M.O.C.K-ing Is Not a Bad Thing!

You have to love the tattoo layer. It opens up so many more avenues when it comes to skin and hair and more. I have been part of the M.O.C.K cosmetic group for a few months now. Mocksoup Graves does charge a small fee to join, but her generosity of gifts makes it more then worth it.

Today in Group Chat she mentioned that she has a couple of eyelash tattoos. In the 4 years in SL I have worn prim lashes, but adjusting them is so time consuming if you want to have a different lash look.

I immediately TP'd over to the store to check them out.

Currently she has 2 styles, Pandora and Victorina. Each has a Noir and one that you can tint. I have featured them on my Gala Skin (Yum- Sundust Light - Cranberry)

Here is the Before, I am wearing an alpha to hide my system lashes and you can see that there is a more natural looking lash on the skin itself.


BEFORE






PANDORA LASH











VICTORINA






So if you would like to check out these lashes or her other great skins and make-ups just Click Here for M.O.C.K Cosmetics!


OTHER ITEMS WORN:

HAIR: TRUTH HAIRS - BREE IN AUBURN (GINGERS COLLECTION)
TOP: FRI.DAY - POET HALTER IN ROSE.
NECKLACE: MOCHA - CHARM NECKLACE - BUNNY - GACHA
EARRINGS: NAIVE- SMALL SILVER HOOPS (STORE CLOSED)
EYES: CURIO - TRAGIC EYES -HAZEL (MEDIUM, NO SHINE)

Not So Plain "Jane" and other things

So basically every single blogger from Dressing In Pixels all got hit with a severe case of RL. Now that things are a bit calmer, you will be seeing more from at least me. I figure easiest will be to feature a "look of the day".

Please Click on Picture to see Larger Version:





It seems Janie Marlowe has a new store called Jane. Lots of great basic. Plus she has been very generous by offering free tanks in a ton of colors and scarves to boot. I love the fit of the scarves so much I bought a few packs. I may have to feature a bit more later this week.

Per Nivaya, it is now autumn so we must dress a bit more warmly. So I have taken to wearing cardigans. This one is from Miseria.


Worn by Me:
From Jane: Intrinsic Tank in Cherry (free) Scarf in Americana (Free) 52 Jeans in Grey Wash with Baggy Cuff (Not Free)

By Miseria: Ash Cardigan in Black

Shoes: Fukmi Clothing - Shinji Sport Sneaker

Hair: Truth- Kelsey in Auburn

Skin: Gala - June - Pure Two

Eyes: Curio- Watercolor

These stores can be found easily in Search, however, feel free to IM me for the LM too.

See You Tomorrow!

Flirtatious Fae!

Yesterday the Fae of the Realm of Sylvhara had their Annual Fae Dae Festivities. Being Fae Royalty it was important I look my best for my fellow Fae brothers and Sisters. The set up was lovely with these great bubbles that were a gift a couple of years ago.



So a few pictures later, I thought I should blog this!





Dress: Evie's Closet- Ariel (purple)
Headpiece: AC Girl - Butterfly Headpiece (Sadly this store is closed)
Wings: Wing Song by Ely _ Ely's Gold Transparent Wings (color change)
Hair: Exile - Love Song 2 in Auburn
Skin: Gala - Cupid 2 - Crave 2
Pose: Happy Mood - Bubble Chair ( can win in prize chair)

Silentsparrow Month! Day 25 - In which Niv cowers

Cowers and whimpers. From thunderstorms! Of which there is one going on outside now. The silly thing is, I like thunderstorms. Lightning is very pretty! Thunder is dramatic and noisy! I like rain! But, whenever I see a flash of lightning, I jump out of my skin, and when I hear a rumble of thunder, I gibber like a...grown woman who is scared of thunder. My husband seems to like it though, gives him an excuse to be clung to. So, there is that. It gives me an excuse to wear this skin, all pale and pink cheeked. So really, thunderstorms are made of excuses. And so am I, all the time, so maybe I'm a thunderstorm! Maybe that's why I'm scared of them. Maybe I'm really scared of MYSELF! Ooh, that's deeeep, maaan. I think I ate too much tiramisu after dinner and confused myself.

So onto my clothing! Before my head explodes! I started out by wanting to wear the wonderful, sculpted Kurai Tart miniskirt, but without my bottom showing. I'm shy about my bottom outside of summer. What if I sat on something cold?! *shudder* So, of course, I needed something under it. Something bloomery. I went to my most favourite fallbacks in the area of bloomers, Datura, this time in Dusk. I simply adore this shade of purple, deep and bluey and mysterious and pretty, with the same lovely details of the other Datura bloomers, soft velvetty texturing, with a shiny ribbbon and lace hems. Paired with the Kurai skirt, it looks pleasantly like a dancing warmup sort of outfit. The next part of it is brought to you by the magic of OPTICAL ILLUSIONS. It is in fact the famous Chapiteau Henley, worn under the Datura corset that matches the bloomers, but by wonderful squinting, it really rather resembles a shrug worn over a very very fancy and pretty tank. It's awesome of me to do. From the back view, you can see the cute raggedy details of the Henley, as well as the beautiful ribbon on the back of the corset. And see how daring I am, showing off my hips like that! The shoes I'm wearing, I WON! from the Random Prize Bird at the Rookery, they are the First Flower Hemlock shoes, which I've worn on the blog before, in Sapphire Blue, and I simply adore the shape of them. They're cute and flirty and sexy at once, and I'm a sucker for a well-done ankle strap. Oh, I'm also wearing the Goth version of Violet Voltaire's Doll Face necklace, which has gathered equal amounts of comments along the lines of "Awesome!" and "Creepy!". Both are good in my book. Also, I like it when I get called dollface, in a 50s sort of way. I think it's charming. Try it out on me!

Outfit Credits:

Skin: Curio - Moonbeam Frex [Light] - Winter - Pure 2
Hair: Magika - Sneaky - Red E
Top: silentsparrow - Datura - Dusk
Undertop: silentsparrow - Chapiteau Henley - Ash
Skirt: silentsparrow - Kurai Tart - Ash
Bloomers: silentsparrow - Datura - Dusk
Shoes: First Flower - Hemlock - Sapphire Blue
Necklace: Violet Voltaire - Doll Face - Goth
Ears (just visible): Schadenfreude - Fey Ears - Spiral Horns

Silentsparrow Month! Day 24 - Limey

The other day at the Rookery, we were discussing the colours we wear least. A few people, Achariya, Persephone, said perhaps green for them. And I thought to myself "Hah! How silly! I would never wear green not-much, green is my favourite colour!" (as, it is). But then I realized, I actually wear surprisingly little in the way of Lime Green. And lime green is the green hya does most! My taste in green is more a dark, hunter green sort of shade. That's not to say I don't like lime green! I do. Just whenever I put it on, it contrasts too much with the black it's paired with, and I go "ouch, that's too bright". Which somewhat goes to show, that gothwear isn't all black, indeed, it has a lot of bright colours, like sunlight coming through a stained glass window. And what's more gothic than stained glass? Ooh, ooh, stained glass bats! I want those now. Stained glass bats.

