Fates Warning

TUNES

Why is it some of us are destined to stay alive
And some of us are here just so that we’ll die
How come the bullet hits the other guy
Do we have to try and reason why

Are we the lucky ones saved for another day
Or they the lucky ones who are taken away
Is it a hand on your shoulder from the Lord above
Or the Devil himself come to give you a shove.A volcano erupts and sweeps a town away
A hurricane devastates the cities in its way
The grief and misery for the ones that are left behind
The worst is yet to come a hell to face mankind
Be it the Devil or be it him
You can count on just one thing
When the time is up you’ll know
Not just one power runs the show
[Iron Maiden]

Outfit & Accessories

Outfit 1: Luas – “Hurricane Bodysuit” (Maitreya)
Outfit 2: E.V.E Studio – “Tears Suit Metal” (Maitreya) – NEW @ We♥RP
Boots: BAX – “Regency Boots” (Maitreya)
Mask: Cureless Amore – “Surrealisme / LInnocent” (Gacha)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: Tableau Vivant – “Martin”
Hairbase: Mina – “Myla” (LeLutka Applier)
Makeup 1: Zibska – “Noir Pack #6” (LeLutka Applier)
Makeup 2: Arise – “Crackling Mask” (Omega Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”
Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”
Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Elf Dior”
Arms: CURELESS [+] – “Melodic Doll / Dolly Arm” (Maitreya)
Tattoo: [White~Widow] – “Tesis” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses & Katana:
Poseidon – “Shinobu”
Set:
E.V.E Studio – “Arch of Petals [M01-7Li] R/W”
E.V.E Studio – “Arch of Petals [M01-5Li] R/W”
E.V.E Studio – “Arch of Petals [M01-4Li] R/W”
E.V.E Studio – “Arch of Petals – 1/2 [M01-2Li] R/W”
E.V.E Studio – “Cyber Flower {Mural-Select Pic}” – NEW @ TLC
E.V.E Studio – “Cyber Flower {Cloud A} v.1.0” – NEW @ TLC

Model & Photographer

Nude or Naked? – A Tribute to Flora Borsi

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

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

Hair:  Rayne Morgan (modified & complemented by me)

Lashes: Stardust – “Kira” (LeLutka Applier)

Pose: Fairey Poses – “Crouched 6”

Animals: JIAN – “Flamingo Collection”

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

Model & Photographer: Wicca Merlin

My Decision…

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

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

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

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

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

Outfit & Accessories

Outfit: Enfant Terrible – “Kimi” (Maitreya)

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

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

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

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Role”

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

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLeutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

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

Poses & Props

Prop: R.O.T. – “End Nature”

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

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Nightcrawler

A&Y Cybernetics again released a breathtaking creation at ROMP!

The new “Aglaya Latex Cyber Corset” is a perfect match to the “Aglaya Latex Cyber Boots”, which I blogged a few days already – I had to wear them again for this post to show off that perfect match.

The corset, as well as the boots, have the typical A&Y HUD to color customize many different parts. I am still amazed, how awesome that HUD works. It kinda already feels cybernetic, when you put the HUD on and then you connect the HUD with the item you want to customize and see the percentage running up to 100%. When it reached the maximum you can choose the part you want to color and then you are able to select what ever color you want depending, which the HUD/pack you bought – either one color with 2 different shades as base color, or you go for the complete fatpack.

I do have to admit cyberpunk is something right down my alley. I love the idea of cybernetic body parts, the vibrant colors paired with black do have a very energetic feeling for me and the idea, that in the future we all will not be perfect anymore and have several mechanical/electronic parts to survive is kinda interesting. That would create a whole new vision of beauty 🙂

In SL modeling we always were taught to never hide our faces, but for cyber or cyberpunk looks, huge glasses and masks are so much fun! To be honest, I always had a tendency to not listen to “rules” if they did not make sense for me 😉

Outfit & Accessories

Outfit: A&Y Cybernetics – “Aglaya Latex Cyber Corset” (Maitreya) – NEW @ ROMP

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

Shoes: A&Y Cybernetics – “Aglaya Latex Cyber Boots” (Maitreya)

Collar: Happy Undead – “Charming Collar”

Mask: DRD – “Tubes Mask – Metallic” (rigged)

Glasses: MINIMAL – “Power Glasses – Black”

Claws: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Obsess Claws” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup

Hair & Hairbase: A&Y Cybernetics – “Cyro Hair” (Hairbase: Omega Applier)

Makeup: Zibska – “Kane ” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Poses & Props

Poses: Poseidon

Location

District 18

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Music was my first Love

Music was my first love
And it’ll be my last
Music of the future
And music of the past.
To live without my music
Would be impossible to do
In this world of troubles
my music pulls me through

[John Miles]

When I saw the outfit from today, I immediately had something in mind for pictures. As usual it did not wanna come out as intended and I had to think about something else.

The “Melodic Doll” from CURELESS[+] is another masterpiece of their amazing design. I always loved CURELESS[+] as they are creating things that are usually outside the box and very special. The details and the incredible skills of designing always was something that was marvelling. Every little detail is sharp and crisp and their creations usually need more than just one look to see their full beauty.

The whole set is rigged to fit the Maitreya Lara mesh body and with the alpha HUD you can fit the outfit perfectly to your avatar. The arms and legs of the “Melodic Doll” look typically like the ball jointed dolls, which we all might know from your childhood play toys 😉 I totally love the look on my avatar now as well 🙂 The limbs are a little thinner as your regular mesh body ones but that even more gives you the doll feeling.

The “Quaver” shoes of the gacha set are only working with the common dolly legs and won’t work with normal human feet. Some other unrigged shoes of mine did fit the dolly feet as well, but for the post I certainly chose the matching ones from the “Melodic Doll” gacha of CURELESS[+]. The box has no special animations in it but you can adjust it to every pose that you use easily.

The RARES of the set do have a HUD for full customization, while the COMMONS only have little HUDs that change the details.

As a musician, I adore the whole set and it was a must have for me. I hope you will have the same fun and happy feelings that I had when you get your “Melodic Doll”!

Outfit & Accessories

Outfit (incl. Torso, Arms & Legs): CURELESS[+] – “Melodic Doll” (Gacha,Maitreya, Bento) – NEW @ Epiphany

Doll Key: Cybernetics – “Ornamental Doll Key”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Arrest”

Hairbase: MINA – “Myla” (LeLutka Applier)

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

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Skin: .la petite morte. – “Amalthea Unicorn” (LaLutka, MaitreyaApplier)

Eyes: Anatomy – “Angel Eyes – Silver”

Poses & Props

Backdrop: CMYK// – “2. pastel magical studio” (Gacha)

Butterflies: Wasabi Pills – “Butterflies Swarm” (FaMESHed Birthday Gift 2018)

Poses: Foxcity

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

Expand your Horizon!

Summer is coming without mercy… I am more of a winter type and the heat in summer just knocks me out usually. What is nice about the fact that you sweat with every movement and cannot even sleep tight and without any breaks because it is just too hit and not even at night it cools down to a ‘proper’ temperature…?

I never got that 😉 So I just suffer every year and shower like 10 times a day until autumn is coming again and rescues me again…

I lately took a look at the Pantone colors for Summer 2018. I love how they name their colors and sometimes it is even a little bit funny. This time I found 2 colors that did touch me somehow and I did not even know why. Especially because they were so bright and kinda pastel looking – Meadowlark and Arcadia. Comparing those 2 I got a strong and intensive vibe. As you know usually I am no the most ‘colorful girl’ but some colors just pull a trigger for some reason. The more I was happy when I saw one of the latest releases of [Gos] having exactly those 2 colors in their amazing huge HUD. The “Bella” crop top and shorts are the actual release of [Gos] at UBER.

