FurtaCor fashion group goes rogue

 I've been a member of the FurtaCor VIP group for a few years now but today I just left it. Why? Because the owner has turned it into a vendor free-for-all. Instead of just being focused on her products, Marinahh Mayako has opened the group up to god knows how many vendors. Instead of being focused on her products, I'm now getting group notices from what seems like dozens of different vendors.

Designers, if you want to be a multi-brand outlet, don't mess with your core group.

I'm done with FurtaCor. And they actually made cool stuff for reasonable prices. :(

===

UPDATE: The owner contacted me and said the FurtaCor VIP group is for spam and she has a group just for her shop. I know. I was in both. The shop group ( :::FurtaCor:::Gifts and Discounts) is not worth joining either.

Hilly Haalan - Great fashion, great prices, excellent customer service

I admit it. I'm a value shopper when it comes to Second Life clothing & fashion. My attitude towards prices probably comes from my own experience making and selling my own line of clothing several years ago. If you make an item, price it reasonably, you'll get more than $L in return. You win the loyalty of your customers AND you feel like you've given this crazy virtual world something in return.

I rarely priced anything over $99L and when I did, it was usually something completely and unique and unobtanium elsewhere. Fast forward to 2020 where everything is mesh, has to be modded for 10 different body shapes and requires even more attention to the details. Uggh. I'm glad I'm mostly just a shopper now and only occasionally try to make things.

HUDs make everything funner

In spite of the increased effort that goes into making just one outfit, there are still designers who produce amazing things at reasonable prices. For shoes, nothing beats KC Couture. Usually, when Klari55a (yes that's KC's owner and designer's name) brings out something new, she sells it for $99L for one week via VIP member announcement. Then the price goes up to $149L or $199L. Still a bargain because ALL of KC's shoes are HUD driven meaning you can color customize everything from the soles and insoles to the uppers and laces and buckles. If you like that cute pair of strappy stiletto sandals, you actually get 1000s of variations via the HUD. Literally. I can't tell you the number of times I've bought an outfit that needs a special color of shoe to make it "perfect" and wind up slapping on KC Boston or Suami heels. A few clicks of the HUD later and I've got the perfect match with say blue & white straps or yellow & black straps.

Another one of these great designers is Hilly Haalan (HH). Many of her items, like KC's, are HUD driven so with one purchase you often get 20 or more variations. Often she'll make half the variations in some sort of texture pattern with the other half different solid colors. Or for some of the more risque outfits, you might get both transparent and opaque variations. I can just imagine the work that goes into making versions for Freya, Hourglass, ISIS, Maitreya,Venus and Physique AND having the HUD change out the parts. And just like KC, they are very reasonably priced. HH also does frequent sales.

HH Skyla

So I have a LOT of KC shoes and HH clothing. :-)

Customer service

Which brings me to customer service. I have found HH outfits always fit correctly for my Maitreya Lara body. So a few days ago, I bought a new outfit (Skyla only $99L on SL Marketplace) without demo-ing. (Note that demos are ONLY available at her in world store.) Well for the first time ever, I had a mild complaint. Because the skirt was asymetrical, it couldn't really be alpha'd with the Maitreya Lara HUD. And with any leg movement, my inner thigh would show.

Anyway, I thought it was worth mentioning to Hilly so I did and suggested it probably should be rigged. She explained, not unexpectedly that rigging caused too much texture stretching and for this outfit, the best solution was to alpha part and restrict leg movement using an AO.

She also offered me my choice of a different outfit which I never asked for. I mean for $99L, I'm really not that picky lol. But a very nice gesture none the same. Plus the jacket and semi-bandeau top both work well by themselves as do the crazy high heels.

So what did I pick? A very cool retro look outfit (Tiffany) with bell bottoms, purse, platform heels (which fittingly, barely show from under the jeans) and a delicious cotton gauze looking top. Also $99. See below.

HH Tiffany

Oh and I wouldn't change a thing about it.

SLURL to Hilly Haalan Main Store 

LINK to Hilly Haalan on SLM 

Demos are at Main in-world store only.

New skins from Stix for Fantasy Faire 2020

My friend Pixy Snook has a VERY unique design style when it comes to skins, makeup and other goodies. She has outdone herself on the creative scale with Cosmos skins in 8 different colors for BOM and Omega. Each tone is only $100L exclusively at the Fantasy Faire location!!

SLURL for her store at FF: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Auxentios%20Pass/189/171/49

Cosmos by Stix - PINK

 

Cosmos by Stix - Red1

Halloween Sexii Succubus Snick

Since it's Halloween time, what's better than dragging out your favorite sexy devil costume? Here's mine. It's from Bare@Rose (Belior Lady C2) and works well with my Maitreya Lara body and Lumae Eirtae skin. Hair is Rezology Epicure.

Limited Edition Skin from Stix

Get them while they are hot! Only 35 available -- 10 on Marketplace and 20 at the Stix mainstore. I'm not going to try to show this skin on me because my look is too different. But trust me, Stix skin photos look exactly as intended.

Includes LAQ, Genus, Omega appliers & Classic skins. Body appliers available main store (which are free).

Total price until sold initial 35 are gone is only $300L.

Store: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Coulours/242/110/80

SLM: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Stix-Twee-LIMITED-EDITION-Promo/17474081

Dollarbie wonderfulness (OMG cute)

If you know me, you know I love to shop for inexpensive clothing. Not because I'm cheap but because when I find something really nice, it's rewarding and I can share with friends. Plus anyone who doesn't have a lot of Lindens in their account can get something that won't break the bank.

Today's find is from the SL Marketplace. It's called ShuShu ButtonUp PROMO Set. The cool thing about this outfit is that it comes as a dress with a sort of halter / suspenders look AND as a skirt with a separated corset top.

Yes it look amazing in SL This is natural light (noon, nothing weird).

It also comes with some funky socks and oversized sunglasses which honestly are more like afterthoughts and not really needed.

Yes it's only $1L on SLM. What gets me is that for the price, a few people have whined about minor details and knocked it down to 2 stars. NO NO NO. That's not right.

Anyway, here's the URL to the outfit on SLM.

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/ShuShu-BUTTON-UP-outfit-PROMO-set-SLink-Maitreya-Belleza-Tonic/13707920

Just about every mesh body available is supported too. Shown here with Maitreya Lara and Lumae Eirtae skin.

Two Bento dresses from Arcane Spellcaster

Gramy by Arcane Spellcaster

OK, I admit it. I'm a sucker for the unusual when it comes to fashion. Retro, modern, odd. Anything that looks different from the usual cookie cutter fashions or mesh template outfits. Today's finds came from Arcane Spellcaster at the February 2019 Designer Showcase (link is SLURL).

First up is Gramy. The dress is Bento rigged and comes with an optional "jacket". It's really an interesting outfit especially from the back. Very much an OMG that's so cute moment.

Gramy from back

Gramy is HUD driven and the jacket and dress are separately colored 10 ways. So for $350 you get 10 different outfits or if you care to mix and match the jacket and dress, 10 to the something power lol.

The last view shows how you might color the top and dress separately. Probably would be better if I'd done black and white but oh well.  Click on any of the images to view them full size. Note that there is quite a bit of side boob and the bottom is VERY short so it might not work for some.

Gramy is $350L at the showcase and worth every $L.

Pirette by Arcane Spellcaster

Next up is Pirette, also by Arcane Spellcaster. This one is borderline BDSM but it has an extra feature that really says buy me. The mesh is animated to look like the wind is gently blowing the back of the skirt up from your butt! Sort of a Marilyn Monroe poof on a mini-skirt.

Like Gramy, it comes with a color HUD but with 20 options.  I've show it here in black, teal and bright pink with advanced lighting but it seems to look a bit more natural without advanced lighting.

The designer claims both meshes are original and I have no reason to doubt that. Nothing else like these have crossed my fashion inbox. :)

Pirette is $450L.

For anyone who cares, my skin is Lumae Eirtae, body is Maitreya Lara, head is Utilizator Normie, hair is Roxana by Truth and shoes are Boston by KC.

Side view

Halloween 2018

• 

Cobbled together from 3 outfits and some extras. Skin is by Lumae. Makeup was a freebie from SLM. Lara body.

Specular madness with Advanced Lighting Model in Second Life

Recently I've been playing around more with Second Life's Advanced Lighting Model or ALM. While it's great for photography (enabling cool shadows and all), it wreaks havoc on items with materials that have specular highlights built-in. And while many techies complain about ALM (it can also render mesh weirdly), the default is to turn ALM ON whenever graphics are set above "High" in the Second Life Viewer.

What led me down a very deep ALM rabbit hole was a new dress put out by Hilly Haalan (HH). Honestly, I love Hilly Haalan's outfits. They are reasonably priced and most are HUD-driven with amazing color variations. So for the price of one color-way in a line like Blueberry, you get 20 or more colors and textures from HH. In fact, her HUD textures often make the same exact outfit look completely different with a mouse click or two.

#1 Specular turned on, ALM on

So here's the new dress, Felicia, by HH. You can see in the ad that it basically overlays various colors onto a mesh base.

Now I normally demo everything I can. But in general, HH's outfits have almost always been perfect out of the box when it comes to my Maitreya Lara mesh body.

#2 Specular on, ALM off

Well take a look at the photo of me on the right wearing the same dress in the ad above. (Violet color applied but it happens with all colors.) What happened to all those nice even colors? After posting a few Gyazos to two different mesh body groups (Maitreya Lara Friends and Mesh Body Addicts), I finally got my answer from some smart person. "You have ALM turned on, the dress uses materials and specular is set too high for ALM." Ohhh. OK. I have no idea what you're talking about lol.

After a few explanations in chat, it sorta made sense to me.  So I ended up sending a notecard to Hilly Haalan about the issue. Mega kudos to her. She made a custom version of Felicia with specular removed. So I can wear the dress with ALM turned on and it will still look normal.

 #3 Specular removed, ALM on

As you can see between the last two photos, there is very little difference in the appearance of the dress. However, what you do see is that my skin looks a little more natural and slightly shiny in #3 with ALM turned on. So I don't know if this is a lesson for designers but for sure it's a good one for shoppers. DEMO and make sure you look at the item you're buying with ALM ON and ALM OFF.

And now the usual stuff. Skin is Eirtae by Lumae, hair is Cray by .b, shoes are KC Amelia wedges and of course the dress is Felicia by Hilly Haalan. The link below is the SLURL to her main store.

Hilly Haalan mainstore

Fantastic bargain rigged mesh mermaid tail

I've always had a thing for playing mermaid in Second Life. From the early days of attachable fins and system skirts made to look like mer tails to sculpties with deformed avatars, I've tried just about every type. Of course it helped that a couple of boyfriends were into mer-life. It's so much fun to cuddle underwater. :D

BareRose Black Scale Mermaid

Anyway, my favorite mer avatars are from BareRose. As you can see from the photo on the left, they are gorgeous and amazingly detailed.

BUT, they are also incredibly complex. Wearing a full B@R mermaid outfit WITH a mesh body and all the accessories will easily push your avatar complexity into the stratosphere. Well for me that's around 165,000 and enough to render you invisible to a lot of people.

So I also have two mesh mer tails I use just for less complex situations or where I don't want to wear the full B@R mess. The drawback is that they are both relatively early rigged mesh and kinda clunky where the top of the scales meet the your pelvis. It's even worse with a mesh body like Maitreya Lara.

You can see that the blue tail has this added layer of fishy fat making it look like I'm really just wearing a wetsuit disguised as a tail. Which, it sorta is.

Generic mesh tail

OK fast forward to today where I went to an underwater event and of course, wanting to impress, I wore my BareRose tail and all the goodies. But there was that 165K complexity again. Yikes. Thankfully there weren't too many of us there and everyone could see everyone. BUT still.

That set me on a SL Marketplace hunt for something a bit simpler but better than my ancient mesh tail. After hitting a couple of real clunkers (thank you Demo) and some tails advertised as rigged that weren't, I finally found a simple tail that didn't suck.

In fact, the detail in the tail scales and such is every bit as good as B@R but without all the accessories and add-ons. Fellow peoples of the mer persuasion, I give you the prosaicly named "[ReS] Fitmesh Purple Mermaid" lol. Even the package looks cheesy. BUT, the tail is very good AND it comes in 5 standard sizes plus Maitreya, Belleza and Slink versions. Up close the scales have real depth and shine. What would make it perfect would be for the scales to be scalloped where it meets your pelvis so it doesn't just look like a slip-on bottom. An added bonus is that it comes with a decent mermaid AO with real control buttons. Yay!

[ReS] Rigged Mesh Tail

Oh did I mention this tail is only $65L? No, I didn't. It is. Really. It's prettier than a lot of tails that sell for 10x that price. This one is NOT available in DEMO form so you'll have to trust me that it works. You can click on the photo below to see it up close -- my body is Maitreya Lara. Oh and the mesh is auto-hide for Lara which is cool to. And tah dah, my total complexity with this tail is only (hee) about 75K.

The one thing I wasn't keen on is the included hair. It's a very basic and clunky mesh that didn't cover even my generic hair base. So the hair shown above is Rezology Wavy Hime re-colored with purple on the dark blond base. Trust me, it looks wayyy better than the included hair.

Anyway, check it out on SLM for yourself here: [ReS] Purple Mermaid Tail

4th of July Dollarbie Romper

Elusive 4th of July Romper - $1L

Sadly I got a late start on an Independence Day outfit since I was super busy yesterday in RL and had a party to got to today. Oh well. If you still feel like celebrating, this super cute little mesh romper by Elusive is only $1L. Sure it's a template (I have a different version of it in inventory) but the price is right! Here I've combined it with KC Amelia wedges which I colored to be red, white & blue! Gotta love KC shooz -- the HUD controls are amazing with individual coloring of straps, wedge, insole, leaves, and outsole.

Rest of the outfit is Kizzie hair by Truth, Maitreya Lara body, my go-to Lumae Eirtae skin and red glasses by Preda. Hope you likey!

SL Marketplace links:

Elusive July 4th Romper Gift

KC Amelia Wedges

Dollarbie - Black Swan "Sweet Sin" Mesh Negligee

OK this $1L SL Marketplace negligee / teddy is just amazing. It's perfectly textured, no glitches and looks super cute! Yay, it's not see-through! Seems like 90% of the lingerie in SL shows your kitty or nips and it gets old. And look at those bows? Just made for untying!

Anyway, this gorgeous little piece of meshy goodness comes in Belleza Isis /  Freya, Maitreya Lara and Slink Physique / Hourglass sizes. Sorry you non-mesh body girls, no standard avatar sizes.

Link to Marketplace below:

Black Swan "Sweet Sin"

Yeliz "Nanika" $50L mesh cocktail dress with HUD

Yeliz Nanika Sideopen Dress

Here's another bargain find on Second Life Marketplace. A $50L HUD-driven cocktail dress with a crazy number of textures and colors.

Again, this looks like it might be a template dess but I haven't seen it elsewhere so who knows? Makers usually label their product "original mesh" and this is not. Regardless the HUD (see below) must have taken a massive amount of work. And consider that this dress is available for all these sizes!

● 5 regular SL FIT-MESH Sizes
● Maitreya (compatible)
● TMP (compatible)
● SLink (Physique)
● SLink (HourGlass)
● Belleza (Freya)
● Belleza (Isis)
● Belleza (Venus)
● Tonic (Fine)
● Tonic (Curvy)

Yeliz HUD

Anyway here's the link to the dress on Marketplace. My only fault with the dress is that it doesn't have any detailing on the straps or other parts to really make it "pop". But otherwise it's a very sexii addition to your SL inventory!

Yeliz Nanika "Sideopen" Dress

Yeliz Nanika

Yeliz Nanika

More dollarbie items. Two good, one bad.

DIA Micro Light shorts

Here are a few more items from my dollarbie shopping trip on SL Marketplace!

This time, we'll start with the bad and move to the good starting with "Micro Light" mesh shorts by DIA. I almost never trash a dollarbie (after all, that's the equivalent of like 1/2¢ US). But this pair of shorts is just bad. The designer left a ghost texture on the mesh so it looks like you have this weird clear band around the top. Sort of like it got saved with the wrong alpha. You can really see it with hard light angles. Plus the jeans texture is oddly warped and has no depth. You're actually better off with an applier micro short than this mess. Avoid.