Given my relative lack of bright green-wearing, I'm wearing something I'm not sure I've actually worn before since buying it. Also because I'm not much of a long-shirt person. But today, I felt like wearing a long shirt! And so I am! This is the Skullyrock shirt, which I'm thinking might not be available anymore, but, I might be mistaken. It's a yummy western style shirt, brimming over with details, lacing at the front and the back, pointed breast pockets, and a light mayan-like skull detailing over the top part. I enjoy the way that there's a tiny bit of belly showing at the opening at the bottom, given that my pants are tastefully low-riding. My pants are the Lime Gloomy pants, which have lime green stitching down the side, and the gorgeous swirly Gloomy pattern creeping up to mid-calf. It's a very simple outfit, but I think that paired with my Sentou Yousai cowboy boots, it all works very well. I'm also wearing another one of my beloved Ellabella piercings. This one is Gemmed Bites: Steamed, and as the name might suggest, it's happily steampunk themed, with a little verdigris cog hanging from it, and a cog and spike verdigris chin piercing thingy. It's really very nice, and the lip piercing parts are studded with little tiny black gems. So, a horribly simple, short post today, but I think it's good and nice and I'm lovely and a bit sleepy now.

Outfit Credits:

Skin: Curio - Moonbeam Frex [Dark] - Cupid - Crush 2
Hair: Magika - Flow II - Red C
Shirt: silentsparrow - Skullyrock - Sage
Pants: silentsparrow - Gloomy Pants - Lime
Boots: Sentou Yousai - Black Cowboy Boots
Piercing: Ellabella - Gemmed Bits:Steamed

Silentsparrow Month! Day 23 - Happy Birthday!

Not to you, though. Unless it actually happens to be your birthday today, of course, in which case, Many Happy Returns. But in fact, it turns out to be my daughter's 6th birthday today, and I've spent several many hours of today watching kids running round and screaming and generally having a delightful time. Last night, I was having a delightful time at the Rookery, the club over silentsparrow. Persephone decided we should have an impromptu gathering there, and impromptuly gather we did! When hya showed up online, she DJ'd like an awesome trooper, having just woken up and it being terribly short notice. A great time was had by all, I was briefly pantsless, then my internet crapped out and I was sad. I was going to blog what I wore then, but I'm going to save that for another day, and instead show this partydress-like ensemble I put together today. My girl didn't get to wear a party dress today, her party was a little more rough-and-tumble in a big play area, so I'm wearing one for her. Although I'm sure she wouldn't approve of my choice of colours, but Bah! Not everything has to be pink!

I've layered two tops to make my...top. I think it works wonderfully and it's something I will try again, I think. The top underneath is the top from the Sylvan Lolita Suite, which is a lovely set, and I particularly like in this colour (copper) because of the way the black detailing has a very distinct bluey tinge to it, and the shape of it lends itself to layering beautifully. Over it, something I hadn't noticed before, it's the Open Front Celador top. I particularly enjoy the naming convention with it - "YOUR NIPS ARE SHOWING". If only all my clothing was so helpfully labelled. Then my pantsless incident of last night might never have happened. It's the same smiley little touch that I like in my silentsparrow clothing as "omg hya my belly is showing" for filler layers. They make me happy. Anyway, the Celador top normally has a nice white filled in part over the boobies, but this version of it forgoes that, for wearing with either pasties, or as I have done, with a corset underneath. It's really a very very nice effect, and I'm glad I discovered it. My skirt is from the Ritual Suite, which I adore the shiny shading on, and comes with all sorts of fun bits, like a chalice and a rosary and a big booming wonderful ballgown skirt and a top and and and pants and um this lolita skirt. All party dresses should have lolita skirts! Also, lookit mah boots! I first saw these on hya, wearing the hyablue version, of course, and was like "I LOVE THOSE BOOTS" at the same time as she was saying "LOOK AT MY BOOTS" so I think the boots count as instant win. They are the Patchwork Ankle Boots, from Lassitude & Ennui, classic bootmaker of wonderfulness. Jackal Ennui was at the gathering last night, it was exciting, I was skeptical about her really existing, and whined at her that my legs were too fat for her lovely new boots. Then later I remembered that this is SL and that I could - hey, wow! make my legs less fat. So I DID. And so now I can wear them and they're wonderful and the buttons on them are colourchange and it's awesome. I liek patchwerkz.


Outfit Credits:

Skin: Curio - Moonbeam Frex [Light] - Cupid 2 - Allure 2
Hair: Magika - Curl - Red E
Top: silentsparrow - Sylvan Lolita Suite - Copper
Over-top: silentsparrow - Celador
Skirt: silentsparrow - Ritual Suite -Penny
Boots: Lassitude & Ennui - Patchwork Ankle Boots - Brown
Necklace: Schadenfreude - Flewksbriar

Silentsparrow Month! Day 22 - Blue Monday

I have no good excuse for brevity today (I hear it's like, the soul of wit, or something, I fail bard). I'm just feeling the traditional Monday blah that gets bandied around with such excitement. My day consisted of doing the dishes and being told by my daughter that it's extremely rude to call someone a "pie" (after I called her a pudding-pie) and failing to manage to offload my excess bunny nests (*ahem* Visit our meadow if you so desire, and take a peek at the nests. And hang out! I like company). That's enough pimping my bunnies. I feel dirty now. It's not as fun as I've been led to believe! But I have nice bunnies, and their babies need nice homes. Apart from that, blah. Happily, though, I remain in possession of a very big folder full of silentsparrow clothes, so at least I can still look very pretty, and that can only be a good thing.

I like to think that today I am chapioning some somewhat under-appreciated gems from silentsparrow. Just in that, with exceptions, I don't see people wearing them very often. Also I'm still in slouchycasual mode, as partially explained above. First off, my corset. It's one of the older Seperates I know of that is still in the store, I think it was around when I first started haunting silentsparrow and gazing longingly at the pretties. it's the Blue Velvet corset, from the Ribbons Velvet Corset pack. The detailing on it is truly impressive, with tulips and roses adorning the front, and a great big blue bow, and 15 little metal clasps (I counted!). At the back, the ribbons lacing it have a vaguely greenish, iridescent quality to the shading, and it's all over very pretty. With it, the Gloomy Shrug, detailed with glorious spirals, like the tentacles of a particularly artistic seamonster, or some sort of grabby black ooze, or something equally sinister and pretty. Or else, I could just give the cop-out that's in my head and describe them as "Burtonesque". If you squint at the detail on the sculpted cuff, it looks a little bit like a stylized skull. It's lovely. The collarless version I'm wearing here is particularly fun in that it doesn't actually appear to have anything holding it together, it's just sleeves for the sake of wonderfulness (and a bit of a return to my ooze theory). My jeans are from a suit I think is definitely overlooked by many, but is one of the more traditional "goth" outfits in the whole store. It only comes in black and has a freakin' trenchcoat, land's sake! House of Leaves is a delight in details, slinky and sexy while covering every inch, with three coat-tail options and sculpted leaf-shaped buttons, and these incredible jeans! They're very lightly patterned, with faded patches on the knees and the seat of the pants, which is where you can really see how lovely the patten is, and they even have that little patch that I've never known the name of. You know, the one that's like a big belt loop and has the name of the brand on it? Anyway, with these, you can proudly display your designer goth jeans, which is nice. I'm not much of one for 'labels', but this is subtle and awesome enough for me to accept and love, and the silentsparrow logo is, after all, very pretty.

Outfit Credits:

Skin: Curio - Moonbeam Frex [Dark] - Winter - Frost 2
Hair: Magika - Jackie - Red C
Top: silentsparrow - Blue Velvet Corset
Shrug: silentsparrow - Gloomy Shrug - Sorrow
Pants: silentsparrow - House of Leaves
Locket: silentsparrow - Chapiteau Locket - Seanorse
Shoes: Kari - Kicks

Silentsparrow Month! Day 21 - And breathe out...

