Vacano & Stine Opening

There is a lot to see at the brand new mall of Rainer and Larissa. I chatted with one of the owners of Vacano & Stine --Horns of Hattin 82/83/84, Larissa Vacano, for a bit. She has spent the last two months working on this new sim location. There are 80s retro furniture sets with working items, some lovely sculptures, and a general dark and classy atmosphere reminiscent of GLAM. There was a giant give away this afternoon with shoes and jackets in abundance. There are also lucky chairs (6) with very nice products and lots of "?".


This is the red jacket gift for the opening party. SO cute with a furry hood in back. Looks wonderful with all things black. The pink, black and white top is "Ringelpulli S.Moehri" which I am going to guess translates into mohair sweater (wink) as there is definitely a sweater weave on close up. Since it is a bit warm for the jacket, I paired my great sweater up with some new gifts and some old favorites and I was ready for the grand opening party.



There are other classy stores in this new mall too, so come venture out and see what you can find!

Alert: 2-26-08

SN@TCH -- Pulse 177/221/30-- has a freebie on the wall for the next 24 hours (ish). VERY cute black and electric blue striped leggings, a GREAT texture belt that you can wear with lots of things and a T shirt that didn't work for me at all (LOL). Well you can't love everything! Look for it on the wall with all the other merchandise. Location may change from time to time. Just mouseover and you will find it.

Also, be sure and pick up some lovely earrings (1L) from EarthStones -- EarthBound 125/134/25. She has the most lovely items. The earrings are on the mantel of the fireplace in a gift box. Also new there -- if you are a homeowner -- are some wind chimes and fountains made with stones. Lovely.

Those are my two favorites of the day. Enjoy!

[6:08 SL time] Pixeldolls -- Port Seraphine 38/127/56 -- gave out FOUR dress samples to their group and SubscribeOmatic folks. My favorite is a shortish black number with multilength salsa-ish skirt and net underlayer. VERY cute. There is also a long white with black midrift, a short white and a short charcoal. Join the group or go to the store to join the subscribomatic. Then look in the archives. She gives out lots of samples, is a prolific designer and has a great shop to browse and buy in.

Slink - Dollarbies and Boots

Slink --CG Heart 33/31/23 -- has some new cute bracelet and hoop earring dollarblies in both gold and silver. The earrings are too big for me and I am a BIG girl (wink) but the bracelet fits just fine.

While I was there I noticed some very cute sculpty boots with wooden heels. There is a demo so you might want to stop by and give those a test if they appeal to you.



The store has a very wide variety of items and some GREAT stained glass windows. So stop by on your next shopping excursion - why don'tcha?

Free booN Unisex Hair

booN has some great hair including some of the nicest Oriental styles. This is just a quick note to say that they put out some very nice Unisex hair today. It comes in two sizes and eleven colors. It is mod-copy, and can be found at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Zapico/34/170/35.

Silent Sparrow 1000

Remember when I advised you to join the Silent Sparrow group if you liked the things? Well it's party time as I type this. I am out by the abandoned house (I just love it here and need to come back in Windlight) in my NEW and GORGEOUS group gift. No, you can't join NOW!!!!! Ah well. If you are a member and miss this party, there is another Sunday eve so be sure and come. Note, this was only one of three gifts and there were unisex outfits also.

I got here VERY early and took some photos before it got too crowded. Took a brief jaunt home to look at the presents (three of them) and change into something Silent Sparrowish (wink) and return and take a pic here. The sim was full for awhile, but I got back in (whew!)

So here are some other photos of the pre-party. Our hostess is in the middle picture :D


I'm heading back in. Will add a few more pics in a bit.



That's it. Back to the RW :D Things to do, places to go, people to see.

Galleries 'N Look

I really liked Chic's Look of the Day mode and after Fashcon's Anniversary and Valentine's giveaways I am sort of shopped out. Well not TOTALLY :D. Anyway a look of the day with one great freebie is included in today's post. But FIRST, we are going to some Art Galleries.



My first stop -- picked at random from the Galleries of SL website -- was DanCoyote (Dancoyote Antonelli). And no that is NOT an abstract painting you are seeing; it is a glass floor with informational signs about the GIANT sculptures floating in the air. If you look VERY closely you can see a tiny dot in the very middle. That is me. Woot!. It is an odd sensation here, walking on the semitransparent glass (more likely heavy plastic) floors and gazing around. Definitely in the surreal category! Each of the posters talk about a work and gives a SLURL to the place where the work resides. Of course in SL you never really know if it will be there "tomorrow" :D This is a very impressive place.



Back down to earth -- literally -- to Charles Hera Fine Art -- which is primarily a sculpture gallery. Works range from home sized to outdoor installation size and feature water, SL lighting, particles and chrome. This is a perfect backdrop for my fashion shot. Apologies to the artist for photoshopping this shot to highlight my garb. The sculptures glow with their own light and are very lovely.


The sweater and pants are from Nuclear Boutique and are the Free Item of the week. Find them in the Casuals store near the TP point. This outfit which I really love comes with regular slacks, short boots and skirts in a variety of sizes.

Boots are Reheli from Shoes Simply Shoes (not free), earrings by Nip Tuck (previously blogged), shades by Digital Dragon (no longer free), hair by Curl up and Dye Salon (not free)

Poses by Long Awkward Pose




One more art stop for the day. With the Tour Hud on random -- that will be?????

Phaedra Sands Gallery



This is an abstract 2D gallery. My favorite work is the one shown -- AND IT MOVES in different directions. Not all of the art is in flux here (smile), only a few. Actually I like the colors of this as well as the movement.

That's the end of my brief art gallery tour. Look up the website or visit any of these listed. Just click on the GALLERIES OF SL sign and you will get three tour huds (regular, erotic and photography). I may be brave some eve and do an erotic tour. We'll see. I'll have to get in a very brief outfit for that (wink).

Until next time.

Look of the Day: 2-23

So, I've decided that I have ENOUGH clothes that I may never wear and am only going after "gifts" that I will actually use (wink). So - we have the new Look of the Day category which WILL of course include freebies as well as bargains.

Today's look includes two new finds from the blogs and groups. First, we have the Sn@tch Fucked up Lowrisers 69 --Pulse 177/221/30 -- (yep, that's thier name) which are free today on the wall of the store. At least they are currently on the wall. While I am on the Subscribomatic at Sn@tch, I didn't get the notice or perhaps I crashed and didn't know it until I tried to tp (boo hiss). Hence I read about it on Juliet's blog. Anyway it is no longer WHERE she said it was. Ivy changed it (certainly fair). So look for the poster on the wall of the shop. This is a 200 Linden set I believe. It includes "brand new" jeans as well as ripped and patched as I am wearing. It also includes a VERY short sweater with great prim neck piece. The sweater did some odd things around my rib cage. Maybe my "breasts" aren't in the right spot - who knows? (grin). So I am wearing a vest from Last Call on top and filled in the empty space (I am more modest than I suspected I guess) with a homemade undershirt from the appearance menu.

The other find is a darling purse from The Sweetest Goodbye -- -- Japan MALIBU Resort 161/134/22 -- which I saw blogged in SL Freestyle. I really love this purse and I love purses in general so a big hit with me.


Other credits: Hair by Calla, Skin by Another Shop, Crayon Garter by Kimberly Foss, Pose by ANIMAH, photo stage Samara Studios

A Trip to Journey's Island

The popular rock band, Journey, now has an island in SL. I wandered over to Journey Rock Band island to see what I could find -- and found a lot :D At the WELCOME center -- Journey Rock Band 139/186/41 -- you can get an introduction to the island and the band. There are also free Journey T shirts and other items in Welcome tent. There are even changing areas.



There is a large amphitheater with as well as a Rogues Gallery of sorts nearby that gives info on all the Journey members past and present.



Around the perimeter there are some great backdrops for photos. These go along with Journey albums and there are various voice over messages as well as music in each area. Private Eyes and Missing You were playing in many of the open areas when I was there.




Picking randomly on the teleporter board, I wound up in a shopping area -- Journey Rock Band 185/134/41 --where you can get boxes of free lyrics which come as colorful HUDs that fit in the center of your screen. The did NOT work for me on the island, so wait to get home to try them out. To the right of that area there are photo album HUDs and a box of free clothes including some Journey T shirts in two styles and for both men and women. You can also purchase jeans and T shirts here in a variety of styles with Journey logos.

You can walk down to the beach and hang out on towels and enjoy the ambiance and of course the music.

Alert: 2-20-08

Free shoes at Maitreya -- Glam World 2 183/172/26. According to the Maitreya blog, these shoes were stolen (no named mentioned as to the thievery) and so they have become free for us all. These are basic black sculpty high heels. Find them in the hall of the main landing area :D

THANK YOU!

[2:20] Lisa Marie's -- Barks 17/148/24 -- has some DARLING pink overalls for the freebie of the week. They include bootcut as well as regular. There is also a general box of gifts in the landing point in the middle of the room. This is NOT a newbie box, but some nice things. One even goes with the overalls.

YumYum & Prize Camping

I saw a post on prize camping at Aventi Island on the iheartsl fashion feed (thanks Tarissa) and thought I would check it out. Divine has been here it seems but that was long ago in SL land so a refresh would be a good plan. And there are other prize campers to mention too. The picture above is taken at Yum Yum --Aventi Island 189/23/22. This is an oriental sim complex with lots of shope as well as residential areas, parks etc. Here at Yum Yum you can camp for 20 minutes for either a purple or olive short jacket. The olive chair was taken when I arrived so I am in the purple chair.

While HERE, I used my handy camera controls (I've been practicing as everyone says it is important) and found a free charcoal frilly blouse on the wall and a table and stool set (shaped like a pin cushion) out front. I also found a really cute belt and bangle set for 10 linden. And JUST as I was about to buy it the sim went down. (Well at LEAST I got my VERY CUTE PURPLE jacket :D). I did get back to the sim after another crash (whew) and bought the belt. It had a couple of problems with sizing as belts will, but I made a copy for backup and fixed them. A very good value for 10 Lindens.

I got a tip from Xia (thanks hon) that Samara Studios -- Gembong West 251/103/31 -- has new things added to their camping chair. Sure enough there are a lot of things to choose from including a black undies set and some SPRING tops (long sleeved and tanks).

I spent a brief time at DEKA (already mentioned in a post by Divine) and then journeyed on to Goldie Locks Hair which I hadn't heard of. I was greeted by three bears (cute). There is a huge hair camping area inside a pyramid at --Nantli Xolal 211/212/39, but all the spots were taken and I couldn't tell how long you had to sit for the hair. Most of the hair seemed to be odd colors (to me anyway) but it was certainly POPULAR there :D

On to Magikaland -- Magika Land 59/80/23 -- to see what I can find. There is a pack of dollarbie skins out front (very easy to spot). I didn't try these as I am happy with my look at the moment. Alas, while there are plenty of prize camping chairs here (clothes, hair and accessories), it seems like Divine found this one also. ANYWAY -- YOU may be new and if so I guess this post if really for you. I do very much like my jacket from yumyum and the belt.


So I have renamed this post to YUMYUM and Prize Camping as YumYum seemed to be the winner.

Credits: Outfit in picture one by House of Zen, Poses by ANIMAH, jeans by Sn@tch and backdrop at Samara Studios free photo booth.

Valentines Garb

Well I am really ready for Valentines Day to be over -- at least in SL :D. Despite all the great gifts from the designers -- or maybe because there simply were so many -- I am TIRED!!!

But before we bid ado to the holiday of hearts and flowers, I wanted to post my own personal "looks" for the occasion. Obviously I won't be going out to any clubs or grand galas this eve -- and that's OK. So here they are, casual and fun and funky.



Valentine Look:

Jeans: Stellar Designs (today only by the counter), Belt:Kiki's Closet (MUCH FUN - blogged earlier today), Top: Stellar (I hope), Hair AMOREPACIFIC (camp chair), Shoes: ZHAO, SOCKS: Celestial Studios, Pose: ANIMAH



UNValentine look:

Jeans: Sn@ch (group gift), Tops: Freak Couture, Stellar, Sweater Tied: Sn@tch (lucky chair), Purse: Celestial Studios (group gift), Hair: Bewitched (Valentine Hunt), Shoes: ZHAO, SOCKS: Celestial Studios, Pose: ANIMAH

Neither look is too red or too black (wink) and I guess that is where I am right now -- right in the middle of the holiday. Have a GREAT one everyone!

Photos taken at the new free photo studio at Samara Studios. Thanks!

Greening of SL - Followup

Electric wrote me about news that goes along with my Greening of SL article. Etopia Island (mentioned in that article) has expanded and Etopia Prime is now open. Part of the aim of Etopia Prime's new business area is to bring RL company info into SL. Many of the shops and kiosks include posters with URL loaders, so you can go directly to a web page to learn about eco-friendly products.



There are shops in the underground also which houses another monorail that will take you close (some walking required at this point) to the original Etopia. There are shops still for rent if you happen to be a company selling green goods. I am not sure if SL green goods qualify :D, but perhaps.

Electric also found windmills at both Shiny Things and Isambard Kingdom -- Isambard Kingdom 253/134/61 (single TP setting so you will need to navigate by beam).

So, it seems GREEN is coming to SL - yeah!

Alert: 2-14-08

News of the day from the other blogs if you don't get them. From Caliah Lyon of secondsoigne :

There is a darling (but very prim heavy)Valentine belt from Kiki's Closet (shop) being given away on the boardwalk at: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kauai/180/177/23/

ARGRACE main store -- zushi 183/105/23 -- is giving away gifts for guys and gals (both work for gals) of sweatshirts with and without Tees under and on two layers AS WELL AS beanies with hair (again both work for girls). I preferred the mens hair as it is short. the hair is brown. A very nice gift from a great store.

RAC -- RaC City 180/125/27 -- is giving away beautiful flowing hair if you can get into the sim. I cannot (wink) and it looks like Last Call all over again. One of their sims is offline as I type this. Ah the maddening crowds of free-stuff shoppers. I'm off to class!

Celestial Studios

Well the big news on the blogs today is that Celestial Studios -- Celestial City 68/240/27 -- is the newest contender in the "I can give away the best stuff" contest. This is an UNOFFICIAL contest of course, but we the fashion shoppers reap the benefits - AND WE THANK YOU DESIGNERS ALL!!!!!




So, it's Week of Love time at the Celestial City Update Group. Day one - Red Hobo Bag (two ways to carry), Day Two - a very cute dress with fishnet nylons, Day Three - a WHOLE lot of choices of tops tucked and untucked, jeans (three styles of sculpty bottoms) and a sweat shirt. Our cups are running over.

So of course I could have just said, "join the group get the stuff from the notices archives", but that is SO unfair. I had not been to Celestial Studios, so I took a trip. And boy I found a lot. There are clothes certainly, but lots and lots of skins and HAIR. The hair demos don't have floating boxes on them. They are "almost" wearable demos. You can actually see the demo words on the hair if you get up close enough. [Sorry I noticed NOW that my shirt wasn't rezzed :( Oh well) ]



So feel free to join the group of course. In the contest of "good stuff" this looks like a major contender (wink), but also take a trip to the store. Even if you don't BUY anything, you can think of it as a payback with a sort of "camping" while you browse thing going on.

Silent Sparrow - Sneak Peak

There are times when it is actually a GOOD thing to watch group chatter (wink). On returning to my computer I found that the new build at Silent Sparrow -- silent sparrow 71/206/33 was unofficially open. It was busy there at the middle of the night as people rushed over to look, but calm and serene this morning.

At first glance, this seems like a fairly ordinary build - products on the walls, a reception desk to greet you, a lucky chair in an adjoining room. There are places to lounge, rugs on the tile floors, even danceballs. But what's that? Magical blue mushrooms growing here and there, piles of dirt coming through the walls and floors, a bright autumn tree at the end of a long tunnel -- all is not quite as we expect.

Enter the new surreal build at Silent Sparrow.




The new build is more open and shopping seems easier, but there are still exciting things to find while you peruse the offered goods. The basement is gone (or I haven't found it) but there are stairs that go on forever - Forever - FOREVER. And when you reach the top it is actually worth it. A mysterious abandoned farmhouse, a harvest moon (at least when I was there) and quiet.

There is much to see, and do, and buy at Silent Sparrow. Look for an official opening soon. Well of COURSE I will let you know.

Alert: 2-12-08

Bossa Nova --Amour 185/57/27 -- has a very nice retro undies set complete with girdle and garters for Valentines. It is of course red (sigh) but it is also very cute and you can BUY it in other colors. You can wear it with or without garters and there are many layers (some seeming to repeat with different names or it may be me) so lots of choices if you are a tattoo gal. There are many great looking 40s and 50s outfits there, so if retro is your thing, you'll be in heaven.

There is a cute valentine scarf at Ephemeral Creations -- Noul 240/173/651. It is pink with red hearts and is part of a scarf line so if you love it you can buy others in plain colors. It comes with two style of attach points (handy).

Contest Mania :D

The world's gone mad and we are in the middle of the maelstrom (laughing here). There are SO MANY hunts going on that to find all the hearts or cats, tiny gift boxes or whatever would take 24 hours a day as well as a little help from your friends. Granted the hunts are SO much better than they have been in the past.

We seem to go in waves in SL - much like real life I guess. We went from good stuff in lucky chairs to the 100 plus chairs filled with CR@P (a joke there for a couple of designers who make great stuff - if only those chairs would have been filled with thier goodies). We went from hunts that had nothing but recycled freebies to ones where the designers proudly show us AHEAD OF TIME what we will find. This is a huge step and it "must" be in the right direction -- mustinit?

When someone stumbles on a good idea (giving away good stuff instead of junk for example) and it WORKS, then others follow. I am a bit worried that we, the customers, will become so inundated with wonderful finds and gifts that we will discover our virtual closets overflowing and the desire to actually SHOP a faint memory. This can't be good in the long run.

Now, aside from the plethora of hunts just over and coming up, we have contests -- also just over and coming up. There was the lingerie contest, the Sexy Second Magazine contest (I made it into that but JUST barely) ongoing photo contests and NEW photo contests.


''One of My Entries for the Lingerie Calendar''

Today someone sent me a notecard and pics about dressing the avatar of a real life author, Sophie Kinsella. I had NO idea who that was so looked her up. Here is Sophie Kinsella's blog as well as contest info. Now, I am not about to go out and spend up to $2000 Linden to dress an avatar so I can meet and greet (wink) and get reimbursment and a book?!?!?!? And you need to be present to win? (Obviously these people don't know about the filling the sim problem in SL.)

