Stuff I bought at Fashion for Life 2012 - Part The Third

So, I'm not a big gown person. I'm neither a person of big gowns, or a person who is big on gowns. I think that pretty much covers every permutation of the phrase.
For a start, I'm not so good at elegant, oh my no. I end up doing stuff like wearing sneakers with them, or putting a cardigan over them, or holding a bunny, or something. It's my way. Secondly, they generally don't suit my shape well. I used to wear them a fair amount when I was hosting fashion shows, back in the day, but that's ancient history. But when wandering around Fashion For Life 2012, I found my eye variously caught by gowns, a whole genre of clothes I would normally overlook, and thought to myself "O hay, there's a whole genre of clothes I would normally overlook, boo" and went on a quest to find some that I liked, which I would post on the last day of Fashion For Life as like a...thing. Y'know. A thing.

And today is the last day of Fashion For Life! So, first of all, go there (before midnight SLT), go buy everything you can see, and for heavens sake, buy a pile of raffle tickets, there are tons of amazing prizes on offer, and tickets are 100L each or 3 for 250, all money going to the American Cancer Society and therefore, good causes. Also don't forget to pump lots of money into those wonderful gachas dotted around, and oh, all the things!

So anyway, I bought gowns. Here is one of them. This is the kind of thing I end up doing, you see. Knee-socks and sandals. I'm not dramatic. But this gown by Basiastice is. It comes with two different styles of skirt, this one, with the from all tulle and see-through, and the back forming a sort of bustle effect, and the other which has a more traditional, solid front. It is variously adorned with black roses, including the one tucked behind my ear there. I particularly adore the fact that it has delicate little straps, which seems to give the whole bodice a more sophisticated structure than if it was left strapless. The necklace and earrings are by Je Suis at FFL, and are endlessly customizeable and massively versatile. The aforementioned knee-socks and sandals are another bargain from Azoury at FFL, and I thoroughly dig that they don't match at all. As for my makeup, the barely-visible eyeshadow there is from the Mock gacha, and the very one that eluded me so much and caused me to throw literally thousands of L$ at it in an attempt to get it. It's worth it though, I loves it all up.

So for this second gown, from Purple Moon, I made the attempt to actually, like, look like a grown up. I literally had to "grow up", by making my legs quite a bit longer (for both of these dresses...so that's another way in which I'm not a big gown person, I'm mostly too short to not look super-weird in them), and filled out my boobs a bit in Photoshop. Since what I first liked about this dress was how the bodice was like strips of silk, cupping the boobs, but not looking even remotely skanky, and I was disappointed when on my no-boobs it didn't look as good...I'm really really not built for pretty gowns. This one is so fun though, with its epic feather collar, and puffy train. I also like the black lace insert at stomach level, which goes around to the back, and adds an extra layer of texture. If I was the sort of person who wore gowns, I'd go swishing around in this all over the place.

I'm not though, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to make a last circuit of FFL and look for some cardigans.

Credits:

Look1
Skin: Tres Blah - Blessa - Pale - Clean
Hair: elikatira - Listen - Red 8
Gown: Basiastice - Jordis in Dark Tulle (skirt version 2)
Shoes/socks: Azoury - Les Chaussures Aalyah Noire et Rouge (FFL Exclusive)
Necklace&Earrings: Je Suis - Eternelle (FFL Exclusive)
Makeup:
Eyemakeup: Mock - Amelia Pond eShadow (FFL Gacha)
Lips: Mock - Glace - Grenadier  (FFL Exclusive)

Look2
Skin: Tres Blah - Blessa - Pale - Clean
Hair: Exile - Queen Bee - Rouge
Gown: Purple Moon - Pheasant Gown in Purple (FFL Exclusive)
Makeup:
Eyemakeup: Mock - Androzani eShadow (FFL Gacha)
Lips: Mock - Glace - Turkish Rose (FFL Exclusive)
Nails: Sexy Mamas - Glitter Manicure

Stuff I Bought at Fashion For Life 2012 - Part 2

I feel like I was going to say more actual stuff about the current Fashion For Life event itself, but I can't for the life of me remember what. Let's see, good cause, pretty builds, lots of nice clothes and stuff...nope, it's gone. Point is, you should like, go there or have gone there by now or go again. It's cool.

Ooh, I know!

Roskco Cobalt, who is responsible for building one of the sims, made this amazing guide to the event, on the Ruca Tease blog. The amount of work that's gone into these maps and such, I'm all sorts of impressed. Wish I'd seen that the first time I visited the event, I flew around for hours looking for one place that turned out wasn't even participating. Oops.

So here's another outfit made of stuff I bought there, anyway. The top is the Bindi top by Sn@tch. The dark colour pack is exclusive to FFL, but even after the fair is done, you can still get the same pretty top in light pastelly colours at the Sn@tch mainstore. My favourite thing about this top, is something I didn't actually capture in the pictures, it's that the back is fastened by 8 little round buttons, so dainty and delicate, I love it.
So, from an Indian-inspired top, to shorts from a store known best for Indian stuff, but a thing that isn't an Indian...thingy, but still a thing, which is a thing that Zaara does gorgeously. Because the shorts are from Zaara, and Zaara does shorts (and pants) gorgeously. Not just in the luscious butt-shading and the fact that they're not too low-riding, but in all the little textural details that make them nice to look at, like the gold braiding over the pockets, and the decorative stitching under the waistband.
The shoes are from Azoury and I'm evidently a sucker for this style of footwear, open-toed sandals with cute rolled-over socks. They were a total bargain, Fashion For Life vendor items, but cost only 70L$, so I was all like yoink. My only gripe with them is that the texture is Full-Bright, and they're No Mod. So at night, I have blindingly glowing feet. But aside from that, I adore these. I just have to make sure to only wear them in daytime!

Here's my obligatory headshot. I am, of course, wearing Mock makeup, This time, the eyemakeup is Gallifrey Green from the FFL gacha of doom, and the lipcolour is Mock's Falu Red Glace lipcolour, also only available at Fashion For Life.
The necklace is something I picked up on my second trip there, from Caroline's Jewelry, as is a key with a clock on it, which is adorable, and also includes a version with an actual working timepiece. It's available with black pearls, white ones, or sweet little pinky ones.

Credits:
Skin: Tres Blah - Blessa - Pale - Bardot
Hair: Exile - Bring It On! - Rouge
Top: Sn@tch - Bindi top - Moss
Shorts: Zaara - Denim Shorts - Red
Shoes: Azoury - Les Sandales Meli - Melo Kaki
Necklace: Caroline's Jewelry - Vintage Key Watch Necklace
Ears: Schadenfreude - Fey Ears - Widowed
Makeup:
Lips: Mock - Glace Lipcolour - Falu Red
Eyes: Mock - Gallifrey Green eShadow
Nails: Sexy Mamas - Geeks and Freaks manicure

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