The Unofficial Second Life® Fashion and Shopping Blog

Shhhhh… don’t tell Salome, but somebody left the back gate to Linden Lifestyles open, and I was able to sneak in. I’m just going to pretend like I’m supposed to be here until they wise up and kick me back out again. You’ll play along, right? Right? Come on, be cool…

Hi! I’m Kit Meredith, the latest addition to the Linden Lifestyles team. My job is going to be to focus primarily on the one prim attachment no girl can be seen without: hair! Well, okay, let’s not forget hair accessories - hats, scarves, jewelry, flowers, I’ll be writing about those too. And since my mind likes to wander, I may sneak in the occasional shoe or furniture review, just to keep you guessing. But for simplicity’s sake, you can call me the Hair Goddess. Or just Goddess, if we’re really good friends.

What? Stop snickering.

All right, I guess I should actually review some hair, or I’m gonna get kicked to the curb even sooner than expected. I was wandering the grid, thinking about a subject for my first post, and I stopped by Elika Tiramisu Designs (who we all know better as ETD) to take a look at Elika’s two limited-time releases to benefit Relay For Life. As often happens when I visit ETD, I couldn’t resist buying something.

This is the Survive style in Chestnut, which is sold as part of the Naturals pack. It’s a great style, just this side of messy with lots of wispy strands shooting off in various directions. Playful and perfect for Spring and the warmer weather we hope is right around the corner. Plus, since it’s being sold as part of Relay For Life, ETD is donating all proceeds from this hair (as well as the other RFL release, Strength III) to support the American Cancer Society. While the headband is unscripted and comes in RFL pink, like 99.9% of prim hair it’s full-mod, meaning that if you want to change the color of the band at some point, you can. (If you need a refresher in modifying hair, check out our helpful hair editing guide.)

The one teensy drawback to the two RFL styles is there are a reduced number of color choices available - the only small color packs available are the Naturals I, Naturals II, or Elika’s Pack. If you want some other color, you’ve got to splurge for the Willow fatpack. As for me, my first and only hair texture love is ETD’s Mahogany, which isn’t in any of the smaller packs, but according to Elika, she had to limit the packs that are available because of the constraints of the RFL vendors. No matter - I think I can stand to wear Chestnut around for a bit. After all, it’s for a good cause.

After I’d bought the Survive, I had an epiphany - why not just review some of my favorite ETD styles? Elika’s one of the premier hair designers on the grid, so it’s fitting that I start my Linden Lifestyles career with her, right? Sure, I’d bet that most of you have at least one ETD hair in your inventories, but when was the last time you went by to see what’s new? Plus, I was already there, and one less TP means one less chance for Second Life to crash on me. So, without further ado…

Ahhh, that’s better - back in my favorite hair color. Honestly, one of the reasons I keep going back to ETD is the textures - Elika’s are among the best I’ve seen anywhere on the grid. The Mahogany walks that fine line between brown and red just perfectly, and has a depth and warmth you don’t see very often in hair textures. I’m wearing the Katterina style above, which is pulled back into a bun with some messy pieces sticking out, sideswept bangs, and some strands that frame the face very nicely.

Of course, you might be into slightly longer hair and want a flexi style. I’m wearing the Starley II, which uses textured pieces in the back to create the look of a feathered flip. It’s got just enough flexi pieces to move when you do, but there’s also some non-flexi prims woven in there fairly unobtrusively, which keep your hair from completely falling through your shoulders every time you stand still. Unlike the headband in the Survive style, this one is scripted, so you can choose from a huge number of pre-set color with a simple “/1 band.”

(Read More | Where to Buy)

For those people who occasionally ask me what the hell I’m doing with my SL that keeps me from blogging, I can finally answer you Over the past several months I’ve been working on a new project: Facade Furnishings is finally ready for prime time.

Today, at the Freudian Slip we’ll be having a “get Salome a drink already” launch party featuring over 8 hours of live music goodness from some of SL’s hottest talent with fun and freebies tossed into the mix. Are you enticed yet? You should definitely be feeling enticed. The concert party is open to one and all and I certainly hope you’ll feel inclined to attend.

The music line-up is just sublime.

When: Saturday, March 22, 2008
Where: The Freudian Slip

2pm - Tweety & The Tomcats: Funky bluesy trio of sax, bass, and guitar - we dare you to try and keep still.
3pm - Raspbury Rearwin: Alt-rock-pop singer/songwriter, cute-as-a-button and lover of bulldogs.
4pm - Montian Gilruth Mouth-watering Canadian vocalist and finger-pickin’ genius.
5pm - Tone Uriza: Big Daddy Bluesman crunhin’ the blues so hard they hurt in all the right ways.
6pm - Shadrack Band: Contemporary country and Americana trio of rockin’ bass and two wickedly delish guitarists combined with creamy, creamy harmonies.
7:30pm-ish - Grace McDunnough: She’s all mine and you can’t have her, but you can come listen to our beloved songbird croon her sultry siren song until you’re ready to sell your soul for more.

While I’m not even going to try and walk the unethical tightrope of reviewing my own items, I can tell you that Facade Furnishings is a low-prim furniture showroom geared toward proving that low-prim can still be faboo. Many items in the store are only 1 or 2 prims, and complete room sets start at 15 prims or less.

Facade item textures are almost entirely created “from scratch” starting with custom-created wood grains, wickers, and lacquers. This lets us provide textures with high resolution crispness and clarity for a realistic, but not photo-sourced feel. Primwork is at a minimum - it’s all about tricking the eye into lavish faux 3D (thus: Facade). I wanted to create items that helped foster atmospheres of immersion within the Second Life environment and I really feel that too much photo-sourcing distracts from our artificial paradise (setting the ethics aside).

I also wanted to offer an item that contributed to the multimedia aspect of SL, so I teamed with our newest little neko dynamo, Chastity Vandeverre, to offer visitors these freebie scripted radio media tuners. Each set comes with a master unit and three remote units in either Vintage, Retro, or Boom Box style. From the master unit, you can store radio stations for easy tuning on any parcel where you have media rights. The remote units can be placed on other parcels in the same SIM, or within shouting distance to permit you to change streams at multiple locations. Features include textures that change when you flip radio stations streams, hide/show and owner lock options. I think it’s a pretty nifty freebie, but then, I’m biased

Scripts are driven by a notecard that you can customize for your own stations and options. Full instructions are included and updates should be released when necessary.

At today’s party, we’ll also have fun freebies that are not nearly as impressive, but give us a giggle. Seeing as I’d like nothing more than to get completely blotto after the months of going blind in Photoshop, we have the One Too Many Lampshade Party Set, complete with lampshade hat and Uncle Feterish mouth bulb (touch on/off).

Where To Go:

Launch Party @ The Freudian Slip
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Seven%20Veils/20/19/23

Freebies & Shopping @ Facade Furnishings
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Seven%20Veils/121/50/23

It has been way too many months since I stopped into Bossa Nova and that is an SL Deadly Sin. So when I heard there was a free holiday gown to be had, I hauled my little prim butt over to get in on the freebie goodness.

This is the Noelle freebie Christmas dress from Bossa Nova and it’s just cute as a bug! You get the top, prim skirt, glitch pants, stockings, prim waist bow, and gloves all in one set. There’s an itty-bitty discrepancy between the color of the system-based items and the color of the prim items in full lighting, but I see this all across the board in SL, so I’m guessing it’s a Linden Labs based screw-up designers can’t help. I’ve paired it here with the Brigitte hairstyle also from BN in silver.

In case you didn’t know, Bossa Nova specializes in retrofabulousness. Case in point: the Dolores dress set paired with the Lola hairstyle. Dress up Nirvana. Bossa Nova is famous for the little “extras” you get with their items. In the case of the Dolores, it’s the rounded prim shoulders and the to-die-for veiled pillbox hat. Slip into this little number and you can’t help but feel like some dame out of a smoky 40’s flick based on some penny dreadful. Now if I can only find a hazy train station and a charming rake…

Speaking of charming rakes, if you ever find yourself cast as the girl Friday to some gruff Sam Spade-ish gumshoe you simply MUST have the Norma dress set in your inventory. When paired with the Bianca hairstyle, Norma is so darling it squees by itself. The veiled feather hat can be tricky on some hairstyles, but the overall effect is worth the tinkering. You also get a pair of those sweet to-the-wrist gloves that were always in my Grammy’s linen drawer.

*pauses to remember bygone hours of playing dress-up in lavender scented bedrooms*

In this smart ensemble, the system skirt manages to come off as sleek, so you don’t even have to fret about adjusting skirt prims; your only concern will be where to stash the Maltese Falcon before Peter Lorre shows up.

I went a little nuts at BN, so if you want to keep reading the other several outfits I snatched up, keep reading after the cut.
(Read More | Where to Buy)

If you’re anything like me, you’d much rather spend a few hours in SL tinkering with tinsel and twinkle lights rather than wrestling those RL decorations out of the attic. Don’t get me wrong - I love the holidays - I’m just really enjoying holiday decorating in SL far more than what is going on in my actual living room.

(btw - holiday decorating for me means “Christmas” but I’m more than happy to blog about other holiday decor - if you find nummy holiday items, by all means, send me a note)

Nemesis Traditional Christmas… officially has my favorite find of the season. Would that I could claim the find as my own, but the ever-industrious Grace McDunnough is to be credited with finding these glowing treats. These wall candles come in several different styles and color combinations, although, as you can tell, the basic idea remains the same.

They’re sweet and cheap (which is good because they’re no-copy) and I think I bought about three dozen.

I also picked up some lush garland which *is* copy/mod so you can deck the halls with it to your merry heart’s content.

Along with the oodles and oodles of Christmas decor goodies both tasteful (charming little boxes, vases, candle stands, trees, etc) and campy (all I can say is… BDSM reindeer?) there is also a nifty little freebie sculpty Santa hat in the store. At the time of writing this entry the free dispenser on the wall didn’t work, but you could buy a L$0 copy of the hat from a table in the back.

I had to tinker with mine for a bit, but it’s mod, so I eventually got exactly what I was looking for. Now if only present buying were as easy…

(Read More | Where to Buy)