I guess if you were a fan it would be different. Now George Clooney? I might go for it (big smile). In that vein the Samara Studios contest is better as you get both goodies and CASH (gasp), but unless you already have an outfit (I have one from my birthday and a pair of shoes from Samara (review) - oh, and a hunt pair of heels too), you would need to buy something in order to enter. So that is a bit dampening. Hard to say what we will do for fame and glory. The ongoing ETD contest at Flickr is certainly simpler as most all of us have ONE piece of ETD designed goods. Still .... (pondering humming here).

At least we can't say there is nothing to do :D

AMOREPACIFIC Hair & Cosmetics

I read a very nice review of AMOREPACIFIC -- AMOREPACIFIC 204/85/141/67 -- in Shopping Cart Disco this morning and decided I really wanted to come and visit.

AMOREPACIFIC is actually a cluster of sims with some nice architecture down on the ground and the camping, freebies and such up above just floating (well it IS SL!). Interestingly enough SCD and I seem to have found very different areas to explore - LOL. Well, it IS a big place. Here is what "I" found. Note: the TPs will most likely take you to the central point, but the coordinates will hopefully help you get around. There IS a hud with pictures of places for easy TPing.



First of all there really are camping chairs for hair (5 minutes). The hair is at MISE EN SCENE on the hud. Some are regular sitting chairs and others are more INTERACTIVE (wink) as the one above where I am getting my hair washed. Oh my! The hair you are sitting for is pictured above the chair. It is not terribly intuitive that you CAN camp for the hair (bad), but the actual hair is on a wig stand right by the picture (very nice) so you really can see what you are camping for. And by the time I had the pictures cropped, I had hair (wink) so not a big deal at all and definitely fun.


Presumably (I haven't tried my hair yet) the hair that you sit for is nicer than the on the wall hair, but there is a HUGE amount of 0 Linden hair here. Feast your eyes!!!!! Many different styles for men also.

Here I am with some new green free hair. It comes in more normal colors but I was somehow attracted to the teal. I got hot pink and blond too.



At AMOREPACIFIC 3 there is regular camping ( massage therapist) and you can camp for skins (5 minutes I think but you have to join the group). This is the top middle picture on the hud. You can also pick up some cosmetics to take home nearby at the Deep Counseling Zone. You just click; (no camping).

In AMOREPACIFIC 2 --AMOREPACIFIC 203/123/36/67 -- LANEIGE on the hud -- you can sit for skin (props included and you can take them home - no group to join). More makeup here to buy for 0 if you are in need -LOL. Some skins are 1 minute, some 5 -- the ones I tried anyway.



Interestingly enough much of the camping (either for skins or regular) requires (REQUIRES) you to wear a certain object. So you sometimes have to FIND that object much like a computer adventure game, before you can camp. I passed on the camping. The massage rooms were lovely and if I could have been the massage-E rather then the person doing all the work, I might have spent the night there. As it was, I figured I would be too tired in the morning to shop -- and we WOULDN'T want that!

So with MANY cosmetics and hair and skins I haven't tried yet, I am heading to bed in RL. I like my teal hair, so presumably the other items are as nice as the ones I have tried. I'll report on that in the morn.

This was SO MUCH FUN however, I simply don't care. So come explore another culture. There are many things here and beautiful grounds that I simply didn't have time to tell you about.



PS. Quick review: Hair good. Skin bad -- that's all you need to know. This is my favorite called Updo. Not bad for 5 minutes. You will likely have to stretch these a lot and they are NOT COPY so get a few.

Alert: 2-11-08

Nyte'N'Day -- Nyte N Day 118/47/28 has a fantastic gift of tanks and bikini undies for $1 Linden. The tanks come in both white and a very dark pink and two layers (shorter and jacket length). VERY tasteful, well made, cute etc. and you could easily wear the tanks as shirts. I think you WANT THESE (wink). They are easy to find. Right at the entrance near other new items (very cute texture belts there too so take a look).

Veschi - La Reina Hunt

I went to ALL the hunts I could find this weekend (and there are many and still going on as I bet you already know) and the La Reina Hunt was without a doubt my favorite. I picked up a lot of things there that I like but my all time fav of ALL the hunts is this sweater jacket by Veschi --La Reina 207/177/24

There are three hearts in the Veschi store. Not that hard to find really (unlike some of the other hunts which were diabolical in nature with lots of testy hunters grumblings being heard). We aren't really blogging many freebie fashion shoots any more at SLC, but I loved it SO much, I just had to. My two favorite things from ALL the hunts are both from here. Round And Aboutton (sweater) and Jersey Girl Pink.


The Jersey girl comes with sculpty bottoms but they didn't work for me. Luckily this great designer, Alla Ruff, finished the pants off VERY nicely so there is no real need for those prims (wink).

Also shown in the sweater pic is a new (not yet quite release I understand but VERY nice) belt by Samara Studios, Sn@tch update group '84 jeans and ZHAO shoes. The La Reina Hunt is still going on I believe as there were still hearts in evidence. I just checked :D

Alert: 2-10-08

[4:00 pm] [Freak Couture --Cupo 83/113/35 -- has free outfits for both guys and gals. Both tank and tee shirts and some bold (mod) camo pants which are very nice. Some very slight seam issues, but you probably won't care. This is an urban punk shop. There is a T shirt there also which I didn't try. These are TRANSFER.

Fluky -- Gateaux Boulevard 96/139/23 -- has a bounty of freebies both inside and outside their store. There are "wearable" demos for free or 1 Linden inside. I tried the Valentine outfit (right at the entry) and it is VERY cute. Light pink and blue with hearts and leggings, a tiny short skirt, leg warmers and a beret. If you are a young girlie girl -- this is for YOU.

The Beauty and the Beast Eye Shop -- Strutter 23/78/23 -- is giving away six sets of nice eyes. Find them in six small boxes on a counter near the door.

[8:15 by Divine] Inca Temple -- BeggarsBowl 17/20/22 has a very nice freebie box by the fountain that has jewelry, hair sticks and an assortment of NON fashion items (some which I really liked). They also have some lovely and unusual jewelry (heart fluttering here over some).

A variety of stores at Cotton Candy boardwalk -- Russel Bay 222/234/26 --have some fun items out for free to 1 Linden. CRAP has three pink (different shades) of sculpty jackets. Other gifts include a room with poses, some tanks and more. Just explore a bit. Most things are right out front and visible.

Ghost at Metro Models

GHOST! by Triangle Caudron. Shown here is "Whiteblood" -- my favorite.

Metro Models paired the women's items by GHOST! -- (Sensual Productions 30/109/26) with Aphrodite Creations' Serenity shoes for a fashion-forward combination as striking as it is elegant at the Metro Models Fashion Showcase this noon.

The sim filled quickly and there were some lag issues, but it all turned out fine after a bit. The skirts fell a bit slower than designed I expect, but all and all things worked well.

Most of the collection was black. The little black dress is no more however with flowing skirts and dramatic additions, these are not for the corporate set. To be fair there ARE some seam matching issues on some outfits and some "extra bits" of color in places that shouldn't be. This was particularly noticeable in the "7 AM dress" (which turned out to be one of the giveaway items so that sort of answers that :D). The designer is fairly young (3 months plus a bit), her ideas are bold. I expect we will see more of her as she seems to have plans to take SL by storm.




There were free gifts at the entrance --Narcissus Island 203/171/22 -- Alas I didn't keep any of them (but you might LOVE them).

A later PS: I got an IM from Triangle and she has fixed the problems with the dresses so that is all well and good. Hopefully you got corrected boxes :D

Alert: 2-8-08

Devilish Cupcake -- Talana 150/99/60 has a new location and new goodies. Turn right at the entryway, just past the lucky chair. First thereare JellyBelley outfits. VERY cute summery tops with short skirts as well as capris. The pants have an oh so slightly missing bit of texture on one seam (just wanted you to know). There are three BRIGHT colors combos of pink, purple and blue. Also there is Nonsenses pack with cute tops with a built in wide belt, jewelry and skirts. The skirts didn't work for me but I am a BIG girl (wink). My favorites of the bunch were the Celeste babydolls with capris (actually above the knee shorts). These come with a colorful design on the shorts. They have prim ties for the shoulders as well as a babydoll prim skirt for the top. You can WEAR both the strap prims and the babydoll part or just the straps for a more casual look. Great for summer which will be here before we know it (I hope). There is also a trashcan to look through. Some interesting stuff there.

Stellar Designs -- Stellar Isle 101/128/44 sent out a new hair (one for women - one for men) to their update group. Very cute clipped on top, low pony in back. There are a variety of colors. The mens works for women also. If you are joining the group to get the hair, be sure and pick up the Valentine's SD layered tee (also currently in the notice archives). It comes as a jacket layer or as shirt and undies (tucked). A nice dark red tee with layered white undershirt. Unisex.

SD Wears --Dubya City 35/158/250 -- has a nice VARIED shirt pack with a black and white oriental character T, a very unusual leather (?) holey and strappy top (think somewhere between Star Trek and Jungle Love) and a VERY bright striped orange and dark red sweater with low cut V neck.