Today, very, very lazy Niv. Not feeling so well. Also, been rotting my brains watching my husband play Fallout 3 all day. I've been helping. Mostly by yelling "Look out!" when he's about to die. It doesn't help, his character has died at least 20 times today, but it makes me feel everso useful. So, a lazy me = a lazy Niv = lazy blog post. But also comfy blog post, oh yes. After yesterday's breathtaking corset, I figured I should wear something more slouchy anyway. Better for the innards, you know. So, here I am in my jammies!

I am wearing the silentsparrow Ratties Pajammies II. In the me to the left, I'm wearing the capri bottoms with the Ratties tank top, and to the right, the capri bottoms with the 3/4 length sleeve top. They're comfy and cute and cozy and everything you could want (that starts with the letter C, at least) in sleepwear. I like the Ratties best, something about an affinity with rodents. And the colour red. And the ADORABLENESS of them. The others available are incredibly adorable too, of course. When these were released, hya had a slumber party with a movie, and it was lovely, but I had to leave because my clothes were glitching and no-one could see how cute I was, and it was sad, and when I came back, I was naked, and that was sad too. But this is what I wore, anyway! Also, the Belladonna:Lepidoptera tattoos in Sepia, this time the less epic version, and the hand parts. Subtle and swirly and mothy and lovely. And because since I got these, I can't stand to be proper SL barefoot, the Jolie Pied sculpted feet from SLink. They're such nice feet, and I'm one who finds feet creepy normally, but look! My toenail polish matches my jammies! Yay! So there. I've been lazy. Less words. More sitting. I'll go do that. Good.

Outfit Credits:

Skin: Curio - June - Moonbeam Frex [Dark] - Pure 1
Hair: Maitreya - Amber - Red
Pajamas: silentsparrow - Pajammies II - Ratties
Tank: silentsparrow - Tank Tops - Ratties
Tattoos: silentsparrow - belladonna:lepidoptae - Sepia
Foots: SLink - Jolie Pied - Med Bare Fin
Snuggly Elephant: Schadenfreude - Stuffed Elephant (Starlust Souvenier)

Silentsparrow Month! Day 19 - Faunication

One of the fun things about the general group of fandom for silentsparrow (I know! I'm on topic from the very start, don't get used to it) is the great diversity of types of not-fully human avatars you see there. My original thought was to say "bipedal avatars", but come to think of it, I've seen dragons and scorpions and all sorts of amazing avatars shopping there, I can only assume it's a case of like, wrapping a pants leg around a claw here, squeezing a carapace into a corset there, and hoping for no rips (or, alternatively, a human form too, but, pfft, that's just silly :D). Silentsparrow is very popular with members of the furry community, and I must credit hya for helping me overcome my initial aversion to that particular segment of society. But among the Twittery Birds, you will also find a plethora of people with human avatars with additional animally bits. Winge'd folk, of course, are prevalent, and you'll find of course a healthy scattering of nekos (setting the cat amongs the pidgeons...heh), elf ears are practically de rigeur, but at most gatherings of 'sparrow junkies, you're most likely to find yourself face to face with an awful lot of (at least part-time) fauns. Digi legs, whether naked and fuzzy, or in Lazy Places' wonderful boots, can be found hoofing around all over, and whatever your sensibilities towards morphing into a fantasy creature are, spare one the chore of choosing what shoes to wear.

I don't wear mine often because it cuts down my options as to what pants I can wear, but I do like their quirky elegance a lot when I do break them out. Outside of skirts, capris are the best option to wear with them, due to length, and in this case, I'm wearing the bloomers from the Severina suite, which have a soft, velvetty look, and are simple enough to not be overwhelming to the eyes, but kept interesting by the silver design on the left thigh. I've kept most of the busyness to my top half, with a whole bunch of layering. The stripey underlayer is the bodice from the Meadowlark dress, and although I'm covering most of it up, it's a beautifully feminine and at the same time sexy piece, with a clutch of roses at the centre of the bosom, and beautifully cut and shaded cups. The colour I'm wearing is not available anymore, being a group gift at a party from some while ago, but Meadowlark is still around in some other beautiful colours, so buy those. Over it, the beyond-adorable Knitty Sweater, in Vixen. Each different colour of this asymmetrical big-buttoned, loose-sleeved cardigan features a different hand-drawn patch design, including crows, toadstools, test tubes, skulls and starbunnies. It comes in a long version and a cropped version, which I am wearing here, and also has a big pretty patch on the back. An extra, small detail I am wearing is at my waist, the belt from the Piaf dress, an oldie-bit-goodie, which while searching my bulging emails the other day, I found an ancient group notice announcing its release. It made me smile. God bless Gmail and its boundless capacity, allowing me to keep such little tokens of times past. You may notice, if you squint, that I am not wearing my usual Schadenfreude Fey ears, in order to be a wee bit more fauny, I am instead wearing SLink's Sachara ears, in Outy, they're a complete bargain, you get four different styles of ear when you buy them, and they have the same easy-to-use style of recolouring HUD that SLink's foot shoes feature. So, yay! My legs and sweet little tail are by Titania's Court, and is one of the most elegantly shaped faun sets I've come across, with a good choice of colours, and also included ears and horns, but I'm wearing Schadenfreude's Kinder horns, for adorableness. It works, I think.

Outfit Credits:

Skin: Curio - Cupid - Moonbeam Frex [Dark] - Pure 2
Hair: Magika - Backslash - Red C
Cardigan: silentsparrow - Knitty Sweater - Vixens
Undershirt: silentsparrow - Meadowlark - Sepia
Pants: silentsparrow - Severina Suite - Kohl
Belt: silentsparrow - Piaf
Faun legs and Tail: Titania's Court - F_Faun Autumn Red
Ears: SLink - Sachara Elf Ears - Metal Free - Outy
Horns: Schadenfreude - Kinder Horns

Silentsparrow Month! Day 17 - The Great Olympio!

I should start this post by saying that I have not been watching the Winter Olympics. Neither did I watch the Summer Olympics. Ever. All too much like sport, for my tastes. Although, Curling is ridiculous enough to be mildly fun to look at for a few minutes. I'm sure my stance won't change when the Olympics hit my fair shores in a couple of years, either. Here is what I know about this year's Winter Olympics. They're in Canada, some guy tragically died, and Canada finally won a medal of some sort for something. I also know they involve doing cold sporty things like skiing, ice hockey, sledding, team snowball fights, shivering marathons, that sort of thing. Oh and ice skating! And the only thing I know about figure skaters are that Torvill and Dean existed some time before I was born, and still slide around grinning on occasion for national entertainment, and there was that girl with the knee-smashing that one time. And that I went ice skating once and fell down much much less than expected. Then I went a second time and made up for it by making a whole chain of people fall down, so that was okay. I'm graceful! Regardless of all my ignorance, today, I am an accidental ice skater, and rather proud I am of the look, too!

