Unique? Different? Special? Outstanding? – Human!

Not too long ago I had an interesting discussion with a good friend of mine about modeling and how it changed over the past years. It was interesting and a few things she mentioned really had me think about a lot.

I went back to the basic idea of a model… what is a model? The model usually is a blank vessel, where a designer can project his vision on (quote of Wolfgang Joop). That means it is not about the model at all, it is about the designs. Certainly a designer might have special preferences about certain shapes and faces, but in general they are just a mannequin wearing the designers creations, styled after the designers imagination of how he wants to see the outfits.

So why some models throw a tantrum, when they get told certain styling requirements? Like short hair, a certain makeup and strict regulations about jewelry and accessories?

I was thinking a lot about that and where in Second Life that could have come from…

Maybe it is because people got mixed up by pageants and modeling? Both of them have nothing to do with each other. A pageant is about the person doing it, modeling is about showcasing designers creations!

In the beginning, there were not so many models in all those pageants that were held in the past. All of a sudden everyone had to be the face of whatever and to win the “Miss Whatever” title – I never understood why to be honest, I never had that desire. I was talked into doing this kind of things 2 or 3 times and I regret each time, as it only did cost money and time for nothing. It was not what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a model, to showcase designers creations and their hard work – not being a beauty pageant participant, being all pretty and smooth and kiss my way up to where ever it was necessary. We all know beauty is in the eye of the beholder and with a good relationship to an event owner, designer or judge, your chances get higher by nature – we are all humans. In the end no one wants to work with a winner, that he/she can’t stand for a certain period of time, again we are all humans after all 😉

But what did that do to SL modeling?

All of a sudden people wanted to be recognized for their avatars when they were walking a runway. One started to pose “fierce”, the next one tried as hard as possible to ‘accessorize’ the shit out of every outfit – anyways if it did fit or not – to be noticed on the runway.

By all means, I do love expressive posing myself on pictures and at themed shows or productions, that request those kind of poses. But for a general casual, formal or regular runway show, to me it makes no sense to spread all limbs out as far as you can, even if for quite some time it was called “fiiiierce” posing.To me fierce or dramatic posing doe snot have to be all spread out and hands up in the air like I would be ready to take off or acting like a GoGo dance animator in a discotheque.

If you ever watched a RL runway show for general fashion – not talking about special shows like Alexander McQueen had – the posing is very clean and simple. Again models showcase a designer, not being actresses on a red carpet – and even those keep it quite simple usually as they represent a designer with their clothing most of the time as well 😉 I am not saying there is no room for anything else, but for ‘usual’ runway shows I can see, why people prefer the more simple way of posing and styling. Simplicity can be the key and it can be so much more modern if you keep your poses updated and re-invent your posing each time and not just use the same 20 poses over and over again.

There is as well 2 kind of shows in Second Life, that require two completely different ways to approach them with posing and stying. We have the ‘usual’ runway shows like fashion weeks or special designer showcases and then we have the theater, show or event like shows which are mostly themed. For example a special Halloween show, where the main focus is on the event itself and in opposite to a fashion week those kind of shows are more to entertain people. Last summer Trouble Dethly and his group did an amazing example how fashion, event and as well a theater fashion show can be combined with their Thereafter event. Designers provided outfits, but as well did know it is not just a runway show but more of a ‘happening’ to entertain the main grid users. There we can go all crazy with posing as long as it follows the story, you even can use little animations to underline your character while on a runway I am all for static poses.

For accessories it was quite the same and all of a sudden avant garde was the way to go on the runway. I love avant garde BUT in Second Life avant garde seemed to mean you put a bunch of metal scraps on your head, go half naked and try to fill as many attachment points that you can and certainly do not forget your wings… If you look for the general idea of avant garde fashion that is so way off… it could not be more away from the subject, but thats a completely different story 😉

But I can understand why modeling is kinda dead in Second Life at the moment, because of all this things besides an economic/business aspect as well which made fashion shows not anymore profitable for most of the designers.

I get that models were taught to be unique and to stand out, but there is so many ways how you can do that without taking all attention off the clothing and onto your avatar… It is so much more important to make a brand out of yourself on your flickr and blog instead of runway shows. When you are making pictures or go out window shopping all prim-perfect styled, it can do a lot. Especially on blogs and pictures you can express your styling abilities, your way of posing and you kinda have no limits if you are not blogging a certain piece for a designer. That is why I love posts and pictures so much where you do not have to showcase any specific item and just can go with the flow of your imagination.

Like the pictures for today’s post. I tried to put the idea of standing out off a crowd with not too much accessories and to underline my statement about being unique. I already posted all the items before when I wanted to showcase them and so I had room and freedom to play with them now and try to create my imagination in Second Life. It was not an easy way though and probably took the longest time I ever needed for a picture to be done. I wa struggling with the idea and the inspiration since March 2018. Now we have July and I am still not 100 % satisfied but this time it felt that was the best I can do with my actual skills – I am learning everyday something new 😉

The face is something that makes every human unique anyways – if they do not have a twin and even those have their unique trademarks if you take a really close look. So if you ever were at a Second Life modeling agency you were told your face is the most important and unique trademark you have. Anyways what it looks like as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, if you push the limits of human face proportions slightly and well thought you really could create a very unique look in the past with system heads. Then for quite some time many models were struggling wit the first wave of mesh heads. The static mesh heads in the beginning were not really as ‘character’ friendly as the system heads were. Only a very few sliders reacted to customizing and the skin more or less was the only way to create a unique look somehow. I hesitated a long time myself until I gave it a try and I felt so relieved, when bento came to live and we were able to customize your faces and heads again more even with a few limits to bento bones. Nowadays I am very happy with the head and the skin and even if we are told constantly to update I am stuck with the head and the skin since I got it.

With the pictures I wanted to try to express a feeling or an emotion that follows me for quite some time in both worlds. I am not yet ready to really tell the whole story behind it, as it is a very vulnerable spot in my soul, but maybe with the ongoing process of playing with that picture idea, it will come out eventually and I am brave enough to tell. But for now it shows how you can have a face, how you can be unique with not much on yourself than just your face. I really hope i did make sense in what I was talking about, even if I tried t not go too deep into it and not let my emotions take over too much.

Big thanks goes out to Hill.S (Hillany Scofield) and her amazing exhibition that let me find those mannequins, which I needed so desperately for my pictures. She is an incredible artist and picture queen and has such an amazing installation going on – I have to go back and take a picture there, as I promised her 😉

Outfit & Accessories

Outfit: .:EC:. (Enelya’s Creations) – “Norena” (Maitreya)

Face Art: Slackgirl – “Circles”

Nails: Slackgirl – “RingQueen Nai” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup

Makeup & Lipstick: Zibska – “Piper” (LeLutka Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity

Props: Snowpaws – “Static Store Mannequins”

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Skin: YS&YS – “Ginny Vamp” (Maitreya & LeLutka Applier)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Through the Eyes of a Child

Through the Eyes of a Child

TUNES

Sweet innocent child with your open eyes.
You’ve seen us for who we really are.
And I know that there’ll be tomorrow.
So that hope can have it’s glory day.
And I wish that this world would embrace you
from magic stars and mystery.
My open heart …Why did we make it so hard, this life is so complicated
until we see it through the eyes of a child.
Why did we make it so hard, this life is so complicated
until we see it through the eyes of a child.

I know you, I’ve seen your face before
you brought me to this open door
afraid to walk through.
Please take my hand.I know that there will be tomorrow.
So that hope can have it’s glory day?
And I wish that this world embrace you
from magic stars and mystery.
My open heart …Why did we make it so hard, this life is so complicated
until we see it through the eyes of a child.
Why did we make it so hard, this life is so complicated
until we see it through the eyes of a child.


I see where we’ll go from here.
‘Cause love doesn’t break
with the right amount of care
in your hands is whom you’ve choosen to be.
Life is a freedom.
Now go out there and be free.
Why did we make it so hard, this life is so complicated
until we see it through the eyes of a child.
Why did we make it so hard, this life is so complicated
until we see it through the eyes of a child.
[Reamonn]

Outfit & Accessories

Dress & Headpiece: Fellini Couture – “Farfalla Gown” (Maitreya) – NEW @ SENSE Event
Eyedeco & Necklace: GizzA – “Papillon Set”
Gloves & Bag: Bauhaus Movement – “Audrey Gloves & Purse” (Maitreya, Bento)
Shoes: [Gos] – “Rihanna Boots” (Maitreya)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: lock&tuft – “Shane”
Makeup: Zibska – “Noir Pack 06” (LeLutka Applier)
Lipstick: je suis – “lelutka lips no. 005 – [yellows]” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”
Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”
Face: Izzie’s – “Pores & Blemishes” (LeLutka Applier)

