β€œBefore he shuts me down…”

I do love collaborations and if one of your personal photography idols asks you, if you would have an idea that would go with his actual styling… that feels like Christmas, easter and birthday together :p

I always admire people with strong visions, intense emotions, powerful moments and driving colors. As well I am amazed by peoples skills in doing raw shots and how they post process their pictures. It is exciting to see what gets snapped in world and then see what the end results are for the picture, that mostly turns into an art piece then πŸ˜‰

So, you can imagine how excited I got, when Master Nefekalum came into my IM box and asked, if I would have an idea for a styling to what he just had put together. He as well sent me a gyazo of his look and when I saw it, immediately the movie Ex Machina came to my mind. The Android girl Ava and Caleb, who has to judge whether Ava is genuinely capable of thought and consciousness, and if he can relate to Ava despite knowing she is artificial.

When I told Master Nefekalum about it, he seemed interested. So I did hurry to put a style together, to show him what I was thinking of. When I sent him the gyazo he had some minor ideas to adjust my look and then he TPed me over to his studio. It is always exciting to me, when I see how other photographers work and I always try to be as easy to work with as I can, to not disturb or interrupt other peoples ideas and visions.

It is so amazing to see how others picture your look and what they do see in your styling. Sometimes it even can go a complete different direction, than you initially thought about.

This time it did not and Master Nefekalum liked my little vision to his style and I was speechless, when I saw the picture and the perfect title he did. So today I just adapted the title of my post to hims and I hope he will not mind it πŸ˜‰

I would like to thank Master Nefekalum for this amazing moment and picture! I secretly hope he will have a situation or style that he will see me fit into again in the future maybe πŸ˜‰

Master Nefekalum’s Style details:

https://ephemeralskye.com/2018/04/04/before-i-shut-you-down/

You definitely should take a look at his amazing work work on his flickr or blogΒ  to see all his amazing art work!

My Stylecard:

Outfit & Accessories:

Corset: Pixicat – “Temptation Corset – Dark” (Gacha, RARE, XS Size)

Collar: .:Avanti:. – “Nayomi Collar”

Shoes: [CX] – “Implant Revived – Trashed Steel” (Maitreya)

Spine: Salt & Pepper – “Skeleton Spine” (Maitreya)

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

Claws: Meva – “Bento Claws – Silver”

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: A&Y Cybernetics – “Cyro”

Body & Tattoos:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Upper Arms & Legs, Nip Cover & Panties: [V-Tech] – “Forbidden Experiment Set” (Maitreya)

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

Teck Skin Appliers: *YS&YS* – “Pris” (LeLutka/Maitreya Applier)

Eyes (right): CURELESS[+] – “Surgical Eyes”

Photographer:

Master Nefekalum (Ephemeral Skye)

“I don’t use a hat as a prop. I use it as a part of me.”

How a hat makes you feel is what a hat is all about.
[Philip Treacy]

Do you know the feeling if you get something to blog and it even comes from a long time friend? Exactly that happened to me with Spartin Parx. Spartin and me go way back and I even remember one of our first shoots. The more I got excited when I saw the box with her name on it πŸ˜‰ When I opened the box, I found 2 amazing hats in there and you all know how much I do love extraordinary, huge headpieces :p

I wanted to give each hat the spotlight that it deserves and that is why I only will have one of the hats for today πŸ™‚

The “Izumi Kasa” hat was my first choice as it instantly gave me a vision for a picture.

The huge hat covers most of your head and face and a long lace hangs down from your chin. A HUD provides you many options for the top of the hat and as well for the huge round part with different colors and patterns.

What else you can wear to such a great hat than a little bot of nothing?*grins*

But if it is a little bot of nothing, it has to be a great one πŸ˜‰ The amazing detailed harness from Salt & Pepper is a perfect example how strong little things can be. Together with a bra from Devious Mind and sexy panties from Opium’s addiction it makes the perfect outfit for the huge hat.

To get even more focus on the hat and the shoes, I decided to go with a black and red contrast. I love to have a single color to pop out and red against black is something that is not very rare, but it always works πŸ˜‰

The cool shoes I am wearing are from UTOPIA@Design. Elisabetta Hyun never stops to surprise me with her shoe designs. Always when you think THAT is the best shoe I ever saw, her next release tops it again. Exactly that happened with the “Zafira” boots again. The cool front, which is highly decorated with straps and buckles gives a wonderful opposite to the clean backside.

