My Bowie Outfit

In my classic days I used to buy a lot of tattoo layer makeup, it was very popular and there were many stores that sold different combinations.

Miss Canning’s really stood out from the rest, a talented creator by the name of Lisle Canning owned the store, her makeup looked amazing, one in particular, simply titled “Bowie Makeup.”

David Bowie  originally wore this makeup for the cover of his 1973 album Aladdin Sane. 

The makeup became a favourite of mine however I came back to SL after my break to find that mesh was in and tattoo layer makeup like most other classic items were out.

So I meshed up and forgot about my classic life deleting most if not all traces of my system past, I saved one outfit of my classic self and forgot about the rest. 

I thought about that makeup constantly and wondered what my chances were of finding it, I’d go through search occasionally, nothing came up, then one day I found her store.

Lisle Canning has had her store In-World since 2010 and was still going strong, how did I even miss that? I teleported to the store straight away, it didn’t take me long to find the makeup. 

Lisle had renamed it “Grinning Soul Makeup” the pack came complete with a tattoo layer, an omega applier and a mesh version, I can’t even remember the cost, I just bought it.

I finished my outfit by using different coloured eyes and some very retro clothes. Maybe the hair isn't exactly a perfect match but it seems to work with this style.

The Bowie Look

Hair: Poe Hair from :::Sn@tch:::

Hair: SONJA Hair from .:EMO-tions.. 

Eyes from LAQ.

Makeup: Bowie - Grinning Soul Makeup Stripe by Lisle Canning.

Slit Eyebrows from Just Magnetized.

Lipstick from alaskametro.

Woodstock Top and Woodstock Jeans - Janis  from Sasheba’s Closet.

Mesh Tips

After my experience with Mesh I wanted to post a few tips to help others with their Mesh journey.

My Mesh guide is simply the way I did everything and it is only for people to follow. You don't have to do things the same way, it's just what worked for me and hopefully it may work for you.

Let’s start with the base, it is what you wear all of the time regardless of body or head, it's your shape, skin, eyes and brows and it will be what you use to build your Mesh look on.

I made a demo folder, I purchased demos from everywhere. I had demo heads, bodies, head skin appliers as well as body skin appliers, eye demos, hair demos, makeup demos, anything and everything that I could think of all went in that folder.

I made copies of my base which  went into my demo folder also then I demo'ed bodies before choosing the right one for me.

Next I demo'ed heads and mixed and matched head skin appliers, if they were the same brand such as Lelutka or Catwa.

The head of your shape will look distorted as you tweak it to adapt to your new head.

Keep a complete copy of your shape numbers on a notecard.

Don’t delete your demos, they are good to refer back to, add to them if you want, demos are great to play around with for different ideas.

When you have tweaked the shape to adjust to your head and body keep a copy of your heads numbers as well.

Your heads numbers will be different to your original shape, make copies and tweak it until you like it.

Heads and bodies are not modifiable but most shapes are and how you change that shape will result in your final look.

Bodies vary from Maitreya to Belleza so pick the one that suits you.

Heads vary too, when you decide on your head, lets say that it's LAQ, this is how it would go:

LAQ Head and Head Skin.

LAQ Body Skin.

LAQ Hud.

LAQ Makeup.

Only use appliers that are suitable for your body and for your head. 

When people think of Mesh they usually just think of Mesh, not the basics that it’s built on and all those basics make up our classic avatar.

Good luck with your creations and have fun.

My Jessica Rabbit Outfit

I have always liked the character Jessica Rabbit from the 1988 comedy movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit and I wanted to replicate her look in Second Life.

This was one of those outfits that just accidentally happened. 

First I came across the Jessica Dress which was a group gift. As you can see it is has more of a modern take on the original dress and is much shorter with a hologram effect.

Then I found the hair at .:EMO-tions: even though it wasn’t typically named Jessica Hair it bore a striking resemblance especially in a red shade. 

The shoes are from KC one of my favourite shoe stores in SL.

A fun outfit for just about any occasion.

Jessica Rabbit Style

Hair - THEA from .:EMO-tions:

Makeup from LAQ

Jessica Dress - Group Gift from Beautiful Hustler  

Dress Creator - FLECHA CREATIONS

Shoes - RACHEL PUMPS from KC

Bento Shapes Or Shapes For Bento

I had always said that I would never mesh up my two alts that I created a few years ago however all of that changed when I was having a bored moment or is it a blonde moment? 

BJayy and Sindy were hardly ever logged on. They are only friended to me and each other. I guess they are my "me" time. As classic avatars I always made sure that they looked good with detailed skin and makeup.

I hit the demos hard again and in the space of one day they went from being classics to Mesh with Maitreya bodies and LAQ heads like Pandora.

BJayy wore the Leia head and Sindy wore the Cherry head.

I felt more than happy with the results. I logged them on one at a time every other day to tweak their looks and update their inventory.

BJayy is a bit of a bimbo and is so easy to shop for. She wears a lot of pink or white as well as pastel colours. She never wears black. Sindy, on the other hand has a very dominant look and is always wearing black so she is not so easy to shop for.

But people do get lucky, and I got lucky one day, when I had Sindy logged on and I decided to look in search for bento shapes which is something I don’t normally do. 

I ended up at the LAQ commerce section of the LAQ Store where the LAQ compatible products are sold. 

It is a set up of stalls by creators such as Pink Fuel and Shiny Stuffs.

This was nothing new as I’d been to every level of the store before; except this time I came across something that I had missed amongst all of the other stalls. There was one that stood out from a bento shape creator by the name of WrenNoir Cerise. 

For 399 Linden you get a folder with three shapes. Tall and slender as well as proportional and slightly curvy complete with style cards.  They are modifiable and copy. Each set of shapes has been specifically made for a certain LAQ head and there are demos available to try.

I went for the Cherry head shape demo straight away and tried it with Sindy. She looked great so I bought it. I then went on to buy shapes for Pandora and BJayy as well.

Pandora wears the tall and slender shape for the Poppy head and I modified this shape. I kept my own head numbers and made the shoulders slightly bigger. 

The outcome was awesome.

Sindy wears the proportional shape for the Cherry head and I didn’t change her at all.

She’s perfect just the way she is.

BJayy wears the slightly curvy shape for the Leia head. 

I made BJayy’s nose and mouth a bit smaller but that’s it.

I haven’t bought shapes in a long time and these are the best shapes that I have seen lately in comparison to some scary ones that look nothing like their display photo.

This is going to be my ongoing learning experience as I have been experimenting with making shapes for personal use and trying different looks. 

Wren’s shapes are beautifully crafted and reasonably priced. Great for SL newbies and even SL oldies like me.

Wren’s Quote: "There is no such thing as a 'bento' shape. It is just a shape it’s the same as you would use with a classic avatar; however it has been fashioned for wearing with bento heads. This is because bento heads are "rigged" to the skeleton in their own way. So a shape is really made for a specific bento head rather than being a bento shape."

Very well said Wren and Thank you for all of your hard work.

None of the avatar photos have been altered they are as you see them. They’ve been given a soft glow and framed in GIMP both static poses and bento AO poses were used.

Wren’s main store: [wren’s nest] 

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Torver/186/214/22   

  

Two Heads Are Better Than One

I never thought that I would find my original Pandora especially not in Mesh and now that there were two of me I knew I would be in for a lot of work.  

Neither avatar wore the same outfit or hair as I wanted them both to have their own look and style.

Pandora’s Poppy really nailed it. She had the cute sexy thing going for her and it suited her perfectly.

The new Pandora which I simply referred to as V1 took on a more sexy classy approach. Considering that was how she looked in her classic days it seemed like the obvious way to go.

Something was missing with V1 as much as she looked like the old Pandora I couldn’t work out what the issue was. Then I realised she needed a different head because the Poppy one wasn’t  exactly right for her.

I went to LAQ to get more demos. The story of my life these days or should I say my Second Life.

I teleported back home to check out all of the demos. Finally I settled on the Neve head luckily this one didn’t need any further tweaking. I went to LAQ again to buy the head and then home to complete my project.

V1 had now become Pandora’s Neve. It’s as though I have this alt stuck in my inventory that I bring to life every now and then.

Alts may have different personalities depending on their creators but two versions of an avatar? That is a whole new situation and one that I hadn’t encountered before let alone thought of. I have two alts already so having a different version of me can get complicated at times.

Pandora’s Poppy earned the nickname of V2 just to make it easier even though she was the first Mesh avatar that I created. V1 had been there since the days of classic avatars and I still have one saved version of her tucked away.

I am enjoying my SL this time around however a word of advice to the newbies out there. Don’t go making half a dozen alts or several versions of yourself just because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Trust me you’ll go crazy … I have and there’s no going back. 

LoL.

Finding Pandora ~ The Original Skin

Pandora’s Poppy became the new me. Changing over to Mesh had turned out to be quite a journey in the short amount of time that it took me to tweak my avi with the final touches.

Going fully Mesh wasn’t half the nightmare that I thought it would be when I got used to it releasing my creative side once more as I played with this new me experimenting with different makeup and hair.

However there was no denying how much I missed my old face. I mean I liked my new face. I created it but I just missed seeing the old Pandora. 

LAQ has always been my go to place in SL when it came to skins and makeup they were my first choice. Their glow skins had always been so popular way back when and the first time I laid eyes on LAQ’s Lacie I knew I had to have that face.

I always visit the LAQ Store at least every two or three weeks for anything new or different. Then I found her. LAQ kept all of the older glow skins upstairs that now came in two parts. They were separated into head and body omega appliers. I had found my original Lacie.

One quick demo confirmed what I wanted to know and I teleported home to recreate my Pandora in Mesh.

With LAQ heads you can use either system or mesh eyes and so I chose to use the eyes that I used with Pandora’s old self. I wanted to keep something original about her.

Her skin isn’t as highly detailed as the newer skins. In fact she still looks a bit like a classic avatar and her makeup and eyebrows are already preset. 

It’s fun to have two versions of me Pandora’s Poppy and Pandora’s Lacie. Poppy is like using a blank canvas where I can apply as little or as much makeup as I want to while Lacie has light makeup which I can simply add lipstick and eyeshadow to enhance her look. 

Which avatar gets the most SL time? I think that they are pretty much on par with each other. Finding Pandora was like finding the missing piece of a puzzle for me. I had lived with that face for  almost nine years of my Second Life and I wasn’t ready to let her go. 

The best part about all of this was … I didn’t have to.