)

Legs: [ SAKIDE ] – “Yleria” (Maitreya)

Accessories

Headphones: BONDI – “The Retro Headphones” – NEW @ Vintage Fair

Collar: -[ darkling ]- – “Angelique Collar” (Maitreya)

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

Piercing 1: BLAXIUM – “Dangerous” (LeLutka Simone, Bento)

Piercing 2: BLAXIUM – “Jaiden Chain Piercing”

Nails: BLAXIUM – “Mikah Nails” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair &  Makeup

Eyebrows: Izzie’s – “Vintage Summer Brows” (LeLutka Applier)

Hair: no.match – “No.Stress”

Eyeshadow: ALMA – “Alba” (LeLutka Applier)

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

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Tattoo: ((Mister Razzor)) – “Betina Tattoo – 75%” (Omega Applier) – NEW @ Vintage Fair

Poses & Props

Poses: Poseidon – “Hip Hop” & “Idols”

Set:

Backdrop: Foxcity – “Photo Booth – Neon Storm”

Couch: Foxcity – “Tasty AF (2) Diner Sofa” (Gacha)

Speakers: Daffy’s Gadgetmania Club Equipment and Structure Designs – “-[GFX- 800]- Mesh Advanced Speakers”

Clock: Visual Magick – “Retro Neon Clock – Bepis Cola”- NEW @ Vintage Fair

Sign: Saintstreet – “Neon Lady Symbol” (Gacha)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin