Fantasy is Escapist, and that is its Glory

May 24, 2018 by Wicca Merlin

“Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisioned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape?. . .If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!”
[J.R.R. Tolkien]

Isn’t Second Life a place where we can escape reality? Isn’t Second Life a place to experiment and live visions and dreams? – To me it is!

I am not saying my way is the best or the only one, as Second Life is a platform where everyone can do and life what ever they want. It should be a place where you can do everything that you can imagine and dream of for yourself. As kids we played Barbie or enjoyed various roleplay like Cowboy and Indian, Robin Hood and the Lady Marian or what ever we wanted. To me Second Life is just an extension of that.

I can dress up with everything my mood is leading me to. Mostly it is something I could not wear in RL. Sometimes it can be casual as well but usually it has some twist on it to make it my own. Often I was told, you need to decide to a certain direction to set a trademark or make yourself a brand – I never could decide for one and why should I in a world that gives you like nearly unlimited options? I thought by myself if it could not be my trademark to not have a certain look or style 😉

Since I decided about that, I felt so much more free to experiment and play with all kind of things. There is only a few things, I set as my own limits to myself. I never would do porn, as I personally think there is no need to do that on a virtual fashion blog, as you can do so much more with nudity or semi nudity in an artistic way and it is nothing that I would like to share with a wide range of people anyways. As well i never would touch any illegal things, that go against common sense or the law, I never felt the desire to do such at all. That said, I just have fun playing with several things and lately I do love creating my own sceneries and backgrounds or add something personal to places I do love to snap at.

One of my favorite sim collectives for fantasy themed pictures is the Ippos Collective. A consortium of 4 sims. Sylpha, Nymphai, Ippos and Pegasoi. Each sim has a certain theme to it and all of them are decorated in an amazing way with much love to the details. All of them are changing their seasons, which always gives new things and settings to discover. There are a few parcels that are rented, but as long as you respect their privacy you can even rezz some props and pose stands to make your perfect shot. The owners are extremely sweet and kind and always have an open ear if you need help or advice. Most of them do amazing pictures like for example Duchess Flux. I am very happy to be allowed to call her a friend. She was there, backed me up and trusted me in some of the darkest hours of my SL. I won’t ever forget that – Thank you Duchie ♥

I only can give a rough view of the sims as no words I know would satisfy the beauty of those very special places. You need to wander all across the collective and even then you won’t see everything on your first walk 😉

Ippos is mostly a residential sim. It has a beautiful landscape of a fantasy world, like a hidden treasure in the middle of a forest. No wonder that it is built in such an beautiful way, since well known SL bloggers and photographers call that palce their home and the parcels are really desired and not often open for new rentals.

On Nymphai you will find all the amazing events like the Enchantment or the Secret Affair as well as some main stores of fantastic and creative designers.

Pegasoi to me looks more like the romantic and sweet fantasy part of the group. You will find the Lady Garden Cabaret there, which shows monthly shows of amazing and creative artists.

Last but not least we have Sylpha, the water sim. Any desire you have for water based pictures you will find there. Weather you would like to do some peaceful island pictures or you actually would like to really swim in Linden water together with fishes and dolphins – everything is possible!

If you like more and detailed info about the Ippos Collective just take a look at https://threadsandtuneage.com/ippos/

If you are in such an amazing fantasy environment you have to dress up to fit in there 😉 This time I wanted to showcase one of the amazing hats from Spartin Parx. The “Milli” hat comes with a huge HUD. You can change the base to 6 different colors and the sweet roses on the top have a variety of 9 colors to chose from.

I thought a long time about how I could style it to not loose the focus on the hat but as well have a cute fantasy look. First I thought about something uniform based, I do not know why and I discovered very fast that this was not the way it would work out. The hat had a Victorian touch to me and finally I found a sweet doll looking outfit that just did the trick 😉 For the boots I went with the “Kora” boots form UTOPIA@Design. I do have an addiction to over-knee boots, maybe because I do not often have the opportunity to wear them RL, as they would not fit into my everyday job most of the time ;). With the laces in the front, they totally matched the Victorian look, while the steel caps in the front added some strong, modern feelings to the whole look, which i loved a lot for the whole photo composition.

Outfit & Accessories

Outfit: Violent Seduction – “Madame Chevaliere” (Maitreya,Gacha – Bra, Corset, Paudrons & Skirt)

Gloves: Maddict – “Starlet Gloves” (Maitreya)

Shoes: UTOPIA@Design – “Kora” (Maitreya)

Hat: Spartin Parx – “Millie”

Collar: Zombie Suicide – “Willow Collar”

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: No.Match – “No.Call”

Makeup: Slackgirl – “Kam” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: Zibska – “Chooli” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity

Props: JIAN – “Wolf Pack & Companion” & Moon_Sha – “Cinderella’s Pumpkins” (Gacha, Ultrarare)

Location

The Ippos Collective

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

What a strange world we live in…

May 20, 2018 by Wicca Merlin

What a strange world we live in…

[Alice in Wonderland]

Red Queen – My Vision of a Modern Queen of Hearts

I always adored the novel Alice in Wonderland and the actual round of Enchantment had exactly that as a theme for their event. So the story was stuck in my mind again and when I saw the new “Lexa Latex Dress” from A&Y Cybernetics in that stunning, strong red (there is 5 colors in total to choose from) I got the idea to try for a modern, fashionable & lightly kinky Queen of Hearts 😉

Latex is always tricky in SL, but Anabel Crystal, owner and designer of A&Y did an amazing job with it. What I love the most is that the HUD allows you to texture the dress, the straps and the metals separate.

I do not know why but if I wear a short dress, I always have the feeling I want something on my arms and legs, especially the legs if I do wear no high boots. This time I chose gloves from Codex, as they had a perfect latex possibility in their HUD and for the knees I went with some cool leg garters from Tabou. The shoes, which matched the style so perfect, are made by UTOPIA@Design. The “Cinzia” heels. Made of zippers that are wrapped around your feet and with a super sexy, high heel and platform sole they are simply a must have for every fashionistas wardrobe!

Often I was asked if I do sometimes use particles for my pictures. Particles are not always easy to snap, depending on how they are made and how string your graphic card is. Sometimes they just create weird colored ‘shadows’ and then it is easier to make those effects in Photoshop.

But not with the particles and effects form Cole’s Corner. ColeMarie Soleil has a great way to make her particles and effects, so that you can use them for pictures most of the time and they still show clear and crisp. For the actual round of the Enchantment, she made the amazing “Queen of Hearts Aura” and the “Queen of Hearts Halo”. Both colored in red, the Aura even spreads the typical signs you find on the cards like the hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades. Since a simple photo usually doe snot show particles properly I tried this time to make a short gif, so you can get an idea of the sweet effect 🙂

A cool style needs a great makeup too that matches the look and even gives the perfect finish to it. I know I said that already and not only once but I LOVE the makeup and lipsticks from Zibska for such strong and intense styles. It always adds even more dramatic vibes to the whole look. When I went to the Zibska main store to see what new releases she has, my view fell on the group gifts again and I saw one that I not yet had… how could that happen O.O

The “Themis” head piece did fit so nicely to the look and again lifted it o a higher level for me and together with the “Arie” eyeshadow and lipstick it just looked complete to me. Complete for my modern, fashionable Queen of Hearts – My Red Queen 🙂

Outfit & Accessories

Dress: A&Y Cybernetics – “Lexa Latex Dress” (Maitreya) – NEW @ XXX Event

Gloves: CODEX – “Medea Bento Gloves” (Maitreya)

Legs: Tabou – “Diana Leg Garters” (Maitreya)

Shoes: **UTOPIA@Design** – “Cinzia” (Maitreya)

Headpiece: Zibska – “Themis” (Group Gift)

Nails: Slackgirl – “Catarina” (Maitreya)

Particles: **CC** – “Queen of Hearts Aura” & “Queen of Hearts Halo” – NEW @ Enchantment

Hair & Makeup

Hair: [KoKoLoReS] Hair – “Oakes” (color modified)

Makeup: Zibska – “Arie Makeup” (LeLutka Applier)

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

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Tattoo: Redfish – “Gift Paro” (Maitreya Applier, Hunt Gift Ironwoodhills/Paranoia Event)

Poses & Props

Poses:

HelaMiyo

Props:

Chair: [Since1975] – “Scorpion Throne” – NEW @ ROMP

Lights: Selfmade

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Those Moments…

February 14, 2018 by Wicca Merlin

Sometimes you have something in mind and as much as you try… it won’t look like you first wanted it.

Do you know that feeling? You built a wonderful set, you had all kind of poses in mind to bring your set and vision alive and what ever you try it looks wrong?

Exactly that happened to me today. I was fooling around over 3 hours, stubborn about my first idea and anyways what I tried – pushing furniture around, changing poses, twisting poses and even make poses – nothing worked…

So I gave up on the first idea and since I anyways love playing with poses, I went into my Poseidon poses folder and started going through them. The dress (like dresses always do) limited the possibilities lightly because of the legs movement, but the more I played with them the more I got new courage and new ideas about how todays pictures should look like. I trashed my set and just played with poses, windlights and shadows.

Today my style was based off the amazing “Rihanna” boots from [Gos].

