Stop crying about yourselves already!
Blahbity Blah Blah….so a lot of you got taken by Hart Larsson’s PXL skins, which now have a DMCA filed against them by Laqroki’s Mallory Cowen…big deal.
it’s not the first time someone has blogged raving about something that turns out to have been stolen, and it definitely won’t be the last.
With all due respect to Sasy Scarborough, does her letter really need to be reposted & reinterpreted on every other blog? Come on already.
Get a hold of yourselves and stop being so alarmist and dramatic already. And stop posting the letter on every single blog, because it all goes to the same damn feed!
After a lot of hype and some waiting and delays, Stiletto Moody released her new shoes and boots, for Generation 2. I’m not sure what exactly makes them Generation 2, but that’s not the point. When I heard what the prices were for these, my jaw dropped and I could not believe that any one pair of shoes could cost so much. The only way I’d EVER consider spending so much for a pair of shoes in SL is if they were colour-changeable (like a slimmed-down fatpack). But, they’re not that. It’s one colour with a bunch of different options, most of which are wretched and should be immediately turned off (bling, heel-click sounds and a sexy walk). The only thing that I like is that they have an auto-upgrade feature built in, but even that is not worth the excessively high price tag - Akeyo has the same things for their shoes, and they are colour-changeable with tons of options for less than half the price.
I should mention that I do have some of Stiletto Moody’s shoes that I’ve picked up as part of the 40% off sale of last season’s stock. I think the idea of “seasons” in SL is a bit weird for shoes, since they look like the same sort of thing to me, but at 40% off, the price is a lot more reasonable and starts to approach what they should be selling for.
Rather than just make a post about how much I think this is total crap, and overpriced hype that everyone should boycott until their prices fall more in line with others making shoes that are similar or better in quality, I decided it’d be more productive (and more fun) to show off some shoes by other creators who are doing AMAZING work in sculpted shoes, and not charging an arm and a leg for them.
J’s new Cross Belt pumps are L$350 per pair, or L$1200 for a fatpack of six colours. J’s has made a big splash in the shoe world as of late, because of his optional sculpted toes that are included. Usually, there are two versions of each shoe so you can either choose the toes or not, with only a small additional charge for the toes.
Personally, the toes kinda creep me out. I can see that they do look better in some ways, but in others…it’s just too weird. Why is it so weird for me? I dunno. I don’t have prim manicures either. But these newest shoes were only available with the sculpted toes, so I got them, and okay, I can see the appeal. My feet look pretty cute. I know that tons of people are loving these, and for only L$350 per pair, it’s a pretty rockin’ deal.
Kitties Lair has been another shoe designer I’m liking a lot lately too. At L$290 per pair for her newest “Anita” heels, they’re obviously fairly priced, when you consider the average price of sculpted shoes in SL. They’re well-made and fit your feet really well. Shoes that do not hug the foot well is one of my big pet peeves with shoes here, and can make me hate even a really nice pair of shoes. They have a bling option which you can turn off with a menu, and the nice thing about them is that once you turn them off once, you don’t have to do so every time you wear them.
Maitreya’s Frenzy shoes are some of her latest releases and are L$400 per pair. There are so many colours and options available that there are four separate fatpacks at L$1500 each. These are hot hot shoes, and Maitreya’s quality is bar none. Onyx and Beau make some of my favourite shoes, and if I’m ever searching for a pair of shoes for an outfit, chances are Maitreya made something perfect to match.
Shiny Things’ Fallingwater Cellardoor’s work is, in a word, amazing. Her shoes and boots are of the highest quality and very recognizable as Shiny Things, which I think is an excellent thing. The Belles debuted at the Shoe Expo last month, and they sell for L$350 each. These are some of my favourite shoes right now and my only beef (besides the no fatpacks thing) is that they don’t come in more colours!
I should mention that all of the above designers, except Stiletto Moody, offer demos of their products. So you can actually see what they look like on your feet before you sink your hard-earned money into them. Gee, you’d think charging so much for a pair of shoes would allow you to make a demo for your customers, wouldn’t you?
