Tag Archives: Zib Scaggs

What a strange world we live in…

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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

Envy and Jealousy are incurable diseases…

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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

Prisoner of Colors

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And again I dare to experiment with vibrant colors :p

I have to admit the more I try the more I do really enjoy it. Sometimes in Photoshop I catch myself, when I fall back to old habbits and start to lightly desaturate the picture, but then I call myself on it and go back to work with those strong colors and bring them up even more.

I realized that the contrast of black and a bright strong color is even more interesting than just mute the colors afterwards. You can create really dramatic pictures by keeping them or even force them out a little more than you had them by snapping. As well you can do a lot with lights and projectors to let those colors pop more and create a certain ambiance with them.

Recently I tried to imagine a situation when I started to shoot to get more emotions into my pictures. I realized that if I do think about a certain moment or create a moment in my head before I start, the expression of the picture and becomes way stronger. The more I feel my picture, the better I can use face expressions as well. For quite some time, I only was looking for poses that showcased the outfits perfectly but sometimes the results looked nice but I felt nothing by looking at them. Maybe that sounds silly but for me that was a step forward with my own photography and blogging.

This time, I was imaging a space ship. The inspiration came from the movie ‘Pitch Black’, where Riddick was a prisoner on a space ship. So I was trying first on a broken space ship but that was not strong enough for that what I wanted to express. Then I remembered a backdrop I got from RAMA, that exactly did feature the colors I needed, and with the iron bars it perfectly did feature my basic ‘Riddick’ idea as well 🙂

What else could fit better to a futuristic, post apocalyptic vision better than the designs of A&Y Cybernetics… and since Anabel Crystal – owner and designer of A&Y Cybernetics –  did release such amazing designs lately on all kind of events , to me it felt like fate to style up something with those amazing creations.

With the amazing HUD it was so easy and cool to color some parts in a strong, deep orange and keep the basic outfit in black. I love how the material are done as they reflect the light so perfect, you really can ge the impression and vibe that I wanted for todays pictures.

With all the straps and buckles, the short and really well shaped top and legwarmers, the whole ensemble really got a super sexy touch, but as well a very strong attitude in my opinion. I do like that combination a lot 😉

With such a cool look I certainly needed hair, that goes with that style. I anyways be guilty for loving crazy things and therefor it was no wonder why I fell in love with the “Zeo Cyber” hair as well made by A&Y Cybernetics.

The best makeup I can imagine for such strong and unusual looks certainly had to come from Zibska. I adore the way how Zib Scaggs, owner and designer of Zibska, does her makeups. She created so many different ones already and does not stop to amaze me with new ideas. As well I love the variety of colors you can find for her makeups. Anyways if you look for something light or pastel or strong and deep hued – Zib does not let any desire unfulfilled. And if you think lipstick only can be a certain color variety, Zibska will prove you wrong, too. At Zibska you will find so many different way how you can ‘decorate’ your lips. Different shapes, special shades and unusual lights and shadows. You will find the matching makeup for all kind of styles from sweet casual to absolute avantgard or even futuristic creations.

Again I was surprised how cool vibrant colors can be without looking like comic or ‘overloaded’ and I guess I will try more colors soon 😉

Outfit & Accessories:

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

Pants: Wicca’s Wardrobe – “Vixen Thong” (Maitreya, Bound Box October 2017)

Legs: A&Y Cybernetics – “Electra Cyber Lagwarmers” (Maitreya) – NEW @ XXX Event

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

Shoes: [CX] – “Implant Revived-Hammered Iron” (Maitreya)

Hair & Makeup:

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

Makeup: Zibska – “Varia” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: Zibska – “Nerissa” (LeLutka Applier)

Body and Tattoo:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props:

Poses: Foxcity – “Surface Set” (Bento)

Backdrop: RAMA – “#selfie_RAMA Neon Grid#3”

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

Disarranged…

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The picture exactly shows how I feel sometimes… Totally disarranged but… somehow still interesting*laughs*