Blang -- Jewelry 190 /121/37 (as well as other shops) has a great metal belt with a dangly "Love" charm on it for free. Find it along with bracelets for both men and women on the freebie wall about halfway down the store on the right. There is also a free belly ring on the counter, but it ended up INSIDE me (I am a big girl remember) and I have no idea how to fix that - LOL -- so can't report on the look. These are color changing, but they look great as is in silver.

Nuclear Boutique -- Archipelago Wild/224/180/78 put out a special gift for men this evening so they wouldn't feel left out with all the dresses that abound. Find it at the Mens department. The gift includes black dress slacks as well as two white dress shirts - one with red and one with pink tie. The new menswear section is up the hill from the TP point. Turn right when you enter the building. They also have dark dress jeans, Tee shirts (valentines but in gray and tan) and mens hair here for free. The outfits work for gals as well of course. You can wear the Tees over the long-sleeved shirt for a different lookThe black pants are VERY nice and I really needed some so happy about that. Thanks to Dion for the tip.

That's a full day of goodies for you to collect. There are probably more, but I need to get some rest. Enjoy

Alert: 2-7-08

[1:30 SL] Body Politik -- Eventide Far East 138/69/47 -- has just put out a new Freebie of the Week. It is a lovely, triple heart sculpty necklace with silver chain. It looks oh so great with the Boyfriend Shirt from Blaze that was still available this morning :D -- You can even cheat a bit and make it look like it is UNDER the shirt. How fun!

[2:00] Beautyberry -- MoonDoggies 215/44/27 (on a cart vendor) has a very cute light blue gray and darker violet layered look top. It has a tiny problem with seams under the arms but who looks there? It can be worn as an undershirt too. It does however seem to have INVISIBLE panties? So do not try changing in a public area.

There is also a nice light blue top in the same shopping area on another cart *Bagley* -- MoonDoggies 191/57/27, It is very nicely made, but has the word ORGAN in big letters on the front. So not for everyone :D

Also check Thimbles -- MoonDoggies 190/110/27 in the same area (a shop) for some wonderful, bright colored knee socks. They look great with my crayola garter.

[4:30] *ICING* just gave the CUTEST pink with maroon trim flowered short dress to her update group. If you like girlish things that are not TOO cutesy, this is a group for you! ICING UPDATE GROUP. Join, then go to the notices and open the attachment that is the dress called Poppy Love. ICING gives really wonderful gifts to her group.

[8:00] !Retox! -- Pulse 180/237/30 is starting a weekly hidden freebee in the main store. One normal inventory item will have its price set to $0L. You can either search around for it in the store or join the !Retox! update group by clicking the subscribe-o-matic vendor in the main store. First gift was a set of bangles in both black and white and rainbow colors. Left and Right wrists so many choices in wearability :D

Sirena -- West Sunset 160/50/22 -- has a very cute short, bright print babydoll dress for valentines day. (Thanks Ch'know?) Find it on the far wall in a tiny poster vendor in the Freebies area. Also check out the tutorials and other free things. The dress comes with shoes and necklace but I liked the dress the best (we all have different taste). It looks great with some of the other valentine goodies in the list above. There is also a yellow polka dot outfit in the same vendor area. It is OK but the valentine dress is better quality AND more fun!!!! IMHO :D

Fashcon Hud Tour #1

Fashcon has a new tour hud that is very entertaining. You simply click on any Fashcon poster or phone booth at a Fashcon affiliated store and the hud is delivered to you. You can also pick one up at the Fashcon Diner at Le Zoo 91/23/22. You WEAR the hud and then click on it for a menu. You can go to the next store at any time or go on a "tour" that changes every five minutes.

I picked up my hud at KaoSome --Boudoir Isle 213/160/21 where I was looking for the free sparkly dress. None of us were finding it, but I suspect it is there SOMEWHERE (wink). Anyway, here is a brief rundown of some of my stops along the tour and what they have.

DD's Originals: Kazzkark 137/225/125 is a large distinctive shop with lots of RED (good feng shui), nice area. Clothes for men and women. Medium priced. I won a lucky chair outfit.

Freak Couture: Cupo 84/115/36 shouts young, punk, dark! Previously blogged by Chic. Lucky Chair.

Earth and Sky Design: Tellus III 222/152/25 has an very tasteful shop in an upscale neighborhood. They offer a full range of nice looking outfits including full length fur coats, boots, evening dresses, lingerie and casual clothes. There is a free down jacket on the back side of the entry showcase wall. Also a Free Valentine Necklace on a nearby poster. I didn't buy anything but this looks like a place of interest to many ladies. See photos of the jacket below.

