Eloh Eliot has done it again! Another new skin Lf0

Sometimes browsing a forum can lead to nifty discoveries, like this nondescript post from Eloh Eliot that she has a new skin available. This time is isn't in her shop, but in the Suffugium Flea Market. It's in a simple vendor on the table: touch the vendor to get the skin for free, or pay what you feel it's worth or what you can. Wow.

Like her other offerings at Another Shop, this is a high quality skin that shows an amazing attention to detail. As much as I've liked the others Eloh has brought out, Lf0 might be my favorite yet. I found I could dramatically alter the look of the skin just by adding prim lashes (albeit rather heavy ones from Deviant Kitties). This time the skin is no transfer, but she's made the .psd files available to download here . (I downloaded it without my virus scanner going berserk, but haven't opened the .zip file yet. Proceed at your own risk.) It's a great start to a new SL year, and I can't wait to see what Eloh comes up with next.
Wearing: neko ears: Jungle Voodoo, hair: 0 Style, eyes: Sin Skins, lashes (in 1st & 3rd pics): Deviant Kitties, piercings: Calla, necklace & wire on hands: SiniStyle, tattoos: Etch'd, shirt: PixelDolls (from Vivi jacket in Noir, no prims worn), skirt: TRUTH

I Have a Magpie Mind

"I have a magpie mind. I like anything that glitters." - Lord Thomson of Fleet

I know this dress isn't truly glittery, but it certainly does gleam darkly. And it makes me feel like a magpie myself, wanting to hide it away in my nest and never let it out of my sight. Mine mine mine mine mine. *deep sigh of content*

But enough of my avarice. This is pica (magpie lolita), the last dress in silent sparrow's bird lolita trio. I think the designer saved the best for last. Where the peacock lolita's appeal to me is mostly visual, the magpie dress involves my tactile sense too. I wish I could run my hands along the rich fabrics and hug myself when I wear it. Sounds corny, I know, but that was truly my first thought when I saw it: "I want to touch it!". That doesn't happen often to me in SL. As with every silent sparrow design I've seen up close the detailing is wonderful. I did notice some mismatch between textures when viewing the skirt from the side, mostly with the green border below the waistline, but this was minor to me and not evident in all poses. There's also a bit of awkwardness where the back panel of the skirt meets the front. This is present in the peacock lolita dress too, now that I look at it again, but it's not glaring and quite frankly I don't care. I mention it for those who are pickier than I am.

I took a closeup picture to try and show the subtle colors on the wings and more of the detailing on the dress and cuffs. My photography skills aren't good enough to really capture the lushness of this dress and I suggest trying to see it in world. It really is a thing of beauty. On a more practical note, the set comes with options to change things up a bit: two sets of gloves, two corsets and two different belts, for a total of 15 items in the set. I thought the top and bloomers were quite cute on their own though I forgot to get a picture. It seemed appropriate to switch to the Greed makeup from Another Shop, to match how I feel as I gloat over this treasure in my inventory.

(note: I have indeed been tagged but really really hate those things. I'll try to think of something later, Mela. May you be cursed to wear bad system skirts and a no-mod shape.)
Wearing: boots - Old Laceup Boots,- Shiny Things, tights - Woolen Tights (vibe colors, purple), Persona, headband - Lagerfeld Headband,- Chapeau tres Mignon, hair - Nadia (crimson), ETD, skin - 1) Vogue Summer 3 (champagne) lightly freckled - Celestial Studios, 2) (Re) brow1 freckle, greed - Another Shop, eyes - PixelDolls (from Innocent Dans L'Amour set), lashes - Deviant Kitties, pose - Long Awkward Pose

silent sparrow - paon (peacock lolita)

I usually wrack my brain trying to think of something insightful to say about the items I blog, but sometimes you just have to let the picture speak for itself.

13 pieces, including the gorgeous wings, 550L. Fly to silent sparrow and see this and the first bird lolita, Piaf (less showy but equally lovely).

