Killing two birds with one stone, this outfit celebrates Mardi Gras and KittyCats’ first birthday. The orange cutie is free with one week’s food. The mask is one of six you can snag as part of a hunt at dirty.little.secret. There are two packs of three masks, and each pack costs 10L. You can see pics of all six masks at Seraphim.

There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who lead others down dark Venetian streets. And those who follow…and end up hanging in pieces in the butcher’s stall. (Hey, someone’s gotta be evil. Might as well be me.) Portia’s lovely aubergine gown is a VIP gg from Morea Style.

Credits to creators
KittyCats, Orange Birthday Cat (I think the 22nd is the last day to get this freebie)
Morea Style, Violine Dress (VIP gg in store)
Amacci Hair Pythia ~ Onyx (NEW; at Festival of Sin)
Amacci Hairbase Tattoo – Onyx (free at Amacci)
*MY UGLYDOROTHY -2012 February Group gift
[dirty.little.secret] :: Mardi Gras Mask 6 (10L hunt item)
{Meghindo’s} ~ Vintage pink satin rosette ~ bracelet
and earrings
Glitterati, It’s a Formality 1
location: Venexia (explorer tag needed)
I had to GIMP the shadows

Sure I have done personal pile ups for blogging and such, but I have always been too afraid to do someone else’s photo for fear I would mess it up or they would hate it. But I really loved this simple picture by Iala Gealach,  Cheeky Pea Owner & Designer; so, I decided to try my hand at it. Honestly, I do really simple stuff with my own pictures (not a whole lot of touch ups or changes to the pictures since I tend to blog so people can tell how items will look on them in world); so, I figured I would try something similar with Ilsa’s picture.

 I did a lot more touch ups than I usually do to my own pictures even in keeping this one simple and I tried a few different crop sizes / ratios, which you can see if you click on the picture. That link will take you to the set of three crops I chose to do. Hope you like them. I would love to have feed back from folks on how they like or don’t what I did. Or suggestions to change or improve the picture. I will even change the rights to my picture so you guys can make changes and add your own take or suggestions to mine and Ilsa’s comment trail. Likewise I posted a similar pic with pileup requests of my own last week so if you want to try your hand at mine, I encourage you to do that, too.

Links to my pile up pic request:

www.flickr.com/photos/aislingmacmoragh/6874394605:

www.flickr.com/photos/aislingmacmoragh/6874395739:

Filed under: Second Life Fashion

I’m not really a furnishings person. I don’t have a home, so I don’t need stuff. I also don’t like struggling to get sitting poses to look natural. But I am such a fan of exhausted collapse that I had to have estetica’s tabouret de boudoir ottoman, which is discounted today for Lazy Sunday. Yesterday, I admired and bought some irresistible prop books from Lark, which I thought I might never use. But everything came together for this picture as I procrastinated on finishing the paper I’ve been trying to write for two months. Which I now realize is insane. I’m going to be lying around looking defeated for days to come. And it’s still not done.

I have been waiting ages to shoot Portia in her messy blonde D!va hair and pale Sara skin, the first of three VIP group gifts released this week at Mynerva. I don’t know why, but the hair made me hungry for gold, so I scooped up the TFG version of the Mouson dress by Essences on a whim. Both of these shots were taken with the rockin’ Sailor’s Delight Windlight setting, but I sepiaed this one out.

Some day my library card will expire and I’ll finally be able to relax.

Look one
W&B, Tess Lingerie BURGUNDY/MOSSY (Collabor88)
~Mynerva~Group Gift~Sara Pure (VIP gg, fee to join)
~ Essences ~ Eyelashes Perla (old gift)
Miss Shippe’s Studio, gold breasts like Midas bukake
dl:: Belly Bandaid tattoo (free or cheap on Marketplace)
ae nails – shell (old gift)
“”D!va”” Hair “Yoko” (Type B)(Topaz)
(Yummy) Classic Literature Necklace – Multiple (Collabor88)
:FANATIK: My bad girl rings Copper
[LeLutka]-Saffron Pumps Neutral Green
Lark, Bad Romance Handmade Books (SUYS item)
estetica, tabouret de boudoir ottoman (Lazy Sunday item)

Look two
{.essences.} Mouson Maroc
~Mynerva~Group Gift~Sara Pure (VIP gg, fee to join)
{essences} Long and Rare Eyelashes (old gift)
“”D!va”” Hair “Yoko” (Type B)(Topaz)
:FANATIK: My bad girl rings Copper
I ALEIDA I Natalie croco pumps – copper
JANE – lil piggies tights.fuzzy.pr mahagony
ae nails – shell
La Flat, Studded Journal (old Xmas gift)
Glitterati, People Will Read Again (modded; VIP gg)

I didn’t like what I had to say about depression in my last post about Back to Black, a fashion event that aims to raise awareness about mental health. I worry that I gave the impression that depression is genetic and thus purely a matter of preprogrammed chemical imbalances that can be corrected with drugs. It’s much more complex than that. Depression is not a purely physical illness, so the idea that it can be treated only with drugs is ridiculous. Therapy is an absolute necessity. I have watched my mother resist it and thus retard her recovery. I believe that nurture influences mood as much as nature. Even parents who suffer from only mild persistent depression (dysthymia) cope with their suffering in ways that may dispose their children to dysthymia or depression. Many depressive episodes are triggered by a loss. I think it’s important to attempt to come to terms with that loss, to go through the process of grieving instead of staying mired in depression. I also suspect that there are social causes of depression. Unfortunately, sexism, racism and classism run rampant in therapeutic institutions, so the cure may be as noxious as the disease. I have received better care than others because I am an educated, middle-class, white woman. I’d get even better care if I were also male. I have encountered my share of patronizing and dismissive male doctors who make frankly nutty gender-biased assumptions about me and my prognosis. One doctor who had met me three times in the course of six months thought I was doing better because I wore a dress. During a withering heatwave. (What would he have thought if he knew I wasn’t wearing a bra or underwear? During a withering heatwave.) I no longer go to male doctors. It’s just too exhausting to get the right mix of irony and outrage when uttering, for the hundredth time, the rhetorical question “Have you met me?!”

Today’s fashion details: the handcuff earrings and keys collar are by Mijn.boutique. The set also includes a cool double slave bracelet for the upper arm. The skin is the third gift for Mynerva VIP group members, and it will only be available for a limited time. This gift includes pale and tan skins and light and dark makeup layers in neutral colours. I actually tossed on a lipstick from Essences ’cause I’m craazzy like that.

Credits to creators
mijn.botique / accessorises / golden hope earrings and golden hope necklace (for BTB at http://slurl.com/secondlife/CHIC/75/106/26)
~Mynerva~Group Gift 3~Milena Preview Update Porcelain (gg, 50L fee to join)
{essences} Long and Rare Eyelashes (old gift)
{.essences.} Lipstick: pale 01- (came with Elena skin)
:::Sn@tch Carilon Bodysuit Black
Maitreya Allure Tights – Black
[e] Looking – Black 04
Izzie’s – Glitter Nails (ZPH Item, hunt is over)
::UmedamaHolic::GemStone eye G04 (old gift)
poses: freebie pack at Label Motion

These stripes. They called out my name in three languages and offered me a triple espresso. LpD’s new Carmen Dress looks conceptual on account of its statement shape, but it was easy to style and easy to wear with a restrained AO. (Actually, I’d like to see someone bouncing off walls in this dress. The stripes would probably offer me a pain au chocolat to go with that espresso.) The other two versions of the dress are equally seductive, if stripeless: one features big black polkadots on a washed-out burgundy background and the other boasts an elegant floral pattern in a cream/pale blue/pale moss-green palette.

This was going to be the glammy closeup, but I got to playing with depth of field and thinking about how much I used to love Anna Gaskell’s photos, and pretty soon that fuzzy arm was all I cared about. The skin is lovely: a velvety, heart-marked LB item from Mother Goose’s.

Credits to creators
*LpD* – *Carmen* Dress Stripe (NEW; ty Nevery Lorakeet!)
.::Mother Goose’s::. Sienna/Suzanna _ShapE
.::Mother Goose’s MiChi III (LB main shop)
“”D!va”” Hair Ruri” (Type A)(Ruby) (LB)
[MAGIC NOOK] Moon River Earring (Gold/Pearl)
[ContraptioN] Heart’s Pace *default* Female (ZPH item; hunt is over)
[ni.Ju] Ichigo’s Desert (hunt ver) . tagged (recent Cafe Hunt item)
[ROLY-POLY] -DECO- blue hana
Maitreya Moxie Over-Knee Socks * SeaGreen
*League* Thermal Stockings Fuschia -Black Garter Silver
- Glam Affair – Stella Eyes n4
poses by Miamai
location: Drowsy
OMG the lines! GIMP was exhausted erasing them

BODY
nails: -tb- Nail Colour (Red) by Julliette Westerburg
lashes: ::BB:: Mesh Lashes V.01 (minimalist black) by suetabulous Yootz (NEW – MESH)
teeth: [ PXL ] Mouth_open_Addon_v6 by Hart Larsson
skin: [Atomic] Grace Skin (LB)_Buff – Red Hot by Ivy Graves (former TDR)
hair: [e] Over – Blonde 02 by Elikapeka Tiramisu (MESH)

CLOTHING
jacket: ::Mr.Poet::Bat sleeve knit coat_Blue by hiwinyu Fazuku (MESH)
pants: Baiastice_Leather leggings-black-XXS by Sissy Pessoa (NEW – MESH)
shirt: {::FLORA::} Mesh Female Sweater (M) – Black by fl00ra Resident (NEW – MESH)

ACCESSORIES
belt: *COCO*_WrapSkinnyBelt_Silver by cocoro Lemon
boots: *Fishy Strawberry* Over The Mountain Boots Mud by Fae Eriksen (NEW – MESH)
scarf: *Muism* Crinkle scarf /Silver_large by Icemoloco Voom
bag: ::Kookie:: Fun Tote / weave me by Kookie Lemon (MEW – MESH)
pierce: [-B-] :Basic Piercings: – Septum II by Naboru Karu
necklace: [MAGIC NOOK] Peace Necklace (Silver) by Ayumi Cassini

POSE
*EverGlow* – Model 247 by Fanny Willis

music: Portishead – Pedestal

New goodies at The Gallery Gift Shop include some ingenious zippers from Lucky #7. One pack gives you four options for your av’s back, and the other contains silver and black versions of unzipped eyelashes, which you can see in the photo below. TGGS is looking for new artists to sell their wares, so if you are interested in joining the likes of Isy Winslet and Gabrielle Swindlehurst, contact Shortcake Sugarplum.

Portia wears the Valentine’s Day VIP group gift from Meghindo’s, which features a delectable pearl-pink mesh skirt. This little number isn’t little. It’s not for small avs or for people who are embarrassed by an audaciously firm, elevated and frankly fetishistic derriere. (I say derriere, not butt, because this is couture, darling.)

Mynerva is open again! I almost left the group because I was out of slots, and then three days later, KAPOW, two new gifts for members. The first is a natural look, which I will feature soon. This one is a little kookier, with spotty freckles. Discounted old skins are available for purchase in a bargain attic skybox. No, I did not GIMP in that one open eye. My magic eye controller got a little punchy. I hope it does more wrong things.

I can’t keep track of all the changes I’ve made in viewer use. I gave up Phoenix when I got sick of being told it found “mangled code upstream.” I’m enjoying the latest version of Firestorm. However, it is not robust enough to let me shoot with shadows enabled. I really appreciate the fact that when it has inexplicable crashes, it sends a very polite apology message. Exodus now crashes the moment I enable shadows. So I have had to resort to GASP the official viewer to shoot shadows! I’m finding it a good all-purpose viewer, but I can’t get it to recognize the Windlight settings I tried adding in the application and library folders. This will be a deal-breaker because my personal settings are my faves, and I worked damn hard to make them. The very latest official viewer update will not give me shadows on my Mac, so I am using the second to last version.

Credits to creators
[ #7 ] .Zippoh. zipper sculpted lashes (black) (at TGGS; ty Shortcake Sugarplum)
[ #7 ] .Zippoh. stars or diamond zipper.sculpted.corset [showing black and double black versions] (at TGGS; ty Shortcake Sugarplum)
~Mynerva~GG Milena Cream Preview and ~Mynerva~GG Full Face Makeup (gg; small fee to join)
{Meghindo’s} ~ Valentine’s Day VIP gg (fee to join)
::LC:: Creme Gold Pumps (gg)
booN FNQ123 hair black
- Glam Affair – Stella Eyes n4
poses by xbordeaux
GIMP went to town on these pics