And here comes….CLEO! – Review

Hey guys!

I am sooo happy that finally Aida released this skin for Glam Affair. I think it has been a long, long time since I have been waiting this anxiously for a skin. Amberly was nice already, but I like Cleo better. I was so damned jealous of Magenta DeVinna and of certain other individuals who got this skin as a preview. Jealooous. I have been camping the damned store the whole time.

And Aida did not disappoint me!

Cleo comes in six tones: Arctic, Europa, America, Jamaica, India and Africa.  My personal favourite ones are Europa and America, so these are the ones displayed here:

I love, love, love these lips! I quite like the body, even though I haven’t been a big fan of her Lola-appliers, because they come with no layer to hide the sideshadows (also called sideboobs) whenever you do not want to wear giant boobies. But I think the shading is pretty nice and ever since her older releases such as Gio etc. she has improved a LOT imho. The face is very soft and youthful and I also like the hipbones. Personally, I like faces that look a little more ethereal and not that doll-like, but I am still pretty much in love with it.

Due to my lack of Lindens I obviously cannot display all twelve make ups for this skin, but those are really, really pretty. This one does the job as well. The skintones look very natural to me unlike those of certain other skincreators that always either seem too reddish or too yellowish. Also, a big improvement when you compare these to her old skins!

What’s in the package?

One skin costs 999 Lindens and comes with the following features:

6 (!!!) eyebrow options, displayed below

3 types of freckles on layers, displayed below

3 types of lips on layers, displayed below

3 types of nose son layers, displayed below

ALL 6 eyebrow options on a natural version of the skin

2 types of lashes on layers.

Here a picture of all eyebrow types:

I think these eyebrows are really well done, very neat, pretty and detailed.

And here a picture of all noses, freckles and lips that come with the package:

Those noses are adorable and I LOVE every skindesigner out there who puts theirs on layers. It is one hell of an opportunity to customize your skin. The freckles? Geeze, I am currently a redhead and these are really natural looking, especially the ones that go all over the face. I like that they aren’t symmetric, which always looks very odd to me. And do I have to mention that these lips look really yummy? I am mostly a fan of the matte lips I must say, not so much of the super shiny ones, but that is clearly a matter of taste.

Summary!

Okay, I am calling Aida crazy, because that is one GIANT package for that price. O.o I am truly amazed by this offer. I was standing earlier in the store and was talkign to some other chick and told her that I expected the price for one skin to be upped now due to all the features. Well, they haven’t gone up and this is a freakishly good deal!

So, here is your TAXI to GLAM AFFAIR and I hope you’ll leave some Lindens there for Mrs. Ewing.

BTW: The hair is by Magika (Sabina Gully) and until tomorrow itonly costs 150Lindens for a whole colourpack (including all naturals/all oddly coloured ones etc.). The eyes are from Dead Apples (Soleil Reid), the lashes a current gift from Maitreya (Onyx LeShelle).

<3 Arica

Essences – Clover Skin

Hello!

The latest release from Essences by Inka Mexicola is available at the current Skinfair 2013. It is a really pretty skin with a soft and unique look to it. So far most of her skins didn’t really seem to fit my shape well, but Clover seems indeed pretty cute.

So, here a couple of infos:

The price is 1500 Lindens per skintone/make up. That sounds like a LOT of money at first, especially since even The Body Co now lovered their prices, however, once you look into the package, you see that you get quite some stuff:

4 eyebrow options
Cleavage layers on tatto-, shirt- and undershirt-layers
6 types of blushes
no-lashes-alpha
eyebrow-shaper

I do believe that everything besides the blush-layers are pretty much standard options nowadays, but the six different blush/contour options are really nice. Lola-appliers have to be bought separately, but that is just normal as well.

Skintones

The skin comes in eight different tones: Pale Dust, Midday, Light Rose, Beach, Sunkissed, Sunset, Sunheat, Moonlight. Some of these only vary in their colourscheme, not so much in the actual darkness/lightness of the skin, so it can be a really tough pick because you can barely spot a difference at first sight (see the skins above!).

What I noticed was that with neutral lightsettings (Analu Studio 5) the darker skins have a tendency to look very reddish, while the lighter ones have a yellowish touch to them. However, I know that a LOT of skins have this ‘problem’, so I am not going to nitpick here. The skintones sort of remind me of The Body Co! If the yellowish undertone bothers you, you can always buy one of the many skindetoners available and should be very happy afterwards.

Textures

In my opinion, the textures on these skins are very well done. I especially like the whole stomach/belly area and the shading around the spine. I think those areas look very, very realistic.

Maybe on this particular skin the shading around the nose is a little too dark for my taste, but I believe that this has to do with the particular look Inka was going for (some sort of summery look with a tiny hint of a sunburn?). The cheeks look fresh but not too young. The lips are gorgeous! I really do adore these lips and wish they would come as tattoolayers as well, so these could be added to other skins as well. Yummy!!

I am not a HUGE friend of the eyebrows. I think the blonde and ginger ones are pretty, but both the brunette and brown ones seem very, very strong. But, I do know that a lot of people like the thick brows lately, so that is really just a matter of taste.  What I DO like about the brows is the general shape. They are easy to adjust, unlike the brows of my current skin.

I think Inka managed to give each of her skins the typical ‘essences’-feeling: You can spot one of her skins right away. Clover is no exception. It has a pretty, young face with those typical juicy lips and a cute button-nose.

Make Ups

The skin comes with four colourful make ups and one nude version of the skin. I personally prefer the nude version because that seems a lot more versatile. However, the make ups are really fresh and funky!  Make Up Number 5 (the dark green one) is my personal fav because I am not such a  big fan of the colour pink. I really do wish it would come with different lipsticks, too!

A tip: Inka participates pretty regularly in events such as Zodiac and The Dressing Room. If you don’t like these make ups, try to grab a copy of the versions of her skins there for a lot less Lindens, too!

So, thank you for reading this and bearing with my not so perfect Photoshop skills. I hope it was informative. If you want to try out Clover yourself, check it out at The Skin Fair 2013 – Essences.

<3 Arica

PS: I am SOOOO disappointed that I cannot use the other layout I had for my blog. This one is fine as well, but not AS pretty as the other. Unfortunately the pictures on that one were too big for the Fashionfeeds.

Modern Elfy Times!!! :)

Hello peeps,

so, I guess I owe an explanation (or not?) as to why I am have been sooo slow with everything lately. I keep telling myself that I’ll have the time to blog more…but then I figure: NOpe, again no time. I am currently in a trainee programm for teachers and it basically eats up my time. I got my final exams in less than three weeks and well…I better not procrastinate. So until the 4th of March, I will probably not be blogging again after this post.

Today, I wanted to show you gyus an outfit I made for a casual OOC elf a s well as some of my favourite hairs that more or less recently have been released.

Here is my outfit. Forgive the not so cool picture, I tried to figure out how to get shadows to work properly. Oh well…skillfull me isn’t all that skilled yet.

Hair: Exile (Kavar Cleanslate Mesh!!)
Shape: selfmade
Eyes: Mayfly (Arkesh baral, Mesh!!)
Ears: Illusions (Siyu Suen, Mesh!!)
Blouse: Tee*fy (Azure Electricteeth, Mesh!! Collabor 88!!)
Skirt: Götzsche (Goetzsche Resident, Mesh!!
Pumps: Elikatira (Elikapeda Tiramisu, not for sale anymore. )
Clutch: Milk Motion (Marie Lauridsen)
Belt: Tokidoki (Maya Levane)
Necklace: League (Nena Janus)

Here come my six current favourite hairstyles, in no particular order:

Both Magika hairs are just flawless. I love, love their system where you can buy the whole scale of natural colours (brunette, red, black, blondes) for only 250 Lindens. The textures and meshwork is awesome, and each hair comes in three sizes. Magika has improved so, so much over the years. Imho, Sabiny Gully is currently one of the best hairmakers out there. These hairs fall in a natural manner and are really long as they reach down to the lower back. I am in love with these. Also I think her haircolours look very nice and natural, even if I picked a not so natural red right now.

The LeLutka hair is very nice as well, the soft waves giving it a very innocent look. I love the fact that you can turn the hair accessory on or off. I have to unfortunately turn it off because it clips into my elven ears. But even without it, this hair looks really nice. Her haircolours and textures are very, very good as well. I really can rarely complain, unless she is making one of her strange hairstyles again for which you’d need a bottle of hairspray to have them stay that way. But oh well, this one is awesome! It also fits me quite perfectly, even without the alpha layer.

And here comes Eaters Coma. Kumii Yoshikawa always already amazed us with her really pretty styles that she made for SIXTYNINE. The style ‘ME’ was one of the favs I’d say, and I saw so, so many chicks with it. Guess what? Now she has redone it in mesh, and while I like Burley’s remake of it as well, this one just made me SO happy. I am wearing it on the right. I do not think it is  a 100% exact replica of her old ME-style, and I wish teh bangs would be a bit lower on this one, but this is a thick, very wellmade and hot braid that goes over your boob. Truth has made a similar style, I believe it is called Froukje, but the way the braid just seems cut off at the bottom always bothered me. I love this. Eaters Coma in general makes very good mesh styles, even if not all of them are fitting my personal tastes. The style on the left is one of my current most worn styles as well. I think her textures are awesome, however I do wish she would add more colour-variety to her packages. Also, making hair, even meshhair, no mod is a bit sad. One should be abllowed to tint it a bit!

In the middle there is Exile, and I really, really do like it. Often enough, the shape of Exile’s hairs doesn’t go well with my headshape at all. In this case, I was SO hapy. Not only does it come with a bunch of cute, rigged meshflowers which you can obviously detach. The textures are nice and I really do like how it flows down over your boobs. I tinted the hair in this case. I bought the Naturals Package Exile offers and the tone ‘Sunset’ doesn’t exactly strike me as a red tone, so I tinted it a bit,  e voilà, now I am happy.

I think that is something  creators of hairs should really keep in mind: Please, please add packages with one example of each natural colour! I know Exile, Eliaktira, LeLutka and Magika do this, but I really wish others would follow as well. Make it a little more expensive than  the usual packs, that justs eems fair. But nothing is worse than having to buy tons and tons of hairs in a new colour, just because youc hanged your colour after years. I know what I am talking about.

 

So, that’s it for now and the next post will be more than liekly after the 4th of March. Unless I start procrastinating…

Arica

 

I survive by the memory…of you.

Hello peeps!

So, where was I? Mostly, in bed. The past weeks were odd for me and finally I got my bum up and went ot the doc, turns out I have a dysfunctional thyroid which caused me to be tired and feel sick all the time. I could sleep 18 hours in a  row at times and still felt as if it were possibly 2-3 hours at most. Well, with the new pills this should hopefully stop now and I’ll be able to spend some more time blogging again. My apologies if blogging is going slow, but an extremely busy rl + this stupid stuff really kept me distracted.

Please forgive that in my following post I won’t post every single (make up/skin-) layer I use. I have gotten a bit tired of meeting almost exact copies of my avatar ingame. While I can see how people might just want the same look, I never considered this blog being a guide about “How to copy every single bit of an avatar” but it is more meant to be inspirational. Especially now, that I finally got my absolutely perfect skin for my elf (I really do love the new Laqroki skin, but it just looked TOO innocent for my elf), I’d like that look to stay unique for a while, though I don’t doubt some of you people will figure out what I did anyways.

By the way, not fan of this new wordpress layout. Hmph. Never change a running system, damnit!

Hair: Truth (Truth Hawks, Mesh!!)
Shape: selfmade (not for sale)
Lashes: LeLutka (THora Charron)
Eyes: Mayfly (Arkesh Baral)
Ears: Illusory (Crushed Clarity)
Hood: REMY (TheRegular Resident, Mesh!!)
Vest: Milk Motion (Marie Lauridsen)
Corset: LeLutka (Thora Charron)
Dress: League (Nena Janus)
Undershirt: Kyoot (Saeya Nyanda, Simple Cozy Sweater)
Corsetwrap: Ever After (PersiaSky Lorefield, not for Sale anymore )
Pants: Zenith (miffyhoi Rosca)
Socks: Enchanty (Nuts Andel)
Shoes: COCO (cocoro Lemon, Mesh!! FREE!!)
Gloves: Caverna Obscura (Elvina Ewing, part of Asclaon Ranger)
Armwarmers: BOOM (Aranel Ah, Mesh!!)
Belt: Tea Time (Eloindir Davi)
Scarf: Molichino (Aurelia Chauveau)
Ring: Handverk (Daphne Klossovsky, Mesh!!)
Necklace: League (Nena Janus)
Quiver: GSpot (Jalilah Jewell, part of Shark)
Dagger: LR Weapons (Larion Rhode)
Bow: Centipede Weapons (Kendra Zaurak)
Armor: The Forge (Kain Flores)

Location: Happy Mood Store (Non-Role-Play), HappyMood

Finally, finally, finally…hurray for Laqroki!

Hello fashiongals!
Lately, I felt a little uninspired, likely due to the fact that some of my favourite stores and sims closed. Even outfits I actually liked suddenly did not interest me anymore, so the only thing that made me log in every day was the search for something awesome and…new. And here it is:

Laqroki finally released their new skinline: ESSENTIAL. I decided to buy the skin named Saga, and it the FIRST time that I truly felt comfortable with dropping my usual skin, Orchid by the Body Co. I dropped it before for League, but soo enough went back, but in this case I think I actually might stay with Laqroki.
Mallory Cowen, the creator of Laqroki, reworked the whole look of her skins. I am not sure if she will ever rework her older skins as well, but I cannot blame her if she doesn’t, given how MANY she released so far. I üersonally am REALLY in love with the look of the face, even though it is, typically for Laqroki, decidedly flawless. But hey, I play an elf, we are supposed to look oh so flawless, so I cannot complain.

A skin costs 1990 Lindens and comes with a GIANT package of addons: Lipgloss, different eyebrows, different eyelids, lips on layer, nose on layer (!!!), birthmarks on layer, hairbases in blonde, brown, black and red on layers, eyeliner and smokey eyes on layer, Saga prim eyes, cleavage layer both on tattoolayer and on the undershirt layer. Honestly I think that 1990L is a VERY fair price for this package. Also, there are tons of make ups available, 100L each.

Now you might wonder why nose, mouth and such come on layers? Well, you can combine them with her other skin, Elle, or that’s what I ahve been told. Basically, you can add the Elle-Nose to the Saga-Skin or teh other way round and so on. This way, you get to mix all kinds of very unique looks, and I think it is a badass idea!!!

But lets see how these skins look now:

On the left I wear the Laqroki skin in Tone 1.0 (the palest tone), on the right I wear the same skin, just added Arriah Fiertze’s Skin detoner. I personally am delighted to see that Mallory managed to significantly reduce that awful yellow/orange ting that most of her older skintones had. In my opinion, it is STILL a bit visible, but that might just be my graphic-settings as well. I personally like it even more with the skindetoner. The make up I wear is from Kosh, the skin tiself is completely bare. The look is very soft and beautiful, I really do love it on my shape. The lips have a nice colour (this is the base colour), a nice sturcture and the spines seem very natural and not as overdone as they often look on other skins. The brows are fantastic imho, not too thick yet visible enough. The nose is pretty much perfect, I really do not like the overly thin or bulbous looks that seem so popular lately.The slight rosy blush on the cheeks adds a touch of innocence which I really like for my particular character.

Maybe people who like flaws and possibly a more mature look will not be as happy with this skin as I am.

Note that ALL the following pics have not been reworked in any way besides cropping them and adding a border.

Lets have a look at the body:

I am amazed about how Mallory reworked the body. On her old skins, the belly always had sort of a chubby look and imho, look rather unrealistic. It was one of my biggest petpeeves about her skin. Now? I think the shading is magnificant and very detailed. I like the sporty look the stomach area has to it now, yet it doesn’t seem exaggerrated and still very feminine. I especially like the hint of hipbones and muscles. I do believe that the boobs look a bit too plastic for my tastes, maybe the highlighting on them is just too much. However, they are a great improvement compared to the older ones.

I am not sure about the legs and butt. I think the shading on both knees and butt could have been a bit more detailed, but it certainly is no major thing for me. I really do like the shoulderblades as well as the shading around the lower back area. (Please ignore the not so fitting meshfeet….*cough*).

Overall I must say I am personally superhappy with this skin. I think this new line is a GIANT improvement if you compare it to her older skins and they can keep up with pretty much ever yother designer out there once again, if not even outshine them.

New hairs, too!

I was never a huuuuge fan of Magika. I bought a hair from them here and there, btu a lot of their hairs just seemed to unnatural or absurd for me. But then, last week, I went there and I couldn’t believe my eyes: AWESOME hairs all over the place. :O So, I went in, bought all of them and am ever since a superhappy gal! Elikatira released a new hair, too, though I wish she would add different REDS to her Essential Colour Pack. You ahve the choice between either an orangey version or a very deepred version, both not really looking too natural. I am in love with the styles and the textures on the Magika hair, especially with the red tones as well.

Here they are!

Magika

Elikatira:

I really love these! And I hope you liked the review.

And now, as a last question, what do you think about this skin on my avatar and about the new haircolour? I am pondering to have my elf become a redhead.

Arica

PS: New outfit following soon! Had to redo them because I was not happy anymore.

I use my pretty face to find my way to him

Hair: Elikatira (Elikapeda Tiramisu, Mesh!! NEW!!)
Skin: League (Nena Janus)
Shape: selfmade
Ears: Illusory (Crushed Clarity, currently not for sale)
Eyes: Mayfly (Arkesh Baral)
Lashes: LeLutka (Thora Charron)
Make Up: Kosh (Lynaja Bade)
Lipgloss: Dead Apples (Soleil Reid)
Tunic: GSpot (Jalilah Jewell, part of Lupta Outfit, Mesh!!)
Blouse: The Sea Hole (Drinkinstein Sorbet)
Pants: Sur+ (Sienia Trevellion)
Socks: Rebel Xtravaganza (Rouge Darcy)
Shoes: S@bbia (Jury Gothly, Mesh!!)
Bag: GSpot (Jalilah Jewell, part of Lupta Outfit, Mesh!!)
Necklace: Concrete Flowers (Lynaja Bade)
Ring: Zaara (Zaara Kohime)
Bracelets: {me.} (Melody Dominquez, available at ONE VOICE!!)

Location: Dellhallow (Fantasy Medieval Role-Play), Fjallheim

If you let me go I’m running fast

Hello everyone,

time for a new post. Lately I was asked again and again if I could do a review on some items, usually though, I refused, for two reasons: Most clothing is after all a matter of taste, so my opinion is just that…my opinion and 2. I quite simply don’t have the time to do a lot of reviews. But, I decided, every now and then I will. Think it is a good idea? I am not sure yet, some feedback would be awesome.

So here we go, with a usual post first and later on one with a review. You’ll notice the outfit is a bit similar to the last, but I simply had to blog this stuff once more, this time with the soon to be released pants. Promise the next one will be different again!

Hair: LeLutka (Thora Charron)
Skin: League (Nena Janus)
Shape: selfmade
Ears: Illusory (Crushed Clarity, currently not for sale)
Horns: Rue (Ruina Kessel)
Eyes: Mayfly (Arkesh Baral)
Lashes: LeLutka (Thora Charron)
Make Up: Kosh (Lynaja Bade)
Lipgloss: Dead Apples (Soleil Reid)
Bolero: INNOCUOUS (Circuitous Resident, Mesh!! NEW!!)
Blouse: Hal*Hina (Hinano Runo)
Corset: INNOCUOUS (Circuitous Resident, Mesh!! NEW!!)
Pants: INNOCUOUS (Circuitous Resident, Realeased NOW!! Mesh!!)
Underpants: Zenith (Miffyhoi Rosca)
Boots: mon tissu (Elie Spot, Mesh!!)
Gloves: Celoe (Jadenart Resident, Mesh!!)
Belt: Mandala (kikunosuke Eel)
Necklace: Tres Blah (Juliette Westerburg)
Ring: EarthStones (Abraxxas Anatine)
Bow: Centipede Weapons (Kendra Zaudrak)
Dagger on Tigh: LR Weapons (Larion Rhode)
Dagger on Arm: INNOCUOUS (Circuitous Resident, Mesh!! NEW!!)
Location: The Desolate Swamplands (Gorean Role-Play), Skerry of Einar

Don’t waste your time, or time will waste you

Hair: Maitreya (Onyx LeShelle, NEW!! Mesh!!)
Skin: League (Nena Janus)
Shape: selfmade (not for sale)
Ears: Illusory (Crushed Clarity, currently not for sale)
Eyes: Mayfly (Arkesh Baral)
Lashes: LeLutka (Thora Charron)
Blush: Bella di Notte (Jade Glazner)
Make Up: Kosh (Lynaja Bade)
Lipgloss: Dead Apples (Soleil Reid)
Blouse: Leverocci (Leverocci Resident, Mesh!!)
Short Skirt: The Sea Hole (Drinkinstein Sorbet)
Long Skirt: oyakin (kinbo Akina, tinted!!)
Socks: Modd.G (moddishh GossipGirl, old Gift)
Shoes: Tokidoki (Maya Levane)
Scarf: Tee*fy (Azure Electricteeth, The Dressing Room Blue item!! Mesh!!)
Bag: Tokidoki (Maya Levane)
Belt: Surf Couture (Emma Gilmour)
Necklace: Tokidoki (Maya Levane)
Ring: Kunglers (AvaGardner Kungler, The Dressing Room Blue Item!!)

Location: Arynfell (Adult Fantasy Role-Play), The Lost Realm

A million miles from home, I’m walking ahead

Hair: LeLutka (Thora Charron, Mesh!!)
Skin: League (Nena Janus)
Shape: selfmade
Eyes: Mayfly (Arkesh Baral)
Horns: Rue (Ruina Kessel)
Ears: Illusory (Crushed Clarity, currently not for sale)
Lipgloss: Dead Apples (Soleil Reid)
Make up: Kosh (Lynaja Bade)
Blush: Bella di Notte (Jade Glazner)
Dirt all over: Vigo (Vilandra Miles)
Tattoo: La Malvada Mujer (Faina Cortes, Dollarbie!!)
Vest: Tokddoki (Maya Levane, Mesh!!)
Shirt: Tokidoki (Maya Levane, Mesh!!)
Pants: Rochambeau (Leviathan Flux, Mesh!!)
Boots: COCO (cocoro Lemon, Mesh!! Gift!!)
Mouthie: Something in your Mouth (Aletta Milena)
Scarf: Miel (Mika Nieuport)
Slingbelt: DECO (Veluu Faulds)
Pile of Branches: Tee*fy (Azure Electricteeth, Epoch Legend Event Item, not available)
Bracelets: League (Nena Janus)
Weapon: LR Weapons (Larion Rhode)

Location: Pixel Mode and T Town (Non-Role-Play), Pixel Dreams

Je sais que tu m’aimes aussi

Perse, thanks for the awesome gift. I love it. So here is the long promised post!

“She was fairly complected but had extremely dark hair and dark eyes, very red lips; the movement of her exquisite body was a torment to observe; she looked at me with a slight smile [...] (Assassins of Gor)

Hair: LeLutka (Thora Charron, NEW!! Partial Mesh!!)
Skin: League (Nena Janus)
Shape: selfmade (not for sale)
Ears: Illusory (Crushed Clarity, currently not for sale)
Eyes: Mayfly (Arkesh Baral)
Make up: La Malvada Mujer (Faina Cortes)
Lipstick: Pink Fuel (Mochi Milena, comes with Elly Skins)
Blush: Bella di Notte (Jade Glazner)
Tattoo: Nuuna’s Skins (Nuuna Nitely)
Hairbase: LeLutka (Thora Charron, comes with Knotted Up Style)
Corsetwraptop: Ever After (PersiaSky Lorefield, currently not for sale)
Undershirt: Luas (AinaraLuas Resident, part of Nahid Camisk)
Long Skirt: Vigo (Vilandra Miles, part of Liv Outfit)
Short Skirt: Luas (AinaraLuas Resident, part of Nahid Camisk)
Shoes: Zaara (Zaara Kohime)
Bracelets with Rings: Mandala (kikunosuke Eel)
Ribbons: Luas (AinaraLuas Resident, part of Nahid Camisk)
Earrings: Fanatik (Kendra Zarauk)
Hairflower: GSpot (Jalilah Jewell)
Collar: Soedara (Marbella Pronovost)
Necklace: Purplemoon (Poulet Koenkamp)

Location: Oasis of the Red Scimitar (Gorean Role-Play), Lost Oasis