So there you have it. Four different designers whose work is as good as or better than the shoes you’ll find at Stiletto Moody’s store, for a fraction of the cost. There is NO REASON for shoes to be so expensive in SL. And thankfully, the other designers are not pricing themselves as high just because SM does.
Luth Brodie of Reel Expression has long been regarded as the queen of poses for models. I use her poses often on this blog and she has so many different sets and different themes that you can pretty much find anything you want to fit any outfit you want.
The quality of her poses have vastly improved in recent months, with the poses moving fluidly from one to the next. I’m not sure if she’s updated her old poses with that, but if she has, I hope she offers free upgrades to people who bought her sets before 
The Swimsuit pose pack is one of the newest sets. It’s got some really sexy poses in that are perfect for showing off lingerie or swimwear, or even just clothes, since no one ever said you have to use the poses only as intended.
The other newest set is Pinup, and it’s, you guessed it, a little more sexy, saucy, daring, all those things. I chose what I considered three of the most “pinup-y” of all the pinup poses, and I definitely think these are extremely cute. My one beef is that for the kneeling pose on the right, I had to make my breast sliders at less than 25 so my hands wouldn’t sink in to them. I normally don’t have very big breasts, but 25 is a bit too small for my taste. Having options for those with slightly bigger breasts would be a bonus.
It’s a bit of a short write-up today, stuff happens and prevents me from being as wordy as Luth and Reel Expression deserves. So I’ll leave you with the pictures and tell you that you’re most definitely missing out if you are missing stuff from Reel Expression, ESPECIALLY since she reduced the price of her sets by half the amount!
I hope you enjoyed my week of Animations & Poses. There are some incredibly talented people making poses, and I’ve had a lot of fun this week on these posts. There are some others I didn’t showcase, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have the utmost respect for them and their work - it just means I can only do much in a week. But I think this will be a regular feature - animations spotlights - so stay tuned!
Read more…
When I think of Maitreya, I usually think shoes. I can’t help myself; Maitreya makes some really beautiful shoes. But the ultra-talented duo behind Maitreya can do way more than just shoes, and one of the things they excel at are poses and animations.
You’ve long been able to see their modeling animations on every runway, accompanying the latest fashions, but my favourites are their static poses. I find them much more “model-y” than the average pose, and if I’m wearing something I consider very high-fashion, then I tend to break out the Maitreya poses.
A few months ago, Maitreya released two sets of poses, including a set of standing poses. These are by far some of my favourite all-time poses, but they’re so recognizable and unique that I don’t use them often for fear of overdoing it. All of the above poses are from that pack.
With every pose, I am automatically drawn to a more…sophisticated, unusual look than what I’d normally wear. I am drawn to casual wear - jeans, t-shirts, chucks or sandals and I’m set. But it’s like virtually impossible to wear that kind of stuff and hop on the pose stand with these poses - it’s unnatural and I just feel goofy. So I always glam up a bit.
With every new release of their latest beautiful sculpted shoes, Maitreya would tease us with these really interesting ad posters for them. The model would always be sitting or standing, but your eye was automatically drawn to their shoes. The reason for these is because Beauvoir would make new poses specially for the shoes, and it was aggravating to say the least that they were selfishly keeping the poses to themselves!!! Just kidding (kinda), but then along with their standing pose set a couple of months ago (maybe longer, who can tell now), they released a full pack of all of these sitting poses they had been teasing us with for months.
Maitreya is one of my favourite stores in all of SL, and Onyx and Beau are two really lovely, nice people I’ve had the pleasure of talking to now and again, especially with the recent shoe expo they were so generous with in their participation. If you go, make sure to take a buttload of cash and don’t just hit up the pose area, but the shoes, clothes (especially the *M*A*i*i*K*I* section - I hope that’s the right formatting for that sub-brand) and hair they have on offer.
