It was a dark and gloomy night in the graveyard at October Country. They met at the gallows, and it was love at first sight when Lily found Frank hanging charmingly by the neck. Hanging out at the old lighthouse, they discussed all their nightmares and fears. They discovered they were MFEO (made for each other).

(Where does Herman come into this story? Apparently, Frank suffered PTSD from being attacked by a horde of angry villagers on All Hallow’s Eve. Lily found Frank too emo for her tastes, and left him when a better munster came along, his older brother, Herman. Lily and her man live in a spacious castle in the suburbs with their son, Eddie, niece, Marilyn, and Lily’s father, Grandpa).

Costumes by the awesome AliciaKay Kilara at A Touch of Ireland! store. Comes with everything seen except the skin and eyes on Sans. Frank comes with the skin, clothing, shape, shoes, and hair (modeled by the talented and lovely, Phoenix Psaltery <3)

Skin: Demoness by Pandora Jensen, Panjen

Hair: Saleen (FREEBIE!) from Here Comes Trouble! (modded a bit for the Lily look)

Eyes: Silverscreen (Big) by Miriel Enfield.

I’m not gonna write too much for this post, mainly because the photos should do the talking for me, and after hours of putting them together I’m falling onto my keyboard exhausted.

Minnu Models skins have take the grid by storm, and for those of you who’ve been under a rock and haven’t gotten the chance to check them out. Here they are (most of them, anyway) for your viewing enjoyment.

Stay tuned for a Designer Spotlight on Minnu Palen in an upcoming issue of the Metaverse Messenger,

FAIR

FRECKLED PALE

PALE

LIGHT

TAN

DARK

I’ll do other photo credits tomorrow…erm *checks the clock and realizes it IS tomorrow*…I mean later today.

<EDIT>

I was extremely tired this morning and I’m now realizing that I *should* have added a bit of explanation regarding what is so special about these skins to me.

#1. Your avatar’s shape REALLY affects the look you get with Minnu skins. Many skins on SL leave us looking like clones no matter how much we work our sliders. As I commented to Claudine below, I ADORE Lovey skins, and I was a die hard Chai skin girl until I started seeing them on every avi and her sister. As beautiful as they are, I began to feel like I was part of an exponentially multiplying clone experiment. When the Minnu skin explosion occurred a few weeks ago, I was reluctantly considering finding a new skin yet again (even flirting with a few of the Cake skins in the Golden and Pearl tones) until I compared the posters of myself, Aradia Dielli, and Minnu Palen herself that decorate the walls in the MM store. Other than the skin tone and slight resemblance in the nose, we look entirely different.

#2. In my most humble opinion (again my personal taste) these makeups are hands down better than any other on the grid. Pretty, fresh, realistic, and not overly airbrushed with selections that range from natural to sophisticated to bold and dramatic. Try zooming in on the eyes and you’ll notice a detail that makes me all warm and fuzzy: eyeshadow dust on the lower inner corners of the eyes and the faintest powder crinkles. If the detail on the eyes isn’t your thing, then you can’t deny the lips. Full and beautiful (and again, very customizable with your shape) with creamy lipsticks and shiny glosses. The lips are my absolute favorite feature. Another note on the makeups: They aren’t the same style brows and lip color thrown together with a couple of different shadow colors of the same application. Each makeup is UNIQUE, and often only available in a singular skin tone, created with an overall look in mind and not mass produced for the sake of filling a fatpack.

#3. Last but not least, the skin itself. Now I’m first to admit that it’s pretty difficult to say that one body design is infinitely better than any of the other quality skins available. Customarily, my avi is rarely ever naked unless I’m having an Inventory Crisis. What does set Minnu’s body apart is the smooth and blended skin tones. The Freckled skin is a subtle freckle, like the ones I see in my mirror in the morning…not great big brown splotches. The Dark is natural and creamy, not just a darker tinted version of one of the lighter tones. The Tan is a warm healthy glow, with no pesky orange. My favorites are the Light, Pale, and now the new Fair tones. Beautiful shading and just freakin pretty.

#4. Oh wait. The price: $1150L for single skins, or $6000L for 7. Granted, that is more expensive than some skins on the market, but also less than Naughty skins that haven’t seen a makeup expansion on any Style since the release of the Gothic set for Zoe several months ago.

That’s my two pennies, take then or leave them.

</EDIT>

Alaska Metropolitan of Opium recently released her new line of modifiable “Options” skins just in time for the Fall Season. All Alaska’s skins are beautifully hand-drawn, the textures created from scratch using her considerable skills as a RL graphic artist. I love my photo-sourced skins, but there’s something about the simplicity, softness and subtlety of Alaska’s hand-drawn skins that I absolutely adore. These skins may not turn heads from across the sim, but when you alt-mouse closer, the designer’s artistry and attention to detail come into clear focus.

What makes the “Options” line especially appealing is the ability to modify the skins to create your own unique looks.  Go into appearances, click on the skin tab, and play with the sliders for Skin Color, Face Detail, and Makeup. You’ll soon have a range of distinctive looks all your own, without ever losing the essence of the original makeup. To give you an idea of the possibilities, the image below shows three different looks for the Mermaid makeup in the light skin tone.

The photo at lower left shows the Mermaid makeup as it appears when you click wear. In the center photo, I played with the colour sliders to create a more tanned look. I also adjusted the makeup, adding more red and gloss to the lips plus a touch more frost to the eyeshadow. For the lower right look, I went for a paler skin tone, but added a hint of freckles, more rosiness and blush to the cheeks, and lifted the eyes with more opacity and frost for the outer shadows. As you can see, with just a few adjustments, I went from one to three distinctive looks for this one makeup. And I had fun doing it!

Shown below is the Summer set of makeups for the “Options” light tone: (l to r, standing) Bronzed (close-up: top left); Mermaid (cu: bottom left); Club (cu: top right); Sunset (cu: bottom right). 

For the full review of the new “Options” skins, please see the 9/4 issue of M2 Metaverse Messenger. For closer views of the photos above, see my own blog: http://serenitymercier.wordpress.com/. And to check out the skins yourself, tp to Opium Skin 2.0 (Nimrod Yaffle, 115, 143, 22) where you’ll find the “Options” line upstairs on the second level.

Full Credits after the cut!

Credits:

Hair: Sea Nymph II in Pearl, Sand, Sea Drift and Orchid from ETD

Jewellry: Vino earrings from Opium; Glass Chunk necklace and bracelets from Shiny Things; Recycled necklace and cuffs from Shiny Things; Nelly Cherry earrings from Artilleri; Sweetheart earrings from RH Engel

Lingerie: Insolence and Black Emotion thongs from French Gallery Haute Couture

Shoes: Grace heels in pearl from Maitreya; Ribbon wedges in black from ETD

I am so bloggin’ back-logged due to a long and trying RL week (nothing too major…just zero motivation by the time I meander in after work) and I am promising myself to get caught up here soon…very soon!  But I wanted to at least pop in tonight for those that dug last week’s Jester madness to let you in on the fact that Siyu Suen of Illusions has released even more wonderful Jester goodies!  Have a gander at her blog or visit her sim.   I got stopped several times trouncing around the grid last night with exclaimations such as: “Fabulous!,” “I MUST own that!,” “Incredible outfit!”  And as per the original post, don’t forget the added touches of the Jester outfit at DE Designs and the Pierrot skins at Nomine.

Off to bed with my jingly self

~QQ~ 

As much as I ADORE my poses from Luth Brodie of Reel Movement and Beauvoir Rousselot of maitreya, I’ve taken enough photos that I found myself in a rut…hitting the same stands time and time again for my snaps. LUCKILY, Lux Yao of Amaretto has tossed her hat into the avatar pose arena. I finally found the time to drop by Amaretto and check out the configurations Lux came up with. I was delighted to find not only adorable stands, but also chairs complete with charming sit animations. Here’s a sampling to get you motivated. So hurry up and sit.

(My favorite stand is the far right, which captures a “freeze frame,” making my avatar appear in mid-motion.)

As part of this post I also wanted to do a little ensemble mish mash. Closet Crisis does it best, but I wanted to try my hand at a mix and match, because honestly, I really have to find a purpose for all the forgotten pretties I’ve bought on my impulsive shopping sprees. I ran this outfit by Aradia Dielli (a kick butt mix and matcher in her own right) and she approved…so tada! my first “Heavenly Hash”.

It all started with the Jessica II hair in Chestnut (not yet released from ETD) with delightful wide brimmed hat, which set the theme for light and elegant coordinating pieces. I just HAD to include the new rouched (spelled it right this time) bustier from Savvy? in Teal under the Caroline Belted Empire blouse with puffed sleeves from Last Call. The skirt is part of the Brown Robyn Slip Dress also from Savvy? paired with Paper Couture heeless peaked toe stilettos in soil. Minimal accessories include the Mama Harper Two Strand Pearl Necklace from WorthWhile by Random Calliope and Shiny Things’ Spiral Disk bracelet. In the sitting pose, I had to substitute Choice Slacks in Beige from Nyte ‘n’ Day (thanks Aradia) because we all KNOW what prims skirts look like when you’re sitting.

Skin is Minnu Model’s Light SkinGloss Light.

I know I know I know…I’m in a different skin every week, but usually I wear a new skin until the newness is gone and go back to Lovey as my usual.

Until last week! when Minnu Palen of Minnu Model Skins sent me her new Glossy Lip makeups to try. I haven’t taken these skins OFF! I can’t! They are gorgeous. Yummy in every single way. The soft, full and shiny lips are my favorite, with the phenomenal eyeshadows running a close second. You have to understand, I am SUCH a “gloss girl” in RL, somedays that’s all I wear and I’m “naked” without my lip gloss. I’ve already blogged the skin’s full body perfection here (and upon grabbing the link, I realized that the workaholic Minnu not only created an entirely new makeup line, but changed the body as well. The tummy is softer, and the back is more defined, so it looks like I need to add another photo.)

I think overall, I love these skins because somehow my avatar now looks more like me (the real me) than ever.

The rundown on the skins (aka…stuff you need to know) Skins tones are Pale, Light, Tan, and Dark with 7 makeups available in each tone (except for Pale which has 2 extra really cool novelty type makeups). Individuals are 1150L and the 7 skin FatPacks are 6000L. The skins also come with fantastic prim lashes. Go get DEMOS now! You won’t be disappointed.

Minnu Models is also releasing a Male skin line that I plan to review very soon.

Yeah, I had to reference an old hair metal tune for the title, cause well…that’s just me.

An apparent jester craze has come out of nowhere as Siyu Suen of Illusions says on her blog there must have been something in the air because none of the creators were in cahoots or even aware of the other’s creations.  We had the Jester outfits from DoC Eldritch of DE Designs; Siyu’s Harlequin Caps and Jester Horns with jingly sounds (turnoffable), plus her Harlequin belts and ruffs; and Munchflower Zaius of Nomine whipped up a new line of skins called “Pierrot” featuring 10 makeups.

I had so much fun tonight mixing and matching all of these to show you and regretfully I only have the demos of the Pierrot skins.  Oh how I love them, but my bank account is just not conducive to novelty skins right now *sad clown*  So if you can ignore the word Pierrot that’s branded across my body in the images below, I suggest you go have a look for yourself at Nomine.

Exhibit A:

• Skins: (L to R) Pierrot Lunaire, Taddeo, Pagliacci by Munchflower Zaius of Nomine
• Accessories: Harlequin Cap, Jester Horns, Harlequin Belt, Harlequin Ruff Full and Harlequin High Collar all by Siyu Suen of Illusions, Gloves by Digit Darkes of X3D, Stiletto Sneakers in Bodacious Black by Carryn Concord of Tickled Pink
• Clothes: Jester pants and top by DoC Eldritch of DE Designs
• Hair: Sera by Kin Keiko of Kin

Deviating just slightly from the jester clothing theme, when I went for the Pierrot demos I noticed what appeared to be a new dress from Munch called “Kiera”.  Grabbed it.  Mixed it up with some more of Siyu’s fantabulous re-releases that she has updated since the sculptie revolution and voila!  There is something just truly beautiful about the flexi skirt in that while it looks basic black, Munch did an execllent job of adding just the right amount of texture that stands out when you see it in person.  The flexi flow is superb as well and for 300L you just can’t go wrong.

Exhibit B:

• Skin: Marionetta by Munchflower Zaius of Nomine
• Accessories: Sabrina Top Hat in black/white/white by Siyu Suen of Illusions, Black Diamond Trinity choker by Astry Mirabeau of Digital Knickers
• Clothes: the full Kiera dress by Munchflower
• Hair: Sera by Kin Keiko of Kin

Because the Kiera dress comes with options for only 300L I wanted to show a second pic featuring even more of Munch’s Pierrot makeups, as well as Siyu’s hats and embellishments.

Exhibit C:

• Skins (L to R): Pedrolina, Hellequin (omg does that name not rawk!) by Munchflower Zaius of Nomine
• Accessories: Cavalier hat(all 3) and the Pirate Belt (middle pose) by Siyu Suen of Illusions,  Black Diamond Trinity choker by Astry Mirabeau of Digital Knickers
• Clothing: more options of the Kiera dress by Munch
• Hair: still Sera by Kin

I’m gonna try to be a good blogger and be sure all the important SLurl’s are included…..

….after the break….

Even though back in my day, we had to use Search and hike 200m uphill and through un-rezzed buildings to follow the cheesy red beacon

Nomine

Illusions

DE Designs

Kin

X3D

Digital Knickers

Tickled Pink

~QQ~

Out shopping for steampunk, I ran into Vas Legend, the talented designer of Angry Monkey. He was setting up his new store in the Plunder aerodrome, and showed me a few new designs he’ll be releasing soon. I love the Distruzio’s Hat  so much (shown above), I’ve been wearing it constantly since Vas dropped it on me. The irresistable and beautifully crafted Distruzio’s Banjo is pure whimsy and delight. And the Distillo’s Belt will provide good service during my post-apocalypse wanderings. The look pictured also features the soon to be released Opium 2.0 Options skin from designer Alaska Metropolitan.

Credits: Hat, Belt, Necklace and Banjo: Angry Monkey; Hair: ETD Sea Nymph II in Pearl; Skin: Opium 2.0 Options, Female Light Tone, Mermaid makeup; Coat: Civvies Steampunk Coat in Black; Jeans: Black Dreamer Ripped Jeans from Kinyo Nino; Boots: Da Chick Boots from Gutterbloods.

Ok. Ok. It’s probably been pretty evident that I am a certified skin addict. I’ve been trying to be good lately, but with so many yummy skin releases of late…it’s been SO HARD!

I have been exercising restraint and staying as far away from Cake as I could because, well, I know my limitations. Alas, I broke down and snuck over to Stumbelina Ophelia’s store with every intent to just grab a demo of the Rumor hair that has been popping up all over the fashion blogs (and looks entirely irresistable on Gillian Waldman in her Flickr photo stream). I also snuck the Jessica Pearl skin demo pack in my inventory too…curses! so much for my resolve.

But LOOK!! How could I not want these lovelies? Soo pretty. So smooth. Such beautiful makeup and facial features. Shown are 7 of my favorites, but there are 16 gorgeous makeups to choose from. Individuals are 1250L or you can go nuts and get all 16 for 10000L. (do the math…mhmm…I went nuts)

Head over to Cake and see if you can resist the temptation, because really…who DOESN’T love a little Cake?

(I’d love to include a slurl to the store location, but since SL is BORKED at the moment, this is the best I can do)

FNKY! & Cake, FNKY Cake (128, 45, 24)

Hair credits after the cut

Central photo: Mia from ETD
Around the perimeter from lower left and going clockwise:
Bonita II from ETD, Brat from Diversity, EnticeII from Fetish, Abby from Diversity, Belle from Diversity, Ayva from Fetish 

Minnu Palen of Minnu Model Skins is retiring her first set of Model skins, and officially revealed her new skin line today during the opening of her new store location. She gave me a peek last night of the incredibly sexy photo-realistic skins. I love that so many wonderful skins are appearing all over the grid, giving skin addicts (like myself) a broader selection to slip into.

Minnu does not disappoint with her choice of five silky skin tones (Dark, Mid, Tan, Light, and Pale) in fantastic makeup options. I love love love the eyeshadow artistry paired with the immaculate brows and shimmery supple lips. The faces really are sultry and beautiful, and the body is HOT. I’m pretty modest about my girly parts, but TRUST me…the naughty bits are extremely detailed with a realism that makes me blush a little. The kitty is not naked, but tastefully groomed leaving a very sparse patch that works with the skimpiest undies. (You’re just gonna have to hop over to the store to see what I mean.) Gym-rat tummy, elegantly manicured nails, cute knees, and a booty that BEGS to be pinched are all incorporated.

Singles are 1100L with makeup 4 packs per skin tone available. Why are you still reading? Hit the slurl and go check out the skin sexiness yourself.