Menno Ophelia has been working on his store, Kari, for over a year. We finally saw it open last weekend, and judging from the reaction on the feed, it was a smashing success. Last night saw another new release, including another pose prop, and I loved it so much when I saw it that I wanted to make sure to include it in my Animation week. Since most of the poses are made by Torrid to go with Menno’s prop, I decided a 4.5 post today would be appropriate.

The Dolly has been around for a while, judging by how long Cat’s had it. It has five fun poses in it, three made by Menno himself, and the other two are made by Torrid.

The colour-changeable Hydrant has three poses, and this one immediately brings to mind leap-frogging, at least for me. I just hope the leap frogger didn’t get, uhhh, stuck as they were leaping over the hydrant, because that could hurt!

Since I am a bit invo-conscious (read: totally nuts about keeping it down), I tend to throw out notes. Sometimes it backfires though, like now. This hydrant has three poses, but I couldn’t figure out how to change them. It’s a bit tricky - you have to click the top of the hydrant, very near where you’re sitting. If you click the wrong place, the colour menu comes up.

The Trash can is Kari’s latest release, and it’s awesome! Menu-driven, you can change both the texture and pose from there, so if you don’t like the lost posters (including a picture of a dog for sale “that farts a lot, but is still really cute” then you can always switch to bloodstained, rusted or a can that’s been used as a canvas for street art. There are four very different poses available, made by Torrid Midnight.

Kitty Cat talks about the can in great more detail over here on his blog, Y Me.

Hitting up Kari will find some sweet props to pose on, and don’t forget to check out his awesome high tops and other stuff.

Credits below the cut. Read more…

Torrid Midnight has been in SL for a very long time. She seems to have taken on everything creative from art to clothes to animations (and that’s only the stuff I know about for sure myself) and mastered it, so it’s no surprise that she’s one of my favourite posers these days.

She’s also been extremely prolific lately, coming out with new releases nearly faster than I can keep up (but I can, mwah ha ha!), and each and every one of them are so different and fresh too. The quality of the anims are fantastic too, with smooth transitioning. Nor will you find overpriced pose packs; I think all of the packs are around the L$500 range, which I think is pretty reasonable.

Geometry is one of my favourite sets for standing poses, so it’s not surprising as I was going through my Torrid poses, that all of the ones I liked came from that set. On the left is Geometry 04, in the center is Geometry 06 and on the right side is Geometry 03.

The Adore poses are a set of five poses for couples, and one of the only ones I’ve never really had to adjust to fit properly to me and my pose partner. Maybe Cat and I were just lucky, but I like to think it’s fate. I liked them all so much, but these three stood out to me for the feelings they evoked in the photos, even though they’re fairly simple and taken with a backdrop. And yay for offering a fatpack option of these poses!

The Step pose set is one of the newest sets, and when you buy it, you get 10 different poses you can put in your stand separately, if you want to use your own stairs, or you can use the included menu-driven stairs, which is the lazy blogger’s dream.

Torrid’s latest set is the Paraplu pose set. When you buy the set, it comes with two versions of the Paraplu, the shown one above, which is pattern-changeable, and a closed one you can use as a prop. One of the coolest things about Torridwear animations is that there is almost always a matching AO to the pose sets, so if you really like one of the sets and want to walk around with your umbrella (ella, eh, eh, eh, eh), you can!

Torrid makes some of my favourite poses ever. I could have taken so many more pictures, but…well, all good things seem to have to come to an end sometime, right?

Make sure you check out Torridwear if you’ve never been (though I can’t actually imagine anyone not having been to her store).

And, today is kind of a special day, so stay tuned for the Animations Day 4 1/2 later on today, featuring Kari’s pose props!

Credits below the cut. Read more…

I know that technically Animah doesn’t exist any longer, but posers Myllie Writer and Annah Whitfield, of Persona and AnnaH Couture respectively, made so many poses together and the end of their business venture is so recent, that for the purposes of this blog post I’m going to review them together.

Myllie and Annah each had clothing businesses before teaming up together for Animah, both of them doing well on their own but such great friends that they decided to team up to do poses and animations.

These poses move smoothly from one to the next, as all posers are starting to do as of late.  They have a ton of different themed packs, so finding anything you might need (including a pack totally devoted to the bee-yoo-tee-full system skirt) is a snap.

On the left is ‘About Me - Front’ (AnnaH), in the center is ‘Arms Up3′ (Persona), and on the right is ‘Cutie’ (AnnaH).

Femea is the shy looking pose on the left (Persona), Flash Lights is in the centre (I think it’s fairly obvious what it’s meant to represent) (Persona), and Just Casual is on the right (AnnaH).

I have to apologize for this post, I meant to take more pictures but something kinda big came up and I had to cut it short if I wanted to post today.  Myllie and Annah, *mwah* - you’re both angels <3.

Visit Persona and AnnaH Couture at their mainstores.

Credits below the cut. Read more…

Dove Swanson, how I heart thee. ‘Twas not so long ago that I discovered your tiny gem of a store with the clever name, Long Awkward Pose, with its discounted prices and fell head over heels in SLove.

Since then, like the good little shopping whore that I am, I’ve acquired nearly every pose set available, for both genders (as one never knows when one will need to stick a hot man up on the stand to pose for a photo) and almost all of the group poses as well. So, with all of that said, here are some of my absolute favourites of them all.

All of Dove’s poses have been refined as her skills have improved, and she started including priority-4 level poses (static head) along with more relaxed poses, which could be used in an AO without looking too weird and stiff.  I am in love with her work and look forward to each and every release of this prolific designer, even the porn star ones she made a while ago!

From left to right is Adorable from the sweet ‘Sugar’ set, Awmahgah from the ‘Spice’ set, and Anticipating from the ‘All Walled Up’ set.  Even though each of these poses are from different sets, I think they all work with the outfit and portray a certain sassiness.

On the left is the weirdly named Ka-me-ha-me-ah from ‘Hand Job’, in the centre is Little Love, again from the new ‘Sugar’ set, and on the right is Jus Standin, from ‘Casually Chill’.

From left to right is Oh Please from the aptly named ‘Drama Queen’ set, Seduction from ‘Casually Chill’ and Strip Tease from ‘Durty Girl’.

The ladder prop is one of my favourite props from any store on the grid.  There’s just something about pose props, and even though I may not use them often, they’re always sitting there in my arsenal, just waiting for the chance to be whipped out at a moment’s notice if I’m feeling playful and need to sit on the top of a ladder with my back arched.

(disclaimer: I don’t actually remember if this ladder has such a pose as was just described, but it sounded funny in my head so I’m keeping it here).

The circle prop set is a bit industrial looking, sort of like what a large pipe might look like, if you spent time hanging out in a big pipe in silver pants and glammed up makeup, that is.

I have barely scratched the surface with the multitude of poses and theme packs that are on offer at Long Awkward Pose, so you’ll definitely want to get thee over there and test out the demos available.  Make sure to take lindens with you, and don’t forget to click on her subscribe-o-matic sign if you’re not already subscribed, so you can be informed when she has her semi-sekkrit sales for her group members.

Credits below the cut: Read more…

I wasn’t intending to post anything on my blog this week but animation/pose reviews, but then I got the opportunity to review the new Enayla collection from Punch Drunk before its official release tomorrow, and damnit, I couldn’t help myself. It’s not because of the collection itself (though I definitely like it, and think Iris did really well with it), but because of her inspiration, Linda Bergkvist. I first became aware of her work back from my Sims 2 days, since Linda herself was quite popular as a Sims 2 skins creator. Her username in that community is Enayla, and her skins are arguably the best available. It’s been wished time and time again by everyone I know that Enayla would come to Second Life and bring her gorgeous work with her, but alas, I have yet to see that happen.

For now, enjoy Punch Drunk’s ode to a great artist.

The first dress to stand out to me was Neliquele, due to the gorgeous detailing on the back. Sexy and unusual in its detailing, I immediately started scrolling for the perfect pose to show it off. The texturing is really well done and from the notecard provided by Iris, has baked in light and shadow. Her hard work definitely shows in this beautiful dress, though there is a flaw at the back of the neck with the halter strap sort of fading.

On the left is the beautiful Spoiled, a chartreuse (gawd I love that word) frock with a flair. I think this might be my favourite, simply because of the colour and fabric texture, which is, again, gorgeous.

On the right is Rose, which reminds me more of a fairy dress, with the laces across the torso and the bottom of the skirt. Soft, and pretty, you’ll feel like a fairy princess when you slip this one on.

I have no doubt that you’ll be seeing these dresses elsewhere on the feed, so I won’t show you all of them, and instead leave you wondering what the remaining three dresses in the Enayla collection by Punch Drunk look like.

Credits below the cut. Read more…

The other day in a group chat, it was mentioned that hardly anyone on the feed reviews animations and poses. I’m not exactly sure why that is, other than I guess poses are taken for granted and people tend to focus on clothes more. But, it could be argued, that clothes would look hideous no matter how good they are, without the proper pose to best show them off.

So with that in mind, I am launching a week of animation/pose review here on Be Less Stupid! I appreciate those who can manipulate our avatars in ways that that evoke expression and feelings, no clothes even required.