“Step into Rihanna, a sky-high thigh high boot featuring perforation detailed accented by a metal-capped square toe and sculpted-metal stiletto heel.
Rihanna is available in 3 colour HUDs – Boutique, Blueberry, and Metallics – each sold separately or as a collection. The Boutique HUD includes 16 current, in-season colours perfect for any fashionista, the Blueberry HUD includes 20 colours which coordinate with clothing from Blueberry, and the Metallics HUD include 7 metallics which will have your feet shining. Each HUD also includes 5 sole and 3 metal options.” Gospel Voom states and he is not exaggerating!

The boots are skin tight and with the perforation something very special. It as well shows how accurate the boots are made and rigged as you cannot alpha out anything!

The cool dress with the amazing chained bottom part was made by [sYs]. You can have many different colors but since I am a black addicted – I went for black 😉

The awesome face decoration I found at Zibska. I adore her for her special sense of art. In every of her designs you see, what a skilled artist she is. Her items are never boring mainstream and always when I use her creations for a style it adds so much character and attitude. The eye decoration I really had to get, when I saw it as it reminded me of seeing many different shades of one thing if you look through all those parts or the imagination of how many you can see in one thing only.

So even if I trashed my set today I hope you nevertheless had fun with my look 😉

Details

Outfit & Accessories:

Dress: [sYs] – “Ano” (Maitreya)

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

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

Arm Straps right: L’Emporio – “Harness Arm” (Maitreya)

Collar: NOIR – “Mallory Choker”

Fingernails & Rings: Slipper – “Deidra” (Maitreya)

Facedeco: Zibska – “Pari” (with LeLutka Applier)

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: Exile – “Windsong”

Makeup: Zibska – “Razmig”

Body & Tattoos:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Tattoo: Ivory & Rose – “Alexandrina” (Maitreya Applier)

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

Poses & Props:

Poses: Poseidon

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

I can, therefore I am!

January 14, 2018 by Wicca Merlin

I can, therefore I am!

[Simone Weil]

I already admitted, that I am a boots addicted, especially when it comes to overknee, thigh-high boots 😉

So it was a given, when I saw the “Monza” boots from [Gos], I had to make pictures with them!

[Gos] – “Monza” – Boutique HUD

This thigh high, stiletto-heeled boot features slouched leather, cinched with a wide buckled belt at the top.

The Monza Belted Boots are available in 2 colour HUDs – Boutique and Blueberry. The Boutique HUD includes 16 current, in-season colors perfect for any fashionista and the Blueberry HUD includes 20 colors which coordinate with clothing from Blueberry. Each HUD also includes 5 sole and 3 metal options.

The purchase includes sizes for Lara, Isis, Hourglass, Physique (high foot).

With the 2 closeups I at least wanted to try to capture the amazing color pallet that comes with the “Monza” boots.

[Gos] – “Monza” – Blueberry HUD

For the outfit, I chose one of the latest releases from [sYs]. The “Amirale” coatdress is a perfect outfit for the actual season, plus it really does make a statement. You can style it in many different ways from casual to heavy and industrial like I did it for this post. I loved how both designs, the boots and the outfit are made with materials enabled and reacted amazing to all the light sources around me. You get 4 different colors to choose from, but since I am a black addicted, I certainly had to use black and with the red collar and front button line 😉

The “Amirale” coatdress is available at The Project Se7en in sizes for Maitreya, Belleza, Slink, eBody and TMP.

Details

Outfit & Accessories:

Outfit: [sYs] – “Amirale” (Maitreya) – NEW @ The Project Se7en

Boots: [Gos] – “Monza” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Fameshed

Nails: Slackgirl – “Catarina” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: EMO-tions – “Dessia” (color modified)

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

Lipstick: [LB Lips] – “Eve Set 1” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoos:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props:

Poses: Slouch Poses (store closed)

Background: anxiety – “%rule#1”

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

Vintage Impressions

January 7, 2018 by Wicca Merlin

Recently I got asked, if I do set myself any kind of styling challenges, because I have so many different looks on my blog. No I don’t! :p

Usually I get my ideas in the very moment when I put on clothing or accessories. Sometimes it even starts with a completely different idea and turns into the opposite in the end. Like today, when I put on the new “Sasha” outfit from LX Essentials. “Sasha” is a cute and sweet ensemble of a solid skirt and a beautiful laced top. With the HUD you can change the sold AND the lace colors! First I had a lingerie or sweet casual style in mind and even was playing with the color HUD between pink and red.

While I was looking for the matching accessories, I stumbled over one of the newest releases from Enfant Terrible. The “Large Fur” is an amazing rigged fur piece, which goes down from the left shoulder to the bottom, only the hand is visible. Because it is rigged, it moves perfectly with an inbuilt pose for the arm with your AO and poses.

