My friend Minnu is a talented, sweet, funny, generous lady. I adore her to bits, and when she told me she was getting closer to finishing her new line of skins, then sent me over the base to check it out, I fell in love with the skin, especially the feet and the soft, feminine tummy.

Minnu’s Sim is re-opening tomorrow at noon, SLT, and these skins will be launched then at the re-opening party, along with Thora’s new male skin line, also called Zero.

I hope that they can make a fresh start and forget about any past drama (and I hope you all can too :P)

I’ve always asked Minnu to make softer looking tummies because I myself prefer a bit of feminine curviness, rather than super-muscular, super-toned abs, and she finally did it. I’m not saying it was because of me or anything, but I do plan to take credit for the idea The little tiny birthmark to the right of the navel is awesome too, and a great idea to add a bit more interest.

Feet are a particularly difficult area of the SL body to make look decent. Let’s face it, we got supremely gypped by Linden when it came to our tootsies (meant to hold those precious shoessssssss!), and most people I know say they hate their feet here. But I have never been all that concerned about them, really. Minnu took some time with the new line to make them a bit more defined and pretty, and I like them quite a bit now. I will not be ashamed to show these off in my favourite pair of sandals, I can tell you that!

Whether you’re looking for glammed up makeup, like 1b in the Light tone shown here…

or everyday light makeup for the sweet, girl-next-door side of you, like 3b in Sunkissed above, you’ll find the perfect makeup for whatever mood you might be in at that moment.

The darker skin tones have never been neglected, and I’m really glad of that because Minnu does some beautiful dark skins. On the left is Umber in 5b, and pictured in the inset is the gorgeous Dark tone in 7a.

My absolute favourite skins in the bunch though, have to be the next three. None are tones I’d normally pick for myself, as I tend to prefer very pale skintones nowadays, but the makeups are so delicious that I can’t stop myself from wearing them.

The slight brown tint to the lips in Sunkissed 7b is what drew me to this skin, and it is perfect for getting a little bit less casual without going outright glam. The light eye makeup is a great contrast and helps to keep it from being too much, especially in the daytime.

Of course, every woman needs a classic red lipstick/smoky eye combo like Light 6b in her inventory. For those evenings out (or in ), getting glammed up is easy as there is some variation of this makeup in nearly every tone I think.

However, at the end of the day, no matter how much romancing and heavy flirting has been going on with other skintones and makeups, I nearly always return to my first true love: the Fair tone. This makeup is 3b.

I guess so far I haven’t really mentioned what the letter postfixes represent. Minnu has done three sets of brows this time, ranging from light (think blonde) to dark, which is what I usually choose to wear. Not all sets include all brows, because of course, the very dark tones would look silly with blonde eyebrows (in my opinion anyway, and apparently Minnu’s as well). So the makeup number with no postfix is the lightest brow, then the more brows are included are titled in succession, from lighter to darker (like 3a and 3b).

At Minnu Model Skins, most of the ranges thus far have been very perfect - no blemishes or pores showing at all. This time around, Minnu has made sure to leave a bit of so-called “imperfection,” which to me only makes them more beautiful. I love that some of the skins have a bit of a rougher look to them, and I am sure I won’t be the only one.

Definitely for sure make sure to go see the newness at Minnu Model Skins this afternoon, starting at noon tomorrow! But make sure to REMOVE all your attachments to decrease the lag.

There are laws of etiquette in blogging people, and some people on our feed here PERSIST in being bad bloggers.

1. Bumping your post’s time to remain at the top of the feed. I think this is the height of bad blogger manners, and it leaves a very sour taste in my mouth, not to mention the mouths of those who read the feed to see what’s NEW.

That’s the only one that’s really bugging me right now. You know who you are, you’ll probably bump your post to get on top of mine. How many times have you done it now?

P.S.  This is not about Sasy or her blogs, kthxbai.

You know what the best remedy is to feeling a bit bleh? Taking pics of your kittehs! <3

Lookit how they’ve linked paws? Awwwwwwwww

P.S. Onyx (right) is not really a demon (most of the time), she just looks that way.

I found a great jeweler in Neural Blankes of Night Stone Jewelry to make the claddagh rings I had requested not too long ago, thanks to Rowan Carroll who pointed her in my direction.

We decided against making them exclusive designs, instead requesting a grace period of a month to have them all to ourselves before we saw them anywhere else. I think the pictures speak for themselves, so I will let them do that (and besides, I am fairly tapped out with the words at the moment).

