Still Roslin's #1 fan. Yes..the Luxuria Relaunch makes me happy.

Oldbies in SL know who Roslin Petion is, one half of the duo behind Tete a Pied/Fleur/5th and Oxford brands.  They did skin, mostly, and then ventured out into clothing.  And if you check my oldest blog posts, I've been a fan since pretty much the week I joined.   As I say, "I'm Roslin's #1 Fan, in a totally fangirlish non-stalker way of course."

But eventually the partners parted ways, and there was no more Roslin and CJ skin, and I was deprived and had to change skin brands which took me for-e-ver.

But that didn't mean Roslin stopped making things, because she did and I was told that eventually her lingerie brand would be making a comeback on it's own, with tattoo makeup.  So we now have the Roslin-made Cherie lingerie set with mesh underbust corsets.  (Alongside other lingerie, check out Gogo's blog, she blogged the florals!) 

 The stockings are available in 4 styles, well it's basically two styles with two denier types (and shinyness levels as well) Denier is the rating of the sheerness of a stocking...I think of stockings in deniers.  Anyway, choice of sheerness, welts and seams, yadda yadda.

Though readers haven't seen it, I've worn Luxuria undies under the summer dresses I've been wearing in the blog posts.


There is also Luxuria brand makeup. Roslin-made lippies, glosses and matte, as is proper.  She was a makeup artist in RL, you know.  This is Red Gloss 4 over Pink Fuel Harley Vanilla  The Blessed Roslin was wearing her makeup over PF Harley Peach in the Cherie lingerie displays...and yes with the same hair too, Truth Candy.   That's by intent.

I once got mistaken for Roslin back in the early days because we resembled each other enough.  Even got asked if I was one of the models in her 5th and Oxford skin displays....nope it was just Roslin looking like me in a pretty Ingenue dress...that I owned.  One time I saw a photo on a blog, and thought "I don't remember going to that event."...but it was Roslin in a slinky cleavage-y gown that I also owned and with her signature ETD Roslin hair which I also wore often.  Yes, yes, I'm her #1 Fan, but not a stalker!  Don't Ban me, Ros!

SLURLS

Luxuria is still in Nouveau

Pink Fuel Harley skin

Truth Hair: Candy

Sax Shepherd Jewellery Bijou Roulette

IKON eyes: Lucid Moor

G Field Alex shoes

A picture I wasn't originally planning on posting.

In this blog post by Kit Meredith. She mentions finding her perfect haircolour, and I noticed that she resembled my Boss Sabrina a bit in the last picture. She then replied that she was inspired by me to a certain extent and that she might be essentially be a "grandchild red-headed shameless hussy". I then remembered this picture, that I wasn't planning on ever posting:



I had been playing with the new TaP vivants in at their launch in August, and I had just purchased some HCT hair to see what it looked like on me, and I was playing with my thin lips version of my shape to see how the TaP lips looked on it, and THAT happened. The blue eyes didn't help either. It not only resembles the last picture in Kit Meredith's post, but also resembles the pictures in this post by Boss Sabrina on Linden Lifestyles. Now admittedly Sabrina is wearing TaP Deux and not Gala in that post, but the resemblance is there.

Now normally I don't wear HCT (or Gala) for that reason, and though I have a thin lips version of my shape (which certain skins look better on) I wear the fuller lipped version and I wear green eyes and not blue. But yeah, she's obvioulsy my biggest style inspiration along with Salome, and frankly who wouldn't want to BE Sabrina or Salome and be one of the best dressed and tressed av's on the grid, not to mention one of the best fashion writers around. I'd love to have half her or Salome's wit, style and panache. Helping out at Linden Lifestyles is probably my dream gig in SL.

Kit Meredith is no slouch on smarts either and is one of my new favourite bloggers. Besides, the more smart red-headed shameless hussy's on the grid, the better.

Ageplay, Fashionista Style

After reading varioups posts and articles about ageplay in SL on various blogs and whatnot I decided I needed to admit something:

I'm an ageplayer.....but perhaps not in the way one might normally think.I'm 40 in RL, how old does my avatar look?



Tete a Pied Vivant Red lips 1 skin, ETD Carolyn hair in Mahogany, Eyes by Miriel Enfield, dressy Nuclear Boutique

That image is one of the best ones I've ever taken of my av I think. It's just simply beautiful. Even if with that classic understated elegance makeup my av does not look 40. She's 25 at best.

Or what about this "teen queen sexy schoolgirl" look a la Britney:



Tete a Pied Vivant Sultry 3, Armidi Bombshell hair in Sangria, Sister Penitence School Uniform from Luminosity, Go Hellions!

See what I mean? Even if an av is not a child there's still a lot of ageplaying going on without many folks consciously realizing it. Sure I dress my avatar in mostly classic tailored clothing, retro-wear and casual basics, but she still doesn't look as old as me. And I'm not for certain I want her to look 40 anyway, because she lets me be pretty (and sometimes sexy) in a way I can't in RL,though having the option to look older would be nice.

Moo! and some commentary.

I've seen Moo Money around the grid, but never really had the chance to talk to her until I saw her at Tete a Pied in Nouveau, she was after the recently released Automne set, which she says she likes better in the lighter skin shades. We got to talking about the fashion business, about how some designers are under-appreciated (especially Roslin and CJ of Tete a Pied). And how some designers have changed their output so much that she doesn't shop from them anymore, she misses the "old stuff". The example she gave was Dazzle/Last Call. She prefers the older Dazzle stuff, and some of the early grungier-grittier Last Call releases. Me, I like the new "upper class lady who lunches" stuff over the old "yet another babydoll cocktail dress in a dozen pastel colors". That was one thing we both agreed on, that Ginny shouldn't focus on just one overall style and "run it into the ground." We also dislike the major lag at Dazzle, which is one of the reasons I rarely go there, but that probably can't be helped. The build itself is too "Midnight City" for my taste, my favorite Dazzle build was the old Warehouse across from Luxe, but I like this one better than the one just previous with the transparent walls and stuff.

One thing we also discussed was that there should be more communication between shoppers/consumers and designers. How are they to know what we like/don't like/wish they'd change/what the shopping experience is like unless we tell them. But we both thought that people, especially bloggers like us might be afraid to do so because they don't want to "piss people off" and cause "drama" I've probably ticked of Ginny with this post, but I'm one of the ones who said she should have never dropped the "Dazzle" brand name to begin with. I'm also one of the ones that says she should co-locate her store, she's one of the few designers who could benefit from having a second location to cut down the lag, but that would increase her land expenses of course.

The conversation with Moo was one if the best fashion convo's I've had in a while. I didn't get any really juicy Moo quotes though. Moo is one of the most quotable fashionistas in SL, truly.

Simone! Ornament

I'm rather fond of the Simone! Ornament gown. There's just something about the open diamonds showing skin that makes it red carpet worthy. This is the pink, which isn't my favorite color of it, but it's still nice. Comes with both Ballgown and mermaid style prim attachments, which is also handy. That's a TaP Boudoir 1 skin, Armidi Envy hair.

Vamp CC!

I was TP'd by Rose Farina to Alienbear Gupta's store to mob a Mobvend to get the Halloween themed Dracula's heart set down to it's minimum price of 299 (max is 2000) Since I have a great red/black gothy vampy gown I bought it myself, and I also have a great vampy skin in Tete a Pied Boudoir 3 (Miriel eyes, of course, and ETD Anisa hair in crimson, the dress is Midnight Goth from the old Dazzle)



I have fangs too! I vant your blood!



Aren't I the most perfect seductive vampiress? Yes, Yes I am.

Demeter SE shape from Zada Zenovka

The new realistic looking Demeter shape from Zada Zenovka's Zada Shapes store, has been mentioned on Second Style and on Kit Meredith's blog, but I thought I'd discuss it here.

First, I'm all for more realistic shapes in SL, I've reduced the height and added some mass to my regular shape to make it look a touch more realistic than the "Supermodel Centerfold" it was. I'm also suprised and a bit miffed that some folks with more realistic or unusual shapes get slammed in anon comments on some blogs. It's a good thing that there are those who try to get their avatars to look like themselves or more RL in general.

The Demeter shape itself looks about a size 12-14 US to me. she's got a rounder face, a slightly belly and larger thighs, meaning she's very realistic looking. Since she does look like "the woman next door" I decided to put her in a "woman next door outfit", a hoodie and hair from Maitreya, Strict Jeans from Launa Fauna, ETD booties, and a TaP Vivant skin (Just lips) This is the freebie, no-mod, version Zada released to encourage diversity among avatars. The full mod version with extras is 800L$



The face itself reminds me of Alyson Hannigan's face, but rounder. It's pleasant.




For comparison, my regular shape, same skin, outfit and hair.

Artilleri's Kats Meow coat

I had to have the new Kats Meow coat from Artilleri as soon as I saw it in the Chaton picture on the Tete a Pied blog. It is squee-tastically gorgeous. I got the leopard pattern pack and this is the snow leopard pattern. I decided to pair it with the TaP Chaton skin, ETD Maaliyah hair, ebony neko ears and tail from Boneflower, fishnets from Wrong, and the utterly sleek, sexy, but still classy Pinson boots from enkythings



I intend to buy the solid colors too.

Tete a Pied Vivant Review.

The new Tete a Pied Vivant line has been released and here is a review from Tete a Pied's #1 groupie, Roslin and CJ's *****, me!

Here's the ad:



The new skins use different shades from the Tap Deux line. In fact if you want lots of variations of Tan, Faux Tan, Dark Tan, Dark, etc. TaP is not for you. The new shades are from lightest to darkest: Cream, Blush, Almond, Buff, Bronze and Chestnut. Cream is very light, Jackal Ennui style goth light I would say.

These are the makeup types: Basic red, Basic pink, Basic nude, Just Lips, Pinup, Biba, Bebelle, Kyoko, Candy, Sultry, Natural, Feline, Freckle, Horus, Glam, Cercle. I got the same preview pack others got, ie one skin in Pinup, basic nude, and Candy. I also purchased a three pack in Buff in both Just Lips and Red Lips.

The Vivant skins, unlike the previous TaP skins are hybrids. They have some photosourcing, but not too much photosourcing in my opinion. That makes them look a bit more modern than TaP Deux, which might appeal to more skin buyers, as well for those looking for more realism. But since they are not heavily photosourced, they won't turn-off TaP's loyal markets of certain fashionistas, redheads, and Caledonian ladies.

Here I am in the Buff Pinup 1, which was the first of the Vivants I put on. It was love at first sight. This skin reminds me a bit of some of the old TaP Une series in a way, which I like.



Here I am wearing the Bronze basic nude 1. This one said to me that TaP is trying to reach outside the traditional TaP market. This one is very modern and more like a traditional SL skin than older TaP's were.



And in the Blush Candy 3. You'll notice that the lips are slightly different on all the makeups. If one makeups lips don't look good on you then try another.



That's ETD Roslin hair worn in the photos above, I just had to wear it.

In the vendors in the store you'll find demos of every makeup in every skin shade. That surprised me because that's a lot of work doing that, and Roslin said that they weren't likely to do it again after doing it for TaP Deux. But they did, and I appreciate it greatly. I do have one complaint about the build, because of the way the stairs are set up the walkway in front of the skins is a bit narrow, but there's space at each end of the store for hobnobbing and kibbitzing, not including the roof.

Also, the pricing is different than the TaP Deux skins. Singles are L$500, three packs are 1200. That's right, they're a steal! Roslin and CJ want people to think of skin as an acessory that one changes with clothing and the new prices reflect that. Here's another important thing, brows and kitty's are mod.

That's right redheads, with TaP Vivant you can have every skin match your gorgeous red tresses. Just pick up the mod brow bases, and put it on. That goes for blondes too. That makes me ecstatic in joy and tribulation. See the results in this collage using the Just Lips 1 skin.



ETD Maaliyah hair

Pubic hair works similarly, just put on what kitty hair options you want, they're on the underwear layer. For those interested, the traditional TaP heart shaped kitty hair is included.

Here's some comparisons of Tap Vivant Red Lips 2 skin with the TaP Deux Sophisticate 1 skin (custom redhead version) I compared these two because of the similar lipcolors:


Full body front, notice the changes in the torso shading.:



Full body back, notice the new butt! I love the new butt!:



Torso. You can see the torso shading changes better. The cleavage enhancement is still evident, but my boobehs look a bit more realistic in the Vivant:



And the face. There's subtle changes in the facial highlighting, a sort of glow. There's some changes in the lip texture too.:



Again, ETD Roslin hair

If you're wondering how the skins might look on everybody's favourite missing Redheaded Shameless Hussy (Sabrina Doolittle) and Patootie Head (Salome Strangelove), here is yet another homage to my bosses at Linden Lifestyles If any skin has a chance to steal Sabrina's Whoring Heart(tm) from her Gala's it's TaP Vivant. This is the Just Lips 1 skin.



Armidi Bombshell hair in Ginger III on my faux Sabrina self, and ETD Patootie in Chestnut on my faux Salome self.

And here I am crying and pouting because I want them ALL! Yep, I LOVE them, but of course, I AM Roslin and CJ's ***** (Inspired a bit by Ida Keen's New World Notes Uncanny Valley contest entry last year.)



ETD Patootie in Crimson, facial emote from my Mystitool.

Tete a Pied is located in the Nouveau sim.

Contest entry and skin comparison

Yeah, I entered the Ginny/Starley Are you the face of style contest, but I had to get a Starley skin first. I only had a Passport and I don't flatter it and it makes me look like Salome. So I tried demos.......lots of demos and figured out right off that I don't like the Vogue/Deviant Nation brows. Can't stand them. Course, that's me being picky on brows. After doing some searching I found the Carrot and Auburn Charmed series and got a Carrot:




My shape flatters it much better than the other Starley skins, I actually look like me and the I can tolerate the brows. I know, I harp on brows, but they're very important, especially to redheads. The shape and color just has to "work". Give me a groomed, shaped, "classic" brow with a nice arch, but not too much arch any day.


For comparison a shot in TaP Sophisticate 1, one of my favorite skins ever:




Yeah, I'm Roslin and CJ's ***** all right.

I'm lip picky too, but that is another story.