And yes, I am *still* wearing the Nancy hair by TRUTH. It's been glued to my av's head almost nonstop since he released it.
Wearing: boots - NAU Combat Boots, The Abyss, tights - torn fishnets, ~broken~, skin - Chai skins Brisque Cream freckle (group gift), eyes - Sin Skins, lashes - Deviant Kitties, pose - from Fae Fantasy set, Long Awkward Pose

In Love with PixelDolls

I have a guilty secret when it comes to SL fashion: I'm cheap. No, really. I completely agree that designers deserve to be paid well for what they do, and I can only imagine how much work and skill go into all the lovely goodies that make me sigh with content when I gloat over them in my inventory. But I still find it hard to bring myself to click the Buy button and fork over the lindens. Like many, I've had my share of disappointing purchases (but it looked so good in the ad...) and maybe that's part of it. The end result is that while I often admire fatpacks and huge ensemble collections, I rarely buy them. Recently however, I ran across a new release from PixelDolls that yanked me out of my usual pattern and had me scrambling to buy the whole thing with barely any hesitation. I know it's been blogged a couple of times already, but it's good enough that it deserves the attention imho.

Innocent Dans L'Amour is a full avatar, complete with shape, Stella di Roccia skin, eyes, Sin Skins prim lashes, PixelSalon hair (with a color changing HUD), light kit, AO and finally the gown. A gorgeous romantic gown with all the attention to detail and lush texturing that PixelDolls fans know so well (on all layers, for mixing with other pieces). The cost? 400L for one color, or 1500L for all five - Burgandy, Ivory, Midnight, Noir and Rose. There is some duplication if you get the fatpack; the shape/eyes/lashes/hair/light/AO are the same in each outfit but each colour of gown has its own skin with a makeup to suit. I found that the range of colors resulted in very different looks, from demure to near Goth. The only thing I wasn't thrilled with in this wonderful set was the selection of hair colors included. The streaks looked unnatural to me and didn't work with the elegant dresses and faces in this collection. I tried them all and didn't find one I really liked, but I made the happy discovery that other PixelSalon color HUDs will work with this style too. For an extra L150, I now have two hairstyles in colors I will gladly wear.

I don't dress up that often in my Second Life, so being able to easily mix and match the Innocent pieces helped convince me to buy it. Designers who put pieces on all layers will always be at the top of my shopping list. For this look I mixed the Burgandy shirt on the jacket layer with the Noir gloves/arm prims and paired them with leather pants from Launa Fauna and boots from Lyra Muse. I'm also wearing the skin from the Burgandy outfit. I know I'll be wearing these pieces in many different ways for a long time and I got huge value for my lindens. What's not to love?
Wearing: (1) dress, skin, AO pose, hair (tinted with solid HUD, not incl. in outfit) - Innocent Noir, PixelDolls, ring - Paper Couture, necklace - Miriel, shape - my own; (2) hair - Nancy in Fire, TRUTH, necklace - Earthtones, neko parts - Hybrid & Jungle Voodoo

Not just Another shop

I first found Another shop from a post in the official forums announcing a free sample skin from a creator that was new to me. The shop didn't have anything for sale yet, just a sample skin called RdO and a free swimsuit. I'm a sucker for all things free (hey, I have to dress my alt somehow!) and have seen some horrible freebies in my travels. Happily, this was not one of them. Instead it was a really nice skin, nice enough that my alt has been wearing it pretty much non-stop since picking it up (see picture to right). This skin is still available and includes a shape.

I'm happy to announce that Another shop is now open for business, offering four skintones - Rd, Ld, Sd and Fd - that each have six makeups: dark, nude, pin-up, red, silver and subtle nude. They aren't sold individually, but that's just fine because each collection is...200L each. That's not a typo: 200L for 6 skins. Wow, right? And if the price isn't enough to entice you to try these out, Eloh Eliot offers a demo pack for 0L that contains one of each skintone - with NO DEMO TEXT on them. You can happily wear them out and about (There is one subtle difference from the regular versions on sale - I wont' ruin the surprise, but if you're curious zoom in on your mouth and use an emoter to crack a big smile. Thanks Vivi, for showing me this.) But the best part is that these are really nice skins! Let's take a look at the faces...