While colours can be found in abundance at silentsparrow, slapping in the face those who claim goths only wear black, there is one colour that's rather *ha ha* thin on the ground. Other than yellow, that is. And that colour is White. (which is why I...ha'd...because the snow outside...is...white and and...on the...ground? :D? Eh, fine.) Anyway, there are very few white silentsparrow outfits, only one truly white one that I can think of, and, I am not wearing any part of that one! So, onto what I am wearing. The tutu skirt and upper, wide highwaist belt of my outfit is from the wonderfully springlike Fleur dress, with white highlights and patterning, which I discovered by happy coincidence when I was looking for something blue to wear with what I had originally intended to blog today. The funny thing is, I had just before been talking to hya about texture belts, a few minutes previously, and had completely forgotten Fleur had such a thing. But as you can see, it does. Yay! Underneath that, I am wearing the bodice from the Lottie Ballgown Suite, in Sterling, which is also pretty white, but I consider it more a silver colour. It has gorgeous fleur-de-lis type patterning on it, and a nice lace detail at the bustline. Underneath THAT, I am wearing the undershirt from How We Quit the Forest, which, see, I said was totally useful in all sorts of situations. My piercings are another set from Ellabella, I can't stress enough how awesome and original and simply beautiful Ellantha Larsson's work is, this set has, among other things, a teeeeny tiiiiiiiiiny little rose hanging off it. My necklace is another case of my boring adage of "good primwork etc etc", it's an early Schadenfreude piece, and still looks all sorts of fantastic. And my marvellously elegant skates are by Bax Coen, which have the same glorious styling as her super sexy ankle boots, but in a skate! Hooray!

Outfit Credits:

Skin: Curio - Cupid - Moonbeam Frex [dark] - Bouquet 1
Hair: Calico - Hannah - Blood
Big Wide Belt, tutu skirt: silentsparrow - Fleur - Ash
Bodice: silentsparrow - Lottie Ballgown Suite - Sterling
Undershirt: silentsparrow - How We Quit the Forest - Ash
Necklace: Schadenfreude - Alcmund
Piercing: ellabella - A Rose By Any Other Name (silver)
Skates: Bax Coen - BAX Ice Skate White Patent
Ears: Balderdash&Schadenfreude - Etherial Fey Ears

Silentsparrow Month! Day 15 - In which Niv is all "teehee!"

Yesterday, when I went out for dinner, the restaurant we ate at happened to be in the same building as my husband's office. After we had eaten, for no other reason than "because we can" we went up to his office and admired the view of the building site across the street, from the conference room. Something that I saw in there amused me somewhat. In the dust of one of the floor-to-ceiling plate glass windows was the distinct shape of a bird, which had clearly flown smack into the window at some point. After convincing myself that it was surely fine, had merely been a bit startled, hoped no-one saw that, and flew off trying to look cool, I was quite fascinated by the way you could clearly see the tips of its wings, and the shape of it's body, preserved there in the slightly grimy window, from the size and shape of the wings, I'd have guessed it had been a careless pigeon. After that, my husband got a drink from the water cooler, from a plastic cup that secretly had a crack in it, and spilled water all over himself, now THAT was amusing. But anyway, the point is, there was a pigeon yesterday, and today, more pigeon!

silentsparrow's new Lucky Bird set features cutecute hyadrawn picture of a pigeon, which, unless I am misinformed by my brain, was drawn for hya's partner Jessica as a Valentine's gift (but purpler). The reason for my particular bout of "teehee" is that it features various parts of outfits which I LOVE. The Pigeony Rose set consists of a male and female version of a t-shirt in the delicious rose colour that I refuse to admit is really pink, with a pigeon (which I will henceforth refer to as Pidgey, for two reasons, 1: I'm adorable, and 2: as I may have mentioend before, I'm brainwashed by Pokemon), and with a nice thick border of black at the cuffs and neckline. Also included in the set is the always wonderful Kurai Short Jacket, with its incredible jewelled and lacy cuffs, and what made me grin extra hard, a special version of the Nemu gloves! this version of my beloved gloves are particularly gorgeous, as they feature a softly painted-on version of Pidgey, and swirly vines which extend to over the top of the glove. But you can't see that properly in my picture, and here's why. Modesty! I only wanted to show you, the viewer, the bottom of my boobs. And my belly. Because on my belly is the supersweet Pidgey tattoo which also comes in the Rose Pigeony Lucky Bird set, and hey look, some of those vines look like a swirly heart! Remember, the silentsparrow Twittery Lucky Bird is only available for members of the silentsparrow Twittery Birds group, which has a 250L joining fee but is all sorts of worth it, but if you don't want to join, or are totally impatient, liek wot i iz, the set will be out for sale for a very reasonable price next to the Bird.
My skirt is NOT part of the set, it is the Roses Grimley A-Line skirt. The Grimley skirts are wonderfully versatile packs of various styles of richly but subtley patterned black skirts, and are an invaluable nicer-than basic thing to have in your wardrobe. Finally I feel I should say something about my shoes. One day, out of the blue, I said to myself "I want some bowling shoes" and after a small amount of searching, I went to JC's and bought these beauties. Even though they're almost as old as my avatar, and pre-sculpt, they look absolutely fantastic still. As I was saying to Persephone the other day, "Excellent primwork never ages - at least in shoes"

Outfit Credits:

Skin: Curio - Moonbeam Frex [Dark] - Cupid 2 - Allure 2
Hair: Clawtooth - Velvet Hearts - Valentine (tinted)
T-shirt, jacket, gloves, tattoo: silentsparrow - Rose Pigeony Twittery Lucky Bird set
Skirt: silentsparrow - Grimley Skirt - Roses - A-Line
Shoes: JC's - Strike! - Checker
Ears (just visible): Balderdash&Schadenfreude - Etherial Fey Ears

Silentsparrow Month! Day 13 - Like a Balloon and - something bad happens!

At first glance, you might think I dressed in the dark today, maybe at a rave. I wouldn't go so far as to say you'd be forgiven for thinking that, because really, that's quite a rude thing to say. On the other hand, I'm a pretty forgiving person, so you might be in luck. But rather than take that chance, you should first hear my inspiration. My muse, my motivation, my REASON. It's an excuse, you'll find, but a decent enough one. I just watched the Pixar movie Up. Now, first things first, Pixar movies always leave me an emotional wreck, and Up was, oh my, no exception, I was bawling in the first few minutes, and at several later points, although, I am admittedly a huge softie. But they don't normally get to me that quickly! Which is the first part of my excuse. Heartstrings tugged all out of shape. The reason this has any relevance, though (not that most of my babble is even remotely relevant, I know) is because BALLOONS. Millions and billions of beautiful colourful ballooooons. When my husband first visited me, for some reason, he had got it into his head that he was going to buy me a balloon. I don't know why, probably something to do with me being adorable, or maybe because of the balloons we picked up in Second Life when we were new. But he was determined to get me a balloon. He didn't, in the end, but it's still a nice, gently romantic thought. One of the reasons for this is, unless it's for some sort of stunt, you never see big big bunches of helium-filled regular balloons these days, only the foil ones, and that's sad because there's little so cheering to see as a big huge bunch of coloured balloons, all translucent and bright and jostling with each other up in the sky. I only do bright colours in one of two ways - Offset by a lot of black, or alllll the colours, mashed up together in a kind of rainbow mess. And that, in a long-winded, rambley way, is my excuse for how I am dressed today.

Inspired as I was by a rainbow of balloons, my outfit was built around the most difficult-to-find colour in the world of silentsparrow. That colour is yellow (it also barely exists in the world of Schadenfreude). My favourite thing in the tiny tiny range of yellow silentsparrow things is the Hedgies Ribbed Tank Top. These tanks were released to go with the Pajammies II sets of....wait for it? Jammies! all of which feature supercute hyadrawn artwork of various favourite creatures. Each pack of the tank includes two variations, the Ribbed Tank, which has just the one large image in the middle, and the regular version, which is patterned with them, and closet yellow fans, this is the yellowest thing you ever did see! With it I'm wearing the Gloomy Kilt in Lust. I adore the dual lengths of this skirt, as well as the Burtonesque swirlies at the hem. Looking to my rear, you'll see the Sparkle Sparkle Bum Bow, a relic of last year's Starlust Unicorn Wars, which is still available to buy in the Starlust Motel lobby, sitting on a rather fetching rainbow unicorn table. Also at the back, the gorgeously delicate Lysander wings, made of wire and glass and light, they can be got in a single colour from buying the Lysander Suit (my husband lived in it for months) or with a very lovely colour change HUD on their own. The HUD allows you to change the metal of the frames, and the wings themselves. My armwarmers aren't available anymore, they were part of Stumblebum Brigade in December, however, you can still get them in zillions of colourways with cute artwork on them, they are the Knitty Armwarmers. And hello Sailor! My delightfully retro Birdie tattoos come in packs of two colourways, and adorn the torso, arms, hands and hips. My piercings, by the way, are another set from Ellabella, and are awesomepretty and feed my craving for rainbowy stuff. So, see, it sort of makes more sense now, right?

Outfit Credits:

Skin: Curio - Cupid 2 - Moonbeam Frex [Dark] - Flirt 1
Hair: Calico - Luna - Dark Blood
Top: silentsparrow - Tank Top - Hedgies (ribbed)
Skirt: silentsparrow - Gloomy Kilt - Lust
Wings: silentsparrow - Lysander Wings
Bum Bow: silentsparrow - Sparkle Sparkle Bum Bow
Tattoos: silentsparrow - Birdie Tattoos - Berry
Armwarmers: silentsparrow - Ellies Armwarmers
Shoes: Baby Monkey - Ultimate - Rainbow for Haiti
Piercings: ellabella - No Rain Here (full)

Silentsparrow Month! Day 11 - It'll be on your desk by the end of the day

The other day I joined Avatars United. If you've not heard of it yet, it's sort of like Facebook, for people in online gamey things, and Linden Lab have recently acquired it, spurring a buttload of SL residents to join. I rather like this. I think it's especially nice for players of games such as Runescape (which I occasionally dabble in), where fraternization outside of the game is generally discouraged due to underagedness and so on, which is well and good for protecting the kiddies, but some of us are adults with pure intentions towards each other. It's odd though, mixing your worlds. Long ago, when I still worked in a club, a new player came in, and he had an oddly familiar and distinctive name, and it clicked, that I had met him in Runescape, before I'd started playing Second Life. We'd been acquaintances at best in Runescape, fished in the same place on the same world from time to time, sort of thing, and in IM, I confirmed that it was indeed him (I'm Nivaya there too), and we chuckled over the coincidence that in all the clubs in all the virtual worlds, he'd wander into mine. He got a bit clingy for a while and then said his mom wouldn't let him play SL anymore, so I'm guessing some underage ban went on there, and I started to idly worry about cross-world stalkers. But anyway, I've "united" with a nice wide range of people on AU, from close friends to people whose name I know, to people whose name I don't know, and linked my Runescape avatar to my SL one and feel strangely accomplished about it all. I'm still not sure of the point in the whole thing apart from to microblog without the bitchiness of Plurk, but on the slim chance that you're reading this from my Feed Reader on AU - HI!

So it looks like my accidental schoolgirl of yesterday graduated nicely and found herself a nice secretarial job of sorts. In a place with a cool dress-code, natch. The basis of the look formed from it being bloody cold here right now, and me wanting to wear one of the silentsparrow's aptly-named Snug cardigans. So I did. The Snug cardigan is the most incredibly cozy-looking thing, rich chunky knit, with sculpted puffy sleeves, with safety-pin fastenings at the front, and pinned on patches, a big one at the back, and a little one at the front. The patches are texture change, and filled with various black and silver artiness, and if you were lucky enough to get the version from last year's Starlust VD hunt, there's also heart-themed patches in there. Underneath it, my 'blouse', with its little sprocket buttons, is actually a vest, from the Twinstar lucky bird suite. If you missed it being in the chair, do not despair! In a move of great loveliness, hya has many many of her past lucky bird sets set out to buy, in the panels of glass next to the lucky bird cage. While you're there, say hello to Otterly and Gravity, parents of one of my bunnies! My skirt is from the semi-vintage Dreaded Sunny Day set, one of the older items in store, which has one of my favourite system skirts in the world. Because I don't fear the system skirt, it's called a skirtshape, yo. Make one right, and you'll have all the best curves in all the best places. Anyway, what I love about this skirt is the wraparound front, with its fishtail effect sexy bit at the front, and the excessive beltage. And the pattern. And the colour. Never, ever ignore classic pieces like this. Do remember to wear panties, though.
Oh! Earlier in the post I mentioned the Starlust VD hunt, the 2010 hunt started today, go do it, and bring your clue-solving head, my gorgeous lip piercing is the prize from Ellabella, and we all know how much I love my Ellabella piercings, this one has four little lip studs, and on a chain, a tiny little heart in a round cage. With some extra chains. It is Love. There are ridiculous amounts of wonderful prizes other than this, too, so go hunt!

Outfit Credits:

Skin: Curio - Cupid II - Moonbeam Frex [Dark] - Pure 4 (with dark brows, yay!)
Hair: Magika - Denise (back picture) & Saturday (front picture) - Red C
Cardi: silentsparrow - Snug Cardigan - Blood
Vest: silentsparrow - Twinstar Lucky Bird Suite - Orangecream Sprocket Vest
Skirt: silentsparrow - Dreaded Sunny Day - Fawn
Shoes: First Flower - Hemlock - Magenta
Glasses: Prim0ptic - Celeste Glasses
Lip piercing: Ellabella - Starlust is for Lovers
Necklace: Eolande - Heart's Devotion Necklace - Silver
Ears: Schadenfreude - Fey Ears - Ankh & Plug

Silentsparrow Month! Day 10 - Back to school

I look, like, 12. Not me personally, you understand, I look every bit of my 26 years and some bits of some other peoples', but my avatar. Looks 12. It wasn't intentional. At first, I thought maybe it was the skin, Curio skins do have a somewhat rejuvenating effect, and the Cupid line is no exception. But then I looked at Persephone, wearing the same skin as me, and she managed to look like a grown-up. So, okay, it wasn't just the skin. Must be the hair. Riffled through my hair folders, tried various effects. I managed to come up with: prissy schoolgirl, tomboy schoolgirl (as a sub-discovery from this, I discovered my ears needed more tinting to go with the skin), mouse schoolgirl (not mouseY, mouse, you don't want to know), anchorwoman schoolgirl, schoolgirl-in-a-wig...I think we're sensing a pattern here. So okay, it wasn't just the skin, it wasn't just the hair. Maybe it was the outfit? Tried a shorter skirt. Now I had discovered Slutty Schoolgirl. Tried taking off the lace undershirt. Now I was a Halloween Cheerleader. Back to the skins. I tried a skin with a more adult face. It made me look unnaturally short. Really, wearing that skin, I felt like a midget. And compared to a lot of my SL friends, I'm relatively statuesque. I looked at Persephone, in her button-down blouse and jeans, and she looked like she was my mom. And I'm okay with that, sometimes! It reminded me of old times. So I decided to embrace it, and go with my original outfit, and here I am, in all my accidentally 12 glory!

The outfit started with me wanting to do something cool with the cuffs from the Kurai suit. They're really nice cuffs, with their curly swirly patterning, and little bits of lace brocade sticking out. There's a little ankh at the bottom of the cuff, and at the top, a pair of glistening jewel buttons, adding just that extra touch of vibrancy. I wanted to put something relatively plain with them, so they'd stand out, so I went with the Voltaire shirt, remembering having advised my husband towards it the previous day at the Suit Sale (which is now over). The shirt from the Voltaire suit is basically just a really nice ribbed V-neck sweater, perfect for more casual days, and comes on a couple of layers, which is great for...y'know. Layering. Under it, the Chapiteau Lace Tank. This one is from the Tiger set, it has an orange button, see? The high collar of this slightly worn top makes it great for wearing under other things, but there's also a thicker band of lace over the boobs that does a good job of hiding one's nipples, unless you're really looking, if you wanted to wear it as is. The skirt is the Lolita skirt from the Babbage set. Babbage is only available at the silentsparrow location in Babbage Canals in the steampunk haven of New Babbage, and features the New Babbage tartan, and now I feel like I've said Babbage way too much, THE WORD HAS LOST ALL MEANING. At my footy area, the socks from the Voltaire Suit, dressed up with my trusty Shiny Things Ballet Flats, a bargain at 100L a pair from the discount area there, and a beautiful classic. So yes. I look like a schoolgirl. But at least I go to a school with a supercool uniform!

Outfit Credits:

Skin: Curio - Cupid - Moonbeam Frex [Dark] - Pure 1
Hair: Deviant Kitties - Sammy - Blood Red
Sweater: silentsparrow - Voltaire Suit - Ash (alternate)
Shirt: silentsparrow - Chapiteau - Tiger
Cuffs: silentsparrow - Kurai Suit - BrassHeart
Skirt: silentsparrow - Babbage - Lolita Skirt
Socks: silentsparrow - Voltaire Suit
Shoes: Shiny Things - Ballet Flats - Cocoa
Ears: Schadenfreude - Fey Ears - Ankh and Plug

Silentsparrow Month! Day 5-6 - SUNDAY BONANZAA!

No blogging yesterday due to a friend coming over and being here and being all in the way and stuff. He's a Second Life skeptic. When I logged in to check on my bunnies (one had foolishly hopped into a river, luckily, all Ozimals are equipped with scuba gear, so she was fine) he bombarded me with stupid questions. Not noob questions, stupid questions. "Who's that lady? That's not you, your hair isn't that colour, you're not wearing that skirt, you're not wearing that belt! You're not flying, why is she flying? What are those bunnies for? You should shoot one! Why are your ears pointy? A skirt wouldn't move like that if you were flying, why are you flying? How did you walk through that window? THOSE MOUNTAINS ARE REALLY CRAPPY" (I happen to agree with him about the mountains, they belong to a neighbour and are an eyesore). What eventually shut him up was when I was showing him what one could do with one's avatar, and he said "make her a DANDY!" and I instantly suited her up in silentsparrow's Gloomy Suit, with Schadenfreude's Digital Alchemy top hat, and he was like "COOL!". He still thinks Second Life is lame though. Can't win 'em all. So, instead, he and my husband sat around playing Bayonetta, which made me feel like all tough chick. And when I feel all tough chick, I default to either Pirate or Viking. I'm a fantasy seafaring type, me.

So here I am, slightly piratey. I'm wearing bloomers from Datura, which is a just gorgeous set anyway, these bloomers ain't your granny's glitch pants. Ironically, given that they're bloomers. Rich and velvetty, with a thick ribbon garter around one leg, and such beautiful ruffled cuffs, with layers of faded brocade and lace, if the skirts with this set weren't so pretty, I'd stretch up these cuffs and wear them as a skirt. It would be a weird-fitting skirt, but the thought is there all the same. At my waist I'm wearing the highwaist from the Cerise Selador set, another Limited Edition set, I'm afraid, but there are lots of similar things out there, should you be man enough to want to emulate my look. And the Fond Affections bustier, big sister to the bra I was wearing in my last post. Here you can see the elaborate, vaguely heart-motifed brocade of the lower part if it. Pretty, isn't it? It also has a bright heart on the back. Valentine's day is coming up, you know. This would be a nice, tasteful way of wearing your heart on your...back. My tattoos are some of my favourites. The belladonna:lepidoptera tattoos come in a million colours, and has an impressive 7 options per colour set, 3 for the upper body, 2 for the legs, and one each for the hands and feet. I particularly like the version I'm wearing because of the shading on the shoulders, which looks a little like a sheer mesh top being worn underneath the clothes. Also, while my friend was here, we spotted the book "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters". As a nod to that, I'm wearing Schadenfreude's Electro-Cute plugs in my ears, see the little octopus? Aww, so tentacley.

So to today, spurred on by my semi-victory with the hat yesterday, I decided to don the new Chapiteau Chapeau, a collaboration between silentsparrow and Schadenfreude. As can be expected from a hya/Alle venture, it comes with scads of options. There's a squeefully cute mini version for all the loli types out there, a small version, for small people, a full-sized version for full-sized people, and a decadent scarfed version, for ladies who ride, and ladies who don't ride, and dandy, dandy men. It comes with a HUD, which allows you to change the texture of the hat, the scarf (two options per colour, one with lace at the tips, and one plain) and to change which of the endlessly adorable Chapiteau cameos you want to wear at the front. It's like [insert number of combinations I'm not clever enough to work out] hats in one! Here I'm wearing it in Dollie purple. Playing to a theme, I'm wearing a Dollie t-shirt, from the second silentsparow Bird of Random gatcha in the courtyard. It's number 18, in the SMALLER of the two birds, and at 25L a pop, it's quite the bargain, unless you happen to be compulsive like me and pokemon bounces around your brain telling you to CATCH 'EM ALL! Then it's slightly less cheap. But worth it! I am also wearing the jacket from Batties, a fun set released around Halloween, you can't see it in my pictures, and I only noticed today, but there are bats on my boobs! How goth is that? Batties, and its sibling sets Cheshire, Cuttles and the location exclusive Babbage, are some of the most versatile sets you can get at silentsparrow, as far as casual-wear goes, packed full of skirts, tanks, gloves, and all sorts of other cute little extras you know you can't live without. On my bottom half, pants from the Severin Suit (which is still, until Tuesday, at 50% off in the Suits room at the silentsparrow mainstore). The Severin and Severina matched male and female sets are possibly my favourite matching things, each for their own lovely reasons. The pants in Severin being a huge part of that. They're bi-coloured! And stripey! And have these neat buckley strappy awesome bits, and awesomeness. So I'm wearing the Iris, a purple that doesn't match the rest of my purple, but matching is for saps anyway. Also, look at my shoes! They're nothing new, but they're cool as can be. They're from Katat0nik, and apart from being such a sweet shape, they're texture change, individually texture change, so look! Stars and Stripes! It's like I'm American! A really purple American.

So yes. This post has been tl;dr, I know. If you've read this far, I heart you.


Outfit Credits:

Pic 1

Skin: Curio - Moonbeam Frex [DARK] - Beach - Crude 1
Hair: Magika - Crim - Red E
Top: silentsparrow - Fond Affections Bustier - Sea
Middle bit: silentsparrow - Celedor - Cerise (Limited Edition)
Bloomers: silentsparrow - Datura - Strawberry
Tattoos: silentsparrow - belladonna:lepidoptera (upper)A - Ash
Feets: SLink - Jolie Pied - Mid
Ears: Schadenfreude - Fey Ears (with Elecro-Cute plugs, using a seperate HUD)

Pic 2:

Skin: (as above)
Hair: Truth - Sage - Cherry
Top: silentsparrow - T-Shirt of Random #18
Jacket: silentsparrow - Batties
Pants: silentsparrow - Severin Suit - Iris
Shoes: Katat0nik - Bubbly Mary Janes - Purple
Hat: Schadenfreude&silentsparrow - Chapiteau Chapeau
Bracelet (L): Schadenfreude - Bangle and Jellies
Bracelet (R): Schadenfreude - Starlust Charm Bracelet (from Starlust Motel lobby)
Ears: Schadenfreude - Fey Ears - Spiral Horns

Silentsparrow Month! Day 4 - Bad Ballerina

I was a horrible, horrible ballerina. I took ballet classes for 9 years in my youth, and have nothing to show for it but good posture (the key is to imagine there's a meat hook stuck through the top of your head that's pulling you upwards. Charming imagery for little girls who just want to be prancing fairy princesses) and a habit of walking round on tiptoe, but I prefer to think that's because I'm sneaky. But that's not the kind of bad ballerina I'm talking about, in this case. I'm talking about the kind who drinks and smokes and has tattoos and...wears non-sanctioned tutus. She's probably not even a real ballerina! Probably just pretends to be, to sneak into those wild Royal Ballet Company parties. I like to think she's more a ballerina for the circus! A rough-and-ready sort of circus, not an enchantingly whimsical one. Yes, tough circus ballerina. That's my look for today!

