Testing out some landscaping ideas for the new home Dmitr's building me.

Tree: Tree SPRING (yellow) by MiaSnow
Grass: Magic Grass - Square 10x10x1 - v2 by OneDom

Happy Island and the Puffling Present Pursuit

I was thrilled when I saw MiaSnow's ad for her new Happy Island, as it's just the type of thing I've been seeking for my current little skybox home. And, at only $199L, it was definitely in my price range. I was even more excited when I discovered it came with a hunt card for the Puffling Present Pursuit. Unexpected free things! Yay!

Choosing my gift was a tough decision - there were so many cute items - but I finally settled on the clothing & jewelry set from Silentsparrow & Schadenfreude. It comes with a million different options (2 skirts, 3 pair of pants, 2 pair of stockings, and several shirt options on various layers), making it perfect for mixing and matching with my other outfits. I then ran over to Schadenfreude and bought the matching vest - Allegory Malaprop's contribution to the final Fifty Linden Friday sale.

Fifty Linden Friday also led me to Fashionably Dead, a store I've not previously visited, but to which I will definitely be returning. I didn't end up buying their FLF offering, but I did take advantage of the 50% Off sale they were having on all of their hair. I bought an 8-color fatpack (including a full set of matching shaved head bases) for $175 and only paid $150 a piece for two different 5-color sets of her Flying Fortress hair - a must-have for any Tank Girl fan. I don't know how long the sale will last, so I'd pay them a visit as soon as you can.



Hair: Olivia Watches Melrose Place - Space Destroyer hair with Stone base by Fashionably Dead ($175L/8pk - On Sale)
Skin: Alyx - Naughty (rdbrow) by Pink Fuel ($10L "With Love, Again" Hunt #26 - Ends 1.6.12)
Eyes: VaeColl.-Fool (Hollyblooms) by Plastik (A Very Rotten Christmas Hunt #11 - Ends 12.31.11)
Vest: Jay Deep V Vest (Striped) by Schadenfreude ($50 Linden Friday)
Earrings & Necklace: A Band of Jays by Silentsparrow (Puffling Present Pursuit - Ends 1.12.11)
Shirt, Shorts & Socks: A Band of Jays by Silentsparrow (Puffling Present Pursuit - Ends 1.12.11)
Bracelet: CHUM bracelet by Miel (Scripted text change. Group gift.)
Shoes: Eclipse "Brown Edition" by N-core (Group gift)
Tattoos: Shooting Star - Full Version by Para Designs ($175L)
Poses: Dance 38 by Animazoo (In the dance ball at The Rookery.)

Location: The Rookery (Accessed via the "Schadenfreude wants YOU for the Glamrock Army" poster on Lloyd.

$100L Sale at Nomine

It's sale time again at Nomine! With few exceptions, skins, shapes, hair, eyes, tattoos, lingerie, clothing, jewelry are all $100L until January 1, 2012. Many items are unisex, so drag your husbands, brothers, boyfriends, and boy friends shopping with you! The sale is also taking place on the SL Marketplace, so you can purchase items as gifts. While you're in the store, be sure to keep an eye on three lucky chairs which contain a variety of rotating items - including the dress I'm wearing here. (You can see other Nomine items in some of my previous entries.)

My skin is part of a multi-pack from Pink Fuel for the "With Love, Again" Hunt and my eyes are part of Plastik's extremely generous A Very Rotten Christmas Hunt gift for females. (There's a separate gift for males which is surely loaded with just as many goodies.) Please note that the items in the "With Love, Again" Hunt are not free, but $10L each.

Hair: Dawn (red auburn) by Nomine ($100L Sale)
Dress: Siobhan by Nomine (Lucky Chair item)
Eyes:VaeColl.-Fool (Hollyblooms) by Plastik (A Very Rotten Christmas Hunt #11 - Ends 12.31.11)
Skin: Alyx - Naughty (rdbrow) by Pink Fuel ($10L "With Love, Again" Hunt #26 - Ends 1.6.12)

Location: Nomine

Sweet Tooth

Since the I Love Cupcakes Hunt is full of things which aren't really my style, I enlisted the adorable Annika here to help me show you some of the items offered in this month-long hunt. For a more complete preview of the gifts, you can visit the SL Freebie Hunters blog. (One of the most helpful SL blogs out there, in my not-so-humble opinion.)

I Love Cupcakes Hunt - Ends 11.30.11
Hair: Pink Frosting by Draconic Kiss (5 colors)
Dress: Pinkie Cakes by Lethe (1 of 3 gifts)
Shoes: Cupcake Heels by Pink Promise
Background: Cupcake Wallpapers by RO!ACT Designs

iTouch Hunts Perly Touch Hunt - Ends 11.15.11
Shape: Story Tale Collection - Tinkerbell by Anatomy ($1L)

Miscellaneous
Skin: Alice by Rotten Toe ($15L)
Pose: Poofy Dress Pls by Long Awkward Pose

Moving Day

Initially, this entry simply started out as a way to show off my new SL home and avoid struggling with writer's block over a new fashion post. However, once I began writing, it decided it wanted to be an article on how to have an affordable, low-prim home that looks fancy - so that's what it is.

Since joining SecondLife in 2006, I've moved sims at least eight times. That doesn't even include the multitude of times I decided my SL living space needed a complete makeover, nuked everything, and started again from scratch - I've lived in in castles, mansions, seaside homes both posh and grungy, various airships, and a bayou shack complete with an alligator in the front yard. Thankfully, moving is a lot easier to do in the virtual realm than in the one of flesh and blood!

After a luxuriously long period of not really having to worry about prim count, I'm back to having to be a bit more frugal. I knew this day would eventually come, so I'd been picking up nice cheap and free skyboxes when I found them. (One good place for such deals is A.S.S., who frequently offer beautiful, low-prim skyboxes for $100L or less. You can even view full-size demos at their store.) As seen in these photos, my home weighs in at 169 prims, and even that could be significantly reduced by picking up or editing one or two higher prim items.

This is the Hookah Lounge, a gift from The Sea Hole in the Stash Bash Hunt which took place earlier this year. (April 20th, of course. *wink*) It's 67 prims, including the beautiful garden you see through the windows, a shelf for decorations, functional hanging lights, a hookah, and a myriad of cushions containing a ton of animated sits. It also came with a bit of art baked into the wall textures, some of which I've covered up with art from my own collection. (Mostly by one of my favored artists, Trindolyn Beck. Trindolyn's artwork can be viewed and purchased at India Ink Gallery.)

Because I feel my talents in SecondLife home creation lie more in the realm of decorating than building, I usually rely on prefab homes or, if I'm really lucky, one of my multitude of talented friends will generously offer to build me one. (I'm spoiled and I know it, but I'm also greatly appreciative of those who've spoiled me.) So let's move on to how I made this prefab, partially-furnished skybox feel like home...

The plate of Deceptively Delicious Cupcakes (24 prim) - which dispenses a variety of fatal pastries - was a $50L Woeful Wednesday item from Relics of Kadath. This weekend's Super Bargain Saturday sales yielded a cute Thistle Homes copy/mod chair (13 prims) for only $60L, the absinthe table (41 prims) is something I put together using past hunt gifts from The Fooding and Post, and the round cushion (4 prims) beneath the hanging lights is an adorable texture-change chair from Cheeky Pea. (I think it was a gift or sale item, but I sadly failed to make any notes about it.) Finally, at $230L, the skulls and candles from New Trails were a bit of a splurge, but the pack is well worth the cost. The entire set is copy/mod and includes the following items:

~ 35 skulls in 6 different colors (3 prims each)
~ scripted on/off candles in 5 colors (2 prims each)
~ 2 scripted color shifting plants (single & patch options - 1 prim each)
~ stone wall with skulls and color-changing lights (24 prims)

It's early days yet, so I still have some more decorating to do, but I'm pleased with how things are coming along so far.

Sale Alert!

It's sale time at Hoorenbeek again! Just look for the red "special offer" tags scattered throughout the store. (The sale tag is very similar to their Fat Pack icon, so please exercise caution when making your purchases.) Hoorenbeek offers quality footwear for both men and women as well as many unisex items, including the Boots seen here. Make sure to check out the sneakers and sandals at the back of the store as well. (Hoorenbeek also makes clothing, but the majority of it is for men, so I don't have any personal experience with it.) As I mentioned in my Thrifty Tidbits post, sales like this are one of the primary methods I use to stretch my Lindens.

Sadly, today (11.06.2011) is the last day of this particular sale, so you'll have to hurry over to Hoorenbeek if you want to take advantage of it. While you're there, consider joining their subscribe-o-matic group to receive timely announcements about sales like this and gain access to group freebies.

Día de los Muertos

Information about Día de los Muertos can be found at dayofthedead.com.

This photo was one of the winners of the Halloween sim KMADD Flickr contest.

Hair: Amy by Alli & Ali Designs ($175L)
Skin: Sugar by MiaSnow (Mini Mania Exclusive)
Shape: Fresh - Petite by MiaSnow ($120L/4 Shapes)
Dress: Skulls, Tulle, Red by PixelDolls ($99 at the outlet on MIA Island)
Eyes: Witch by Insufferable Dastard (Zombie Popcorn Hunt 2011 - No longer available.)
Braclets: Layered Bangles by Sigma Jewels (Zombie Popcorn Hunt 2011 - No longer available.)

Location: KMADD Events Sim

Frick Halloween Dollarbie Hunt 2011

One of my favorite stores, Frick, is once again open for a limited time, with nothing priced over $150L. In addition to that, they're having a dollarbie Halloween hunt with 2 dresses and 5 skin packs. The clothing comes on multiple layers and each skin tone comes with dark/light brow options as well as freckles/no freckles.

While this look wasn't completely free, it only cost $2L, which is still quite the bargain!



Frick Halloween Dollarbie Hunt 2011 - Ends 10.31.11
Skin: Pumpkin Alice - Sugar - Dk Brows - Freckles (Witch Hat #1)
Dress, Tights & Gloves: Alice in Pumpkin (Witch Hat #6)

No Strings Attached Hunt - Ends 10.31.11
Shoes: Gathering Memories by Lethe (NSA hunt gift #2 from this store.)

Zombie Popcorn Hunt - Ends 10.31.11
Eyes: Witch by Insufferable Dastard
Necklace Little Bat by Lou Lou & Co.

Runway Perfect Hunt - Ends 10.31.11
Pose: BeBo-RW-4M by BehaviorBody Animations

Miscellaneous Freebies
Hair: Aisline - Pumpkin by Ploom (October VIP Group Gift - Free to Join)

Location: Frick

Desaturated Dolly (Freedom #2)

Unfortunately, the hiatus I mentioned back in July lasted longer than I expected or would have preferred. I'm still uncertain about how often I'll be able to update this blog (life is being... well, LIFE), but I'm hoping it will be on a more regular basis than it has been recently. For now, I bring you the second installment in my Freedom series - complete outfits I've assembled for absolutely free. As always, I relied heavily on hunts and the diligent work of other bloggers, like those over at SL Freebie Hunters.

Despite my best efforts, I was unable to get a good shot of the spiders on the shoes from Lethe, but I did manage to get one of the spiderweb. (They actually offer three hunt items each for both men and women, resulting in a couple of gorgeous outfits.) The adorable dress by Indigo Oddities also comes with matching arm warmers, but I opted to wear the lace gloves which came with the beautiful hat by Vanilla C. Designs. Finally, though I really wanted this look to be completely comprised of hunt items, I couldn't find a hair I liked among the hunt items and the lollipop from Vanilla C. Designs matched my outfit too perfectly to resist.



No Strings Attached Hunt - Ends 10.31.11
Skin: by Squeek!
Dress & Tights: Damaged Dahlia by Indigo Oddities
Hat : Dress Hat Amethyst Rose by Vanilla C. Designs
Gloves: Lace Gloves Amethyst/Black by Vanilla C. Designs
Shoes: Gathering Memories by Lethe (NSA hunt gift #2 from this store.)

Zombie Popcorn Hunt - Ends 10.31.11
Eyes: Vampire by Insufferable Dastard
Necklace Little Bat by Lou Lou & Co.

Runway Perfect Hunt - Ends 10.31.11
Pose: Runway Perfect 1 by PNP

Miscellaneous Freebies
Hair: White by Black Maria (Lucky Board Gift)
Lollipop: by Vanilla C. Designs (In-Store Freebie)

Job vs Blog

So... I recently got a new job in RL. It's a job I'm really enjoying so far, but which sometimes requires long hours of me. Unfortunately, after a 10-hour day, I don't have the energy to do much more than come home and fall on my face. My schedule should eventually even out into something a bit less taxing, until then I hope you'll forgive me for this brief hiatus.

Sale at Hoorenbeek

Hoorenbeek is once again offering many of their items at extremely reduced prices - just look for the red "special offer" tag. (Which is unfortunately similar to their Fat Pack icon, so please exercise caution when making your purchases.) I can't speak for their clothing, but I can say that Hoorenbeek offers quality footwear for both men and women. (Ladies, make sure to peruse the men's section of footwear, as it contains many unisex items, including my beloved Dr. H. Boots seen here.) As I mentioned in a recent entry, Hoorenbeek's generous sales are one way I'm able to dress my avatar in quality merchandise without spending a lot of money.

Unfortunately, today (6.26.2011) is the last day of this particular sale, so you'll have to hurry over to Hoorenbeek if you want to take advantage of it. While you're there, consider joining their subscribe-o-matic group to receive timely announcements about sales like this and gain access to group freebies.

$100L Clothing Sale at Nomine

Nomine is currently offering all clothing (including new releases) for $100L through Saturday. Both the sweater and pants I'm wearing here are among the sale items, as well as the dress seen in this entry. The sweater and dress both come in several colors and the pants are available in a variety of patterns. Details about the items I'm wearing can be found below. I'll try to talk more about my look (including that luscious skin) in a future entry (and when I'm not in danger of faceplanting on the keyboard), I just wanted to let you guys know about this sale before it was too late for you to take advantage of it.

Shirt: Lamb Sweater - Black by Nomine
Pants: Rusted Pants - Rose - Lowrise by Nomine
Skin: Ollisa - Natural - Breeze by Haut Monde
Hair: Baby Cocoa by Analog Dog (Free, look for the large bubbles on the beach.)
Eyes: Radiant - Brown by MiaSnow ($220L / 10pk)
Nails: Pinkaboo French by Purrfect Nails
Boots: Acolyte - Grey by Malfean Visions (Recent $60L Weekends Item)
Necklace: Dem Bones Dem Bones by Malfean Visions (Creature Feature Hunt #58 - Ends 6.30.11)

Lookin' Out My Backdoor

I recently got this lovely full-perm greenhouse from Be Enchanted ($150L on the marketplace), and have been scouring the hunts, sales, and usual freebie outlets for quality items to furnish it with; gleefully filling my inventory with all of the flowers, plants, and vegetable gardens denied to me in my First Life by cats and urban living. (Actually, since I love both cats and urban living, it's more of a willing compromise.) These images are some unedited shots I took tonight after I made a few additions - including Vince & Howard, who're paying the scarecrow no mind because, after all, they're bunnies, not crows.

The Seamstress (Freedom #1)

I was inspired by the current multitude of hunts to bring you yet another new series. Joining Set Home to Here and the mini-blogs is Freedom, a series in which I will be striving to bring you looks I put together for $0L. Quality and style will count, of course. It takes no effort to put together a bad look in SL for free, the real challenge is putting together a good one.

The starting point of this outfit was the adorable patchwork dress that is The Delectable Doll's contribution to the Creature Feature Hunt. (You can get a good look at it here.) Lamp Light's suture tattoo offering in the same hunt was the perfect accompaniment and went beautifully with the skin Gala Affair put in their Zombie Popcorn bag. Next came eyes by Repluse in the Depraved Summer Nights Hunt, nails from Pulcino's Black Butler Hunt gift, Bliensen + MaiTai's Creature Feature Hunt necklace, and cute little flats from the Zombie Popcorn Hunt outfit by Monroes. On top of my bald head I perched a pink bob recently won on a lucky board at D!va, and my creepy little ragdoll was complete while my wallet remained nestled snugly in my handbag.




Zombie Popcorn Hunt - Ends 6.15.11
Skin (minus stitches): Layla Light - My Sweet Vampire D by Glam Affair
Shoes: Ridin' Nerdy Set Flats by Monroes

Creature Feature Hunt - Ends 6.30.11
Dress: Patched Creature by The Delectable Doll
Stitches: Veronica - Sutures by Lamp Light
Necklace: Happy Ever After by Bliensen + MaiTai

Depraved Summer Nights Hunt - Ends 6.30.11
Eyes: Undead - Silver by Repluse

Black Butler Hunt - Ends 6.30.11
Prim Nails: Wing of Swan White by Pulcino

Miscellaneous Freebies
Hair: Chika - Ruby - Forelock by D!va (Lucky Board Gift)
Background: Part of the Imperial Backgrounds set by Jessies Textures (MM Gift)
Pose: LW Hair Fair 4 by Laynie Link (Old Hair Fair Freebie. No longer available.)

Lapointe & Bastchild Freebie Store

If your idea of a lovely evening involves green faeries, clove cigarettes, and copious amounts of velvet, then I suggest heading over to Lapointe & Bastchild's Gothic Free Designs, where they're currently offering many of their older designs for, yes, completely free. I'll admit some of the items did seem to be showing their age a bit, but I also saw plenty of gems for both men and women.

Mini-Blog #5

My not-so-inner Crazy Cat Lady prompted me to snap this silly photo while shopping at MiaSnow today. Below are the details of my look, with prices included when possible.

Hair: Amerlee - Blacks by Ploom ($200L)
Eyes: Radiant - Multi 1 by MiaSnow ($220L / 10pk)
Shirt: Kashmir Blouse - Natural by The Sea Hole ($120L)
Jeans: Dark Denims - No Belt by Insanya ($170L / 4 options + prim cuffs & pockets)
Belt: Pirate Mate Sash - Plain by Deviance ($100L / scripted color change)
Boots: Cowgirl Boots - Brown by Hoorenbeek ($520L)
Skin: Layla Light - My Sweet Vampire D by Glam Affair (Zombie Popcorn Hunt - Ends 6.15.11)
Pose: Corset AO by Creative Insanity ($350L - Designed for prim corsets, etc.)
Location: MiaSnow (slurl)

Banksy Collection at Monroes

While workin' on the Zombie Popcorn Hunt (and a new outfit to show you), I stumbled across this nifty collection of Banksy t-shirts for only $25L a piece. So, if you wanna get your Bansky on, just hop on over to Monroes.

Tribute to a Doll

When I saw the eyebrows on Heartsick's Amor E Morte skin, I squealed with delight, slapped down my $75L for the fatpack, and scampered off to put together my best Amanda Palmer look. When I opened the box from Heartsick, I discovered the skin came in 3 tones with 6 makeup options each. As if that wasn't enough, each makeup comes with 2 eyebrow styles - normal and what I call "AFP brows," which are what's shown here. Each brow also comes with cleavage and no cleavage options. This is an older set of skins which is being retired, so if you're thinkin' about adding it to your collection, I wouldn't hesitate for too long. While you're there, grab the free fat pack of skins on the floor, as the Tairrie skin inside also has the lovely AFP eyebrows. (Actually, all of Amesha Jewell's skins are divine as are her voluptuous shapes.) I wish I could find more skins with interesting eyebrows like this or, even better, AFP eyebrows on a brow layer so I can wear them with all of my skins! I mean, just look at 'em!!

Okay, okay, enough about my eyebrows. (But, seriously guys, they're awesome!) I've been wanting to show you guys this hair from Dura for a long time, so I was pleased that it was just what I needed for this shoot. I then headed over to Rotten Toe who exceeded my expectations by offering up the perfect outfit for only $15L! (You see it very well in these photos, but it comes with prim fringe for both the skirt and top.)

I carried around a parasol for awhile before I remembered the free ukulele that I'd seen mentioned in the Virtual Vagabond blog. Hoping that it was still available, I 'ported over to the sim and, with a little poking 'round, happily discovered that luck was on my side.

Some gloves (with prim ribbons) from the SL Marketplace, my old standby Docs from Hoorenbeek, some MiaSnow peepers, a bottlecap necklace from Bliensen + MaiTai, and a tiny tophat from the Zombie Popcorn Hunt completed my look, so - resisting the urge to create a "Map of Tasmania" gesture - I set out to wander the grid.



Hair: Girl 16 - Black by Dura ($120L)
Hat:She Loves Black (w/o veil) by LaGyo (Zombie Popcorn Hunt #67 - ends 6.15.11)
Skin: Amor E Morte - Illusion - Absinthe w/ Faust EB2 by Heartsick ($75L Fatpack)
Lipstick: Lipstick v.12 by Garage
Eyes: Shine - Green by MiaSnow ($220L / 9pk)
Necklace: Bottle Cap ABC Necklace by Bliensen + MaiTai ($200L)
Tattoos: Shooting Star Full Version - Faded by Para Designs ($175L)
Dress & Stockings: Nekrotic Dress - Green by Rotten Toe($15L)
Gloves: Purple Knit Fingerless Gloves by Ross Seljan (SL Marketplace $30L)
Boots: Dr. H. Boots - Black by Hoorenbeek
Ukulele & Pose: Freebie from Sushi Train Marketplace

Thrifty Tidbits

As promised, here is the outfit I said I was putting together a few days ago. It was built around one of what I call Schadenfreude's "wallpaper" corsets, because their fabrics match the wallpaper of the store's various rooms within the giant onyx elephant. I don't own nearly enough of these, but there was no way the cat-patterned one wasn't going home with me. As with all corsets in this line, the depth of the texture is delicious, it comes on several layers, and includes a matching tattoo (not shown here). At $200L, this corset is a bit more than I'd usually pay for a single outfit piece, but my past experience with Schadenfreude's merchandise told me it would be a good investment.

Speaking of money, since I made the decision to include prices in the item details at the end of each post, I've wondered if they give an impression that's contrary to my mission to bring my readers information about affordable fashion. Because, you see, I try to list the price that people who go looking for the item can expect to pay for it, which is often much higher than what I actually spent. (It seems a little cruel to list a bracelet for the $50L when any new customers who go looking for it will have to pay 4x more.) So, in an effort to give you a more accurate view of my SL consumer habits, I've decided to share with you a some of my favorite thrifty tidbits...

GROUPS
Retailer groups are a great way to keep up-to-date about sales and to pick up the occasional free gift. I also recommend joining a group or two which focuses on calling lucky chairs/boards like Lucky Chair Stalkers or Lucky Chair Zombies, or those which share deals related to a specific aesthetic like Dead Dolls of SL. Not only are such groups my top resources for saving lindens, but since they send out information from a variety of sources, they save me group slots as well. As far as I know, all three groups I mentioned are currently open to new members and free to join.

BLOGS
In addition to the in-world groups, I follow several blogs. Whereas the groups tell me about the freebies and sales, the blogs show them to me. I find blogs especially useful for deciding which sales to hit or hunts to participate in. I'm particularly grateful to the folks over at The Rumor and SL Freebie Hunters for all of the hard work they do documenting those things for me so I can spend more of my time taking photos and writing blog entries instead of 'porting all over the grid and standing around waiting for things to rez. Links for those two blogs and many more can be found along the right side of this page.



SALES
I own a few pair of Hoorenbeek's gorgeous-but-pricey boots, but I only paid $200L for each pair because I was able to grab them on sale. However, aside from the sales held by individual retailers, there are also the multi-retailer sales. My inventory holds several expensive pieces of jewelry and home furnishings which I was able to grab for only $50L or $60L as part of Project Themeory, Woeful Wednesday, Spruce Up Your Space, Fifty Linden Friday, or some other one-day sale. In fact, the Ploom skin I'm wearing in this entry retails for $950L, yet I only paid $70L for it as part of a recent Project Themeory sale. The same is true for my Para Design tattoos - instead of their usual $195L price tag, I paid $60L for them in a Super Bargain Saturday sale.


HUNTS/LUCKY CHAIRS/MIDNIGHT MADNESS BOARDS
Not only do I go through the information my groups give out about these things, but I keep an eye out in stores for lucky chairs/boards, Midnight and Mini Mania boards, and hunt advertisements. Some store owners put the hunt ads outside their store, so if you 'ported to a point inside, you might wanna swing your camera around and take a quick look at the entrance.


MULTILOOK
Yet another way I like to stretch my lindens is by buying items which provide me with a variety of looks, either with a color/texture change option or a selection of mix-and-match pieces. For example, as you can see in an earlier entry, the Ploom hair I'm wearing is color change - and not just the streaks, each color pack comes with a half a dozen choices for the primary hair color, as well as no-streak options. The leather pants I'm wearing are from Deviance and part of a fat pack which contains four pant options (on both layers) and two sculpted prim leg options. The Para Design tattoos fit into this category as well, with both color and greyscale options in three tones each - Dark, Medium, & Faded.

Whew! This entry ended up being a lot longer than I'd anticipated! If you stuck with it to the end, thank you, and I hope you found a tip or two to help you stretch those lindens.



Hair: Amerlee (Streaked) - Blacks by Ploom ($200L)
Skin: Maia - Vanilla - BR - Gloomy Day by Ploom ($950L)
Lipstick/Cleavage: Fresh Makeup 3 (Hair, Black Lip, Pale BIG) by MiaSnow
Eyes: Shine - Mint by MiaSnow ($220L / 9pk)
Necklace: Summer - Green by LouLou&Co ($40L gatcha prize)
Prim Nails & Rings: Eye Rings & Nails by Virtual Insanity (former hunt gift )
Bracelet: Summer - Green by LouLou&Co ($40L gatcha prize / 2pk)
Corset: Copper Cat Corset by Schadenfreude ($200L)
Upper Body Tattoos: Pink Rock - Black - Medium by Para Designs ($195L)
Belt: Strung Leather Belt - Black by Shiny Things ($150L / 2pk)
Pants: Leather Pants - Black by Deviance ($175L 4pk w/ 2 leg opts)
Shoes: Sense Xtreme Heel by N-core (prior group gift)
Pose - Standing: Pose_F07 by Ladybird (now closed)
Pose - Close-Up: Pose_F10 by Ladybird (now closed)
Location: After Dark (slurl)

Colorful Carbon

Remember when I raved about Dmitr Revnik's building skills? Well, I finally got him to stand still for a couple of snapshots, including one which shows off a bit more of the build I mentioned in that previous entry. In these photos, he's wearing a hair and hat combo by Indi with skin and eyes by MiaSnow. (Yep, I dragged him shopping at her store enough times that he became one of the converted.) More information about his look is at the bottom of this entry. (Much thanks to Dmitr for patiently indulging my request for a detailed breakdown of his look.)

My experience with SL builders is that they're never truly finished with a build, they're always tweaking the shape of this or the texture of that or knocking down walls to add additional rooms. Dmitr is no different in that regard - especially when it comes to builds he's living in. (Heck, even the house he built for me continues to see changes now and then.) As a result, the room you saw here has become the helm of his "hovering domicile" (to use Dmitr's favored term), housing glowing control panels and an old-fashioned steering wheel.



I love Dmitr's use of color and lighting in this particular build, making it feel more like a nightclub than a home. In fact, one side of the main living area includes a fully-stocked bar. Watching over the bar are a trio of steer skulls which seem oddly at ease among the vibrant flocked wallpaper and neon accents which surround them. (While the interior of Dmitr's home is definitely vibrant, I should note that the fabulous blacklight look of the photo below was achieved using the Orange Incubus windlight setting.)



If the "elegant sci-fi" look isn't your thing, Dmitr's also quite good at building quirky little seaside homes like mine, which can be partially viewed in previous entries. He's still resisting the idea of a retail endeavor, but I promise to keep working on him until he gives in.

Skin: Muerto Miguel by MiaSnow (mini mania exclusive)
Eyes: Genuine - Copper by MiaSnow
Hair/Hat: Fedora Hat Black (L) - Brown by Indi
Bracelet: Legacy Bracelet Preview ZP - Male by Blitzed
Tattoo: SnakeBite Color Medium by Para Designs
Shirt: Haunted Skelebeater - Sepia by Schadenfreude (group gift color)
Jacket: Liscio Vest - Hazel 1 by Gisaci
Belt: Classic Jeans Belt by Alphamale
Pants: Immortal Leathers Black MenStuffs Pants by RFyre (Menstuff hunt gift)