I'm Not Dead I'm Just Sad And Needed To Chill

I'm not one for divulging much about RL in SL because in a way, I consider this my sanctuary from my day-to-day existence. A wonderful existence I might add but one that is crazy busy and sometimes too hectic even for me. I haven't posted in a few days and thought I'd just check in to say that I've just taken a bit of time to digest my sad news...sad to me anyway. My doggie's got cancer and only has between two to six months before it takes her. To be honest, she really isn't my doggie, she's my baby, my best friend, my joy. Unfortunately it has progressed to the stage that it is essentially untreatable and while every part of me wants to try everything, my love for her is too great to let her suffer unnecessarily. I've chosen to give her quality of life rather than quantity. She's nearing 13 so while I hoped she would live into her late teens, age is against her.

I absolutely want to make these last months as peaceful, comfortable and loving as I possibly can but I know after I make the decision that enough is enough, I'll be heart broken.

So if you could send positive affirmations to my darling one, I'd be so grateful. I now have to shake off the sadness and just enjoy the moments.

Here I am in my favorite bed from Dutchie. I really love this bed Froukje and the creases in the cover are such a wonderful touch.

Anyway lovely people, take care and I'll be back to share some of my favorite things soon. I had a Truth shop-a-thon the other day buying some of the styles around the sides and back of the store. OMG he has some brilliant hair apart from his new releases that I hadn't seen before. This shaggy style is called Valena in Swedish.

My wish for the week in SL.....WEAR MORE HATS.

Plurk Hates Me.

Ok every time I go to Plurk about my blog, it's broken.

Dummy spit over. Don't I look nice though? Dis is my new hair.

I'm So Excited And I Just Can't Hide It...Aimesi Skins

First of all, Happy 4th of July people of America. Big hugs.

I just couldn't wait to blog these skins. Couldn't wait I tell you. I have a job on at the moment but took a break to show you these. Mea Carnell, the designer at Aimesi selling skins, hair and fashion sent me a message asking if I would be interested in doing a wee story on one of her newly released skins, Leona. I took one look at the picture she sent and jumped at the chance. From that photo, the quality and Mea's obvious talent just oozed out at me and I wondered once again why I hadn't visited Aimesi before. Being the rock dweller that I am these days, sometimes the awesomeness of creators has to come to me unfortunately. Anyway these are some seriously brilliant skins. Brilliant enough to make me want to run back for fat packs in every style. No, I'm not that rich but I wanted to.

As I have said before, I personally would prefer to show skins somewhat differently to other wonderful skin reviewers. I not being one of the wonderful by the way. I will leave their level of critique to the initiated as I simply know what I love. And these I love!

Click for a bigger view but don't look at my boobs ok?  Promise?

Excuse the boobs but I love these nipples. ME LOVES MY NIPPLES. And I love the hands and the nails. I love the lips...so pouty and kissable. I love the bone structure of the nose and around the eyes. I'm a Leona girl and I'm not sorry.

Now I did a bit of research for this unlike my previous posts where I just show you the pics. I trotted along to Aimesi and found Leona in all her glory. There are three skin tones in this case, being Cashmere (the paler skin that I'm wearing in these snaps), Cream and Caramel. For a fat pack of 6 delicious make ups, you pay only $4000L or individually, they are $900. Exceptional for a skin of this quality in my opinion.

Please, please go and have a look see. I am giving these skins 5 nipples out of 5. Yes folks...I'm grading skins with nipples because they are very underrated part of the anatomy I feel.

I have put together the style card below but just wanted to give honorable mentions to my earrings from Simay Italian Fashion - my new favorite shop don't ya know, my dress from the amazing Casa Del Shai and this hair from Sugarcube. I have to particularly mention my eyes in these photo's. I am a serious Nany Merlin devotee of her Expressive Eyes but the darling designer at Avantgarda Creations, Rebeca Bashly, sent me the eyes you see above. I wore Blue, Inwoods and Swamp for this shoot and I must say they are fabulous. Really fabulous. So for the hard to please eye connoisseur, grab the cab and take them for a test drive. I think the white of the eye is just the most realistic color I have seen. Thank you Rebeca xx. You have got me out of my comfort eye and I'll be wearing these a lot.

