Tag Archives: Maitreya

Into the Underground – Composition can be frustrating sometimes!

by

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 ;)

by

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…

by

… 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 ;)

by

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!

by

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

Expand your Horizon!

by

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

Fantasy is Escapist, and that is its Glory

by

“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

 

 

 

 

Who are you behind the screen?

by

Are you a guy or a girl behind the screen?

That is a question, I heard so many times in my SL life. In the beginning – over 10 years ago – I had a different RL partner, who played a girl in SL and so he did not want me to voice or skype. He was afraid, that he would be ‘discovered’ as a guy, if ambiance noise or background phone calls were going on and that others would not RP or talk to him anymore if they would know. I respected his wish during our relationship and only typed. I never even thought about that being an issue for anyone, since I never requested myself being a female*lmao*, but when it happened the first time, I remember I really felt hurt somehow. I can not even say why, but it hit me right out of nothing when I got told “If you are not voicing you are a guy that tries to hide”

That was years ago and after I broke up with my partner, I did voice and prove more than once with it, that I am a real female.

But for about 2 years, it really kept getting more and more annoying and the more I was told if I don’t voice I must be a guy that I became stubborn as well and in the beginning I did not even wanna voice just because of all that. I did not want to let them dictate me and what I need to do. When I finally started to voice with some people that I always felt close and who never accused me to be a guy in RL It really was fun.

When I started modeling, I again stumbled over that fact. In some competitions they asked for voice checks, some designers where requesting voice verifications and at some modeling schools you had to prove, that you are a girl when you play a girl avatar. That really made me think… Why it would be so important, to know if a girl avatar really is a girl in RL? I mean we are not talking about relationships or cheating on other people who fell in love on wrong informations. There were some girls who told me in privacy that they would be guys and they would be afraid to say it, because they thought then they would not be allowed to model anymore as girls. And the ‘Why’ in my heads became bigger and bigger. What would make the difference on a SL model, designer or any other kind of roleplay if you don’t take it to RL, if that person is male or female or gay, lesbian or hetero? Does it matter for styling abilities? Does it matter for walking the runway?

Isn’t Second Life a place where you can be what you want? Isn’t Second Life a place where you can live your dreams? Isn’t Second Life a place where you can release a side of you that you can’t show in RL? Maybe there is a reason why a person does not voice even if they are the gender in RL, which they are playing in SL? Maybe someone cannot voice because they are not able to talk in RL, because they are deaf or mute?

The more I got into that, the more I hear things and read bad posts about people that were ‘discovered’ by others. Those people who did that always felt right about, that they revealed something ‘important’ and had to tell the whole world?!?! Who gave them the right to do that? Who gave them the right to hurt others with their stories? Who are they, that they think they need to be the Second Life police for that?

Again I am not talking about SL relationships that were meant to go RL and one got badly tricked, but I always said I do not care about what gender people are behind the screen as long as no one gets hurt. I know a few super, mega top models in SL that do a great job and be admired by many people and they are not the gender, which they are playing in SL. Who cares? They do an amazing job, otherwise they would not have made it so far. It is just sad, that they had to ask friends to do their ‘voice verifications’ for them, to be allowed to do what they like and enjoy.

I hope one day – in a world where transgenders in real life more and more get accepted and as well get popular and famous – people in Second Life can be as tolerant as they became RL.

I wish – in a world where creativity is a gift and all are aiming to be more creative – that all who only stand up to think about how they can hurt, slander and defame other people get a life and find joy and satisfaction in being productive instead of being constructive.

