It’s been a while since I have blogged Phoenix Rising – and that’s unfortunate because the clothes are even more distinctive and fun. Take this lovely outfit called Motive, is there anything more fun that that lovely plaid corset with the wide sash and belt?

It even includes the lovely stockings with a sexy seamed leg. The shoes are the oh-so-chic Claire shoes from Baiastice. I just love their shape with the pointed toes, the sleek styling and the lovely pleated embellishment. My only wish is that the soles were black just because unlike real life, when you see the soles of shoes in SL, you sometimes don’t realize it’s the sole and think it’s the foot. I think I have zoomed in on these shoes a few more than too many times to make sure they fit.  They are perfectly made and perfectly fit and in real life when you see the sole of a shoe, it never occurs to you that it could be the foot.

I am not wearing the blouse that came with this even though it is adorable with a lovely fabric and wonderful puffed sleeves. It’s a short top that leaves a bit of bare belly and you all know me, I just don’t care for that look. The outfit does include a camisole undershirt to cover up, but I decided I would just rather wear one white shirt. Besides, this really highlights how this outfit is made up of effective separates. I can wear each individual piece on its own because the layers are made to give me that option.

My jewelry choices included earrings from Zaara Couture and this adorable seasonal necklace from SugarCube. I love how it interacts with the corset. It’s fun, lively and bright.

The hair is Dylan from Tiny Bird – another lovely, whimsical style from someone who is fast becoming a favorite hair stylist for me. The skin is a Vanity Universe Skin Fair highlight – a skin from Atomic Bambi that is just lovely and that lush red lipstick is perfect for this outfit.

****STYLE NOTES******
Promotional Copies are denoted by a Bold R

• Poses: Torridwear
• Skin: Atomic Bambi LANA Sunblush Siren R
• Eyes: PXL Creations Glow Yellow Green R
• Lashes: Lelutka Diva Prim Lashes
• Hair: Tiny Bird Dylan
• Shirt: Sprawl Oxford Button Front White
• Corset/Skirt/Belt/Stockings: Phoenix Rising Motive R
• Shoes: Baiastice Claire R
• Jewelry: Sugarcube Apple Necklace R , Zaara Melange Earrings

posted by Gidge Uriza

This chemise with garters is a sexy addition to your lingerie collection – of which I know you always need more. I chose the steele blue color because apparently I’m stuck on blue today but it comes in a rainbow of beautiful hues for whatever your favorite color might be.

I added the beautifully made stockings from Kunglers from the Rachel set – it’s a great match up.

This skin I’m wearing today isn’t new but it’s one I haven’t gotten to trot out – it’s LUTHIEN from PXL Creations. I should’ve worn my elven ears.

I want that lipstick color in RL.

Style Notes

• Shape – Gidge Custom Shape by Hatchy Mills
• Skin – PXL Creations – Luthien
• Hair – Exile – Grace – Violet Dawn
• Eyes -PXL Creations – Glow Eyes – Fate
• Lingerie – *Linc* – Petite Net Steele Blue
• Shoes – From Chic Boutique which is closed – sowwies
• Pearls – Caroline’s broken strand
• Nails – PXL Cretations – manicure in black

posted by Gidge Uriza

Icy blue is one of my favorite colors for the holidays.  This release from Sysy is an elegant tafetta textured gown that I was in love with the first minute I saw it.

It’s a great match up for the Paper Couture Pearl Menagerie jewelry – the icy tones look great together.

It was only a matter of hours before I broke out PXL CREATIONS new July skin now wasn’t it? Once again Hart has created a gorgeous feminine skin with a fantastic set of lip colors and eye makeups.  I’m in love.

Style Note:

• Shape Gidge Custom Shape by hatchy Mills
• Skin – PXL Creations – July – Natural Wine – MEB
• Hair – Mirone – Faye – Blonde
• Eyes-  Poetic Color – Lavender Fields
• Jewelry – Paper Couture – Pearl Menagerie
• Dress – Sysy’s – Noelle

A mix of old and new bring this warm and cozy outfit together. For additional pictures and style notes, see after the cut.

Maitreya hair and boots bracket this outfit with cozy comfort.

She could have named this That Hair and folks would know exactly what hair - it's that exciting.