The tutu I am wearing is from silentsparrow's Coppelia, which in its entirety if perfect for any fae, or ballet prancer, or general cutie. Persephone remarked that she has the outfit in pink, and looked like Ballerina Barbie in it. In my book, this is a Very Very Good Thing. But here I am, in the black! The skirt is covered in swirly vines, with layers of tulle underneath. There are also some very sexy ribbon suspenders which attach to the undershorts, tied with bows, and clipped to loose-weave stockings. With these, I'm wearing the unbearably cute Dumbo Chapiteau corset in Ash (you get two versions, one with dark stripes and one with friendly coloured stripes). Underneath it, a bra, which comes with the Fond Affections bustier, the top of which peeps merrily over the top of the corset, making a very nice bright effect from the back. My tattoos are hart.thorn&thistle, named for all sorts of pointy pretty things and also features bees, for added pointiness. There should be more boob-antlers in the world, I think. Around my neck is the BRAND NEW Chapiteau Locket, in Dumbo. The locket also comes in other colours and cute critters of the Chapiteau line, and if you buy the SeaNorses one, you get a bonus picture of me inside, to carry with you always. Or replace with someone you like, the choice is yours. Inside my own locket, I've put a picture of some bunnies. They're not my bunnies. I'm creepy like that.

On an SL DRAMAZZZ topical note, I am informed by Perse that the boots I am wearing form part of a controversial outfit. On extended hiatus from Plurk as I am, I miss all the juicy stuff. At any rate - the boots are from a Sn@tch outfit, which something-something-I-don't-know, I don't see what the fuss is about, but people will think what they will. I figure Perse will have something to say about it, and chances are I agree with her. For me, through, I coincidentally found these boots in an inventory search for "Ballet", thought they went well with the outfit and am still wearing them proudly, which I think one way or another speaks for itself.

Outfit Credits:

Skin: Curio - Pin-Up - Moonbeam Frex [dark] - Apple Pie 2
Hair: Truth - Joanna - Cherry
Corset: silentsparrow - Chapiteau - Dumbo
Bra: silentsparrow - Fond Affections - Love
Skirt/suspenders/stockings: silentsparrow - Coppelia - Ash
Tattoos: silentsparrow - hart.thistle&thorn
Boots: Sn@tch - from Dangerous outfit
Locket: silentsparrow - Chapiteau Locket - Dumbo
Ears: Schadenfreude - Fey Ears - Ankh & Plug

Silentsparrow Month! Day 3 - In which we are orange

Before I forget - as I'm spending February as a silentsparrow evangelist - for one week, from the 3rd (yesterday) to the 9th (next Tuesday) of this month, all silentsparrow suits (in the suit room!) are 50% off! Even if you don't want to read my prattlings, run over there and bag a bargain before it's too late! SALE SALE SALE! At Silentsparrow! In the suits room!

Okay so, today I fear I am going to be somewhat of a tease. The gorgeous art-nouveau lookin' corset I'm wearing is No Longer Available. It was part of a Limited Edition hunt in late 2008. hya's LE hunts, as I have squeaked about in past posts, are legendary, and for future reference, here's how they work: You gad about the silentsparrow sim, looking for dear little brightly coloured woodland creatures, and when you find one, you buy it, and it's yours, and you take it and love it and parade around in the pretty clothes that form its innards. Just for future reference. And that means the cute squishy hedgepig I'm holding is also not available anymore, and he's MINE! But if you're one of the 49 others who may have gotten the SolielNoir set in that hunt - HI!
The good news is, the regular red version, RougeNoir, is available to buy forever, even right now, and is just as lovely, it's just red, not orange. Also, it's black a bit. That's how the name works. Same gorgeous bright stained-glass effect, and skirts, and armwarmers and legwarmers and nipplewarmers and everything! And hey, while you're buying it, check out the hot chick in the ad picture! She seems like someone I'd like to read ramblings of. The lacy top I'm wearing underneath is also part of the set, but you'll find one just the same in RougeNoir.

To cover my nipples in the tail end of winter, I'm wearing the Ash henley from the new-ish Chapiteau corset/tops/gloves sets. They're worth buying for the henleys alone, you get an Ash version and a Creme version, and are well-worn works of art, moth-eaten, wonky-closured and loose-buttoned as they are, and so very versatile, you can throw them on with pretty much anything for a cozy, slouchy bit of layering. The jeans I'm wearing are another simplistic gem hidden away in an elaborate suit (which by the way, did I mention, 50% off, right now, SALE!). They come from the Cygne suit, and as with all hya's stuff, are eye-crossingly handdrawn, with every last stitch and rivet you'd expect to find on jeans, and a subtle lotus-y patten on them.
So, also, I'm weak. I got the new Cupid skins at Curio, LOOK HOW CUTE!! Look at my pretty mouth! Look at my dainty nose! Look how adorable I am! Done? Good. Don't stare at me like that, please.
And my ears are another variation of the wonderful Schadenfreude Fey ears, this time with honking great spiral horns jammed through them. They're colour-change with a HUD, you know.


Outfit Credits:

Skin: Curio - Cupid - Moonbeam Frex [Dark] - Teddybear 2
Hair: Curio - Betty Boop - Red
Undershirt: silentsparrow - RougeNoir Lace Shirt
Shirt: silentsparrow - Chapiteau Henley - Ash
Corset: silentsparrow - SoilelNoir Corset (Limited Edition - with hedgepig!)
Pants: silentsparrow - Cygne Pants - Ash (with belly-cover underpants)
Shoes: UBU - PornStar Hi-Tops MultiColor v2
Necklace: Violet Voltaire - Cake or Death - Carrot Cake

Silentsparrow Month! Day 2 - Greenback

It used to be that I'd just 'collect' silentsparrow clothing. I'd love it, buy it, wear it once, and then it would be carefully filed away in a maze of subfolders in the depths of my inventory. And that made me sad. But then, a flash of the obvious struck me! I could wear this top with those pants, and hey presto! Repeat wearability! Of course, as a longtime reader of Closet Crisis, I was not only aware of (and a devout believer in) making one's own outfits from pieces, but also that silentsparrow pieces could be used. It just seemed somehow naughty to do it with the lovely sets from silentsparrow. What if the patterns clash?! What if I DO IT WRONG?! For those of you who don't know, hyasynth Tiramisu already does a wonderful job of mashing up her outfits for her lucky chair sets and group gifts (by the way, join the group, 250L join fee, SO worth it), so who was I to argue?
But I was being SILLY. Silly silly silly Niv. Because it turns out, hya's clothes are a DELIGHT to mix n' match. It's now my everyday style of dress, rare is the day I'm not sporting some 'sparrow. You're not limited to wandering around in vampiric splendour with silentsparrow, break up the suits and suites and you can look individual and wonderful. Individual JUST LIKE ME *ahem*.