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”
[Bernard M. Baruch]

Outfit & Accessories

Lingerie: Enfant Terrible – “Bombshell” (Maitreya)

Stockings: BigBeautifulDoll – “Stockings Lady Nude Sheer” (Maitreya Applier)

Shoes: Bliensen + MaiTai – “It’s aways Teatime” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Enchantment

Wings: Enfant Terrible – “Unisex Wings Heartshape”

Gloves: CODEX – “Aranel” (Bento, Maitreya)

Blindfold & Collar: Bliensen + MaiTai – “La Perla” – NEW @ ROMP

Ring & Armlets: .alme. – “Maple Leaves Ring” (armlets edited)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: Mithral – “Agave”

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props

Bed & Poses: Dictatorshop – “Contempo Bed” (menu driven) – NEW @ ROMP

Background: DRD – “Shadow Mansion – Light” (Bedroom, Shadow Box Bonus)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

In these illusions of life

by

Hide yourself behind profile
In the place for friends there is new lifestyle
In the digital deep there is no trace
Another Cybergirl in the cyber space
Swim, baby, swim
What do you seek behind the screen?
In these illusions of life
In these illusions of feel
You are so disclosed
You are so nude
But no one knows the real you
Let’s dive ‘till the morning comes
Lonely Cyber Girl

[Xe-None]

 

Again it was crazy time.. I felt it coming already a few days ago*giggles*

When I got the “Nexus Cyber Bikini” it kinda jinxed it 😉 When I put it on, I immediately was thinking how a cyber-girl could go swimming and how that scenery could look in the future.

The “Nexus Cyber Bikini” is part of the Summer Loving hunt and set for 50% off until the 13th of May (http://bepsl.com/summer-loving-hunt/). It comes with that amazing HUD that A&Y always puts to her designs. I do love it a lot as it gives you so many different possibilities on so many parts of the creation and still is clearly labeled.

Since the bikini should be the focus today, I was very minimalistic on the accessories and only picked a few parts to support the futuristic look that I wanted to have.

If you are looking for strong, powerful poses that show action and movement and as well can me snapped from all kind of awesome angles, you should make your way to Poseidon – Gryphon Vendetta, owner and creator of Poseidon, is a god with exactly that. He never stop to amaze me with the new ideas. It is like he would imagine a special scenery, then make a pose set exactly for that and it seems his creativity never comes to an end – thank god! This time I used a lot of the “Flight” sets. The water with all that detailed parts around it gave me a ‘lost in space’ feeling and so the gravity did not really take place anymore in my mind 😉

For the scenery I picked only items from E.V.E Studio. The creations of Noke Yuitza are just simply perfect for any fantasy or futuristic sets. I do love how many different pats can be combined to a whole and what you can do with all that creations together. Some even have inbuilt lights, that bring the ambiance ‘alive’ – if that makes sense.

It really was fun to go crazy again and I hope you can see that through the pictures as well 😉

Outfit & Accessories:

Outfit: A&Y Cybernetics – “Nexus Cyber Bikini” (Maitreya) – NEW for Summer Loving Hunt

Cyber Parts: V-Tech – “Forbidden Experiment Set – Silver” (Maitreya)

Rings & Nails: [CX] – “Shredder Claws – Silver” (Maitreya, Bento)

Headpiece: DRD – “Wasteland Helmet”

Body & Tattoo:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Eyes: CURELESS[+] – “Surgical Lightning Eyes”

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

Body/Face tattoo: YS&YS – “Pris” (LeLutka & OMEGA Applier)

Teeth: [CX] – “Dirty Fangs” (Group Gift)

Poses & Props:

Poses: Poseidon

Set /Background: E.V.E Studio – “{Dystopia} Ashes & Ice Flower “, “{Poison Rain} Synapses Fishes”, “Eye of the Storm”, “White Wall”, & “Roots of the Luminescence Tree”

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

Envy and Jealousy are incurable diseases…

by

Those who enjoy their own emotionally bad health and who habitually fill their own minds with the rank poisons of suspicion, jealousy and hatred, as a rule take umbrage at those who refuse to do likewise, and they find a perverted relief in trying to denigrate them.