Today I am focusing on Striking Poses, where owner Zelly Mornington makes poses based on photos of celebrities.

These poses are pretty good, and move smoothly from one animation to the next, which is really important to me, since I hate jerking from one to the next. I know, I know, they’re only in my pose stand, but still. From what I understand, it’s a process in uploading to ensure their smoothness, not when you’re making them, so there’s really no excuse to have them all herky-jerky.

The set of poses based on Cameron Diaz is playful and fun, just like the actress herself. So, I chose a fun outfit to match, and I think this one delivers in perfect harmony with the season.

I don’t normally think of Drew Barrymore as a sex kitten, but she has definitely had her moments, and as she’s grown older and more into her looks, she seems a bit more comfortable in her skin. The above poses are definitely falling into the sexy category, and the entire pack is pretty nice.

Dita Von Teese is a legendary burlesque dancer, formerly married to the freakiest freak of them all, Marilyn Manson. So what would you expect from a pack based on her, other than incredibly sexy and provocative poses? Most of these are sitting poses, which are fantastic, but I wanted to show as many poses as possible, so I chose two of the standing poses.

If you’re one of those people who drools over celebrities in the gossip magazines (and come on, you know you’re out there!), then you should definitely get down to Striking Poses and try them out, or grab them from Onrez if you’re in a hurry (I won’t promote SLX so if you really must use that site, her link is in her profile).

Credits below the cut. Read more…

Twosome is a little store that I had heard about from Cat, but never actually been to. I had been meaning to go there, but it wasn’t until I needed to escape the Expo that I decided to go down and take a look (and they donated a prize for the raffle too, yay!)

They make casual clothes, mostly shirts and tops of all sorts, but it’s all very well textured and totally cute!

Awwwww, who doesn’t love Bambi?  And that scene in the beginning of the movie where the hunter kills his mom is easily like one of the top ten saddest moments in movie history (don’t even front and pretend you  don’t feel the same way).  So having that little cutie patootie on my shirt rocks, especially since now everyone knows just how much I love animals.  I’d much rather spend time with animals than people (shhhhh).

Sometimes, you just need a sexy little wrap cardigan.  The ultimate in casual and sexy chic, the grape colour (I think it’s technically in the brown colour family but it definitely looks more grapey/pruney to me) is perfectly paired with some dark jeans and some beautiful jewelry.

Lately, I’ve really been digging t-shirts in all forms, but preferably cute ones, because, well, I like to look cute.   There is an abundance of exactly this kind of shirt there, and one of my favourites is the Retro Strawberry <3 Tee.  Like all of their items, the texturing is amazing, and of course, hand-drawn like so many of the best clothing shops are.

I think you could go to any store in SL and find sexy, frilly, lacy lingerie, but casual, boyish, cute cotton undies are a much rarer breed.  Which is why I was totally psyched to find the 2-pack of panties (center and right).  Then this morning, after I’d been sitting on this massive folder of Twosome clothes for a couple of weeks, I saw Grazia’s post with this matching bra!  I guess I hadn’t let the store rez enough to see it, or maybe it didn’t exist then, who knows, but I snapped it up, because I’m such a dork that way, wanting matching undies.  I am eagerly waiting for the matching bra to the blue and yellow undies *cough*.

The mix-n-match fatpack (left set) comes in four colours, and shown here is plum.  Again, it’s not too fancy to be conceivably wearing under your favourite jeans and tank, but not too casual you’d be embarrassed to be in a car accident or something.  I know, I know, no car accidents in SL, but ya know what I mean.

One of the things I like most about Twosome is the unexpected cutouts of contrasting fabric.  While the back of the Early Summer top could easily be a keyhole cutout, they manage to mix it up and make it unexpected.  This is not the only top they do that with, and it’s a unique and fairly unusual way to look at clothes, and totally welcome.

The only thing that disappointed me in the store was some of the stocking/leggings.  The seams are not the best, but with all of the reviews I’ve done, all of the amazing designers, I think very few of them have *not* had this problem.  So, I tend to give them a bit of slack when it comes to leg seams.  I mean, I’m no designer and to have their clothes look this good gets all my respect, so I can live with a bit of a seam problem on the legs.  But, just in case you’re the type of person who cannot, you can see that some of the leggings have obvious problems, and some do not.

I think I spent a few K, buying up virtually everything in the store, including poses, and it was infinitely worth it.  I know that Twosome will make its way into my regular rotation, and you’ll be seeing me in these clothes a lot.