Did you ever came across such a situation where you had something in mind, started to style for your idea and for whatever reason, the whole concept fell and was replaced by a complete different idea? It happens to me so often…

When I started to dress for this post, I had a military style in mind with the “Orsay” dress, but then I remembered the cool puppet hanger from Curio Obscura and the same time [Gos] released their “Natalie” ankle boots and all of a sudden my idea changed to something complete different. The first idea only had the dress in the focus and then I got shoes that matched so wonderful so I had to find an idea where i can showcase the dress AND the shoes 😉

Recently I had to re-think my idea for shoe posts as I did not like the “closeup only” pictures of shoes and accessories. I wanted something that still would allow more than just one part of the body in the picture and so I started experimenting a lot with crazy poses, crouch poses and certain sit and kneel poses. Sometimes it becomes more editorial looking and sometimes it just falls in place to a cool picture with the right angle. It is really fun the more you dare to fool around with poses and angles. Sometimes it just looks weird but if you just try a little more and not be afraid of crazy ideas it becomes way more exciting and interesting.

I will try to play more with those kid of ideas in the future and hope you will enjoy the results as much as I do 😉 Thanks a lot for reading!

Details

Outfit & Accessories:

Dress: [sYs] – “Orsay” (Maitreya)

Shoes: [Gos] – “Natalie Ankle Boots” (Maitreya)

Knees: .:Avanti:. – “Knit Knee Warmers” (Maitreya)

Crown: Enfant Terrible – “Crown Roses ULTRA RARE” (Gacha)

Rings: *elise* – “Orietta” (Maitreya)

Nails: Slackgirl – “Lourds Mesh Nails” (Maitreya)

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: Fabia – “Luida”

Makeup: Zibska – “Araceli Makeup” & “Araceli Lips” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoos:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Poses & Props:

Poses: Poseidon & Helamiyo

Props:

Puppethanger: Curio Obscura – “Marionette Controls and Strings”

Stage: Wimey – “Speakeasy Stage”

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

Pink Therapy!

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Pink always was and is a challenge to me. Some of you might remember times, when I tried to act like I had a pink allergy and even had a special skin with pimples and spots. Or if I got pink outfits for shows, I always predicted I had to have my medicine and pills with me to not get those allergy symptoms again. It was fun times and for what ever reason even nowadays people approach me about that allergy 😉

That even more encourages me sometimes, to try something in pink as it can be a very strong color and not just a Barbie girl tone.

First I wanted to do a picture where I sit on an object, because I wanted to showcase the shoes as well as the dress, the hair and the jewelry. I realized, if I just have a simple standing pose, most of the time the shoes get lost in the whole picture as they turn out way to tiny compared to the the rest of the picture. But I did not just want a little close up on the blog either and no hint for my flickr picture.

Everything what I tried to sit on – that did not seem boring and strong enough as well as matching my mood – did not work out. After some time I really got frustrated and had to step away from the whole thing. I logged out and went to the couch, to continue reading my book. After a couple of hours, I took a look at the watch and it was not yet that late. I thought I should give it another try and see if now the muse would be genuine enough to come back and maybe even kiss me again.

First I did throw the idea away to pose sitting on something and reduced the set drastically to some lights and effects from E.V.E Studio. I still was I a certain mood, which I wanted to express via the pictures as well. Something pensive, lightly fragile and with – here I have to credit Ephemeral Skye, since he was so kind to listen to my frustration and had kind words, which helped to go back to the whole project – “a hint of defiance in her as well”. It made me speechless that he tried to see “behind” the picture and saw what I tried to aim for. He is an incredible artist, which I adore personally for his creativity and ideas and if someone with that outrageous skills gives you such kind words… that is really motivating I have to admit and I am really grateful about that.

If you have a very minimal background, poses and angles count even more to have an interesting picture in the end. I love to jump into my Poseidon poses folder when I try to have a strong mood or attitude in mind. I have no idea how Gryphon Vendetta does it, but he ALWAYS hits the nail on the head when he makes his poses. They are so strong and expressive, even if they have an ’emo’ feeling to them. You can play with the angles amazingly with Poseidon poses as there is always more than one view that works. With the right crops you can even use extreme poses or flying poses without having their initial purpose shown.

