Girls AND Boys Can Be Pretty...

Already Ugly Duck has a new skin set for Kala out, this one being "unisex" (you will recieve one with female body characteristics and one with male, but the face is the same.) They are a very transluscent pale, with candy-colored makeup. I modeled new items from Project Themeory & The Dressing Room with it. :)

Skin: Ugly Duck Kala Powder F1

Hair: ::Kookie:: Amber / Marshmellow

Dress: Emery Dress Roxe Striped v3 #Lidil $70 The Dressing Room Blue

Skin: Ugly Duck Kala Power F(emale)4

Necklace: ::Happy Finds:: Birdmap Necklace $75L Project Themeory

Dress: ::Happy Finds:: Artistic Sessions Dress $75L Project Themeory

Hair: booN XFE275 hair purple The Dressing Room Blue

Pose: Long Awkward Pose

Hair: booN RRW202 hair sandy $70 The Dressing Room Blue

Necklace: ::Happy Finds:: Birdmap Necklace $74 Project Themeory

Dress: ::Happy Finds:: Floral Boho Dress & Vintage Necklace

Skin: Ugly Duck Kala Poweer F(emale) 5

Hair: Clawtooth The Seas Met - Blinding

Dress: Veschi Cartunic $69L The Dressing Room Blue NOTE: My shape is a fairly small, slender girl, and this dress was TINY on me. It took a lot of modifying to get it to fit, it was a bit ridiculous- basically turned out to be the SL equivalent of "sewing her into the dress." Thankfully it's copy/mod.

Skin: Ugly Duck Kala Power F2

Skin: Ugly Duck Kala Power F3

Bodysuit: Maitreya Bodysuit de la Ruche in Sea Green $50L The Dressing Room Blue

Bracelets: TDR special Big Bracelet Greys

Hair: fri.day Dylan

Now obviously this unisex skin is marketed toward someone that is neutrally gendered or very femininely male. Fade Lei recommends wearing the male skin of a female shape (while altering a few body parts, obviously!) It makes me think of how Ziggy Stardust would have looked when he was 12...

Playlist:

Ziggy Stardust- Moonage Daydream

Le Tigre- Hot Topic

Hedwig and the Angry Inch- Wig In A Box

Danger Friday Outfit

As always, I take pieces of many different outfits and throw together an outfit appropriate for hosting a "post-apocalyptic" punk-kinda burlesque show. Yes, it is very fun.

Shorts/holster: MIEL TARY SKIRT Polar Edition

Tattoo: GrungeInk "Cherished"

Boots: ::{Favole}:: Arachnia $100L

Stockings: :::Sn@tch Zippered Fishnets:::

Facial piercings: (Medley) ShadowPiercings-Random Set 1 (found in a hunt)

Skirt & "chest thingy": (that's how the designer labeled it! haha): Vita's Boudoir El Cabaceo

Gloves & skeleton shirt: Vita's Boudoir Sweet Death

Skin: The Plastik Lionheart skin in Psyche (past $50L Friday item)

Garter: .:* LOULOU&CO *:. - Garter " Pistolero" (I pretty much wear this every show- I LOVE it and a girl needs to be protected- apocalypse and all...)

Necklace: .:* LOULOU&CO *:. - Necklace :: ASTEROID :: Red $50 Rockin' Friday item

Eye "makeup": Bohemia [ glow ] Studio Eyelashes - Drama 02

Hair: **Digit Darkes-NATURALe-Defiance-Special Edition Pack (B)

Lady Looks Like A Dude...

Look playlist:

Bruno- Respect Yourself

MIASNOW debuted her new male skin, Adam, a few days ago to a lot of acclaim. Today she added two new lucky chairs to her store- one giving out the Adam skin! I was lucky enough to win one, so I threw on the free Kieran shape from Maschienenwerk and suddenly became...

Bruce Willis STARS in Die Hard 5: Second DIE!

Jacket: Meriken Co. Rhett coat in black

Shirt: $50L Friday Milk Motion My Ripped Shirt

Poses: $50L Friday Long Awkward Pose [LAP] Dude VII Pose Set

Skin & eyes: MIASNOW, both free! Adam Redhead 2 skin

Please, please, there's only so many times I can say "yippee-ki-yay..."

Oh... and for the morbidly curious, here's what Adam looks like in my regular girly shape...

Yes, Bruce withered away into a malnourished, bald Seth Green. Oh, and my friend Owl Sweetwater made that swanky owl ring, hoot!

Ugly Duck "Jesica" Skin Showcase/Interview

Skin playlist:

The Clash- London Calling

Billy Bragg & Kirsty MacColl- A New England

This is England on my face, and Ploom on me noggin, ol' chap, what what!

Today I got an attachment from a group I'm a member of- a crazy duck gesture from the awesome Ugly Duck. Then I was alerted that there is a NEW MEMBER SKIN OMGYAY. I ran over cuz I love these skins and I love group gifts- I LOVE THEM. I stuck around and was lured into demoing the new skin- Jesica.

She's so purty, how can you resist?!

The "default" Jesica skin, sans any makeup on a regular slperson. Hair by Ploom.

I was lucky enough to be able to chat a bit with Fade Lei herself in her awesome store (seriously- even if you're not shopping go through the tunnel and explore, it's like a nightclub from Bladerunner back there!) about the Jesica skin while I tried it on. I have never been able to hear from the designer themselves about an in-depth creation, so I hope you find it as interesting as I did. :)

WARNING: This entry contains a topless photo to feature the skin.

Jesica skin in "Day" version, hair $1 fatpack of Sally hair by Sn@tch found at the Enky's Dollar$tore Freebies.

(I have edited the conversation out of IM chat form & some grammar/spelling, but no content was changed or altered.)

Fade Lei: (The Jesica skin) took me like 6 months to make that one...on and off-

to make it i zoomed right into individual pixels and blended each to the next. The body I drew faint little tan lines on even, and has new boobs/belly/ribs.

(At this point she put up a huge curtain for me so I could strip and oogle my boobies. What a lady!)

Picture: Jesica in "Night" version (how skins look in glasses is a big indicator of their quality, imo, and this looks adorable with them!), golf hat, Tati, boobs. Hair by W&Y, glasses by Artilleri, pose by Olive Juice.

[15:43] Lila Corith: hot damn, i love these boobs!

[15:43] Lila Corith: they don't have that weird undershading most skins do, that's awesome...

[15:44] Fade Lei: yes that was a main thing i wanted to do

[15:44] Fade Lei: i was tired of everyone drawing silicone boobs on airbrushed skins

[15:44] Fade Lei: i dont want to look like a fake magazine photo =/

[15:45] Fade Lei: i think beauty is in little flaws and such

15:45] Fade Lei: they all have their place i guess and im not knocking anyone who wants to look like that

[15:45] Fade Lei: just isnt for me

[15:46] Lila Corith: I love the little freckles scattered too XD

[15:46] Lila Corith: always good to have options, yeah

[15:46] Lila Corith: YAY! (I yay'ed because I am a huge fan of freckles, so sue me!)

[15:46] Fade Lei: yar thats what i mean :D i like little things like that to add character

[15:46] Fade Lei: i made my skins perfectly symetrical once and hated it

[15:47] Fade Lei: each side is slightly different

[15:48] Fade Lei: i just think that the human shape is never symetrical

[15:48] Fade Lei: and looks false to me when people do it on skins

[15:49] Fade Lei: its much harder to do them differently but worth it i think

Jesica "Eyeshadow" version- feminine- but I love the tomboy quality it takes on with an updo. Hair by Clawtooth (Somebody's Lady), Cotton Mini Dress in Green outfit by Kyoot in their MASSIVE sale.

Fade Lei: I dunno i just prefer natural looks but when i do makeup i try to make it like something youd actually wear irl, like not orange lips etc passed as red.

Jesican skin in the "more pinched" look, which has a lovely blush. Skirt by Kyoot at their awesome sale, sweater a freebie from SF Designs. Truth Boho hair in Burgundy.

Well, she did a great job- the skin is delicate without being bland, sweet without looking like an anime character. She said right now she's working on some more versions of Jesica, including one with freckles!! Though with the detail she's working with at this skin, we won't see that for months. When you try the demo she does include a note explaining why this skin costs more than the others, because she worked half a year on this skin. Yes, this blogger paid full price & I was more than happy to do it (and if you know me you know I'm a regular Scrooge McDuck) and I've already gotten a handful of very nice compliments on it!

The detailed work shows- while I love my favorite skins, Ugly Duck is truly a different, quick class of its own. It seems to balance out a realistic look with a touch of adorable absurdity. If you like to look VA VA VOOM! all the time, these skins most likely won't be for you. However, if you'd like to mix it up a bit with a subtle but well-constructed skin- it never hurts to try on the free demos.

Jesica skin in lipstick version- three red pouting ladies, rawr! New Truth hair in Boho "Cherry".

For those on a budget, you get a TON of fun skins for joining the group at $250, there are gatcha machines full of tons of skins for $200 each, and there's a free mime skin & poses there for the taking. I can tell you from experience that bringing in a friend to play "mime wars" is the best possible use of your free time.

Just a quick note about this blog...

Just a note- as pretty obvious by my photos- I do not use Photoshop. Absolutely nothing against bloggers that do, but when it's used with fashion reviews/showcases instead of just artistic photos... it just doesn't feel right to me. I've paid good lindens on clothes and shapes (no shape demo should have warned me, but it was SUCH a popular brand I went without... nonono) that looked downright awful or just very different from how the bloggers altered it. Now, some amazing ones keep the integrity of the clothes while just making the photos more dynamic- more power to them, but since I don't have those skillz to pay the billz I go without.

I do not get freebies from designers... as no one reads this blog. ;D (Feeds are like "whatever dude") So if I praise something... it's cuz I think it's awesome and will be awesome to others. I have given constructive criticism in the past and will continue doing so- but I will always be respectful to the hard-working designers & content creators. Without them, I'd still have a melted conehead hair-head hybrid and be wearing that pink newbie dress from hell with skin that looks like a G.I. Joe had his face smushed against a hot summer sidewalk all day.

With that said, I will always take my photos with the highest possible graphic resolution and try to chose lighting & poses that will best show the products. Thank you and have a good one!

There's So Much Beauty It Can Make You Cry

Outfit/Morning Playlist:

Modest Mouse- The World At Large

Band of Horses- The General Specific

If I'm up and on in the morning I like listening to music. Sadly, most of the places that play the kind of music I like don't kick up into the afternoon. Instead, I get notices about "Morning House Music!", "Death Metal for Breakfast!". It is not morning in Europe, and lemme tell you- they don't play. More power to you if that's your aural coffee... me, I listen to my own mixes at Project Playlist or my trusty iTunes. I like something kicky, but not too hard- kinda like the fancied-up lady coffee I drink. Once I wake up more I tend to veer in this direction...

The Go! Team- Grip Like A Vice

TV on the Radio- Wolf Like Me (I HATE YOUR ADS, VEVO! Why are you playing me a tourist video for THE STATE I LIVE IN?!?! HULK SMASH!!! Anyway... both these videos are great on top of being sweet songs, so check 'em out.)

Jacket: Meriken Co. FREEBIE

Shorts: -Veschi- Jeanius! Plaid

Earrings: Lucy in Disguise Owl Earrings FREEBIE

Boots: -CLEMATIS- Green Stitch Leather Boots FREEBIE (Ok, I found these sweet boots as a group gift freebie when I was wandering around a Japanese sim. Once I find it again I PROMISE I will slurl all over your face!)

Hair: Maitreya Malou in Crayon

Glasses: *FishyStrawberry* College glasses $50L Friday item

Skin: -KA- Design Charlize skin (discontinued)

Poses: Poses for Posers, RIP :(

A store I love, Zaara, is having a 50% off sale on everything except what they featured in a Flickr contest. I grabbed this pretty Spring-time feeling dress for a scant $110L.

Hair: fri.day Lucy.2 in Jealous Red (I don't need to tell you about the mega sale there, do I? Didn't think so.)

Dress: Zaara Fulvari *Green*

Pose: Glitterati

Oop, lookit that. I just got a notice from a fashion group that some place has a deal on "mens bulges"- only in SL! Now I'm awake, wowza.

News, instant free clothes & SL pop art!

OUTFIT PLAYLIST:

Julian Casablancas- 11th Dimension

The Black Keys- Tighten Up (omg I am in LOVE with this new album, they just get better & better.)

Well, I was able to get away for the weekend and it really recharged me. Also, I've been having a great SL day so that helps too! Amazing set by Enigma Bombay (I kind of see her as the angel of great music in Second Life) dancing crazy at The Laundromat, plus I got some clothes made by awesome women during that time! I started out like this, a low-key outfit that I still like a lot. It's very much how I dress in RL, which I try to avoid since this is an AMAZING SECOND life where you can be ANYTHING, but sometimes it happens. :)

Also, one of my very favorite hair places in SL just moved into their new sim released a new style I love- I Love Olive! Normally I get the "crazy" colored pack there because they do my favorite pink hair in SL- and hell I probably will later- but I really loved how this looked brown, and I could use some short brown hair. Her hair packs being under $200L also make them EXTRA addictive.

Hair: I Love Olive Isa hair in Dark Brown

Skirt: MINK*SHOP **nikukyu** Retro skirt in red (I lovelovelove this skirt, and the style comes in a ton of different colors. It's just under $100L and comes with some nice options to change up the style. As you can see, it has awesome movement for dancing/air guitar playing!)

Shirt: {paper.doll} VNeckTee- in Oatmeal (An under $100L item that's sexy without being revealing, also comes in many other colors.)

Bracelets: [} Jasha {] Tahta Bracelets - Wood

Necklace: Happy Finds Cotton heart necklace

Then Enigma played a Julian Casablancas song, which prompted ByrneDarkly Cazalet and I to moon over him. I politely asked her to make a Julian alt so I could dance with him/her. She declined, but instead made this ace shirt and gave me a copy!

Julian all over my chest, ohhhh yeah...

Julian Casablancas shirt by ByrneDarkly Cazalet, Owl hat by Owl Sweetwater (a great friend & amazing new SL burlesque performer!)- I am now a member of the Owl Cult, hoot hoot!

What's that swanky background, you ask? Well it just happens to be the second addition to my SL art collection, Madame Pinku by MISS KIKA. It's from The Tart Gallery, and all of Miss Kika's work is amazing pop art- I HIGHLY recommend checking it out when you have some time!

Tonight is also the Danger Dolls show at 9PM SLT, and you never want to miss that. :) Bunnie Frakture is DJing tonight, woot!