Bringing out the good stuff in Second Life®: fashion, hot spots, freebies, etc.

More full perm goodness from xstreet. This time from Marley Blogfan. I think high quality full perm kits are really great for personal projects or to craft gifts you can customise with your own textures, to give something a little more special to a friend. I always feel trivial and ambivalent about giving something that is store-bought, but on the other hand, one doesn’t always have the skills to do something as nice, so having something you can transform before giving it away is a nice compromise.

I was browsing xstreet yesterday when these couches by Brookston Holiday caught my eye. The black leather club couch has me especially smitten ! They’re sold as full perm maps here, with texture maps that seem easy to recolor.

The Second Life viewer 2.0 (beta) hit the grid today and all of plurk is aflutter with the many, many micro-changes that were brought to it. I was expecting some kinda bigger changes but there are a couple of things that will get fashionistas and designers alike perhaps a little excited, the first thing being, an extra layer has been added to clothe the avatar mesh ! And it covers the face too, so you can make make-ups to customise skins you bought. Or skin makers can create extra, standalone make-ups that you can buy separately and wear with skins from other brands !

LeLutka, being always on top of things, sent some test make-up layers to their group members. I tried them with different skins, and found they worked great ! I’ve not tried too many skins, and with some of them having particular quirks, it is not guaranteed make-ups will work with every skin, but this seems promising !

Credits. Hair: Shag (Sebastien Aries), Skin: 1. Dutch Touch (iki Ikarus), 2. Domestic V: Mairead Broek, 3. JM:MAI (JOMAN Mai), Make-ups: LeLutka (Minnu Palen).

An alpha layer was also introduced, so you can make any part of your mesh disappear, to use, for example, for shoes. Let’s see who gets to put it in practice first !

Exactly a year ago, as I sat there being very, very bored, I pretty much decided overnight to start a blog about the nice stuff in Second Life, and within 24 hours, the first post was up. I can’t believe I stuck to it that long ! It kind of proved addictive, who knew ?

Anyways, after 3 years in SL, I also have finally decided, as well, to start making stuff. And so to mark the day, it so happens that I have something I made to give you ! Me, myself ! I made this set of decorative plates, that I put out for free at the shop I just set up at creators pavillion, for all of today. Afterwards, I’ll be selling them 25L apiece. I think I may make more plates later, but for now this set will do. I sculpted and baked them, and learnt a new texture technique, yay !

Oh, and also I made these lamps, with a cloth over it. I’ll probably make variants later as these were really my first attempt at making cloth, and I kind of rushed production a little. And I ran out of prims already at the shop so I put out only 3 colours.

Update. I moved my shop to Cupcake, and anything I make will be found there for the foreseeable future. And thank you, thank you to everyone who came and bought something or was interested enough to pick up my modest gift too. :)

Credits. Hair & limited edition decoration: Waka & Yuki (yukitan Farrjones), Skin: Dutch Touch (iki Ikarus), Glasses: Epoque (Vintage McMillan), Necklace: HAMI (hami Looming), Top: Ohmai (Anya Ohmai), Pants: Ninia (Illininia Palmer), Bag: Mimikri (Mimikri Kit), Flats: Ingénue (Betty Doyle).

Following the closing of Cicada, Reda Bertolucci and Emilie Freund are finally releasing some of the sumptuous custom builds that they’d made for it as prefabs. My personal favourite wasn’t part of the houses that were selected for retail, which numbers three (the one I liked most among them being ‘Tanja’). Each model can be bought furnished or unfurnished and is very prim-savvy ! The houses’ rez-faux comes in the shape of a moving truck, that disappears after you’re done setting up your new home, which made me quite smile. Demos are here.

Each texture is unique and baked with shadows, giving a lot of realism without having to run actual live shadows in your client.

I love the luscious pouty lips in this new series of makeups from Leafy*.

Credits. Hair: Kik (as001 Littlething), Skin: Leafy (Kaethe Dyrssen), Glasses: Epoque (Vintage McMillan), Earrings: GW (paku Kidd), Scarf: Cockles: Xerras Azalee, Necklace: Whippet & Buck (Dakota Buck), Turtleneck & Pumps: Maitreya (Onyx LeShelle), 50L Friday dress: &bean (Keiko Morigi), Belt: Argrace (AIR Winx), Tights: Glanz (Tsuru Shan), Bag: Kloka (Shizuku Halcali).

This week’s 50L Friday is bringing some amazing bargains, not least this barn by Turnip Sorbet that you can have for 50L only ! It is copyable and comes with a fence and props to put inside, though the props are sold separately, consisting of hay stacks, crates, and even a hay table, with a lace cloth (which I loved). Just the fence would be a steal at 50L, but all this ?! Turnip made the build to give her bunnies a home and is practically giving it away for a day, just to share ! It might be available only today. Grab it here.

Another 50L Friday bargain is this cute chandelier from Kyoot, and it is mod/copy.

Also cheap buys, this spice rack and teapot were made by Shizuku Halcali, and can be found at Kloka. 50L and 100L, copyable only.

One of Chronokit’s most recent releases, this table comes also in a smaller, square version and has several wood textures included.

I just overheard the news on Plurk, via FineThanks, that Metaversatility was very soon closing down their sim, Emvee Cuba. It’s one of the most beautifully built sims on SL, see photos here. For one week or so, it’ll be up for grabs on eBay; buyer will be given full ownership of an amazing build, and the opportunity to give the place a new lease on life. If not, well, it’ll go. Save Emvee Cuba !

(Also, see Fine’s post about this new anti-copybotter system put on the market today by Insilico owner, Skills Hak. Though I cannot personally vouch for it as it is really new, shop owners may be interested in checking it out !)

Finally something to add to the avatars section ! Kyrsten Jigsaw’s tiny avatar is like a chocolate leather inflatable owl. You can have it for 345L at rcbg.

If you know of other places with awesome, well-made avatars I haven’t featured here, do consider dropping me a note to let me know about it, using the contact form.