Another stunning makeup from the new PXL July skin line. I love the Passion lip color. The skins were released today at the Vanity Universe Skin Fair

****STYLE NOTES******
Promotional Copies are denoted by a Bold R

• Poses: StoRin
• Skin: PXL July Natural Dark Eyes Passion MEB R
• Eyes: PXL Creations Glow Yellow Green R
• Lashes: Lelutka Diva Prim Lashes
• Hair: Maitreya Voluminous Scarf Hair #3
• Cardigan: Ohmai Feather Cardigan Black Crow
• Top: MichaMi Fearne in Beige R
• Skirt: RunoRuno Simple Skirt
• Stockings: Nova Cashmere Charcoal
• Shoes: Maitreya Soho Boots Black Suede
• Jewelry Rozoregalia Archelon

Hart Larsson’s long-awaited July from PXL Creations is launched today at the Skin Fair @ Vanity Universe and it’s worth the wait. This is the sort of skin that could move a poet to write an ode. It’s a masterful demonstration of how light and shadow highlight, define and create beautiful skin. It had me scrambling to recall a poem by Pablo Neruda called Ode to a Naked Beauty. Don’t get too excited, though, my photos are better suited to a poem called Ode to a Bathing Beauty.

The line of your back
separating you
falls away into paler regions
then surges
to the smooth hemispheres
of an apple,
and goes splitting
your loveliness
into two pillars
of burnt gold, pure alabaster,
to be lost in the twin clusters of your feet,
from which, once more, lifts and takes fire
the double tree of your symmetry:
flower of fire, open circle of candles,
swollen fruit raised
over the meeting of earth and ocean.

from Ode to a Naked Beauty by Pablo Neruda

I love the lovely imperfections – the moles and freckles scattered so lightly on the belly and back. I like the fit, yet femininely soft stomach and the aristocratically elegant collarbone. The skin tones are wonderful – ranging from the fairest Natural tone to a bold Dark tone in rich tones without a hint of the ruddy bronzes that make me think of spray tan and tanning creams. The way this skin reacts to changes in lighting is amazing  and I had fun taking lots of snaps. You can see the entire set here.

The three lighter tones are released today and the two darker tones will be released next week. Each tone has 5 eye shadows and 8 lip colors and each combination of the two comes with three eyebrows, plain of freckled skin and two cleavage options. I did the math, that’s 480 different skins for each skin tone. 20,400 different skins in the entire skin line. It kind of makes my head spin when I think about it like that. However, I don’t want to think about it like that, I prefer thinking about it like this:

It is not so much light that falls
over the world
extended by your body
its suffocating snow,
as brightness, pouring itself out of you,
as if you were
burning inside.

Under your skin the moon is alive.

also from Ode to a Naked Beauty by Pablo Neruda

***STYLE NOTES******
Promotional Copies are denoted by a Bold R

• Poses: Reel Expression
• Skin: PXL July NAT DE PAssion MEB F R
• Eyes: PXL Creations Glow Yellow Green R
• Lashes: Lelutka Diva Prim Lashes
• Hair: Maitreya Green
• Lingerie: Dutch Touch STiP No 3
• Shoes: Baiastice Claire R

Posted by Gidge Uriza

Since I never throw anything away, I had these excellent ribbed tights that were part of a funky disco outfit from Pixel Dolls last year. When I saw this sweater/skirt set at Honey Soul – I knew they’d make a great fall look.

I love the bright red skirt, which brings some pop to this otherwise grey outfit.  I’ve added the beads from Kungler’s Nadja set (those lovely Kunglers almost always include accessories which can be used for anything!) which makes a nice finished look I think.

I wore this around all night on Thursday, not shopping. 

I am wearing the Picks Reward gift from Exodi – Lily in Cedar. Delish, isn’t it?

I’ve also picked up EXODI’s new eyes – Look Into My ….in purple pastel.  I tried to get some in the lucky chair BUT ALAS it was not meant to be. I did TP in Celebrity Trollop so she was a grand prize winner, but alas, I was always a bridesmaid – never a bride.

Gotta try again next time I am on. 

