Tyranny Designs

You know those little pop up surveys that show up every once in a while when you're about to log in? The ones where they ask if your Second Life experience is getting better and all that? Do you ever respond?

I do, every once in a while. There's no real criteria for when I decide to or not, sort of a random boredom response maybe that just creeps up on me every so often. Usually lately I've been saying 'yes' actually, not like last year when my computer ran SL at a horribly slow pace that made me want to just give up. A lot of the time though, I'm pretty zen about the little hiccups that sometimes slow me down in SL and make every session a collection of relogs and 'brb's.

The real truth is, SL is getting better for me, but not necessarily because of whatever the latest LL upgrade (although, technically, I guess it has to be connected). Nope, SL just seems to be getting closer every day to the potential I hoped I'd find when I first rezzed. Basically, it's just easier to find really nice quality designs here. Sims, skins, clothes or accessories, maybe it's the tools have gotten better or the designers are learning new tricks, but I'm finding real new beauty in SL almost every day I log in lately.

Hmmm... example? Okay, here's some new skins from Tyr Rozenblum's Tyranny Designs.

Skin shopping, well, I'm really weird about it. For one, I've got a short short list of skin makers I love and follow and pretty much wear day to day when I'm just being me. It's hard to explore skins: they can get a little expensive, and I swear to god I've been to skin shops and tried on skins that looked gorgeous in the shop but started looking a little off once I left. I don't even know if that's possible, really. It could just be me. It could be my monitor or how much coffee I had to drink that day. Still, I'm always on the watch for new and interesting skins, centering my chi and arming myself to go out and spend some time just tping and playing with demos.

Tyr Rozenblum's Tyranny Designs is a lovely little shop nestled on Abandoned Isle. Skins, clothes and accessories line the walls, and let me tell you about the skins.

Awesome. Absolutely lovely bright and sexy makeups really got me at first look, but the bodies themselves hold up under scrutiny as well. Tyr released some new skins this week, and I wanted to share a few with you. Foam, Booberry and Melon Baller all come in a range of tones (1-5 I'm pretty sure...) with fun makeups ranging from super-sexy to just plain cute. The color palates are so vibrant, I just can't take my eyes off them.

I'm so happy to have found Tyranny, and I can't wait to see what's next.



Skins
Tyranny Designs

Pic 1
melon baller Tone 4

Pic 2
Foam Tone 3
booberry Tone 1

Discord~Fu Dan

So, another shop from my huge AO expedition last week. Yeah, so basically another example either how cool it is to find something when you're looking for something else entirely or just more proof that I have like no attention span whatsoever.

Whatever, let history be the judge.

In the meantime, look at THIS. So, not to be confused with Kallisti Burns' cutting edge hair shop Discord Designs, Discord is designer Orange Meili's contribution to fashion and art in Second Life. Orange's creations range from boho-punk to elven armor and the hand drawn textures and bright colors are absolutely gorgeous. There's some lovely prim work too, from the really well done buckles on the belt and ruffles that make up Fu Dan to the simply fun boots with scripted texture change features.

I actually bought some armor too... well, it was gorgeous and the details are amazing. I have some more thoughts on that but maybe a followup, yes?

So, wow.. oh! and that's not even all! Discord's mainstore location in Nightmare City is just crazy too! Really really beautiful build with lasers and steampunk architecture. Well, maybe not steampunk... something industrial anyway. So gorgeous and mysterious.

So yah, definitely go, and don't forget to really explore, there's deals and vendors around every twisty corner.


Worn

Outfit/Boots
Discord
Fu Dan Pink Set
Soku Hi Boots

Hair
[Gauze] Relia

Sn@tch~Slick Leggings

So it all started with the leggings.

It had to start with something, right? So basically, it came down to the fact that I just wanted to rawk something awful. Lots of coffee maybe. I don't know. Every once in a while I come onto SL with just WAYYY too much energy and I load the IPod with lots and lots of rawk. Then, naturally I attack my inventory, looking for just that right thing. Wow, look at that! Slick Leggings from Sn@tch and Ivey Deschanel. Awesome. Bring it on.

Hmmm... what else... well, okay, put on my Dark Drow skin from Snowflake, and of course THAT skin just goes so well with my neko ears and tail, which go awesome with the Kagami hairstyle (including cap) that I blogged the other day. Well, this outfit sort of builds itself, huh? Hmmm... what else? Ohhh, of course my fave belt at the moment which ALSO happens to be from Sn@tch, the Oblivion Bondage belt and then let's add the Evangeline choker and some bracers from Cipher. Hmmm, oh! Black Bolt halter from Renegade and let's go!!

Sn@tch's Slick leggings are just that, Slick. Slick sexy and slick cool. Love them, and ooo an excuse to put on my Dirty Ego shorts from Sn@tch too. Geez, there's actually a lot from there...

Ivey's new leggings are lovely, with some nice hand drawn details texturing the leather and zippers, and the prim flares are easy to mod.

So yah, Sn@tch rawks. Check it out.

Sn@tch Slick Leather Leggings and Oblivion Bondage Belt

[Renegade] Black Bolt Halter

Snowflake Skins Dark Drow

Sadistic Hacker Kagami (purple/black)

.+*Cipher*+. Strap Choker++Evangeline++ (black)

Moonshine Designs~Dulcet

Shelly Toonie of Moonshine Designs is a little bit obsessive. Of course, most of my favorite designers are, it's an occupational hazard maybe. I'm not talking about obsessive as in "pull-out-that-shoebox-of-pictures-of-your-ex-boyfriend-every-night" obsessive either. Noooo, I'm talking about obsessive "did-I-make-that-right-oh-god-I-should-totally-do-that-other-thing-I-wanted-to-try" obsessive.

Wow. That's a mouthful.

Anyway, on the occasions I've had the opportunity to chat with Shelly, she seemed perfectly normal. Underneath though, there's a little crazy.

It comes out in her work. When I found Moonshine Designs latest, Dulcet, in my inventory I thought "heyyy, this sounds really familiar." Hmmm, so I IM'd Shelly and yes, I wasn't imagining it. Ohhhh, but this is different, a reworking... ah! Two reworkings actually. Two updates on Dulcet, a previous Moonshine release and wow so many lovely ideas worked into it's two versions: Cross and Twist. Cross is a lovely cute peasant style top and skirt with Shelly's signature beautiful fishnet lace prim work and lovely texturing in the fabric. Twist takes a sexy two-tone halter and matches it with cute short pants. The awesome prim belt comes with Twist, but it works really well with Cross's skirt as well.


Anyway, a lovely reworking using some of Shelly's coolest tricks and an awesome addition to a consistently changing and growing line. Go if you haven't; go back if you have.

Moonshine Designs

Sadistic Hacker~Kagami

Ugh, my brain's been blocked lately. The whole thing. I'd call it 'writer's block' but that's not really appropriate. It's not that I didn't have anything to write about or anything. Well, actually, I don't usually start a post until I've done some photography, so maybe that's what the problem is. I mean, I've been having trouble getting photos done the last few days. I can't blame ALL of it on Second Life, but the truth is, it's been a horrible lagfest for me the last couple days (at least, I HOPE it's SL and NOT my computer). I still have to take a lot of the blame myself. I dunno, there's no shortage of stuff to blog, I just wasn't feeling it maybe.

I wasn't, that is, until I decided to pop over to Sadistic Hacker.

Now, here's the thing with me and hair in SL. I'm addicted. Hairs in SL are the first things to make me go spending irresponsibly and endlessly play with looks, colors, whatever. I have a few fave hairmakers, you've seen some of them featured here, and I like to pop by every once in a while to see if there's anything new up. Honestly, Sadistic Hacker doesn't have the largest selection yet, and I wasn't actually expecting to see anything new hanging on the wall. Then... oooo, Kagami!


I love hairs... I love hairs with hats. What bothers me most sometimes is that so many hairmakers will make the hair with the hat but not a version without it. What if you want to take your hat off I wonder?

Oh, too immersive? Whatever, call it a personal thing. In real life, hair isn't the same static thing it is in SL. It has a life of it's own, and we color it, style it, tie it back, make it straight, or adorn it however the mood goes. Of course, SL has all sorts of restrictions, not the least important of course is that it's not actually real, so we miss some of those fun (ha!) bits of RL translating into everyone's favorite metaverse. Hats, well, they're usually a pain, just because there's only X number of attachment points and how much patience do I honestly need to fit everything on perfectly?

Sadistic Hacker at least offers a few options. Kagami is a long, straight style that comes with a 'naked' version and and one with a lovely knitted cap. Oh yah, and it's texture change; the simple little menu gives you six texture options along with resizing script for the whole head or just individual prims. Kagami works well with or without the hat, and along with some standard colors there's some fun punky styles like black/purple.

In short, awesome, cute and versatile... at least enough to pop me out of this funk I've been under the last couple days.

As promised, more Snow Rabbit skins, which I think is my new favorite for clean, cute and quite realistic styles.

Snow Rabbit medium beige skin purple-pink

Sadistic Hacker Kagami (Moca and Black-Purple)

[Bizarre Hair] & Snow Rabbit

So it all started with an obsessive need to change my AO the other day.

It happens every once in a while, I just want something to change... maybe I saw some weird twitch I didn't see before. Maybe the poses were a little hard on some of my outfits; skirts cutting through legs and all that. Either way, I was on a mission.

Of course, that's how my little adventure from shop to shop started, and that's how I ended up looking at a wall of VERY interesting hairs from designer Mystica Matova. The shop was Bizarre Hairs and mmmm, what an interesting selection.

Okay, so not the biggest selection, but some very lovely textures and movement in them all. I grabbed Xtreme Messy but there were a few other of Mystica's fun, interesting hairs I wanted. Oh! and then I turned around to find her Chique neko tails and ears on the other wall. Scripted, yes, with animation controls but also adorned with some lovely metal work. There's a warning too, of course, about NOT rezzing these on the ground because of a built in copy bot protection. I know this is a sorta controversial trend that we've seen pop up across Second Life, but Mystica's interesting styles are not to be missed, however you feel personally about the practice. They're that good.

I also ended up for some reason at Snow Rabbit, Shirousagi Noel's skin and accessories shop. Funny thing. Actually, a friend of mine showed me the shop a few months ago, so I'd been before. At the time though, I remember feeling a little 'meh' about them. Still, I tried on a few demos again and I dunno, everything was different. I'm blaming my original feelings on a slow graphics day or something, because Snow Rabbit is totally awesome! I'm sure I'll be wearing this for a while. Snow Rabbit skins are lovely, delicate and simple skins that remain still very lifelike. First impressions, well, they're only first impressions and maybe sometimes it's best to just put all that aside sometimes and take a second look. 'Meh' turned to WOW and a happy me!

So, yes, I DID manage to find some new AO animations, but mebbe I'll save that for another post. I guess the moral of the story is there's always SOMETHING to look at in SL. Or maybe it's a meditation on self-imposed attention deficite disorder. Whatever. I was looking for one thing, found something else. Another good day in Second Life.

Worn:

Hair, Tail and Ears
[Bizarre Hair]
Extreme Messy Black
Chique Neko Tail and Ears (black)

Skin
Snow Rabbit Medium beige skin purple/pink

Embryo's Un Jour~Bird's Nest

Lately, about 90% of my time in Second Life is spent just pretty much exploring; and NO, exploring is NOT a euphemism for shopping. It's more like scouting locations I guess. I mean, so a lot of my photography is done within th safe confines of my studio. I load my favorite poses, maybe make a background or two and there's my 'mood' for the picture. I still like to do a lot of photography 'in the wild' though, so I end up popping around SL... maybe following a SLurl from Koinup or someplace.

Now Embryo, well, that I picked up in a group chat someplace, or maybe it was Plurk. Whatever, thank you whoever, I'm sorry I totally forgot who said it. Anyway, Embryo is gorgeous, and I ended up using it for my last post. It's absolutely gorgeous, Lizzie Lexington has some really lovely photos of the sim here.

Anyway! Right, totally beautiful...ohhh wait, what's that over there? A SHOP!

Un Jour to be exact, and full of win!!

Wow, look at Bird's Nest. Is there a word for it? Avante-garde Couture? The 'nesty' skirt and veil are absolutely chaotic primmy messes and I fell utterly in love with the really well made feather boa with a peacock highlight. Bird's Nest is pretty versatile too, mix and match different attachments for a different look.


In short: totally fantastic, and a really nice example of 'wearable art' in Second Life. Embryo and Un Jour are definitely worth your time, and I seriously need to go back there to play.


Worn

Outfit
un jour Bird's Nest

Hair
[Gauze] Destroy

Skin (pics 1 & 2)
Nightshade Designs Emilie Autumn Skin

Skin (pic 3)
LionSkins Forbidden 4