Before I now go back to my inventory and look, what I could use for my next look, I would like take a closer look at the shoes, even if they are shown in the picture at the beginning. I so often feel that shoes are underestimated and as well way too often taken for granted.

The new “Charlie Platform Sandals” are available at the actual round of Fameshed (like the amazing dress that I am wearing for todays post as well). The perfect spring season heels come as usual for Maitreya, Slink and Belleza feet and have the amazing 3 new HUDs that [Gos] includes for all their new releases. The Boutique HUD for the amazing [Gos] colors we all know,  as well the Metallic and the Blueberry HUD with matching colors for your Blueberry clothing.

Afterall I have to admit… pink isn’t that bad 😉

Outfit & Accessories:

Dress: [Gos] – “Charlie Wrap Dress” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Fameshed

Shoes: [Gos] – “Charlie Platform Sandals” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Fameshed

Collar & Brows: Zibska – “Florenz”

Cuffs: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Mordrem”

Rings: *elise* – “Brenda” (Maitreya, Bento)

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

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: A&Y Cybernetics – “Cyber Ghost”

Makeup: Zibska – “Agafia Eyemakeup” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoos:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Ears: ^^Swallow^^ – “Pixie Ears”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props:

Poses: Poseidon

Props: E.V.E Studio – “Heart Stars-Leaves” & “Sunny Spells”

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

Orange & Black – Warm & Vibrant!

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Today I was not sure what I wanted to do, except playing with the combination of a strong color and black. Since I did that often enough with red, I wanted to do something with a more vibrant color and as well bring in my spring mood into it. That was why I chose to go with a light orange that kinda dips into yellow – or I had too much honey in my tea lately :p

I wanted to use one of the pose props that I got during the last Exposeur sale. ” The Minimalist” had such awesome poses to it and it did give me the possibility to play some more with projectors as well since the ball to pose on is surrounded by a black box where projectors, shadows and lights will work amazing.

Recently I found out, that you can have more than one shadow if you work with different projectors that have different colored lights. If you hit the right angle and play with your windlight you can produce amazing effects. This time I was aiming for one darker and one lighter shadow.

When I started to look for some yellow/orange things in my inventory I stumbled across the “Honey” makeup and eyes from Queen of Ink and when I saw that… I just had to fool with it. That probably was the moment when I was sold to the orange/yellow part of the pictures :p

I more and more love my unplanned shoots as it is like playing roulette.. you never know what it will be and it is somehow a challenge to bring all the parts you have together if you do not think about everything before you start 😉 Maybe I should think about color or theme challenges for myself and have one each month… I do have to think about that, that could be fun!

For now I hope you liked my color and shadow play as much as I did 😉

Outfit & Accessories:

Outfit: [sYs] – “Anann” (Maitreya)

Shoes: Salt & Pepper – “Keisha” (Maitreya)

Gloves: Jian – “Sanderson’s Gloves”

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: Zibska – “Kiki” (color modified)

Makeup: Izzie’s – “Aegyo Sal” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: Zibska – “Sorcha” (LeLutka Applier)

Tears: Queen of Ink – “Honey” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Eyebrows: Nanika – “Serena 2 Gold” (LeLutka Applier)

Eyes: Queen of Ink – “Honey – Gold Eyes” (LeLutka Applier)

Poses & Props:

{.:exposeur:.} – “The Minimalist” (color modified)

Model & Photographer:

Wicca Merlin

Those Moments…

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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!

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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

Pose Studies with HelaMiyo

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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 😉

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 😉

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 😉

That was the first time when I discovered HelaMiyo poses 🙂

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 😉

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 😉

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 😉 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 and  I am sure that will not be my last one as I have a few more amazing HelaMiyo poses left to showcase 😉

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!

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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 😉 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 😉 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 😉 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 😉

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