Sorry, no credits today…not a very good day. But IM me in-world if you see something you don’t recognize and I’m happy to tell you. Maybe I’ll even update the pose with credits, but given my laziness, that’s unlikely.
Surrealia Anatine, the gifted creator behind ANA_Mations, has been my friend a very long time, probably the oldest friend I have in SL. We’ve had our ups and downs, but we’re always there for each other in good times and in bad.
With that slightly cliched but very true statement out of the way, I can say that ANA_Mations, while not totally of my taste, has raised the bar for quality, at least in my humble opinion. I’m not saying that just because she’s my friend, but because I believe that she set the standard in the way animations are uploaded, saved and sold in SL. Smooth transitioning between poses/animations was not common-place before she opened her store, and even for a time afterwards, but it’s common now, and considered sloppy and amateurish to have your pose jerk in between.
Most of Surrealia’s work is in AO’s, with gentle breathing motions and subtle, realistic movements. I don’t think I can adequately describe just how well-made they are without you trying a demo out yourself.
Surr’s latest release is the couples HUD, a menu-driven alternative to having her simultaneous release of fourteen couples animated poses, which, it has to be said, is vastly superior and less messy than the poseball option. The nice thing is that she is not charging any extra for the HUD version, which some creators and designers insist is worth more, even if you don’t really like or want that option.
For my photography pal up here and I, they required some adjustments to fit us properly, but the instructions included with the HUD are fairly clear, if a bit complicated when compared to the poseballs by themselves.
The Kyoot AO has always been one of my favourites, and when you look at the stands included, is there any wonder why? The poses shown in this picture are of the same stand, but with a transition built in. As you can see, they are fairly similar, but it’s a natural change that doesn’t look weird, and doesn’t have you standing there rudely yawning and stretching in people’s faces all day.
I must say, I look damn kyoot! in this AO, and I bet you would too. It immediately made me want to put on something crazy and fun, something I probably wouldn’t normally wear without umm…massive amounts of hallucinogens (I don’t wear stockings and heels with shorts, like, ever, it just doesn’t happen.)
The Fairy AO is, in a word, spectacular. I’m not sure I could even do it justice in this post, but I’ll do my best. There are ten “stands” even though none of them are stands as such; fairies don’t stand, after all, they hover and flit around. This AO embodies the feeling of a fairy’s life quite well, and is one of the most complete AO’s in ANA_Mations, with turns, crouches, flying, etc. You would be well-rewarded to pop down and try them out for yourself. Playing around in Straylight will never be the same after that.
I love being a fairy. I went through quite the fairy phase on my flickr, washing out pics and just generally adoring the way I looked in Windlight. I’d prance around in the sky where I lived, but I never had an AO to do it properly. Now, I can fly around and actually *be* a fairy, which is the coolest thing ever. Too bad I’m in a film noir phase right now, but the fairy will no doubt live again.
The Photographer’s Boudoir Chaise was released quite a while ago, and caused quite a fuss at the time, since it was the first such item of its kind, ending up all over the feed. It’s menu-driven and has 38 poses in it, everything from lying seductively on your back, to crouching on your hands & knees, mayhaps ready to be spanked? Dirty! And utterly sexy. And now that I don’t crash from every blue box or menu popping up on my screen, a lot more fun to play with too. It’s also colour-changeable for both the cushions and the chaise itself, so you can fit your mood and not the other way around.
Surr recently acquired herself a Sim, named it Jabberwocky, and finally got to live out her dream of a fantasy Alice in Wonderland-type place all her own. Surr’s always been very into Alice in Wonderland, but not the sanitized-for-your-protection Disneyland version. You can watch some of her movies based on Alice on her youtube page if you like. She has her mainstore in the Queen of the large chessboard. Several smaller stores are dotted around in various pawns and such, but I think the coolest part of the Sim design is everything you can find underground. It’s amazingly creative and well-done and worth a visit for anyone. Make sure to turn your draw distance all the way up though, because you’ll want to see it all the way up in the sky to view it all properly.
Credits under the cut. Read more…
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…
