The artful Alchemy of Wicca Merlin – VERSUS Magazine Spring/Summer 2019

I had the great honor of being the cover and the cover story of the actual VERSUS Magazine. I do work with VERSUS as a model, stylist and photographer since the very first issue, the more I felt honored and happy about being asked if I would like to be on the cover!

I remember very well, how speechless and overwhelmed I was when Shena told me, that she planned me, my photography/blogging and our store for her next cover story – I nearly was fainting!

I was sent some wonderful questions for the interview by Sita Writer, in my opinion one of the most talented writers I met in SL (actually I do have  2 favorites only *grins*). Anyways, I was super happy when I saw, that Sita did not only pull the usual mainstream questions and it really was fun to answer them. If you want to see the full article you can find it HERE or you can pull an inworld Magazine at the entrance hall of our Mainstore!

And as if that would not have been enough already… Shena surprised me again and left me speechless! When I turned in my pictures for the Mother Nature theme I was assigned this issue, Shena went totally crazy about one picture and wanted to take that as the cover for the magazine… MY picture as cover for a magazine!?! that never happened before, I never was allowed to do a picture for a magazine cover!?!

I really have to say thank you for a wonderful article, as well as such a great honor, to Shena, Sita and the VERSUS Magazine staff for that incredible opportunity and experience! VERSUS always felt like home and family to me and that, even made that bond tighter than ever before.

Why I am posting this today, away from that I am so proud and honored, is that I got asked so often in IMs about the style I was wearing for the cover and so I will put my style credits below this post.

THANK YOU VERSUS FAMILY!!!

VERSUS Magazine Spring/Summer 2019 https://issuu.com/versus.sl.magazine/docs/versus_magazine_spring_summer_2019

Clothing

Dress: Legal Insanity – “Camila Dress” (Maitreya)

Cloack: Astralia – “Danaus Spring cloak” (Maitreya, Gacha, Rare)

Accessories

Headpiece: Astralia – “Danaus Spring Crown (orange)” (Gacha, Common)

Flower (mouth): Astralia – “Danaus Spring Flower (orange)” (Gacha, Common)

Bracelets: Gemini – “Sis Bracelets” (Maitreya)

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

Hair & Makeup

Hair: [e] – “Juniper”

Makeup 1: Zibska – “Ventura Eyemakeup” (LeLutka Applier)

Makeup 2: Zibska – “Tamia Eyemakeup” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: Zibska – “Flore” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Lashes: alaskametro<3 – “Slay” (LeLutka Applier)

Poses & Props

Pose: Foxcity – “Long Grass” (VIP Gift 6-17, Bento)

Wand: Astralia – “Danaus Spring Scepter” (gGacha, Special Prize)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

 

From little Seeds great Flowers grow…

“She limped, unaided around the house, like a bird with its wing broken. Tame, because it couldn’t fly away. All her time was taken up with managing herself, working out new ways to do things. Being a different person in the world.”
[ Joan London, The Golden Age ]

I guess I never had  more opposite posts back to back  than the last and today’s… maybe thats because my life at the moment is a little bit upside down and huge changes are about to come. I do have mixed feelings about it, as I did not really plan those, but sometimes you just get forced to make changes and you have to adapt the situation and make the best out of it for yourself.

But then, like I wrote yesterday… I always wanted the freedom to do what ever I want on my personal blog and so I hope you all don’t mind a black/silver against white/gold contrast 😉

It was always something I thought a lot about. When I started modeling, we were taught, that we should find our personal style. Back then it was like either you are a casual person, a formal one, am avant garde one or one of those kind of styles that we all know. I never felt ‘home’ in one style genre only and so I started to call my personal style weird or crazy to at least have category if I was asked about. I do not know where all that comes from, but it is not only happening in Second Life. In real life I am a musician, but as well a teacher and I do give private lessons for instruments and songwriting and I do work for a record studio playing the bass sometimes, too. I never had the desire to have a nine-to-five job, more than that I even was scared about the thought to have to do the same every day in a certain time frame. Certainly it would be easier and you could plan your free-time better, but I guess I would miss something just having one job.

It isn’t the first time that a chapter of the book of my life closes (sometimes I had to close them my self, too) and so I know if one closes another one will open. Just the time until that happens is sometimes a bit scary, as you never know what it will be. Usually those kind of “in-between” times only happen if you didn’t close the chapter yourself. Mostly they do happen, if you didn’t plan any changes and all of a sudden for no reason others decide to screw you over with lies and gossips that aren’t even true. First I tried to fight against that, but if you have 4 people gained up against you they can pretty much tell everything and being their own witnesses for their lies. First it dragged me down a lot and I was trying to find a way how I still could prove the truth, but the longer it did happen, the more I came to the point that it would be senseless. So I had to change my tactics and just make my peace with it and find new ways for myself. It would have been an unnecessary waste of power and time to keep on fighting in the end.

So I am looking forward to what will come. Things have come up to my mind already and now just need to grow and being developed more. That already feels much better than the time of uncertainty, where you have no clue what you are going to. Maybe that’s why I found parts of my creativity back, too and have fun taking pictures again even if they are a little bit weird *winks*

For now I will be on holidays and try to get some rest from all the past half a year crap. I know things will move on, as they always have and every time it happened, there was something new for  me that I really enjoyed. Even if that sounds old and lame sometimes and in the middle of frustrating and depressing times you neither want to hear or see it – Life has so much to give and there always will be ways to find new perspectives. Recently I found a quote, first I read it was from Sigmund Freud, but when I looked it up, there wasn’t any prove for that and no one really knows where it came from, but it does fit so perfectly for now and I like it a lot. I even thought, if I should put it on a sign and place it at my desktop somewhere, so I can look at it if I get bad feelings about the whole situation again. Maybe it makes a great closing sentence for today’s post *grins*

“Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self esteem, first make sure you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes.”

