On The Hunt: "MENstuff Hunt"

Here it is...the mother (well, father) of all male hunts.  MENstuff was established to fill the void following the dissolution of the Make Him Over hunt, and features many of the same stores.  I started the hunt without Jonas, and failed MISERABLY.  I'm typically faster than him at spotting hunt items, but there's something about finding those black t-shirts that I just suck at.  =/  Frustration aside, the hunt is a lot of fun, and there are some great items available...totally free (I'm particularly excited about the outfit from Champagne).  There's also a styling contest at the end of the hunt, with 30K going to the best avatar constructed entirely from MENstuff hunt items!  Let the hunt begin!!!

TEST 001: "Engraved Hearts" by Finesmith Designs

After only minor prodding, I convinced my SL hubby, Jonas Laviscu, that we should enter Finesmith's Engraved Hearts contest...love you baby!  =D  I went right to work on a concept for the shot, first choosing one of the "Romance"poses from Body Talking.  Next Jonas and I collaborated on our outfits, deciding early on that we would be wearing nothing but Finesmith jewelry and our birthday suits.  WOO!  Jonas' outfit is comprised of several "Idioma" necklaces, wrapping their way around his muscular body in one continuous sparkling ribbon.  For my outfit, I used the "Leah" necklace as a loincloth, then made a belt out of approximately 5,000 strategically placed "Shae" bracelets.  To complete the look, I added "Yula's Tear" as a nipple ring, dangling from my chest.  For our photographer, I chose Ginevra Babii.  I absolutely LOVE her work, and chose her specifically for her usage of lighting.  I've asked Ginevra to produce 3 different interpretations of our concept, and below is the first of the 3!  For this variation, Ginevra chose an Asian theme.  She mentioned that the second variation is very nature inspired, and that the third will feature a fantasy background.  I'll post those as they're completed, but enjoy this one for now!

TEST:  FAILED

Shape: Custom
Skin: Subaru
Eyes: L. Fauna
Lashes: Miamai
Hair: UW
Jewelry: Finesmith
Naughty Bits:  Xcite
Pose: Body Talking
Models: Sy Whitesong & Jonas Laviscu
Photographer: Ginevra Babii

The Bleeding Edge: "Patty" by Body Talking

Ari (Arisia Ashmoot) has just released a new line of poses, specifically designed for the business professional, yet versatile enough to compliment any outfit..."Patty!"  The poses may be purchased individually, or the fatpack includes all 10 of the fabulous poses that you see below:

Shape:  Custom
Skin:  Subaru
Eyes:  L. Fauna
Lashes:  Miamai
Hair:  UW
Outfit:  Xplosion
Poses:  Body Talking
Model & Photographer:  Sy Whitesong

The Bleeding Edge: "Sweet Lady" by Xplosion

Xplosion JUST released a new set, "Sweet Lady", 2 days ago.

You can purchase the whole outfit, shirt/undershirt/tie, or just the undershirt/tie in a wide range of colors.  I paired the top half of this outfit with some older Xplosion pants from the "Crazy Business" line.  YAY SHOPPING!

Shape:  Custom

Skin:  Subaru

Eyes:  L. Fauna

Lashes:  Miamai

Hair:  UW

Shirt:  Xplosion

Pants:  Xplosion

Shoes (not pictured):  REDGRAVE

Rings:  Finesmith

Wings & Halo:  Living Lights

Pose:  Body Talking

GLANCE: Day 4

STYLING SESSION!!!  OMG...I sweated my tush off for 2 days straight getting ready for this.  Yesterday morning I logged in and hated EVERYTHING in my inventory.  So...about 10K Lindens, 48 hours of consecutive play, and a dozen friends' opinions later, I was ready!  Wicca was as gracious as always, complimenting me on my choice of designers and accessories, while making patient suggestions for each outfit.  My casual outfit needed a little more accessorizing, which we did on the spot.  For my swimwear, I needed flip-flops, which I found at SEY (thanks for the help Brendan and Jonas!).  Wicca suggested that I use a hairbase and attachment for my headshot (with the Valeria set from Finesmith), rather than the Uw hair I had planned, so I finally settled on "Sun" from Purple Moon after extensive shopping.  Lastly, Wicca requested that I experiment with some avant garde hair for my formal photo, so I went with "Baum" from 3636.  Styling done...raw photos submitted...now I just sit back and wait for Wicca to tell me who my super secret photographer is!  CAN'T WAIT!  Here's a preview of my casual outfit:

Shape:  Custom
Skin:  Subaru
Eyes:  L.Fauna
Lashes:  Miamai
Hair:  Gritty Kitty
Jacket:  Xplosion
Shirt:  Xplosion
Jeans:  Xplosion
Shoes (not pictured):  Xplosion
Sunglasses:  Xplosion
Bracelet:  Finesmith
Pose:  Body Talking

P.S.  Special thanks to one of my oldest SL friends, Channing Absent, for going shoe shopping with me this morning...even though I was a hot summer mess.  =P

GLANCE: Day 3

Third class with Wicca Merlin at the GLANCE Model Academy.  Today's topics:  inventory organization and runway/posing.  Inventory organization?  PLEASE!  I'm the most OCD guy I know when it comes to organization.  I can probably name every item I have in my inventory from memory, and find it for you in less than 5 seconds.  Runway and posing, however, have me TERRIFIED!  As is blatantly obvious from my previous pictures, I have little to no photography experience in SL (or RL for that matter)...hence, no posing experience.  Runway scares me even more, as there are SO MANY things that can go wrong during a fashion show (lag is a beast!).  However, Wicca is a rockstar, so I'm sure she'll have me whipped into shape in no time.  She gave me a lot of helpful tips on fighting lag during fashion shows, as well as some helpful pointers on improving SL performance overall.

At the end of class, Wicca announced that our next meeting would be used to style 4 outfits for my portfolio shoot:  formal, casual, swimsuit, and headshot.  I swear, you could probably hear the neurons firing as I ran through all the possibilites in my head, coming up with outfit ideas left and right!  The last 3 don't worry me too much.  I'll probably wear some casual stuff from Xplosion, my swimsuit will definitely be from Kobalt, and I'm absolutely wearing the Valeria set from Finesmith for my headshot.  Formal, however, is not my forte.  After stalking the blogosphere for ideas, I settled on four outfits (2 from Champagne, 2 from Violator), then sent out pics to several friends, asking them to choose their favorite.  Below was my top pick, and the one that I thought was the most "me":

I can rock purple like no other, and I love the soft shimmer of the latex.  However, most of my friends agreed it wasn't dressy enough, so I went with 2 of my original options from Champagne, plus an additional Champagne outfit.  I also stopped by Essential Soul earlier today to pick up my X-Poser HUD (which I LOVE), and dropped by Body Talking to buy some poses.  Below is a preview of one option for my formal pic, with my new favorite pose from the "RicoRacer" line at Body Talking. Thanks to Brendan Macarthur for the pic!

Shape:  Custom
Skin:  Subaru
Eyes:  L.Fauna
Lashes:  Miamai
Hair:  UW
Outfit:  Champagne

Pose:  Body Talking

Seen On The Scene: "Metropolis" by SL Art Couture

This was my first fashion show I've attended, and it rocked my world!  Every aspect of it was absolutely beautiful...the set, the models, the skins, the hair, the shoes, the jewelry, the music.  In a word:  Gesamtkunstwerk.  I took an unwieldy number of photos...below are my favorites:

sitting back, waiting for the show to start...

the stage

Wicca Merlin!!!

4 of the 8 AMAZING models, taking their 

final poses

Yula Finesmith *heart*