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"

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

Profile Peeker the Pervy HUD - FREEBIE

OK just kidding. But I do love alliteration and with a name like Profile Peeker, how could I resist? Stepping out of my usual role as a reviewer of fashion and commentator on the silly things Linden Lab often does, I'm going to talk about a strange HUD for Second Life. It's called Profile Peeker and it's made by Patser Albatros. Full disclosure, he's a friend of mine and also the maker of the inworld HUD game, Pirates.

So what does it do? First, it displays thumbnail photos from the profiles of up to 10 people you are closest to. The screen cap to the right shows how it looks in Firestorm viewer and as you can see, it takes up a bit of visual real estate. The left-hand thumbnail is the main profile picture while the right is the First Life picture (if any).

The magic comes when you click on a photo (peek at the profile). You get a popup window with three choices:

You can (obviously), look at a profile. You can also see what attachments an avatar is wearing (want to find out what dress she's wearing?). The interesting thing is "History".

It takes you to a third party server that shows you a grid of "history" changes to the text on the SL & RL parts of the avatar's profile and partner changes. I have no idea about the magic behind this but it looks like it's getting info from public Second Life web profiles. I even see data going back to 2016. Creepy? Maybe. The Internet never forgets!

So Profile Peeker works and does exactly what it says it does -- if you're inclined to use such a thing. One small thing that could use improvement is how the profile pics are presented. I'd almost prefer the avatar name instead of the thumbnail of the profile. An avatar's look doesn't always match their profile photo and it can be a bit tough to match someone up if there are lots of avatars near you. Maybe as a floater? Mouseover? Anyway, it's not an issue when you are only around say 5 people but more than that, a name reference would be easier.

Profile Peeker is available for free on the Second Life Marketplace here:

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Profile-Peeker/8067750

Midnight Madness Find from Salt & Pepper

I haven't been out on a Midnight Madness event in like forever so when my friend (and queen of our Tiny Empires realm, Hirilorn), Aabbi Rhode, mentioned that she was staying up late for a MM freebie event, I thought hmmmmmm. She almost NEVER stays up late so they must have some good stuff.

After looking at the previews, I immediately totally wanted a particular mesh outfit from Salt & Pepper and WTG me! I scored both the "Midnight" and "Dawn" versions of Audrey!

So here's the "Dawn" color way on my Maitreya Lara body. Audrey sort of has a bit of a 1930's feel to it and evokes a sparkly, sequined look which is hard to do in Second Life due to all the texture stretching that goes on.

This is all one mesh (no separate top/bottom) and the Maitreya version does the auto-alpha thing appropriately. No random spots showing through.

Excellence in a freebie and well worth staying up past my bedtime too! I got a few other goodies too that I'll try to post when I get the time.

While Midnight Madness is over, here's the SLURL to Salt & Pepper's store:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sand%20Dunes/106/188/24

Going back in time to The Free Dove!

Sorry I haven't posted for awhile. I've been super busy in RL, it's a hugely busy time of the year plus I've been randomly sick with colds and other medical junk that was leaving me too drained for blogging about SL. Anyway, nuf o' that.

I was going through my Second Life landmarks in inventory this evening to weed out those that were dead, had moved or were otherwise useless. Lo and behold (seems appropriate to say this time of year), I came across an LM for The Free Dove. Or as it's listed in the LM, THE FREE DOVE as if ALL CAPS will make it even more FREE!

I have to give Palomna Casanova (the owner) props for hanging in there against all odds. Since 2006, THE FREE DOVE has been handing out freebies to newbs and regular folks alike. And generally speaking, the quality has always been pretty good. I still have a ton of Penguin and other prim shoes from TFD that I still wear now and then. I mean sometimes blocks and buttons and tortured prims make great wearables (LOL).

So on my quick swing through the store, I picked up an interesting skin, a nice bobbed-cut hair, 3 mesh dresses, and a pair of pink ankle boots. (I'm a real sucker for ankle boots.)

Everything was well crafted. The boots are awesomesauce. And I'm just totally amazed that THE FREE DOVE is still around for freebie goodness.

Yay Palomna!