Stuff:
Skin: Leona in Cashmere from Aimesi
Hair: Ketty Part Of Me Hair in Honey from Sugarcube
Eyes: From Avantgarda Creations
Earrings: Pois & Flowers Earrings by Simay Creations
Dress: La Capricclosa by Casa Del Shai
Shoes: Bare Gretta in Badseed Red by Stiletto Moody

I'd like to just take a moment to say this to other bloggers. I want you all to keep true to your blogging style. There is room enough for all of us and while we will individually have our detractors, I just love the variety and diversity we offer. I imagine you do this because you have something to say and as a means of expression...don't worry if the spelling isn't perfect or the pics aren't all that. I love you all just the way you are - make a good song that.

Lurani And Friends

Thank you for allowing me to blog some of the Lurani pre-fall collection Gisele. Hope you like it darling readers.

Where?

Lurani
Maitreya
LeLutka
Coutisane Shoes
Inaya Skins
Gibberish

GG Vicki Lace Socks
Tomoto
nostos:deer
Shag
Paper Couture
Elate

I Have A Secret...Shhhhhhh. Simay Creations.

I love discovering new finds, places that I haven't seen before. Over a month ago I had one such find...that being Simay Creations. The designer is silvia Mayo and she has created three separate Simay entities, Simay Fashion, Simay Furniture and Simay House and Furniture.

My first introduction was her fashion label and I was bowled over by her style and ability to replicate a range of what appears to be RL wearable fashion in SL.  Walk through the boutique and everything is presented in it's entirety.  By that I mean she gives the shopper an entire look from hat's to jewelery to shoes and bags styling each outfit to perfection.

Please click pics for a larger more detailed view. I'm trying to keep my pics smaller on the feeds but with a click, you can see them much bigger.

I haven't been as thrilled with discovering a collection of this quality for some time and I simply could have purchased the entire shop.  I had my eye on this outfit for a while and wanted to present this in my blog as an example of a Simay Creation.  This is called 'Dark Zebra' incorporating the hat, jacket, scarf and gorgeous skirt. Silvia has a wonderful, wonderful eye for fashion and her pieces are unique and quite unlike what you see around everyday.  I purchased some boots that I will create an outfit around in the near future and I was so thrilled with them.  I swear I haven't seen anything like them.

I find her designs sophisticated, unique and very realistic in terms of material, texture, cut and flow. I just can't wait to explore more of her clothing and vast array of accessories for future LOTD. I'm sure many of you have had the pleasure of a Simay experience but still, it feels like my little secret.

And she wore:

Skin: Maeva Skin (Make Up #6) by Inaya Skins
Hair: Nimue in Natural Blond by Maitreya
Eyes: Expressive Eyes in Big Grey by Nany Merlin
Nails: Black Manicure from Caribe: Mount Pacoloco
Jacket/Skirt/Scarf/Hat: Black Zebra by Simay Creations
Boots: Bloom in Black by Maitreya

Shot at Nomas 2. This is a RP sim so please be respectful of the rules.

Burberry By The Beach

I love a bit of Burberry. In fact, I love anything with berry in it. Here I am in my kitchen about to cook some coffee. I mean I'm a modern independent, high achieving, self-sufficient kind of girl and I do for myself. I can cook, clean and keep my beach retreat looking spick. So what if my culinary skills stretch to coffee and toast. At least I dress like I mean business.

I really like this combo taken from a little bit of this and that.

See those pots down there? I take great pride in the fact that they've never been used and are still as shiny as the day I brought them. Those cook books in the background from Dutchie are there for show too. I only ever read fashion mags.

And that sink? Well it's there for decoration really and glistens like the Krupp diamond. Why waste water when I can just throw my plates out and return to Lapointe & Bastchild Designs for more. You see I am instrumental in keeping the SL economy going. Ta Ta.

Ze bitz 'n' bobz:

Le Skin: Elle Pale in Make Up 7 by Belleza
Le Hair: Larissa in Swedish by Truth
Le Eyes: Expressive Eyes in Big Grey by Nany Merlin
Le Top & gloves: From Praha outfit designed by Beauty Avatar
Le Pants: Seaman pants in Pitch by Boom
Le Shoes: Aequus in Red by Maitreya Gold
Le Hat: Alley by Tesla
Le Earrings: Pearl Flower & Heart by CentoPallini

Now I am absolutely loving the Viewer 2.1 Beta. I am so confused about why 1.23 crashed all the time, Emerald looses my inventory and viewer 2 seemed to give me graphic glitches. This Beta version is da bomb for me. We have just clicked and I'm really enjoying SL like I haven't experienced in ages.

