Quick Reminder -- EB Benefit Concert Today!

Quick reminder to bring awareness to everyone about children and those suffering from EB aka Epidermolysis Bullosa.

Today (Saturday the 25th) starting at 4pm SLT all the way until Midnight. For more details about EB and the event check out this blog post.

EB Awareness Week Benefit Concert Slurl

Thank you!

Blacklace Model & Photography Contest Opportunity

This is a great opportunity for those looking to be a Model and/or Photographer!

Blacklace Lingerie is looking for a new face to join the group of models regularly used in their advertising and promotional photos. This contest will reward both the model and the photographer but it doesn’t last long! All photos must be submitted by noon SLT on October 31st and the winners will be announced at the Masquerade Ball at Midnight Jazz on November 2nd.

See the Alphamale & Blacklace Blog for all of the details and submit photos to the Blacklace Flickr Group.

Best of luck to all participants!

2nd Annual EB Awareness Week Benefit Concert

An extremely dear friend of mine, Caeleigh Lamington, started a benefit for a disease that isn't as well known as cancer or heart disease but does effect children and adults throughout the world. I do hope that those reading this blog will take what I post here to heart if not to stop by and donate but to learn about this disease.

It is called Epidermolysis Bullosa or EB. Children that are sufferening from EB are often referred to as the Butterfly Children. Please read the following note from another dear friend of mine, Persephone Milk.



EB Awareness Week Benefit Concert Slurl

Hello my dear friend :)

It's that time of year again. The last week of October is National Epidermolysis Bullosa Awareness week. To help children suffering from EB, my dear friend Caeleigh Lamington and I are having an event to raise awareness. Our goal is to have some fun, share a little bit about EB, and give you some ways to learn more or make a donation.

We have a very special evening of music planned for you. Five wonderful live performers are donating their time to this cause, and Trinity and Nala will bring their weekly show to my island. In all we have eight hours of music and fun planned for you:

2nd Annual EB Awareness Week Benefit Concert
Saturday, October 25th

04:00-05:00 PM SLT - Frogg Marlowe and Jaycatt Nico
05:00-06:00 PM SLT - Lyndon Heart
06:00-07:00 PM SLT - Tone Uriza
07:00-08:00 PM SLT - Kyle Beltran
08:00-12:00 PM SLT - The Trinala Show

100% of the proceeds from all sales made at Musical Alchemy and Persenickety during the events will be paid directly to two EB charities (see below). So if you have waited to buy a grand piano until now, this event is a wonderful time to make a purchase and help some hurting kids and their families.

I hope you can join us!

Yours truly,
Persephone Milk

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About Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB)

If you are like I was last year about this time, you don't know anything about Epidermolysis Bullosa. You have never heard about it, and you certainly can't pronounce it. When you hear that EB is a genetic skin disorder, that causes severe blistering in babies and small children, that these blisters - inside and outside of their body - will eventually lead to a painful and heartbreaking death - well, your your first thought may be to close your eyes.

This is perfectly natural. I closed my eyes too.

I know how painful this disease is, because a very dear friend of mine has it. Oh she is quick to remind me that she does not have the most severe form. But this says more about her heart for the small children she knows suffer a little more than she does, than it does about her own condition. She has seen first-hand, the incredible suffering of these children, and at the same time, seen the hope in their eyes that a cure is only around the corner - if only they can save the energy and heart to survive long enough.

What is EB? Well, as you know, your skin is composed of layers. In a healthy person, the dermis, and the epidermis have strong anchors that hold them together so your skin acts as a single organ to protect you. In a person with EB, those anchors are missing. So the layers of the skin are free to slide and move against one another. This motion causes very severe blistering.

These blisters are not like the blisters you and I get. A child with severe EB can have blisters covering as much as 75% of their entire body - the pain is as excruciating as second and third degree burns and these blisters do not heal. A child with EB cannot play like other children. Some cannot eat solid foods. Parents of children with EB spent hours each morning changing their bandages in a desperate attempt to comfort and preserve their children.

You can learn more about EB at these sites: EB Kids and The Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa Research Association of America (DebRA)

If you only have a moment, you may want to watch this video. In just a few minutes you will learn a lot about EB:

EB Kids Video

Thank you for reading this far into the notecard. :)

Persephone
EB Relay Official Website

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All money from donations and sales collected during this event will go to the following two 501(c)3 charities, dedicated to supporting those with EB:

EB Medical Research Foundation (EBMRF):
Established in 1991. Donations are dedicated solely to medical research into the causes, treatments and cure for EB

The Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa Research Association of America (DebRA):
DebRA of America, founded in 1979. Donations are used to provide information and support to people with EB and their families, and toward medical research for new treatments and a cure

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Thank you for reading! I hope that everyone will learn about this disease and if possible donate to the cause. I would also like to thank my friend Caeleigh for getting this benefit started and for Persephone for doing so much to help.
I am merely a messenger - Zoe

Mind the Face Light

Minding my own business and starting off the day with a casual shopping trip I demo some new product when all of a sudden I'm so blurred out by white that I can't even see myself anymore. I think, alright I'll just take a few steps to my left, no problem. Then its back! The fuzzy blur of what used to be me looking at a demo. I decided to find out what the culprut was and turn on my transparency view (ctrl+T). And then I spot it. A face light that isn't just a tiny little prim, but huge and there are multiples of them. Has this ever happened to you while shopping or out on the town? Or do you find yourself the one that is actually blurring out your friend's pink sweaterdress?



The solution: awesome free or close to free face lights! Note that if somebody wears a face light and it tends to light up the floor, it is most likely too bright. One face light should be enough or maybe two that are not at the max intensity or radius.

Here are two places one can visit to find a great facelight:

Caliah has a FREE notecard that you can buy for 0L!! It shares tips on a good windlight setting and includes 2 face light options thatyou can see in the following picture I created.


Click HERE for a slurl to the spot!

The facelight that I have worn since I got it is by Usagi. It is near free for 1L. One can see how tiny the prim is in the following picture.



It's one of those cases where size does not matter as the radius and intensity of the light is what makes all the difference. It also has a cool script feature to show and hide the prim. I also created copies of it to attach to different parts of my face when I wear objects that attach to the mouth where the Usagi face light typically attaches when first worn. Click HERE to visit Usagi.

I hope this is helpful to those shopping or taking photographs!

Always remember - it's also OKAY not to wear a facelight!

Late Edit-in: There was a post on the fashion feed just yesterday about another FREE face light by Amacci - read that HERE

Halloween Costumes for all!

It is that time of year where a lot of people will have costume parties to celebrate Halloween! I had to take some pictures of myself in a few!



Star Wars stuff ranks big with me, so I had to include Yoda and my version of a Twi'lek along with plenty of pirates! I searched EVERYWHERE for the pirate outfit by Rebel Hope when I first around. At the time I didn't know who Rebel Hope was! I had seen a picture of it and finally found it at a tiny store vendor on some pirate sim. People are soo lucky to have such a variety of stuff to choose from! When TCKZ productions released their full pirate avatar I was thrilled! If anyone has looked through my flickr they would see famous Uncle Marty in a few. I absolutely adore the whole Wigglesworth creations over at Tableau.

I put together the following list of places that I have personally had a lot of luck finding great costumes over the years. These are just a few that I chose offhand.

If you would like to be added to the list, shoot an email to zoe.demar AT gmail.com with the subject line: Halloween Costumes. I will update the list weekly until the 31st hits!

Barerose
Celestial Studios
Furious
Nomine
Rebel Hope
SiniStyle
Tableau
Temenos
Titaria's Court

Happy Hauntings!!

----late addition---
My friend Foxy thought this post needed a little ewok too...

...which can be found at Soap

Doubled Bit of Style by Zoe Demar

Being a huge fan of Shai as I am I have been a long time fan of her system skirt outfits. I decided that I wanted to mix two looks using two of her outfits with different hair, skin, and accessories. I’m calling this appropriately, “double trouble.”


One of my all time favorites by Shai is the Zebra Fever tube dress and the other is a brand new release of hers called the Siobhan dress in red.



Now for the stuff some might read...

(I'm a visual person myself but like to add a nice summary for those that aren't. TIP: I don't always post slurls and recommend doing a search for the names under places - and if you have a problem feel free to shoot me an IM and I'll be more than happy to provide LMs or give you a slurl)

Upon going to the jewelry expo (which I suggest visiting at least once) I enjoyed finding new designers that I haven’t visited before. One of these was Kraftica. I absolutely adored every single piece that they had at the fair and didn’t dare go to their main store location for protection of my linden count. I ended up using some of their pieces in both of my looks. On the zebra side I used a matching styled zebra bracelet called No 301 and paired it up with a gold and black beaded necklace called No 129.

When it comes to shoes I couldn’t pass up using my favorite shoes thus far by Maitreya called Virtue in patent black. I picked them up at the shoe fair and have been wearing them ever since. I can’t get over how well made the shoes are with the perfect shine. I think it really suited the wild side of the zebra print. On the flip side I love hitting the classic feel that the Siobhan dress brings to the table and had to pair it up with my retro sweet shoes from Shiny Things. Both of these shoe makers have my top notch when it comes to quality and they always bring something new to SL.

When it came to adding the icing to the cake it was an easy choice. I visited JE*Republic for the first time yesterday and couldn’t help picking up their hair Tarae in smoky along with the huge hair pin called Myth. I absolutely love things that stand out and this style along with the hair pin definitely comes to mind. There is also another hair pin option that I didn’t picture here but hope that my readers will check it out for themselves. The hair is very affordable and has a lot of good variety of styles. On the flip side I wanted to pull of a similar look and have had the Blossom hair by Kin immediately pop into my mind. There is something about the hair that I personally enjoy, maybe it is the flow of the flexi or how the edge of the bangs doesn’t line up perfectly but whatever it is I certainly enjoy it.

The skins that I chose I felt fit each look. A lighter lip for the more classic style is by Redgrave’s newest skin release of Jennifer. I tend to always go back to Redgrave because of what each skin does to my shape; it gives a lot of different looks without having to change my shape at all, which I absolutely enjoy because I am such a huge fan of diversity. On the flip side I used more of a red lip to stick with the edge of the look and I chose La Sylphide’s Liliana skin in almond, smoky shadow. The lips in red really pull off the passion I wanted to create.

Finally when it comes to eyes it is extremely important for my clients to have eyes that make the picture pop. There are a lot of great eyes out there but two of my personal favorites have been Tuli and Glanz. I chose the Luminous Blue by Tuli for the Zebra Fever dress and the Ocean Blue by Glanz for the Sioban. If you look back in my own posts you will see me use these quite often. I prefer eyes with a pupil that is not very large and have a nice amount of shine to them that bring out a spark in the eyes especially if positioned correctly. I really feel like that is one of the keys to making a good photograph not only in Second Life but also in the so called first life.

Alphamale & Blacklace Fashion Show!

Alphamale & Blacklace Fashion Show!, originally uploaded by Zoe Demar.

I have been working hard ALL WEEK to produce images for the fall releases that will be unveiled today (Sun Oct. 5th) at noon SLT. Then KMADD produced a fashion show that will be at 2pm SLT.

Hope you all can come :D

Search for the Alphamale sim to get there!

(Image created by KMADD)