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

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.

Refining the pixels

Well hello there! The other day Facebook reminded me of the existence of this little blog of mine, where I focus on skins, make up and hair, and I figured, as the days get shorter, and the temperatures go down, I might as well give it another go here, as I am still taking lots of pics of skins and post them to my flickr, and insta. But those are usually the finished looks, including some makeup and layers, and what I really like is also to show you guys the blank canvas, and what you can achieve with SL makeup and layers. And of course, it’s my way of supporting the awesome creators who always provide us with some new stuff we want!

So before I reboot this, I would like to make two caveats. I am SUCH a LeLUTKA girl. I love their work, how they model their heads and the ease of use of their HUD. I might occasionally branch out to another head, but don’t expect a lot of that here, as pretty much all my makeup and layers and skins are bought for LeLUTKA. Caveat 1: yes, I am on LeLUTKA‘s blogotex. I have free access to their releases and I love the Lelus for their generosity and our long ass relationship which goes all the way back to the early days of SL. Caveat 2: the same goes for Glam Affair. You may remember that at some point I worked as their CSR and I have been on their bloggers & friends list forever. These two brands however are the only ones I am affiliated with. All other heads, skins and make-ups you will see on this blog, I have bought with my own money because I love them!

That out of the way, look at this day’s mug shot.

This is my typical straight-out-of-bed SL look. Hair in a messy bun, whisps from Angel Eyes messy 7 hairbase all over my forehead, and in dire need of some serious moisturizing. Today’s head is Kaya, by LeLUTKA of course, and my eyes are Conviction‘s Skylar eyes. Their highlights are not SUPER realistic, but the overall effect is fresh and awake. Yes, coming to think of it, I might well have had my first caffeine of the day for this pic. My lashes are also by LeLUTKA, they come in the HUD and they are my favourite natural-looking lashes

The skin I am working with is by Eudora Beauty, called Olympia and I added some light blemishes from Izzie’s to add to the out-of-bed look. Also, and this is relatively new, Influence has made some facial deformers, I am wearing both their unisex nose deformer lvl 1 as well as their recently released cheeks deformer lvl1, which just adds that little extra chisel to my otherwise very soft Kaya face.

When at home, I rarely dress up, so today I am wearing Tres Blah‘s Tattered sweater, which is a perfect example of a jersey loved to death that you won’t throw away until it’s worn to its last thread and a not specified pair of pajama shorts.

And there we go, All dolled up! I picked out a new hair from Wings, ER1030, and added a little extra darkness to the greyish-black from the variety HUD. I switched the Olympia skin with brows for the eyebrowless version and added the black Selene brows from Nuve for a more groomed look. I love that Nuve, whenever they release a new skin, they also always have a dedicated eyebrow pack. I wear these a lot, because Nuve‘s brows seriously rock.

For makeup, I went with the Biba kit blush 1 from Jack Spoon. Another one of my favourite makeup creators. and I did my eyes with the new Mercurial eyeshadow from Warpaint. I added some Scha lashes from Anice, a creator relatively new to me, but dang, their lashes are to die for! So that makes for a pretty dramatic eye. I’m contrasting it with a relatively demure lipstick from Identity Faces from the all lipstick Woman collection. It’s a pretty bold look for daytime makeup, but it’s not over the top I think.

Et voilà Ready to go! I am wearing Just Because‘s Sally Sweater dress, which is perfect for these cooler days, with a pair of Ayden chunky boots from Gos and DDL‘s brown Sun purse. My necklace, the finishing touch in this outfit is the Sakura Three Chains necklace from Dark Mouse

Let me know in the comments what you think! I appreciate your feedback! Any makeup stores I absolutely need to check out?