Visit Twosome at Floyd

Designer Saeya Nyanda of Kyoot Army has made a name for herself with gritty, funky, more neko-inspired fashion in the past but more recently, she’s branched out into sleek, sexy, vibrant pieces that are infinitely more feminine and, dare I say it? mainstream, but of course with her own stamp on it.

The Electro ballet outfit has an amazing leotard base, with a prim skirt that you can choose to wear, or not. And a stripey tube underneath that you can choose to wear or not…but if you don’t wear it, your nips totally show in the front. Which, if you’re me, is a problem, but I’ve seen plenty of…avatars out there who don’t seem to mind walking around with their bewbs hanging out, so whatever floats your boat. This is also available in several colours, but I stuck with the basics for now.

I am always on the lookout for well-done system skirts. I know, they give you a giant ass and finding anims that don’t warp the shit out of them is difficult too, but I can’t help myself! They’re so sophisticated and sleek, and the New Money Wool dress definitely fits that description. Available in a plethora of bright colours, as well as your more standard, black, white and grey options, it’s a mix-and-matcher’s dream with all of the layers and different belt options. One thing that’s missing though, is a fatpack *cough*

There are so many ways to create a swimsuit in SL, but sadly for us, a lot of designers don’t put a lot of creativity into making something new and very different. The Stripey Bikini is not such a suit though, and my absolute favourite part is the buckle back-closure. I am not a fan of thong bikinis, and the coverage on this one is perfect for me. The Last Resort One swimsuit is actually not listed under Saeya’s name when you purchase it, so I’m not sure if it’s a new partner, or for this particular item only, or what…but I do know I love the design, especially the back, which I fail in showing you, but trust me, it’s pretty. This colour was a gift to me by my lovely boyfriend who knows my favourite colour is navy <3. And even though it doesn’t come with one of the textured thin electro belts, I felt like giving it a bit of an 80’s flair workout leotard look to it, then adding a contrasting red bracelet to make sure I look really ready to break a sweat now

You may be one of those who curses and maligns someone for stepping outside of their own box with something new, but I have to give Saeya some credit where credit is due: Not everyone is limited with their style likes and comforts, and while she may fully love the grungified look, she may also like to dress up all girly sometimes too. So stop being bitches about it and just don’t buy the new stuff if it’s not your style, sheesh!

Visit the new, and different, Silent.

Disclaimer: I am now sick with a supposed sinus infection so forgive me if I ramble and sound totally whacked in the following post. kthxbai.

How I loves me some Decoy. That enchanting nymph, Annette Voight, has yet again won over my heart (not that she ever left) with her latest mega-release, full of bright colours, scrumptious fabrics and delectable designs. Not to mention one’s ass always looks like it’s carved from marble when wearing her jeans.
Enough with the gushing, on with the clothes!

Colour seems to be the key with the latest release, and every item comes in a plethora of rainbow-bright hues. And doesn’t it annoy you when a designer does a huge release in multiple colours, but none of the colours match or look good together? Me too! Luckily for us, Decoy doesn’t do that and a lot of the colours are the same from piece to piece, and complement each other nicely.

The Margeaux jacket is cropped, belted, has poofy sleeves and an excellent collar. Not enough for you? Okay, how about optional white trim? This is such a sexy little jacket, so well-made that I couldn’t take it off for two days, and I and usually not one for showing off my pixel tummy. But I can’t help myself in this case.

Manzano is one of the best new halters I’ve seen in awhile. I absolutely LOVE the ruffled tier but even if you personally don’t, the top is completely finished without it, so you can be less girly than I feel like being.

There’s a reason why I wear Decoy’s jeans so often - it’s because it makes my ass look like a rock star. The textures are divine, and they’re so bootylicious that anyone can wear these and have a rockin’ ass. Two options for the leg prims doesn’t hurt either, so you can have flared slouchy pant legs, or just a simple slight flare. These are the Genesis 10 jeans, which you can also get in a capri style, and they come in tons of colours.

Dalina, Dalina, Dalina. A top with any other name would still rock, if it was this top. Dalina features a scooped back with the buttons going down, and a v-neck with the bodice that hugs each curve, creating amazing cleavage.

Sanrio is a swimsuit that you can either wear as a two-piece, or if you’re modest like me, a really pretty halter one-piece.  It comes in several tonal colours, as well as some midnight-based colours as well.

In the centre picture, I am wearing the City Breeze shorts in Aqua. I’m pretty pleased with these, and happy that Annette didn’t do prim cuffs on them since I rarely like how those turn out.  In my opinion, they’re not needed.

Definitely make sure you run, not walk, to Decoy to pick up fatpacks of all of these items.  There were also some pretty scarves but I ran out of money o.O  I can haz your money to buy these?

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.