Today I bring you a limey look. Silentsparrow colours are generally consistent between outfits, so you've always got a great chance of shades from multiple outfits going together well. The base of my outfit is the Luxe Corsetm which is incredibly versatile, and manages to be basic at first glance and wonderfully opulent on closer inspection, with gorgeous sexy lacing at the back, and the Gutter Glitter Lolita skirt. I am a sucker for patchwork, and subtle patchwork even more. As you can see in the closeup picture, Gutter Glitter is adorned with a multitude of sewn-on details, moons, stars, buttons, hearts and patches. It's REALLY CUTE. To brighten things up, I've thrown on one of the Cropped Kurai jackets, I adore the spirally patterns of the Kurai suit, and the tiny tails at mid-back make me feel oddly fancy and a little like an RPG military cadet or something. An Ankhy one. The outfit still needed "something" and that "something" was a bum bow. When hya released the bum bows last year iwasalllike Whaaaaaa?! but I've found they can finish any outfit with a girly girly GIRLY flourish. Each pack of Bum Bows features three patterns to match various suites/suits, and comes on multiple attachment points, for those of you with tails of non-standard skirts or...or if you wanted to wear three at once? And because it's still wintery, stockings from the Lottie suite. If you happened to look up my skirt, I'd disapprove and possibly yell at you, but you would also see that the top of the semi-sheer stockings are lime green too. And as for the patterns clashing? They don't. They coordinate. :D

Outfit Credits

Skin: Curio - June - Moonbeam Frex [Dark] - Pure 1
Hair: Calico Ingmann Creations - Megan - Blood
Top: silentsparrow - Luxe Corset - ash (alternate)
Skirt: silentsparrow - Gutter Glitter - Lolita - Gloom
Jacket: silentsparrow - Kurai Cropped Jacket - Lime
Stockings: silentsparrow - Lottie Stockings - Lime
Shoes: Shiny Things - MaryGeos - Spring Green

Blogger Challenge: Plus-Sized Pixels

Hybrid Ansar's Big Girl Challenge was one I had to give a go, being as in real life I am, let's say, a touch on the Rubenesque side. Over the last few months, my avatar has been gradually creeping up in weight, from a usual SL 'petite' to something that could just about in RL count as curvy. Slimly curvy, but curvy, nonetheless. To me, it's not enough just to ramp up the 'Fat' slider and say you're done, so for this challenge I based Niv's shape on my own shape. And that shape is pear-shaped. Oh so very pear-shaped. I have almost no bust to speak of, but hips and thighs forever and ever. And not much in the way of a butt. So I'm a sort of 2D pear, really. A cross section of a pear, perhaps. As some sort of self-esteem thing, I've come to consider pearshaped a very sexy shape, in a quirky kind of way. In smaller proportions than my own preferably, but small breasts and big hips are now terribly aesthetically pleasing to me.

As I based the shape off my own, I erred on the side of caution as far as dressing nicely, and so for the first picture, I dressed as me. But with red hair. The shirt I'm wearing, from Naive, I have one very similar to, in RL. Perse told me I needed more colour ("You don't usually dress in such...bland colors" "I dress like this in RL except my hair is brown so it's even more bland!" "Oh") so I threw some armwarmers in there, something I have an immense collection of. But she had a point, and so I also made a second outfit that was a little more 'Niv', consisting of one of my favourite skirts, from Thimbles, and some silentsparrow. Can't be Niv without some silentsparrow!

On the whole, the experience of doing this challenge has actually been really fantastic, in a deep sort of way. I loved how my avatar looked. And that was a surprise in itself. Because, she looked like me. Okay, with better skin/hair and nicer clothes, but, the shape that I thought looked so nice, was my shape. It was a self-esteem boost of sorts, and felt quite liberating. I was proud of how "I" looked.
On the other hand, I have extra extra admiration for people who do this all the time. I couldn't. I briefly considered it, but it would all be such hard work. Just the logistics of it. I'd have to resize all my skirts, a lot. And poses! Poses would be a nightmare! I used Dove Swanson's chubby poses from her recent Poop hunt, and still my hands were poking through my flesh. It was disheartening and I can't imagine having to have that as an everyday feature, with the difficulty of finding an AO that 'fit' and....everything. It'd be exhausting. And I'd feel like a balloon next to some people *cough*Emee*cough*. Still, I think my av will be eating a few more big meals in future, and perhaps a time will come when SL is kinder to the bigger lass.

Outfit credits:

Pic 1:

Skin: [plastik] BaelElven-Glow-Freck
Hair: Truth - Gemma - Cranberry
Shirt: .:Naive:. Face Top White
Pants: Sprawl - The Treble - Oxblood
Shoes: {kari} - Kicks
Necklace: >>Figure 8<< Jr High BFFs (Be Frie (Emee has the other half, we're so cute))

Pic 2:

Skin: Curio - Pin Up - Moonbeam Dark [Frex] - Jitterbug 1
Hair: Gritty Kitty - Faders - Red
Corset: silentsparrow - Blood Velvet Corset
Skirt: Thimbles - Svetlana Takes the Bus (black)
Shoes: Kookie - Kat Platforms - Red

Summer Hits and Gypsy Bliss

So I am not in a creative frame of mind. I have new stuff to show off and that is exactly what I am going to do now!

I am a bad model, I work for the lovely Indyra Seigo of Indyra Originals and I know I should be showing off more of her great new releases.

This one is a New/Old Release. The Vida Dress originally come in Black and White and I always love this mini-dress with just a hint of sheer without being over the top. Many customers asked for more colors and Indyra delivered beautiful colors perfect for Summer. Featured here is Vida in Skittles Green combined with her Clarissa Shoes in Silver. All the accessories are from Indyra Orignals too.



I find I am wearing a lot more flats and capri's right now and the Luna Top by Leah McCullough is a step above the simple tank tip with it's brightly colored Hibiscus on the side. I have paired this with my fave cargo short from Malt.




Then Today Munchflower Zaius of Nomine released some additional pieces for her Gypsy Connection. I could say I gushed or I swooned, but that would be exaggerating. However, I do love this, her details and primwork is impeccable. I combined it with the Gitana top in White From Naive and new hair I found from [Gauze] called Relia. I definitely felt exotic.




So there you go! All these locations can be found easily in Search so please take time to check out these stores.



Look 1

DRESS - Indyra Originals - Vida (Skittles Green
SHOES - Indyra Originals - Clarissa (Silver)
JEWELRY - Indyra Originals - Nuvella Hoops (silver) and Black Pearl Necklace
SKIN - :Gala: Sundust [light] June -Grass2
HAIR - Truth - Amber (Auburn)


Look 2
TOP-.:Naive:. Luna Top (Blue)
PANTS- .:Malt:. Cargo Shorts (Black)
SHOES - Tyranny Designs -
SKIN - :Gala: Sundust [light] June- Pure 4
HAIR - [Curio] Paper Tiger 1 - Auburn


Look 3
Top: .:Naive:. Bolero Gitana White
Vest: Nomine - Gypsy Thin Vest (Tan)
Skirt: Nomine - Gypsy Crinkle Skirt Dusk
Shoes: Simple Gem Sandal
Earrings: Indyra Originals - Nuvella Hoops (Gold)
Belt, Pentant and ChouChou =Izumiya= FSet 21
Skin: :Gala: Sundust [dark] June-Raccoon1
Hair: [Gauze] Relia - Medium Brown