Sunday, June 28, 2009

A little bit of style by Zoe Demar in "Not Ready for Summer, Spring"

Hello! I dunno about you but I'm not a big fan of the heat. I'm one that would like for there to be Winter, Spring, and Fall instead of any summer at all! I had fun styling again and since I couldn't sleep - I decided to put another outfit mix-up together. It all started with roaming my folder known as separates.

For awhile I have been sorting items by brands which I tend to remember more easily who created what. I used to do it more by category - IE shorts, shirts, pant outfits. But due to lack of time overall I never ended up resorting my separates' folder so I was determined to put a look together based on that. Well, maybe not the full look but at least the inspiration! The layered top is not separate layers at all, but one created layer by the extremely talented Nylon Pinkney of Nylon Outfitters. It is probably one of my MOST favorite tops of all time! I hope to bring out something similar to this when I get more time to create my own brand of clothing. Nylon is truly an inspiration of mine.

So much fun we couldn't have summer without more spring!

Now how to mix it up! I thought about doing some shorts, but thought nah, it can be hot in RL but doesn't have to be in SL. I brought out wool pants in gray by LeLutka to match the prim flower that comes with the top. The pants have a high enough waistline to fit nicely with the top and a wide enough pant to give the look some sophistication. I have multiple colors in this same pant to suit various needs when it comes to it. I'm sure you're all looking for the summer collection to be released and I wish I knew when but I don't - so I'm waiting with the rest of you.

Next was the gloves, which were an easy choice as I originally had started thinking about doing a mix of the Paper Couture line and kept these gloves on from the Jasmine Vest outfit. I really liked how it turned the look a bit more stylized overall due to the cut of the glove not being fully on the fingers or over the full palm.

I definitely wanted to pull out some of the newest lamb. hair that I bought at the hair fair. This one is the Unbirthday in Obsidian which donated 50% of the profits to Locks of Love! I am totally in love with lamb.! Unique styles that are truly unlike any others in SL and if there are they had to have gotten the inspiration here!

The Diamond and Rose Bouquet ring is another beauty from the Paper Couture spring 09 collection. If you look back in my blog you'll see what I big fan I am of Paper Couture jewelry. I always think you can wear it with anything and certainly make a statement! The details in this piece are astounding. The glint of the diamonds don't require any sort of glow to make it sparkle.

To bring the look together at the toe, the Paper Couture Pastel Blue Butterfly heels were a perfect fit to tie in the blue and white shades in the Nylon Outfitter's top and pull together with the overall spring feel that I wanted to achieve.

As for the skin, I've been wearing Tuli's Hope skin everywhere! But I don't like blogging the same things repeatedly. I mix it up! So I decided that I really wanted to feature the mad talent of Ryker Beck. I went to the store which btw is having a sale of 50% off where all proceeds are going to the Make A Wish Foundation. Read details HERE at the Exodi blog. I ended up picking out the Shiloh Caramel skin in Bender make-up. The pinkish color of the lips and light blue tint of eyeshadow mimics the colors that I have going on in the outfit.

Since I was at Exodi and I like donating to a cause when I can afford to, I picked up the Exodi pack of Zbilja eyes. I have hard many people talk about how great they are and will agree that I do like the glint of light in the eye, which you can see in the close-up. I choose brown for two reasons. First I don't do brown often, and second I don't see brown very often.

Last but not least, I tempted myself away from my Silhouette Au Natural lashes that I used in my previous mix blog post and selected the combed style instead. I'm not a pro at fitting lashes but felt I did a pretty good job. They're a bit more wild of lashes, but still liked them with the look to be natural but glam.

06-28-09-Zoe-Spring-Fun-Mix Close

There you have it - my Not Ready for Summer, Spring style. I hope you enjoy!

Love, Zoe

Friday, June 26, 2009

Tillie's Posing Stand


Tillie's Posing Stand, originally uploaded by Zoe Demar.

I've been using Tillie's posing stand for over a year! I will tell you that I was not hired by Tillie to create this image, nor was I asked to blog about it. I'm just a big fan and do constantly use it!

It works by placing the stand upon the ground and attaching a HUD which appears on the upper left of the screen - some of the newest features found in 2.0 allows you shrink the hud until you click on it to use it again. I tend to never take it off and use it for all of my photography needs.

The other great thing is that you get updates for life and it is also copyable so I can have various poses in 1 stand or have multiple ones laying around. Seriously look into this for yourself.

You can find Tillie's pose stand on XStreetSL XStreetSL or in-world HERE

Love, Zoe

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

A little bit of style by Zoe Demar in Casual Layers

I keep hearing about people trying to get into the hair fair. I have been pretty lucky about my timing and did make my rounds but for those of you that might still need to wait a few more I encourage you to hit up some of your old haunts.

Instead of using one of the new hairs at the fair I decided to mix it up with another hair fave place of mine, Zero Style. When I stopped by the store I saw a couple of new hairs including the one that inspired the following casual layered look.

Layers of Casual

The inspiration - the lovely long layers of Zero Style's Camille in Dark Chocolate. I think I've been more into bangs recently, but really enjoy how Zero Style utilizes flexi which increases the amount of play you can have when wandering the grid or taking a fun snapshot.

I knew that for the next item I wanted to pull something from Leah's store, Naive. She's not new new to the fashion world. I first got to know her through her photography. Though she still is taking pics, she has turned her creativity to virtual fashion and has a good selection of a mix of styles for both the guys and the gals. I really liked the textured in the jeans along with the length of the capri, perfect for a casual summer day.

I knew I wanted to keep the overall look simple and searched a bit through my clothing collection and found this gray t-shirt from Cyanide. Another new to the scene designer known more for her poses has made a stamp by releasing quite a collection of sexy tops in numerous amounts of transparency and colors.

The Ayumi waistcoat that I'm calling a vest here for easy communication was an easy choice to add another element to jazz up the look a bit and add some unexpected color. The red pulls out a bit from the shoes, hoodie, and lunchbox ensemble. I personally don't have a lot of experience with Ayumi but the quality of the vest does make me want to go check it out for more.

With the top taken care of, I knew I wanted to throw in a new style of whimsy that has been used in Second Life with the creation of sculpties. You might see the a more well known and similar style at Coco's, but this wrap around hoodie creation has been in my inventory long before from Sey. The designer, risey Arai, is Japanese. I discovered it randomly when I was exploring. Its a scripted piece that has 9 different colored checkered textures - great for mixing up your looks. I haven't been back to the store for awhile but putting this together - be sure I will be stopping back soon. If I remember right they also do hair. And I'm also going to do something a little nontraditional of my blog posts and will link to their blog HERE because I know they might be harder to find.

At this point I felt pretty good about the look and it was an easy choice to pull these Hoorenbeek shoes called Samoa from my inventory. I'm amazed at the amount of detail one can get from sculpts AND textures - especially in the "shoe" designer department. The amount of realism fathoms me. Though I might be a little off-put about the close tie of using the "real life" logos, he is changing it up enough to avoid infringement to my knowledge. a side-note: I'm fascinated by copyrights - and am always learning.

Another old piece in my inventory - is this cute lunchbox from Miau Haus. Creative humor in creations goes a LONG way with me. I couldn't resist having a chick stuffed between slices of bread - perfect for any neko's lunch.

The eyes in Predawn were a very easy choice for me from Miriel - and I recommend you head to her store soon as she will be closing up shop any day now. I was saddened to hear the news, but it has to be expected with people or items in SL as things change and people move to different roads. I do wish her luck and hope that you do have the opportunity to pick up a few items from her jewelry, hair, shapes, and eyes.

Layers of Casual - Close up

Now I needed to choose a skin, and so I wanted to go with something very new to the grid. The designer isn't new but the skins are as they're to be released TODAY! Annyka Bekkers of Blowpop has some mad skills. What I like about her new skins is that each "line" has their own personality. I chose her Elizabeth skin due to the freckle love. And though you'll see this skin has reddish eyebrows I like mixing it up with darker hair. I probably would choose another to do a close-up with but I don't like limiting skin with my various chair colors and styles.

Last but not least is the icing on the cake. I'm not sure who brought in the idea of prim lashes first to SL. I think the first place I saw them was from Celestial Studios, but my has it evolved to be a must have for many in SL. I know for my modeling and photography it is a must have as it really helps make the eyes pop. I've picked up a good selection of lashes from here and there but when Carissa Crimson decided to put her out I was very curious to see what would come from it. I must say that I've really fallen in love with the au natural lash style that she released. She does have other styles as well that you should check out and see what your fave style fits your personality as I don't think you'll be disappointed.

PS - POSE BY TORRIDWEAR :)

That wraps up the layers of casual style. I hope you enjoy and can add some new places to your repertoire of fashion.

Love, Zoe

Friday, June 19, 2009

Are you Drooling over the Hair Fair yet??

I know that I'm not the only one gaga over hair and many are anxiously awaiting the hair fair sim to open to the public with me! It appears that the participating hair designers have also stepped up their game by offering numerous hair pieces to choose from. I received demos yesterday from Refuge (so cute!) and I know KMADD has demos out at their store. Others have been releasing teaser pictures such as the recent one today from Maitreya. I think out of everything in SL I'm the biggest nut when it comes to hair and typically buy in packs since I need different looks constantly for my photography/modeling.

One BIG thing that I do want to add in here is to not forget that asides from great hair - the great cause of Locks of Love which the creators are donating some of the proceeds towards. Maitreya quoted on their blog, "50% of the sales will go to Locks of Love for the duration of the fair." So do be generous and look for how the vendors are donating. I personally have been thinking about growing out my RL hair to donate to the cause. I know there are certain rules to the hair, so if there is anyone thinking about it like I am you can go to the Locks of Love website HERE.

In honor of the hair fair I'm going to share some of my favorites of 2009 that I also submitted into the Hair Fair Flickr Contest this year. Congrats to the winners that were posted yesterday on the official hair fair blog HERE. It was really nice to do random pictures showcasing a few of my favorite sims along with it.

Exile's Love Story
Swift

Zero Style's Dana
Viva La Vida

Maitreya's Yasmin
Glide

Aden's Autumn II & Maddesigns' Cruz
Crickets

ETD's Sarah
Mimosa

Abyss' Opium
It's a jungle out there

Truth's Thalia 2
Army brat

Argrace's Hunting Natural Wavy
Hole in one

LeLutka's Grace
Whisp

Lamb's Cherry
yellow ribbons in her hair

Last but not least in any means as it is the biggest hair I have ever seen in-world!

Curio Obscura's Rococo Fantastico Hairstyle v1.1
Lady Locks

I hope you enjoy having a good time at the fair - and remember to reduce your Avatar Rendering Cost to have a less lag experience! see my blog post here about ARC

<3 Zoe