January 22nd, 2010 by Candy Flanagan
In the spirit of “better late than never,” here are a handful of looks that I have rescued from my archives. For full details, please click through to the Flickr page!
January 11th, 2010 by Candy Flanagan
Wishing it were summer!
Wearing (Candy Flanagan):
Hair: Gritty Kitty
Skin: Tres Blah
Eyes: Dernier Cri
Glasses: Kumaki Glasses
Necklace, Earrings, and Bracelet: Shiny Things
Bracelet: Imagen
Belt: Fri.day
Outfit and Stockings: Narwhal
Shoes: Jeepers Creepers
Resources:
Poses: Waffles
January 7th, 2010 by Candy Flanagan
Challenged by Sophia Harlow to get “retro”. I loved doing this challenge. After joining SL, I began shopping nearly immediately, picking up my first shape, skin, and clothing within the first week. I also began blogging after just a few months, having refined my look and shopping technique. SL changes quickly, so I was really surprised to see how many of my old favorites are still available!
Wearing (Candy Flanagan, left):
Hair: Naughty
Skin: PixelDeep
Eyes: E’s
Jewelry and Shoes: Shiny Things (Jewelry available in updated form.)
Bracelet: XS (No longer available – store closed.)
Dress: Shine (No longer available – store closed.)
Stockings: CGBG
Wearing (Candy Flanagan, right):
Hair: Fri.day
Skin: Tres Blah (No longer available – Designers United III.)
Eyes: Dernier Cri
Glasses: Arai
Necklace: Violet Voltaire
Bracelet: Imagen
Watch: Muse
Jacket: Cubic Effect
Dress: Narwhal
Stockings: Zaara
Shoes: Shiny Things
My basic look hasn’t changed drastically since February of 2007. I’m still a fairly short, freckled redhead. My shape has gone through a number of changes, becoming softer and more realistic, with healthy curves. I was so skinny in the beginning, and, with those big eyes, I looked like an anime character!
Wearing (Candy Flanagan, left):
Hair: Naughty
Skin: PixelDeep
Eyes: E’s
Lingerie and Stockings: Chic Boutique (No longer available – store closed.)
Wearing (Candy Flanagan, right):
Hair: Fri.day
Skin: Tres Blah
Eyes: Dernier Cri
Lingerie: Insolence
Resources:
Poses: Reel Expression
As an added bonus: Here’s one of the first snapshots I ever took, from March 5th, 2007, not even two weeks after joining SL!
I think I already knew I was going to be an SL photographer.
January 3rd, 2010 by Candy Flanagan
I visited Veschi last night. Veschi is another old favorite that I discovered in the fall of 2007 – I’m ecstatic that Alla Ruff has been creating again!
Wearing (Candy Flanagan):
Hair and Leggings: Fri.day
Skin: Tres Blah
Eyes: Dernier Cri
Glasses: primOptic
Earrings and Necklace: Miriel (No longer available – store closed.)
Top: BP
Skirt: Veschi
Bracelet: Imagen
Watch: Muse
Shoes: Shiny Things (No longer available – RFL 2009; other colors available for sale.)
Resources:
Poses: Waffles
December 22nd, 2009 by Candy Flanagan
Who’s got a nice butt? That would be me – thanks, Ingenue!
Wearing (Candy Flanagan):
Hair: Little Heaven
Skin: Imagen
Eyes: Dernier Cri
Glasses: primOptic
Earrings and Necklace: Mandala
Shirt: Bare Rose
Belt: Aoharu (Free!)
Jeans: Ingenue
Socks: Shiny Things
Shoes: Tesla
Resources:
Poses: Reel Expression
December 21st, 2009 by Candy Flanagan
One of the most prevalent subcultures in Second Life is that of the Neko. Catgirls and boys alike can be identified by their ears and tail – the image of a human with feline characteristics is the essence of Neko. You’ve seen them in the clubs, you’ve seen them out shopping, maybe you’ve even dated one. Now you can be a cool cat, too, with my guide to Second Life Neko!
The most well-known Neko accessory shop is, without a doubt, Hybrid (SLURL). Hybrid has been offering ears and tails since 2006 and many Nekos on the Grid are familiar with their products. Hybrid accessories, now in the third generation featuring sculpted prims, are fully scripted and HUD-controlled. Texture and color change, twitching ears, and swishy tails are just a few of the options. My favorite options in the V3 series are the moods – one click changes the position of your ears and animates your face simultaneously. The ears and tails are sold separately, for L$150 each, with pierced options available.
Due to one of the Hybrid founders leaving SL and the release of the V3 series, the V2 series is currently on sale at a steep discount. Ears and tails are L$25 each, accessories L$10. This is a great chance to test out the Hybrid system! Male and female Neko skins and tattoos, whiskers, cat eyes, and other accessories are also available.
My favorite Neko tattoos are from EtchD (SLURL), though, featured above. Modifiable, you can tint them in appearance mode. Unisex spotted and striped versions are on sale for L$75 each.
Extrovirtual (SLURL) has a history of outstanding avatar design. Known for the adorable Tinies, Extrovirtual also offers full-size feline avatars as well as Neko accessories, among other things. Extrovirtual products retain a whimsical cartoony feeling, often implementing regular prims as opposed to sculpties. I’m a fan of the smooth, sculpted ears in the Neko ear and tail sets (L$275 per set), but the simple flexi tail isn’t my favorite. While not as heavily scripted as the Hybrid accessories, the Extrovirtual ears and tails do have movement, twitching and swishing with the best of them. They are also modifiable, so manual tinting for a perfect match is possible.
The light ginger set from Extrovirtual, tinted a pale orange, goes well with the orange Neko skins from Trap (SLURL). The Neko skins at Trap are available in male or female versions, with both plain and striped versions, for L$700 per color. The color palette is quite vivid, with blue, orange, red, pink, and violet, as well as a Caucasian beige tone – these aren’t your typical housecats! I really love the markings on the striped versions and couldn’t bear to cover them up completely!
Both Nomine (SLURL) and Temenos (SLURL) offer skins beyond the typical range. Nomine’s neko skins include panther, cheetah, leopard, snow leopard (pictured left above), and tiger. The fur details are smoothly blended into the skin, with patches cleverly avoiding seams. The markings on Temenos’ neko skins are very defined, crisply layered over smoothly textured skin. Options include tiger (pictured right), tabby, and leopard – with an extensive tone and makeup range. The skins come packaged with a basic ear and tail set. My favorite detail on the Temenos’ skins is the light-colored section stretching from collarbone to just below the navel. Nomine’s neko skins are L$500 each; Temenos’ L$799.
The snow leopard is sporting ears and tail from Discord Designs (SLURL). Discord Designs is a great hair store and the ears and tail are available in the same tones as their hair. They are basic, but well-scripted and cheap – only L$30 per color pack or L$90 for all colors! The black panther is wearing the matching tail from Temenos and ears from Curious Relics (SLURL) – they’ve got a lot of Neko accessories, including paws, tails, and eyes. The ears at Curious Relics are L$480.
Whenever I feel the urge to go Neko, I dig out prim eyes. I love the mis-matched look you can acheive with them – Nekos look great with one blue and one green eye! My favorite prim eyes are from EbiSkin (SLURL). They’re free!
Blurring the lines between Neko and Furry, Bounce (SLURL) offers furred skins with anthromorphic details. Admittedly, the Bounce skins are far from perfect. There are some seam issues on the body and a very distinct seam line dividing the face from the scalp – this is thankfully covered by most hair styles. The unique markings and touchable fur texture make up for any imperfections, though, as does the price tag of only L$300 per skin. Scripted ears and tails are sold separately, for L$150 apiece.
Don’t be a scaredy cat, find your own Neko style today!
December 20th, 2009 by Candy Flanagan
Just a casual look for shopping around the Grid today, featuring old and new favorites. I updated my shape and the jeans and sweater hug my slightly more ample curves wonderfully!
Wearing (Candy Flanagan):
Hair: fri.day
Skin: Imagen
Eyes: Dernier Cri
Glasses: primOptic
Necklace: Boing Fromage
Sweater: fri.day (Free!)
Jeans: Ingenue
Shoes: Shiny Things
Resources:
Poses: Reel Expression
July 11th, 2009 by Candy Flanagan
Silver Rose Designs (SLURL) has long been one of my favorite stores, even though I have never blogged any of Yuriko Muromachi’s designs before. With so many great stores in SL, it’s often difficult to feature your favorites, but I just knew I had to blog the new Lucretia dresses from SRD. While these lovely, “grown-up lolita” dresses have been released in nine gorgeous jewel tones, the pink version pictured above is a camping prize. The camping chairs, which require the Silver Rose Designs group tag, are underneath a tree in the courtyard of the main store. Only eight minutes and this simple, yet feminine summer dress is yours!
In the spirit of “the best things in life are free”, the jewelry I chose for the photo is also free! There are six free jewelry sets available at Lucas Lameth (SLURL), each with necklace, earrings, and bangles. Lucas Lameth Fine Jewelry, formerly Earthtones, has also been one of my favorite stores for ages, so I was happy to include Lucas’ jewelry!
For full details on what is worn, click the photo to view the Flickr page, as always!
March 11th, 2009 by Candy Flanagan
I joined Second Life at the end of February of 2007. Two months later, I joined Flickr and my blog followed soon after. I didn’t come to SL for fashion blogging, but it’s certainly one of the reasons I stuck around! Shopping and photography are my main hobbies in SL and I’ve learned so much doing both. I love exploring the Grid and am constantly amazed by what fellow Residents come up with.
2007 brought sculpties to SL and many designers won me over with their use of them, both old favorites and new discoveries. I moved on from Empyrean Emporium (now Curio), becoming obsessed with one skin maker after another, but Insolence stood out. Armidi burst onto the scene late in the year and I completely abandoned Naughty Designs hair for their work. The jack-of-all-trades RaC ( now known as Laqroki) caught my attention with their silky hair textures, even though I thought their skins were overpriced. I discovered the joy that is Japanese mall sims, snapping up as many bargains as I could get my hands on. In short, I shopped ’til I dropped and loved every minute of it.
From left to right: The first outfit is probably my all-time favorite. If I don’t know what else to wear, I dig out the folder labeled “Snuggly Black & Purple” and, voila, instant comfort and style. The outfit centers around clothing from Savvy? and Shop Seu, with accessories from Armidi, Illusions, Persenickety, PixelDolls, and Vertically Challenged. Savvy? shows up again in the next outfit, as well as Artilleri, Boing Fromage, Shiny Things, and Tres Blah. The bohemian look works well with clothing from Cubic Effect, Etch’D tattoos, shoes from G Field, and jewelry from Bare Rose and Shiny Things. The infamous Armidi supplied the jeans for the last look, and there’s also a tee from Gritty Kitty, shoes from Sculpties Up In Here, a Yummy bag, and an animated camera from LustyFen.
In the summer of 2007, I met Siyu Suen, the mastermind behind Illusions (SLURL). It all started with a request for a custom mask and ended in a lasting friendship. I also began greeting at Illusions and I really couldn’t ask for a better job. It’s a gorgeous environment, the customers are amazing, and just look what I get to wear to work!
From left to right: The angel is decked out in Dark Eden gear, and wings from Illusions. The centaur has faun legs from Titania’s Court, armor from Random Inspirations, and a mask from Illusions. My Harlequin outfit features pieces from Illusions, clothing from LF, and a Nomine skin. I snuck in the last avatar (or I got inattentive sorting through so many snapshots!), it’s a modified Catty avatar from Sense with Etch’D tattoos – I could certainly wear it to work with one of Siyu’s cat masks, though!
March 9th, 2009 by Candy Flanagan
My rezday was at the end of February and that means I’ve been in Second Life for two years now! Sometimes it feels like ages, but I also can’t deny that time flies when you’re having fun. My website was down for most of February and I was on a sort of hiatus from SL as well, so I didn’t celebrate my two-year rezday. I’m back now, though, with a functioning blog! The archives got eaten, but I’ve put up backdated posts with snapshots and credits, thanks to Flickr. (I’ve also learned to make WordPress backups, maybe I’ll remember this time!)
I started a project before I even realized my rezday had come and gone. I’ve been going through my SL photography, sorting over fifty gigabytes of pictures from the last two years. Some shots never made it to Flickr or my blog, so it has been a fun to dust them off. I’ve uploaded a lot of snapshots to Flickr, backdated as well. If you really want to see them, you can start at the first public picture and browse forward.
Here are some of the very first outfits I put together and photographed, about a month after joining SL (I was fast!):
I doubt I can credit everything shown, since I don’t even own some of it anymore after so long. I was definitely wearing an early Curio skin (then under the name of Empyrean Emporium) and hair from Naughty Designs. My eyes were from E’s, I believe, which I had read about on Linden Lifestyles (URL). My shoes were nearly all from Shiny Things or Boing Fromage, but there’s a random pair of sneakers up there that I can’t identify anymore.
From left to right: The lingerie was from Artilleri, which was the first store that I fell in love with on SL! My first dress was from a store called Shine that seems to have disappeared from the Grid, but it was also one of my very favorites. The third outfit was a mash-up of pieces from both Boing Fromage and Rummage. The second dress was also from Boing Fromage. The top from the fourth outfit was once again from Rummage and the jeans were from Tres Blah. The adorable jeans pantsuit was from Nyte’N'Day.
I branched out fairly quickly, looking for interesting skins and trying out different hair colors. I was obsessed with Naughty Designs hair for the longest time, eventually owning every single style in my favorite shade of red.
From left to right: The skin from the first outfit was from Nylon Outfitters, the top was from Sassafras and the jeans were from Tres Blah. I especially loved the handdrawn look of all three stores. Artilleri supplied the second outfit and the third outfit was pictured above already – what can I say, I really like polka dots! The shoes from the third outfit were from Beckenbauer Productions, the jewelry from Miriel. The pale skin was also from Empyrean Emporium. I was quite proud of the Chic Boutique lingerie, fourth from the left, but I have completely forgotten who made that shamrock jewelry set – I’d guess H&M? Jewelry, dress, and shoes from the last outfit were all from Paper Couture. I am still completely and utterly infatuated with Paper Couture!
I make no guarantees that anything pictured is still available. In fact, I am quite sure that you can’t get your hands on a number of things, but I just wanted to share some fond memories of my first few months in SL!