Look of the Day, 2009-11-20

Look of the Day, 2009-11-20, originally uploaded by Sean Gorham.

The other day I picked up Amacci's new lingerie set in purple. Absolutely gorgeous. :) I was struggling for something to wear with it when I happened upon an old treasure: one of Dazzle's (aka Last Call) old outfits. It came in a bunch of colors, and one of them just happened to be very close to the same shade as the lingerie!

Dress: Dazzle - Chic - Aube (no longer available)
Eyes: Chai - Allure - Purple 1
Hair: Truth - Samantha - Espresso
Lashes: Celestial Studios - Classic 3
Lingerie: Amacci - Amore - Lilac
Nails: PXL - Manicure - Pink #1
Necklace: Miriel - Classic Necklace - Silver/Sugilite (no longer available)
Piercing: Sn@tch - Gypsy Belly Ring - Purple
Poses: Reel Expression - Sassy 02 - Curvy; TorridWear - Fresh 10
Shape: custom (not available)
Shoes: Tesla - Vixen Desire - Lavender
Skin: Free Speerit - Fiona - Purple Gloss
Watch: GOS - Starliner - Agate

Background Image Source: Self-made with GIMP

Look of the Day, 2009-11-16

Look of the Day, 2009-11-16, originally uploaded by Sean Gorham.

Sorry I've been away so long! I got sucked into playing some new games. Oops. *whistles innocently*

Anyway! After skimming about 4,000 fashion blog posts (I just look at the pictures!) this dress from Pacadi Jasha caught my eye. Yes, that's a system skirt! I've never hated system skirts — well, not exactly. Prim skirts tend to make me twitch because they never look quite right on my shape. System skirts don't look that great, either, but at least I know they'll cover me properly.

I'm really, really liking Free Speerit's Fiona line of skins. Without a doubt they're among my favorites. The eyebrows really wow me — they're just the right shape. The skintone is just a teeny bit red/orange for my taste, but I don't mind. The skin is too good overall to give it a pass on color alone.

To top things off, I added Samantha, one of Truth's latest designs. I don't usually wear hair that covers one eye, so I decided to step out of my comfort zone a bit. Not wearing glasses (another change I've made recently) made this choice a lot easier, since I didn't have to worry about weird collisions between the hair and the glasses.

Anklet: Dex's Jewelry - Silver Rod Circle Anklet with Side Heart
Bracelet: Lassitude & Ennui - Chasm - silver/black
Dress: Pacadi Jasha - Zahra Puff Dress - Cherry
Eyes: Chai - Allure - Purple 1
Hair: Truth - Samantha - Espresso
Hose: No.9 Nylons - Cuban Heel Pantyhose II - Black30 Redseam
Lashes: Celestial Studios - Classic 3
Nails: PXL - Manicure - Red #1
Necklace: Lassitude & Ennui - Chasm - silver/black
Poses: StoRin - P10 attitude 05; Reel Expression - Classy V2 04
Shape: custom (not available)
Shoes: Tesla - Vixen Desire - Ruby
Skin: Free Speerit - Fiona - Purple Gloss

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.