Clothing

Dress: CURELESS[+] – “Pygmalion’s Bride / M / Galatea Bridal Gown” (Maitreya, Gacha, Rare)

Gloves: CURELESS[+] – “Pygmalion’s Bride / M / Galatea Gloves” (Maitreya, Gacha, Rare)

Accessories

Collar: .Charm. – “Skai Collar” (Store closed)

Piercing: [CX] – “Bitten 2017”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Arrest”

Eyeshadow 1: Nanika – “Gold Eyeshadow” (LeLutka Applier)

Eyeshadow 2: Zibska – “Lennie” (LeLutka Applier)

Face Art: Nanika – “Serena Gold” (Omega Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Legs: CURELESS[+] – “Pygmalion’s Bride / M / Galatea Legs / MARBLE” (Maitreya, Gacha, Common)

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Thauron Ears”

Eyes: .ARISE. – “Blind Eyes / Gold”

Skin: *YS&YS* – “Immortal Skin Applier” (LeLutka & Maitreya Applier)

Tattoo: Nanika – “Gold Sequins Mesh Body Applier” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Poseidon

Set:

E.V.E Studio – “WHISPER Petals {Gold}”  (Gacha, Rare)

E.V.E Studio – “Apple Flower M01”

E.V.E Studio – “Apple Flower M02”

E.V.E Studio – “Golden Apple”

E.V.E Studio – “Flowers of the Golden Apple”

E.V.E Studio – “Petals Path A {Gold}”

E.V.E Studio – “Petals Path B {Gold}”

E.V.E Studio – “Dancing Petals Dystopia in Bronze/Gold”

Air – “Road sign type A stand_gold_CM”

Air – “Road sign type C_gold_CM”

Air – “Road sign type D_gold_CM”

Air – “Road sign type E_gold_CM”

Air – “Lost Bravery stand(gold)_CM”

Air – “Lost Brain stand(gold)_CM”

DISORDERLY. – “Enchanted Extras / Beast’s Library Papers”

Raindale – “Elnaril floor candle holder (light gold)”

{anc} – “mannequin. MermaidPrincess(Adult)” (Gacha, Rare)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

There is so much Life underneath the Water that we don’t know about…

“And everywhere, just as there were animals on land, were the animals of the sea.
The tiniest fish made the largest schools- herring, anchovies, and baby mackerel sparkling and cavorting in the light like a million diamonds. They twirled into whirlpools and flowed over the sandy floor like one large, unlikely animal.
Slightly larger fish came in a rainbow, red and yellow and blue and orange and purple and green and particolored like clowns: dragonets and blennies and gobies and combers.
Hake, shad, char, whiting, cod, flounder, and mullet made the solid middle class.
The biggest loners, groupers and oarfish and dogfish and the major sharks and tuna that all grew to a large, ripe old age did so because they had figured out how to avoid human boats, nets, lines, and bait. The black-eyed predators were well aware they were top of the food chain only down deep, and somewhere beyond the surface there were things even more hungry and frightening than they.
Rounding out the population were the famous un-fish of the ocean: the octopus, flexing and swirling the ends of her tentacles; delicate jellyfish like fairies; lobsters and sea stars; urchins and nudibranchs… the funny, caterpillar-like creatures that flowed over the ocean floor wearing all kinds of colors and appendages.
All of these creatures woke, slept, played, swam about, and lived their whole lives under the sea, unconcerned with what went on above them.
But there were other animals in this land, strange ones, who spoke both sky and sea. Seals and dolphins and turtles and the rare fin whale would come down to hunt or talk for a bit and then vanish to that strange membrane that separated the ocean from everything else. Of course they were loved- but perhaps not quite entirely trusted.”
[Liz Braswell, Part of Your World]

As I promised before, with all the amazing designs at the Mermaid Cove event, done by Flair for Events, I could not resist and do a second post. This time it isn’t quite a Mermaid, more an underwater creature, as I did not want to post my favorite mermaid tale again, plus I wanted to showcase those amazing leg wraps, which I found at the Mermaid Cove as well 🙂

To do an underwater picture, but actually not being under water was quite a challenge I have to admit. I first tried to set up everything underwater, but with the windlight and lightning I wanted to have it did not really work out that well plus, I realized that underwater in SL… doesn’t look like it should anyways. So what I did was, I created a small set with rocks and some grass, which I tinted in blue, purple and white color and some underwater creatures beside my self. To get a little bit of an ambiance I used some designs from E.V.E Studio with inbuilt lights and some glitter. All the bubbles and plants I had to add in Photoshop afterwards, as I could not find any non-flexi plants, that did look right for what I had in mind.