Poses & Props

Balloons: anxiety – “Sorrowland Balloons” (color modified in PS)
Clouds: +Half-Deer+ – “Simple Cloud Set [Bright White]”
Poses: Poseidon – “Chasing Butterflies” (Bento)

Model & Photographer

Creature


We are creatures of light and darkness
Only happy when we love, when we dare
We know nothing of moderation
Only suffer when we love, when we can

A human can only fly for so long
I’m coming in to land
It may seem strange, but I need you to
Help me understand
Who I am

[Information Society]

Outfit & Accessories

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

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

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

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

Horns: E.V.E Studio – “Maleficent GW Horns” – NEW @ SL15B Lucky Chair

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Shield” – NEW @ TRES CHIC

Body & Tattoos

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Teeth: LeLutka – “Beast Teeth 1.1”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Skin: YS&YS – “Ginny Drow” (LeLutka & Maitreya Applier)

Eyes: ANATOMY – “Dragon Eyes”

Poses & Props

Poses: Poseidon – “Horror Set”

Location

District 18

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Rock’n’Roll ain’t Noise Pollution!

TUNES

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 & Accessories

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 & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Scene” – NEW @ Mens Only Monthly

Body & Tattoo

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

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

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

Poses & Props

Background: Wartz Store – “Alleyway” (Gacha)

Ghettoblaster: [Since1975] – “BoomBox” (Gacha)

Poses: Poseidon – “Anime Ghoul 1rev”, “Anime Ghoul 2 rev”, “Anime Mako 2rev”, “Anime Saeko 7”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Who says it always has to be a Bikini?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Outfit & Accessories

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

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

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

Jewelry: AvaWay – “Emmanuelle Back Necklace #1”

Hair & Makeup

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

Makeup: Zibska – “Delight” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: Zibska – “Delia” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

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

Tattoo: RedFish – “Sexy Flower” (Maitreya)

Poses & Props

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

Set:

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

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

Location

Wicca’s Wardrobe (Garden Parcel)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Into the Underground – Composition can be frustrating sometimes!

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

Did you ever come across such as well?

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

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

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

Now, more about my todays look…

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

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

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

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

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

Outfit & Accessories

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

Hair & Makeup

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

Body & Tattoo

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

Poses & Props

Background: Mesh India – “Bon Voyage Escalator Background”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Black – not a Color but an Addiction ;)

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 & Accessories

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 & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Arrest” – NEW @ ULTRA

Hairbase: Mina – “Myla” (LeLutka Applier)

Makeup: Zibska – “Vargo” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: Zibska – “Tista” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props

Background: House Of Shade – “Bright Lights Backdrop (Black)”

Poses: Poseidon, Nanika & Fairey Poses

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Summertime and the living is easy…

… 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 & Accessories

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 & Makeup

Hair: [NYNE] Hair – “Penny”

Lipstick: Izzie’s – “Fae Lipsgloss” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Tattoo: .pichi. – “Pretty Blossom” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Fairey Poses – “Crouched 1″ & ” Waiting for you 1″

Seat: .birch. – “Mery Ottoman Black & Silver”

Background: Foxcity – “Photo Booth – Short Circuit” (Gacha, Rare)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Getting older not always has to be a bad thing ;)

I found something very special at the Vintage Fair and this time for the first time, the pictures took me nearly a week, as all I tried did not work out like I wanted it to be.

What I am talking about is the amazing skin from POEMA & AG. They released some amazing aged skins for the Vintage Fair. Since I do love my LeLutka head, I had 3 different skins to try – “Paloma”, “Eva” and “Sarah”. When I tried them, I felt immediately that those are made with phenomenal skills of designing, but as well with a great knowledge of human aging. When I tried the skins I immediately got a feeling, that they are 3 different stages of age. “Paloma” looked the “youngest” and “Sarah” the oldest. When I tried “Eva” I nearly fainted as for what ever reason it looked like an older version of Wicca without changing anything to my shape – even a perfect no-eyebrow version! The first thought was… that will be my skin for the time, when I will retire modeling *snickers*

I saw aged skins before and I never liked them as they looked kinda overdone, comic like or just awful, but the POEMA skins are really well thought and developed and have the most realism to that kind of ages that you can get in my personal view – That made me want to blog about them.

I have to admit, I used my usual “Pores & Blemishes” face ‘pimp’ applier, since the skin felt so ‘Wicca’ to me that I really could see myself in it. But since that only add freckles and some little folds on the forehead, I did not feel that it would ‘destroy’ or change the skin too much, especially because I put it to 50% transparency for this post.

Skins are something, that people are very picky about because it is part of the personality that you would like to show to others and that you have to feel comfortable with yourself. Who likes to look into a face every time time after login, that you do not like… ?

There are many different skins in Second Life and as well many different likings, that people have for their skins. Still you can find weird and awful skins that have no depth, structure or any kind of human traits to them even if they are meant to be human. There you can see that some designers spent hours, days and weeks to develop a skin and some just use free, basic templates – that are meant to be worked on – and just do them in different light and dark shades… no a black skin is not just a white skin pulled down to black with a slider in PS or any other graphic software. Every skin type has a certain ethic type , that it is based on and only then you can develop a character in my view. I am not a skin designer and I would never dare to make skins, as I never looked deeper into what it needs to do skins, but I am a user that tried various skins.. good and bad ones so I developed my very own sense for skins that I do like. I like it when pores and skin structure can be seen, I like it when you see wrinkles and non perfect spots in face or body as a realistic skin is rarely without any errors and usually never symmetric. All those little details make them real and ‘alive’ for me.

The “Evy” Skin from POEMA &AG, has all those things for me. The wrinkles that age the skin are not too blunt, they are very subtle but they are perfect to create a wonderful realistic look. You can see what you loved on your grandmas face if you take a close look onto the face and even the body skin was made in a way that shows that this is not a young woman. Since I am not a huge fan of naked shots and I felt a grandma should not wear a bikini, you have to take a look at yourself, but I can promise you you won’t be disappointed 😉

That was the next issue… I wanted to have a grandma look not only for the face, but as well it should be in the theme of this years Vintage Fair. The sim is Asian, vintage themed like for example Shanghai in it’s 1920s – I guess the last was the one that it was … but since I am always so confused… do not nail me down on that one 😉 You should go and see for yourself, how amazing those 2 sims are decorated!

The dress as well you can find at the vintage Fair, if you make your way to Senzafine. To the long, tight dress was perfect for my classy, elegant and sophisticated idea for my granny. The textures are amazingly crafted and with the nigh neck but the little cut out at the chest I was able to even wear a necklace, which I found as well at the fair. So many amazing items, designs and creations are to find there until the 24th, so make sure to not miss it 😉

I was looking all over SL to find something Asian tea house looking – until I realized I had a wonderful “Tea Ceremony” from 22769 – DOH… sometimes it really helps to look into your inventory before you spend hours teleporting through SL. I did set up the lovely tea house and all it’s parts on our photo parcel right beside the Wicca’s Wardrobe main store.

You will not only find clothing and accessories at the Vintage Fair, but as well amazing decorations and furniture from all kind of different epochs and continents. For example the great room divider and the beautiful pictures on the back wall were made for the fair as well by paper.crowns.

Satisfied now with my look for that amazing skin and as well for the background and set I really had fun doing those pictures… maybe even too much as I did not even take off the skin for a few more days enjoying being called Grandma for that time 😉

Outfit & Accessories

Dress: Senzafine – “Mei-mei – Qipao Palette” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Vintage Fair

Gloves: Wicca’s Wardrobe – “Misaki Short Gloves” (Gacha, SoI)

Shoes: kisetu – “Basic Geta” (Slink Flat Feet)

Jewelry & Cigarette: [Glitzz] – “Tiffany’s Jewelry Set – Gold” – NEW @ Vintage Fair

Glasses: Hatpins – “Kelcey Pince-Nez – Gold”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: :::Sn@tch::: – “Dolores Hair & Sticks” – NEW @ Vintage Fair

Makeup & Lipstick: Izzie’s – “Fae Eyeshadows & Lipstick” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

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

Poses & Props

Poses: Selfmade with Anypose & FATE Hand Poser

Set: 22769 – “Tea Ceremony” (Gacha)

Pictureframes: paper.crowns – “Split Panel Canvas 1” – NEW @ Vintage Fair

Paravant: paper.crowns – “Ming Divider – 2” – NEW @ Vintage Fair

Location

Wicca’s Wardrobe (parcel to the left of the store – open to public)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Retro Feelings!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Outfit & Accessories

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hair & Makeup

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

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

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props

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

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

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

Table: [ht:home] – “Record Table”

Player: Ariskea – “Record 50”

Model & Photrographer:

Wicca Merlin