Stuff I Bought at Fashion For Life 2012 - Part 1

The Fashion For Life event kicks off Second Life's biggest annual fundraising thingy, a season of events leading up to the actual Relay For Life in July, and incorporating a whole bunch of good excuses to spend money for the benefit of the American Cancer Society along the way.

This year I was really all sorts of impressed with the whole thing. Firstly I showed up all naked and invisible, as is my way, expecting the lag hell of other recent events, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that at the time of day I visited (early afternoon in Europe), this wasn't necessary, and promptly dressed to look pretty. This is due not to low visitor turnout, which would be sad and bad, but rather down to the fact that Fashion For Life is spread out over 10 (10!) sims and so on a weekday at a time of day when most Americans aren't on yet, there was no reason for everybody to be crammed all together in one place. So yay that!

The sims themselves are gorgeous, striking a great balance between not being too fiddly and laggy, and not being bland and basic looking. Each sim has been designed and decorated around a loose theme of epochs of time (this year's overall theme being "It's About Time"), and are a wonderfully eclectic mix. My personal favourite for general styling was the sim Dreamseekers Zeit, built by Grace Loudon. All pastel-coloured small town America, it's like what the 80s thought the 50s were like, and all built by someone whose long-gone steampunk town I used to hang out in. But every sim there is amazing, full of vision and artistic touches and detail. Really, I recommend going and having a look around at the fantastic builds, even if you don't plan on spending any money.

But you should spend money. It's for charity and there are plenty of opportunities to donate without having to feel too altruistic. In addition to the standard donation kiosks, and Fashion For Life vendors, in which designers put event-exclusive items from which all money raised goes directly to the ACS, this year there is also a hunt (the prizes are by donation, between 1 and 100L$), a raffle with tons of fantastic prizes on offer, and my own personal ruin, Gachas. With all these great thingies, the event has a wonderful fair-like atmosphere, lots to explore, lots to do, all good!

At this kind of event, my general policy is to buy things only from the FFL vendors themselves. Firstly because, exclusives, yum, and secondly because, if I go round buying stuff willy-nilly, I'll run out of "for a good cause" excuse money, so if you're reading this after March 20th, most of the stuff I'll be featuring won't be available anymore. I'll be spreading out the goodies I bought over a few posts.
The first place I hit when I arrived was Sakide, which is fast becoming a firm favourite of mine. One of the things I picked up there was this "Insanely Cute Outfit", which is their words, not mine, but you don't hear me arguing! It is indeed, insanely cute, especially for Sakide, and comes with a few options, for instance, the denim highwaist skirt has a choice of straps or strapless, and the included t-shirt with prim sleeves comes in both grey and white, plus the prim roses that adorn the skirt can be hidden. So, yum that.
The boots, the booooooots. Are from G Field, and although in my picture they look a little on the light tan side, they're actually Peach. Ordinarily Peach is a colour I'd avoid, but I fell in love with the sweet floral textures of the lining, four choices in all. The boots are rigged mesh, and super detailed, and I love them and kiss them, but not in a fetishy way, because that's not my thing.

Where I spent the most money at once was Mock. Always Mock. What happened was a fatal combination. First I bought the beautiful Glace lipcolours in the special FFL vendors. All of them, even the pink ones. Then I hit up the gacha. 15 beautiful duotone eyeshadows. 15 beautiful duotone eyeshadows, named for Doctor Who stuff (Time, see?). 15 beautiful Mock eyeshadows, named for Doctor Who stuff, in a gacha. I dropped about 1000L$ trying to get them all, and you must bear in mind, this is a very reasonably priced gacha, 20L$ a pop. But I get them all I did! Which just goes to show - gachas + compulsive natures = A Powerful Fundraising Tool!

Credits:
Skin: Tres Blah - Blessa - Pale - Clean
Hair: Exile - Midnight In Paris - Rouge
Outfit: Sakide - Insanely Cute Outfit (FFL Exclusive)
Boots: G Field - Long Cuff Boots "Will" - Peach (FFL Exclusive)
Makeup:
Eyeshadow: Mock - Time Vortex eShadow (FFL Gacha)
Lashes (tattoo layer): Mock - Pandora Lashes
Lips: Mock - Glace Lipcolor - My Pink (FFL Exclusive)
Nails: Sexy Mamas - Spring Manicure