Shoes, glorious shoes!

Today I will be mostly blogging about shoes. Why are they so expensive? Why do you need to have so many, and why does the latest sculptie offering result in almost complete heart failure? First though, I wanna know why some outrageously amazing designer hasn't copied Irregular Choice, which is my RL shoe crack (well... almost, along with a number of other designers - lots of other designers)? /me grips a random designer and shakes 'em hard screaming, "LOOK at the beauty of them...!" Please, please, please, someone... make these. (Pitiful, aren't I?)

Anyways, I have found the closest texture to these belongs to a sweet little set of shoozies from Aphrodite Creations that I promptly bought, thus breaking my solemn vow to be a cheapskate. I love AC footwear, and not just because Aphrodite gives out regular freebies to her update group - Machiavellian, moi? - but also because she puts real heart and sole... er... soul into them. They are beautifully realised, and make even SL feet look grand. These pretty little things come in a wide range of colours, and retail at L$150, which is damn good for shoes of this quality. Look for the Rosette pump; I feel certain you will be happy.

Yet another designer I have watched is Periquita, who has developed into - IMHO - one of the best shoe creators in SL. My alts possess a number of her creations, but Taille is blessed with a pair of Pink Elephant shoes that were the staggeringly good price of L$49. The textures are fucking amazing and the shoes look fabboo in the extreme. Judge for yourself, and while you are at it, head out to the shop. Erpla has a kind of funky, whackiness to her shoes that I just love and that makes me want more. These remain some of my fave shoes ever.

Imagine my delight when browsing Fashion Planet last night I saw that Tesla was offering up her Jane pumps for L$50. The Lindens were burning a hole in my pocket. Hot? Nay, my dears, they were positively radioactive. So I did indeed hotfoot it over there and purchased a pair of my fave animal print shoes (at the moment, I have a thing for leopard in RL too, with real designs on a pair of shoes from Faith) and gloated happily over them. They are so fine and as I lusted wretchedly after these shoes when they first arrived in SL, I can only tell you that I lurve them with all my heart. Purrr...

The next pair of shoes were a freebie from **Baby Monkey and I think this is a lady who is bound to become better known for her design. This particular pair are very, very pretty indeed, and I didn't take them off my toes for at least a week. This, I hasten to add, is good, as I am a shoe junkie and have been know to change them within the hour. I blame my goldfish attention span and the need for regular fixes of shiny. Look at the bows, the pretty flowers, and the really excellent stacked heel. All yummy goodness as far as I'm concerned.
Pixieplumb Flanaghan has an update group and she regularly gives out stuff to her fans, so it is definitely worth joining, and all these gifts come with a bag too. Good bags, I might add, very good.

Right, my lovelies, I hope you will go and take a look, and buy too, for there is much delight to be had in the purchase of a new pair of shoes.

All designers sucketh! ('specially the good 'uns)

Last night I went shopping. Now, those who know me will understand that this hardly passes as a momentous event, or one that is truly noteworthy, but for this av (Taille shakes her butt at being referred to in the third person) shopping with money IS an event. In fact, I was so excited by what I found that I blew L$500 in less than 30 minutes! OK... not the most enormous budget you've ever seen spent at once, but this was supposed to last me for a month, people. Meh... I blame the shoes, and the skirt, and the hair, but most of all I blame the designers and the blogs for leading me into bad habits. Shame on you all, I cry.
First though, as I don't have enough money to buy a photosphere (/me watches sadly as her last few Lindens bleat piteously in the vast cavern of an empty purse) and it is an essential item when you are blogging clothing, I want to recommend that you stir your stumps and head to CF Plaza - A public use photo studio. They have everything you could want and it is all free - yes, that's right, FREE!

Onward with the clobber though:

the gorgeous skirt is from a new sim called AOHARU that Free*Style blogged about a couple of days ago. Just look at its total scrumptious taffeta-y-ness (no that isn't a word, but I don't care), and the way the fabric seems to drape so beautifully. The top is a freebie from KUROTSUBAKI, and is as lush a little number as you could ever wish to see. If you've never been there before, then it is worth a long visit as the main shop is set out like a house where you just wander from room to room. I found it charming and hugely different from the usual SL-chuck-em-at-the-walls stores, so much so that I bought a cardi - used flower - in red. It comes in brown too, but for some reason I need red. SOOO purty, and the print is simply... damn, not enough superlatives. LOL
My skin is the utterly sublime freebie -Autism Awareness light - from SYD/LaynieWear in response to the nonsense about autism, and the research, being spouted so fervently. I could so get on a soapbox about this as in RL I work with the autistic and more research is needed to even begin understanding this disability.
Hair is from SLink - a designer I've only just come across - and my how I adore this glossy, black look, called Space Oddity. And finally, but by no means least, are the new, gorgeous, wonderful and really very cheap indeed, covered Heel Strap Platforms in red (no, I don't have a thing about red - honest :P) from ETD. The new sim was lag hell last night, but geez on a stick, it was worth it. So worth it, that I've mugged my alt with all the gelt and am off to get another pair. Now... what colour shall I have???

WTF!

Last night I decided I would go and do a bit of freebie collecting as I haven't been able to go on-line properly for a few days, due to RL stuff, and my, my, the grid was... er... busy. Now, I should know better, being a European (Brit, but what the hell), than to actually expect SL to be functioning normally at the weekend, but hope does, as they say, spring eternally. I took a few shots to show everybody just how borked it was; it is my belief that it truly surpassed itself last night.
That's me floating in mid air, waiting patiently for the sim to rez, which it did, after about 8 MINUTES! A girl could die waiting to get her free hair, and don't talk to me about TP. I SAID DON'T TALK TO ME ABOUT IT! My friend and I tried every-which way to get to places - the map, lm's, SLurls, begging for help (nearly) - and eventually had to go a circuitous route to get anywhere. Kinda one hop(e) at a time. :P
Anyhoo... here is a pic of my freebie outfit, which I thought looked way too cool not to add to my general gripe.
The jacket and top are both from Japanese sims:ECS katurin Park
and MoonCat Izumo, IZUMIYA, who manages to make clothes at ridiculously good prices . Shoes are an Adam n Eve cheapie (Stompi L$50) that can only be found if you lift your eyes above shoulder height, that is, second shelf: skirt is ::SC, and has red and blue in the pack as well : free Valentine Day hair from RaC (sadly, you need to get the dosh out of your creaking wallets for this now): skin and jewellery as before.

Take a look at this last shot. I have no idea what was happening as I had just got down from a cute kitty swing, and the grid sent me into some kind of gymnastic seizure where it would seem the lack of a backbone is of prime importance. /me shakes her head and constantly wonders why the hell she goes back to SL? Meh... such is 2nd Life. ROFL

Little Town - Women's Clothing is a place I found quite by accident after getting some rather gorgeous freebie shoes from +tricolore+ update group. I had decided to check the sim out and wandered rather aimlessly until I found ::LT::. Now I ain't saying that all the clothes in here are top notch, or even of a style you don't see often in SL, but they are cheap and within the range of Newbies who are still camping for their cash. A nice little touch was the wall with instructions on how to edit your skirts so they fit, and who, when we were still walking round in system skin, wouldn't have KILLED to have that information at their hands?


Anyhoo... everything in the shop is no more than L$80, come with prim shoes (which are a personal choice I have to say, but what the hell) AND this cute-as-anything check number was L$30! I love the detail as it is really good with pintucks and lace on the bodice, and no seam issues that I can see. Here I've teamed it with the free skin from (IS) Eva Este - Valentina, and the bootiful boy hair from ETD (L$1) - Sleek.

The ever-so-sexy stilettos are from Maitreya at G.L.A.M. in response to the random and increasingly annoying thieving that seems to be such a big part of SL at the mo. All I gotta say to that and the arseholes doing it is : "Get a goddamn life and learn to do something for yourself!"
Earrings are from Miriel and have been blogged about a million times by lots and lots of other folks.

This is <3>, and one of the best places to shop on the grid bar none! I kid you not... :D Mimi Coral is a goddess and has the most amazing clothes you are ever going to see - they are always beautifully textured, designed flawlessly, and make you look cuter than a very cute thing indeed. And let me tell you, there are plenty of cute things out there on the grid. LOL

Anyhoo, this here post be not about Cupcakes - oh no, indeed not - but about a little shop situated across from it named **The Closet** (main SLurl). Oh my... lions and tigers and bears... blah blah. Lovely, lovely things to go into a groaning, and simply horrid dysfunctional inventory (that is, already there's too damn much in it, grrr).

Look at this little blouse; it is so sweet and pretty... It was L$150 and makes you look like butter couldn't possible melt in your mouth, or indeed in or on any other part of your anatomy! It comes in a number of colours, and would look fab teamed with jeans or a skirt and little flat pumps.

However, this dress that I'm wearing - deadleaf - is so scrummy I could just scoop it up and eat it with a spoon. In every aspect it is beautiful with great texturing and a lovely boho chic feel. LS200
It has a prim belt that sets it off beautifully but I wore it with the new jacket layer belt from Nyte 'n' Day (a snip at L$49 with two colours in the pack), and a pair of freebie fishnet tights from (CS) as part of the Valentine drive. The bag is a group freeb too - (CS) Hobo in red, red patent - as is all my jewellery. Shoes, which you can't see, and I will blog later, are from **Baby Monkey.

So ladies, if you feel you wanna embrace your inner hippy, go take a look at **The Closet, I don't think you will be at all disappointed.

Oh yes... look who has mastered putting in the SLurls? What a clever piece of Taille I am.

This is one of the displays for an excellent little shop I found while exploring, going by the name of Thimbles. Its main store is on a great new sim called Cherry Buttons & Moon Doggies that also has some of the cutest picnic areas I've seen in SL for quite some time. As you can see, the look is almost artilleri, but not, yet has a retro, rockerbilly loveliness I adore.

At the moment, Thimbles has a really great couple of freebies - socks and a cute set of pink Valentine T's - that have really good textures and finishing. I particularly like the frayed edges on the sleeves and neckline.

There are a number of other places worth a look too, like CG Couture, who is selling some mods of the Another Shop free skins for a snip. Well... I think L$25 is a steal, and when I think of how hard it was to be a noob over a year ago, things have moved on quite a lot! And this is despite all the hoo ha about contents theft ... (/me climbs off soapbox) ... er ... anyhoo, the pic on the right shows what I mean.




http://slurl.com/secondlife/MoonDoggies/176/48/27

This ere be the SLurl, and when I get better at putting these damn links in it'll say the place properly. For now, I'm certain any readers will forgive my incompetence and point a finger and laugh.

This dress is a freebie from Vintage Clothing Reproductions. It screams Lucretia Borgia to me, and all I need is a small (or large... not sure which would be better) vial of poison... er... PERFUME. The hair is a group freebie from Calla; the skin - Tuli S5 - is also a Group gift. This look is scrumptious and totally right for a ball, or a special event, maybe even Valentine (sticks fingers in throat)?

Total cost is L$0


The jewellery is also free and from that amazing sim AMOREPACIFIC - worth a visit just for the location and the views. FabFree http://fabfree.wordpress.com/ blogs about it in real detail with some links to the specific areas so you can pick up more than the sparklies.

This shot shows the stunning details to the bodice.

Well, a friend has suggested that I blog about my time in SL and I suppose that she is right as I really do spend most of my time shopping there. I used to spend an absolute fortune inworld but now I've found that you can really get some absolutely bloody amazing stuff for free or practically free (YAY for the dollerbie, say I). This has opened up a whole new way of life (hmmm?), and sorta broadened my SL experience.

However, what form this blog will take is anybody's guess. So, with that note, I say keep looking here... There may be interesting developments (she says darkly). LOL