The meaning of the claddagh ring is what gives the ring its significance. Over the years the claddagh ring has brought up designs with minor variations, the basic meaning and significance of the Irish claddagh ring has however been retained. The hands of the ring are shown holding the heart and the hands denote friendship and togetherness, the heart itself signifies love and the crown in the claddagh ring stands for loyalty. It is this meaning of the claddagh rings that make them an ideal choice for all occasions: wedding rings, birth stone rings, engagement rings, mothers day rings and rings for just about any other occasion. The deep and true meaning of the Irish claddagh rings has also put them into a group of rings referred to as the faith rings. In today’s materialistic world where love, friendship and loyalty are becoming increasingly rarer by the day, the claddagh ring with it’s realistic and worthy meaning makes an ideal gift to give and to receive.

In a nutshell the meaning of the Claddagh ring could be summarized as, Let Love and Friendship Reign Forever.

The meaning and significance of the Claddagh ring is not just in the crown, heart and clasping hands, it also extends to the hand on which the ring is worn and the direction in which the crown on the ring points. In case of a married or engaged person, claddagh rings are worn on the left hand with the crown pointing away from the (the person wearing the ring) heart. For a person willing to consider love the ring is traditionally worn on the right hand with the crown pointing away from the heart. For a person not interested in starting a relationship the Cladagh ring is worn on the right hand with the crown pointing towards the heart.

Night Stone Jewelry

I realize I’ve posted a few things lately about non-fashion things, so if that annoyed anyone I’m sorry about that. I would put it all under a cut if the feed bothered to recognize them. :\

But today like a bit of a miracle, everything was all wrapped up like a neat package, after yesterday which was fairly wretched.

I got the job I posted about. I had 2 more job interviews lined up for this week, but tomorrow I’ll call and cancel both of them, because as of now, I am a pharmacy technician. Woohoo!

My job requires a bit of training, obviously, and my first day of training is this Saturday all day. I was supposed to be getting married to Truth on Saturday but obviously that couldn’t happen. Miracle upon miracles, he was online just as I found out this information, so I did what my spontaneous self would do - I asked him if he wanted to get hitched in fifteen minutes. He was up for it, so after finding the dress and other stuff in my bottomless inventory, we got married in front of a few of my/our closer friends (unfortunately not everyone I would have liked, due to the haste of the situation). It was fun and my good friend Lux Yao performed the vows, which she did while making them SL-appropriate and interjecting a bit of our personalities into it too.

I posted earlier about wanting to find a jeweller to make some claddagh rings (yes, I’m part Irish) for us, since this has been something I’ve long wanted in both lives. I found one that I think will work out, who contacted me in-world. So hopefully that will be the last thing! I know a couple of you said in your comments that you liked the idea of a well-crafted claddagh ring available in-world for purchase, but I am so torn! I really really want custom-made unique rings, and to have something special and just for us! But I also don’t want to deprive anyone of the right to fabulous jewelry either! Decisions, decisions…

The awesome Gillian Waldman took some pics, of which I am sooooo glad, because it didn’t even occur to me to ask anyone to do that! Here’s one of her pics that I snagged from Snapzilla

Okay everyone, I am dying to find a good jeweller who can make me some custom-made, non blingy, non-ugly rings (similar to the one shown below).  If you know of anyone who will take on a custom job like this, please please tell me!!!

P.S.  Alienbear can’t, because she’s too busy at the moment.  I already asked.

Nyte Caligari, one of my partners in crime, my boss and one of my best friends, has a whole lot of newness at Nyte N Day!

You can check out her blog for the new pretties, but I just wanted to make sure that everyone knew to go get Estivation in Pink Skullies.

Nyte was wearing these kyoot shorts before she released them, and I <3 them!  I have been dying for some more shorts that aren’t jeans shorts, and these are perfect with the little pinstripes.  They don’t have prim pieces which is fine with me cuz they always make me feel stupid anyhow.  The tank comes in two lengths, depending if you want to show your belly or not.  So how do you get this free outfit?  You go down to the store, and find the sign for the group update (it’s a regular Linden-styled group, only it’s automated so as to keep out the spammers and whatnot).  Once you’re in the group, open it up, check the notice archives and there ya go!  Will only be there for a couple of weeks, so make sure you don’t delay.

After over a year of being in SL, some things that people still don’t know or realize surprises me. So I might as well mention them right off the bat, so I can go on with the rest of my blog without confused comments following it.

FACT: Calling cards in your inventory and your friends list are two entirely different things. Deleting calling cards will in no way impact your friends list, and vice versa. And deleting people’s calling cards does not alert them in any way to the fact that it’s not there, whereas deleting someone from your friends list may be noticed once you stop showing up (but no alarms or popups alert them).

Recently and again the other day, I went through a major culling of my friends list. I had far too many people on it that I never ever talk to, even though we may have once or even twice had a pleasant conversation or two. I felt extraordinarily guilty never sending them an IM, but not really having the time to do so either. So when I was faced with too many things on my to-do list, and a natural aversion to doing any of them, I decided to clean house, starting with my friends list.

There’s actually some people that have landed on my list that I may not have talked to a whole lot when they were added (at either my request or theirs) but that I actually talk to now. So it’s not necessarily true that if you’re destined to be friends it’ll happen right away. And then in other situations, people actually start out promising, but the friendship fizzles out before it ever really starts.

The people left on my friends list are actual friends, current contacts that I need for one reason or the other, acquaintances that may or may not be future friends, or people I don’t want to delete for one reason or another. In the other day’s sweep, I actually removed the person responsible for bringing me into SL, even though she never ever comes on anymore. I still feel kinda wretched for doing it, since we started our friendship before SL. But I figure a simple friends list in SL, especially when one is never here anymore, is not going to alter the friendship (or fond memories) of that person anyway, right?

If you’re not sure you’re meant to be friends, but you’d like to maintain some sort of contact just in case you need it, I offer a solution: calling cards. They’re meant to be offered to casual contacts - the non-friends type of people. But, you ask, how do I do that? Simple. You right click on the person, and choose “More”, then “Give Card”. That will give them a card they can look at in their inventory, a short cut to looking you up in the search function (just in case they don’t like the search as much as I do).

Mindless babble aside, if you feel like you were summarily cut from my friends list without a chance, then by all means send up a flare (and an IM).  And if you’re on my list but have no idea why, then by all means cut me.  But if we’re friends and you cut me, then I’ll cry and cry and cry.  But don’t do it until after the shoe fair cuz I’m crazy swamped busy.

Kthxbai!

For those of you who have not heard, Tigerlily Koi of Calla is re-opening Calla today, and the new store is absolutely beautiful! It’s very different from what Calla looked like in the past, which is great since it’s a new beginning!

The residents of SL are blessed with a wide variety of choices and styles when it comes to their skin. I don’t remember such an abundance of beautiful skins when I first got to SL, but I guess it’s better now when I can afford to buy more, right? I’ll hold on to that thought.

Since there are sooooo many beautiful skins being released these days (and all at once, damn them!), and everyone is blogging them, I decided to put together a post featuring my favourites of three designers I haven’t covered recently.

Antonia Marat of Artilleri is probably better known as the Queen of Rockabilly, with her funky retro clothing and accessories. But she’s always had beautiful skins, and fairly sorta recently, released her much-anticipated, got-me-squeeing-with-excitement skins, Emi (shown here in the Cream skin tone). At the time of release, there were fifteen makeups in each five skin tones. The entire skin is just beautifully done and so soft and pretty. I could stare at these for hours. You’ll be pleased to know that some of the makeups are retro and will absolutely go with the clothes you can find at Artilleri.

Tuli has been consistently updating her skins and the latest releases mark the sixth (?) skin line, and my favourite to date. I always love Tuli’s skins, but with the latest release she plants herself a bit more firmly into my heart. Celeste and Emily are the names of the two lines (Emily being the name of my niece, I have a particular fondness for this one) and so far, the makeups are limited in the three skin tones, but gorgeous. Tuli will release more makeups as she goes along, and she’s already released one with red lips after her initial release.

Annkya Bekkers of Blowpop has been hard at work ever since she first got to SL, never slowing down for a second (seems like that, anyhow). She won Best New Skin Designer from Second Style magazine, which is quite an honour and one she wholly deserved. It seems as soon as she finishes a line, she’s already finding something to improve upon for the next, which is good for her but not for me since I can’t keep up! Gotta love an overachiever right? XD At first I wasn’t sure I loved the brows on these, but after a while of looking at myself, I have come to realize they’re actually my favourite feature. The eye makeup is wonderful and the overall detailing on the skin is lovely and really well done. I think I look a bit sad here though, which is more to do with my shape than the skin, and I have come to realize my shape doesn’t do these skins the justice they deserve. There are six tones ranging from Vanilla to Cocoa (her tagline is Lick, Don’t Bite and with all the yummy names you don’t have to wonder why!)

Now if only everyone would stop releasing brand new skins, I could wear these more often!

I love a lot of skins, and on the strongly worded suggestion of a friend, I’ll list them here and give you their SLURL’s. :)  (And these are in alphabetical order.)

Artilleri

Blowpop

Celestial Studios

Chai by LF Fashions

Fleur

Lovey’s Boutique

Minnu Model Skins (currently closed for renovation and new skins)

Rosemar

SLink

Tuli

With that being said, there are two other skin designers that I am dying to get, I just haven’t yet for one reason or another.

La Sylphide

Gala