Never Enough

That’s it! The Gacha mania has struck me at The Arcade event. For prices ranging from 25 L$ to 100 L$, you can buy items made especially for the event. It is a game. Each time you buy from a machine, you receive one no copy transferable version of an item. There are several colors and some are common while other are rare. I was lucky to get the Thruth hair in blonde fade, boots from ISON in red and the skirt from The Sea Hole in crimson so I was able to combine them to create this outfit.

As soon as I have seen the League Corset availabe at the Whore Couture Fair, I had to get it to complete this look which was way too lovely, romantic and adorable before. It needed some strong sexiness. I have braved the lag to get my corset. Be warned it is awfully crowded as The Arcade is.

Of course, I couldn’t be reasonable and stop the gacha mania at that point. I have played and played again, even getting three times some rare colors for the ISON boots. Fortunately, Yard Sales are being organized to resell the colors you don’t like or the ones you had in double. I am selling my extras here and there. The prices there are monitored. You have to sell the gacha for the same price you have bought them which is pretty fair for the designers and still allows you to buy more gacha or get the colors you are missing.

There are a lot of other items at The Arcade. It is a very fun event for everyone.

Details:

Skin: *League* Isla Medium DeepSmoke -Brunette (Cleavage E)
Eyes: IKON Utopia Eyes – Bahama Green (M)
Hair: >TRUTH< Video Games – BlondeFade
Corset: *League* Nyx Corset -Leather- Burgundy Medium
Skirt: The Sea Hole – (One Size MESH) Lorette Skirt – Crimson
Stockings: Zaara : 8 Chanchal stockings *onyx*
Necklace: [celoe.abihail.necklace.oman]
Boots: ISON – hawkin boots (red gold)
Poses: Glitterati

Rockabilly

Let’s go back in time today with a look inspired by a new release from The Secret Store, the Lady Swing Skirt, accompanied by the new Ashima blouse from Zaara. The belt with a lovely rose is part of the skirt but works wonderfully with the blouse aswell.

The annual Hair Fair has opened today 14th July and will last up to the 29th of July 2012. LaViere has five new styles there and I am showing you here three of them.

Shape: ** Dunes ** Taylor Shape size M
Skin: –Belleza– Lily V1 Med 1
Eyes: IKON ‘Sunrise’ Eyes – Bleached Blue S
Hair: –LaViere– at Hair Fair
– Picture 1: -LaViere- Freya
– Picture 2: -LaViere- Natasha
– Picture 3: -LaViere- Ambush
Blouse: Zaara : Ashima blouse in moss, blush and fire
Skirt: The Secret Store – Lady Swing Skirt – Rockabilly
Earrings: [MANDALA]Omochi earrings/red
Ring: [MANDALA] Motsumame Ring
Necklace: LaGyo_Hamptons necklace
Nails: Leverocci – Round Nails_1FA_ScarlettPlain
Shoes: [celoe] aelia.wedges.fog
Poses: Glitterati and (pda)

Plumtoo

Credits:

Skin: *League* Jen Medium Grape (Cleavage D) + *League* Jen -Medium- Lipstick GlamGoth -Matt
Dress: IKON ‘Sunrise’ Eyes – Light Sand (M)
Hair: /Wasabi Pills/ Teeloh Mesh Hair – Gingerbread + hairbase
Dress: [celoe.june.dress.lake.S] at Culure Shock
Stockings: Zaara : 5 Aksaka stockings *garnet*
Ring: LaGyo_Cube ring gold L at Culture Shock
Earrings: LaGyo_Olrich earring L gold
Necklace: LaGyo_Pan collar Gold at Culture Shock
Nails: Izzie’s – Spring/Summer 2012 Classic Nails
Shoes: [Gos] Triumph Boots – Fem – Worn
Scarf: Tee*fy Soft Cotton Tied Scarf Plum Ombre
Poses: Diesel Works

Groupie

Credits:

Skin: *League* Jen Medium CandyRed (Cleavage D)
Eyes: IKON ‘Sunrise’ Eyes – Light Sand (M)
Eyelashes: Slink Mesh Lashes
Hair: !lamb. Little Star (Mesh) – Milkshake
Top: One Bad Pixel ::1bp:: Glomesh Halter M Black
Skirt: [LeeZu!] O`LaLa Micro Jeans Skirt /used
Bracelet: [celoe.elah.charm.unna]
Necklace: [celoe.abihail.necklace.oman]
Earrings: [MANDALA]MaruMaru earrings/Hawaii
Nails: Leverocci – Round Nails_1FA_BlackManicure
Tattoo: [HUZ]-Dark Floral-3XShade-(FBD) (Cannot find a usable LM)
Pose: Torridwear (No longer available)

Deep

For today’s post, I did a bit more styling than in my last posts. Mesh is making us lazy as it is not as easy to layer up though some great pieces like this Celoe corset are perfect to wear aswell as a very sexy single top or with a blouse under it for a wiser effect.

One of my fun with pictures is to enhance them and to play with photoshop to add depth. Strawberry Singh is inviting us to share some of our secrets in one of her last articles. I have learned taking pictures and editing them mainly through tutorials made by others bloggers. I can hardly give any secrets as I actualy don’t have any but trusting my own eye.

So here are some of the things i do with my pictures:

1. Use good windlight settings. It is easier to edit a picture which is already good than make something pretty with an ugly lighting. You can download the new WL setting I have used for these pictures. It is a bit pinkish.
2. Use a pose which works fine with the outfit, complements it, ads expressivity.
3. Basics things like high resolution png files are always a good start as the simple fact of reducing the picture later removes a lot of imperfections. I also use anti-aliasing as high as i can without crashing. Some don’t bother about that, I do as I don’t blur the pictures most of the time. It irks me when I see the jagged edges while working on photoshop.
4. Next step is to clean the picture using a photo edition application: remove the black lines, liquify the bad angles, smudge, clone stamp the holes.
5. I enhance the shadows from Second Life with dodge and burn. I basicly emphasize the light and dark parts.
6. I am playing with the colors: curves, vibrance, contrast, saturation. While doing that, try to preserve the details.
7. I add a layer an overlayed gray layer with a default render light filter. I play with the intensity so it adds to the shadows, giving even more depth.
8. Each picture is different. I have some settings I can apply directly with some windlight settings but it is not a guarantee it is going to look nice as each color reacts differently. Each pictures receives a different treatment, with different values.
9. Crop, searching for better framing. Rule of thirds is your friend.

As a conclusion, it is only through practice that you can learn. Nothing replaces your eye for what is good or not. You may learn technical tricks but your pictures will only be valuable if you develop your own style and your own edition settings through time, adding a personnal touch. Try new things, play. Sometimes the result is not what you would like but maybe next time, you will be able to fine tune the settings to get the right colors, the right lighting. Practice, practice, practice !

Credits:

Skin: *League* Jen Medium Feline
Eyes: IKON ‘Sunrise’ Eyes – Light Sand (M)
Hair: ::Exile:: In The Meantime:Fawn
Eyelashes: Slink Mesh Lashes
Shirt: Izzie’s – Bow Tie Blouse white
Corset: [celoe.clara.corset.deep.M]
Skirt: [celoe.nikka.snow.snow.S]
Tighs: Shiny Things Solid thigh-highs – teal
Earrings: Paper Couture P.C; Tulle Wrapped Earring
Bangles: Zaara : Pallav clear bracelets
Ring: Zaara : Raga oyster ring *pearl*
Nails: Leverocci – Round Nails_1FA_RosyManicure
Shoes: [LeLutka]-REN/Pearl
Hat: LaGyo_Bow hat baja blue
Poses: (pda)

Casual and Sexy

I have been wearing this outfit for some days now as I really enjoy its comfortable yet sexy look. It is nothing original and seen on many places but definitely a casual set ideal to wander the grid. The jeans and sweater are from Maitreya while the jewels and shoes come from Celoe (known as the place where i cannot stay more than 30 seconds without crashing. As they don’t sell their items on the marketplace, I let you fancy how much I love these accessories and what it took me to get them).

I had to change the advertizing picture for the Dunes Lenore shape as the skin was from Exodi which is unfortunately closing. I have replaced it by the pretty Leah from Glam Affair, a skin which seems to meet a great success lately.

Last but not least, Elikatira has released two new fabulous hairstyles. I am shoowing here my favorite, Caramel.

Credits:

Shape: ** Dunes ** Lenore Shape -S- 3 Dody Sizes (Marketplace)
Skin: –Glam Affair– Leah Natural – 04 Red
Eyes: IKON Utopia Eyes – Pale Gray-Blue (M)
Sweater: Maitreya Mesh Athena Sweater * Grey
Jeans: Maitreya Mesh Zipper Skinny Jeans * #1
Hair: Elikatira [e] Caramel – Blonde 06
Nails: Leverocci – Round Nails_1FA_NudeManicure
Bracelet: [celoe.dara.bracelet.life]
Necklace: [celoe.clement.necklace.life]
Shoes: [celoe.xylia.pumps.asparagus]
Poses: Torridwear (no longer available)

(Sorry for double post, I had hit publish instead of preview)

Unedited

My pictures will be a bit different today has Harlow Heslop has issued the challenged to post unedited pictures for our blogs. I like the idea as it allowed me to rethink my way of taking pictures.

With time, I have developped a windlight settings and some photoshop editions which allow me to enhance my picture while keeping the colors natural and giving more depth effect. For this set of pictures, I have created a new windlight setting, and I have also framed the pictures so I don’t have to resize them. The result is a bit too blue but let’s say it is the wanted effect.

In a way, I have cheated as I have used newly released mesh items, which remove a lot of problems from the pictures. When you are going to stores like celoe, Exile and The Secret Store, you are sure to have quality products which won’t disapoint you.

I have used another trick actualy, which was not intended at first. I am taking my pictures in .png to avoid loosing details. I am also taking them using a huge resolution like 4000 x 5000 pixels. I first wanted to post the original pictures but that meant uploading 31 mega to flickr so I have decided to downsize them the way i usualy do, transforming to .jpg with a lower resolution, and hiding a lot of problematic details this way like jagged edges.

Finaly, for the skin, I am wearing pUK from Dutch Touch, the new release for the VIP group only.

As a conclusion, I would like to focus on the fact that, wether you choose to edit your pictures or not, because it is your fun to do so or not, while using quality items, a good windlight setting and having an eye for framing, you should come up with quality pictures.

Credits:

Skin: ::dUTCH tOUCH:: ::pUK:: pEACH – (Bare) CLA FR
EyeLiner: ::DT:: MakeUp – EyeLiner – nr 2 and ::dUTCH tOUCH:: AddOns – EyeLashes plus Kohl
Lipstick: :dUTCH tOUCH:: ::eSmEE:: pEACH – Glossy Fuchsia Lips
Teeth: Redgrave (part of Bella skin)
Eyes: IKON ‘Sunrise’ Eyes – Light Aspen (M)
Hair: ::Exile:: Queen Bee:Nectar
Sweater: [celoe.jet.sweater.ebony/swan.S]
Pants: [celoe.dade.slacks.gold.S]
Nails: ::je suis…naive::Nails::No.001:Pink
Earrings and Bracelet: (Yummy) Hodgepodge Silver
Bag: The Secret Store – Funky Tango Bag – Swatches
Shoes: [celoe.xylia.pump.claret.]
Poses: Fri.day

Blue Brown

Credits:

Skin: –Belleza– Chloe Med 3
Eyes: [LeLutka]-Ellis-Marina/M
Hair: /Wasabi Pills/ Sachiko Mesh Hair – Gingerbread
Jacket: [celoe.rossi.jacket.thatch]
Dress: *Fishy Strawberry* Nikita Dress – Brown
Tights: *Fishy Strawberry* Woolen Tights – Beige Stripes
Scarf: MIEL LIA SCARF – flor (slightly recolored)
Necklace: MIEL LISH NECKLACE
Hat: [celoe.nile.hat.brown]
Bag: LaGyo_The Desperado bag – croco Midnight
Boots: [celoe.cairo.boots.clay]