Feeding My Addiction: Skin Review

I realized that I demo a lot of skins and never really talk about them very much. I will harp on a new skin when I find it and like it on me but there are a lot of decent skin makers out there in the dark range that I don't personally choose to wear but still should be discussed.  So I'm going to share a few with you that I have either been gifted (thanks Rita) or stumbled across due to my rampant feed stalking.

First up is the Belleza skin Elle in Dark Mocha.  This, and most of the other skins I will talk about, are closer to the tone I was wearing when I first began using SL.  It's a basic dark tone that will of course look slightly different on everyone but in my usual inspection of the nooks and crannies didn't have anything that made me go oh no don't want to ever wear this again.  It didn't change my face in a significant way and was lacking shading issues for me.  What I noticed was that I was staring at was my stomach.  The Laqroki line tends to add great definition to the stomach area and that was missing for me here but the makeups were good, the face not overdone and had a variety of options in the way of hairbase and cleavage.  Well worth looking at if you haven't been inundated with skin posts already.

The next skin I want to show you is from Kira Ahn's [KA] Designs.  I have ventured in and out of her demos a lot and hadn't made a purchase until recently when I got a notice about a sale on soon to be retired skins.  I am almost positive I somehow skipped these skins because I think I would have bought them at the time but regardless it's another darker skin that I really liked when I sported it.  I grabbed the fatpack of Loona in Ebony and have to say I'm very impressed.  I am one of those lazy models that doesn't want to make a new shape for each skin I wear.  If a skin doesn't immediately strike me as looking great as is and may need minor tweaking I just won't buy it.  This is as close to my old skin tone and still the same facial features that I have been able to come in a very long time.  Great skin with good shading and makeups both with and without hairbase as well as three eyebrow shapes AND lashes.  Wooh, that was a mouthful but regardless good skin.  I'm showing you eyebrow option number one by the way in the following picture.  The only thing that would have made this better is that lovely glow I get with Laqroki.

Next up we have a skin Bare Skins from Rita Freese.  I love the dare to go bare part of the store tag by the way.  When I was in the Best of SL chat the other day we were having yet another skin discussion and I mentioned I happily blog good skins and I was quickly gifted with Naomi in Peacock, Citrus and Smoke.  Tone was a little darker than the first two but not dramatically so.  The lips are a bit fuller than the others but the makeup was done quite well.  I particularly loved the Peacock (one shown in the picture) as it successfully pulled off a very interesting palate on a darker skin that others seem to just overlook for fear of failing miserably.  It would be great for a show if for no other reason than it was good and dramatic.  The stomach was lacking a little definition but had a very adorable belly button and great shading around the body.  It's another keeper for those seeking out a dark skin.

And finally the last skin I will show you is the latest from Laqroki.  Elena was released a few weeks ago at this point and I was thrilled to have another dark option.  The tone is the same Ebony that she normally uses which is more a mid range chocolatey candy bar kind of complexion.  The makeup is more subtle to me than a few of the more recent ones but skillfully done and having another 10 makeups to play with, with and without hairbase, is always good if you are as focused on coordinating skin and clothing.  Laqroki always does a good job of trying to put out a dark tone and then experimenting with makeups.  It's one of the first places I always send friends and models but as I pointed out earlier I should pay attention to the fact that everyone doesn't want to be my shade of brown lmao.  It's another great release and my tummy looks fabulous ha!

And for those wondering what the outfit was about in the photos lol, I was in a casting for an African inspired/themed show and just hadn't changed when I decided to do this set of photos.  Full outfit details will be below the photo.  Please go check out the skin designers and have a fantastic weekend.

Outfit: Boom Rhapsody in Picnic (no sash skirt option)
Jewelry: Miel Cue Set (from 50L Friday)
Headwrap: CE Cubic Effect Bohemian Glow Red
Shoes: Maitreya Gold Shanti in Champagne
Skin: Laqroki Tasha 2 in Ebony
Poses: Reel Expression *Luth* Party Dress 4, 9
Background: Tuft Dreamy Field Photobox

I may be a Fair Hater but I'm a Theme Lover

I shared my lament with the pose fair (and skin fair and accessories fair and hair fair-I think, fairs in general) in my last post.  I again didn't spend much money there but it left with lindens to peruse 50L friday--didn't get to all of the shops this week but I did grab this adorable pillow I saw on the feeds made bye Annunziata Macchi of Molto Bene!  When I saw it I thought it would just be cute to have and would probably take good photos in the bedroom theme.  Then I thought oh crap, the photographer boyfriend is out of town and thus can't buy this today and since it was no transfer I couldn't buy one and send it to him.  So I contacted Annunziata and she was happy to both tell me about the fact that it would be on xstreet soon and sell me one for him while it was still 50L and on off the off chance he didn't get it to resend it when he logged back on.  Now let me say typically almost all content creators are great when I ask them a question but Annunziata was great, cheerful and quick so I had to give her a nice nod on the blog.  I grabbed some glasses and a great pair of boots and was done with my 50L Friday shopping.

That led me to The Dressing Room.  I didn't grab a lot there to be honest but love most of the designers that were featured so I had to join the subscribo and add just a snippet to the tip jar.  By all means head over and check it out because you'll be pleasantly surprised by the prices and selection.  My final theme shopping stop was The Fashion Circus.  I totally can't list everyone that is featured but I grabbed some new stuff from Opa's and Sonatta Morales and wandered around to the Hope for Haiti tent that is still on the sim and found a lovely dress there.  I had a good time roaming around and will be back there as well.  Good old subscribos.  Anyway I have theme love all around me.  Be sure to check them out before the next round of designers is inserted.

I think I'm a Fair Hater

How can you hate a fair you may ask?  Well I love the ones with turkey legs and funnel cake but so far in SL I find myself a little blah with fair offerings.  It took me forever to get over to the Pose Fair even though I was super exited when I heard about it, like I am with all fairs.  Granted real life was so kicking my pixelated booty the last few weeks but eh no excuse for a certified poser like myself.  I roamed the whole fair barefooted and missing as many prims as my vain self can tolerate.  I bought lindens when I started JUST because I didn't want to be broke by the end of my perusing.  It was nice to see new stores and I picked up something at This is a Fawn's shop and swear didn't know poses were among the offerings at the main store.  After that and another stop at another new store to me, don't freak out!, I swore no more than one purchase at each store.  At that point it was kinda not an issue.  I roamed all the stores and can't say I bought too much after that as I still had most of my lindens lol.  The problem with poses for me is no matter how well made they are there are only so many ways my body can pose to the left with my hand on my thigh.  And because I am a pose whore I tend to hit the bigger spots as the poses are released so there weren't a whole lot of new items in LAP, Behavior Body or the like that I hadn't seen already.  And the picture frames I had been so excited about from the feed seemed way too bright to be cute against my skin tone.  I did grab poses at LAP and found another cute luggage set at StoRin called globetrotter but I seem to never go broke at any fair even if I do luck upon a few new places to roam.  That's a good thing I guess lol more money for hair and pencil skirts.  And it did give me a chance to go to Veschi and pick up some truly funky things so all in all I guess my fair snobbery isn't a bad thing.

And because I wasn't distraught about my interview for Maniera which had wrapped up shortly before my perusal I guess I wasn't prone to impulse buys.  For those of you wondering what interview well I applied to be one of the agency bloggers and found out yesterday that I was selected so you'll get to see much more restrained input from me on the My Maniera blog that I'm hoping blogger quits trying to direct to a feed and lets the link go through.  If not the address for those that need it is http://manierainc.com

Toodles for now
Rouge

Take Another Trip with me to Opa's Boutique

Okay Topaz was busy over the last few days. In addition to my lovely dress, and the Veronica which came out the same time and another fantastic dress named Keira, she released Shanghai Surprise. Now please don't let me skip over the aforementioned dresses because really they are well made and much attention was paid the the right parts of each dress. The textures fit the time period the dress was inspired by, the skirts weren't god awful too small for any normal sized avatar lol and there were no quick prim attachments that as unskilled as I am would notice and be cranky about for eternity. Opa's Boutique puts out lovely high quality dresses and you should hurry down and check out what it has to offer. Back to the purpose of this post though ha!

Shanghai Surprise actually may come as a surprise to you. The texture is very much Asian inspired but it's more of a subtle touch than you might expect on the grid. The pattern is simple and light against the black fabric which gives it a great contrast against skin tone. The top provides another set of details that have to be fully examined as well. The plunging neckline is complimented wonderfully with the bare shoulders all leading to the black band covering the midriff and joining the top to the skirt. The prim attachment gives the dress more structure and pop all without losing the texture or becoming overwhelming. Gathered at the hips but not covering the front of the dress it reminds me of the Claire Huxtable dress I lusted after as a child loving the Cosby Show as it gives definition without making a trouble spot for most women even more obvious. The other thing I love about this dress, as well as Opa's Boutique in general, is that it can be dressed up or down or made vintage or contemporary all based on what you choose to pair with it. I wanted to go more Shanghai than vintage this time and with pieces I didn't have to search farther than my inventory for I think it came together well. Let me know what you think. And big thanks to the boyfriend for helping me get that icky prim box from around the shoes I was wearing.

Items Worn:

Dress: Shanghai Surprise from Opa's Boutique
Hair: Na Young in Ebony from Tukinowaguma
Jewelry: Ahi Set from Miel
Skin: Tasha2 in Ebony from Laqroki
Shoes: Shanti in Black from Maitreya Gold
Lashes: Cake Bedroom Lashes

What's in a Name part two...

Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl....I won't kill your ears with my ummm tone transient singing.  I'll let Barry handle that himself when I'm all done showing you the original duo that had me going wooooo I wanna blog same name wardrobe.  As you all know I LOVE vintage shops and support them as much as I can.  The big ones probably don't need my gushing but some of the out of the way spots could potentially.  I was doing my normal notecard sorting when I saw a message from Vita Bella.  There is a great assortment of vintage dresses, swimsuits, lingerie and what not there but there hadn't been a new release in a while.  Until about a week ago when Lola hit the store.  Lola reminds me of a typical receptionist wardrobe in one of the higher end firms---kinda Mad Men esque.  I am showing you the Ruby Red/Sultry Black version but it's also available in Cream/Magenta which is equally lovely and the one that I didn't stop wearing for a few days originally.  The texture is wonderfully detailed, down to the crinkle that would likely form at the back of the skirt after a day of wear.  LOVE IT.  Also featured in this post is the Lola lingerie set from Seldom Blue in Sheer Nude.  I love the way the color looks on my skin and the fact that the fatpack version of Lola gives you about ninety million ways to mix and match the ensemble.  I'm wearing the bra, thong, suspenders/garters and the waist ruffle which was entirely too dainty not to wear.  There are also hip and bra frills as well as a body suit version that is tres sexy.  Check them both out here for the dress and here for the lingerie.  Featured in both posts are photo boxes from Tuft which I just stumbled upon yesterday thanks to fashion feed.  If you want a few they are all under 50L as well as having a midnight mania board with 3 up for grabs.  And I realize I haven't done a style card for either of the name posts.  If you see something you just have to have let me know and I'll gladly tell you where I got it.

No Comments? Ooops,,,,

It seems I had the wrong settings up for comments and hadn't realized it.  You should be able to comment to your hearts content now and I'll be getting the 2nd part of What's in a Name up later tonight

What's in a Name part one

Okay so I'm a bit of a literary nerd and was going to be super corny with the whole would a Rouge by any other name smell as sweet thing but figured that would be above and beyond with the silly. Anyway, I told you that during the Miss Fashion Pageant that Ginevra Lancaster was nice enough to name an outfit for me. Well a few days ago she sent me the absolute final version of the outfit that had some influences from my styling in the contest. The first picture is what I did for the contest in the initial version of Miss Rouge.  The second is a rough image of the final outfit.  I'm going to have a better shot taken and send it to her for the vendor to use if she wants--she said I could YIPPEE!  The last image that I took after perusing for a good locale is from Opa's Boutique (Topaz Joubert's shop which you should most definitely check out) also entitled Rouge.  I told her and will tell you that when I saw it I did a little dance in the bed for which I was roundly made fun of by my partner.  Good thing I think he's cute and the snoring isn't too bad at night lol.  Anyway it sent me on a vintage flutter and I had to take my time to piece it together with the right hair and jewelry.  And I didn't want to use my photo props so I had to go find a good in world location to snap a few that also didn't interfere with the skirt. Anyhoo there are two snaps of my lovely dress and thanks to Topaz and Ginevra for thinking of me.  Stay tuned for What's in a Name part two with designs from Vita Bella and Seldom Blue.

Really have no good excuse

I have been busy yes but I keep saying I need to take photos of all the outfits I've been in and post them but I'm not getting around to it so I should really just post the updates. The shows went well as a I told you last time. The next big thing was another MPI Graduation show which honestly went fantastic short of missing in action models. The designer was happy at the end of the day and the models who were there ROCKED their lag plagued butts off. This was going on at the same time as my participation in the Miss Fashion 2010 contest. My designer, Ginevra Lancaster of Ginevra Lancaster Designs, was amazing and gave me a very sexy burlesque inspired outfit--named after me no less--to wear during the festivities. I will admit I was sick as a dog and was fuzzy most of the time so I'm not sure if I was doing my best but for the first time in any competition I have entered I made it to the finals. Yeah me, go Rouge lol. That meant another quick design week for Ginevra but since she was just so fierce that she got two models into the finals she did a play off of each outfit. Alii wore a moon inspired outfit and I got to represent the sun. When it was all said and done and we actually made it to the show day, I was just hoping not to crash off the runway or embarrass Ginevra. I didn't expect to win as there were stunning outfits there but wow came in third and wasn't expecting that EITHER. I was disappointed for Ginevra because I think she did a stellar job with five days to whip up two original outfits for the contest. It was fun though and let me hang out with models I knew but hadn't worked together a lot with. Might have to brush up on Italian if I plan to enter again lol. I think that's it for now. See ya everyone and eventually I will get to the photos.

My Whirlwind Fashion Weekend is Over

Okay so the last show I'm in for the weekend is now in the books. All went well as far as the ones I was in. A bit of lag for Eden Freese but nothing out of the ordinary. I managed to get to the dress rehearsal for Tres Beau after finishing the script for the Bitch Tail Graduation show with MPI all before noon. The grad show as lag personified but big round of applause to the girls for keeping their heads and managing to finish the show. Sim was full a few times and the designer was happy so yeah for that. The Wicked show was oodles of fun and I was shocked honestly by some of the people that ended up there. It was minimal lag and everyone worked well together. A photo shoot is coming out of that too so yippee. Not to mention Alisa was very generous to us and gave us a great gift card to her store for our participation. Not sure what I am going to buy because she gave me a ton of cute outfits to prep for the show with but I'll do what I can hee hee. Also got to do a bit of shopping at Ora Trei and got some great outfits and jewelry before it went bye bye. I got some stuff from them for the Maniera shoot a while back but hadn't been back in a while and was surprised at some of the stuff I found.

The Fall Into Romance Tres Beau show went well too. Little bobbles here and there but nothing major and nothing that made me think of please just let me get through the next hour. Everyone worked well together and while it was definitely one of the most intricate walks I've seen lately that wasn't off putting either. JSE as a crew rocked this afternoon and made Valentine's day just as lovely for everyone that was there. I am debating logging back on to see take some pictures for the Finesmith contest but right now just not feeling it lol. If anything I'll work on the ones for Angel Dessous. Ahh well I'll let ya know when or if I figure it out lol.

See ya
Rouge

First Show Down

Okay so New York Fashion Week as sponsored by Maniera (yeah) and IMAGE has officially started today with the Eden Freese show of which yours truly was the first one out and the ONLY one to crash at the end of her first walk lol. I rebounded quickly and made it back before the model after me finished her walk. Short of lag no glitches to report after that. The runway was a bit different than the one we rehearsed on so that was slightly disjointing but nothing major. Some of my old Maniera and superElite classmates were there too and that was good. I am also featured on the IMAGE flikr page for the show which is nice as the photographer didn't seem to catch everyone. That happens a LOT during shows though, people aren't fully rezzed or don't stop moving long enough to get a good snap or your computer decides to throw a tantrum as you snap. I can't say that happened today but it was fun seeing myself.

The graduation show is still planned for Saturday at 1PM SL. We'll see how realistic that is after the final dress rehearsal tonight but I have to say the girls did well tonight and apparently did so for Keeley this afternoon so we'll just go with that for now and keep fingers crossed. Still need to finish the script and get the walk order together but those should come together quickly tomorrow. I have my other two shows after that one as well. I'll be in the Wicked Fashions show Saturday @ 6PM SL and the JSE Fall Into Romance Show at 1:30PM on Sunday. I think it's 1:30 it could be 1 exactly. I'll let ya know if I'm wrong. If you want to come just shoot me an IM when I'm online and I'll happily give you whatever landmark I have or invite I have.

I'll post pictures if I can figure out how to scroll them all instead of having 10 or so pics just splattered in a post. Talk to ya soon.