[Johannes Brahms]

It never stops to make me sad to see how some people try to make others life miserable for no reason. Not that I would not know it does exist but that does not mean I do understand it. The world is so huge and there is place for each and everyone. Some humans seem to believe, they do have to try to make others look bad and it does not want to get into my brain why. Do they feel better as others? Does it give them a “I am the better one” feeling? Does it give them any kind of satisfaction? Do they get up in the morning and the first thought is who they could trash today? If it would not be such a bad thing I would say I feel pity for those who cannot just enjoy their life by using all energy to make something out of themselves. But since it always involves that others get hurt by that, I can’t feel pity at all. I always try to figure out what kind of people that are. It cannot be successful ones as those would not need to put a bad light on others. They cannot be very self esteemed, as they probably suck all their power from others pain and sadness. They cannot be very creative as then they would use their energy to do something. They always try to justify their doing with the try to convince someone that they do it for law and order, while they are just doing it to feed their sick addiction of enjoying the sadness and pain they cause for others. There is even no way you could tell such people that they are wrong as they are so deeply caught in their addiction – like drug addicts, they never would admit they are addicted until they have serious physical problems.
Since we cannot do anything against it, the big question is how we deal with it… I guess there is no general way how to deal with it and everyone has to decide personally about how to handle it. First of all you have to find a way to not let to close to you. That is probably the hardest part as we are all humans and if we get attacked, it hurts. But that is exactly what those folks want and what we should not give them. It is only human nature that you instantly think you have to justify yourself, but you do not – especially if you did nothing wrong! It seriously is senseless to respond to such tries, as you never will get down a point against those trolls – they simply cannot see it (remember… addicts!) They will twist every word you say into something that works for them and against you. Anyways how you react or what you will do – it is just pointless.
The best is just to ignore and forget about them… in the end you must have done something right or spectacular, otherwise those people would not have tried to come after you.
After venting, I would love now to get a closer view on my todays look 😉

Today I do not have one special item to focus on, it again was one of those lucky days where different things all of a sudden resulted in a whole.

[Gos] released an amazing combination of leather pants and funky ankle boots for the current round of UBER & FaMESHed. The “Liz” ankle boots (UBER) and leather pants (FaMESHed)!

Again Gospel Voom amazed me with his design and texture skills on both creations. The leather pants have a perfect shine if you use the materials version and the booties fit perfect with the leather pants. It is always hard to find matching shoes for long pants without getting any mesh clipping problems. I chose black for both “Liz” creations, because they reflected the light so amazingly.

Shoes often do not ge the spotlight they deserve and that is why I included a close up with different colors, just in case the dark green swallows too much of the shoes 😉 The shoes again come in all popular body sizes and with the 3 amazing HUD options that lately are standard for [Gos]. The Boutique, the Blueberry and the Metallic HUD. AS well you have the choice for a materials enabled version and one without.

First I thought, To wear some gloves but then I found the amazing “Rallen” set that has makeup, lipstick and that amazing arms applier. That worked so much better than any gloves I found 😉

The cool and funky necklace was made by Zib Scaggs as well. I really do love her crazy and funky designs as they always ad a extravagant touch to every style.

The amazing veil, was made by a very dear friend of mine. She does create for quite some time now and it is amazing to see what fierce ideas she comes up with. Anyways if makeup, headpieces or accessories, she has that little ‘something’ that make her creations very special. The “Shell Veil” comes with a huge HUD for the veil itself and the ruffled flowers on the top of the head. You get all kind of color and texture options with that 🙂

I hope after my little venting at the top, I could do satisfaction to all those creations 😉

Thanks a lot for reading and maybe you have your own experiences and ways, how you deal with trolls and all those who try to make others look bad and want to share that in the comments 😉 Have a wonderful time and enjoy the happy side of life!

 

Outfit & Accessories:

Top: .:PULSE:. – “Proclivity Top” (Maitreya)

Staps: ::GB:: – “Body Belt” (Maitreya, Gacha)

Pants: [Gos] – “Liz Leather Pants” (Maitreya) – NEW @ FaMESHed

Shoes: [Gos] – “Liz Ankle Boots” (Maitreya) – NEW @ UBER

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

Headpiece: Spartin Parx – “Shell Veil”

Necklace: Zibska – “Syra”

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: Opale – “Yunjin”

Makeup 1: .AiShA. – “Be Dramatic Eyeshadow 3” (LeLutka Applier)

Makeup 2: Zibska – “Rallen Makeup” (LeLutka Applier)

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

Body & Tattoo:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Arms: Zibska – “Rallen” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props:

Poses: Poseidon

Signs: *paper moon* – “City Ord. Signs”

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin