SUEDE

All the suede of this Hucci outfit feels so decadent to me! ... True story, this year I was groaning as I passed by all the suede shoes at one of my favorite shops. I love suede, but let's face it, it doesn't last long enough. Hard to clean, chafed spots show wear too quickly, and before you know it, you are throwing away your favorite shoes. In this regard, Second Life is obviously superior, your nice things never wear out, although the inventory monster might munch on a few of them occasionally ...



I know you've seen this stuff from Collabor88 already, it's all fabulous. I think the coordinated palette is wonderful and working together must be so much more fun for the designers. The Schadenfreude boots are delicious and HUD-driven to control the leatherwork details. Amazed.



Dress: Hucci "Soure" (mesh)(at Collabor88)
Leggings: The Secret Store "Blue Wool Tights"
Boots: Schadenfreude "Amargosa Boots" (mesh)(at Collabor88)
Rings: Yummy "Boho Rings" (at Collabor88)
Earrings and Necklace: LaGyo "Titiana"
Hair: Ink Hair "Natum" (this color was exclusive at Hair Fair)
Skin: Atomic "Grace"
Eyes: MADesigns "Eyes Nature Ocean Deep" (okay these are really old!)
Eyeshadow: by Miamai
Poses: by Label Motion and oOo Studio

Love,
Serene

MENstuff 4 of 4: Details

I don't usually go for this many piercings but this set was really well made. It's not looking perfect in this photo, but that's because Inotto's shape is freaky and assymetrical. I love the piercings in the bridge of the nose but I think I'll unlink and ditch the nosering ... and oO these eyes are a keeper! Yum.

I have to tell you, what wins me the most to a piece is craftsmanship. If I fall in love with beautiful details, I'm willing to step outside of my usual style to try something different. This vest for example? Its a little more "Southwestern" than my usual, or could be used in a "boho" look which isn't my usual either. But when I tried it on I took a closer look at the notions on this vest and my mouth hung open for a second.

The buttons on the front ...

... and the cinch on the back of the waist. The texture of the vest fabric is realistically puckered as you would expect if it was cinched. Job well done.

Skin: &Bean “Dear John Can of whoop-a**”
Eyes: MADesigns “Eyes_Nature – Nature Run” wow.

Piercings: Razorblade Jacket “Sweet Spiked Face” and “Spiked Ear Piercings”

Vest: Connors “Denim Vest Red” (with sculpted buttons and a buckled cinch in the back)
Shirt: SF Design “Virginian Dress Shirt” (part of outfit, not wearing collar)
Pants: Evoke “Wrecked Jeans”

Love,
Serene

MENstuff 3 of 4: Quirky Everyday

What's quirky about a sports jersey, you ask? The team I guess ... a guy who wears an obscure team isn't just on the bandwagon. I really wouldn't have wanted a Lakers shirt.

And why a picture of walking a dog? I have no idea.

Hockey Jersey: Violation Inc. “Ovechkin”
Pants: Evoke “Wrecked Jeans”

Shirt: arnadi “Tshirt Let the Dog Out”
Pants: Love-In-Idleness “Rocker Jeans”

Skin: &Bean “Dear John Can of whoop-a**”
Eyes: MADesigns “Eyes_Nature – Nature Run”

Everything shown is from the MENstuff hunt. Before you hunt you might like to peruse the official Landmarks and Hints page and view pics at their Flickr page.

Love,
Serene

MENstuff 1 of 4: Roleplay

While selecting what to keep from this men's hunt, it suddenly occurred to me that the things that I keep usually fall into one of four categories, which seem to be perfect to talk about in four instalments of bloggity bloggage ... so part one is Roleplay gear.

So check out this military kit. The TShirt shows an old miltary-political propaganda piece, and you can't go wrong with camo and another set of kicks.

I love these, even though they don't meet all the benchmarks I set for my fashion boots. The boot construction is a bit old-school; each is made of two pieces that attach to the foot and the lower leg, istead of one piece with an alpha mask to hide the foot like the newer ones are made. These boots arent made of a zillion prims, with separate parts for each eyelet and section of shoelace. These boots have the shoelaces painted on. They don't change on touch to 15 colors. But if you like to Roleplay in a DCS or CCS sim with dozens of scripted weapons and combat meters, you might want to keep your boots simple. And if you look up close, the textures are beautiful.

Unless you're really new to Second Life, you know that there are roleplay communities for every genre of literature and movies. This one seems more or less old-west but if you lose the hat, remove the arm-bands, and swap out the collar for a frilly cravat, you could repurpose the rest of the outfit easily.

Here's another pair of shoes that is old-school in construction, but you never know when you will need gold-stitched paisley brocade. Right?

Shirt: b[ELLE]issima! “Propaganda Muscle Tee”
Pants: b[ELLE]issima! “Jeans – Cargo Pocket – Camo”
Boots: Deco “Test Boots – Newsprint”

Suit: SF Design “The Virginian”
Shoes: Fear & Clothing “Frankie Shoes – Paisley Gold”

Skin: &Bean “Dear John Can of whoop-a**”
Eyes: MADesigns “Eyes_Nature – Nature Run”

Everything shown is from the MENstuff hunt. Before you hunt you might like to peruse the official Landmarks and Hints page and view pics at their Flickr page.

Love,
Serene

ALONE IN PARIS

How long should I wait?

Hm.

Time to walk.

Billet Doux: Sanu “Love Letter Gold”
Trenchcoat: SLink “Milli Military Coat” (unavailable from the Platinum Hunt )
Shirt: Ducknipple “Scoop”
Boots: hoorenbeek “Pleaser Boots”
Purse: PACADI “Yfke Bag” (Rumors of Pacadi’s demise seem to be exaggerated.)
Hair: Clawtooth “French Connection” (50L Friday)
Skin: dekade “Claire” (unavailable from the Dressing Room)
Eyes: MADesigns “EYES_LIGHT ~ copper” (MHOH)
Poses: Long Awkward Pose
Location: New Paris

Love,
Serene

THE CHANGE OF SEASONS

Just stop and breathe. That's what I am doing this week.

But in between breaths, I made time to go see the Seasons Hunt like everyone else. :)

If you've seen all of these things before, that's all right. They're perfectly lovely anyway.

Most of this is from the Seasons Hunt, but not the shoes. ... For a couple of weeks I've been avoiding going to G Field because I wanted these shoes so bad. And not just one color either. You know how you see some things in Second Life and wish you could get them in Real Life? Yeah like that. Finally when I was in the mood for self-restraint, I went and bought them, only the two pairs in brown, and purple. Oy.

Sweater: Pig “There b Leaves on it T” (Seasons Hunt)
Dress and Corset: Ingenue “Highland Traveler” (Seasons Hunt)
Leafy in My Hand: Scribble “Seasons Hunt/Autumn Leaf” (Seasons Hunt)
Shoes: G Field “Square-toe Shoes ‘Sophie’” (color change piping and buckles)
Hair: Clawtooth “One Fine Day – AutumnMix” (Seasons Hunt)
Skin: Glance “Frieda”
Eyes: MADesigns “EYES_LIGHT – copper” (Make Him Over Hunt 4)
Poses: Long Awkward Pose and Pididdle
Location: New Trails

Love,
Serene

GOTHICALLY YOURS,

For my taste, this skin is the prize that makes the hunt. It is much less photo sourced than the previous MHOH hunt skins featured, and the photo elements are so carefully blended in you don't notice them. I stripped Inotto down to his Arnadi undies and looked him over till he felt like a cheap piece of meat LOL. The attention to detail was all that! Parts of this skin to which many designers pay less attention were flawless. For example, the scalp has the same kind of subtle freckling as the rest of the face. And for my money this skin has the prettiest ears I have seen on any skin male or female. (I resisted the urge to take a close up shot of his ears, you're welcome.) The dragon tattoo is an alpha layer addition.

Magically swapped tattoos so you could see this one too. There were several to find in this Hunt but I think this one from Aitui is the most original. Perfectly bone chilling and went nicely with this dark Dracula-esque suit from LnL. Muahahaha. You can't even see fangs until he bares them.

picture one:
Skin: Ricochet “Tristan Dark” (MHOH4)
Eyes: MADesigns “EYES_LIGHT – copper”(MHOH4)
Tattoo: Schwartz “Dragon Tattoo”(MHOH4)

picture two:
Skin: Ricochet “Tristan Dark” (MHOH4)
Eyes: MADesigns “EYES_LIGHT – copper”(MHOH4)
Tattoo: Aitui “Biomech Web”(MHOH4)
Suit: L.n.L “Outfit O-63”(MHOH4)
Necklace: Kosh “Enigma”(MHOH4)
Pose: Essential Soul “Thinker”(MHOH4)

Love,
Serene

WE'RE ALL OUT OF TITLES TODAY

Shirt: Juice “Route 66 Greaser”
Pants: Juice “Dirty Mucker Jeans”
Hair: Pocket Mirrors “Simon Brown”
Skin: Ricochet “Tristan Dark”
Eyes: MADesigns “EYES_PROMISE – green”
Pose: momomuller “MHOH4-0920_sit_m_13”

Shirt: Gabriel “Drape Shirt (blue)”
Pants: Shiki Designs “Caramel Striped Pants”
Necklace: GQ Fashions “Tribal Necklace Large Bone”
Pose: Pulling Strings “Yoga Tree” (not from the MHOH, a group gift :P )

Jacket: Klam Design “Kevin”
Pants: Adjunct “Tipped Trouser”
Necklace: Zenith “Feather Necklace”
Pose: d.can “Strong 6”

Sweater: Ducknipple “Foebel”
Pants: BalAni “B&W Madras Slacks”
Glasses: Kumaki Glasses Style “Moore/MHOH4”
Pose: d.can “Strong 4”

Love,
Serene

EIGHT PACK

You count em.

Skin: Prodigal “Nic_sunburn_buzz_shaved”(MHOH4)
Eyes: MADesigns “EYES_PROMISE – green”(MHOH4)
Shorts: Ali Couture “Juno Pants”(MHOH4)

Shirt: DeeTalez “Boyfriend Shirt”(MHOH4)
Pants: [hate this] “MHO4 – jeans – regular, boot cut”(MHOH4)
Skin: Prodigal “Nic_sunburn_buzz_shaved”(MHOH4)
Eyes: MADesigns “EYES_PROMISE – green”(MHOH4)
Pose: d.can “Strong 6”(MHOH4)

Left:
Shirt: Poised “E-Mute”(MHOH4)
Pants: Urban Republic “TuercSkull Pants”(MHOH4)
Necklace: a la Mood/[AB]Male “Najuha Tribal Necklace”(MHOH4)
Hair: Pocket Mirrors “Enzo Brick”(MHOH4)
Skin: Nikita Fride “Skin Exclusive MHOH4”(MHOH4)
Pose: d.can “Strong 1”(MHOH4)

Right:
Shirt: Equilibrium “UC2”(MHOH4)
Pants: Equilibrium “Mud Light Jeans”(MHOH4)
Bracelet: Rozoregalia “Gemma Bracelet”(MHOH4) (sorry i cropped it out!)
Hair: Nikita Fride “Hair MHOH4”(MHOH4)
Skin: Nikita Fride “Skin Exclusive MHOH4”(MHOH4)
Eyes: MADesigns “EYES_PROMISE – green”(MHOH4)

Love,
Serene

WHY HELLO THERE

Could you put on a little Luther Vandross?

I just melt in these eyes, and nothing but appreciation for the man wearing this skin. He is just mature enough, starting to get one or two silver bits in his hair.

An adult. And the jacket is like the man, just a little aged, but well cared for.

He knows how to dress up for a casual dinner.

Or dress down for a fly club. To introduce you to his best friends. (But what happened to his shoes?)

The skin pack from Tellaq also includes an older and still gorgeous version of the skin, with more silver hair, and clean shaven skin. He's lovely.

pictures one and two:
Glasses: Kumaki Glasses Style “Moore/MHOH4” (MHOH4)
Jacket: Alphamale “Classic Leather Jacket” (MHOH4)
Pants: HardWear “wrinkled jeans” (MHOH4)
Skin: Tellaq “Robinson Skin Style 2” (MHOH4)
Eyes: MADesigns “EYES_LIGHT – copper” (MHOH4)
Prop: Agapee Photo Container (MHOH4)

picture three:
Shirt: Gentleman Store “Dovadi Shirt Dark” (MHOH4)
Pants: Gentleman Store “Harlow Cuff Jeans (MHOH4)

picture four:
Jacket: Urban Republic “Black Hoodie – Dragon” (MHOH4)
Pants: Egoisme “Pant Difference” (MHOH4)

Love,
Serene