Look of the Day, 2009-10-25

Look of the Day, 2009-10-25, originally uploaded by Sean Gorham.

This is the only post I can say was (partially) inspired by Jeff Dunham! One of the skits on his new comedy show featured Brooke Hogan in a very hot pink dress. (You can see the skit here.) For fun I decided to see how well I could match Brooke's look. I think I got fairly close! It was also fun being blonde again for a while. :)

Bracelet: Miriel - Double Metal Bracelet - Gold/Copper
Dress: Urbanista - Crush Dress - Pink
Earrings: Night Owl Designs - Gold Hoop Earrings
Eyes: Chai - Allure - Blue 1
Glasses: primOptic - xtrim
Hair: Truth - Sophia - Dune
Lashes: Celestial Studios - Classic 3
Nails: PXL - Manicure - Pink #3 WhiteFrench
Necklace: Miriel - Starburst Necklace - Gold
Poses: Izumiya - Model Pose NOF06; Reel Expression - Fashion S6 07
Shape: custom (not available)
Shoes: Style Starts Here - Dangerous
Skin: Chai Skins - Nova - Tone 04, Midnight E

Background Image Source: Self-made with GIMP

Look of the Day, 2009-10-20

Look of the Day, 2009-10-20, originally uploaded by Sean Gorham.

I wasn't feeling particularly inspired when coming up with a new look, so I went for something simple and understated.

Eyes: Chai - Allure - Purple 1
Hair: Tiny Bird - Janie - Black Bean
Jewelry: Dark Mouse - Platinum Shimmer Gemstone Set
Lashes: Celestial Studios - Classic 3
Nails: PXL - Manicure - Pink #1
Pants: Wrong - Black Pants w/Black Belt
Pose: Long Awkward Pose - Prissy
Shape: custom (not available)
Shoes: Tesla - Vixen Desire - Black
Skin: Free Speerit - Fiona Glow - Purple Gloss
Top: Armidi - Long Sleeve A01 Shirt - Yellow

Background Image Source: Self-made with GIMP

Look of the Day, 2009-10-14

Look of the Day, 2009-10-14, originally uploaded by Sean Gorham.

The other day I picked up these shorts from So Many Styles. What I didn't realize until I put them on was just how short they were! Fortunately, pairing the shorts with the Playtime skirt from Sn@tch's "An Hour of Playtime" set worked out great. The Playtime skirt is all-prim, so having something on underneath isn't a bad idea.

Topping it all off is the Hooded Blazer from Decoy, sans hood. The hood sculpt is well-made but didn't really fit with the look I was putting together. The blazer looks quite nice despite no prim collar or cuffs.

Eyes: Chai - Allure - Purple 1
Glasses: PrimOptic - Stilo
Hair: Tiny Bird - Janie - Black Bean
Hose: No.9 Nylons - High-Waist Pantyhose - Anthracite40
Jacket: Decoy - Hooded Blazer - Light Pink
Jewelry: Dark Mouse - Abalone Dreams
Lashes: Celestial Studios - Classic 3
Nails: PXL - Manicure - Pink #1
Poses: Reel Expression - Classy V2 08 and Classy V2 07
Shape: custom (not available)
Shoes: Tesla - Vixen Desire - Rose
Shorts: So Many Styles - Leather Shorts - Black
Skin: Free Speerit - Fiona - Free Spirit makeup (group gift)
Skirt: Sn@tch - Playtime Skirt - Black Leather

Background Image Source: Self-made with GIMP

Look of the Day, 2009-10-07

Look of the Day, 2009-10-07, originally uploaded by Sean Gorham.

I've had my eye on the new Fiona skin from Free Speerit ever since I first noticed it in the blogs. When I read there was a freebie of it available as a group gift, I jumped at the opportunity. I'm far from disappointed! While the skintone is a little more red/orange than I normally wear, it still looks really good. Few dark skins work well with my shape — this is definitely one of those skins. I know I'll be checking out demos of the other makeups available in this skin line and maybe spending a little money soon!

Anklet: Caroline's Jewelry - Dangling White Pearls Charm Anklet
Eyes: Chai - Allure - Purple 1
Hair: Jolie Femme - Stephanie - Black
Hose: No.9 Nylons - Cuban Heel Pantyhose II - skin10
Lashes: Celestial Studios - Classic 3
Nails: PXL - Manicure - Pink #1
Necklace: Miriel - Starburst Necklace - Silver (no longer available)
Pants: Decoy - Stevens Shorts - Black
Pose: Reel Expression - Vintage 12
Shape: custom (not available)
Shoes: Tesla - Vixen Desire - Snow
Skin: Free Speerit - Fiona - Free Spirit makeup w/hair base (group gift)
Tattoo: dEVOL - Hibiscus
Top: Luck Inc. - Chemise Top - White w/Black Lace
Watch: Muse - Classic Tank Watch - Black/Silver, dark face

Tesla Vixen Desire!

Tesla Miles came out with her latest stilettos today, called Vixen Desire. Being the shoe ho that I am, I had to have these as soon as I saw the pic in the fashion feeds. These are easily Tesla's best shoes yet and not only reflect the amount of work she's put into them, but what she's learned since making her first shoes.

Visually, Vixen Desire shares a lot with Tesla's Natasha line of shoes. Vixen Desire's differences are subtle but significant. Most noticable when zoomed-in is the stitching along the topline of the shoe. It adds much-needed detail to the shoe's overall look. Like Natasha, Vixen Desire is only five prims per foot, which means they rez quickly.

The most important change is how Tesla achieved extra heel height without the use of prim feet. A script in the shoes plays a small animation that bends the avatar's feet downward slightly. Again, a subtle but significant difference. This means no need for sculpted prim feet, no need for color-matching, and no problems wearing hosiery with the shoes — all big advantages. It also means you can easily wear prim pant cuffs or ankle jewelry with the shoes.

This little bit of SL scripting wizardry comes with a couple of caveats, however. The foot animations have the potential to interfere with other animations. Depending on the other animations played on your avatar at the time, you may notice your feet tilted at an odd angle while wearing these shoes. In my testing, this happened very rarely. The foot animation never interfered with my animation overrider. If it interfered with my dances or furniture, I couldn't tell without looking closely or doing an A/B comparison.

The only time I saw mispositioned feet as a problem was when using a pose stand with high-priority static poses. (Fellow fashion bloggers, take note!) This problem was easily solved, though, by taking a copy of the foot animation from the shoes and playing it on top of the static pose in use. Doing so once again placed my feet in the correct position.

Overall, I really like these shoes! The quality is excellent and the scripting is (given SL's many technical limitations) well done. Pricing for Vixen Desire is L$500 per pair or L$3,500 for an 11-color fatpack. Permissions are copy/no-modify/no-transfer. Go get 'em!

UPDATE, October 13: Tesla has corrected the animation problem I described above! The foot animation now plays correctly with pose stands, furniture and dances. Tesla now also includes a separate copy of the animation with the shoes in case you need it. If you purchased the previous version of the shoes, just contact Tesla for a replacement.