Flapp'n it Up

Bossa Nova has come out with the cutest hat topped hairs. The Julie style (Amour 178, 61, 27) is free ($0) and the others are just $100/hair pack- which is a pretty great price. Both of the looks below are modeled with shoes Maitreya Free Slinky Stilettos - Black Leather (Glam World 2 180, 170, 126 -$0) and Alexis Goth skins available TODAY ONLY from Vanity Designs (Phloston Paradise 180, 57,23). in 6 Caucasian skin tones ($1/skin tone). The graduated diamond jewelry set is a $1 set from Caroline's Jewelry (Lo Lo 54,198, 23).

The black dress is from Cover Girl it is in a box with the text free gift above it (Shimokitazawa 14,111,28).:



The second dress is the new spring dress from Pin Up Dolls (Retrology 120,250,41)$1.

The Limited Edition 2.55

The luxury retail market is always coming up with gimmicks and limited edition goods to lure customers into buying more and more.
Chanel's latest Limited Edition product, is this 2.55 in honor of the Chanel Mobile Art Exhibit. Now this may look like any old 2.55, but for once in fashion, the beauty lies on the inside.
Inside the flap to be specific. Inside the flap, is this signature by the legend of fashion himself, KARL LAGERFELD, commemorating the Mobile Art Exhibit in Hong Kong. Logic tells me that Chanel is trying to rip people off, because the scribbling of a few words inside the flap is certainly NOT worth the premium they are charging for it over the standard 2.55's. A mere signature does NOT bring one closer at any level to the author of the signature. The red/orangey color isn't even that complimentary!

But the fashionista side of me is in AWE that I have been able to get so close to and even trace Karl Lagerfeld's signature. I admit, I might have even let out a tiny squeal of delight. A little like what Victory Ford felt when she found Coco Chanel's dress form in Lipstick Jungle (though of course, this is not QUITE as cool nor meaningful, since I know nothing about designing and making clothes). I know this reaction is probably completely illogical and against my better judgment since it is obviously a marketing ploy to make more money for Chanel, but oh, I just can't help it! :)

And I can't wait to go see the exhibit! Its fully booked this weekend, but I'm definitely going next week! Report back!

Yee-haw!

Howdy Boys and Girls,

While I was moseying about the grid I found a really spectacular offer from the designers at The Bobbysocks Shop (Demented Isle 186, 67, 25). Here you'll find 13 pairs of boots completely free nestled among some great cowboy, cowgirl, and Native American gear. You'll also have the opportunity to pick up a prairie style outfit for the girls or a cowboy outfit for the guys.



More pics after the cut

Prairie girl:



Cowboy:



I used the L'Oreal free skins that can be found at Calla or Nuclear Boutique among other places. To find the L'Oreal skins open your search window and search for " L'oreal " via the places tab. Why am I not giving the slurl? Because search is your friend and this is a tool that everyone should learn to use. ($0) You can find the hair that I'm wearing at Sirena (Zoey style- West Sunset 160,50,22 - $1).

Paris Fashion Week F/W08 Wrapup I

This is why Paris Fashion Week is THE fashion week I look foward to the most. I mean, if I'm not going to be able to afford anything on the runway, I might as well ogle at the most creative and gorgeous collections, starting with Balenciaga.

Genius. Seriously genius. Once again, Nicholas Ghesquiere used Balenciaga's history and created a very modern collection. The clothes all look very structured yet still so sensual.

The show started off with minimal, well-cut and structured evening dresses. Take note of the shoes: pointy shoes are back! Is the trend with round-toed shoes soon to be over?

These are the more work-suit looks. I hope those tulip skirts become part of the mainstream trends, (and hopefully high street retailers will be 'inspired' to make affordable versions!)

Metallic, shiny dresses are nothing new. But the shapes of these dresses are amazing.

The velvet top with skinny pants/ skirt combo seemed to be a huge favourite. I love how pretty the colourful tops are. And the black & white velvet top look is just amazing with the black eye makeup! Seriously loves it!

The show closed with printed coats and dresses. While I can appreciate how these artistic pieces form part of the collection, I have to say I'm not a huge fan of the coats. For example, the coat on the left makes the model look like she's got a muscular costume on.

Can't wait for more Paris fashion! Did you love the Balenciaga show too?

Image credit: www.style.com

Render

Today I zipped over to a new sim that is under construction Rendervisions Isle. Nice place; and I hadn't heard of any of the shops before. So, if you'd like to head on down there are plenty of freebies and nifty, good, newness. I'd start with Rendervisions Isle 116,111, 23 where you will find a cart full of items including 3 hairs (2-f/1-m), a hat, rose diamon necklace and earring set, jet pack, tshirts, cottage house, and many art gifts. You'll be able to either hop on a horse and carriage or stroll down the lovely bricked walkways. One place you might step inside is Timecat's Treasures! (Rendervisions Isle 97, 78, 23) you'll find two freebies for a female child avatar 1) School Girl Green and 2) Valentine's Freebie - Heart Patched Outfit. If you happen upon Spellbound Animations (Rendervisions Isle 151, 28, 23) you can pick up a practice wand with spell. Curio Obscura (Rendervision Isle 172, 158, 26) has several freebies among them you'll find: zoethrope, franimation, sculptie tools, copper stockings, and a clockwork mustache. ($0)



Less silliness behind the cut....

Another place to check out is A Piece of Candy (Taranatha 187, 144, 45)where I bought the skin I'm wearing in all the pics for $1. Candy added another outfit and skin to the freebie section, which I haven't picked up.($1-0) And all the girls will want to run on over to the W.I.S.H. Shoes and more Mainstore (Alderney Island 34, 177, 22) to search for and touch those 5 little bitty golden boxes hidden around the parcel and recieve the shoes, boots, or bags up for grabs. ($0) You'll find both lovely lacey dresses pictured below at Kunglers Fashion Design (Agapema 242,136,48) both completely free ($0).

Oscar's Fashion 2008

To everyone-who-actually-enjoys-looking-at-glamorous-stars-in-gowns' relief, Oscar's wasn't cancelled. Stars went all out (in terms of the sizes of the gowns) this year as the Golden Globes ceremony was cancelled. This year, the main trend in the gowns were huge, black or red gowns, and empire dresses for the pregnant. The dresses were all pretty 'safe'. I'm going taking note of the dresses I liked here:

My favourite dress of the night was probably Cameron Diaz's Dior dress. Yes, it's not a particularly exciting dress, but I'm a fan of the fabric folds. It's simple, well-designed and pretty. And while it's arguable whether her makeup is too simple for Oscar's, I really like how she sticks to her natural-beauty style.

A trend seemed to be the long, simple dress + big necklace combo. Both Nicole Kidman (in Balenciaga) and Keri Russell (in Nina Ricci) looked very elegant. I thought Keri Russell's dress' colour looks really etheral on her, and the necklace is just a perfect match.

Black was one of the two popular colour choices, and huge gowns were equally popular. I thought the best was Hilary Swank's Atelier Versace gown, with Penelope Cruz's Chanel Couture coming in second.

The other popular colour choice was red. Katherine Heigl looked gorgeous as usual. However, I am getting a bit bored of her old Hollywood look, and her makeup seems a bit overloaded (-the blush).

Heidi Klum's vampy dress was comparatively interesting and she was equally gorgeous (in a slightly different way.)

The Marchesa girls: Anne Hathaway looked really pretty. I like how the dress is one-shouldered in an interesting way, especially the way the fabric looks like it falls and wraps around her arms so perfectly. As for Jessica Alba, she looked pretty (hard to imagine her not looking pretty), but she could probably have done better.

The two people who actually chose interesting dresses were Cate Blanchett, who wore Dries Van Noten and Marion Cotillard, who wore Jean Paul Gaultier. I love how the JPG isn't only shaped like a mermaid, but it also has silver 'scales' on it, and the dress didn't look like a costume. Not surprisingly, Marion Cotillard's dress was many critics' favourite.

If you've read my thoughts above, then you'll probably notice that I wasn't overly enthusastic about the dresses. They're weren't bad, but just not stunning or surprising. Whose dress was YOUR favourite?

Image credits: http://justjared.buzznet.com/, http://fadedyouthblog.com/

Limited Time - Crystal Queendom

This is the second time Crystal Queendom [Vigdorova (58, 45, 319)] has put out a $1 dress and announced it on Fashion Con. The dress usually sells for $900; so if you like it you may want to rush over and get it. It will only remain at $1 for the next 5 days.



Skin: Lotus_FreeSkin_Titania by Rabbit SKIN shop,NEOJAPAN TOKYO(147,60,22)
and/or LicoLico(8,213,21) $0
Hair:Creamy(Bittersweet) by SoulFire (Heathrow 241, 226,22) $1
Shoes: 'Elise2' Mary Jane Heels by Tesla (Tesla 61,78,54) $0

How Often Do You Wash Your Hair?

NYT's Thursday Style Section has a rather erm, weird article called, Of Course I Washed My Hair Last Year (I'm Almost Certain). It basically describes a beauty phenomenon in which people don't wash their hair anymore, or at least more infrequently. The article has interview quotes from various people and the reason for not washing their hair include things like, it's more convenient and fun to get it washed and styled professionally once a week (obviously a girl,) or that oily hair has more shine and texture, and finally, shampoo is evil and is a part of the evil consumption plan. The writer also explains that 'textured locks and full hair' are now in vogue again (compared to straigtened hair,) and that dry shampoo sales are up.

The main reason why I called the article weird is because it is very one-sided. The whole article had two short paragraphs about scientists being sceptical about this. (I'm not a good writer myself, but I'm clearly a product of an education system that has brain-washed me into writing pros and cons for everything.) Anyways I want to say, first of all, the people who get their hair washed once a week must not have super oily hair because I know girls who wash their hair in the morning, and by night it already looks oily. By the next day, said girls would look like they've got 80's-era type of hairgel combed in. Secondly, isn't part of the reason we shampoo is to get rid of the dead skin cells that are already littered around in our hair, ie. dandruff? Unless you have white hair, dandruff is probably visible to anyone who is near you. And doesn't dandruff fall onto your black coats?

And there are other things that I don't get. For example, in the middle of the article, there is an interviewee who washes her hair every seven days. In between the days, she uses dry shampoo, blots and combs. And to her advantage, she can now get ready in 30 minutes instead of 2 hours of shampooing, drying and styling. Talk about extreme. I'm sorry but if you really thought taking 2 hours to get yourself ready is too long, couldn't you just shorten it?

Clearly, that interviewee has been out of universtiy life for too long. On the days that I do wash my hair, it takes me 30-40 mins to get ready (-This includes brushing my teeth, taking a shower (includes hairwash and facewash), applying body cream, throwing on jeans and tee, applying skincare products, styling my hair and putting on makeup.) And even I don't think I'm fast enough. Now don't get me wrong, I try not to wash my hair everyday because I really do think it prevents my hair from going dull. I have always been an every-other-day type of gal, (although I do sometimes wash the front/fringe bit everyday.) And on the days I don't leave home, I can go through a couple of days with dirty hair. Usually by the 3rd day, my mum tells me my hair smells and I should wash it, of which I ignore her until I have to actually go out. So hey, most people who know me well think I'm lazy about my hair-washing too, but even I think completely abadoning shampoo is not the way to go. I'm all for people washing their hair as frequently or infrequently as long as they don't smell.

Questions for you are, how often do YOU wash your hair? And what did you think about the whole not-washing-your-hair 'trend'? Opinions wanted!

OMFG Dollarbies Gallore

If you haven't checked out OMFG (Nerdagara Falls 211,104,265) you should! There are tons of pieces here and they could have endless applications (post apocalyptic, steam punk, neko, etc.). You'll find 5 full body suit/armors, many individual pieces of armor, weapons, wings, chokers, and boots to name a few. Everything is laid out and easy to view and all boxes are just $1 each. Here are a couple of the outfits along with the assassins armor that I threw on to give you guys a sampling:







Underneath everything I created a shirt and pants. Simply open inventory, select create from the top menu of your inventory, create a shirt and a pants, wear both, go into appearance and tint both the pant and shirt black.

I wore the SYD anti valentine skin which is no longer available. However, you can find a male and female goth skin at SYD (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Granymyr/214/181/60) $1 each.

The hair is from Hayate of H2L but can be found at Entama (ENTAMA 133,132,29). $0

Content Thieves Strike Again- Layniewear & Maitreya

I received the following via a note card dropped on me by Laynie:

Hi,

Long story short, I refused to remove an Autism Speaks kiosk from the shop Teagan Blackthorne and I share, an as a result the avatar I disagreed with has begun passing around my black Vanessa dress. As a result, I'm offering it for free at my main shop. Please blog it, so that people know i am NOT affiliated with the Autism Speaks protest.

Thanks,
Laynie Link

Please guys take note and pass on the message. I'm showing the dress in question from LaynieWear (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Granymyr/218/190/0) with shoes that have also been ripped off and now you can find for free at the original makers shop; Maitreya (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Glam%20World%202/243/213/27). You may find the shoes in a gift bag below the Maitreya sign.



On a lighter note check below the cut.

If you haven't been by Ivalde's (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ivalde/80/205/502) in a while you may want to take a look. Nef has added 3 new dresses to the freebie section upstairs and all are just $1.



Hair: Mod's Hair (http://slurl.com/secondlife/NTT%20DoCoMo/194/120/131) $0
Skin & Eyes: SHOP BF (http://slurl.com/secondlife/New%20Tokyo/133/91/27) $0

Anthropomorphs Galore

If your looking for a variety of anthropomorphic avatars you might want to check out Yiffy Yaffle's store ($0) (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wolf%20Valley/249/169/21) where in a small free box (71 Quality Free Furry AVs v1.2) you'll find a wealth of furry goodies among a ton of other freebies. Here is just a small sampling of the avatars (all these are female, but there were more male avatars in the box- so guys if you're into anthropomorphic avatars this would be a jackpot for you.):

Taylor Made Collie:


All the photos were taken at Groll's Inn & Hideout (Clematis Island). More after the cut...


Taylor Made Female Dalmatian:


Axel's Female Wolf:


Wingless' Licorice Hyena:


Wingless' Pink Fox:


Wingless Rainbow Horse:


The avatars made by Wingless were boxed according to color and contain both male and female versions in the boxes. There are also several hairstyles and a hud included with the horse avatar that may help newer players who are unfamiliar with editing linked prims customize the avatar. If you've wanted to try out a furry or anthropomorph and haven't yet, this is your perfect opportunity.

Having fun

Todays whole outfit started with these sort of funky, kind of cute unisex steam powered skates I found on a Japanese sim. The shirt I bought ($1) from a store Cheri Pye recommended named Frozen Turquoise Valentine which had a number of dresses, but I really like this shirt which I modeled sans boa. The shirt seemed to match the pants perfectly to, which I picked up at one of my favorite stores Kurotsubaki. And the hair from Adimu just seemed to pull everything together.



Skin: Shelly Skin from A Piece of Candy (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Taranatha/187/144/45) $1
Eyes: Eyes #24 from Free 4 U located on both MIA and MIA2 sim Read about here. $0
Hair: Oh Lye, My -Brunette Fat Pack from Adimu (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Zouk%20City/251/3/29) $1
Shirt: Freebie 1 (Eye Candy) from Frozen Turquoise Valentine (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Nova/127/18/23) $1
Pants: Free dot pants from Kurotsubaki (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Born%20North/238/66/30) $0
Shoes: KxH Skate by KissxHearts ( http://slurl.com/secondlife/ALC/250/234/26) $0

Hemorrhoid Cream for Dark Circles?

No matter how long I sleep, I seem to have permanent eye bags and puffiness. So a while ago, my mom suddenly very excitedly called me and told me that I should go buy myself some hemorrhoid cream for my eye bags. And I was like, WHAT? She swore that she saw it on a beauty TV show, hosted by quite a reputable dermatologist, and that everyone used it. Disbelieving, I told her if it truly worked so well, they'd have made that into a proper eye cream by now. Then the other day, I was re-watching Miss Congeniality (one of my favourite movies!) and I've never noticed before, but in the scene where she was preparing for the swimsuit competition, Victor (her pageant consultant) hands her a tube of hemorrhoid cream, and she says,

"Hemorrhoid cream? Do you really think they'll be looking that closely?"

And he replies, "Its for your eyes bags."

This made me think, maybe hemorrhoid cream for the eye bags is not such an obscure, random and completely ridiculous concept after all! Intrigued, I googled it up.

Turns out that I am quite behind in the game, and indeed hemorrhoid cream has been a model industry (not so secret anymore) secret for quite some time! More scientifically, it contains shark oil and live yeast cell derivatives, which are believed to be the ingredients that shrinks the eye bags. However, these ingredients are said to have been removed from the American version of Preparation H (the most common brand containing these ingredients), but can still be found in the Canadian and European versions.

From online reviews, there seems to be a lot of conflict regarding this issue. Some swear by it, while others claim that it stings. Personally, I am still hesitant to try anything that wasn't specifically designed for the eyes. Has anyone used this method to treat their dark circles and puffy eyes before? What has been the results?

Primalot -Steals and Deals

I vaguely remember seeing something written about Primalot (Blackmount 7, 121, 706) around the ever hectic Halloween season, but sadly to say I quickly forgot about it. Yesterday after a friend checked out a Freestyle notice about a witch outfit (which I unfortunately clicked through) she tped me to the store saying that there were a couple other things to checkout. Although the store does offer male clothing all the free outfits are for females. But, there are a couple unisex items in the free section: neko ears & tail ($0) and I think the caged heart chocker may also work for a male ($1). I also think the Halloween Witch outfit would make an excellent Halloween Warlock.

What I can show you from the store are four looks. The last is a complete avatar priced at $10, which I thought was pretty reasonable especially when you'd likely pay more for just the hat that is part of the avatar. So here are the looks:

The Halloween Witch included a scripted crow with pose and sound:




The little snowflake outfit included a wand that emitted particles while playing an animation along with 3 skirt options:



The Valentina Red was priced for $0, but the other colors in the room were priced at regular price:



All the above outfits were photographed with various skins from previously blogged Coquette (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Puea/56/16/0) * C ASM Series II Skins $1. The next picture is of a $10 starter avatar set that includes a freebie skin along with outfit made by Primalot.



The Silvestra Sparkle outfit also included a wand with sparkles and the skirt and shawl parts were scripted to bling, but the hat is bling free.

Overall I think the store is worth the time to look around. It's small and it won't take a lot of time and there are a number of cute items there. Also many of the dresses included shoes, hair, and jewelry.

Milan Fashion Week F/W08 Wrapup II

As always when we're in the midst of Fashion Weeks, all the clothes shown just look like a bunch of clothes with no direction to me. (It's why magazines like Vogue and Elle exist, and why they publish runway guides at the beginning of every season.)

Prada

THE show of Milan. I'm always half in awe and half in annoyance that Miuccia Prada shows collections with completely different themes every season. Half in annoyance because it hurts to spend the money to update our wardrobe so much, (although it's not like I buy any Prada clothes anyway,); Half in awe because Prada's shows are always so... thought-provoking. I've read many online reviews on the Prada shows and the key words seem to be: perverse, erotic/ seudctive/ fetish, Switzerland and lace. The interesting thing is that while most reviewers seemed to love the creative aspect of the collection, (no one dared to not like the collection,) everyone managed to come up with their own interpretation of the clothes. The clothes were impractical as always, but I think we're all so used to seeing artsy, unwearable clothes from Prada shows now that it's not mentioning.

The show started off with nun-looking dresses, then the clothes moved onto lacy, see-through skirts.

Lots of lacy dresses. It's very hard to decide whether the dresses are prim or erotic isn't it?

Collars and turtlenecks were there throughout the show. The collars seem reminiscence of Miu Miu S/S08.

Out of the collection, I think the LBD in the middle is my favourite. Hey, at least it's a bit more wearable than the lacy trouser (on the left).

And since we're looking at Prada, we must take a look at the shoes. The shoes sort of remind me of Miu Miu, and something Japanese anime girls would wear after they transform into their ever-impractical outfits to fight against evil.

Miuccia explained that females wear lace in all ages, from babies to marriage to widowed. Maybe it's the I grew up in a non-lacy period of time, but I really don't see lace featuring as a big part of a young, contemporary wardrobe. (I may just be brainwashed by the pictures from ShopBop, Barneys and Neiman Marcus.)

Jil Sander

While Jil Sander has always been all about minimalism and simply cut clothes, it's always bordered on being boring. But I can honestly say I like this collection.

I LOVE the coats. The coat Vlada is wearing -I can't stop staring at it! I love those artistic folds and the fabric wrapped around her shoulders. SO stylish and modern.

And the jackets look way cool too. Though as style.com mentioned, the suits looked a bit crinkly.

And the simple, work-women-type of looking dresses in all shades of grey.

Image credits: www.style.com

Spring Wishes

It's that weird sort of year when it's still a bit cold, but everyone is thinking ahead to spring. I put together an outfit that gives just a hint of spring thanks to the strawberry skirt from Feather:

Hair: Mod's Hair (http://slurl.com/secondlife/NTT%20DoCoMo/194/120/131) $0
Eyes: Shop BF part of free avatar (http://slurl.com/secondlife/New%20Tokyo/133/91/27) $0
Skin:*CASM - ModLips - Silver/Pink from * C ASM Series II Skins found at Coquette/Go Dutch (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Puea/56/16/0) $1
Skirt: Berry Mini Skirt from Feather (http://slurl.com/secondlife/ToshimaKu/110/228/22) $0
Shirt: Free Topps Kurotsubaki (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Koenji/196/225/33) $0
Shoes: Free Red Loli Mary Janes from She's So Unusual (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Redux%20NW/172/205/23) $1
Necklace & Earrings: (Shiny Things) Enamel Flower Jewelry available at the Gnubie Store (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Indigo/236/44/31) $0

While you're at She's so Unusual picking up the shoes you may want to look around. There are 10 pairs of shoes hidden around the store priced at $10 until February 25th at which time the store will close for remodel.

Milan F/W 08 Fashion Week Wrap Up I

Alberta Ferretti
Usually I just skim pass Alerta Ferretti, because the styles are always so similar. Very delicate, feminine and girly.
But this time, when I glanced at the first shots, I was surprised to find them to be Jill Sander-esque minimalistic! Albeit in a more styled and flattering way. The jeweled tones of blue and green were also refreshing to see on a FW runway.
On the other extreme, they also have printed dresses fashioned in a more flowing and draping material, reminiscent of the past seasons.
Example of the two extremes. The flowy, girly, delicate design and the more structured prim look. I want them both!
The cocktail dresses were a pleasant mixture of the more structured elements and the more feminine styles i.e. flowing pleated skirts.
I thought there was more variety in the evening wear as well. For example, this one on the left looks like they hired Laure Bennet from Project Runway to do it. I'm not much for feathers, but this is not too bad. The one on the right on the other hand is more structured and somehow reminds me a little of the pieces Zac Posen did a few seasons back. Still, very gorgeous and elegant.

Burberry Prorsum
This season, Bailey definitely went for a different direction. This collection is more fun, wearable and relaxed- and I LOVE it.
Don't you just love these chilled, wearable yet incredibly stylish looks?
The big overcoat is genius. And those huge chunky jeweled necklaces are TO DIE FOR. I bet they are going to be sold out, HUGE hits next season.
A little reminiscent of the cute shift dresses from last season. These are adorable.
The subtly vibrant hues are gorgeous. Though I'm not too sure what to make of what I THINK is the scarf detail....
LOVE LOVE LOVE gold dress here. I'm positive we will be seeing a LOT of celebs wearing this soon enough! And as for the feathered confection on the right....she looks like a bird. No matter how they put it, feather is simply NOT my thing!

Image Source: Elle