NEW RELEASE - Mind Your Business In The New Dutchie Office.

As promised, here is a new release from my favorite lifestyle designer, Ms Froukje Hoorenbee of Furniture & House by Dutchie.

If you value your personal SL environment, you will undoubtedly know this amazing brand simply by the name Dutchie. I unfortunately came across Froukje's amazing work quite late which is a terrible shame as I would have surrounded myself with her brand of wonderful much earlier. Anyway, Froukje and I spoke last week and she shared with me her new amazing creation, The Dutchie Office made as a sky box. Please feast your eyes on the pictures and forgive me my rather heavy use of photo's in this post but when you find something like this, you must give it all the fan fare you can muster.

I really wanted to capture the incredible detailing of the build and dressings of this quality structure. It is being released this weekend so do make sure you drop in and see it for yourself. The prim usage, both unfurnished and furnished is very conservative so you have no excuse for not taking care of business.

Fox In The House.

I'm always tickled to receive a package from Fashionboi Landar of House of Fox because I always know I'm in for a treat. I wasn't disappointed when I hastily whipped on the contents to find this razor sharp number called Couture in Black that included a hat and huge diamante crusted earrings. What I always appreciate with Ms Landar's creations is the fact that she makes skins as dramatic and intense as her clothing line so you can really go to town and let your inner Ga Ga out to play.

I couldn't resist showing off my golden booteh's from Bax too. These boots are fab, fab, fab.  Look at the details - skilled shading and realistic leather folds around the lower boot.  Brilliant.

Ze Look

Skin & hair base: Lara (Make Up #2) Light hair base by House of Fox
Eyes: Expressive Eyes in Big Grey by Nany Merlin
Dress/Hat/Gloves/Earrings: Couture In Black by House of Fox
Stockings and garter: From Barbee (store no long open) - designed by natsu Serevi.
Shoes: Prestige Boots in Gold by Bax Coen
Necklaces: Exotic necklace by Tik Tok
Location: The Wastelands

ZombiePopcorn SL Carnival - There's Nothing More Scary Than A Clown

One of my favorite sims used to be Carnival Of Doom. It seriously scared the crap out of me which I know is really stupid but it did have an atmosphere of doom n dread. Taking a visit to the ZombiePopcorn SL Carnival, it was reminiscent of that sim and the mystery that seems to surround carny folk. I have always had a bit of an aversion to carnivals and circuses...something about the transient nature of them. A world created full of lights, sounds and smells one minute, and like a phantom, gone the next leaving a wake of litter in its place.

I walked the shops, rode the dodgem cars, navigated the fun house and it was a hoot. So if you want to see a great sim and enjoy all the fun of the fair, take this TP to the ZombiPopcorn SL Carnival. But beware...the man murdering circus clown might get ya.

Summer Loving At Casa Del Shai

The lovely Shai Delacroix, fashion designer extraordinaire of Casa Del Shai fame, sent me her new Summer 2010 release of this gorgeous dress called La Eleganza. Shai has been making hand-painted and sculpted clothing in SL since 2006 and at the Fashion Blogger's Choice Awards of 2007 was voted 'Best of' in many categories. One can only imagine that what Shai doesn't know about SL clothing construction is hardly worth mentioning.

La Eleganza is as the name implies. Elegant, stylish and classic, the dress is timeless in its appeal. A perfect and versatile dress for any occasion.  I imagine it going along on your summer vacation and seeing lots of action.

Case Del Shai is full of amazing fashion and I urge you to take a trip there and engorge yourself on all that fabulousness.

I just had to get into my new Inaya skins again. This one is Maori and I just think the face is totally divine.

Skin: Maori Meia skin by Inaya Skins
Hair: Anda in Brown by Mirai Style Hair Salon
Eyes: Twilight Eyes (Bella) by Exodi
Nails: Gold by J's
Dress: La Eleganza in Cocoa by Casa Del Shai
Shoes: Aequus in Gold with Brown ankle wrap by Maitreya Gold
Bracelets: Tennis Bracelet by Aluinn

I'm In An *elymode* State Of Mind

What can I say about Elysium Eilde? She's one of the people who have made SL more beautiful in lots of different ways. Her penguin promoter walking around Second Look Studio, her photography studio, once had a label on his head saying "Ely is a genius". Guess what?  He was absolutely right. She has taken some of the best photographs in SL, produced some of the most inspired fashion shows among other things and is now a fashion designer of note. Her designs are of the utmost quality and her artistic skills are blatantly obvious when you take a close look at her pieces.

