More Than Meets the Eye

Cake Heirloom Lace Cardigan, originally uploaded by Grazia Horwitz.

I’ve used this Heirloom Lace cardigan in black from Cake for today’s look… but it is so stunning that I decided to show all available colours to you. And maybe because it looks just really pretty on the beautiful body of Lapine… and also because a certain Winte…. errrr ok.. anonymous, fanged, fashionisto asked for more boobies on the blog!

(also wearing, aside from precious little, Dela’s Keira ribbon, L.Fauna’s Lapine skin and Cake’s Dakota hair)

LOTD091231, originally uploaded by Grazia Horwitz.

Hmmm… how to end the year in style? Well… this Claudia dress from the Kunglers sisters is a great base to work with. I’m wearing it here with the black lace Heirloom cardigan from Cake and the Keira ribbon from Dela.

The lace top stockings from Blowpop come in a variety of colours and 3 different levels of opacity (dernier). I’m wearing the black 40 dernier stockings with this outfit.

LeLutka has just released their Ultra collection and these Saffron pumps are part of that collection. It’s SL fashion at its finest, so in case you have been living under a rock and missed out everything about last week’s show… go pay LeLutka a visit and see some of the amazing outfits.

Oh I’m so hooked on the sweet face of L.Fauna‘s Lapine. I know, I’m getting boring, but Launa has really stunned me with her newest skins. I’m wearing the freckled Berry make up here, in pale 2. Ddid I ever mention that the eyebrows and lips are modifiable? With every skin, Launa delivers a notecard with a LOT of eyebrow options in it, which I’m sure will match your favourite hair colour and I can really recommend playing some with the lip make ups, because the effects can be quite lovely.

Last but not least, I’ve picked Cake‘s Dakota in Maroon. The messy, curly bob just balances the otherwise somewhat stern look of this last day of the year.

December Gift, originally uploaded by Grazia Horwitz.

Oh my, what has happened to 2009?? Tomorrow it’s new Year’s Eve already. Time to give you, my readers, a new pressie.

I made this shape December on L.Fauna’s Lapine, because it is one of my favourite skins at the moment, but I also fitted her on a couple of other skinds, such as Lelutka’s Estelle and Tuli’s Bella.

If you want to receive this shape (copiable and with skirt shape) just leave a comment here with your full avatar name. Mid January I’ll close the comments, and I will not hand out this shape any longer.

I’d like to thank you for your support and readership in 2009 and wish you all a very happy and healthy 2010!

xoxo, Grazia

Weekly Newness @ Truth: December 30, 2009, originally uploaded by Grazia Horwitz.

From left to right: Sakia, Edie, Reese and Lilian. Vendor picks are being taken as we speak, so keep an eye on Truth’s blog to know when it’s in the shop later today (or even better… subscribe to the mailing list on the blog, so that you’ll be automatically informed)

Musashi-Do’s InfiniTie, originally uploaded by Grazia Horwitz.

Back in 2006 when I came to SL for the very first time, one of the first shops I discovered was Shiryu Musashi‘s. I remember that I found there a real suit for women, with a nice skirt, and slacks, and a good blazer. It was refreshing for noobie me who, so far, had only discovered a lot of slutwear shops (aside from Nyte ‘n Day!). So when earlier this fall Musashi made his way back to SL, I couldn’t be happier. One of his more recent releases is the infiniTie system of shirts with a series of HUDS to apply an infinite number of textures to each shirt/tie combination.

The shirts come in 3 versions, a bare midrif one (shirt layer), an untucked (jacket layer) and a tucked (shirt layer) version. And this is basically my only 2 points of critique… can we have more layers, please, Mr. Musashi? I wo want to be able to wear my untucked shirt with a coat, so untucked on shirt + pantlayer would be fab… and if I wear the tucked version, like here on a regular (not butt crack showing low waist) jeans (Kari’s), please add an underpants layer so that it’s really tucked, and not an alternative version of the bare midrif shirt?

Other than that… I really dig these shirts which also come in a male version. For all the possibilities, check out this video!

Visit Musashi-Do

I’m wearing Monicuzza Babenco’s latest skin Sharon today. I’ve noticed they Your Skin & Your Shape skins before, I think I have even bought one or two before, but they could never capture my attention longer than a few minutes before I wanted to change back into one of my other skins.  But apparently there are a lot of ladies who like these skins, considering the size of the shop, and the occasional messages of fellow bloggers on the feeds, so today I decided to give it a try, and thank you Monica, for generously dropping me a sample pack for my perusal.

When putting on this skin, the first thing I noticed is the friendly face.  All of Monica’s skins have this very specific mouth which always seem to smile a little even if you don’t force your avie’s shape in the ugly grin that is supposed to be a smile. Also this skin has a lovely nose and generally beautiful eyes, even though the inner eye highlights are too strong for my personal taste. What puts me off in this otherwise seriously cute face, is the dark shading around the mouth and in the corners of the mouth. It makes it look somewhat dirty in my opinion. I’d really love to see this mouth “cleaned up” because I think it would be to die for, so pretty.

Over all, Sharon has a pleasant looking body, with the exception of the feet, which definitely need more work. The clavicles are a little too highlighted for my taste, but others will love the pronounced look of the neck and collar bones. The back and bum have a very nice and soft shading. When you close up though, you’ll notice that this skin has quite a lot of seams. Blending around the edges of the template is a royal pain you know where, but for me it still is a sign of the skill level of the skinner. Someone who is able to make a near seam free skin, for me, deserves the utmost respect.

So, concluding, I’m not convinced about this skin. I’m glad Monica sent it to me, so I could try it on and form my opinion about it. I think I will follow YS & YS more closely to see how future skin lines will look, because there are absolutely some lovely features in these skins and they come with a more than decent selection of make ups and eyebrow colours, as well as a  dark hair base.

A couple of weeks ago, Luna Jubilee and Express Zenovka from the Shopaholic feed have launched a new initiative,  SLDD, Second Life Daily Deals. SL Daily Deals will showcase each day one discounted item in limited quantity. Inspired by woot.com, the ShopaholicFeed Team aims to create a similar experience useful for residents of Second Life.

Every day, a new product will be showcased on the homepage, with a slurl to an inworld location. That product will be available through a special vendor at a discount for a limited number of purchases. Once the product of limited number is sold out, the vendor disables itself and the designer has the option to offer it at full price.

Some items will be one-of-a-kind exclusives or old favorites, regardless, it will always be at a great price but that price will be available in limited quantities.

Today’s SL Daily Deal is Melon Ball, by Aemilia Case from FuseMelon.  for 300 L$ this outfit can be yours. But only today, so make sure you come and get it at FuseMelon!

• Flowy black pinstripe skirt
• Over the knee black socks
• Silver and black halter neck top with leaf design
• Simple drop pendant on a silver chain
• Seeking me hair with long low ponytail under a woollen cap.

Sometimes you just want to look posh. Yes, there, I said it… uppety, snobbity, posh! Diva with an attitude and a black card for limitless shopping (yeah, in my dreams). Anyway the Designers United III My Vaudeville Coat from Milk Motion was a great base for today’s look. Marie Lauridsen outdid herself this time.

I did link the bottom part and the collar together for this outfit (they use spine and chest), because otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to wear the collar of the Chanel Soire grey mini dress from Dela. This dress is a perfect little number for understated chic looks. I have it in several colours, and it’s one of my favourite items in my inventory.

The rest is just dressing up. Less is more, so I picked the beautiful stockings from Insolence‘s Barbara lingerie set to cover my otherwise pale winter legs (a lady just always wears stockings!)  and Anexx‘ Designers United III, Vaudeville  shoes.

Recently Roslin from 5th & Oxford updated their already awesome gloves and they are now available in their main store at Nouveau in some great basic colours. I can only hope that the other colours they had previously under the Fleur brand will also make their way to 5th & Oxford soon.

I’ve blogged GOS‘s beautiful Butterfly sunglasses before, but they just fit today’s look, so I’m happily using them again. Oh and when you go to Gospel’s shop, take a look at his nifty retexturising system.

The perfect skin for this look for me is PXL Creations‘ July. I’m wearing the natural skin tone with the spring red make up here. And last but not least, the stylish bob is Miaa from Truth in walnut.

It’s the ‘rents 41st anniversary today, so mom, if you still read this every now and then: Congratulations, and have a wonderful day!

Ok, resume normal SL Look of the day service after this RL message to mom.

I warned you guys yesterday that I have been wandering at the creators’ pavilion, and one of the things I picked up there is this snuggly, chocolate  high neck knit dress from Nikukyu, by Nyanchi Eel (MNK*SHOP). As far as I have seen, it is not being sold as single dresses, but only in colour packs, but I happily got the natural set (4 colours for 500L$), because it also has multiple skirt and sleeve and collar options. This collar originally had a nice button on it, but for this outfit I edited the collar and hid the button.

I’m wearing the dress with the brown nordic knit leggings from Machang Pichot for Aoharu. Another of my newer fat pack purchases. I basically “live” in these leggings since I bought them. The are perfect for this time of year (that is, if you live in the Northern hemisphere…. ).

The moccassins Lost Thereian made for Naughty Designs are another favourite of the season for me. I’m wearing alaMood‘s Mora Gabby Honey set and Artilleri‘s  black Paula glasses. Lamb‘s Witch in burnt orange and L.Fauna‘s Lapine pale 2 Midnight are the finishing touch of today’s look.