Author: Grazia

16 years ago I joined Second Life, and I never would have thought that I'd still be around. But there is so much creativity on this platform and so many awesome people I have come to know from all over the world that am still pretty much logging in every day to take pictures, explore and hang out with my friends

I woke up like this

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[UPDATE] just tested positive. Thanks people on the bus wearing no masks and coughing and sneezing all over! I normally feel like an idiot when I mask on the commute… At least I hope I didn’t pass it on to someone

From super cute the last blog, to super bleh today! Nothing more capricious than my state of mind and health. Can I just hybernate until spring? Pretty please? I have a cold, my nose is stuffed, my sinuses are stuffed, my head feels stuffed and OMG, it is the busiest time of year at work. CAN.NOT.BECOME.ILL! Either way, to match the look to how I am feeling, it actually took a bit of work, because most skins in SL look pretty gorgeous out of the box! This one is Inez from Eudora Beauty which I picked up at the store last weekend, for a discounted price and I am wearing her on LeLUTKA‘s Kaya head. I added Izzie’s Blemishes, Saxo‘s Flu Face, Dernier‘s Kim contour cheeks and cupid’s bow, as well as Izzie’s eye bags. I toned down the chapped lips from the Saxo Flu face a bit with Top1Salon‘s No Lipstick lipstick. Oh, and I did not take off my Izzie’s mascara last night, hence the extra smudge and shadows around my watery Glory eyes from Avi-Glam, which comes with 3 options for the whites, and while I usually pic version A, which is the whitest and brightest, I went with version C today, for that extra “I’m not ready for today” look.

No contacts in my irritated eyes today, instead, I put the Kandy glasses of Deep Static on my nose. My hair is a lovely mess from Tram, K0158 and I wrapped the Get Warm scarf from Sorumin on my neck. I don’t think I am actually going to get dressed today, so here’s my outfit, the Baggy Over & Undershirt from Fashionably Dead, (un) matched with Alaskametro‘s Hygge leggings and Ison‘s Amarah combat boots. Stylish? Nah, but warm and comfy! and that is what counts today!

Flo Memel, the creator of Stories & Co, has made a new sub-brand Hold Me, which will bring us… HOLDABLES! The coffee is delicious, and the books captivating. How about “Never Lie to a Witch” Or “Stephanie in Paris” I’m really excited about this, I know there are a lot of holdables in SL already, but I like this kind of stuff!

This is as ready as I am going to be today, wearing a total mix-up of warm and comfy clothing. The longer I look at it though, the better I like it. Hopefully this cold will get better soon!

Super Cute

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Yup, I am feeling super cute today! Give me all the girly things! I am wearing LeLUTKA‘s Avalon today and look how adorable Mila‘s Steffy skin is on her??

I love blonde hair with hazel or brown eyes, so I went with Tville‘s Elegant eyes in hazel and Studio Exposure‘s Bubblegum hair in blonde. Let me make a back pic because the hair accessories coming with this hair are so adorable! You will need some basic editing skills to make it fit your hair though!

I’m wearing The super comfy ribbed thermo set from Stories & Co, The band knit top is out for FLF and the leggings are for the weekend sale, so it’s a steal! Put on a pair of warm socks from Ison and a little denim jacket that Blueberry has out for the Saturday Sale, and this is my lounge outfit for the day!

However, can’t be lazy all day! After all, it’s Saturday, and that usually means grocery restocking! And while I don’t dress up big to hit the stores, I’m also not that person who will be featured on People of Walmart with my fashion atrocities!

I put on a light makeup which I scored early cam shopping at Harajuku which opens tomorrow! My eyeshadow is by Reverie, Eira, where I doubled up on nr. 11 V1 & 2 to have this hue and my lipstick is by Jack Spoon, called Cherry Fizz, and a light blush from the Jade add-on pack by Deetalez, which is not at Harajuku, but a regular main store purchase.

Like I said, no heavy stying for the groceries, actually, I am being pretty lazy today, because the Blueberry Blessed set for The Saturday Sale is all you need to look cute out in the world! I put on the pink sweater under the jacket I was already wearing before and added the pleated skirt. Then all that was left was a pair of thigh-high socks, and luckily I found them with Dead Doll Tragedeigh boots. Put a brush through my hair and added a little beanie. Hair and beanie are from Wasabi, and they were part of this week’s FLF. Grabbed my keys and cell phone from Hive and I am ready to go! Catch you later!!

“What God doesn’t give, is available at the drugstore”

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My grandmother, whom I never had the pleasure of knowing, used to say this. Already in the 60’s she realised the power of makeup. Makeup is giving us the possibility to cover up the bits we don’t like in our face and emphasize what we do! She also used to say that, even if you’re having an off day, nothing stops you from looking like you have the best time. I beg to differ oma, some days you just lack the energy to look fab. Mental health is a thing these days in ways it never has been before.

Anyway, For today’s session I am starting out wearing Briannon by LeLUTKA and Glam Affair’s Reese skin, currently still available at The Fifty. I had to add a couple of layers to make me look this way, because honestly, Reese is flawless and that is not what I was looking for to begin with today. My eyes are an old gacha from Avi-Glam, called Lightstrike eyes and for my lashes, I have resorted to a trick. I also have some LeLUTKA male heads, and the lashes on those HUDs are more dainty than even the most natural ones on the female HUD. So I added the Jon HUD and used some of those! My hair is Amanda, from Magika. Shoutout: Magika has started their annual Black Friday sale! All is 50% off, through November 30!!. In terms of imperfections, I have turned to Izzie’s again, wearing her blemishes and pimples from the Imperfection pack, as well as her eyebags. the closed eyes layer is from another Glam Affair skin, Camilla, and the chapped lips are from the Top1Salon Chapped lipstick pack. Finally, here I am wearing the very simple but beautiful and versatile Trinity Black turtleneck body from Jeune by Rowne. Versatile because you can make several parts of the body invisible and as such match it with the waist of different skirts and pants to make a sleek, elegant look

I usually write posts like this “live” meaning, as I am styling and taking pictures in world. Also, I usually don’t plan these posts. I have a few basic principles: 1 skin, 1 hair colour, same colour swatch for before and after, but other than that…. it’s one big dig into my bottomless inventory! I felt I wanted to stick with the turtleneck, but none of the items that I could fit it with was calling me today, so I switched the Jeune by Rowne bodysuit for a sleeveless turtleneck top by Ison, which as you will see, I styled in full black. I also got rid of the casual scrunchie updo and picked out another Magika hair, Alexandra, which comes in 3 lengths and optional bangs. For my makeup, I got rid of my bare face blemishes, and now I am enjoying Reese in all her flawlessness, combined with the extra face shadows that Glam Affair skins come with. I wanted a fuller brow, so I went with Nuve‘s Chris 2 brows. Brows are unisex peeps!! My eyeliner is also from Nuve, the nr. 1 from her Dramatic Eyeliner set.
I put on a little extra contour from Dotty’s secret, the blended nr 2, in 25% opacity, for a pretty natural effect, and my lips are from Top1Salon again, from the Kiss palette. And while all imperfections are gone from my face, a beauty mark actually enhances the character in your face, so I went with Jack Spoon‘s La Boheme beauty mark 4. Finally, I switched lashes to Anice natural lashes. less dainty than Jon’s, but still nothing too dramatic either! My glasses are from ZOOM, and my jewelry is by Kunglers

So because I blog as I go, sometimes a look changes in the process. I was looking for a certain accesoire, and came upon this fishnet shirt from She Said Destroy (SSD) and I was like.. oooh… that’ll look awesome with this top and skirt! But not as much with these glasses and the jewelry… so off they go to make place for the fishnet top! Instead, I went BIG on the belt with Diram‘s Kim belt and Mimikri‘s Chain belt! I also grabbed Diram‘s Ziva coat because without a warm jersey, things might get chilly this time of year, and I have paired it with Just Because‘s Liz skirt, which has a lovely satin finish and Baiastice‘s Theory boots.

Graphic Shirt

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We’re half way through the week! and following my last blog, I kind of stuck with the Ice blue, but this time for my hair! I notice I do this a lot, there usually is some kind of link between the blogs, either by a colour I use, or by a brand that I am wearing. The ice blue shade of Doux‘s Somi hair is a good start to work with! I switched heads today again as well and I’m wearing Ceylon. Have you heard that LeLUTKA, for Black Friday from November 25 through 28, will have ALL heads discounted to 50%? That’s a pretty sweet deal, right? I am also wearing the Fierce eyes from Avi-glam and not entirely unimportant, The Yeri skin from Avarosa, currently available at Kustom9. The white tank top is from Giz Seorn, Riley

My make up today is from a new to me store, called Holloway and they have some beautiful lipsticks out, as well as a couple of eyeshadows/eyeliner varieties. The colours I am wearing today are from the Powerful Collection. Pleasantly surprised with how well this fits me! My lashes are from Pritty, and I added a little contour from Nar Mattaru‘s Hela skin, which is tintable, so I could give it an earthy tone to match the rest of my make up. My hair in this make up pic is Wendy, from Doux.

Under the Lottie Look shirt set from M.Birdie, scored on the marketplace in a lucky instance of a reasonably priced old gacha rare which is not a scam (I couldn’t find M.Birdie in-world anymore), I’m wearing Coco Designs‘ pleated white leg pants, and Reign‘s dainty sneakers. My padded little handbag, which I have a similar of in RL in bright orange is from DDL, named Torn. Caveat if you manage to find the Lottie set on the marketplace, it’s made only for Maitreya but i maned to make it work really well with the Legacy body I’m currently wearing.

Ice Blue

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I’m still colour-inspired. Ice Blue is another hue that I absolutely love. It’s not for me in RL though, my skin tone gets grey when I wear that icy pale shade of blue. But luckily, in SL you look good in anything! So today’s starting point is Ice blue. And this happened because I was playing with Foxy‘s new hair which will be out tomorrow at Kustom9, which has a headphone build in, and it comes in a couple of lovely pastels, among which this greyish soft blue.

I can’t do without my earphones, I usually wear my Airpods pro, which have noise canceling. I NEED that. I walk around with either those, or my loops (noise-reducing earplugs), a lot because I am so crazy sound sensitive. That doesn’t mean I don’t love sounds. I do, but on my own terms. For instance, when I am putting on my makeup in the morning, I love listening to the Solomun remix of Leonard Cohen’s You want it darker

So anyway, here we go! As mentioned, Foxy‘s Pulse hair, worn on LeLUTKA‘s Avalon today, combined with Not Found‘s April skin, which will also be out for Kustom9, which starts every month on the 15th. The only addition to this lovely skin, are the subtle cheek dimples from Izzie‘s. Today’s eyes are the Legend eyes from Ikon, in the colour Fjord. My shirt (and Bra) are Ison‘s, the Sahari Wrap shirt dress.

Once I got my pixel skin routine out of the way, I used the Wet collection from Identity Faces for today’s make up. The almost iridiscent white of the under eye tint, gives me a super rested look! The lipstick is soft and creamy, from the same collection. When I make these no make up/make up pics, I sometimes cheat a wee bit with my shape, when needed I will slightly adjust the lip ratio, to not have a major bee stung effect on the lipstick version. I did that here too. SL make up creators tend to slightly overdraw the lips, which makes sense, because they will fit on more skins like that, but creat make up artists, I LOVE you for making more feathered lipsticks which stay slightly within the lines!! My make up is finished with a slight dusting of blusher by Evermore, which was a gift at some point. Did a quick blow out, and now my hair is Doux‘ Clover

And here we are, simple, clean and comfy! I am wearing Just Because‘s Yolanda oversized top, which doubles really well as a comfy dress, and I have paired them with Blueberry‘s Maria Boots. My lovely knot choker is by Sigma.

That’s it folks, I’m out the door! See you later!

Greenleaf

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One of my all-time favourite colours is green. All shades of green. Well, maybe not mint green. But otherwise, bring it on! So today is green-inspired! I am wearing LeLUTKA‘s Sasha, with Moccino‘s Estella skin, which is out right now for one of the many weekend sales! I love these sales to try out new skintones which I usually don’t invest in, but here I kept to myself with the skin in Porcelain, which is Velour body skin compatible. My eyes are from Avi-glam, Sincere, currently available at Access and my hair is from Studio Exposure, Sunday Best. How accurate! The green sweater, I picked up at Cosmopolitan, and it’s from Shifuku.

I did my hair with S-club‘s Sara -out at Access– and since I fatpacked, it also came with these pretty hoops! I swapped my comfy sweater for Ison‘s Haylie blazer and the turtleneck is part of that (you can hide it if you want the cleavage to show). Keeping it green, I picked Dernier‘s Hwasa eyeshadow, and I kept my lips neutral with Nuve‘s Hannah lipstick

Ready to go, i put on the Zoey jeans from Ison (fits perfectly under the blazer) and KC Couture‘s Kissa pumps, which come in a plethora of colours. Grabbed the doggy purse with Jian‘s adorable Bichon Frisee which was part of a collab between Jian and Blueberry.

Tweed

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Today’s base is Sally, the new skin from The Skinnery and LeLUTKA’s Irina head. I feel Irina is a bit difficult to love for a lot of people. because she has strong features, which makes her look harsh easily, but I adore her. It does require some shaping to make her work for me, but hey, when you have a good base shape and you make a copy of it before you start working on it to make it fit another head (or body for that matter), you can never really eff up! The only additional layer I am wearing here, is the subtle undereye blush that comes with Sally. Today’s hair is Gemini from Exile, and it has this interesting styling option of short bangs or longer fringes, which really makes it 2 styles for 1 price really! Wearing the bangs version here in the clean pic! I woke up in the Retro Road shirt from Fashionably Dead. I have been a fan from Toast Bard’s creations ever since my very first beginnings in SL, and she still does not disappoint with her leisurely cute style!

For makeup, I went with Alaskametro today. Both my eyeshadow Dara and lipstick Ozone are hers. Eyes and lashes today are out of the LeLUTKA box, belonging to the default equipment Irina comes with. And here you see Exile‘s Gemini hair in the other style, with the loose fringes

My outfit is a mix from Ison‘s Haley ribbed pullover, and Tres Blah‘s Tweed skirt. Just like Sally and Gemini, these items are available at this month’s Collabor88. My boots and purse are from DDL, and if you run, you will still find them discounted from last weekend’s sale!! Oh and since it’s getting colder, I went and bought some new tights from Vannies on the marketplace. Good tights are hard to come by. I wish more creators would make them. Stay-ups a plenty, but I truly hate it when, in a regular not provoking outfit, the garter is visible. So a huge thank you to Vannies for making these!

Almost Human

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sometimes you wonder what is underneath it all. What remains of us when we peel all the layers of civilization away. What is beyond the facade of our societal mask, our human veneer? Well in the case of Marierose, the new skin from Glam Affair, she’s covering -but only barely- a beautiful, golden android. I started out today with Ora, by LeLUTKA and Glam Affair‘s Marierose and to obtain the look above, I added Dernier‘s Trophy metallic body in gold, as well as Nylon Outfitters’ Secret Robot Halloween makeup, also in gold. My eyes are Avi-Glam, Glory eyes from pack no. 6.

With my bionics covered, and a fair amount of body paint, I definitely look more human though, and definitely a Golden Girl, though not by age. The major change, body paint aside, are the lenses from Avi-Glam‘s Glory eyes, pack 4, with the gorgeous little specks of gold in it, combined with Michan‘s Mayhem lashes. And of course the luscious wig by Truth, called Unravel, in a rich golden blonde. For make up, I put on the Marierose B skin from Glam Affair, which has the darker brows, and the face shadows 40% which also come with the skin. My eyeshadow is by Top1Salon, from the Oily 3 pallette and I also used a little nose contour by Jack Spoon, Biba 4. Speaking of Jack Spoon, my lip gloss is also theirs, a collab with Miura, who made my Eos lip jewel. The pretty little gold foil freckles are a group gift from Alaskametro, a brand which has been around forever, and it still relevant. Alaska makes some gorgeous make ups and skins, and she’s one of the most generous creators too. A brand I am always happy to support!

Last but not least, for my dress, I went back to Dernier, wearing the gold sequined Zoe dress, and Gos’ Charlene pumps, also in gold. My only other piece of jewelry is the Johanna bracelet from Kunglers.

Pumpkin Spice Season

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I don’t care that you can nowadays get your pumpkin spice latte already when it’s barely September, Pumpkin season for me is between mid-October and November. One might argue from before Halloween through Thanksgiving, but me being Dutch, we don’t celebrate either. I do however love pumpkin, both the taste of oven-roasted pumpkin, drizzled with some olive oil, thyme and a bit of coarse salt and the rich deep orange hues they come in

So pumpkin became the base of my look for today, I am wearing LeLUTKA‘s Briannon head today, which I love for its youthful features and I am pairing it with Avarosa‘s Max skin. The browless version, because today’s brows are from Dazed, I am wearing their Somber eyebrows in ginger AND light brown, because combined they have a bit more definition than apart. I am also wearing Avarosa’s freckles, which came with the Max skin, and they are so lovely and soft! My eyes are from Avi-Glam, Wonder Eyes from pack no.2, and my lashes are my usual default LeLUTKA lashes. I’m also sporting a lovely little chin dimple today from Izzie’s.

My hair is Paty, from Doux and I am wearing Fashionably Dead‘s Long Baggy Cardigan while deciding what makeup to put on to get ready to leave the house.

I didn’t touch my base today, but I added some contouring from Dotty’s Secret, the blended contour 50% nr. 2 to be precise, and also the BOM eyeshadow is from Dotty’s Secret, Lane 5. On top of it, I am wearing, also by Dotty’s Secret, one of the Liners Vol 1, in Lelutka EvoX HD. For my lipstick, I went Surgarose, picking a fiery red from the Poppy palette.
Clothes today are all by COCO Design. I am wearing the white top from crop top and skirt set and over that, the Teddy Fur jacket in a warm brown hue. I’m in for a good pair of jeans any day, and I love these Wide Leg Ankle jeans because they let me show of my KC Couture Dasia boots so well! In my ears today, I am wearing the light gold Monies earrings by ZOOM

Sundays are for doing nothing

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it’s well past noon and I am still in bed. I’ve been napping, rewatching old episodes of The Crown before the new season will air, enjoyed a homemade latte macchiato and a cracker with some slightly aged actual Gouda, which is a whole lot different from the stuff marketed abroad as Gouda, but which has little or nothing to do with the famous Dutch cheese, and so my day is slowly passing. In SL, I have been playing with Nuve‘s new skin Hannah, which is -again- gorgeous. I used the browless version and added the blonde eyebrows from the eyebrow pack, because I don’t feel like going too dark today and I added a little under-eye shadow by Izzie’s because yeah well, I always have that in RL as well, and while my pixel self doesn’t quite look like my RL self, I do like to have some things in common. My hair base with the hair clip is by Studio Exposure, called Doin’Time and I’m wearing all of it on LeLUTKA’s Avalon head with the Influence unisex nose deformer lvl 1. Today’s eyes come from the leLUTKA HUD and I tossed on a quick tank top by Red Girl over my WeArH0uSE basic bra, which is a staple in my wardrobe. I feel BOM undies are seriously underrated. I love wearing them and mesh undies are notoriously hard to wear under other mesh clothing. Not everybody likes to go commando all the time!

But as with everything, nothing lasts forever, so at some point I will have to get up, take a shower and in this case do something as mundane as receive the groceries I have ordered yesterday. So while I mentally get ready for that, I have started with Grazia already. Nothing too fancy today, as Nuve’s Hannah is flawless to begin with, but a little light make up, and something a bit more dressy for the rest of the day will be nice

Ok, more dressy is relative. I picked up this Environment blazer set at Technofolk, and yup, I definitely need my bra to keep it PG! I have my hair a quick brush and it transformed into Doux‘Iki and for my makeup, I stuck with Nuve‘s Hannah Eyeshadow nr9 and lipstick nr1.

The Technofolk blazer comes with a really comfortable set of trousers as well, and I paired them with Semller‘s worn canvas low tops with floral embroidery. This will have to do for today! After all, Sundays are for doing nothing!