As soon as I saw the outfit together with the large fur attachment, I pulled back up the HUD for the outfit and changes the color to something black and cream to match the fur. From there on the vintage impression was set. I wanted to have some more fur around the neck and found another, for Maitreya body rigged, fur from Enfant Terrible.

I think it must be really hard to make fur for Second Life. Most you see is either blurry, has alpha glitches or it looks like many little sharp triangles added up. You rarely find some real cool and realistic looking fur with most of the mesh items. But rarely you get the impression of something really smooth and fuzzy but LeEnfant Terrible, owner and creator of Enfant Terrible, really did an amazing job with her fur!

For the shoes I used the “Smilla” heels from UTOPIA@Design, With the awesome HUD it was relatively easy to match them to the tones of the outfit and the way how this amazing peep-toes are made even the style looked perfect vintage. Besides all the colors and presets you even can control the glossiness with the HUD and decide if you want a more latex shinny look or a more matte leather looking one… really amazing and so versatile!

An elegant – never thought I would call me that – vintage Lady certainly needs a head and certain accessories and what hat could fit better than the “Vintage Romance” one from LODE – The name already proves. I will turn around for the next picture so you can see all is beauty 😉

So all I had left to add was some jewelry – certainly some ivory pearls – and a long vintage cigarette holder 😉

Lately I more and more try to built my own sceneries, as it takes me ages until I find a place or sim where I can shoot or even rezz a posestand, plus you have way more control how busy your background will be if you not wanna spend hours to derender everything around you what you think you will not need and relog like a million times because you derendered the wrong thing or too much of something 😉

The basic mostly are 2 prims that I use to texture them with wallpaper and floor textures, so I can start building a room/set.

Since I had no idea what I was looking for I just typed vintage into my inventory search and looked what came up. That was how I found that amazing little set from Tuesdays with the table and the frames. After I rezzed it, I saw I do not need much more than just some little decor and maybe a few light resources. Sometimes it does not need much to have a proper scenery if you want to showcase mainly your style.

Details

Outfit & Accessories:

Outfit: *LX* Essentials – “Sasha” (Maitreya) – NEW

Fur 1: Enfant Terrible – “Large Fur” (rigged) – NEW

Fur 2: Enfant Terrible – “Winter Fur” (Maitreya)

Shoes: UTOPIA@Design – “Smilla” (Maitreya)

Gloves: .:Avanti:. – “Tessa” (Maitreya Applier)

Stockings: AviCandy – “Vintage Hosiery Collection” (Maitreya Applier)

Hat: LODE – “Vintage Romance”

Earrings: *C:K* – “Simple Pearl Earring”

Collar & Bracelets: SECRETS – “Pearl Jewel Set”

Rings: Slipper – “Cadence Rings” (Maitreya, Bento)

Cigarette: [ht:apparel] – “Cigarette Holder”

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: EMO-tions – “Tragedy”

Makeup: Slackgirl – “Rose Gem Shadow” (Omega Applier)

Lips: alaskametro<3 – “Fey” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoos:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props:

Poses: Foxcity

Props:

Table & Frames: ..TUESDAYS.. – “Vintage Whimsy Decor”

Chair: GizzA – “Vintage Wedding / Victorian Chair”

Candle: *HEXtraordinary* – “Reindeer Antler Candle”

Decor: {anc} – “mannequin. vintage” (Gacha)

Spots: Poisoned Diamond – “Theater Lamp”

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

Always on the Run

January 5, 2018 by Wicca Merlin

My mama said
That it’s good to be fruitful
But my mama said
Don’t take more than a mouthful
And my mama said
That it’s good to be natural
And my mama said
That it’s good to be factual
But I’m always on the run

[Lenny Kravitz]

Details

Outfit & Accessories:

Top: Mowie – “Haramori” (Maitreya)

Jacket: Gabriel – “Long Cardigan” (Maitreya)

Pants: PurpleMoon – “Maise Trousers” (Maitreya)

Shoes: Livalle – “Hax – Combat Boots”

Glasses: HAYSURIZA – “Glasses HipHop”

Necklace: Kunglers – “Sile”

Rings: Slipper – “Laura” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: no.match – “No.Twist”

Body & Tattoos:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props:

Poses: Wicca’s Wardrobe

Props:

22769 ~ [bauwerk] – “Sinatra Wall Art”

22769 ~ [bauwerk] – “Pallet Wallart Squirrel”

22769 ~ [bauwerk] – “Industrial Endtable”

[NC] – “Colonial Wall Lamp”

[sf] – “Industrial Sofa”

TD – “Mesh Industrial Tray”

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin