Monday is for playing with the stuff from the weekend sales!

it’s true though! One of the fun things about scrolling the various weekend sales on Seraphim and other outlets is that sometimes I get intrigued by new-to-me shops and it’s fun to try their stuff out. Like this time, with this skin from Anneland. I had never heard from it, and to be honest, based on the name alone, I would probably not have ever shopped there. Don’t ask me why, it just doesn’t say “Get your new skin here!” to me. I don’t know how long this shop has been around, but they have some intriguing skins with quite a bit of character. They also definitely need to work more on blending the various reference parts together. Up close, today’s skin, Cassie, looks like she needs some serious moisturizing and a heavy dollop of primer before I start my makeup! But again, the face is interesting, and works well on LeLUTKA‘s Inez and Tville‘s Intense eyes!

In the close-up below, you can see what I mean by the optical dryness. Fun detail though it mimics the problem areas on my own skin!

So today I am going to focus on some skin improvement, not the makeup per sé. Can I soften some of the rough patches, and even out the look of my skin to obtain a healthy no-makeup makeup?

Turns out that the one dry patch which irked me the most, I haven’t been able to cover that up! It’s the one next to my mouth, to the right (for the viewer), but other than that, thanks to our in-world Dermatologist Izzie Button (Brand name Izzie’s) who pretty much has cures for all your skin issues whether it be unwanted painted on mascara or the actual LACK of skin texture, or like in my case, where I used her Eyelid changer medium, the under eye concealer, the nose shading fix and the nostril lighter to even out the base of the skin. This is mainly to take away some of the hyper coloration. Then I went in with Nuve‘s cooling filter, which comes with her skins, and on top of that, I added Glam Affair‘s skin shadow 40% to add back some depth. I also added Jack Spoon‘s Biba Beauty mark, simply because I can and I love how it looks, and added some blush from Avarosa (included in their skin packs) and a high lighter for my cheekbones from Nar Mattaru, which is part of her Gryla make up set.
I could have left it at that, but the little touch of color from the mostly faded Minerva Lipgloss from Warpaint, and the also faded Hanna Eyeshadow from Litha, combined with Jack Spoon‘s Kasha glitter waterline, just gives the total face a more finished look. I also gave my LeLUTKA lashes a little mascara by the way. I usually keep them tinted at a soft brown, but I went in a little darker for today

For the rest of the stuff I am wearing, there we go: Doux is my hairdresser today. This lovely do is Hyein. My clothing is the Rory set from Roslyn, scored at The Fifty. My Polly earrings are from Andore and this lovely bunch of Amaryllis is from Lode.

That’s it folks! Be nice to each other. We need more kindness in this world!

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?