The shoes have the awesome HUD, that comes with all the UTOPIA@Design shoes. With 9 presets you can have a quick fit and with the Multi texture HUD you can change several parts of the boots. The special again are the 5 different glossiness levels you can choose from if you have advanced lightning enabled. The boots come with fits for Maitreya, both Slink and all 3 Belleza sizes.

It is really interesting to base styles on certain accessories – It always feels like an adventure, where I never know what I will end up with when I start it πŸ˜‰ You really should try that sometimes – just pick one accessory that you stuck to and see what happens if you add certain things πŸ˜‰

Outfit & Accessories:

Bra: !dM – “Lara BondageBra” (Maitreya)

Panties: Opiums’s Addiction – “Alexa” (Maitreya)

Harness: Salt & Pepper (S&P) – “Tam” (Maitreya)

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

Hat: Parx Design – “Izumi Kasa Hat” – NEW@NEO Japan

Bracelet and Rings: Codex – “Maristel” (Maitreya, Bento)

Nails: Meva – “Bento Nails 3” (Maitreya, Bento) – NEW@Easter Egg Hunt

Body & Tattoos:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

No matter where you go, everyone’s connected…

β€œ You will be required to do wrong no matter where you go. It is the basic condition of life, to be required to violate your own identity. ”

[Philip K. Dick,Β Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]

I do have an addiction for cyber punk and futuristic looks… but I guess thats not new;)

What is new is the hairstyle from A&Y which I completely fell in love with πŸ˜‰

A&Y always was one of my first choices for cyber or futuristic hair. The ideas of Anabel Crystal, Owner and designer of A&Y, are just incredible amazing. She has that special look to all her creations, when you see designs you immediately know she made them. The “Lucia Cyber Hair” is a perfect example for the incredible eye for the detail of Anabel Crystal. The haistyle is an unsymmetrical one, which I anyways love and it is decorated with amazing tubes on one side, which go around, down the neck to meet the tail on the other side.

What I adore as well is that with A&Y has some super vibrant colors in their hair. You can wear them as one color only or you can use the strong colors to set an accent to your style. That brings me to the amazing HUD for the A&Y hair. When I first used it, it took me a moment, to realize I cannot immediately use it, I have to connect the HUD first to my hairstyle. So you wear your hair, then the HUD and the you use the connect button on the HUD to ‘activate’ both to work together. The great advantage of that HUD is, that you can choose each section, which you want to color separately and clearly labeled. Each part of the tubes, the hair parts and every single decoration. I rarely saw such complex and great HUDs for hair, that are to operate so easy and detailed.

Certainly such a great hair needed a strong look to go with. I wanted to underline the cyber though with a non human skin. I remembered that I got an amazing unusual skin pack from YS&YS longer ago, with 4 very different colored skin tones. The great metal effect for the skin and the face, was part of another skin from YS&YS but it perfectly worked with the Zafiro tone from the “Ginny” pack. With the “Samara” outfit from Wicca’s Wardrobe, the cool stompers from DRD, the cyber arm from Naurolab Inc. and the long claws from Meva the look totally nailed a cyber look for me.

While I was styling the look for today I already got more cyber ideas :p So I guess it should not be too long until my next futuristic post πŸ˜‰

 

Outfit & Accessories:

Outfit & Bracelets: Wicca’s Wardrobe – “Samara” (Maitreya)

Shoes: DRD – “p.a.n stompers” (Size 2)

Left Arm: Neurolab Inc. – “EV3 Android” (Maitreya)

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

Nails: Meva – “Bento Claw” (Maitreya)

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: [A&Y] Cybernetics – “Lucia Cyber Hair”

Hairbase: Mina – “Myla” (LeLutka Applier, part of a hairstyle)

Lipstick: Izzie’s – “Metallic Lipsticks” (LeLutka Applier)

Body and Tattoos:

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

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

Tattoo & Faceart: YS&YS – “Pris” (LeLutka/Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props:

Background: MINIMAL – “Futuristic Backdrop”

Poses: Poseidon

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

Silent Valentine?

You do not need to be loved, not at the cost of yourself. Of all the people you will know in the lifetime, you are the only one you will never leave or lose.

[Jo Coudert]

Valentine flowers, Valentine cards, Valentine cookies, Valentine this and Valentine that… every where you go, you get it rubbed right in your face wether you like it or not…

But what is with those people who would like to avoid Valentine’s da?

Maybe someone lost a beloved person and does not want to get reminded?

Maybe someone had a bad experience on Valentine’s day and tries to forget?

Maybe some people believe, that Valentine’s day only was made for the retail and do not want to support that?

What ever reason people have, I think that everyone should be able to make their own decisions about if they want to celebrate Valentine’s day or not.

I do not needΒ  a special day to tell those I love how much I love them and I would not just do that on one special day. If I want to make my partner a little present, I do that on any day and as often as I want during the year. Sometimes it is just a little thing, maybe candy or something I saw and thought he would like it,Β  just a gesture or maybe just spend some precious time together. I even think it is the many little things that really show how much you do love someone else and not a huge present on a special day, that you are told by the calendar.

That brought me to today’s post as I wanted to do something different for Valentine’s day, but as well keep the typical red color πŸ˜‰

So many new events started and so many new amazing creations got released, I really had a hard time to decide what I would like to wear and use for todays pictures. I ended up with a huge mix and match for my look and as well for the set.

For the outfit I chose a combination of the new “Diana” outfit from [sYs] and a new lingerie from La Perla. You certainly can wear “Diana” without a lingerie underneath but I thought it does give a nice romantic contrast to do so πŸ˜‰

The awesome bracelets and the very special mask, I found at ROMP. When I tried the “Blinded” mask from Cubic Cherry, it immediately added a very intensive feeling to the whole look. With the metal look and the shaped eye contour, it did remind me on that old Roman theater masks.

The head piece is an art piece itself. It was made by LouLou Teichmann, owner and designer of Bauhaus Movement, and with the amazing details and the super sweet look, it made the perfect contrast to the mask.

I would like to drag your attention onto the hair a little more. Recently I discovered a new hair store. I am super picky with hair, especially with the textures, but when I tried my first Sintiklia Hair I was totally amazed. Not only the textures are awesome, Sintiklia has an amazing way how they create their hair at the base. You do not really need a hairbase with the way they do their end parts that meet the head and there is NO alpha issues at all! On many of their hair styles, they even include a style HUD, so that you can change the look of it and get more than one style with your hair. With the “Salma” hair, that I found at ROMP, you get a style HUD that gives you the possibility of 4 different ways how you can wear your hair! And usually you find a mirrored possibility if you have wisps of hair coming down at the front. So often I was cursing when the pose was not cooperation with my hair and I wished I would have had such an option to just change the side of the wisps. As if that would not be already awesome enough, with many of the Sintiklia hair you will get – besides the usual color HUDs – a tint color picker add-on HUD. With that you even can work on the shades of a certain color to match it perfectly to your skin and as well your look! You really should try some of their demos and see for yourself – I only can highly recommend it!

Another part of my post, which I would like to spotlight a little bit, is the sweet looking ‘daybed’ – if you call those things like that. It is a little stool with sweet ribbons and cute ruffles, that comes with many different textures. On the first view you would never believe what is behind that “cute mask” if you do not realize the little metal rings that are added to all the ribbons! Maybe you will get rough idea, if I tell you that the “Boudoir Bondage Stool” was made by Dictatorshop… ok the name might discover something already as well :p

This sweet little furniture you might imagine in a sweet girls room until you sat on it – and if you are a dork like me you enabled your RLV before as it said something about RLV and capture yourself on it *facepalms* It has a full ‘Dictatorshop known’ engine for all kind of couples and solos and for some poses it does even rezz cuffs and chains! What I liked most, you can pose solo in a non kinky way as well as you can roleplay all kind of scenes with it – private ones, which I resisted making picture of :p You still can get it, if you get you an actual Bound Box with a lot of other goodies in it at the Bound Box HQ!

I hope you enjoyed my little ‘different’ interpretation of my personal Valentine today πŸ˜‰

Happy Valentine’s for all who celebrate it and happy shopping!

Details

Outfit & Accessories:

Outfit: [sYs] – “Diane” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Kinky

Lingerie: {La Perla} – “Bela Ensemble” (Maitreya Applier) – NEW @ Enchantment

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

Mask: [Cubic Cherry] – “Blinded” – NEW @ ROMP

Headpiece: Bauhaus Movement – “Grimhilde Headpiece”

Necklace: [ abrasive ] – “Romance Necklace” – NEW @ Enchantment

Bracelets: NOIR – “Sophia Bracelets” – NEW @ ROMP

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

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: Sintiklia – “Salma” – NEW @ ROMP

Body & Tattoos:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4,1”

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

Tattoo: Redfish – “Beast Tattoo” (Maitreya Applier) – NEW @ Enchantment

Set:

Stool: Dictatorshop – “Boudoir Bondage Stool” – NEW @ Bound Box

Cage: Ama & Nais – “Box Cage” – NEW @ ROMP

Table & Deco: <Heart Homes> – “The Rose Silver Table” & “The Enchanted Rose Red” – NEW @ Enchantment

Wall Art:Β Atelier Visconti – “Vincent Wall Art”

Lamp: Trompe Loeil – “Wiggle Modern Light” (Gacha)

Chains: [Arch] Deco – “Box of Chains”

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

 

 

 

Dark Style Christmas

Finally I can post again!

After having my website hacked for nearly a month, we were able to solve the problem. I never would have thought, that the jetpack plugin from wordpress would be an open entrance for bot and hacker attacks… Everytime when I thought we fixed it, I wanted to log in the next day and same cryptic dashoard grinned at me and my own website was telling me I would want to cheat, when I tried to post something as I would not have the permissions to do so.

Lesson learned, jetpack plugin deleted!

Thank you to all of you, who hadΒ  patience with me for not being able to post something.

So I am actually a little behind on things, that I wanted to post over all that time and I would like to start the wrap up with one of the styles I made during the Dark Style Fair. I just re-did the pictures and added some newer things to it to make it some more ‘festive’ loooking for the upcoming season πŸ˜‰

I am not too much of a Christmas fan in general… I do like snow, I like red and black, but all the Jingle Bells music and always when I hear the “All I want for Christmas is You” yelping on the radio I just wanna throw up :p

I have my own Christmas feelings and likings and so I wanted to make a look with some twist on it for my own personal mix of dark style and Christmas :p

I used a lot of different parts to mix and match my todays look. The jacket I found at COCO, the top is from Scandalize, the corset with the cool warp around and ribbon I found at Paperdoll’s, while the pants are a part of the amazing “Y6” collection from [sYs].

I do love mix and match a lot, even if it became significantly harder, since mesh is on the grid as layering different designers can be a real hard challenge if the clothing is not meant to go with each other.

The “Leisha” choker from Salt & Pepper ran right in to my heart when I saw it :p I love the look of the 2 skeleton hands, that wrap their bony fingers around your neck πŸ˜‰ While I went through my headpiece & hats folder I came across the “Dia De Los Muertos Hat” from .AiShA. with the same cool grabby bone fingers holding the top of the hat!

If I would wash off the blood from my top and take off the eye patch, I really could see me going out on a christmas party *snickers*

What I really had to do for this post, is a close up for the shoes… I LOVE the eye for details, that UTOPIA puts on their designs. You can see every seam, every fold and the typical used spots that you get with leather shoes usually. I just could sit and stare at the shoes for hours and discover all their love to the realistic scale and details. Since the other pics did not show even a hint of the shoes I thought they deserve a close view πŸ˜‰

I hope you had fun with my first ‘catch up post’, there will be more over the next days πŸ˜‰

Details

Outfit & Accessories:

Jacket: *COCO* – “Jacket Over Shoulders”

Pants: [sYs] – “Y6 Pants” (Maitreya)

Top: Scandalize – “Good Night”

Corset & Bracers: …:PD:… – “Cadaveric Doll” (Maitreya)

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

Hat: .AiShA. – “Dia De Los Muertos Hat Red Moon”

Eyepatch: *elise* – “Chiara”

Bracelet: BEO – “Day of the Dead”

Rings: V.R. – “Dia De Los Muertos Rings” (Maitreya)

Nails/Claws: MEVA – “Bento Claws” (Maitreya)

Choker: Salt & Pepper – “Lisha” (Maitreya)

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: EMO-tions – “Thea”

Face Art: .ARISE. – “Death Mask” (Omega Applier)

Body & Tattoos:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Tattoo: PICHI – “Mexicannos Tattoo” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props:

Poses:

Wicca’s Wardrobe

Props:

Curtain: [Cb] – “Cornice Drapes Free Hanging Closed Satin”

Skull & Candles: Ariskea – “Muertos Skull Candle & Flower”

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

Pose Studies with HelaMiyo

HelaMiyo – “Ankles Action” Pose Set

Poses are something very personal and as well to me they are a very important part to my pictures and blogging. We all spend a lot of time to dress up our pixels to get a cool look for our posts. I need the same amount of time as well to find the poses I do want to use for certain outfits. A real cool outfit can be super boring and not exciting at all when you use the wrong poses in my opinion.

HelaMiyo – “Ankles Action” Pose Set

If you have a wonderful detailed outfit and you just do a standing pose with lots of background and ambience around you, all those pretty little details simply vanish. It took me a long time until I figured out a way for me to keep those details and as well have a cool picture. Poses are very often too underestimated. Sometimes poses that look crazy and weird on the first view, can become very interesting if you play with them, turn them around or just have a crop picture where you only can see certain parts. Maybe that requires more pictures to showcase an outfit properly but I do not mind that at all if I am satisfied with the picture itself.

HelaMiyo – “Ankles Action” Pose Set

For shoes for example you can do so much more than just have shoes and feet on the picture. Like with the pose I used on the picture above. The shoes are the definite focus in that picture, but I still have nearly my whole avatar shown and the outfit it self as well. The same pose from another angle can showcase something different. So one pose can be used more than once and maybe sometimes you cannot even tell that it was the same pose with a totally different angle on it (at least I could not :p)

HelaMiyo – “Ankles Action” Pose Set

Sometimes I get asked, why I am doing more than one picture for my blog posts and if one picture would not be enough. Maybe sometimes one would be enough but then, if you style your avatar with time and passion, would you not like to show all the details you styled to it – Maybe a back view or a closeup? For clothing I usually do not have more than 3 to 5 pictures, if I do not have a picture story or something like that. Then I try to have one full body shot, one head shot and maybe one with shoes, nails or a little detail that would be overseen in one of the 2 others. But if I play with poses, I do have more than that. Usually, one pose set has more tha one or 2 poses in it and how I could showcase a pose set with just one picture if I do not wanna stuff all poses into one picture?

HelyMiyo – “Ankles Action” Pose Set

If I want to do pose studies with more than one pose set, I have to have more pictures to really showcase the work a pose designer put in to it. To be honest it is as well fun to change poses and angles while you take pictures. I sometimes find angles and crops I never would have thought about, by just turning and rotating my pose stand *giggles*

For this post I had over 80 snapshots and in the end over 20 pictures from them, that I wanted to use. but since 20 pictures is a lot I forced myself to cut it down under 15 for one post and do some more on a second post, so I will not beat you down with too many pictures πŸ˜‰

HelaMiyo – “Our Darkness” Pose Set

For todays post all poses are made by HelaMiyo.

HelaMiyo is not a new pose store. Miyoko Magic entered SL in 2008 and HelaMiyo was born back then as well. Miyoko always had very unique and impressive poses that not just were ‘simple standing’ poses. If you ask her you will find out that all of her poses have a linked story to her RL as she states on her website (http://helamiyo.blogspot.de/) . Maybe that explains as well why all of her poses are so unique πŸ˜‰

HelaMiyo – “Our Darkness” Pose Set

I still remember one of my first pose sets from HelaMiyo from when I started modeling and was working for a store named Staged back in 2009. We were standing on a round platform and we got a puppet hanger to wear so it looked like hanging puppet/string dolls instead of just usual store models – I really loved that idea and I still have those hanger and poses πŸ˜‰

That was the first time when I discovered HelaMiyo poses πŸ™‚

HelaMiyo – “Our Darkness” Pose Set

The more I was happy that now, about 8 years later, I got to know the person behind th poses! I am usually too shy to talk to designers if I am just one of a million customers, because I always think they are so busy with creating and I do not want to bother them with me and my questions πŸ˜‰

The more I was excited that Miyoko IMed me after one of my last posts, where I was talking about the difficulties to do pictures with gowns (https://wiccamerlin.de/i-am-a-pants-person-but-i-am-not-a-gown-enemy/).

She sent me 2 amazing pose sets for gowns (which I still have to post as well, as soon as I find a gown I do like) as she really proved me that there ARE gown poses who are not just boring and without any action πŸ˜‰

HelaMiyo – “Rock” Pose Set

What I do like a lot with the HelaMiyo pose sets is, that you always get a mirrored version of each pose. So you can decide either what direction you want to look at and as well you can do amazing pictures with a mirror or even fake reflection. It is really fun to experiment with that kind of pictures if you have the possibility of a second, mirrored pose.

HelaMiyo – “Contemporary Jump” Pose Set

HelaMiyo – “Contemporary Jump” Pose Set

I really think, that poses are sometimes underestimated and we just use them for the purpose to have a pose for our amazing styles and we rarely see the work and effort that posemakers as well have to do, so that we can shine in our amazing outfits on our pictures and on the virtual fashion runways. Because of that, I like to do the “Pose Studies” posts here and there, where I can mainly focus on the poses and give them the attention and time they really earn.

HelaMiyo – “Contemporary Jump” Pose Set

As well that is a personal challenge as well as you have to find an outfit that cooperates with all the poses no matter what πŸ˜‰ You have to find a look, where the poses come out clean and proper without breaks in the clothing or having your limbs inside your body. Sometimes that even asks for lightly shape changes to make your shape fit the poses as well. I did not have to change my shape for the HelaMiyo poses but the outfit was quite a challenge as I wanted to use some specific poses that have a lot of movement to them.

I hope you enjoyed my little pose journey as much as I did while iI was doing the pictures andΒ  I am sure that will not be my last one as I have a few more amazing HelaMiyo poses left to showcase πŸ˜‰

HelaMiyo – “Ground Sit” Pose Set

Details

Outfit & Accessories:

Body & Jacket: [sys] – “Samhain” (Maitreya)

Stockings: .:Avanti:. – “Ripped Nylons” (Maitreya Applier)

Shoes: N-Core – “Ballet” (Maitreya)

Eyepatch: .Shi – “Patch Mechanics 4.1”

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

Collar: Pure Poison – ” ‘W’ Love Collar”

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: Vanity Hair – “Crown Royal-Greedy”

Makeup: Zibska – “Augusta” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: Zibska – “Asya” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tatoo:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props:

Poses: HelaMiyo

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

HelaMiyo – “Ground Sit” Pose Set

 

Punk’s not Dead!

Look 1

 

Punk fashion is the clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, jewellery, and body modifications of the punk subculture. Punk fashion varies widely, ranging from Vivienne Westwood designs to styles modeled on bands like The Exploited to the dressed-down look of North American hardcore. The distinct social dress of other subcultures and art movements, including glam rock, skinheads, rude boys, greasers, and mods have influenced punk fashion. Punk fashion has likewise influenced the styles of these groups, as well as those of popular culture. Many punks use clothing as a way of making a statement.

Punk fashion has been extremely commercialized at various times, and many well-established fashion designers – such as Anna Sui, Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier – have used punk elements in their production. Punk clothing, which was initially handmade, became mass-produced and sold in record stores and some smaller specialty clothing stores by the 1980s. Many fashion magazines and other glamour-oriented media have featured classic punk hairstyles and punk-influenced clothing.

There is a wide range of punk fashion, in terms of clothing (including deliberately offensive T-shirts, leather jackets, Doc Marten boots, etc.), hairstyles (including brightly colored hair, spiked hair, mohawks, etc.), cosmetics, tattoos, jewelery and body modification. Early punk fashion adapted everyday objects for aesthetic effect, such as T-shirts, leather jackets (which are often decorated with painted band logos, pins and buttons, and metal studs or spikes), and footwear such as Converse sneakers, skate shoes, brothel creepers, or Dr. Martens boots. Hardcore punk fans adopted a dressed-down style of T-shirts, jeans, combat boots or sneakers and crewcut-style haircuts. Women in the hardcore scene typically wore masculine clothing.

One part of punk was creating explicitly outward identities of sexuality. Everything that was normally supposed to be hidden was brought to the front, both literally and figuratively.

[Wikipedia]

Look 2

When Shena gave me my trend for the last issue of the VERSUS Magazine, my heart jumped – Punk!!!

(Read the full Magazine HERE)

Being a punk myself and expressing that during my youth with cool and ‘weird’ clothing and all kind of colorful hair and crazy cuts, that was right along my alley. Certainly SL gives you even some more freedom to be crazy but in general punk is a certain lifestyle and even if you become more calm with your looks when you get older, the attitude will never completely vanish I guess – at least it never did for me.

But what does punk mean for the most of the people? For many it might only be a fashion trend but for some it goes way deeper and becomes a life philosophy.

Punk or Punkrock was born in the mid 70s in the UK. From there it started to grow over the USA and Germany and finally was known worldwide. It was kinda an offspring of the Glamrock and the opposite to the quixotic Progressive Rock. Later, genres like New Wave, independent and Post-Punk developed from it.

In the 70s, big bands like the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd became unreachable and evicted from their audiences while the economy in the UK went more and more down. Many teenagers could not find work after school and there was no social care system to take care of them so they ended up on the streets. They developed hate against the system and the slogan “No Future” became their life motto.

They started to dress up shabby and their hair turned into colorful weird and funky art pieces as a provocation against the system and society and to shock their parents and grandparents.

Punk politics cover the entire political spectrum. Mostly they are concerned with individual freedom and anti-establishment views. They as well include anti-authoritarianism and non-conformity.

To break it down, Punk for the most people is some kind of revolution, provocation and rebellion against the mainstream or the actual situation and society they life in. They want to make a statement with their looks and get attention for their views, interests and desires.

Look 3

To me it was the music first, that brought me to the punk genre. When I was younger, round about 14, my older cousin heard all kind of punk rock music from the Sex Pistols, Ramones, The Clash, NOFX , Slime and some German ones. Influenced by that I started early changing my clothes towards my ‘idols’ and with 15 I was allowed to dye my hair. I remember very well my first red and blue streaks πŸ˜‰ The more I did it the more my mom allowed me to ‘play’ with my hair and side – or under cuts were not far away :p

With growing up I started to understand the philosophy of punk and the more I did know the more I felt that is my genre. I never was a mainstream person and being called a freak or an ‘outsider’ because of my hair and looks, it was easy to turn more and more into being a punk and rebel. I really felt good to not look like anyone else and to provocate with my opinions and views about things. I never took anything as a given and questioned nearly everything what I was told. On one side it gave me a lot of knowledge about certain things but on the other side, it was hard to find friends especially in school. Outside of school it was never a problem, but the people in my class were all kids of doctors, lawyers and high society people. Probably that was the reason why I was getting in to the music scene very early and a long time I was the youngest. that had some advantages as well πŸ˜‰ I finished my school and as well studied, to become a teacher myself but right after exams, I had the great opportunity to get a record label contract with one of my bands. I did not continue with becoming a teacher and decided to live a musicians life for over 20 years, before I went back to the roots and to teaching at a school πŸ˜‰ I might have grown out of the uber shabby looks and the ultra colored hair, but there is a little punk, a sweet rebel still inside of me and that probably will never change. Maybe that’s why I enjoyed the styling for my VERSUS Magazine trends so much as they brought back good old times and memories πŸ˜‰

Look 4

Details

Look 1:

Clothing & Accessories:

Dress: .:EC:. – “Norena” (Maitreya)

Jacket: Aleutia – “Nova” (Maitreya)

Tights: Nanika – “Alina” (Maitreya Applier)

Shoes: Ducknipple – “Docs vs1” (Maitreya)

Headphones: Wicca’s Wardrobe – “Miwa Headphones”

Glasses: ANE – “Tehe Sunglasses”

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: KoKoLoReS – “Val”

Lipstick: [LB Lips] – “Eve Set 3” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoos:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Poses & Props:

Background Prop: anxiety – “%83”

Pose: Foxcity

Look 2:

Clothing & Accessories:

Coat: [sys] – “Carmen” ( Maitreya)

Top: Eclipse Design – “Belial” (Maitreya)

Skirt: GizzA – “Tartan Mini Skirt”

Tights: Nanika – “Alina” (Maitreya Applier)

Septum: [Since1975] – “Horn Septum”

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

Piercings (Hand & Cleavage): MEVA – “Bento Hand Piercing 2” (Maitreya) & “Cleavage & Collarbone Piercing”

Nail Polish: DMZ – “Vinyl” (Maitreya Applier)

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: KoKoLoReS – “Leighton”

Makeup: Zibska – “Hecate” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoos:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props:

Background Prop: -VIXX- – “Mesh backdrop Harder”

Pose: Foxcity

Look 3:

Clothing & Accessories:

Top & Jacket: GizzA – “Vixie Leather Jacket Set” (Maitreya)

Skirt: Paperbag – “Red Tartan Skater Skirt” (Size 3)

Shoes: L&B – “Gothic Platforms”

Tights: Nanika – “Alina” (Maitreya Applier)

Collar: Wicca’s Wardrobe – “Asema”

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

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: RAW HOUSE – “Sice”

Makeup: Zibska – “Envy” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoos:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props:

Background Prop: anxiety – “%frostbite”

Pose: Foxity

Look 4:

Clothing & Accessories:

Coat: Asteria – “Anna” (Maitreya)

Top: Asteria – “Anna” (Maitreya)

Corset: Asteria – “Capretto” (Maitreya)

Skirt: [sys] – “Khan” (Maitreya)

Tights: Nanika – “Alina” (Maitreya Applier)

Shoes: **RE** – “Jassy Boots” (Maitreya)

Choker: [[RH]] – “Zipped”

Piercing – [CX] – “Drop Septum”

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: no.match – “No.More”

Makeup: alaskametro<3 – “Molten” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoos:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Tattoo: [White +Widow] – “Spotlight”

Poses & Props:

Background Prop: anxiety – “%nightvision”

Pose: Wicca’s Wardrobe

Model, Stylist & Photographer on all 4:

Wicca Merlin

Girls just wanna have fun!

I come home, in the morning light
My mother says “When you gonna live your life right?”
Oh momma dear, we’re not the fortunate ones
And girls, they wanna have fun
Oh girls just wanna have fun…

[Cyndi Lauper]

Exactly that is what todays post is about… I wanted to have fun πŸ˜‰

When I put on the “Callie” outfit from Gizza I did instantly know, that I want to do a fun picture with it. In Germany we have a warm weather come back these days with lots of sun. Temperature climbed up as well and so I was in a sunny late summer mood when I styled my look.

I am not a girly style person usually, but today I just got me and I added some more pink and color to the “Callie” ensemble. The amazing “Kam” eye shadow from Slackgirl encouraged me even more for that πŸ˜‰

For the nails I certainly had to go over the top as well and used the fantastic “Signal Stiletto” bento nails for Maitreya, as well made by Slackgirl. Teal and pink – normally I only use that combination for cyber looks with lots of black *giggles*

The amazing bento rings with the huge gems are made by MEVA and I am totally in love with them. For modern statement jewelry the “Victorian Bento Rings” are just perfect with their huge color HUD and you can even hide some of the rings if you like.

Typically for me, if I wear tattoos, I mostly wear black & grey ones, but the “Anchored Love” arm tattoo with its bold colorful design, just matched the look so perfect, I could not resist πŸ˜‰

Like I said before.. today was only enjoying some free time and so I just went to Anduril for some snaps and enjoyed playing with windlights. Sometimes you have no reason, no special blogging duty and no idea what the outcome will be and just have fun!

Details

Outfit & Accessories:

Top & Shorts: GizzA – “Callie” (Maitreya)

Tights: Nanika – “Ombre Tights” (Maitreya Applier)

Shoes: KC – “Alexia Sneaker Boots” (Maitreya)

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

Nails: Slackgirl – “Signal Stiletto Nails” (Maitreya)

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: Beusy – “Psuni”

Makeup: Slackgirl – “Kam” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: je suis – “LeLutak Lips No. 006 -[nudes]” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo:

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Tattoo: U-Design – “Anchored Love” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props:

Foxcity

Location:

Anduril

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

 

Freak? – Beyond the Ordinary!

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

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

What does it mean to be a freak?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Details

Clothing & Accessories:

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

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

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

Armor: [LAB737] – “Berserker Female”

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

Nails: Slackgirl – “RingQueen Nai” (Maitreya)

Hair & Makeup:

Makeup: IGOTIT – “Lexa” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: Zibska – “Blacktop” (Omega Applier)

Body & Tattoo:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props:

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

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

Weird Fishes – Or is it me?

 

TUNES

Weird Fishes

In the deepest ocean
The bottom of the sea
Your eyes
They turn me

Why should I stay here?
Why should I stay?

I’d be crazy not to follow
Follow where you lead
Your eyes
They turn me
Turn me into phantoms
I follow to the edge
Of the earth
And fall off

Β 

Yeah, everybody leaves
If they get the chance
And this…
is my chance

I get eaten by the worms
And weird fishes
Picked over by the worms
And weird fishes

Weird fishes
Weird fishes

Yeah I, I’ll hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape

I, I hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape

[Radiohead]

Details

Dress: [sYs] – “Klio” (Maitreya)

Shoes: Blueberry – “Cupcake Boots” (Maitreya)

Hair: [sYs] – “Hanabusa”

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

Basics

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Shape: Selfmade

Set & Props

Fish: [Black Bantam] – “The Friendly Fish Roped 04” (Gacha)

Clock: darkendStare. – “Cat Wall Clocks [Black/Orange Painted]”

Rain & Grass: E.V.E Studio – “Poison Rain {Gold}” & “Poison Rain Spikes Grass M01{Gold}”