Ely, aka as *elymode*, sent me a blogger pack of these two dresses called Danaini in both Lilac and Gold. Feast your eyes on the amazing color and textures of these dresses. Beautiful Ely, just stunning.

I probably should have shown these in a summer, beach setting but the luminous colors and gossamer silky material led me to the fantasy forest and next thing, I had wings on.

You simply must go to *elymode* and indulge in exceptional quality textures and well cut pieces that will become wardrobe staples.

Hair in both shots from Truth.
Skin in both shots from Belliza.
Shoes in both shots from Maitreya Gold.
Dresses from *elymode*
Wings created by Jen Shikami

Catch Up With Chalice

Coooooeeeeeee.

Well my little darlings I'm back. What you say? Didn't know you'd gone? Don't be so cheeky.

My short hiatus commenced as above. Sitting in my living room recently, that whiny annoying, pain in the ass inner voice of mine said, 'You need a change of living space'. 'Oh God not again' screamed my logical voice of reason.  While I love, adore, idolize my NotSoBad Dubai house I knew resistance was futile. I took off trawling the grid for a new home. I am the Imelda Marcos of Pre-Fabs and I'll do it again, mark my words. This post is an eclectic collection of drivel so don't scowl, scroll, if you don't want to read.

I've been everywhere man. I have scoured the length and breadth of SL and poured over the Lifestyle Blogs to see what floated my boat. I do this every time I create a new space, I'm possessed and maniacal until I finish it.

In the end I chose the Beach House designed by tunes Meness from 2Xtreme. I visited it quite some time ago and recalled how the earthiness of it resonated with me. While I drooled over many houses, it was this one I want to live in this week (oh God make it longer than a week-I'm exhausted). I will do a pictorial of my new space when I have the time. Here I am on this amazing meditation pillow from the beautiful mind of Isolahara Catteneo, genius of Mudshake. Go there people...it's illustrious.  You can see a bit of my Beach House in the background.

Can you tell I'm in a zen place?

Seriously, who would think to make a girly coffin to chillax in? Isolahara that's who? It's got everything a girl could want and an ash tray for my sly ciggie.  Ok so the coffin is a bit short for the Cha but you can't have everything in one little box.

Seriously, do not disturb?  Can it get any better.

I then took a ride to Mudhoney and love is an understatement. Looking at all the loveliness, I stumbled upon this little box that was full of furniture. I do believe the extraordinary Ms Rayvn Hynes has developed little themed photography boxes. I will check this out later but popped in the Shabby Chic room for a photo as you can see below.  If I am incorrect I do apologize but I did see a range of theme's to choose from in vendor posters and this is such a great idea for ppl with little space.

As you can see, I haven't changed my clothes for 3 days but it's okay because these little Pantaloon inspired shorts are part of the The Niven Collection MonoChrome II-Autoro White designed by my favorite designer, Scarlett Niven. The entire outfit is a gem and I seriously don't wish to live my life out of these shorts.  A walk through The Niven Collection Boutique tells you that Scarlett has an amazing grasp of fashion.  When I wear her pieces, I always think RL and that is what lifts her above many in the game, the game being SL fashion.

My friend, darling Vixie dropped over for a look at my efforts and we chatted like we always do.

Vix n me.  See I still won't take them off even with my thongs.

Thongs:  A summer staple that cuts across race, religion, sex, style and social status, the almighty thong is one of the world's great levelers  -  By Chris Sheedy

I have neglected my darling Truth Hawkes. Mr Truth doesn't know me at all but I do call him my darling because he makes my hair stand on end. I haven't had a Truth shop-a-thon for a few weeks so headed there to snap up my favorites but what I snapped was this shot. I must say I'm not very impressed with this do. Me thinks the dog must have gone a round with this one Truth.  Or perhaps this man and/or pygmy brought it elsewhere?  Yeah that's it...Truth would never use such cheap shampoo.

Now I have a very special treat for you coming soon.  One of my most favorite lifestyle creators, Ms Froukje Hoorenbeek from Furniture and Houses by Dutchie has designed something very special and I'll be featuring it in Chalice In Wonderland just prior to it's release.  OMG I'm excited.  Stay tuned.  You'll love it.