Style Notes:

Bold R Indicates a Review Item

• Shape – Gidge Custom Shape
• Skin – Exodi – Lily – Cedar (picks reward giftie)
• Hair – Truth – Charlotte – Barley
• Eyes – EXODI – Look into my – Pastels – Purple
• Dress – Honey Soul – Sweater set
• Tights – Pixel Dolls – Bootie Shorts set tights
• Boots – Digit Darkes – Clyde Boots in Raven
• Nails – PXL Creations – Manicure in Red #1

Content theft would fade as a problem if the market for stolen products dried up. Some folks think copying and theft and sharing stolen content is an acceptable part of the internet culture. After all, the Pirate Party has two seats in the European Parliament. People justify it as some sort of new frontier of share and share alike, or blame the victims as greedy corporatists or minimize the theft as mere pennies and meaningless. Not only are these justifications false, they fail to recognize that content theft hurts consumers.

I am going to list a few ways I think theft hurts those of us who are not content creators. I would not be surprised if some of you can think of others.

1. Distrust is I think the worst result of content theft. Even innocent behavior like standing still for 20-30 minutes in a store (taking a phone call in real life perhaps) can lead to suspicion as that is a common behavior of thieves who stand there copying content. What if you buy a lot of demos?  Lots of thieves buy demo hair, for example, and then delete the attachments.
2. Anti-theft measures that affect the shopping experience such as click to show you are a real person popup windows. The CopyBot Quit chat spam that greets you one arrival in a store. Yes, I know it doesn’t work. People still use it.
3. Anti-theft measure that affect content quality/convenience. This includes things like wearable items that disappear if you rez them. If you like to wear multiple items sometimes you might want to rez two wearable prims and link them to save an attachment point, but thanks to copybotters some designers add scripts that make things poof and disappear from your inventory if they are rezzed. The increasing use of no-mod permissions limiting our ability to edit our items to fit, our ability to link items to save attachment points and our ability to fine-tune our hair color to our liking.
4. Increased use of resize scripts for everything that needs fitting – which means increased lag and more difficulty in teleporting – unless you remember to delete the resize script (if you can.) Moreover, you know darn well that most people are not deleting those scripts which means more lag for everyone.
5. Linden Labs is planning to restrict the use of alternate viewers to those who they certify. This will  discourage innovation and improvements in the viewer experience.
6. Great designers quitting and leaving because they are discouraged. Mirai Jun of Ce Cubic Effect was such an innovator in clothing form and design that I eagerly awaited every release to see what new advance in sculptie use he would produce. Just one designer of many designers who have quit in discouragement at the level of theft, the acceptance of theft by residents and the dilatory response from Linden Labs.
7. Anti-Inspect Shields and the tremendous lag they produce. These are mostly worn by people trying to hide their stolen content. If it’s not true about you, well, that’s another example of the suspicion drawn on innocent behavior by content theft. However, since they produce tremendous lag, no polite and considerate resident would wear one anyway.
8. Loss of community. Content theft creates distrust and drama. It breeds anger and resentment. Friendships are lost, feelings are hurt and there is a huge emotional toll. Even the responses to content theft engender anger, drama and anxiety. This damages all of us.

So, fight back against content theft for a better community with more designers, more innovation and more fun and friendship for us all.  For information on how to respond when you find stolen content and how to recognize suspicious content, go to The Artist’s Voice or Step Up!

The Designers United event is always fascinating. It’s wonderful to see the way creative minds percolate away, bubbling up with new and exciting ideas even when they focus on one central theme. This time the theme was crows and there were some truly fabulous designs produced. It reminded me, though, of a dress from Redgrave – this Cord Sequin Mini-Dress I bought several months ago, so I pulled it out to mix in with some of the Designers United pieces for a new look. The hot demi-gloves come with the Redgrave dress. The bracelets are from Zaara and Gabriel.

The fantastic contasting leggings are Couverture’s Crow Tights for the DU event. The shoes, however, are also an older item – from COCO. I love the way they highlight the wonderful leggings.

I thought this fun updo from fri.day was perfect to highlight the headband from split pea. The earrings are from Glow and both are made for the DU event as well. The skin is Milk Motion’s Alice and I think it’s pretty obvious that I have fallen in love with it. I keep dragging it out to wear again and again.