Celeste's Angels was next but I have no idea what they are selling. Posters of women? Doesn't seem like fashion. Sorry.

Toume Yao's: Admicile2 50/52/28 -- Lots of very sexy little numbers as well as some girlie things here :D There were models present when I was there today. There seems to be a half price sale on some brightly colored dresses. Very nice to see them in person. They looked lovely, complete with blinging silver belt. Also free gift packs for both girls and guys - on the counter near the Fashcon poster.

Of my goodies of the day, the one I will be keeping is the down jacket. Since it is almost spring, I'll have to wait to wear it, but it won't be going out of style. The necklace, also from Earth and Sky, is very nice. Simple red beads of medium short length. So you might need those too. And you may like some of the other free things mentioned.

Also shown are the earrings Wonder found for me last night (see this post). They are from a store called VOGART. Fashion credits: Pants by DE Designs, Top by Nevermore, Hair by Gurl6, Shoes by ZHAO.

Trilogy in the Rain

I heard about a new London styled area from a reader and journeyed over to Trilogy -- Combeynot 208/153/602 this eve to see what it was all about. It's tag line is "fashion alley in the rain" and it does live up to that (smile). There are lots of small little shops, bricks, and yes -- rain. One of the most interesting spots there is the bar. When I sat down to a drink and a cigarette, I kept hearing a VERY old song in my head. It's called "Quarter to Three" I think. I wasn't around for it, but it was one of my grandparents favorites.

There are some satellite shops here as well as some I hadn't seen before. There are many dead ends where there is actually something beyond a point but you can't get there presumably because of a transparent prim. That was definitely an improved design choice over a photo (wink), but I was frustrated I couldn't go further. This looks to be about a quarter of a sim but felt smaller. Perhaps it was the darkness and the bricks and the alleys, or perhaps those invisible walls will disappear sometime soon and the urban landscape will continue.

I can't say I found a lot of stores for you to visit -- sorry shoppers. The vendor pictures were tiny as they can be in these small places. All very lifelike in size but difficult (for me anyway) to shop by. There ARE menswear shops however, so that in itself was exciting. It is a great place for a photo shoot if you are in need of a backdrop; so come and explore with that in mind.

I did find one freebie (which Divine tried as they were earrings and not my thing). She reports they are very nice, fragile, silver hoops with clustered dangles. You can find them at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Combeynot/208/153/602. There is a single TP point so walk down the alley watching your coordinates. It is in a small shop on the right. The earrings are in a box in the back corner of the shop. Enjoy.

Fashion credits: I am wearing the "boyfriend" shirt from Blaze mentioned in a previous post. It works fine for guys tucked in. The bottom (skirt piece) goes into my body in back though so I can't wear it outside my slacks. That isn't a big deal. The details are lovely and being neat gets me a few extra points now and then. Also Nuclear Boutique basic jeans in gray, Harness boots from Shoes Simply Shoes, Hair from ETD, sunglasses (yes, even in the dark and the rain) from Digital Dragon.

Shopping Broadmead

I journeyed over to Broadmead tonight because of a brief mention in Ch'Know? Since I love her blog I figured that it might be a fun place to visit. And of course it WAS!

The first thing that hit me about Broadmead is that it is so CUTE -- and it seems to just scream "Photo-OP!". The streets curve, the architecture is greatly detailed and life sized. The shops are small (not usually the best for shopping as the pictures on the vendors tend to be infinitesimal), but still the details made up for it all. There are lots of empty building here. No giant RENT ME boxes are in evidence so perhaps there are plans in the works.



There are a lot of satellite stores here so in some cases there was simply nothing new, but the details -- did I mention the DETAILS?????? Spiral stairs that look like real ones, twinkling lights that lend a magical air. As some famous person once said (honestly I have no clue) -- it's all in the details.


If you are looking for cha pillows, kerosene lamps, coffee grinders (no, not the electric kind) or a free Little Tiara Radio Box (with the lengthy instructions in Japanese), Broadmead is the place for you.

One of the first places I visited was Grandmas. Currently famous for the free apron. Since most everyone KNOWS about that, I circumvented. The shop is very cute, however with book-lined walls and a general grandma cluttered feeling.

In some ways this reminds me of Armidi. Definitely different but the same attention to detail. I have no idea if it is the same builder, but I wouldn't be surprised. (Note to self to check that when I have an off hour HOHO.) But where Armidi can be dark and sometimes claustrophobic at times, this is usually cheery. Good to turn your time to NOON however as there is little lighting.




I did end up with one GREAT find. A free shopping bag from +MimiEden+ -- Broadmead 99/65/29 (wearable and cute in itself - see pics) when opened garnered a fantastic flowered purse. And we know I have a purse fetish (documented already!). YEAH!!!!!