Fatal Attention to Detail

He's been blogged quite a bit, despite the all too tiny selection in his modest store in Nomine. Fatal Raine, who runs a little gothic punk corner store called Legend, might just be as crazy about tiny prims as I am! In fact, I think he's worse! Referred by Mourna Biziou, I had to go and see what the fuss was about. I see piercings (ah blah, simple little things, boring boring), some wrist stuff, spikes, collars... not my style really... and then I see this little gem:



That little dragon HAS to be one of the cutest things I've ever seen on SL. His teeeny teeeeny little claws clutch a modestly animated little globe, and I have to give major props to Fatal Raine. When toruses get that small, you end up using just the very very tip of the tapered shape, and the rotations can get irritating, confusing, and darn right infuriating to work with. That little piece of adorable has got to stand testament to more time than I want to think about. But it was worth it, even if I don't wear it, I just had to HAVE it.


Legend also has a rather refreshingly unique selection of boots and shoes (small selection, but all made with love), and he encourages customers to put their own spin on his sexy, sleek textured tall boots. Legend sells the skin/shoe layer seperately from the prim heels. You pick out a boot skin, and then you pick out the type of heel you'd like to have with it. You have your choices of 6 different styles of heel, some rather outlandishly spiky, but I decided to be a little more "conservative" and go with the "bold" style, which has a nice clunky heel that I felt suited the boot I went with. It's beautifully textured, and the "Trapped" style just goes rippingly with the Ripped Top I blogged from *Torrid*. It's peekaboo, so normally you can see flesh or colored tights through it.. in this pic I'm wearing it with the Striped Fishnets in black and white from Curious Kitties and I think it couldn't look any smecksier.





And these SHOES... I don't even like backless heels!







What on earth am I doing with these! I couldn't resist them, is what... they called my name out in their siren song of black and white and scrollies. These are the "Crossbreads" in black (of course), and the laces and the little bow are just chillingly real. They also come in two different heel styles, one chunky platform and the more practical "mini" that I chose. They even have color change laces! I'd just love to see a funky "sneaker heel" done as well as this in real life... I bet it'd be comfy.


"Crossbreads" - 250L
"Trapped" Boot "skin" - 200L
"Bold" Boot Base - 50L
"Dragon's Quarry" Necklace - 300L

SLurl: "Legend: By Fatal Raine"

(Outfit: Hair by Celestial Studios "Tribal Hawk", TorridWear's Ripped Shirt, Pixel Doll's Black "Tutu Skirt", "Maori Tattoos" from InKd, Black and "White Striped Fishnets" from Curious Kitties, "Eris Jacket" by Pixel Dolls)

Bautas!

They've been sitting in my inventory and sadly gathering dust... It's time I whip em out. Yes, they may look a little odd to you at first, but no, they aren't a glitch. They are the masks that used to be a staple of every georgian person of Style's wardrobe, and the large beaklike mouth was designed so that a person desiring to stay incognito could eat and drink.




Also, a person wearing a Bauta killed Mozart!! Fun little trivia there... You may think they look odd at first, but they can definitely look haunting and inhuman. Both of these are 225 at the main store :)

Freebie Guide for the Discerning Newbie

I don't know about you guys when you were little newblets, but I was damn picky when
it came to freebies!! I have to say, since I'm such an insane organiza-holic, I hated going through the hundreds upon hundreds of pieces of crap that I had invited into my inventory. And yet, I was new, so I found anything at all to be better than what I was currently wearing. So, I would have killed for something like what I have created: a guide to freebies and cheapies for the discerning newbie. In it, I have included high-end and talented designers who have blessed us and the cheapskate within us with cheap clothing whose quality far outstrips their price.


Freebie Stores of Quality:

The GNUbie Store - If you don't know this store already, shame shame! Now you do. An organized effort of designers across SL to provide you, the person low on cash, with beautiful and fair quality clothes, shoes, hair, vehicles, textures and homes. A must-get for gothic ladies, do NOT miss the Deadly Nightshade pack, and men, don't miss the male section upstairs, or Panache's to-die-for freebie hairs.

The Free Dove - Same deal as the Gnubie Store, an organized effort of fashion designers especially, definitely more aimed at women though there are some things for men there. THIS is the place to get yourself fun shoes, random tops and outfits, and freebie hair and vouchers from a dozen different designers. You won't be able to organize your inventory easily after visiting this place.


Sarah Nerd's Freebie Paradise - Perhaps a more typical freebie place, it DOES seperate itself from the pack by having more of the higher quality freebies than lower. It also allows you to pick and choose, rather than just lumping everything in a box and dumping it in your inventory, which you won't sort until you've been on SL for a year and a half. They have everything, shoes, skins, clothes, hair, avatars, tails, lingerie and even silks. Again, there's more girl's stuff than men's here, but men aren't completely forgotten. Men have a modest collection of men's casuals and a few body "bits" if you get my meaning. You can also find textures and pets.

Clothing:

*Torrid Wear* - A very high end designer of women's casual/punk/goth clothes, retired from fashion so ALL of her clothing is 50L and under! Just an incredible price for incredible clothes, you'll just wish there was more. Truly this is cheapie crack.

Charlotte Hausdorff Fashion (CH) - If you need naughty clothing or you're a lady on the preppy side of things, CH will be your hero. She has some of the least expensive skins on the market, and she has a freebie section with a modest selection of cheapies and freebies for you!


::BareRose:: - If someone asked me what I thought was the largest and most popular store on SL, without a second thought I would say Barerose. They have the largest concentration of awesomeness in the virtual world, and if any place deserves the term "mecca", it's B@R. Their prices aren't exactly freebie price (although they do have a freebie corner, and a 10L store), but their prices are so insanely low for the quality of work you're getting (125L for a full color pack of gothic wear you'll worship and adore), I'd be a horrible person if I didn't list them here. From conservative to uber goth, to ethereal elf lady to cyber queen, from slinky lingerie and swimwear to traditional Japanese kimono, they have something for EVERYone.

Upload Fee Only (UFOnly) - Now THIS was a smart idea. Everything in the store is priced at exactly what it cost to make it. If it's shirt, it's 10L. If it's a shirt/pant/jacket set, it's 30L. Basically, 10L per thing you're getting. The quality is good, if not jaw dropping, but for 10L you can't complain, even if after this list you're completely and totally spoiled.

Avatars:

Grendel's Children - Perhaps the best place to get "creatures" on SL, the kind and oh so underselling Flea Bussy hardly has anything over 400L, which is ridiculous because almost all of her creations mean hours of work and have even custom AO's. If you're picky, maybe not all of her work will be to your liking, but there ARE some real hits rather than misses there. She has a freebie avatar vendor, and some avatars that are 10L and 20L, but also check out my favorite avatars of hers: the Deep Sea Siren (95L), the Hermit Crab (130L) (oh so cute!), and the American Crow(250).


Hair and Body:

Here Comes Trouble - One of my favorite hair designers who has 5 1L FULL color packs, which means over 50 colors of each hair style in 2 sizes. You'll leave all haired out without paying more than 4L. But don't leave before you see the wall of eyes... about 90% of which are an unarguable 10L each!! (Also has a range of inexpensive casuals and formals, and even facial hair for guys!)

Wilted Rose - THE place for inexpensive gothic and random accessories, the generous Rose Columbia has an entire Freebie Room full of 1L skins with varying nifty gothic makeup, lucky chair, and beautiful hair styles in the hair room for 10L and under!

Accessories:

Alienbear Designs - One of the best jewelry stores on SL, with some of the most anal retentive prim work that even makes ME go "wow...". Her store shuffles it's selection a little too much, but something that always stays is the beautiful and incredible 10L/freebie sets that are just jaw dropping.

Lassitude & Ennui - An absolutely stunning range of gothic jewelry, but in particular, a freebie "signature" set in gold, black and silver. Simple and elegant, great for casual, everyday wear. Also, check out their boots, they aren't cheap but they ARE awesome.

If you've found an outstanding store that has cheapies or freebies, I'd be happy to check it out to see if it's appropriate to add to the list! You can IM me in world (Siyu Suen) or leave a comment here ^.^

Torrid Bargains!

I've been there before, but I figured it was time to go back. In the recent inventory hiccups, I ended up losing my beloved Huddle, which had all of my modeling poses, ao's, you name it. Luckily and blessed be those designers who make their things copy, I had a backup empty Huddle, and folders of animations to kiss and welcome back home. A few things that I was missing though, were some of my favorite ao overrides from *TorridWear*. So it was about time that I head back there and check in.

There has been a lot of history considering Torrid Midnight's hiatus from Second Life, and the reason she's retired from fashion design. If you're wondering about the whole horrid mess, you can just google "torrid second life" and you'll learn the whole story.

Those of you who took Torrid's side in the feud will be happy to know I saw her at the Bantam Dell Bookshop for Dean Koontz's SL reading, and today when I im'ed her politely for copiable versions of her to-die-for ao and fashion poses, she was online and quite obliging. I also took the chance to give her a thanks, and pretty much bought every piece of clothing I thought I would ever wear in her store, because EVERYTHING is under 50L!!! And I mean everything!! Pants, corsets, full outfits, deliciousness! As you can see, I'm enjoying my new look:



Here's a rundown of the outfit:
*TorridWear*
Touch of Metallic Jeans
Touch of Metallic Gloves
Chiffon Open Halter

InkD "Dangerous" tattoo
Kin Keiko - "Ren" Hair in Black

And since one outfit just isn't enough:


*TorridWear*
Ripped Up Gloves
Ripped Up Pants
Ripped Up Shirt

InkD Maori Top and Bottom Tattoos
Suleika Headdress by yours truly :)

These pictures were made with her beautifully subtle and very natural stands, that give just that right amount of attitude and character to an avatar. This will also satisfy my longing and lust for perfectly detailed clothing for a nice long time... give it about 18 hours :) And please, thank and encourage Torrid to stay in business by giving her a visit ^.^

SlURL: *TorridWear* - Chartreuse

Wilted Rose

For a while it's been THE name in affordable goth, and for some reason I've never been! The generous and understanding Rose Columbia has provided us dark minded folks with a series of 1L super white skins, and 10L hair packs with 39 colors. It's extremely hard to do subtle shading on white skins, so for people who are extremely picky about what goes on to their avatar, they probably won't be too happy. There isn't much detail and there isn't much shading going on, but considering the picky will probably be willing to spend more than 1L, how could anyone complain!? And did I mention these skins are 1L?


I also am VERY happy with the cheapie hair I picked up, this is "Whispies" in black.

I also was happy to pick up a beautifully crafted and nicely proportioned silver ankh necklace, very similar to one I actually own IRL, for only 100L. Beautiful chain work, drapes nicely, and is a subtle, blingless (yay) option for those of us out there who like to be gothic without screaming it from the hills.

Rose Columbia's store is nicely remodeled, with an absolute must-visit Freebie room, that includes the above mentioned 1L skins, and also the wares of the now sadly retired Sarabi Spatula, a name I quite fondly remember from my newbie days of yore. Her funky and original jewelry is now available at discount in the newbie room(which includes kiwi slice earrings and earrings shaped like lucky chairs).

Wilted Rose also has a lovely collection of inexpensive wings and scarves and even top hats and masks! Although of course, I have to say that I still don't have competition for my masks, and the top hats are inexpensive alternatives to mine, if you're not.. *sniffs* happy with mine!

SlURL: Wilted Rose - Bloom County

Suleika Veil

Suleika, in arabic, means "daughter of the sultan", and this is truly a veil worthy of royalty. My current pride and joy, and the result of more hours of work than I'll readily admit, is this:





It's available in three different metals, silver, tarnished silver (black), and gold .
Each of those metals has a color pack available for 1200, that includes 8 different unique stones, with colored veils to match! If you'd like to tint the veils yourself, you can buy the veil in black or white for 650 each (which come with Howlite and Onyx as their stones). As always, they are mod/copy/no transfer, and if I do say so myself, the prim work is just divine. The headpiece skipped under the link limit at 248, and the veil is 189.

I'm willing to sell the individual stones/colors out of my inv, but I'm not loading up my vendor with all of those buggers! Feel free to IM me, I don't eat avatars whole ^.^ (just minced ;)

Beginning of Something Good

Last night, the event hall was christened with a rocking party, with a modest yet loyal and awesome attendance. Despite a slew of technical glitches (such as a haunted microphone that couldn't be turned off, muted music, a mute money sploder and lag and frequent crashes), they came, they saw, they partied. Dancers delighted in the ghostly forms of enormous Koi swimming beneath their feet, and felt delicious as they enjoyed the new Sine Wave dances in the dance ball that made them move beautifully to original and interesting music choices. It was so much fun, it made me decide to make this a regular thing:

From now on, every other Tuesday there will be a shindig get together, with drumming and dancing and fish. That would mean the next party will be Tuesday March 27th, and since the 7-10pm SLT time slot is working very well so far, that's when this one will be as well. An event hall this awesome just HAS to be used ;)

As smooth as a Sine Wave

I have found dances that are sublime. They are beyond smooth, they are beyond real, they bring your avatar to life before your eyes. I've permanently been spoiled and now no other dance will ever be good enough.

Sine Wave Animations is run by Easy Babcock and something tells me he has a motion capturing program because I don't know how he did it, otherwise. He has a modest selection of about 20-30 dances, all of which loop flawlessly and are meant for a single person. Most of the dances are definitely intended for women, but men who are comfortable doing more than shuffling their feet on the dance floor will find most of them delightful as well. Well, some of them.

I captured some stunning pictures of the beautiful, natural poses these dances put you in, all of which look like reality has been altered. Below are pictures from two dances called "Marscapone" and "liquid persia" respectively.






The store itself is a tiny part of Sine Wave Island, and is rather reminiscent of a trippy Andy Warhol studio. It's usually occupied by at least 8 other people, all of whom are raving about the dances, and spending a good ten minutes on each of the demo pads. I'd like to put in a warning: that the vendors can be changed by other people, and that I had the misfortune of having it changed on me right as I was paying for a different dance. Luckily, every single one of these dances is worth buying.

Each dance is no mod/no copy/transfer, and 350, 250 or 150L. When wanting to go on a shopping spree, this place could definitely get expensive. The store is definitely equal to an expert, masterful confectionary, where you know every single chocolate in there is sinfully delicious, but you have to pick and savor the few that you are going to lavish yourself with. Because make no mistakes, this is the good stuff.

Sabrina Sabrina

They've been sitting and hiding in my inventory for a bit, so it's time to dust them off and release the new Sabrina top hat. Sabrina Doolittle of the lovely Linden Lifestyles asked me for a custom harajuku hat a little while back, one with a scarf trailing behind, and she told me she had gotten married in a white top hat. It inspired me to create a very feminine and formal millinery dream, in a few extra colors as well as my usual black and white. I also have a white bridal version that's now for sale :)





It also is the perfect cosplay hat for those of you out there who like xXxHolic, as Yuuko wears one extremely similar, and so I did a special coloration out there for you manga fans ;)





My good friend Kriket Pimpernel has created a matching dress, so if you feel the need for an interesting and original cosplay outfit, IM her :)

I'm keeping my hat junkies happy!

Carnivale officially open!

Right on schedule, today is the day I throw open the gates of my new home and store. I've worked extremely hard over the past few days, and I'm extremely satisfied with the results. I've added ambience, inviting places to park your virtual booty, and a beautiful place to enjoy the company of friends.

To entice you, I've taken some pictures, because this place is just so darn photogenic.




Come and celebrate Illusions' new home on Tuesday from 7-10PM SLT! I'll be djing, and the sploder will be splodin', and as usual, prizes to the best dressed :)

Island Update

Things are going very well, and I got a whooole lot accomplished today. As in "I don't actually have a life aside from my Second one" level of accomplishment. I don't want to give anything away.... Or maybe I do. I'd like to give you guys a preview of what you'll be partying in on Tuesday.



I'll be rolling out the red carpet and putting up the sploder, and I have amazing new dances from Sine Wave that I'll review and photograph later. It's going to be one hell of a party, to make up for the short notice!

Island Deliverance!

Carnivale, the island sim generously split with me by the lovely and oh so magnanimous Vanessa Noarlunga, has been delivered to us. For the past two days I have been fervently working on it, and I am still. There will be tweaking to be done, but I'll be making the shift rather suddenly and celebrating it with a huge enormous fabulous masquerade bash Siyu-style. At the moment, I'm going to set the date at Tuesday the 13th at 7-10SLT. The store on the island will probably be open for traffic by this Saturday, but I make no promises on that one. A group notice will be sent out to both Illusions Photography and Masqueraderie when the island is officially open for business.

It's absolutely delightful to have over 4x the prims I did on my last land.... and then have room for 6000 more!

Bird Brained

Still with the birds, what can I say, I've been inspired. To start with I'd like to introduce you to the Emperor Penguin:




Not only cute, but truly the perfect "formal" mask because you know it looks good with a tux! Comes with a fun little trumpeting authentic Emperor Penguin gesture for its span on the new releases wall, like the Raven. ( Model for this picture: the lovely and mask obsessed Vanessa Noarlunga)

I'd also like to proudly present the Eagle Mask:




124 prims of badass native american medicine awesome, shown here with the Tiya hairstyle from HCT and the Hunter Lady outfit from B@reRose. Works very well on men, but I can't help being enamored of the chance to show a little girl-back.

Emperor Penguin Mask: 475L
Eagle Mask: 975L

The Skinny on Nomine

For my first post I'd like to deliver some extremely crucial news to the gothic world. If you haven't heard already, the delightful Munchflower Zaius has released her new skins. They're edgier, more original and more unique than the older skins, with a variety of makeup for every character you might feel the need to play in Second Life.

My personal favorite is the Punk Bindhi in her China White skin tone.

With these new skins, Nomine continues its domination of the pale skin market, and rightfully so. But Munchflower has also thrown down the gauntlet on beach babe skin designer Ambyance2 Anubis of Naughty Island skins with her new Latte and Fawn skins, which far outstrip her former line (which had a tendency to be a little too yellow). Her new skins have definitely remedied this, and definitely have that natural glow. Don't worry if you're not into the more exotic styles, she still has her more classic skins, such as this "Naturals - Pinup" in Dark Fawn.



As always, the seams are immaculate, aside from the usual head seam up the back of the bald head. At 700L per makeup style, gobbling up every one of your favorites might get a little steep. But considering the quality of the work you're getting, and the time involved, it's well worth it. Nomine continues to be the only place I buy my skins, because I just can't get enough of them.

The Beginning!

This is the first post by Siyu, the creator of *~*Illusions*~*. I'm one of Second Life's only mask makers, and the only one who uses only prims to build them. I have branched out into various gothic and elegant accessories.

I'm also a horrible clotheshorse and shopping addict, like many people on Second Life. However, my tastes tend toward the fantastic and the gothic, and I've noticed many other people falling into that niche. In addition to giving updates on new creations and releases, I intend to give reviews and raves on the various stores that win my heart over by having a touch of the elegant and exotic.

I've been inspired by the lovely and entertaining ladies over at Linden Lifestyles and I would like to provide a service to my fellow folk who would rather dress like it's Halloween or a Masquerade Ball every single day. To my knowledge there isn't a gothic/formal wear fashion blog out there yet! I wish to remedy this.