****STYLE NOTES******
Promotional Copies are denoted by a Bold R

• Poses: Inari & StoRin
• Skin: Milk Motion Alice
• Eyes: PXL Creations Glow Yellow Green R
• Lashes: Lelutka Diva Prim Lashes
• Hair: fri.day Tatum
• Dress: Redgrave Cord Sequin Mini Dress
• Tights: Couverture Crow Tights
• Earrings: Glow Flexi Crow Earrings
• Headband: Split Pea Sometimes it Rains Inside my head
• Bracelets: Zaara Sadaf Shell Bangles, Gabriel Aphrodite Bracelet Pearl

posted by Gidge Uriza

I’m online so intermittently lately – sigh. I MISS everything. But I got sooo lucky that I caught this release from Ingenue. I can’t say enough about how much I always LIKE Ingenue when I wear it – and I should freaking blog them more.

I’m a huge fan of a well made system skirt with gorgeous, rich texture and this classic retrol styled GENE dress doesn’t disappoint.  This color or the red it also comes in would make a totally AWESOME holiday party dress.

I paired this dress with the Shiny Felicity from Tesla which is a modern take on the classic slingback – with platform lift for a fun look.   I like the anachronism of the shoes with the vintage style dress – nothing says you have to go 100% vintage when you shop at Ingenue.

I wearing Katherine from Free Speerit in the Glamour makeup. Desidelia makes a pretty face, as always.

Style Notes:

Review items noted with a bold R

• Shape – Gidge Custom Shape by Hatchy Mills
• Skin – Free Speerit – Katherine in Glamour R
• Hair – Laqroki – Priss in Sunkissed
• Eyes – PXL Creations – Glow Eyes – FATE R
• Dress – INGENUE – Gene in Emerald R
• Shoes – Tesla – Shiny Felicity in Black
• Nails – Pxl Creations

I got a Black Magic Woman.
I got a Black Magic Woman.
Yes, I got a Black Magic Woman,
She’s got me so blind I can’t see;
But she’s a Black Magic Woman and
she’s trying to make a devil out of me.

I’m not to proud to steal a comment from my Flickr photo of this dress. Harper left that comment for the dress and while I had not thought of that when I put the look together, I liked the idea. Actually, when i was putting it together I was thinking of Logan’s unfortunate outfit on Project Runway last week, the one with 40 zippers. Now, this dress from Exclusiva is a much better example of zippers as embellishment and a much hotter look, in my opinion.

I wonder if the “Macy’s Accessory Wall” had these luscious zipper booties from COCO, if Logan may have been saved? Sadly, he did not and he was Auf’ed. Poor fellow.

I went to the Shiny Things Accessory Wall instead, (wink). Seriously, Shiny Things is not just for shoes, there are some magnificent jewelry sets there. I adore the long, long Ruma necklace and the Pyra cascade earrings. They just rock! All of them are in a set of silver jewelry that is one of the best jewelry bargains on the grid.

I think I faired better than the models who went to the Tresemme Hair Salon as well. This is the Dakota hairstyle from Cake. Sometimes I wish that Cake would release more hair, more frequently. However, this is hair worth waiting for. It’s just so luscious and arresting.

This makeup is Cleo from Dutch Touch. I really love the look of it, it’s a powerful and sensual face with a real strong “look” about it. I have not worn many Dutch Touch skins because my face structure has not fit them well in the past, but my shape likes Cleo a lot.  I have thought many of the other skins were absolutely gorgeous and wished my face fit them, but it didn’t and I don’t like tweaking my face. I am so excited that this skin looks good, because the makeups are hot and the look is exciting.

I do apologize for the more erratic posting than usual. The flu has been kicking my ass and I have not been well enough some days to post anything.

****STYLE NOTES******
Promotional Copies are denoted by a Bold R

• Poses: Reel Expression
• Skin: Dutch Touch Cleo Cream Smokey
• Eyes: PXL Creations Glow Yellow Green R
• Lashes: Lelutka Diva Prim Lashes
• Hair: Cake Dakota
• Dress: Exclusiva (formerly VictoriaV) Eden Black Jersey R
• Shoes: COCO Zipper Bootie
• Jewelry: Shiny Things Fiorina Bangle, Pyra Cascade Earrings, Ruma Bangle and Ruma Necklace.