From the upper left & moving clockwise: LD subtle nude, RD dark, SD silver, FD nude.

I like a lot of things about these faces, but what stands out most for me are the pearly sheen on the lips and the light freckles on the upper cheeks (yes, even on the dark skintone there are freckles). Most of the makeups are subtle and I can see myself going to these skins often for everyday wandering around. The only thing that I'm lukewarm on is the eyebrows; they're a tad heavy for my tastes. They are tintable however, and I may like them more after I fiddle with that. I did notice a really faint seam on the back of the skull, but since I don't make a habit of going bald it doesn't bother me (I mention it because I know seams are a pet peeve for some). Overall these are lovely faces and I would buy these skins at this price level on that basis alone.

I'm still trying to figure out how to do a cut in Blogger, so I'll skip a body shot. The demos are free - go try them on! A few things, though. Body shading is soft with no visible seams. I would have liked to see more shading/definition around the breasts but that's a personal preference. The kitty is shaved by default, but each skin pack comes with two pubic hair options on the underpants layer. There isn't anything wrong with the bodies, but it's the faces that make Another shop's skins notable. That and the price. Go buy them - I want to see what this creator comes with next, as this is a wonderful beginning.

(a minor gripe: put landmarks in the folder when you're selling something, especially if your shop name is going to be tough to find in Search. Making it easy for customers to find you again is a Good Thing.)

Wearing: (all photos) Hair: ETD Elika, Eyes: Sin Skins

Questionable, or not?

One thing that causes some controversy among Second Life content creators is the issue of freebie resellers; people who take items that were released with full permissions, sell them, and profit from someone else's work. This is almost universally frowned upon; but there's another issue--what of someone who takes part of a full-perms item, and incorporates it into a work of their own?

My friend Morrigan Repine alerted me to a shop owned by one Chigadee London, called 'Couture Chapeau', which seems to be...well, I don't want to say 'ripping off', so let's say 'inspired by' Megg Demina's justly praised Chapeau Tres Mignon. Ms London has a variety of hats for sale here, some that are rather striking...but if you do what we did and inspect the objects on display, you'll see that most of the striking detail work is not Ms London's, but was sourced from full-perms items by other content creators. For instance, the feather detail on the 'Faerie Feathers' hat, priced at L$400, turns out, on closer inspection, to be the work of Mistress Midnight, from her 'Lace Wings' .


Inspecting the prims of the other hats on display (you'll have to be quick, as they're all on a temp-rez cycle) reveals that the butterfly on the 'Secret Garden' hat is the work of Saajuk Bogomil; the feather on the 'Petite Caponita' hat is by Natalia Zelmanov; the tassels on the shoes on sale in the shop are by Siggy Romulus; part of the detail on the 'Callas Chapeau' is the work of Billie Sunchaser; and the rose on the 'Black Rose Chapeau' is by Logan Bauer.

Personally, I see no problem with incorporating full-perms items into something one creates for oneself...but it seems to me that when one incorporates them into something intended for resale, it skirts the line of questionable ethics...if it doesn't step right over it.

Review: Autumnal Argyle Awesomeness from Etchd

With autumn having arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, many SL designers are coming out with clothing for cooler climes. In SL we don't HAVE to dress for the season, of course, but some of the recent offerings of seasonal clothing are too good to pass up. For instance, Sinjun Soyer of Etchd recently released a wonderful set of argyle sweaters, featuring an untucked white shirt beneath (all on the jacket layer) in six colours, with prim collar and cuff attachments (which come in two sizes, so this is definitely a unisex item).










The textures are excellent, the seam alignment is perfect, and these work well with either a skirt or jeans for a preppy casual look; they're priced at L$100 each, or L$250 for the fatpack of all six.

Wearing (1): sweater - Etchd Black Argyle; skirt - Boneflower Designs black suede skirt; stockings - Corduroy; boots - Shiny Things Old laceup boots in black; hair - Gritty Kitty Hellogoodbye in liquorice; skin - Vogue Deviant Nation Fishnet (pure); eyes - Simtropia light blue. (2) (left): sweater - Etched Black Argyle; jeans - Canimal lowrise in blue; shoes - Shiny Things Flare Oxfords; hair - ETD Coreen, black chromed . (right): sweater, Etchd Pink Argyle; jeans - Canimal lowrise in pink; hair - Gritty Kitty Hellogoodbye (cotton candy); neko parts - Hybrid.

CSI and SL business

The current CSI story arc and Second Life tie-in, featuring themed orientation areas and an in-world game, is generating a lot of hype in the SL blogosphere. So far, it remains to be seen whether the impact will be as great as the anticipated 1 million new signups; so far, over Wendesday and Thursday, new user signups are at a total of close to 120,000 (versus a 'usual' recent figure of between 30-50k for a comparable period).

Anecdotally, the new users led into SL by the CSI promotion DO seem to be taking part in the SL economy; I personally observed many newbies spending money on avatar appearance accessories in the CSI tie-in Fashion Avenue sim, and explaining to other newbies that they'd bought L$ from the Lindex. So, this is potentially a good thing for content creators...or some content creators, anyway; those selected for vendor spaces in the Fashion Avenue sim will likely be the first to benefit, as the new users going through the CSI orientation on the OnRez viewer have in their inventories landmarks directing them to Fashion Avenue for shopping.

This rankles with some people, who seem to feel that the vendor selection process should have been more open, in order to give more content creators a chance at a share of the revenues generated by the new users; a certain SL designer showed up in the Fashion Avenue sim on Thursday, wearing a group tag that said 'Pissed Off', and started questioning Roslin Petion of Tete à Pied regarding the criteria for selection, and suggesting that the Electric Sheep Company should have had an open bid selection process (a sentiment also expressed by Prokofy Neva). This would, perhaps, have been more "fair", but with a development deadline, one can't reasonably expect ESC to have been able to sort through the mountain of submissions that would inevitably have followed; so it seems quite reasonable that many of the content creators represented (Barnesworth Anubis, Torrid Midnight, Kin Keiko, Portia Sin, and others) were also contracted by Electric Sheep for development of the CSI build and the CSI-specific newbie avatar skins, clothing, and prim accessories. This may seem unfair, to some...but then, ESC is a business, with content creators already contracted; the expectation that they might open the vendor selection process, and thus potentially damage existing business relationships, seems rather unreasonable. And in any case, assuming a fair retention rate for the new residents, this will, eventually, be a good thing for SL's content creation community in general, as the new users move into the world beyond the limits of the CSI orientation areas.

And I thought Etch'd just made tattoos...

The Drifter coat by Etch'd is something I would love to buy in the real world, even if I had to eat ramen for a month to afford it. The texture detail is a bit hard to see in the picture, but amazing inworld, and the prim attachments didn't need any adjustments on my av (always a treat). Everything I've bought from Etch'd has shown a wonderful attention to detail and this coat just plain rocks. I may end up wearing it with a bikini next summer, that's how much I love it. Happily it's fall, so I'm spared from making such a serious fashion faux pas and can layer to my heart's content instead. I'm not a huge fan of turtlenecks, so I chose to wear the shirtless version of the coat (I'm so glad the designer included both options in the box, and wish that was more common) with an undershirt and vest. The colors in the undershirt led to my favorite leather pants, and the pants led to my favorite boots. I love it when an outfit just kind of falls together after you pick the first piece.
what I'm wearing: skin - Vogue Summer 3 Light Freckled (champagne), hair - Neoki Darling Black, ElecTro Kitty, ears/tail - Jungle Voodoo, Drifter Black Neko - Etch'd, Isabeaux leather pants - Launa Fauna, Wrapped Vest - Refuge, Gothic sheer shirt (zombie II) - ~broken~, Old Laceup Boots - Shiny Things, dog tags - SiniStyle, piercings - Calla Piercing set 2

Hello.

In the virtual world of Second Life, I am the avatar Vivienne Graves; this blog will be a record of my thoughts concerning SL, and a catalogue of some of the interesting, wonderful, and disturbing things I encounter there.