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 ๐Ÿ˜‰ 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 ๐Ÿ˜‰

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 ๐Ÿ˜‰

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 ๐Ÿ˜‰

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 ๐Ÿ˜‰

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

Retro Feelings!

It MUST be the Vintage Fair, that always puts me in some weird retro and vintage moods ๐Ÿ˜‰

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 aย  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 ๐Ÿ˜‰

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 ๐Ÿ˜‰

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”ย  – NEW @ Vintage Fair 2018

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

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka โ€“ โ€œSimone 3.0โ€

Body: Maitreya โ€“ โ€œLara 4.1โ€

Face: Izzieโ€™s โ€“ โ€œPores & Blemishesโ€ (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

Freak? – Beyond the Ordinary!

I gotย  wonderful present from my sister Daff – Those 2 awesome dragons!

The whole post and pictures turned out different from I first thought of it. Many times I was called freak and weirdo, but does that always have to be bad?

What does it mean to be a freak?

“In current usage, the word ‘freak’ is commonly used to refer to a person with something strikingly unusual about their appearance or behaviour.” does Wikipedia say.

If that just means different from the mainstream and as well a little crazy – I take the freak. Sadly to many ppl freak has some bad taste, probably because of the old sideshows, where people with genetic abnormality looks were showcased. That all usually was thought to scare people or as well to show them ‘creatures’ live among us. To me it is sad how some people react to such abnormal things, but probably that does belong to the fact, that many people being frightened by things they do never saw or do not know more about.

Maybe that as well applies to those who call me freak in a bitter and bad way. They are scared off things they did not see or do not understand, or they just have no fun in any life and have to make others miserable. For those I just feel pity. It must be horrible to wake up everyday and the only thing you can think off, is trash and bad mouth other people…

Those do not earn one minute of your thoughts, as their only intention is to make you feel sad. No word or argument can convince them to change their mind, because they are not looking for any serious facts ๐Ÿ˜‰ Just don’t feed the troll and ignore them. Any word you will give them will be twisted and changed as long as it fits their own arguments – you can’t win, it is senseless and wasted time. You can use that time for so many other and more productive things ๐Ÿ˜‰

I am not trying to be all different or force myself to not look ‘mainstream’ like. Sometimes it just happens when I style. I do not think about my styles too much. I just go and play with different accessories, clothing and makeup. Sometimes it does turn out freaky and sometimes not. For making pictures the more crazy looking ones are usually more interesting than just a sweet outfit on a random SL sim, but all have its right to exist and as well their certain purpose.

Secondlife to me is a place where you can express and do so many things that you either can’t do in RL OR that are just impossible by nature. We do not have dragons, or fantasy creatures and most of the time humans have no wings or hooves or what ever you can do in Secondlife.

I do enjoy the fantasy side a lot, as it gives you the room for creativity. I know some people enjoy the realistic side more and that is ok too. For me it always depends on my personal mood and emotions what I wanna go for when I start playing with my inventory.

To me Secondlife should have the freedom of doing what you enjoy no matter what as long as you do not hurt other people and their feelings. I do not want my Secondlife being a 100% mirror of my real life, because then there would be no reason to log in ๐Ÿ˜‰ I love to experiment, to play Barbie with my pixels and dress them up to what ever I feel or want.

I was only playing around with them first, but the more I tested them the more I wanted to do something with them. The “Fierce Dragon Brother” are a gacha rare and they are animated! The move by themselves on default and in certain poses they even react to the movement. You need special bento poses, as the upper dragon uses the wing bones and the lower one reacts on the hind leg bones.

At 4Mesh I saw one of the new releases from Zibska. With the headpiece and the shoulder/chest part of the outfit, combined with the new “Fenris” dress from Moon Elixir, that I found at Weโ™ฅRP it was the perfect outfit for the dragon brothers.

As much as I tried to make the whole style not be too dark – I guess Halloween is too close and I am way to excited for my favourite ‘season’ of the year – It became darker and darker with everything I added.

The dark “Lexa” eye makeup from IGOTIT and as well the “Blacktop” lipstick from Zibska just pulled it more into the darkness and so I gave in and just went with what it led to ๐Ÿ˜‰

I loved the makeup, as it looks like a loosely painted black stripe over the eyes, lightly messy but as well somehow mysterious. The wonderful rings are bento enabled rings from MEVA. The “Victorian Bento Rings” come with a huge HUD. With the HUD you can hide single rings and as well can color all the gemstones separately. I really do like those options!

The sharp, long stiletto nails are made from Slackgirl. They do have a HUD as well and you can change the color of the nails AND as well the color of the little gems on the rings which are attached to them!

Enjoy YOUR Secondlife and do not let anyone tell you what you should do and what you should not. You are the one to make your desicions no matter what ๐Ÿ™‚

Details

Clothing & Accessories:

Dress: Moon Elixir – “Fenris” (Maitreya) – NEW @ We โ™ฅ RP

Boots: Diamante – “Laced Thigh High Boots” (Maitreya)

Headpiece. Chest & Shoulderparts: Zibska – “Alured” – NEW @ 4Mesh

Armor: [LAB737] – “Berserker Female”

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

Nails: Slackgirl – “RingQueen Nai” (Maitreya)

Hair & Makeup:

Makeup: IGOTIT – “Lexa” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: Zibska – “Blacktop” (Omega Applier)

Body & Tattoo:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props:

Aii the Ugly & Beautiful – “Fierce Dragon Brothers” (Gacha, Rare) – NEW @ Arcade

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

Post Apocalyptic – What is that?

As promised, I will today talk a little bit about post apocalyptic styles in comparison to cyber/cyberpunk, which I wrote about in one of my last posts (https://wiccamerlin.de/cyberpunk-what-is-that/).

Maybe lets start again with a general description from Wikipedia and then go from there ๐Ÿ˜‰

Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of science fiction, science fantasy or horror fiction literature in which the Earth’s technological civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; natural, such as an impact event; man-made, such as nuclear warfare or resource depletion; medical, such as a Pandemic, whether natural or man-made; or imaginative, such as a zombie apocalypse, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics, or alien invasion. The story may involve attempts to prevent an apocalypse event, deal with the impact and consequences of the event itself, or it may be post-apocalyptic, set after the event. The time frame may be immediately after the catastrophe, focusing on the travails or psychology of survivors, the way to maintain the human race alive and together as one, or considerably later, often including the theme that the existence of pre-catastrophe civilization has been forgotten (or mythologized). Post-apocalyptic stories often take place in a non-technological future world, or a world where only scattered elements of society and technology remain.

[Wikipedia]

Post apocalyptic is the time after an apocalypse, that means the world like we know it is gone and we have to live from all that is left over. Most likely electricity is not working in general.. maybe via a few generators that are left as long as we have the fuel to run them. Water might be rare, so the everyday shower probably has o be skipped as well ๐Ÿ˜‰

It probably is a martial, warlike environment, where all just try to survive – anyways how.

Let’s think about what you could wear then or what kind of fashion would be most certain…

I would say makeups will be a rare case, maybe we can use coal or clay, maybe even some berries or fruit that survived, to bring color on our faces. I do not see that very colorful or even neon looking.

For the clothing, when we looted all existing warehouses and clothing stores, we most likely have to wear what we can find, or what we can create out of that. Maybe that’s why I love that genre so much as it is very simple but as well can be very creative in terms of fashion and creating outfits.

Because of the fact, that I really do love post apocalyptic clothing and environment, I really was happy when I heard that there will be an event exactly for that. From the 18th to the 27th of August, the Thereafter event is taking place.

A full sim created in a post apocalyptic style, with many amazing designers who designed fashion, furniture, ambience, poses or landscaping items for exact that futuristic imagination.

Thereafter has a tight schedule of many events. Dj’s, live musicians and a cool fashion theatre are taking place! Event Schedule: https://thereaftersl.wordpress.com/event-schedule/

The outfits and props for my todays post are all from the event and as well the pictures are taken there. Don’t you love it when you can go shopping and as well take amazing pictures or walk around in the perfect environment for the event?

For my first post I chose the “Bena” dress with the amazing belt and scarf. The dress comes in many different colors and together with the 2 amazing accessories it just looks totally amazing, even if you can wear the dress without those as well.

From Boom I used the super cool shoulder plates, that are made of car plates – I just love such neat little details!

Last but not least I am wearing the event exclusive from ~isil~, the extraordinary mask of the “Survival Mask & Helmet” design. You can choose to wear only the mask or the helmet with the HUD that comes with it and as well lets you retexture the whole item to many different colors – even the little light in the mask you can colorchange.

For the rest of the look I am wearing many parts of DeathRowDesign, that are as well the creators of the amazing building in the background of the pictures. The “Sewer Shelter” is a wonderful collection with all kind of fantastic furniture and as well a built that you can use as your perfect post apocalyptic hideout ๐Ÿ˜‰

Over the next few days I will have a few more exciting news from the event, as it became an addiction to make pictures on the Thereafter sim ๐Ÿ˜‰

If you like this kid of style as much as I do, or if you are just curious and want a kick ass experience, even if you just love making snaps in cool scenarios – you should NOT miss out on the Thereafter event!

Thereafter Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sarastro/159/171/26

Details

Outfit: Miss Chelsea – “Bena” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Thereafter

Right Leg: Wicca’s Wardrobe – “Naesala Boots” (Maitreya)

Left Leg: DeathRowDesigns – “Post Apocalyptic Prosthetic”

Shoulderpieces: BOOM – “Plate Armor” – NEW @ Thereafter

Arm Armor: DeathRowDesigns – “Female Armor”

Bracelet right: Lapointe and Beastchild – “Swear Holiday Corded Bracelet”

Mask: ~isil~ – “Survival Mask & Helmet” – NEW @ Thereafter

Hair: Discord Designs – “Senay”

Skin Dirt (incl. nailpolish): Izzie’s – “Body & Face Dirt” (Maitreya/LeLutka Applier)

Makeup: Zibska – “Noir Pack 06” (LeLutka Applier)

Props: DeathRowDesigns – “Sewer Shelter” – NEW @ Thereafter

Poses: Poseidon

Basics

Head: LeLutka – Simone 3.0″

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Shape: Selfmade

Model & Photographer: Wicca Merlin

Location: Thereafter

Time to relax… now!

 

Today my post might be different as most of my other ones. I had a year full or work and joy, a year of stress and the most fun I ever could imagine.

About a year ago, in May 2016, an idea was growing inside my head. After seeing a wonderful musical, done by kids and adults of an amateur dramatic society not too far from my home, an old dream of mine came up again.

I always wanted to do a musical with mainly kids from a school I am working at. Until that time I never had the right people around me, or I was not allowed to do such a huge project as it would interrupt and interfere the normal school schedule too much and so many other reasons, which I do not even remember.

But this time it should be different.

I spoke to a very close friend of mine, that as well works at the same school and with me. She was at that musical I was talking about before as well and when I joked about, if we could not pull off something like that as well, she only answered “Why not?”. I told her about my weakness of organizing things and my strength of creativity, music and passion for musicals. She is like a soul mate for me or even the sister I never had, so I was totally honest about my fears. She only did listen and did not say a word until I was done talking and I already was scared that she would tell me I am crazy – Which would be no news :p

I was staring at her to wait for her reaction. She looked at me and said “If you are taking the responsibility for everything that has to do with music and dance and all the sound engineering stuffs, I can help organizing stuffs, help with reversals and costumes and as well I can do all the calculation with you”. I must have stared at her with an open mouth and she started to joke about it and asked me, if I did really listen to what she said.

I was speechless as I never would have expected such an amazing reaction. So all that was left – before proposing the idea to our school principal – was to find a musical, that could be done by kids and teens but as well would attract teens and adults as audience. We have kids from the age of 10 up to 18, so it should be something that catches all of them, plus it had to be something with cool costumes and many possibilities of accessories and styles. It took me about 4 weeks to find something that was affordable, would allow changes by me and as well sounded cool enough for the kids.

I found a muscial version of Dracula twisted for kids and young adults with a lot of humor and still the basic Dracula story in it. It was called “Dracula – the ultimate Grusical”. When I told my friend about it, she was all up for it immediately and already saw certain costumes and styles behind her inner eyes. Now the most difficult part was coming up… I had to propose the idea to our boss. He is a passionate musician himself, but as well he leads a school and so I was not sure what he would say about our idea.

His first question was, if I would be sure about all the work and effort and I told him, that I was part of a school musical 3 times before myself and that I am not exactly sure how much work it would be, but that I would know it would not be easy and as well a lot of unpaid extra hours, but the same time, that it would be a life time dream of mine and that I am not scared by a huge work load.

He said he would not have anything against the idea but all the other teachers would have a say as well, as some rehearsals would maybe go through some usual school times. When I entered the teachers room a few days later, I had really wonky knees as those folks who usually work with me, now would have the decision about my dream. Their reactions were amazing and they all told me I would have full support and even had ideas how we could connect the musical project with regular lessons and classes like making accessories and all the stage buildings in arts and have some parts of the text to work in the German language lessons. I was totally overwhelmed and more than happy.

After some mailing work with the publishing house of the musical, I got the text, the music, the songs and everything that we needed – by then it was July 2016, shortly before the long summer holidays. The holidays gave me enough time to adjust text and music according to some requests of our principal and as well to the roles for the kids. When school started again in September 2016 I was done with all this and as well had made a first choice of who would play certain roles. Now I just needed to ask the kids if they would agree and as well I needed my friends help for some more role assignments.

To make along story short, some kids did not like the idea and bailed out even 2 month after we started rehearsing and each of them nearly gave me a breakdown and I saw the whole project die more than once, but we always found a solution andย  asked a few former pupils to take part as well. It was a very rough and exhausting year but I do not regret one second. It was a great time to know the kids way more than during a ‘norma’ school year and they all worked super hard. In May 2017, we got another shock 6 weeks before the premiere… Our Dr Van Helsing got a cruciate ligament rupture while playing beach volleyball and I again saw the whole project going down. But again there was an angel, who offered to help and a 16 years old guy stepped up and took over that major role.

14th of July 2017 – Premiere!

I have no idea how we made it and time seemed to fly in the last 3 weeks but we made it to rock the first show of 4 with a sold out house of 200 people in the audience. we are a small school and only have round about 120 kids and having a sold out premiere was more than I ever expected. The kids were super nervous, none of them had done such a huge project before. The musical is about 2 hours long and we added a little break of 30 min between the 1st and the 2nd act. 2,5 hours of high concentration, lots of text and singing. In the end we had about 70 kids involved with acting, speaking, singing on stage, a choir and the school band. All had costumes and makeups and we had amazing help from a few parents who helped with all that behind the scenes during the shows. During the break we had Dracula themed snacks, cakes, sweets and drinks, sold by the association, thatย supports all kind of our school activities.. it was so amazing really.

Now after the 4th and last show… I only can look back and I am so grateful for all the help and support we got. The kids grew on that project in an unbelievable way and already asked when we would do something like that again.

I probably do not have the power and strength to do something like this right again, but I did not say “Never” either ๐Ÿ˜‰ We will see what the future brings ๐Ÿ˜‰

Maybe now some of you do understand, why I was not blogging as much as I used to in the past months, or why I was not online that much in the past weeks… but that project really took a lot of me – not only time wise – but I do not regret even one second! But now it is time to RELAX – at least for a bit ๐Ÿ˜‰

Details

Outfit: PurpleMoon – “Oriana” (Maitreya)

Shoes: Eudora3D – “Nina” (Maitreya)

Hair with Hat: EMO-tions – “Paola”

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

Glasses: Earthstones – “The Yesterday”

Necklace: BEO – “Vanessa”

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

Lipstick: Zibska – “Lami Lips” (LeLutka Applier)

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

Vehicle: Atelier Visconti – “Paolino”

Location: Wicca’s Wardrobe

Basics

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 2.7”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Eyes: IKON – “Hope Eyes”

Shape: Selfmade

Model & Photographer: Wicca Merlin