Viola

The creative mind and immense talent of Agnes Finney never ceases to amaze me. She is able to beautifully mix intricate designs with soft details, an ability that seems to be quite rare in Second Life. Queen Viola is one of My Precious' latest formal designs, and it is simply breathtaking. Layers of semi-transparent flexis are used in the skirt which has a gigantic bow attached to the top. The movement of the skirt is to die for; it's perfect for ballroom dancing or making your way down the virtual catwalk. This dress comes in three beautiful colors: champagne, lavender and pink.  A headpiece (not pictured) also comes with your purchase.

Please click above for larger, expanded photo.

Credits
Clothing: *Queen Viola by My Precious
Shoes: *Florence Heels Autumn Silver-SalmonRose by Purrfect 10
Hair: Tiramisu - Brown by LoQ Hairs
Skin: *Sundust [Dark] Summer-Pure 1 by Curio
Pose: Dressed 5 by Glitterati
Location: The Looking Glass

* Denotes promotional copy

Week 12 of 52 Weeks of Color - Taupe

Taupe is a very earthy brown which reminds me of being covered with nutrient rich soil as a child. When I was little, I spent my summers at my grandparents’ house while my mother was working. My grandfather always raised a garden, and for some reason, there was just something special about his boots. I found the Wo Boots by Zero Number quite a few months ago, and it is amazing at how much they look like my grandfather’s boots. I realize only the top portion of the boots is showing, but each boot comes in two pieces, and the pose found in the seat was just not ‘two piece boot’ friendly. Lol

The shirt I am wearing is the top portion of the special released yesterday by Siss Boom, titled Earth. As luck would have it, it was just the right shade of taupe for the Color Challenge this week. My pants are also from the creator of Siss Boom; however, they were designed when Lestat Reuven’s store was titled Wondrous Strange. The pants are part of an outfit titled Gentle Brocade which is still available in the Siss Boom store. It is honestly one of my very favorite designs by Lestat.

LoQ released a special pack of hair as a group gift this past week in their Tiramisu style. The pack includes four colors of the hair piece as well as the hairbases. The hair was not a perfect fit for me, but thankfully LoQ hairs are modifiable which allowed me to insert my own resize script. I honestly am horrible at manually resizing. If you have difficulty resizing as well, search for resizing scripts on the marketplace. There are some very easy to use, premade scripts available for purchase.


Credits:
Clothing: [Shirt] *Earth and [Pants] Gentle Brocade by Siss Boom
Jewelry: Zahavi Earrings by League
Shoes: Wo Boots Gomi by Zero Number
Hair: Tiramisu in Dark Brown by LoQ Hairs @ Group Gift
Skin: *Swedish Makeup 1 (Spectral) by Siss Boom

* Denote item provided by designer for review.

The Designer's Showcase

I love all the little shops that are popping up all over Second Life to introduce and promote various designers. The Designer’s Showcase is one of the latest of these special stores which offers clothing, shoes, accessories and even home items. Designers include the following: Butt-Err, DreamScape, Embody, Eshi Otawara, GLAM, Gypsys, Hanaya, Hatter is Mad, H.I.M. Fashions, HOC Industries, Hurrem, Instinct Inc., JoJo, La Petite Morte, Lemania Indigo Designs, Marret, MeKa, Mocha, Oddity, Riddle, Sasira, Smushyface, The Secret Store, Urf!Urf!, WorN, and Zibska.

Of course, Lemania Indigo Designs is not new to me, but when I stopped by the showroom today and saw her item, it excited me. The regular price for a Lemania design is L$400 and up; however, Ruby Tuesday is being offered at the Designer’s Showcase for the very low price of L$99. This dress is absolutely too adorable. It features beautiful purple and silver colors with a short sculpted skirt and a long flexi skirt. Shoes are also included with your purchase although they are not pictured below.

Thanks to my dear friend Tapika Tomsen, I was able to find the perfect piece of jewelry to go with my beautiful outfit from Lemania. Tapika introduced me to Alienbear’s Designs not too long ago, and I absolutely fell in love with the pieces offered. If you have never tried Alienbear’s, now is the perfect time to do so. Through the end of the month you can purchase jewelry at 50% off regular prices. I chose to wear the VernaRosa necklace and earrings; the necklace was just the right length for the very low cut top. The textures in the jewelry are absolutely beautiful, and the sizing was perfect as well (no adjustments needed for me). This is most definitely a designer I will be featuring more of in the future.

Credits:
Clothing: *Ruby Tuesday by Lemania Indigo Designs @ Designer’s Showcase
Jewelry: [Necklace] VernaRosa Necklace and [Earrings] VernaRosa Earrings by Alienbear’s Designs
Shoes: Move Pumps in Burgundy by [elikatira]
Hair: Tiramisu in Ash Black by LoQ Hairs @ Fashion House
Skin: Ania 02 (Peach) by LAQ
Pose: [1] *Poofy 3 Mirror and [2] Poofy 8 Mirror by aDORKable Poses
Background by RubyBlossom

* Denotes item provided by designer for review.

Inspiration

The work week is nearly here again, but since I still have a few hours before I must return to my real life, I thought I could have at least a little more fun! I have never been to Asia nor have I ever done an Asian themed post, but the skin from MonS in The Dressing Room Blue inspired me to do something a bit different.

Since its opening, The Dressing Room has introduced me and many, many others to some of the best designers Second Life has to offer. The stunning dress I am wearing is from Baiastice. Well, if I wanted to be technical, the dress is actually a collaboration of the Alisha Top in black and the Balloon Silk Skirt in black, but they pieces go so well together that it could be mistaken for a dress. The top features a beautiful texture with outstanding highlighting and shading; I love the glittery, beaded texture included on the top of the shirt. The skirt features translucent prims ‘ballooning’ out from the base. This ensemble is available at The Dressing Room Blue for L$70.

I’m not entirely sure that the Enna Skin from MonS is indeed an Asian skin; actually, I’m almost positive that it isn’t since the eyebrows have a reddish tint. However, the slanting of the eyes and the swooshed out eyeliner made me think Asian. I love the lips on this skin! They are so vibrant and full of color. The lack of eye shadow on the eyelids makes this skin a perfect base for all of those shadow tattoos I am sure you are collecting by now. This skin is available at The Dressing Room Blue for L$70.

I absolutely love discovering new (to me) jewelry stores; what makes the experience even better is when the designer obviously has a lot of talent! The Stoned Set collection from Aglaia is a three stone necklace set on golden rings with smaller, purple gems on both the stones and the necklace portion. The set also includes large, gold earrings with the same purple stones, a wire type bracelet with a stone and gems attached and rings (not pictured) which feature each of the three stones on different fingers. For one week only, the entire set is available for L$150.

The Brownie hair from LoQ confused me a bit when I first put it on. This piece is another item that I picked up while vising The Dressing Room Blue. The poof, adorable pony and stray hairs sticking out rezzed on my head when I attached the hair but nothing rezzed on the sides. I waited a few minutes, suspecting lag to be the culprit, but still nothing rezzed. I then had a ‘DUH!!’ moment and looked back into the file. The hair included a tattoo hair base which makes up the sides of the hair instead of prims. I am not normally a fan of hair base tattoos, but this one blends so nicely; I am definitely impressed with it. This hair is available in a pack of four colors at The Dressing Room Blue for L$70.

Finally, but most certainly not least, are my amazing boots! Although Dilly Dolls specializes in doll clothing, the shoes offered by designer and owner Oriana Kuhr are extremely versatile and will go with many different styles of clothing. The Sonata Boots feature beautifully sculpted prims layered over each other. The metallic texture is beautiful and offers just enough highlighting and shading. These boots are Viewer 2 compatible only. The Sonata Boots are available in twenty-one colors of darks, lights and metallics for L$75 per pair or L$500 for the dark fatpack, L$500 for the light fatpack and L$300 for the metallic fatpack.


Credits:
Clothing: [Shirt] Alisha Top in Black and [Skirt] Balloon Silk Skirt in Black by Baiastice @ The Dressing Room Blue
Jewelry: *Stoned Set by Aglaia @ 25% Off
Shoes: *Sonata Boots in Metallic Gold by Dilly Dolls
Hair: Brownie in Black by LoQ Hairs @ The Dressing Room Blue
Skin: Enna by MonS @ The Dressing Room Blue
Pose: [1 and 4] If the Apocalypse Comes, Beep Me by Don’t Freak Out!, [2] The Wall 2 by DeePosed and [3] Jewlery 2 by Glitterati
Scene by Garden of Dreams

* Denotes item provided by designer for review.