Pearl Tank Top and Tasha Jeans

Next up are the "good" items and probably worth the 4.5 stars they both get on Marketplace. The deductions come for needing to use the Maitreya Lara alpha HUD and to make sure your shape is constrained a bit. That applies to both items in the photo.

The "Pearl Tank Top" by N_O Concept is no doubt a template -- I think I have a different version in inventory somewhere LOL.  But at least it's nicely textured and I like the off white color. However the nipples need an alpha and if you bend the wrong way, so does one area of your back. Oh well. It comes in the usual array of Maitreya, Bellezza, Slink and standard mesh sizes.

The NOHO "Tasha" jeans are very cute and the texture is well proportioned. Like the tank, you need to use the alpha in the HUD to make them work. But sure, I'd wear these on a date or out shopping. :) Same size availability as the tank.

Here are the linkies to the two "good" items!

Jeans: Tasha Skinny Jeans - $1L

Tank: Pearl Tank Top - $1L

Oh yeah, hair by Truth, skin by Lumae, body by Snickers, jewelry by Exodi.

Amazing dollarbie pink pumps for Maitreya

"Cute Heels" by Searen - $1L 

OK, yours truly was randomly shopping on SL Marketplace when these super cute shoes by Searen popped on screen. O M G. Must have! I love cosplay outfits so when I see mid-high mary janes, excitement ensues! And when they are only $1L super-excitement ensues!

In they went to my cart along with some other dollarbies (more on those later) and with few clicks, they showed up in inventory! Yay!

They are just as nice inworld and on my feet as they are in the Marketplace ad. Searen has done a really nice job with these!

And to the person who gave them only 1 star in a review, you suck.

Here's the link to them on Marketplace. Enjoy!

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/GIFT-S-e-a-r-e-n-Cute-Heels-Maitreya/13993623

Normie Mesh Head by Utlizator

As some of you know from reading my past posts, I have steadfastly hung onto my system head for one simple reason. It looks best with my favorite Lumae skin, Eirtae T7. Every mesh head I've tried seems to have a fatal flaw with Eirtae -- whether it's lips that are too small or cheeks that are too hollow or whatever. It seems most mesh heads tend towards the runway model anorexic look or the doe-eyed little girl partial-anime look. Admittedly, I haven't tried a ton of heads (maybe 8 total) but each time I'd go back to my system head.

My last adventure with Bento head demos led me to Lelutka Bianca and LAQ Bree. Bianca was gorgeous around the eyes but I couldn't get the lips to look anything but overly cutesy pouty-puffy. Bree was simply awful with my skin, had limited slider response and the face simply looked puffy in general. Sigh.

Normie Bento Head by Utilizator

So I happened to be lurking the Mesh Body Addicts group in SL one afternoon when someone mentioned a Bento Omega-compatible head, Normie by Utilizator, that worked well as a sort of upgrade replacement for the system head. My virtual ears perked up and when they said it was only $500L I was like, OK must try!

I was actually blown away. Not only did my skin look great, I barely had to touch the sliders to get my "look" which is sort of sexy nerd girl next door. Definitely not runway model, pouty princess or femme fatale. One look at the freckles and well, you know what I mean.

Anyway, see for yourself (click on the piccy for a full-sized shot). No Photoshop on this -- just a straight Gyazo with normal graphics settings. Lip gloss is Delizio Hot Pink, eyes are Amicci mesh and eye makeup is Izzie's "Gloom" in copper all applied via Omega.

A few notes. The HUD is simplistic but still takes a bit getting used to since turning off/on the makeup tattoo and Omega eyelashes makes a big difference in how you look. Animations are limited as well but since it's full Bento, third party animations should work just fine. Normie also supports voice chat mouth movement through three supplied gestures. Oh yeah, Normie is also full MOD! Now what other Bento head gives you that at ANY price?

Normie is available in SL Marketplace here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/UTILIZATOR-Normie-Head/13071631,

There is a DEMO version available as well and as with anything mesh, I strongly urge you to play with it first.

$99L punk chic outfit from FurtaCor

FurtaCor Wanessa

By now you should know that I LOVE to find fashion bargains. There are so many good designers in Second Life that do such amazing work. One of my fave bargain shops is FurtaCor. While most of their outfits are template-based, the textures that owner/designer Marinahh Mayako applies to them are often just plain out of this world. Plus, FurtaCor often comes out with a style that only shows up a month or two later.

Anyway, today's gem from is Wanessa -- a crazy belted sweat-skirt with a sort of sharkskin shirt tied at the waist. Crazy combo but it totally works and looks freaking awesome. Oh and the boots, again very nice, are included too.

Just click on the detail piccy below and see if you're not blown away.

Now the kicker. The entire outfit including the boots is only $99L at the FurtaCor mainstore. If you are a group member, it's 15% off  so only $85L. Wow. Just wow. I'm doing my happy dance!

I'm wearing Lumae Eirtae Freckle skin and Truth Astra hair.

Anyway, here's your linky to the store.

SLURL to FurtaCor & LaPerla

Waness Belt Detail

Second Life inventory clean-up

I can't believe it but I finally did it. Got rid of at least 90% of my old system clothing inventory. There is no going back. Yours truly is now fully committed to her Maitreya Lara mesh body, applier clothing and mesh clothing. I even tried on a few of my old fave outfits with my system self and OMG. They just looked sad. So bye-bye almost 30K in items! It's kinda cathartic in a way. OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW!

Oh and I have a really hot new avatar look I've been working on. It's for special occasions. Watch this space.

My new fave hair by Truth - Makena

OK, OK. A friend just reminded me that it's been forever since I blogged about anything. Well, sad to say, my real life has overtaken my SL. From traveling to work, life has been hectic. Anyway, this is overdue but better late than never I guess.
So I'm not a huge fan of all mesh hair. They generally look like you've maxed out the gel or hair spray because they don't move. It's a bit weird to have some long flowing hairstyle that looks plastered to your body. HOWEVER, there are some advantages. For one, those long flowing tresses can be rigged so they don't cut through your body. And for another, they're super easy to retexture, color or style. Simply show/hide a meshy part and poof, you have a whole new look.
Truth's October Gift (see it is overdue since it's now November) for VIP members is everything a good mesh hair can possibly be. It's HUD-driven with hundreds of color options. It comes with a Styling HUD for about 20 different looks. AND, you can change the color on the hair bands with yet another HUD. So here we go with a bunch of photos of Makena by Truth!

Makena with one front wisp

Makena with two front wisps

Makena pulled back

Makena front wisps and pony tails over front.
NOTE that head position will cause hair to move into shoulder.

Makena back view with hairbands (twin ponytails)

Makena buns

Makena in pink from pastel HUD

Hair bands colored via HUD

With the exception of the over the front look where the hair can disappear into your body, everything about Makena is super well done as one can expect from Truth. If you aren't a VIP member, you should be. For only $350L, the monthly gift hairs are well worth the cost of joining!

SLURL to Truth Main Store: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Truth/116/128/24

Sleek Art Deco mystery mesh formal

TBO Farah lamé dress

I haven't blogged for awhile since I've been super busy in RL. Anywayyyyy, I was digging through my vast wasteland called Inventory when I came across a dress name I didn't recognize. TBO Farah lame gown. (Of course lame should be lamé so perhaps a rename is in order.)

Hmmmm I thought. Where did this come from? When was it bought? Who knows? So I tried it on and immediately was like, oh wow, this is very different!

Apologies for the full size photo since it doesn't do the dress justice. The bands across the waist and bodice look almost like streamlined metal. Up close, the mesh is really a piece of artwork. And yes, it really does look like lamé.

After searching around, I found it is a $10L promo item on SLM also available in fatpack HUD driven version. The designer is "TheBeautifulOnes" aka TBO.

This really is a very lovely dress suitable for formal and cocktail occasions.

Back view and close-up of banding below.

Hair is "Kiki" by Elika-Tira.
Heels are "Yuuna" by KC.
Jewelry is Pavonine (peacock) by DS.

Link to SLM: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/TBO-Farah-lame-gown-Turquoise-slink-physique-hourglass-maitreya-tmp-fitted-mesh/8463424

Back view

Closeup of bodice and waist bands