Give the store a visit if you're in the mood to shop for freeeeee! SLURL below:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gallii/116/51/33

BIG SALE: Nymph Couture closing shop

Nymph Couture, like many in-world stores, is closing its doors and moving exclusively to SL Marketplace. So, for a limited time, everything in the store has been reduced to $25L or less. First a warning. Lots of things look to me like re-colored template items and really only worth $25L at most in the first place. However, there are a few gems lurking around. One I particularly liked was Kountry Kutie -- a complete outfit with top, undies, ripped brown jeans, belt and hat on every layer imaginable. It's very well done with realistic textures, shadows and some nice sculpty work on the hat (even if you will have to heavily mod your hair to keep those strands from poking through).

If you're selective in your shopping, you'll have fun unearthing other great outfits and items like I did at Nymph Couture. There are some guys skins and items too although I didn't have a chance to really look at them.

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Corrupted%20Innocence/198/96/26

Vinyl Cafe - a mixed bag

I've done some more random shopping and one of the places I've been looking at is Vinyl Cafe -- a combination coffee shop and women's clothing store. The reason I noticed them is because they are heavy promoters in FashCon and in one of the freebie fashion groups I belong to in Second Life. They have an ongoing  "Dollarbie a Day" promotion that, well, you guessed it -- offers up one outfit daily for $1L. Now don't get me wrong -- anyone willing to sell things for $1L can't be criticized too badly. Even if only one out of 10 outfits you buy at that price is a hit, you're only out about 5 cents.

What IS a problem is when you go for the dollarbie item, by something more expensive (even if still inexpensive) and those items turn out poorly. Or where the package photos have been doctored to make the outfits look much different than they are on rezzing. Which, in my opinion, is the case with Vinyl Cafe.

The good.

I'll start with two decent outfits. While neither of these will make you think of Redgrave, Wind or Blaze, they aren't bad. The first one is simply called Teal Bubble Dress and it's a group member dollarbie. The shadows are good and the textures line up ok. The use of the sculpty prims to make the skirt is interesting and different. And it's offered on undie and regular layers.

Next up is the $25L Bikini in Orange. Not too original with names but again, the details are fairly good. Biggest complaint is that like most things at Vinyl Cafe, it's only offered on one layer (underwear). That makes it really had to mix and match with other items. Further, it's not much better than most of the freebie bikinis out there. No shadows to set the straps off or make anything look more realistic. It's just kinda flat.

The bad.

On the right we have a $25L outfit called Sequin Vegas Dress Gold. This  picture actually makes it look better than it is in person. It uses two fixed cylinder prims for the skirt that won't fit anyone's body. I tried 3 different shapes and even with about 20 minutes of stretching and fiddling, nothing worked. Plus, as you can see from the photo, none of the textures line up and when you move, your legs jump in and out of the skirt with every step. While some skirts CAN be done with fixed prims (I designed a pretty cute go-go skirt using a single prim), it has to be very short or it will look like hell if you move. The top itself is a real simple template job that doesn't match at the shoulder seams.

And again, the top and bottom are only offered on one layer. WHY? It takes all of an extra 2 minutes to put the textures on undie layers.

And the uglee.

This is an OMG moment. The package makes this "Babydoll Yellow" top look totally cute. Rezzed it's completely different. That's because you never see it from the back or know what size it is. The colors on the avatar layer are darker than those on the prims so the effect is like your babydoll is glowing orange and suddenly ends at a dark halloween pumpkin halter. In addition, the package model must have been an 8' amazon because as a top, the babydoll is way too big for any normal body. And the prims are just basic 1/2 cones with no attempt at making them flow with each other or even hide the texture on the ends. So they all look like 1" thick pipes or something. Seriously, this is worse than the worst of the old "New As" series of 2006 barbie dresses.

Again, one layer only, $25L.

I wouldn't have as much of a problem with any of these if the photos on the packages weren't so doctored to make them look better.

Anyway, if you're willing to wait out the occasional find on their dollarbie a day deal, go for it. But until they get serious about the rest of the items, I'd pass. And yes, I'm unjoining the Vinyl Addicts group. :(

SLURL to Vinyl Cafe: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Vinyl%20Cafe/54/205/21

FreeX Street: Second Life freebies site?

It's in the development stage right now and it will be interesting to see where this goes. FreeX Street

From the site:

We aim to be the place to search for free and promotional items within Second Life^®, at no cost to the buyer or the seller!
The creation of this site is in direct response to changes proposed to XStreetSL by Linden Lab^®.
Our aim is not to replace XStreetSL, nor compete with them, merely to offer an alternate venue for all the things XStreetSL have made impossible to distribute via their service..