anyBODY Exclusive Part 2 + July Round of Collabor88:

When I got back into blogging, I decided to do it in a way that would allow me to keep my sanity...and that means to blog when I can and not overdo it.  I had been meaning to do another blog post for quite some time, but unfortunately RL has gotten in the way and I'm only getting to it now. That being said, let's dive right in.

Today I'll be showcasing three items: An AMAZING pair of overalls from Spirit, featured at collobor88 this month, two gorgeous tattoos by Identity Body Shop, featured at this month's anyBODY Exclusive event, AND an amazing hairstyle by Lelutka which is part of their new Swish collection.

See Below for Credits:

This pair of overalls is by Spirit, called Mema shown in the Olive Green color.

These two tattoos are individual tattoos and not part of a set.  The upper body tattoo is called Great Power and the lower body tattoo is called Regrette Mien.  Both tattoos come with appliers for Maitreya Lara, SLink, TMP, and Omega.

Unfortunately, a still photograph does not do this hair justice.  The Swish collection by Lelutka has some very subtle and realistic movements.  Check out the demos to see for yourself!  

Credits:

Upper Body Tattoo - Great Power - .Identity. Body Shop - AnyBODY Exclusive 
Lower Body Tattoo - Regrette Mien - .Identity Body Shop - AnyBODY Exclusive
Mema Denim Overall in Olive Green - Spirit - July Collabor88
Clarice Hair (Brown) - Swish - Lelutka Main Store
Angelica Heels (Black for Maitreya, SLink, and Belleza Feet)  - Glamistry

Catwa Head
Maitreya Lara Body

anyBODY Exclusive: Part 1

I'm not someone who keeps up to date with all the events going on in Second Life, so when I found out through Strawberry Singh's blog about a HUD by Seraphim that loads up all the events with LMs, I knew I had to get it.  It can be purchased on Marketplace for FREE!!!

While looking through the HUD, I found an event called anyBODY Exclusive that I had never heard of, which is probably quite shameful of me.  I decided to check it out.  It's an event that aims to provide items for those of us with mesh bodies, which to be honest, is probably the majority of Second Life residents at this point.

I started to peruse the different shops and I stopped in the Legal Insanity stall and found this gorgeous bikini that is fitted mesh for several mesh bodies, including Maitreya Lara which is what I wear.  I couldn't wait to take it home and put it on...and oh my, it is sexy!  The bikini comes in a regular version and a full bright version for the chains.  Because of the windlight settings that I wanted to use for my photos, I decided to use the regular version and not the full bright version.


Style Credits below:

Credits:

Swimsuit:  Legal Insanity - Kajal Gold (Black) - anyBODY Exclusive

Mesh Body:  Maitreya Lara - Maitreya

Mesh Head: Catwa Annie - Catwa

Hair: Erase and Rewind - Exile

Breaking all the rules

I walked away from blogging over a year ago due to a few things...burnout, contests, and RL obligations.  The latter which took me out of SL for nearly a year before I returned this past Spring.  I've spent the last few months DJing, taking photos, putting them on flickr and building my followers there. And I must say I've enjoyed it.

The Mesh Revolution in Second Life has brought a whole new sense of realism to how we can display our avatars.  Fitted mesh means we don't have to resize our bodes to fit into clothing properly.  Curves can now be embraced.  It's no longer a necessity that we all be 15 ft tall and weigh 95 lbs.  

When you stop following the rules and play by your own, it can be immensely satisfying.  For years, I thought that to belong to the fashion community, you had to follow their rules.  Rules that would dictate how you looked, what type of photos you shot, and what you were allowed to display in regard to your own avatar.



I think in some ways, things are changing.  There is more of an open dialogue now to different viewpoints and opinions.  There are people who are standing in their own truth and doing what makes them happy.  Models now come in all shapes and sizes.  There are multiple modeling contests now and it's not just one or two voices speaking for the fashion community as a whole.  In my opinion, it's a wonderful revolution.

Nude modeling for a long time was frowned upon, but with more and more people stepping up and speaking out, it's becoming more acceptable.  

So where do I fit in now?  I'm not sure.  I plan to tentatively start blogging again.  Maybe not every day, or even every week...but I miss sharing my voice and my styling and my aesthetic with people who are kind enough to take a look.

So here it is...my first post in forever!

Featured in First Photo:
Head: Catwa  (Also in Second and Third Photo)
Skin: L'etre    (Also in Second and Third Photo)
Hair: Lelutka (Also in Second Photo) -Sage

Featured in Second Photo:
Body: Maitreya

Featured in Third Photo:

Dress:  *Just Because* - Daria Gown (Black)
Hair: Catwa - Silky

Then and Now

Like the majority of people in SL, I'm a long time fan of Strawberry Singh and her amazing blog.  Each week, she posts a challenge for other bloggers to take part in.  This week, it was to take a photo from your first blog entry and a recent picture of yourself.  Now my blog isn't that old, so I decided to do something slightly different and post the very first picture of myself, or at least the first picture I have that wasn't deleted....and compare it to where I am today.  I believe this picture was taken within my first two weeks of Second Life.

I started SL May 17th, 2008.  It was 3 days after my 23rd birthday.  I was young and way over my head.  I was a bit naive, altogether too trusting and had no idea of the ride that this virtual world would take me on. Obviously, I'm wearing silks in the first picture, which gives away the lifestyle I was/am involved in. I started Second Life to explore some things I had no way of exploring in RL. I moved on from that after about 6 months in SL and did other types of Roleplay, moving then into photography, and then modeling.  

Looking closely at the first picture, it's easy to see that I had terrible editing skills, I have jewelry going into my arm, my shape was completely disproportionate. and my hair color was pretty terrible as well. But I was blissfully unaware of this at the time, and my first few months in SL were probably part of the most enlightening time of my entire life.

I can honestly say that if I had not started using Second Life that my life would have charted a much different course.  It may have been better.  It may have been worse.  But I wouldn't be the person I am today if I hadn't taken that first tentative step and created the avatar Occasus Jayaram.

My first day in SL, I met a man who changed my life forever.  If I hadn't met him, I probably wouldn't have logged a second time or a third, or started the journey that has been my second life. I wouldn't have made the friends and loves that I've gotten to experience and I don't think my RL would have been the same either.  It was through my journey in Second Life that I was brave enough to explore things in my RL and made some amazing friends in the process.  Even though we lost touch about 5 years ago, I've never forgotten him or the impact his existence had on mine.

My most recent photo was done by Alia Novo of Oh Snap! Photography and she does amazing work with a lot of hand drawn details.  This was something I had never had done before and I really wanted to see how my avie could be captured in a more artistic sense.  I chose to use this photo as my now picture because of the contrast between me in 2008 and me in 2015.

The girl on the left was bathed in the light.  The girl on the right, in darkness.  I can say that the girl who logs into Second Life today is more guarded, more cautious, and stands up for herself a lot more than the girl that first made that first tentative click of her mouse nearly 7 years ago.  It makes me shake my head in wonder over what an impact a virtual world has had on my real world.

I have had ups and downs in Second Life, but I know for a fact that I would not have traded them for anything in the whole world.

Happy Valentine's day!

I was initially going to ignore the fact that it's Valentine's day, the fact that I'm single, and the fact that I ate frosting right from the jar today and it's not even lunch time yet.....

But, I got the urge to take some pictures today and I really liked this jumpsuit from Alanis that was a marketplace find one day as I was perusing for a sleek and sexy jumpsuit.  The front of the jumpsuite has a plunging, daring neckine and the back is completely bare.  I think it's just beautiful.  I paired the jumpsuit with a beautiful necklace from Earthstones that was a Christmas gift from my amazing friend, Mythic and a bracelet and armband from Ryca.

I also really wanted to showcase this hair.  It's the new group gift from Lelutka, to showcase the new hair textures.  The group gift came with a different HUD for all of their shades and I have to say that I'm very impressed.  I have always loved Lelutka and now I think I love them more, if that's even possible.

See below for stylecard.



Jumpsuit: Alanis - Lynn Backless Jumpsuit - Red
Necklace and Earrings: Earthstones - Music of The Heart 
Hair: Lelutka - Sheena Hair - 
Bracelet and Armband: - Ryca Jewelry - Cross Silver 
Lipstick: Pink Fuel - Glossy Pout Lipstick - Dark Red

Inspired by Androgyny

This past week for the Mr. And Miss Model International runway event, was the "trunk challenge."  Solde Rothmanay of Soul Designs and Cacilia McMasters of CM Obsessed, both generously donated several items of clothing that were placed in two separate trunks.  Some items were placed in Trunk 1 and other items were placed in Trunk 2.  The requirements of this challenge was that each model had to look through the trunks, pick a total of 3 pieces and put them together in a cohesive look, using at least 1 piece from each trunk.

When I received my trunks, I was pleased to see that they didn't give separate trunks to males and females.  We were all presented with the same items.  From the pieces presented to us, I chose to go with all male clothing, and use one of my RL style icons, Tilda Swinton as my inspiration.

From the first trunk, the male item I chose was a smoking Jacket from CM Obsessed.  I paired it with a pair of pants from Soul Designs and a pair of men's dress shoes from the trunks to complete the requirement of 3 pieces.

Style Card

Jacket : Sakura Smoking Jacket - CM Obsessed

Pants: Men's Chino Pants - Soul Designs ( Marketplace Link )

Shirt: Black Tube Top - MichaMi - (Marketplace Link )

Shoes:Men's Lace Up Dress Shoes - CM Obsessed

Hair: Darmody Veganic Hair - Action Hair 

Makeup: Paisley's Wish - Male -  Madrid Solo Cosmetics

Necklace: Pearl Rain Necklace/Onxy - Mandala

I needed a shirt to go under the mesh jacket.  Because it's a menswear jacket, I had to wear the extra small version so that my shoulders didn't look super broad and out of place on my petite frame.  Because of that, any additional mesh items from the trunk would not work underneath the jaket, so I chose a system layer shirt from MichaMi that I had in my inventory.  The way the shirt hung on my chest almost made it seem as if it was a shirt that either a male or female could wear.

I initially was only going to wear a dark cheekbone makeup and black eyeliner, but earlier in the week we were presented with several makeups from Madrid Solo Cosmetics for a photo challenge. There was a men's makeup in their whose colors coincided perfectly with my color scheme, so I chose to wear that instead.

I didn't win the challenge.  That went to a very deserving Vin Cinquetti and Portia Pexington who honestly WERE the clear winners.  But I walked away from the challenge knowing that I asserted my own point of view very clearly and I hope that I left an impression.

Mr. & Miss Model International - Makeup Challenge

I have to say that I am really enjoying being a part of the MMI competition.  Aside from making a lot of great new friends, I'm also getting a chance to be creative in the many challenges that are being presented to the models.  This week we have two challenges, a photo challenge and a runway challenge.  I'll be posting my look from the runway challenge this weekend after the show is over.

The photo challenge this week is sponsored by the amazing Madrid Solo and we were given a box with 4 female makeups and 4 male makeups that we could mix and match however we'd like.

I chose to mix and match two of the makeups from the box, and I'll be wearing another at the runway show this coming Saturday.

I just love the level of detail in this makeup and how bright and colorful it is.  Because unicorns seem to be the theme of the moment in Second Life, my thoughts were immediately pulled in that direction.  I found the unicorn horn on Marketplace from Head Candy, called Ice Unihorn.  And I paired it with a hairstyle from Olive.

See below for full style card:

Eye Makeup: Madrid Solo - Arabesque

Lips: Madrid Solo - Glam Tears

Horn: Head Candy - Ice Unihorn - MP Link

Hair: .Olive. - The Silent Hair - HUD 3