What I do like a lot os the way how the top is wrapped or twisted under the chest. It gives the whole look something loose and cool and the wrap looks amazing realistic as well. The pants do have the option to be worn with or without belt and certainly both are made for the most popular mesh bodies.

To complement such a great outfit, you certainly need matching shoes and as well the right makeup and accessories 😉 To match the colors in a perfect way I chose the “Monza Belted Boots” as well made by [Gos]. For the shorts I loved the look of the over-knee boots, and the color perfectly matched to the belt as well.

With pastel and bring colors, I certainly had to find hair, accessories and makeup, that feature that kind of colors even more.

Sintiklia became one of my favorite hair stores lately. I love her hair textures, the possibility of the tint HUD, the way how the hair connects to the head (you sometimes do not even need a hairbase) and the most I do love her styler HUDs. How often you wished your hair strand would come down on the right side and not on the left? How many times you thought about pushing your hair back just for one pose in a picture series? Exactly that you can do most of the times with the Sintiklia styler HUDs!

With the tint HUD (included in the fatpacks or available as single item) you can tint the monochrome hair packs to unusual colors without making them look dirty or just over colored and you can pimp certain hair colors with it as well. To me all those possibilities paired with amazing hair textures are the future for hair styles.

Who else that Zib Scaggs, owner and designer of Zibska could make such cool colored makeup *winks* She again made an amazing combo called “Delia”. You can find “Delia” at the actual round of the Blush event.

It is always exciting to me to experiment with colors since that really is way out o f my personal comfort zone, but I have to admit – each time I do it, I feel like I expand my horizon a little more again 😉

Outfit & Accessories

Top: [Gos] – “Bella Crop Top” (Maitreya) – NEW @ UBER

Pants: [Gos] – “Bella Shorts” (Maitreya) – NEW @ UBER

Boots: [Gos] – “Monza Belted Boots” (Maitreya)

Nails: *PL* – “bento nail #27” (Maitreya)

Necklace: Zibska – “Bellie Necklace”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: Sintiklia – “Mimi”

Makeup: Zibska – “Delia Eyemakeup” (LeLutka Applier) – NEW @ Blush

Lipstick: Zibska – “Delia Lips” (LeLutka Applier) – NEW @ Blush

Body & Tattos

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props

Poses:

Pic 1: Belle Poses – “Santa Honey 2” (Bento)

Pic 2: Belle Poses – “LadyCrow 2” (Bento)

Pic 3: Belle Poses – “Mi 3” (Bento)

Pic 4: Body Language – “FineSand 2m” (Bento)

Background: /\/.ɪᴄᴇ – “The Mod Backdrop – Yellow”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Pastel Goth

VERSUS MAGAZINE SPRING/SUMMER 2018 : https://issuu.com/versus.sl.magazine/docs/versus_magazine_spring-summer_2018_

Pastel Goth (not to be confused with creepy cute, nu goth, or soft grunge) is a fashion and aesthetic that originated on tumblr in late 2010. The fashion entails taking the basic elements of dark goth style and mixing it with pastel colors.

[Quoted]

Outfit & Accessories

Top: [89Hz] – “Catty Knit Sweater” (Maitreya)

Pants: Dirty Princess – “Slick Moves Princess” (Maitreya)

Leggings: Dragonfly – “Omu Leggings” (Maitreya)

Shoes: Curio Obscura – “Abomination Bitey Spat Boots”

Tights: Izzie’s – “Sheer Tights Basics” (Maitreya Applier)

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

Glasses: [URIZASK] – “Vintage Silver Bike”

Nails: Slackgirl – “CrossNail”

Hair & Makeup

Hair & Headpiece: Ayashi – “Enya”

Lipstick: Zibska – “Blacktop” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Tattoo: White Widow – “Hanabi” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses & Phone: {.:exposeur:.} – “Pin Up Cell 4”

Backdrop: Vibes – “The Girls Room – Pink”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin