The one with the controversy

Recently, someone said to me “how can you blog (X designer)!?! (X designer) is such a JERK.” No, I will not name names. It’s not really my style. But in this particular case, I don’t personally know X Designer. Funny thing is, neither did the person telling me X Designer is a jerk. That person heard it from a friend. That friend’s friend dated X Designer (supposedly). Now, I’m sure the person who told me this believes it to be true. I’m sure the friend of that person believes it. Maybe even the original source believes it. But I don’t know any of those people, and I don’t know the designer. The designer is incredibly talented, and I love the work… and that, my dear readers, is why I blog X Designer.

I don’t personally know a lot of the designers I blog. Even many of the designers I officially blog for, I really don’t know. I have plenty of people I consider friends that are designers, and these are people I know, but that’s more the exception than the rule. I have like 65k in my inventory. I’ve probably never even spoken to the majority of the designers who have made these items, let alone gotten to know them well enough to judge for myself, firsthand, what kind of person they are.

And here’s the shocker, and the part that’s likely to be controversial. I am not blogging the creator, I am blogging the creations, and so I honestly don’t really care very much. So X Designer is an asshole. If X Designer is a talented asshole, I’m unlikely to stop shopping at X Designer’s store, and I’ll probably keep blogging their items. There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is that “asshole” is something we all personally define. What one person considers rude or unacceptable behavior, someone else may consider sarcastic wit. It’s really hard to know anyone in a virtual world. Hell, it’s hard enough to really know anyone in the real world! But there’s also the simple reality that what people say in writing can be very hard to parse. Tone, emotion, context… these things can all be translated very differently by different people when you’re dealing with written words. Someone may not mean to say something offensive, and they may not mean something to sound sarcastic, but because we don’t hear the words said, it is often hard to truly know how people mean the things they say.

We also all have our own “hot button” issues. I’m a bisexual, anti-dieting, Libertarian atheist. As I’ve repeatedly said, both in my virtual life and my real life, if I couldn’t “agree to disagree” I’d have like 3 people to talk to in the entire world. I welcome debate, as long as it is respectful. I admit I get frustrated by ignorance, but I also am not going to stop shopping at someone’s store because I think they hold ignorant opinions. So, are there lines that can be crossed, where I will not shop at someone’s store anymore? Of course. We all have that proverbial “line in the sand” that, once crossed, is really hard to ignore. There are some designers (and no, I will still not name names) who have managed to personally irk me in some way, usually by behaving in a way I consider intolerable on Plurk. In these cases, I’ve seen the behavior firsthand and I decide based on that evidence. We all have to know ourselves, and know what we consider behavior that crosses our own threshold of “acceptable.”

If someone tells me, “oh, I refuse to blog X Designer,” I respect that choice, even if I still blog that person. I’m also never going to make a choice with secondhand information. I don’t work with hearsay. Every story has at least two sides, if not more, and words are easily – and often accidentally – taken out of context. I’m the same way with my friends. I need to see bad behavior firsthand before I stop speaking to someone. It’s not that I don’t believe the people who tell me these “bad” things about the other people. I’m quite sure that in most instances, what I am being told is 100% believed. But I still can’t make a decision based on secondhand information, because maybe it’s all a horrible misunderstanding. Or maybe X Designer or person is really a horrible twat. But I’m always going to need firsthand evidence because, well… that’s just how I work. If you don’t work this way, that’s okay, too. We all have to make our own choices in life, and no one has the right to tell you that your choice to blog or not blog (or to shop or not shop at) a specific store is “wrong” or “bad.”

Ultimately, we live with the consequences of our own choices. Maybe someday, somehow, I’ll discover that X Designer really is a jerk. Likely, I’ll be annoyed I wasted money on a jerk, but whatever. We move on. It should be the worst thing to happen to me, and if X Designer’s a big enough jerk – in my opinion – then I’ll stop shopping there and blogging items from there.

Anyway, all this rather serious thought so early in the morning had me wanting to have some fun. So, I grabbed this adorable trampoline from Hopscotch for the current round of The Boutique, and put it in my pretty little courtyard garden and jumped away the stress!

More from me soon… I know I’ve been quiet lately. Just not feeling well and also trying to keep up with my current grad class.

~Lucie

PS. This house from Zacca is one of my favorite ever houses in SL, and I’ll have more pics of it soon! Click through to the pic on Flickr, and hover for notes to see where garden items are from. Or you can just ask me!

Credits:
Skin: League – Isla – Medium
Hair: Truth – Sadie – Reds04Fade
Top: coldLogic – jacobs – sage
Shorts: coldLogic – pitt – cotton
Feet: SLink – Bare feet – Mesh
Pose: Hopscotch – Jump, Jump multipose prop

The Chapter Four

Second Life is overflowing with events these days, and it can make it hard to get excited when a new one opens. However, The Chapter Four, from ionic store owner and Engrama band member Lakua Arriaga, has such a unique concept working for it. There are four sections to this event, which will open on the 4th of every month. Each section has a different “hook,” so to speak. One is 50%, one is L$100 or less, then there are gachas (who doesn’t adore gachas>>>) and finally a Buy One, Get 2 room where designers package two items for the cost of one. It’s a really clever event, with some beautifully created graphics and venue design. You can read more about it here and go see for yourself by using the link below.

The Chapter Four venue.

There’s a really cute little house available from ionic for this event. In this first pic, you see some of that house and the coffee set from ionic. My mugs of tea are from LISP’s last Fifty Linden Friday. The adorable little tea tin planter is another Chapter Four item, this time from Keke. My glasses are from Soothe for The Chapter Four, and my seriously cute sweater is from BCC for the same event. The shoes are also from The Chapter Four, by Meow.

I rarely do anything that could be considered NSFW on my blog, but depending on your definitions, the next pic might be NSFW. It wasn’t intended to be a nude (albeit still covered) pic, either. I was simply trying this adorable hair from Due for The Chapter Four, along with Imeka’s Amy poses for the event. I wanted to decide which pose I liked most, and was going to build an outfit around it. Well, I happened to be wearing this Maxi Gossamer necklace I’d snagged from Limited Bazaar and I looked at myself in this pose and realized I had a winner. My skin is the new release from Lara Hurley. I love Lina. I think this skin is really beautiful. I rarely buy the one with the bold red lips, but I fell hard for this. And Lara released lipsticks to add on, so in the pic previous pic, I have on the same skin with a neutral lip layer over it! My eyes are from the new Vanity line IKON released recently, and they are stunning. I’ve been really into brown eyes lately.

That’s all for now! Happy Friday!

~Lucie

Credits
Look 1:
Skin: Lara Hurley – Pale – Lina Red
Lips: Lara Hurley – Lina – Brick
Glasses: Soothe – Palette – Orange & White*
Hair: Truth – Crys – Blood
Top: BCC – Over The Rainbow – Yellow flowers*
Shorts: Tres Blah – Bermuda shorts – Polka dot
Shoes: Meow – Floral Flats*

Look 2:
Skin – Lara Hurley – Pale – Lina Red
Eyes: IKON – Vanity – Oak
Lashes: Gaeline Creations – Fantasia
Hair: Due – Yuki 01 – Red 05*
Necklace: Maxi Gossamer – Milano – Silver
Pose: Imeka – Amy 06*

*denotes items at The Chapter Four. Click through to the pics to see notes on furniture/decor items.

A little bit of home…

I really enjoy decorating in SL. Maybe it’s because I’ve never really had the patience for it in RL, but whatever the cause, it’s a lot of fun. I wanted to share some of my “homestyle” with you.

This cute little building is the April Shed from L&K Prefabs. The furniture is also from L&K Prefabs, and it is texture change (which I love). Also, see the cute little table? Well, the fold down sides actually work! You can put both of them up or down, or just one as I’ve done for this pic. I loved tables like this in RL when I was a little girl. My great-grandmother had one and I used to call it the “magic table” because you could make it bigger. To me, it was endlessly cool and fascinating. What can I say, I was a strange kid! My top is from Sn@tch, and the adorable polka dot skirt is Sakide. My shoes are from Redgrave and you’ll see more of them in future posts, I’m sure. The hair is Truth.

Next, is the inside of the Laurel Cottage from What Next. I’ve blogged some pics of this cottage before, but I wanted to show off the bedroom and the kitchen in particular. I have the What Next Laurel kitchen, which fits exactly perfectly in the Laurel Cottage.

This kitchen is also texture change. In fact, the Laurel Cottage has a cute little covered control panel and all of the walls have multiple color options. The house is also mod, so you can always texture it to suit your own needs as well. I retextured the bedroom so it would be purple. I love the French doors to the upstairs deck in the bedroom.

Also, the Laurel Cottage has these lovely stained glass windows. You can see them in this shot of the sitting area I set up in the bedroom.

If you’d like to know where any specific item is from, just click through to the Flickr pic and hover for notes… or feel free to ask me in comments!

~Lucie

Sand & Sea Expo

I wanted to tell you about a fun event happening this weekend called the Sand & Sea Expo. There are a lot of awesome items available related to fun in the summer sun, and there’s also a Beachcomber event that allows you the chance to win free prizes! You’re looking for purple shells. Hit them wen you find ‘em and see if you’re a winner!

I think my favorite thing about this event is that the organizers are using teleport boards! When you tp into the event, just look for these boards. They are also scattered throughout the event, making it much easier to get around. I really wish more events would do this, though I think I understand the rationale behind a fixed landing point. However, it’s often frustrating when an event is laggy due to the inevitable crowds, and I think it would be beneficial for events, especially shorter ones like this, if they did a teleport board instead.

There are so many great exhibitors at this event, and it’s a lot of fun to wander around. There are two sims, including an underwater area. But my poor deprived avatar lives in the sky… on a landlocked platform, just like how in RL I live in a landlocked state. So, what’s a girl to do? Well, with some help from the Lisp Serenity Springs hot tub set, and a comfy beach blanket and umbrella from set from What Next, I created my own improvised beach well inland (and upland?)! To keep away unwanted visitors, I donned my ANA Sharkfin headband.

After basking in the sun lazily for a while, I had a need to cool off! While my “pool” can be a hot tub, I didn’t need to turn on the heat on this hot summer day, so I just hopped on in. But not alone. No, I took my adorable shoulder “pet” from KittyCatS… he wants to surf, but first his eye caught something off in the distance, so we’re looking at it. Probably a relative of mine. It’s hard training cats that birds aren’t prey, lemme tell you. My adorable bikini is from Callie Cline… I loved the cut of the bottom especially, and this teal color was perfect to get me in the faux beachy mood!

Speaking of Callie Cline & KittyCatS, be sure you stop by their space at the Sand & Sea Expo. It’s so freakin’ cute I could barely stand it. Here are a few raw shots I took while there. I only cropped these, so otherwise what you see is what you get.

With so many great vendors, you’ll wish this event was going to be around longer! But it ends on May 5th, so hurry up and head on over before it’s nothing more than a memory of days at the beach!

Beach Entrance

Underwater Entrance

~Lucie

Credits
Skin: Al Vulo – Arya – Black – Milk
Hair: Wasabi Pills – Gloria – Rouge (tinted)
Eyes: IKON – Lucid – Light Brown
Lashes: Gaeline Creations – Fantasia
Bikini: Callie Cline – Wrap Bikini – Water*
Feet: Gos Boutique – Arched
Shoulder Pet: KittyCatS – Surf Cat! – Pandie Ebony & Ivory*
Headband: ANA – Sharkfin Headband*
Beach blanket: What Next – Reserved Beach Towel & Parasol set*
Hot Tub: Lisp – Serenity Springs hot tub set*
Bike decor: What Next – Boardwalk Bicycle Rezzer – Girl Bike Decor*
Platform: Inverse – Sky Platform

*Denotes items available at the Sand & Sea Expo

For Aeva Heartsick

One of the things I love about Second Life is seeing how it can be a real community, one that comes together to help one of its members. The For Aeva Heartsick event is one of these times. Amesha Jewell, the owner of Aeva/Heartsick and an incredibly talented designer, relies on her computer for her RL income. Specifically, she relies on SL earnings. Unfortunately, her computer finally died. Amesha’s been making a very long commute to her parents’ home as needed in order to get some work done, but friends wanted to help her out and organized a fundraiser to help offset, if not cover, the costs of replacing her computer. You can read more about the event here. There’s a wide variety of offerings to be had, and here I am featuring just a few of my favorites.

First, this new skin from Aeva highlights Amesha’s talents so perfectly. It also shows her dedication, given she did this work at her parents’ home so she could offer something at the fundraiser herself. Lyric has amazing eyes, don’t you think? There are other skins available, too, including some fantasy skins. Each skin is only L$100 and includes appliers for Puffy, Lolas and Lush breasts. Also, an added bonus… there are mesh feet in each skin box! So, if you’ve wanted some prettier feet but not wanted to spend the L on them, this is a great way to get a pair that match the skin exactly. The lipstick I have on is an add-on from Aeva and you get multiple colors for just L$75. I am wearing a necklace from Collisions that is also available at the FAH event. My beautiful ring is Cae’s Alchemy ring (at the birthday round of FaMESHed). Like all of Cae’s jewelry it has multiple gem and metal options, which I love.

When I saw this new hair from LoQ, I knew I wanted it. I love how summery it feels. Somehow it manages to be both messy and elegant at the same time! My dress is from Sakide, and is another FAH item. It comes in three color choices, but the black and white was my favorite. I paired it with my Gos Boutique espadrilles and felt the look was complete.

This is a lovely event designed to help a fellow SLer who happens to be an absolute sweetheart and an incredible talent. So, why not hop over and have a look? Maybe you’ll find something a “must have” item and help a member of our community at the same time! The event runs through May 14th, so be sure to check it out before it’s over!

For Aeva Heartsick Venue

~Lucie

Credits
Skin: Aeva/Heartsick – Lyric – Natural – Tone 01 w/glossed pout lip add on – Praline (Neutral Collection)
Eyes: IKON – Ardent – Evening
Lashes: Gaeline Creations – Fantasia
Hair: LoQ – Sherry – Hypnotic Red (tinted)
Dress: Sakide – Somrig – Black & White
Necklace: Collisions – Immortal Beloved
Ring: Cae – Alchemy (FaMESHed)
Nails: Izzie’s – Metallic Stripe nails
Shoes: Gos Boutique – Espadrilles – White
Poses: Embody – Handoff 03 (pic 1) & Stand In 01 (pic 2)

Fantastical

I have more for you from Fantasy Faire today! First up, from Almost Wonderland I present this really cool chandelier. It has built in poses, which are a lot of fun… but even without the poses it’s pretty neat. Almost Wonderland has all of their chandeliers as their charity items from Relay For Life, so if you’re in the market for a new one, especially one fun for pics, definitely check it out.
You can find Almost Wonderland’s FF store on the Ravenshard sim. My frilly, sexy lingerie is from Blacklace. It had a sort of Wonderland feel to it, I thought. I added hair from Analog Dog and a headpiece from Pididdle.

Okay, so my next set of pics… Peryton… this is such a cool avatar from Wilds of Organica, which is on the Dragonspire sim at Fantasy Faire. I am usually human in SL. Like, by usually I mean 99.9% of the time, probably. And this type of avatar is so outside my normal SL reality, I was a little nervous about doing it justice. Since I’m not one to play a non-human av, I can’t honestly say whether or not I did this avatar justice, but it was so, so much fun to take these dramatic pics of Peryton. I was really happy with how these came out, and I hope you like them, too. If you do spend time as a non-human, I’d highly recommend checking these creatures out because they are stunningly beautiful and have AOs and poses you can buy. In the pic below, I’m using the crouch pose. It made me feel like I was stalking prey.

There’s something very regal about this avatar. I’m not really sure what this creature even is… part bird, part goat, part dragon? I think it’s cool that it’s not boxed in. But whatever Peryton is, I can’t help feel a little haughty dressed as her. Oh, by the way, I have the teal version, but the eyes change colors. I went with lavender because I love purple, and there’s a hint of purple in her plumage.

I took both pics on the Valley of Ish’Nar sim at Fantasy Faire. This sim is part of the Key Of Hope hunt, which is a pretty cool event that’s part of Fantasy Faire. You can read more about it here.

~Lucie

Credits
Look 1:
Skin: Belleza – Ava 0 – Medium
Hair: Analog Dog – Smitten – Wonder (tinted)
Headpiece: Pididdle – Southern Comfort
Outfit: Blacklace – La Femme Burlesque Set – Purple
Shoes: Gos Boutique – Grace Sandals – Black Patent

Look 2:
Avatar: Wilds of Organica – Peryton – Teal

Fantasy Faire 2013!

Fantasy Faire 2013 opened this weekend, and there is so much to see. Spread out over 8 sims, this event is part of the Relay For Life juggernaut helping to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

I love fantasy. I don’t RP but I love seeing other people’s pics for it, and I am really enjoying this chance to explore another side of myself. For Fantasy Faire you have the option of being assigned to four designers, and I chose that option. This blog post features two of those assignments.

First up, the Wonderful World of Meeroos! I am familiar with Meeroos. I had them back when I was breeding everything (or so it felt). I had stopped breeding entirely, but KittyCatS had seduced me back with their Halloween 2011 releases. Now, I have a new Roo! Her name is Meara, and she is a Winecoat Roo. She has lots of kitty friends to play with, and I am going to (try to) behave myself and just have her as a little furry friend, not a breeder. We’ll see how that goes! Regardless, she has reminded me why I loved my Roos so much. First off, they make the cutest sounds. You definitely need to hear Roo sounds if you haven’t. So, so cute. They sort of… Idk, chirp? And they bounce around, too. Meeroo starter packs come in these awesome chests, that when clicked open and play fabulously fantastical music and disperse pretty shimmery blue particles. The pic below is of Meara making her debut into the world from her cute little nest.

There are also plants available to help you decorate your Roo’s home! In this second pic, you can see my tiny baby Meara snuggled up near her “stump,” which is her home… and the plants are so pretty and really add a touch of flair and drama.

You can learn so much more about the Meeroos at their website, or by visiting their Faire store on Lumenaria, which just so happens to be my personal favorite of the beautiful Fantasy Faire sims (though it’s not easy to pick!), as seen below.

Another of my assigned stores was Ezura. I got this outfit and just kind of stared at myself for a while. I chose the purple because it is the official RFL item, but the outfit comes in many color choices, too. It’s sexy and sassy and so unlike the things I usually wear. I wasn’t really sure how to style it. Then I saw this hair from EMO-tions for Fantasy Faire and I knew I needed it. I was also sure I wanted to use my Huntress poses from Hopscotch, so that meant flat shoes… preferably boots. Lucky for me, Lassitude & Ennui released these gorgeous boots at Fantasy Faire! You’ll find Lassitude & Ennui on the Crimson Fields sim. Ezura is located on the Lotus Valley Dream sim.

The headpiece is built into the hair, and I wanted you to get a better look at that, as well as this gorgeous skin from Glam Affair for Collabor88. I am actually wearing the bare version of Margot that came with makeup 04. I went to the Cosmetics Fair where you can find makeups for Margot, and this is makeup 03. EMO-tions is on the Evensong Woods sim.

I took both of these pics at Skye Castle, which is a lovely place to take pics. There are woods, and castles and it’s really quite beautiful and dramatic. A special thanks to my friend Jessica for recommending it to me!

Fantasy Faire is enormous, but there is a list of all the sims here. If you click on a sim name you can then see a list of every designer on that sim! This makes find things so much easier. You can also find pics of Faire finds on the official Pinterest board or in the official Flickr group. Remember, this is, above all else, a charity event, so you’re shopping for a great cause.

Credits:
Skin: Glam Affair – Margot – Bare – America w/makeup 03 add on (Collabor88 & Cosmetics Fair)
Eyes: IKON – Ardent – Pewter
Lashes: Gaeline Creations – Mysteria
Hair: EMO-tions – Sunburst – Fantasy Red*
Outfit: Ezura – Velnyra – Purple*
Boots: Lassitude & Ennui – Edenion – Black & Silver
Poses: Hopscotch – Huntress 03 (pic 1) & 02 (pic 2)