It's Not Just Girls That Like Makeovers....

Please.... I've been itching for years to do this.




I won't change you one little bit, I promise Phillip. I just need to... modern you up. We have prim hair now.





I can even deal with this "thing" you have about wearing your underwear outside your pants. It's Second Life, I see stranger things than that having group sex in my skybox when I log in.





Just an AO, and shoes that attach to the feet rather than MS Paint themselves over it. I've stuck to the lips theme that you have goin' on as well. See? In full respect, oh Former Dark Overlord of Way Too Many Hours Of My Day.




I totally get the fact that you have "your look," I tend to stick to one myself. And there's the whole complicated not being able to endorse any one particular designer by wearing their items alone. But we have things called Inspection Shields now, and they are apparently effective in hiding the clothing creators. Apparently.

So do it for us, Mr Rosedale. See how nice you can look for just a few lindens? And if it's too much, then hey - just create more! Do it for the Fashionistae of SL who love and support you even though you've kinda gone. Pleeeeeasee?

P.S - Hamlet? YOU'RE NEXT.

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Skin - Miguel Tan 6-E by Belleza
Hair - Dystopia by The Abyss
Eyes - Fern by Fusemelon
Moustache - Bandito by Discord Designs
Shirt - Kiss Marks by Aoharu
Posing Pants - Bikini Gold by Bare Rose
Pants - Workers Jeans by Fishy Strawberry
Shoes - Cuban Boots by LaPointe and Bastchild


Thanks to Cherelle Capra for the convo that sparked off this. <3

Three Cheers

CheerNo Destiny recently rebranded from a.C Store to the more eponymous "CheerNo." Well known for his outre takes on male fashion, especially gay clubwear, his clothes have been riotous, daring and above all different. I own a few of his earlier pieces, but I have to admit that the last two collections Montage and Madame did nothing for me, Montage in particular I just didn't "get" at all. But... Deuil, the new Winter release... wow. Yeah, it totally grabbed my attention from what I saw on the feeds, espesh this post of M4RI1YN's showing the Luz Devina set. So I checked it out. And I LOVED it. I've stopped myself at just two ensembles for now, but I'll probably end up clearing the collection out, piece by piece.




This is Mortiferra. Elegant grey tweed pants gothed up with this Marilyn Manson print gauze shirt - and yes, I want to be him when I grow up - enswathed with black tulle around the waist, shoulders and face.



This is glam-emo-goth at it's finest, in my opinion. It would have been too obvious and too easy to go with black leather pants - and he didn't. There are so many pieces in this that I'll be tearing apart and putting with other outfits, but I'm also happy to wear this out of the box. That doesn't happen often.



And this is Breack. Not a typo, although I keep self-editing it. There were two similar suits in the Deuil collection, and I went for the darker one.



I have a mad lust for pinstripes, have had my whole life. This features a charcoal broad striped pant, and very structured shoulders. The oversized cuffs are also made of glee. And check out the realism on those buttons!



Not all suits in SL have to be the full on heavy business dealio or a formal tuxedo; it's really hard to find an urban dressy-yet-laid back set. This was just what I had been looking for. Savvy yet not trying too hard.



Looking back over the last year's CheerNo / a.C Store's collections I get it now - they have all been vastly different. I know that I haven't been the "target audience" as I saw it described on another blog once, but I've never let any kind of labels define how I dress. (Or who I am, really.) It seems as if CheerNo is going to use his label as an exploration of his abilities, tastes, talents and inspirations and damned what anyone in fashion thinks of it. I think that's brilliant. And maybe I'll never wear the Dancing in the Rain set I bought that Dancien looks so fab in here, but I'll watch as each collection comes in. And cheer just a little if there's absolutely nothing in it I'd be caught dead in.


Other credits
Skin and Hair by [-Buried-]
Shoes - Cuban Heels by LaPointe and Bastchild
Eyes - Midday by Fusemelon

Ravens Misbehavin'

Yeah, I know I know- the feeds are super saturated with the Designers United goodies at the moment. But I'm chipping in for two reasons. Firstly, the only other guy that I've seen take a stab at it is Dakota. And secondly, I have a very special reason to love everything to do with ravens. And that reason was beating me on the back of my head with her fairy wand when she saw the other crow items on the feeds, demanding that I go get some "wavenburdy" things myself. That's pretty hard to argue with, especially when I didn't really want to.

There were a few unisex items, and I grabbed those happily. These horn... head... ear... "thingys" called My Tree of Crows by Milk Motion were on the must have list. Spooky trees that emit tiny crows that wheel and whirl about your face. For most people this would be annoying, but for an Aussie constantly brushing black things away from your face is a sweet taste of home. I also yoinked the Feathered Mask from Glow Studio, setting it over the top of my Den Dou Saburo skin. I could not look more typically vampire emo if I tried.

But try I did with this pose from [LAP] and the Feathered Backpack by Chabinn, a design house I had never heard of until now. I loved this, and I actually felt bad only paying the measley 30l that the creator was charging for all four sizes. As soon as you strap this on your arms get flung out wide to match the wingspan, indulging both Icarus fantasies and putting "I Believe I Can Fly" in your head for a good hour. And that's only after you've finished humming that damn song about heroes and wind that I won't admit to knowing any of the words to.

There were male tattoos at the event as well, but I reluctantly walked past those as my inventory is saturated with more skin ink than I ever really get a chance to wear. There was one other overtly masculine item that stood out though, the Mr Crowe suit from Balaclava. And luckily it's really, really good. The jacket is a well textured suede with dark metal button detail. And it features a fairly dramatic high knitted collar, which I know that I'll also be able to put to good use mashing with other outfits. One of the things that I'm eternally searching for here is well made black dress pants, and these are amongst the better ones I've found. They aren't so dark that the grain of the fabric gets lost, yet black enough so I can wear them with almost anything up top. I'd pay more for either the jacket or the pants alone than I paid for this whole ensemble. Very nice, Mr Balaclava person. Make more things like this soon, please. It also comes with three sizes of top hat, but I wanted to have twigs sticking out of my skull for this blog.

The inaugural Designers United event of Jellyfish just wasn't to my taste - I like my jelly with girls pulling each other's hair in it - but the Crow theme was a terrific idea with a wider appeal, and it was really interesting to see the scope that could be attained within this concept. So feathers may make your ARC skyrocket to unimaginable levels, but as long as you aren't planning on waltzing around Hair Fair or something like that, it's totally worth it. It took something like this to get me off my arse and blog again after two months off. Designers of SL take note, please. Winter has a very short attention span, and needs the pretties.



Hair is a girly updo from D!VA that I'm trying to kid myself I still look badass in.

Winter's Tale

I arise, having lost all chance of redemption
My soul made forfeit by my choice to return
I walk amongst the warm only by the light of stars.
My hunger. Is now thirst.
From once beloved human child
I have become nightmare.

Through milennia I pass unchanged
Watching all men fall beneath the scythe of time
Razor edged winds howl within my hollow core.
I reach out. But only to take.
Desolation now my truest companion
hand in eternal hand we stride.

I stand as Lord but pariah
An exile from even these souls that be damned.
Cast out for my joyous embrace of this age
I alone evolve. And therefore are feared.
Refusing to kneel to ancient laws and hatreds
Unbound to impose my vision upon this world.

Let the other vampires be formed of darkness, magma and brutality.

I am sleet.
I am the bone death.
I am the blinding light.

I am the season that heralds all that there will be when this world ends.

I am Winter.



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Official Duties

So I haven't seen the actual chat logs, but from what I can piece together from Achariya gigglefitting all over my inbox before a package arrived from Dark Eden - it must have gone like this.

Etain Peregrine: Here, Ach - this is the new Toxic Fey set. I thought it would suit you?
Achariya Maktoum: Wow, Etain - it's gorgeous! Thank you so much. OH! I know- let's be COMPLETELY AND RUTHLESSLY DIABOLICAL. Let's get your first ever Dark Eden Guy of the Month to blog it!

And then she would have cackled with malevolent laughter, stroked her cat's fur and ordered more sharks with frickin' lasers on their heads. Or something. The one sop to my ego was the afternote of "If any guy can pull it off, it's you." Humph. Most pageant competition winners get disgraced when they take their clothes off for pictures. But if you know anything about me you'll know that I never back away from a challenge. I'll do my best to avoid it - (Dancien, my pony boy tail is still at the cleaners, I swear. It'll be back for Melbourne Cup Day.) But enough stalling with this. I present to you a Winterised version of the Toxic Fey set from Dark Eden, a 2009 redesign of the famous Bondage Faeries set.



This is the "Bone" colour, and I decided with a grin it was the most fitting one for a man. Espesh with the loincloth. It comes with a bikini top and a g-string, but luckily I was permitted to not wear those - as well as the nip covers. I added just a touch more coverage down below with my Bare Rose briefs. (Yet one more reason the grid has to be grateful to June Dion.) And damnit, if I'm going to do this as part of my reign then I deserve to wear a crown.



Elusyve told me that the faeries needed to be pulled out of my crotch. Funnily enough, not the first time I've been told that.



And I also think the poor creatures drew straws to see who had to take the back of the loincloth.



All jokes aside, this is whimsical wonder of a set. Both in imagination, and execution. The bindings are so detailed, the fae's bodies are in great proportion and these locks are ultra realistic. So it's not meant for a man - I'd be better off picking up ColeMarie and duct taping her across my groin, but the particles would tickle. However it was really easy to fit, and in several cases the different sizes included meant that they already fit perfectly. (Time to hit the steroids, I think.)



It comes in 8 different colours, and will look a LOT better on you than it does me.
Just... trust me on that. Now excuse me whilst I find something to dislodge this faewedgie. I think the poor creatures have suffered enough.


Available at Dark Eden on the Olive sim.

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Purple Reign

Whilst I was running around like a headless chicken an hour before the last Swansong show on Monday something dropped in from Fashcon that literally stopped me in my tracks. I dropped everything - those models just had to do up their own lingerie - and floated to LeeZu in cloud of WANT. So I only got to open the damn box today, but in that time.. oh yes, the love had not diminished one iota.

The "Au Reviour De Sade" coat in Lilac.



Look at this thing - it practically glows. That's no funky PS effect or some Windlight setting from Torley's most fevered dreams - that's how it actually looks.



It took me a while to find pants and boots that did this work of beauty justice - but I found the Sailor boots at Drack Diesel's Arcavim, and the Open Low Rise Leather pants from Swaffette Firefly's SFD Designs. The gloves are from YV, a newish store with ultra realistic accessories.



I also used this as an excuse to get the Sabura skin in Chaos from Den-Dou that I had been promising myself. I wasn't a fan of these skins, I've had Ichiro in my inventory since March and never felt it suited me. I put it back on 10 days ago, and holy crap - I don't know what happened in the meantime but now I can not take them off. And I stopped off to check out my friend Cerdwin Flanagan's of BLU282's new mainstore and gallery today. And these VitalBlu eyes were just sitting there, waiting for me. Okay, so I don't often do LOTD posts, but this one fell together. And it's not often I make an attempt at sexy vampire, so deal with it.

Oh - and a massive thank you to all those who voted me in as Dark Eden's first ever Guy Of The Month. Too awesome, and together we made history! I'll do my best to not have my crown taken off me in my month, but it will take me a while to size it up properly first...




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Shitter Was Full!

"Everytime Katherine revved up the microwave, I'd piss my pants and forget who I was for a half hour or so."



" Over at the VA they had to replace it with a plastic one that ain't as strong so I dunno if I oughta go sailin' down no hill with nothin' between the ground and my brain but a piece of government plastic...ya see the plate runs underneath my part here and if this gets dented then my hair just ain't gonna look right."



Clark - "Eddie, has anyone ever told you you're bad luck?"

"Those were my mother's dying words. But I guess if your body's covered in third degree burns, and your foot's caught in a bear trap, you tend to start talkin' crazy. "

==================================================================


I wasn't going to do Achariya's John Hughes challenge - I mean, chick flicks UGH. Till I discovered that he wrote Christmas Vacation... and therefore created Cousin Eddy. Somehow he manages to be unique and yet we all know someone just like him - I don't know how it works, it just does. He's a roadkill eatin', disaster causin' white hot ball of trouble, and yet completely lovable at the same time.


So this was my tribute, and a reminder to all check your shitters.

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Going For Dark Eden Girl Of The Month

Yes, you read that right. And I'm sure you've spotted the error in that title, eh?

It's usually more like 3 and a bit weeks.


Truth is - I have a compulsion that I need to break down bastions, change the status quo, challenge ideals etc etc. Plus I'm a total attention hor. So recently I set my sights on that grand competition that has been running so long it's now an institution. The Dark Eden Girl of the Month. As the rules state

"Can guys enter?
YES! But there's no special class for guys. You have to compete with the girls and be sexier, more stylish more hot and tempting and juicy than all the other girls that month! Its a tough thing to ask any guy. So far only one (Alushee Essex) has made it to the finals but we're still waiting on our first official Dark Eden Guy. It could be you!"

Thing is that almost everything Dark Eden sells if for the other half of this species. That hasn't ever really stopped me before. So after a good hour of digging, I came up with this.



So it's not the most masculine of ensembles, but it's so very ME. (Shut up in the back row, whaddya say?) I have on the purple latex jacket, ths straps from the Anath set as a harness under that, the Metis belt, and the Phoebus boots, all from Dark Eden.



I'm rocking it with my new love, the Cyberfashionista hair from Digit Darkes. This was available as a freebie from SL6B, but I wanted the complete colour change option so I was more than happy to fork over the lindens. Along with my treasured Corvine skin from eXceSs, something that you'll see in these pages over and over again. With The Hunger fishnet shirt and the leather pants both from SN@TCH. A total staple of mine wardrobe. I have all the colours - including the ones that I begged Ivey to make - and they get dragged out at least 2 days of every week. Leather lust, it's a Vampire thing. Don't try too hard to understand it, just enjoy the view from behind.



I was quite surprised by how little I had to resize these Phoebus boots. Just a small tweak and they were good, it usually takes me ages and several failed pairs before I can get female boots to fit. You'd think this would stop me buying them, wouldn't you?



So I dragged my latexed/leathered/fishnetted/harnessed self off to Templum Ex Obscurum, strapped on my Kris sword and posed, with one eye uneasily on that wolf in the background. I'm not scared of them, I was just hoping it wouldn't come hump my leg. Submitted this shot after showing it on plurk, to the chuckles of many. Including Ran Garrigus, who asked "Aren't you a bit overdressed for a Dark Eden Girl? You are supposed to wear like, a strap. and if it's nippy, two straps." And then... fuck me even deader, if I wasn't chosen as a finalist. So... umm... if you want to vote for me, you can go here. And laugh at the man posed atwixt lovely ladies in latex minidresses.


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Widdle Wintah

Hewwwo! Wots of times I been shopping lately I seen wots of kiddies all arguwuing over the vendors, wike Gahum and I heard today at Den Dou... so I thinked maybe it was the new kinda fash'nable thing to do. So this is Widdle Wintah bringing you wot's hot in the kid's world my sissy and bwuvva poos.

First thing you gotta wemember is that you have to have a weally good 'xuse weady for why you are out at night time without Mommy, Daddy or any kind of growed ups. Because you SHOULDN'T BE OUT AT NIGHT IF YOU ARE A CHILD AVATAR. And then you need to forget any knowledge that you have of how 8 year olds WEALLY talk. If you wanna be an SL kiddy you have to speak with a speech impeddy - empeddy - a weally bad wisp.* Okay, so if you were a weal 8 year old who talked wike this you'd be getting speech thewwapy - either that or you'd be getting all beated up evvewy day after skool.

Next thing you need to know is that by being a kid, you have the wight - no, the DUTY to be as naughty as you can manage evvewywhere you go. Big Wintah once was the ministah at a wedding where the fwowah gurl diddun shut the (naughty word for making babies) up the whole time, and the page boi piddled on the pwetty white dwess. Big Wintah had to weally stop himself hard from punting the widdle (naughty word for poo's) into the next sim ovvah. Even though you are weally a growed up, and you'd give your own kiddies a backhand 'kwoss the face if they embawwessed you wike this, it's the only way that normal people will know that you are meant to be a kid and not a hobgobwin or a pixie.

And if you are a gurl - you don't have to give up your skin with wots and wots of make up! You don't even have to give up your boobies! I diddun know 8 year old gurls could have boobies till I started being a kid in SL, but evewwywhere I go I see them with big wacks and short skirts holding their Daddy's hand and begging them to buy the new hair fwom Twuth. I offen see these types of widdle gurls out with their Daddies but not offen with their Mommies. I wonder why that is?

So bois and gurls, this was Widdle Wintah showing you all how much fun you is missing out on. The main thing that I figured fwom being a kid is that its okay to infwict your woleplay upon anyone who is on the same sim as you. So Big Wintah decided that next time he has kiddy avs annoying him, its okay for him to start being a big mean vampy wight back at them and attack their pwecious necks. And wip open their chests, tear out their hearts and toss around their viscerae with a bloodthirsty howl. That's fair, isn't it? Oh yes – and its okay if you wanna post compwaints in the comments, I kinda expect that. Just don't use any mean nasty words.

Wemember, I'm only a widdle boi.

(*p.s. Who was the sadist who decided that "lisp" should be spelt with an "l" anyways?)

Worn - Knitted Racoon Cap by Onigiri

Hat hair by Curious Kitties

Ritalin skin by Kosh

Hello Gasmask shirt by [Riddle]

Sporty pants in pink by Amerie's Naughty

Hello Kitty Chucks by ::Line::

Frog Ring and Wristbands by [Love Soul]

Striped Gloves by Freak Couture

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THAT

Every child loves a clown. And this clown loves children.





Go on, take the balloon. They float...





Laugh louder. So no one can tell it's a scream.





Trust me. This will be the ride of your life.






_______________________________________________________________________________

Blame Gidge. Her challenge to me was to blog "Vampire Clown." This is my response to her after she took my "Vampire Style" suggestion and ran with it brilliantly in her post, turning herself into an Undead June Cleaver. My take on things was a little darker. And I dedicate this post to the bastard who gave me Stephen King's IT on my tenth birthday.


Shot at the only place this really could be shot, Rezzable's Carnival of Doom.


Skin - Joker Cut in Ultralight by Nomine
Hat - Willow Garden, old group gift from Silent Sparrow
Ruff - Big Top Ruff, Carnival of Doom
Jacket - Parade Jacket, Gritty Kitty
Pants - Twisted Circus, SN@TCH
Shoes - Death Clown Shoes by Riggormortis String, bought from Xstreet.



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The Alpha and The Omega

Upon finding Alpha Tribe I was immediately seized with a sense of outrage.

WHY was I never informed about this store???



Fly Blackbird Fly skin.


Upon reaching the complete outfits on the second floor I realised to my shame that Grady had blogged them on Strange Pixels a few weeks ago, and it was my own stupid fault for taking so long to check it out.



Panther Skin


These skins are Eloh mods, yes. But I have never seen anything quite so breathtaking in their artistry, the glosss and sheen of them and just the absolute madness of imagination it would take to decide to spread these designs all over an avatar body.



Flamingo Skin


All these came in a pack that includes both a male and female skin as well as some items of clothing, and boots in the Blackbird one. There are no demos. But take it for granted, there's no way you will look like your everyday self in one of these, so suspend caution and take a leap of faith. These are just some of the designs to be found. There were also an array of complete avatar outfits, this one that I bought was named "Padded," and was a steal at just 250l. That's male and female options in the one pack, right from the skin up.









Alpha Tribe is a collaboration of designers that are led by Alpha Auer, one of the authors of the NPIRL blog. They proudly display the Eloh license with every skin they sell, and mention that they are a young team and would welcome any exposure they receive, as their sales help them continue to provide the free items that I also plundered whilst buying in a slack jawed frenzy.
I'm more than pleased to do so, it's artists like this that make Second Life worth logging into.



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Arcavim - Diesel Fitter

Yes, I found a designer that pays so much attention to detail, even his packaging and pose stands are beyond awesome. I'm posing in front of them in this picture - its the new store Arcavim by Drack Diesel, a game design student who has brought his skills to SL. He's been a builder for a while, but now he has branched out into this WAY too cool Vernesque/Steampunk inspired clothing line.





To quote from Drack's mission statement "...announces his new store in Second Life, Arcavim, and his Noble Traveler Collection. The Collection is comprised of men’s clothing in a versatile color palette with diverse styles. Elaborate sculpts, many patterns with multiple scripting options pervade the offerings in the Collection. The colors are comprised of mix and match tones of brown, black, grey, and gold with accents of forest, plum, and clay. The numerous interchangeable versions and combinations make for many unique looks for every occasion."





Every piece in this collection had me gaga for the workmanship, the intricacies of the details but most of all the rich textures! The sheen on the Gold Travellers Vest was the thing that had me rushing over there before anything else had rezzed, but I came away with one of pretty much everything Drack sells in the end. I'm enamoured with the palette, and almost everything that has prims on it is scripted to colour change so you can work within this range as much as you like.





The entire clothing line makes an innovative use of sculptys - you don't often come across a swing jacket tail made this way.





At present there is no ladieswear available, but the hats, boots and goggles are certainly unisex - go get 'em, Ach - but it's worth a visit anyway as it's a fascinating build. It's in the hangar of Drack's airship.





This may not be your usual taste or style, but the pieces are all such quality that you need some of this in your inventory. Uh huh. It's the most elegant and well made clothing I've ever seen in this genre, and I'll be happily stalking his store to see how it develops in the future. It'll be interesting to see what sort of video game Drack makes in the end, but he's well on his way to winning SL.

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