From sim to shining sim

Usually when I try to make clothing, I’m trying to make something that I’d wear a lot. I’m not particularly into latex or skintight body suits, but one night I was messing around with AvPainter, accidentally stamped a texture on the mesh, and liked the result – which is now called “Kaleidoscope” and available at Chartreusia.

Likewise, most of my snapshots are bright and sunny, but I was feeling grittier. Couldn’t find a spot I liked for snaps, so I opened up a can of grunge and poured it over the photo cube in my skybox.  :D

“Kaleidoscope” is available in jet (pictured), blue, gold, purple, and red. An aluminum version is in the Moonlight Slots machine at Chartreusia, and charcoal was sent out as a subscriber gift. The blue one is in the Midnight Madness board, and there’s one more color that I’m saving for Wear Gray. All layers are included.

Hair: Argrace; Boots: BAX; Skin: YS & YS; Pose: Glitterati

Is there any more beautiful word than SALE? I know it’s one of my favorites! So this week is going to be doubly good for me – there’s a 50% sim-wide sale at Heart & Sole, and Chartreusia is in it! The sale runs from Monday, August 2, through Monday, August 9. All “Callie Lou” tops and EyeScream “Treasures” prim eyes are 50% off at Chartreusia, and don’t forget to check upstairs for our silver photo frame, also discounted 50%!

Heart & Sole, of course, is also in the sale. Bijoux Lefavre has marked down more than 10 pairs of shoes to half price, and all H&S shoes now have the alpha layer option. Make sure you check out the rest of the sale goodness from Alexohol, Magika, Cobrahive, Plastic Flowers, Izzie’s, *W&D*, Nomen Nescio Shop, !gO!, Nuuna’s Skins, Fool’s Fate, Adorkable Poses, Sassy Kitty, Luscious Pixels and Blackberry Jam too!

It’s been a while in coming, but Chartreusia‘s EyeScream line is branching out into prim eyes with Treasures, available now at both our original location and at Chartreusia II on Heart and Sole.

Each pack contains left and right prim eyes along with traditional body part eyes, and all are copy/mod. The turquoise color shown above is free to subscribers and not available for purchase. Six other colors – amethyst, emerald, gold, onyx, ruby and sapphire – are available for 30L per color or 120L for the fatpack of all six. The Emerald pack is now in the Midnight Mania boards at both locations!

What Vic is wearing

Eyes: EyeScream Treasures in Turquoise from Chartreusia

Skin: Gina 03 from Tuli

Hair: Evelyn (Brown: Chocolate) from Magika

Operation Squeegee will open to the public on July 1, and Chartreusia is set to go with a new tank celebrating our wetlands. Available in Navy or Forest, each tank is 50L with all proceeds going to the National Wildlife Federation. All layers are included, and perms are copy/mod.

I can’t give you the landmark until the official opening, but I’ve been camming around and even though the sim JUST opened to Operation Squeegee merchants, there’s already a lot of really nice stuff here! Great variety as well – I’m lucky enough to have a cart next to Dollipops, so I already know I’ll be getting some new poses. I’ve also seen several of my other favorite shops along with a few that are new to me but won’t be for long – I can tell I’m going to be dropping some Linden!  :D

I plan to get a few more things out for the event, which will run from July 1-15. I have another top and possibly at least one tattoo in the works, and maybe some artwork as well. At least some of Chartreusia’s items will be exclusive to Operation Squeegee, although I may release additional colors at the regular shops later. We’ll see!

For now, set aside some Linden and mark your calendars for July 1-15!

Formerly released in limited edition colors for Anti-Bullying Day and Relay For Life, Chartreusia’s “Callie Lou” floral top is now available in 16 different colors at both our original shop and our new location at Heart and Sole.

“Callie Lou” features a rich velour texture with a delicate floral pattern and subtle shading. Color combos are aqua & navy, beige & teal, brown & white, charcoal & powder, fog & pear, lavender & sky, salmon & spring, and shell & wine. The violet RFL version is available in separate RFL donation vendors for 50L. It’s a dressier alternative to a standard tube top by itself and also works great for layering.

Each pack contains two different colors on all layers and is priced at 60L per pack. Bloggers – if you want a review copy, just send me your color choice and your blog URL!

So, for a while now I’ve been hearing that some people get a page error when they try to view my blog. Some of my favorite folks from Plurk haven’t been able to view this blog at all – including creators whose stuff has been blogged right on these pages.

Well, enough of that. Earlier I headed over to WordPress and whipped myself up a brand spankin’ new blog… er, almost. Actually all I did was copy all the posts over from THIS blog and tack on the date they were originally published (which isn’t QUITE accurate for about the first 10-ish posts, because I started out on a different server and later moved them).

But anyway. It was quite a trip down Memory Lane. I cringed a little at the quality of some of my earlier snaps (and one or two of the later ones – seriously, there’s one relatively recent one in there that looks overexposed and grainy in addition to being poorly cropped; what was I THINKING?). I seriously considered, for quality reasons as well as time-saving ones, just starting with the past few months and leaving out the stuff from long long ago when I ran around in freebies and had no idea there was real designer clothing inworld. But it’s all a part of me, and even when I was cringing, I was laughing too.

I wanted to make it look like this one but couldn’t find the theme – actually I kind of like the theme on the new one, so maybe I’ll change the old. I  also need to add tags to all the posts there, not to mention getting the blogroll set up.

And just some random updates… I moved again (got some land for sale cheap with bonus prims, tier’s paid through the end of the month if you’re interested). Long story, would have LOVED to have stayed where I was but was lucky enough to get an awesome new place on a sim owned by good friends. I still have the original Chartreusia shop on Elf Fala Lands and kept one small parcel there where I may put up a slightly larger shop. Meanwhile I need to get cracking and get more stuff set up at my new shop on Heart and Sole. I’m still hosting live music at the H&S Courtyard and DJing Wacky Request Night there every Monday; also DJing a few nights a week at House of the Rising Sun, AND I’m the associate editor of Scruplz Magazine! WOOT! Which reminds me, I need to do a blogpost there.  :D

Much like my old blogposts, the snap above is something I dredged up from the archives, and I’m not completely sure what I’m wearing. The top is Nilaya in charcoal from Zaara, bangles are the free ones at Zaara, skin is Sunny in Sundust from Curio (not sure which makeup). The eyes are probably my EyeScreams; the hair, I THINK, is Grace from Exile, but don’t quote me. I’ve worn that necklace a zillion times but I can’t remember what it is, and I don’t recognize the nails at all. I do know the pic was taken at Heart Garden Centre because I saved it with the filename “Vic at Heart Garden Centre.”  :D

I just turned 0x1F4 days old in SL today!

That’s 500, in case you don’t speak hexadecimal. I had to Google it – 500 just looked kinda bland.

I’ve been working on pink shirts for Anti-Bullying Day. In the above pic, I’m wearing a top I named “Callie Lou” (after my cat, who turns 7 on April 17!). That shocking pink color is a limited edition item – my first! – and will only be available until April 30. I should have it out in the shop this weekend. If I already know you and you want it before I get it set out, just let me know.

The eyes are also a limited edition thing in honor of the upcoming National Day of Silence and will be in the shop this weekend through the end of April as well.

I got my first-ever unsolicited review item today! Floyd Mistwalker of PrimSavers, after reading about what a prim ho I am, sent me an office furniture set with an executive desk and chair – each piece is only two prims. I’ll be blogging that later this weekend after I get a chance to make a trip to PrimSavers.

I’m on the blogger list for Fantasy Faire 2010 in addition to Pink Shirt Day – who knows, I might pick up a reader or two, which would… probably triple my readership.  :D

For the record,

Hopefully I’ll get my official Pink Shirt Day blogpost up this weekend. For now, I’m going to go enjoy being 0x1F4.

What Vic is wearing:

Top: “Callie Lou” in Shocking Pink from Chartreusia (limited edition)

Hair: “Sage” in Chocolate from Truth

Skin: “Sweetheart,” tone Nutmeg, makeup Celestial from Cupcakes

Necklace: Knotted bead strand in Mother of Pearl from Shiny Things

Bracelet: Paua bangle from Distraction

Ring: “Raga” oyster ring in Paua (silver) from Zaara

Lashes: NoAlpha Lashes No.6 from Miamai

Eyes: “EyeScream” Rainbows from Chartreusia (limited edition)

Nail polish: Pale Fuchsia from Ibizarre

Pose: Included with Model Pose Stand from Monalisa Agrawal

Ever just have one of those days? Sure you have.

Between real life and Second Life, I’m having a doozy. My mother is one of those people who has a knack for saying EXACTLY what will hurt someone the most, and she’s turned that on me. Oh, she won’t say it OUTRIGHT. No, she makes little innuendos and hidden slams, and if you try to call her on it AT ALL, she puts on her “OMG how could you DO this to me” guilt trip routine and you end up looking like the bad guy.

It’s not fun. Seriously. There is a reason I’ve saved nearly every pill from every prescription for painkillers and such I’ve gotten over the last several years. I call it my “suicide stash.” No, I don’t want attention, I doubt I’d ever actually USE it. But in a weird sort of way, it’s comforting just to know it’s there if I need it.

But at least I have SL, right? Yeah… maybe. I have a couple of diehard tried-and-true friends on SL who stick with me even when I’m grumpy and miserable (hey guys, just to warn you, this is one of those times). I also have a few people who maybe aren’t as close, but whom I like/trust/admire.

And then I have SL friends who are also my friends on Plurk – aren’t they? Maybe it’s just my natural innate shyness and insecurity, maybe not. I’m just not sure I really fit in. Everybody seems to have known everybody else for ages. Once in a while I get brave and jump into a conversation, but a couple of times the reaction has been like, “Uh… what’s SHE doing in here?” It’s the exception rather than the rule, but still. I often wonder when I reply to someone’s Plurk if I’m making a friend or an enemy. My Plurks don’t tend to get a lot of responses (the exceptions are Chas and a couple of people who I would totally let myself go fangirl over if I thought that wouldn’t embarrass them  :D). And then I start wondering, do people ignore my Plurks because I don’t reply to their Plurks (which is usually because they intimidate me, although most of them probably don’t know that), or do they ignore my Plurks because I HAVE replied to their Plurks and they thought what I said was stupid?

Did that make sense at all? Yeah, didn’t think so.

I’m also still working on letting things go and moving on, which is hard because one person in particular doesn’t seem to WANT to let it go. It’s getting harder because I figured, c’mon Vic, not EVERYBODY who has a business in SL in your field can be a control freak or out to screw you over, right? So I took a chance and tried it again. Put in my time and effort, was assured – ASSURED – that some of my concerns from the past two places were not a factor. Well, talk is cheap. The “set in stone” payday was two days ago. I am as yet unpaid, AND the response I got when I asked – VERY nicely – was rather snippy. This is already sounding WAY too familiar. Promises, promises – hey, it’s not MY fault your website is in violation of SL’s Terms of Service. And I get that RL happens, but then don’t insist you run a tight ship and you’re always on schedule.

I’m waiting for now to see what happens in the next day or so, but I’m not optimistic. I have a venture of my own I keep sort of starting; it’s way past time I stopped putting my time and effort into making other people look good and then getting screwed over when I could be doing this for myself. If it fails, at least it’s something I really enjoy, and the only one I’ll be able to blame will be myself.

Who knows. Maybe it won’t fail.

I made some new eye styles. Wearing one of them in this entry’s pics. Haven’t gotten around to putting them in vendors yet – ditto on the photos in the pic below – but if I already know you on a friendly basis and you want them, let me know and I’ll pass them on.

And now… not really a rant, just more of a puzzlement. I would never consider myself a fashion blogger; there are far too many people out there who do that much better than I ever could. But I do occasionally-starting-to-get-to-often blog about fashion because I’ve discovered I LIKE fashion (SO unlike my RL self, who never sacrifices comfort for style).

I know some bloggers get review stuff for free, and I’ve heard designers saying they WANT to be asked for review copies. Now I LOVE nice stuff for free – who wouldn’t? But I can’t imagine ever asking someone to give me something free to review. That would take way more gumption than I have. I used to think that it would be cool if some designer saw my blog and sent me free stuff without me having to ask, but then again – suppose they sent me something and I HATED it? Even if I didn’t hate it, I’m not sure I could give an unbiased review in a case like that. I’d be afraid to point out anything negative because they were nice enough to give it to me.

Which leads me to a recent event I took part in. There were a number of designers there, although it wasn’t any kind of fashion event. There were also two people who seemed very nice, so I won’t mention their names, BUT their actions were kind of inappropriate in my opinion. This was supposed to be a way to show support for a good cause. One of the two kept repeating that if any of the designers present needed a model, she wanted the job. The other reacted so eagerly when one designer talked about sending out blogger copies (“I have a blog! I have a blog!”) that I’m quite sure all she was really after was something free. It wasn’t the time or the place, and those certainly weren’t the right ways to go about it.

But that’s just my opinion. Besides, probably no one but Chas will read this.  :D

Anyway, the outfit in the top pic is so pretty, I just had to show a little more of it.

What Vic is wearing/lying on/decorating her house with. Warning – couple of shameless self-plugs in there.

Gown and fairy wings: “Nightwish” from Evie’s Closet

Hair: “Avery” in Treacle from Truth (darkened a bit to suit my mood)

Skin: “Sundust” Light in Sunny-Pure 4 from Curio

Lashes: “C01″ Natural from *FTL*

Eyes: “EyeScream Butterflies” in Cinders from Chartreusia

Bed: “Precious” cuddle/relaxing bed in Emerald from MB-CreationZ

Dragonfly photo: “My Nirvana” from Chartreusia

Daisy photo: “Daisy, Daisy” from Chartreusia

What with moving on and letting bygones be bygones and all those happy clichés, I suddenly realized that I was still running around in clothes, hair, skin and shoes that other people told me I should get.

Oh, I still love most of it, and I’ll still wear it. But I decided this weekend to deck myself out with no one’s influence but my own.

It’s easy to say that people like different things, but sometimes I think we say it so much we forget that it’s true. Some people hate bling. I don’t mind it in moderation. On the other hand, I HATE strong facelights, but I see so many of them that I know a lot of people must really love them. I think it’s the personality behind the fashion that matters more than what someone wears. Someone walking around in Armidi who’s pushing people out of their way, using local chat in crowded areas for their private convos, bragging about their sexploits and/or hitting on total strangers, and sporting a group tag that says, “ur not hotter then” is a much bigger fashion loser than someone in a poorly-textured freebie outfit and blingy shoes who’s behaving like a courteous human being. Fashion is all about attitude? You’re damn right.

That said, yeah, I’ll still get a laugh out of people with prim boobs and clothing that exposes their naughty bits and AOs that make them look as if they want to be assraped. But I’ll try to keep in mind that they might be looking at what I’m wearing and laughing right back at ME.

But anyway, in case YOU’RE wondering what I’m wearing in the above pic…

Hair: “Sage” in chocolate by Truth

Skin: “Sundust” Light in Smokey 2 by Curio

Lashes: C01 Natural by FTL (OMG get these! They RAWK!)

Necklace: Heart Charm Necklace – Silver by RH Engel Jewelry (thank you, Chas and Damien, for my lovely Valentine’s gift!  <3)

Eyes: Eye Scream basics in Leaf by Chartreusia (available soon)

Top: “Callie Lou” tank in chartreuse by Chartreusia (available soon)

If there's one outfit that started my new obsession with fashion, this "Brocade Princess" gown by Musashi-Do would have to be it.

Seriously, where did this obsession with clothes come from? In real life I’m all about comfort over style. Then again, my av doesn’t have fibromyalgia, migraines, a bum arm, and arthritis in her neck and both knees.

In my early SL days, I pretty much picked my clothes because they were colors I liked – and they were usually also free or really really cheap.  :D  I was just starting to realize that there was a whole ‘nuther world of attire out there when Sarra IMed me and invited me to come to a party with her. Long story short, Shiryu was giving out his creations for correct answers to fashion trivia, and on the last question, Ali won but took pity on my poor winless mostly-freebie-clad butt and donated her prize to me – a fatpack of the Musashi-Do Brocade Princess gown in every color.

I rushed right home and tried it on, and that was pretty much the end of freebie superstores for me. The snapshot can’t possibly do justice to the detail on this dress, the brocade pattern, the subtle sheen of the fabric, the way the skirt prims move separately but in one graceful flow. I spent about a week walking around my house in that gown and taking it off only to build stuff – didn’t want to get sawdust on it, you know.  :D

I can’t wait for February 10, when Shiryu releases pink and purple versions of the gown for Valentine’s Day. I might just have to get both. The only thing that could POSSIBLY make this gown any better would be for it to come in chartreuse – although seriously, as much as I love love LOOOOVE chartreuse, I’m not sure it’s suited for brocade.  ;)

Gown: “Brocade Princess” in green by Musashi-Do

Necklace: Crystal Floral Set by Mae Best (from XStreet, not sure she has a shop inworld)

Hair: “The Bombshell” by Armidi in Chocolat

Skin: “Sweetheart” in Nutmeg by Cupcakes, Noir makeup

Eyes: Don’t knock ‘em, I made ‘em

One of my new favorite run-around-the-grid outfits is this jacket and velour slacks by Zaara.

Of course, you can’t wear a formal gown everywhere – well, you could, but mostly I prefer to save it for special occasions, just seems wrong to wear it to host in a club or something (although I’m VERY happy to say that I’ve hosted my last shift as of a week ago). Besides, as much as I love my Brocade Princess, there are other great outfits out there, like pretty much everything in Zaara. My birthday’s not until October, but start saving now so you can get me a Zaara gift card.  :D

The gorgeous embroidered shawl I got there will merit its own post someday (I don’t need a shawl, I didn’t especially want a shawl, but Zaara’s are so awesome there was no way I was leaving without at least one), but for now, I’m lovin’ my Inka jacket and matching velour pants. Doesn’t hurt that they go perfectly with my Babsy clogs from PixelFashion – another impulse buy – I’m not a clog person, I went there for boots, but the clogs were too perfect and I got those instead. I admired the matching belt but didn’t feel the need to drop 220L on it… until I found this outfit at Zaara and decided the belt made the perfect finishing touch.

I love this look because it looks so comfortable (amazing how important that can be to one’s RL self), but it’s still dressy and classy and pulled-together.

Jacket: “Inka” jacket by Zaara in brown

Slacks: “Ishaya” velour slacks by Zaara in Espresso

Cami: “Basic Cami” by fri.day in white

Clogs and belt: “Babsy” in brown by PixelFashion

Hair: “Avery” by Truth in chocolate

Necklace: Crystal Floral Set by Mae Best again

Skin: “Sweetheart” in Nutmeg by Cupcakes, Celestial makeup

Eyes: same as for Brocade Princess (hey, I’ve never found really green eyes I liked anywhere)

Poor Chas - turns her back and her husband tries to burn her workshop down!

I’m really not a fashion blogger (no kidding, right?), and I spent a loooooong afternoon and night Photoshopping stuff in preparation for my shop’s grand reopening (hopefully soon!). So it was a nice diversion for me when my friend Chastity’s husband, Damien, rezzed what he thought was a boxed item – and set her workshop on fire.  :D  Poor Chas only left him alone for a few minutes while she was off on a hunt (Chas is a whiz at those things – I totally fail at them), and returned to find her workshop in flames!

I put my sionChicken proteggtors (special boxes that let you pick up the eggs, for the non-chicken people who might see this) in boxes before I put them in vendors so I can include the LM, maybe a notecard or freebie or whatever. My old boxes had a picture of Cheiliog as a chick on a gold foil background, but since I’m in the process of changing the look of the shop, I decided new boxes were in order. The ones I came up with are four prims instead of one, but they let me display the exact tail and wing colors without resorting to scripts – and almost anyone who has chickens will tell you that fewer scripts mean less lag, and chickens make QUITE enough lag, thankyouverymuch. The trouble is… I think the new boxes are cute. REALLY REALLY REALLY cute. Like, WAY too cute to hide in a vendor where no one will see them unless they happen to buy an egg.

Maybe I’ll put the “normal” eggs in the vendors, and put the boxes with ancient and scarce eggs out on display. We’ll see.

And last, but DEFINITELY NOT LEAST! The premiere issue of Siren Magazine is now available for your reading pleasure! I have a few articles that will be appearing in the March issue, and this first edition looks GREAT!  :)

I have to wonder if my mother will ever see it… and if she does, if she’ll recognize my avatar’s name on the byline. I’m straight, but my mother has it fixed in her head that I’m gay. As I was telling a couple friends earlier tonight, she won’t come right out and ask me about it – oh no, because then she might have to admit to *gasp* BEING WRONG, which of course might cause the world to end… no, she just tells the people at her church and thinks it won’t get back to me. It wasn’t until she had guilt-tripped me into going to some church function and her pastor came up to me and said (without even so much as a “hi”), “So your mother tells me you don’t like boys!”

She has no idea that out of my four best female friends in the world, one is gay and two are bi. I can just imagine her reaction if she ever found out about any of them… or that I write for a lesbian-centric publication.  XD