It was something new and I even learned some new Photoshop tricks about fx styles, so it was a win-win situation to try something new and non familiar. I hope you enjoyed my underwater creature as much as I did and for now I do not have any plans for more mermaid or underwater styles 😉

I am happy with the result, even if it was a little bit of a rock road until it came together as I imagined it 😉

Clothing

Top: SynCo – “Mermaid Bralette” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Pants: -:zk:.- – “Bella Panty” (Maitreya)

Accessories

Head- & Shoulderpieces: Zibska – “Helmine”

Nails: Ama. – “Mermaid Claws” (Maitreya, Bento) – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Handjewelry: .Drastic. – “Tentacle Jewelry” (Maitreya, Bento)

Legwraps: *Merlific* – “Sea Stars Pearl” – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Toerings: Elle Boutique – “Talluah” (Maitreya, High Feet)

Feetchains: Salt & Pepper (S&P) – “Keisha” (Maitreya, High Feet)

Tentacles: – Fika – – ” Sirens Song – Hip” – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Collar: .Quirky. – “Scales Collar” – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Bracelets: E.V.E Studio – “Scorpion Spikes Bracelet” (Maitreya)

Hair & Makeup

Makeup: Zibska – “Araceli” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – Simone 3.3″

Faceart: .Arise. – “Face Scales 3” (Omega Applier) – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Meraxes”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Bodyscales: ~ Cynefin ~ – “Body Scales~Shades” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Fashiowl – “Undersea – Pose Set” – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Set:

Rocks: Fashiowl – “Undersea – Pose Prop” – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Grass: Little Branch – “WildGrass*1Li{Lavender}” & “Grass1l{Winter}” (partwise tinted)

Fish: 22769 ~ [bauwerk] – “Floating Fish Iron”

Jellyfishes: *HEXtraordinary* – “Jellyfish” (Gacha)

Ambience: E.V.E Studio – “Sunny Spells [M1] W/Tile”, “Dancing Bubbles {White}” & “Sunny Spells M02 – KOI Glitter”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

I’m lost in a dream…

I’m lost in a dream, with a mind’s full of sadness,
I remember the good times, that we had in our madness,
Frozen tears with illusions of fire,
All of my life was filled with desire

[Axel Rudi Pell]

Sometimes you sit there, staring at your inventory and have no idea what you can do. You put on various outfits, dresses, pants, tops and nothing screams “Yes.. it’s me! Do something with me!” I am not saying, that all the stuff would be ugly or not nice… it all looks perfect and it is made amazingly, but just nothing touches you, nothing catches your eyes or heart.
There are moments in life where just nothing can grab your attention or drag your brain off some things that happen in your life. For me it was a RL situation, that really had tied up my brain and mind/mood completely. If you love your job and you put everything you have and can into it, if you even started a project and work on that for years and suddenly someone comes and tries to steal that from you and even get you kicked out from it, it really can go very deep and it does hurt like if someone rips out a part of yourself, throws it on the ground and tramples on it like crazy with a big grin in her/his face.

In exactly that mood I was nearly the whole past week and that was when this style grew over days, not knowing what I want to do. It did look like a bunch of things not belonging to each other on the first view for me, until I told my self to let it flow and see where it would be going. First I thought of a kind of fairy or “Galadriel” looking pictures in a fantasy environment. But while I was trying like an idiot I came across the amazing pictures of Alles Klaar (HERE). She has a lot of water based pictures, like her and her friends posing on water, having those amazing reflections. That reminded me of the never ending story if we could have real mirrors in Second Life (LINK). I did not want to download anything and I tried to remember how you could cheat on that fact with using mirror water (MIRROR WATER).

I do have no water available at my home at the moment, so I am very grateful, that – after a talk explaining my issue – Tour gave me the opportunity to use his sim for my experiments. While I was trying to fool with that water mirror effect, I realized, it isn’t what I wanted or my skills are not good enough to do what I had imagined. It was the first time, that I wasn’t alone while I tried to set up a scene. Tour was with me and we even had a voice conversation for some time while I was trying to find what I wanted to do. What really was fun, he as well did some snaps and we shared our visions about my project. That was quite interesting! I always thought I never could have somebody with me while doing this, but it even did inspire me somehow 🙂 Thank you Tour for your generosity to let me experiment on your land and ruining your terraforming for me, because of my need for water!

The more pictures I shot, the more my vision changed and my mind could let go of my RL situation and I found my fun back in doing weird and crazy things. My feelings and emotions changed from weak, frustrated and depressed to stubborn, stronger and willing to fight my way out of my actual mood. I rarely had so different emotions on my pixel face during a shooting I have to admit, as I usually try to make an indicating series of pictures.

Again Second Life was kind of a therapy to escape from real life, but as well it did help to free my mind again and not being stuck inside a certain situation. I am not saying SecondLife is the best therapy you can find, I am just saying sometimes it helps to allay concerns or get your brain some relief 😉

Believe me, after 12,5 years SL I know, that you need to step away from it sometimes or even shut it down for a while to solve RL problem… I hope you get the idea of what I was trying to say 😉

Since I changed the point of my blog, not only being a fashion catalog, but as well being a part of me and both of my lifes, my pictures do matter for me. After I attended Visionaire classes (I sometimes still do), it as well felt right to do so. I am not saying, fashion only blogs are not cool, I just decided for myself that I wanted to have more than just that after so many years of blogging 🙂

If you are one of those, that actually read the whole post, I would be happy if you would be brave enough to comment on it, or maybe even dare to tell about how or even if your SL does change your RL or any situations sometimes ♥

 

Clothing
Dress: Moon Elixir – “Fenris” (Maitreya
Accessories
Collar: ((LovelyAlien)) – “Amaranthine – Necklace – Silver”
Headpiece: -Elemental- – “Feronica Circlet”
Claws: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Thunderstrike Claws” (Maitreya, Bento)
Rings: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Thunderstrike Rings” (Maitreya, Bento)
Horns: :[P]: – “Kratus Horns”
Bracelets & Anklets: E.V.E – “Scorpion Spikes” (Maitreya)
Armlets: Gemini – “Sis Bracelets” (Maitreya)
Hair & Makeup
Hair: no.match – “No. Gain” – NEW @ Tres Chic
Makeup: Zibska – “Rowan” (LeLutka Applier)
Body & Tattoo
Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”
Eyes: ANATOMY – “Angel Eyes – Silver”
Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”
Skin: YS&YS – “Ginny Zafiro” (LeLutka/Maitreya Applier)
Tattoo (Arms): [White~Widow] –  “Ran” (Maitreya Applier)
Tattoo (Legs): [White~Widow] – “Okja” (Maitreya Applier)
Poses & Props
Poses: Poseidon
Set:
Statue White Girl: E.V.E – “Rapunzel in Evie White Tower”
Statue Steampunk Guy: R.O.T – “”Illusion Light Blue”
Statue Couple: R.O.T – “Soska Metallic”
Brushwood: E.V.E – “Rosina’s Undergowth M01”
Sphere: E.V.E – “Cubic Dreams {White Glow/Black}”
Heart: E.V.E – “Frosted Hearts Silver M1”
Model & Photographer

What now?!?

“Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do
Though I’m past one hundred thousand miles
I’m feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go…”
[David Bowie]

Yes, I know… Cyberpunk Fair is over, but it seems I am not yet done with my sci-fi moods :p

Today it is less cyberpunk that actual real sci-fi I guess, but that doesn’t matter – I love both anyways 🙂

Today I was going to try something in a space capsule, like I would be on a mission to a new planet. I guess I watched too much movies like “Elysium, Interstellar, The Martian or my absolute favourite one – Serenity including the series of Firefly” again, which dragged me in such a mood. But that was cool, as I anyways wanted to showcase the new “THX Sci-Fi Set 1” from Ex Machina. The whole set contains console, cannister, crate and lamp… the lamp I will have to add into another post, as it did not look right for my picture of a space capsules cargo bay and that was what I was going for.

I do not know what it is, that attracts me so much about futuristic thoughts – Maybe it is the desire to know what will come? Maybe it is the desire to see something new? Maybe it is just something very human that you start thinking where you could go if the human race finally destroyed the earth completely? I have no idea, but I do enjoy movies and stories about that, as well I like to play with those thoughts in Second Life.

The cool backdrop was made by The Bearded Guy for a gacha set and I guess it was the rare piece of that gacha. I loved the way how you can look out the back window and see another planet. That gave such a cool cargo bay feeling that the “THX Sci-Fi Set 1” did fit on so perfect. The idea behind the scenes was, that I was on a mission and something went wrong and I tried to figure out what to do next, to not screw up completely. That as well gave me a brief idea for my pose choices.

For my outfit I chose some parts that I got at the CyberPunk  Fair from Flair for Events, which was ending not too long ago, but I think most of the creators will have their items in their main stores by now.

A few of you asked me, why I am wearing the same makeup for a few posts now already… that has  simple reason. I do have an everyday look where I do use an eyeshadow from Zibska and a natural lipstick from alaskametro<3 and for a casual look, or even a mechanics look I would feel weird wearing heavy makeups. There is ties where you just do not need makeup, even if your inventory is full of it and you got already more than you ever can use *snickers*

Another reason is, that I sometimes do want to show the heads more pure than covered in tons of makeup, to show that they are still mega versatile even without makeups and fancy face paints 😉 Like today, I am wearing the “Simone” head from LeLutka again – my everyday “Wicca Face” head. Today I wanted her to have a more bad girl, cool chick with the focus on the face it self and on the piercings. Plus the glasses would have covered anyways most of the eyeshadow.

I hope you enjoyed my little Sci-Fi mood today – Now I have to jump back into my GoT mood for my next post 😉 That is one of the nice things about Second Life… you can change looks, times and genres in like seconds!

Clothing

Outfit: AsteroidBox – “Erebus Outfit” (Maitreya)

Jacket: {Psycho.Byts} – “N.i.x – N.i.g.h.t – Vest Green” (Maitreya, Gacha)

Gloves: Wicca’s Originals – “Roadie Gloves” (Maitreya, Bento)

Accessories

Necklace: Avada – “Denari”

Upper Arms: :::SOLE::: – “SA – Armtech Mk.4”

Glasses: :::SOLE::: – “SA – Glasses Shinkan White (Black)”

Piercing 1: :Z.S: – “Spiked Snake Bites” (LeLutka, Simone)

Piercing 2: BLAXIUM – “Venerosa Piercing” (LeLutka, Simone)

Nails: Meva – “Bento Nails 3” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: .shi – “Kuwn”

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

Lipstick: alaskametro<3 – London” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoos

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Aksuna”

Tattoo: THIS IS WRONG – “Falken” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity

Backdrop: The Bearded Guy – “Going to The Hole *RARE* – SCI FI Backdrops” (Gacha)

Furniture: Ex Machina – “THX Sci-Fi Set 1”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Tokyo after Dark

Being still in my dark period, I was in a dark casual mood today 😉

I love the “VoDoo” ears so much, I had to do another post with them. I am not a fan of elf ears for everyday looks but sometimes – for what ever reason – I love them not just for a fantasy style.

Today I wanted to showcase one of Ex Machina’s awesome buildings. I rarely saw better structures that are made with more love for the details, than the designs from Hatris Panacek, owner and designer of Ex Machina. It is no secret , that I adore her work, otherwise we never would have asked her to make a custom built store building and most of it’s interior for us. Hattie has amazing skills when it comes to building and as well to texturing. She works so hard to get her realistic looking surfaces done and it pays of every time she does a new release. The “Tokyo after Dark” building is one of her latest creations. On her vendor she states, that his is the first in a set of urban, Japanese, cyberpunk styled buildings. That mean for me we can hope on more of those, which would make me super duper happy, because I LOVE that kind of style 😉

For my pictures I used 2 of the buildings and the amazing street components she delivers with the building. I just turned one of the buildings 90 degrees, so I could showcase the front and the backside as well – I really loved the stair case in the back a lot. I snapped over 10 pictures and I liked all of them. Making a decision was really not easy this time. When I started I just wanted to showcase the amazing “VoDoo” ears and the awesome “Tokyo after Dark” building. But the more I was fooling around with a style the more I got my vibe for that dark urban look. I used the amazing “Bella Leather Pants” from [Gos]. I already blogged those before, but in a more sweet casual style and I wanted to try if they do work for some more dark looks as well – They do!

What as well caught my attention a lot was the new tattoo from Mister Razzor. I love when tattoos go up till parts of the head, but not many are really seamless. The “Dante” tattoo, which was released at the Black Fair not too long ago, did not disappoint in that matter 🙂

Again I am wearing my everyday head from LeLutka. I know the “Simone” bento head was one of the first heads, that LeLutka released when the new bento generation of heads came out, but it is still my absolute favorite one, even if I more and more enjoy the new Korina head as well *winks*

The “Simone” head with a skin from the Skinnery became kinda my trademark. When I first put on the “Simone” head, I wasn’t really sold on the first try, as it looked very young with the default skin from Glam Affair. Since I am in Second Life now for over 10 years I wanted a more adult look for my pixels. I did a lot of things and I did grow up lightly too during my Second Life journey. That I wanted to mirror with my avatar as well. I remember very well the moment when I put on “my” skin. As models we all had quite some trouble when the first mesh heads came out and we all looked the same more or less, while we were told ALWAYS, tht our face would be our trademark in the modeling business. But the bento generation changed that “issues” pretty fast, when we were able again to at least customize our heads a little more again. From that moment on I was in love with my “Simone” head. I tried all the new bento heads from various brands but none was able to satisfy my needs as LeLutka did. What I do love the most on the “Simone” head (and as well on the Korina one), that it is not the usual mainstream beauty. It does have edges and give – depending on the skin – a very characteristic look. With my Skinnery skin and some face modifications from Izzie’s, I was completely sold with my new look and never really changed it drastically again – just some minor shape and other changes here and there 😉

Clothing

Top: [CX] – “Mucronate Top – Leather” (Maitreya)

Pants: [Gos] – “Bella Leather Pants & Belt” (Maitreya)

Shoes & Leggings: Eudora 3D – “Aerendyl Boots” (Maitreya)

Gloves: Wicca’s Originals – “Roadie Gloves” (Maitreya)

Accessories

Glasses: BONDI – “The Extrovert Sunglasses”

Collar: VOBE – “Stzar Prision Choker”

Piercing: [CX] – “Drop Septum”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: Dura – “Collaboration02_Bob2” (Gacha, Common)

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

Lipstick: alaskametro<3 – London” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. (Eclipse Art Studio) – “Ears VoDoo”

Tattoo: Mister Razzor – “Dante” (OMEGA Applier)

Poses & Props

Set: Ex Machina – “Tokyo after Dark – The iKON”

Poses: Foxcity

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Waiting sometimes is so worth it…

Today I do have a premiere on my blog… It is the first post as a LeLutka blogger! For years I felt not confident with applying for LeLutka, I always felt like I am not yet there where I would stand behind myself enough to dare to apply for a blogger position for LeLutka. I do not know how to explain, it was just a feeling. Then I saw a picture of Mavi Beck – I know her a long time already… we met at AVENUE years ago –  on Flickr. I adore her art work, she has a very special feeling for shadow and lights in my view. When I looked at her stream again, I remembered that she is a LeLutka CSR and again the blogging desire for LeLutka came up to my mind. In her profile she as well stated she is a LeLutka Blogger Manager and so I went to my flickr, looked over my recent pictures, took a deep breath and dared to ask her what the conditions for blogging would be. As always she was super kind and nice – I do not remember that I saw her mad EVER – and told me, that LeLutka does work with Blogotex now too and that I could always fill in an application at the access point at the main store. Driven by my desire to blog for LeLutka, I TPed to their main store and while I was rezzing and looking for the access point sign, my doubts again fell back on me and I became a chicken again and TPed back home. I have no clue, why I feel that way when it comes to LeLutka, but I remember LeLutka always as one of the top stores of SL. Back when I started modeling, we had no mesh heads or bento or all that stuff and LeLutka was one of the most high class fashion brand with the top notch fashion ideas and not only for casual desires. Even back then I loved their creations already and blogged them a few times, when I was able to afford their designs (https://www.flickr.com/photos/wiccamerlin/4261277578/in/dateposted-public/ or https://www.flickr.com/photos/wiccamerlin/4449981194/in/dateposted-public/) Back I would not even dared to think about being a blogger for LeLutka, because I just started blogging and they only had super models and awesome graphical artists in their blogger group, but it always was a dream of mine…

Ok… back to the present 😉 So I was at home again thinking about, if I would bee good enough to apply for the blogger position at LeLutka. I guess it is the high respect I do have for the designers skills and the fact that LeLutka plays in the designer circle for so long and all of my old idols and icons of the modeling world back then did blog for them, made me judge about myself so hard. But after a few days of thinking about it, I thought that I would have nothing to loose by trying. Either they like my work or they don’t and so I went back to the LeLutka main store, hit the access button and filled the application. They already asked for a certain time period to allow them to review my application and so I forced myself to not look up Blogotex every 15 minutes, because iI was so nervous *blushes*

Even if they already asked for a certain period of time the longer I had to wait the more my doubts had party in my brain again… so when they pop-up in Second Life went up with a notification and the black letters on the blue background with the “Accepted” sentence, I jumped in my chair and started squealing, my partner asked me “If I would not have all the cups in the cupboard anymore” (a German quote – I don’t know if that would make much sense in English. When I put it into the translator I got “to have lost one’s marbles”). I really was uber happy and it was hard to calm down for me. I have no idea, I am not a child anymore, but in that moment I felt like one again. That again shows me, sometimes it is worth waiting until the time is right 🙂

I guess it is a no brainer to mention I had to start instant to work on the pictures for my first blog post. I chose “Korina” to be my first official LeLutka post. “Korina was the latest release for the Skin Fair this year and so I started to work on a shape first and then the hard choice of a skin came up. First I thought I would use the original skin, but the I thought, the original skin already is shown on the vendor and I have to be a little more creative and make ‘my’ Korina. To me “Korina” did not appear like a princess, more like a strong adult female with attitude and so I tried to bring Wicca to “Korina”, but not making her a sister… if that makes sense.

The head comes with the usual great quality standard HUD that LeLutka always provides, but you get something new with “Korina” as well. The HUD has now 2 different hair bases to chose from, based on the default SL UV maps. I will cross my fingers that maybe the older heads will get updated with that too, because I really love that feature 🙂

I will play now a littlemore with my new “Korina” head and who knows.. maybe we have another side of “Korina” here soon *winks*

Clothing

Top: Meva – “Alexis”

Pants: adorsy – “Rihanna Jeans Shorts” (Maitreya)

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

Accessories

Earrings: Aurealis – “Statement Earrings”

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

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Commitment”

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

Lipstick: alaskametro<3 – “London Lipstick” (Maitreya Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Korina 3.3.1”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Skin: YS&YS – “Petal Tone 02” (LeLutka & Maitreya Applier)

Tattoo: BODY MOD – “Memories” (OMEGA Applier) Store Closed

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity

Backdrop: Pseudo “Paul T Scene Backdrop” (Gacha, Rare)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Challenge: How to combine Shiny and Matte in one Look?!?

Today I just wanted to take a day off from SL and RL work and have some fun shooting some pictures without having any task or deadline.

Sometimes it is just nice to go through your inventory, sort your latest purchases and see what you can do with what you got. Especially if it is not full or ready made outfits, but some single items like special leg parts or a corset. I love o do mix and match outfits, even if it is sometimes a pain in the butt with fitted mesh. I mean you can cheat for a picture, but if you want to run around a while in SL with your new look.. not so much :p

I already said that before, but every time I again start mixing and matching, I could start cursing again and again. Not because of the designs, more about the fact that you can not anymore ‘layer’ clothing as easy anymore. Before, when we had standard sizes it wasn’t super easy either but you were able to lightly cheat with the different mesh sizes. Now with fitted mesh we have way more nice fits and movements and we can can have a more unique shape under our clothing again – everything has it’s own advantage I guess :p

Anyways, today I was in a ‘casual’ mood – a Wicca casual mood *winks* To me casual means nothing fancy, nothing elegant just the way how I would do an everyday outfit. Everyone has his/her own way, how they see their casual I guess. I can not even remember, what piece I started with this time. I know I was sorting my objects folder, all the things I got lately and while I was unpacking and sorting things properly into my inventory, trying things to know what exactly it was, if there were no pictures in the folder and some when I was wearing this jacket from A&Y and those cool leg parts from Insomnia Angel. First it did not look as it would fit together… the jacket is kinda shiny leather while the leg parts are made or a mode matte, suede looking leather. Such things poke my inner stubborn and I set myself a challenge to make them fit together – if that makes sense.

I was looking at both designs and tried to figure out what they do have together. First I realized the straps and the buckles on both items – the first ‘connection’ was made. I played around with the awesome HUD from A&Y for the “Siren Cyber Jacket” to see what combination works best color and shade wise with the leg parts. Then I found that neat corset, which had a light shone. Not as much as the jacket bit more than the leg parts. Perfect to create a ‘bridge’ for both parts :). The Corset originally came with a panty, which did not look like I wanted the style to. There the headache began again… challenge: find pants that fit under that corset! I typed ‘shorts’ in the search field of my inventory and found maaaany. Believe it or not, it took me nearly 2 hours until I found 3 (!) out of hundred that would work in terms of being black and fit under the corset and only that one I am wearing did match in the style I was looking for.

The rest should be kinda fast and easy compared to the shorts odyssey… at least I thought so until it came to the shoes… the “Lizzy  – Bandage Socks” – that is how the leg parts are called – have the great option too choose between high and flat feet on the HUD, I really loved that fact. I decided for my cool biker look it has to be flat feet, heavy style. I did aim for the idea to have the boots under the leg parts, but they are so awesome tight fitting, that it took a while until I found shoes that had the perfect height to still fit.

Last but not least I wanted to have some cool earrings – nothing elegant but still visible and not too tiny. I remembered the cool “Akasuna” ears from .:E.A.Studio:., which Shina released at the ACCESS event this month – they were just perfect! With the cool HUD it was relatively easy to match the skin tone (Color under Cursor is your best friend!).

When I was near the end with my styling, I had an IM from Shena Neox. she showed me one of her latest releases for the eBENTO event and it was something that perfectly made the finish for my style. I showed her a gyazo of my look and we agreed that it must have been fate, that we talked in that very moment and she sent me the amazing “”Ambross Slave Collar” in black. Shena began with a shape store first bit lately she started to release mesh accessories – I have to admit I love them 😉 After styling for hours I had no desire to run around for a perfect location, nor I was in the mood to built a set. I recently changed the deco on our store parcel and it made a perfect location, I only did need a bike. I swear I thought I have one in my inventory.. with over 200K inventory, I really thought I have a motorbike somewhere, but I only found a modern, plastic looking one and that was not what I did imagine –  the only thing I found was a Vespa and that looked kinda odd with the style *giggles* After another couple of hours I found a bike at MotoDesign that I liked – Ready to go! I hope you like the results 🙂

Clothing

Jacket: A&Y – “Siren Cyber Jacket” (Maitreya) – NEW @ ACCESS Event \\ March 2019

Top: United Colors – “Nina Corset” (Maitreya)

Pants: Dirty Princess – “Lil Suspense Princess Shorts Denim Black” (Maitreya)

Legs: Insomnia Angel – “Lizzie – Bandage Socks” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Eclipse – October never dies \\ March 2019

Shoes: {Livalle} – “Payne – Combat Boots” (Unrigged Female for Pants)

Accessories

Glasses: Earthstones – “Eyeglasses – Yesterday (S)”

Collar: OPIA – “Ambross Slave Collar Black” – NEW @ eBENTO Event \\ March 2019

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

Rings: DRD – “Chunky Rings” (Maitreya, Bento) – NEW @ Eclipse – October never dies! \\ March 2019

Septum: [ kunst ] – “Anuket Septum Ring”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: .Shi – “Sa-Rah V2”

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

Lipstick: alaskametro<3 – “London” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoos

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Akasuna” – NEW @ NEO Japan \\ March/April 2019

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity (except #1, which in in the bike)

Bike: MotoDesign – “Dreamcatcher – Indian – EVO”

Location

Wicca’s Originals

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Swish and Flick

“Oh, are you doing magic? Let’s see it, then.”

[J.K Rowling – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone]

Like I did mention in my last post, the “World of Magic” event sadly is over, but I still want to post all those amazing things – it gives me the feeling it would still going on :p . I am sure you will find all of the creations at the main stores of all brands by now.

This time I have the whole scene built out of designs of the event and for the clothing I as well only used items from the “World of Magic” except the shoes.

I love Trouble Dethly’s events, he always picks interesting themes and does invest a huge effort in the sims and event places and builds. What I do love as well are his ‘Fashion Theaters”. To me that is the future of fashion shows in Second Life, as most of the main grind users are sick and tired of boring runway shows. Every thing has its time and realistic, real life like looking fashion shows had their time in the past. When they were new, many people went there and the audience was more than just 10 to 15 models and designers. I remember times, when we had to cap sims at 45 people, to make sure shows could run smoothly, or we even had to have 2 different sims beside each other – one for the audience and one for the models. Those times are gone. I really think there were too  many of those shows in a short time. Certainly there are a few agencies left who still try to do shows, but designers as well found a different way for marketing with all the monthly events. I would not choose one over the other, both ways have/had their advantages and times.

The “Fashion Theater” that Trouble more or less invented in Second Life, combines fashion shows and theater. Usually we have different scenes like in a real theater, and in the beginning of each scene the credits getting read out before the actual scene starts. So it is as well informative about fashion, designers get highlighted and used decor gets it’s spotlight, but at the same time it is entertaining with the story itself. Even as a model – I do have to admit – it is a lot of fun as you prepare different, it is a new challenge. You style up like you would do for a normal fashion show, but with posing you have to be way more creative and it is way more work intense to find the right poses, or even short animations, for the story that is going on, as your character has certain “tasks” to implement in terms of acting what the story determines.

Thereafter was the first Fashion Theater I did and it was a huge success. Back then we did a post apocalyptic version of the ‘Taming of the Shrew”. The story was adapted to the different genre and lightly changed, but the essence was the same. The last one we did was “The Tale of the Three Brothers”, an adaption or a tribute to the wizarding fairytale told to young witches and wizards in the world set by JK Rowling. Within canon, it is believed to have been written by Beedle the Bard and published as part of his works called “The Tales of Beedle the Bard.” Most believe it to be a story that teaches children the virtue of humility and wisdom. Others, feel that it is in reference to the Deathly Hallows. For the Potter fans, the concept made it’s debut in the seventh book and are considered three highly powerful magical artefacts.This time we had a very small cast, but we had tons of fun.

I would like to thank Silly Avro, Luka Benton, Sungyoung Holloway, Redclaw Inshan and Trouble Dethly for an amazing time, lot of fun rehearsals and 3 wonderful evenings of acting. Trouble had the most work since he wrote the whole thing and had to coordinate our chaos troupe and he did a hell of a job with that.

I can’t wait for the next one and I do not want to tell too much yet but… I have a feeling it will have to do something with doing a tribute to GoT and I will keep my fingers crossed to be casted as the Dragon Lady!

Clothing

Outfit: Nishi – “World of Magic – Uniform” (Maitreya) & “World of Magic – Memvial”

Shoes: NYU – “MaryJane w/High Socks” (Maitreya)

Accessories

Wand: [The Forge] – “Fibia Wand”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: Wasabi – “Queenie”

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

Lipstick: alaskametro<3 – “London” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head:  LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Poses

Poses: Le Poppycock & Poseidon

Set

{C&C} – “The Serpent’s Lair”

22769 – “Sloppy Rug” (Gacha, Common)

22769 – “Worn Rug” (Gacha, Common)

KOPFKINO – “The Magic Traveller Chest”

KOPFKINO – “Magic Potions and Books”

KOPFKINO – “Magic Papers”

DISORDERLY. – “/ Book Magic / Magical Potions”

DISORDERLY. – “/ Book Magic / Not so Magical Potions”

DISORDERLY. – “/ Book Magic / Magical Suitcase”

DISORDERLY. – “/ Book Magic / Not so Magical Suitcase”

DISORDERLY. – “/ Book Magic / Magical Birdcage”

Raindale – “Magic World pensieve +particles”

Elm. – “Trunk Shelf [Tan]”

Elm. – “School Supplies: Pointed Hat”

Elm. – “School Supplies: Single Scroll”

Elm. – “School Supplies: Brass Scale”

Elm. – “School Supplies: Glass Phial Set”

Elm. – “School Supplies: Scrolls Stack”

Elm. – “School Supplies: Crystal Ball”

Elm. – “School Supplies: Wand Box”

Elm. – “School Supplies: Cauldron”

Elm. – “School Supplies: Broomstick”

MadPea – “Potion – Elixir of Life (Gift)”

MadPea – “Potion – Snake Oil (Gift)”

MadPea – “Potion – Love Potion (Gift)”

MadPea – “Potion – Lost Souls (Gift)”

O*O – “Sitting doll 1 (Static) – Snake”

O*O – “Sitting doll 2 (Static) – Snake”

O*O – “Sitting doll 3 (Static) – Snake”

O*O – “Sitting doll 4 (Static) – Snake”

[Merak] – “Hermione’s Desk”

[Merak] – “Hermione’s Chair”

[Merak]– “Hermione’s Study Board”

[Merak] – “Hermione’s Bag”

[Merak] – “Hermione’s Pendant”

[Merak] – “Hermione’s Notes”

[ContraptioN] Decor – “Eccentric’s Curios Mysterious Box”

[ContraptioN] Decor – “Eccentric’s Curios Orbitus”

[ContraptioN] Decor – “Eccentric’s Curios Reflector A”

[ContraptioN] Decor – “Eccentric’s Curios Reflector B”

[ContraptioN] Decor – “Eccentric’s Curios Reflector C”

Noxturnal – “Magic Witch Ball – Silver”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Who says Girls can’t be Car Mechanics?!?

“My dad had always said to not trust something unless it’s taken a tumble in the dirt. He’d meant it for people, and for things. Shiny and new didn’t exist for humankind any more.”
[Katherine McIntyre, Snatched]

Since I went decoration crazy at our parcel with the new store, I thought I can do a few pictures there now 😉

I really forgot how much fun decorating is and I never had the option to go post-apocalyptic crazy… the new look of the store does allow that, I have a feeling that will become a never ending story :p . One of the last garages I filled with neat little things was an actual vintage car mechanic looking slot. I never did know, I have all those gacha items for this special location in my inventory…

When I saw the finished spot I had the idea of a strong girl, which repairs cars and scooters on her own. After I was getting nuts finding oil appliers for hands and face, I decided to do ‘pre work’ pictures *giggles*.

The cool boots are the latest release of [Gos] for the actual round of FaMESHed. They do have a strong rubber looking sole and foot part, that lead into knitted high over-knee socks. I can see the awesome “Louise Trail Boots” as well as part of a school girl uniform or what ever you can imagine to do with them. I personally think they are very versatile. The boots come with a huge color HUD and are made for all popular mesh bodies. 13 colors for the shoes, 12 colors for the socks. As if that would not be already enough you can as well decide about a black or white tread and the way you want your stripes on the socks.

The cool and wild hair is one of the newest releases of no.match for the Salon 52 event. I love the asymmetric style and the high ‘wave’ at the front. It always reminds me about the 80s a little bit where we tried to get our hair fixed with a lot of hairspray like that.

Like I mentioned before, the garage is only one little spot of many at your new parcel and you are welcome to take a look and maybe do a few pictures yourself. I hope to see you there 🙂

Clothing

Top: paper arrow co – “Popped Collar Polo White” (Maitreya)

Skirt: United Colors – “Morgan Skirt” (Maitreya)

Undies: (AMD) – “Tigres Hot Pants Black” (OMEGA Applier)

Shoes: [Gos] – “Louise Trail Boots” (Maitreya) – NEW @ FaMESHed // March 2019

Accessories

Mask: CURELESS [+] – “Procedure Mask”

Rings: FORMANAILS – “Buffalo

Earring (r): Dahlia – “Claire”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Water” – NEW @ Salon 52

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

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Poses & Props

Shopping Cart (with Pose): anxiety – “Restless Shopping Cart”

Poses: Foxcity (Except Picture #1)

Set

Building: uK – “Dystopia Commercial Build 7”

Furniture:

{LA} – “Workbench – 7”

{LA} – “Workbench – 5”

{LA} – “Garage Shelf – 11”

{LA} – “Old Beetle”

Second Spaces – “You Better Work Bench – pegboard – measure” (Gacha)

Second Spaces – “You Better Work Bench – loose screws” (Gacha)

Second Spaces – “You Better Work Bench – rack of screwdrivers” (Gacha)

[Con.] – “The Garage Collection – Oil Bottles” (Gacha)

Location

Wicca’s Originals

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin