Friday, April 30, 2010

Oralune

Oralune joins Mirror as one of the two anchor stores to the Cyber Bunker mall. Between the two stores you can put together a complete cyberpunk outfit complete with accessories.







Price Range:
  • Armour, L$380-400
  • Skin & Shape, L$700-800
  • Skin, L$250-300
  • Accessories, $100-600
Owner/Staff: Mealune Ara - Owner

In Their Own (Key) Words:
Cyber punk Cyborg Robot Android Armor cyber goth japan fantasy Sci-Fi role play Spacecraft Skin Shape Clothing Hair Shoes ao cyberpunk manga Steampunk Avatar cyber RP armor oralune gundam paradox Alpha Hair style

Language(s): English

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/oralune/130/111/1191 (G)

Last Updated: May 1, 2010

Saturday, April 10, 2010

cutemurder

cutemurder is a small and elegant boutique with a few female poses, couple poses, clothes and accessories.

(Apologies for a few glitches on the photos. Viewer 2.0 has some issues with snapshots.)






Price Range:
  • Poses, L$30-75
  • Clothes, L$125-150
  • Jewelry, L$100-150
  • Accessories, L$250
Owner/Staff: Melissa13 Martinek - Owner

In Their Own (Key) Words:
Fashion, clothes, dress, woman, bracelet, top, shirt, sexy, urban, earring, necklace, poses, couple, photo, headphone, sculpted
Language(s): ? (I am using Viewer 2.0 and cannot find language information for profiles)

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Candy%20nail/73/240/23 (General)

Last Updated: April 10, 2010

Insilico Technology



http://slurl.com/secondlife/INSILICO/189/183/3602

Friday, April 9, 2010

XTC Leather

Second Life Fetish Fashion has a review of the XTC Leather Pegasus Catsuit that led me to the store. The XTC store is a well laid out and straightforward store that has equal amounts of leather clothing for men and women. The clothing is reasonably priced and my only complaint is that there is no styling info :( I hate trying to match shoes and boots to leather. Every designer has their own unique coloring and tinting that makes matching a pain.

The main store offers transfer versions of items for use as gifts. Head to the back of the store for a gift bag with a pair of leather gloves.








Price Range:
  • Clothes, L$100-500
Owner/Staff: Xaviar Thunders - Owner

In Their Own (Key) Words:
XTC Leather makes realistic leather clothing for men and women. Our specialties are leather pants, leather jackets, leather teddies, leather corsets and leather catsuits.

leather pants leather jackets leather corsets leather catsuits catwoman leather teddies leather chaps biker pj's pjs pajamas sweaters cableknit sweater black leather trenchcoat leather trenchcoat leather mini skirt cheekies lingerie leather vests hot shorts boy shorts boxers mens pajamas leather bomber jacket sexy black leather outfits white leather red leather blue leather white leather leather leggings leather gloves fingerless gloves chaps tube dress leather and lace leahter leder cuir peil pelle leather shop leather store racing leather gold stud silver stud gothic wear goth leather biker jackets leather tuxedos leather suits formal wear animal prints leopard print cheetah print zebra stripe snake print tiger print alligator print leather bra leather bras leather bikini leather bikinis mens leather womens leather men's leather women's
Language(s): ? (I am using Viewer 2.0 and cannot find language information for profiles)

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Burning%20Moon/45/106/38 (Moderate)

URL: http://www.xaviarthunders.com/

Last Updated: February 10, 2010

My Appearance 2.0

This is not about "my appearance" as in my avatar's appearance. Instead, "My Appearance" as in the new feature in the new Second Life viewer from Linden Labs.

I just installed the Second Life Viewer 2.0 this evening and am slowly getting use to it. It is a change and I know I have to take my time to give this new viewer a chance. But one thing is annoying me. While I love the new My Appearance tab feature I find it still lacking. So much so I have to blog about it.

Fact: Almost every store in SL sells clothes, hair, shoes and other items you wear.

Fact: One of my coworkers uses her garage to store her shoes. She has that many. 100s of pairs. Second Life is an enabler for such behavior.

Fact: SL doesn't offer the equivalent of a walk in closet, let alone an improvement over one. For a virtual environment spatial relations should not be a constraint.

Now I admit I'm not an expert at SL. I may be unaware of some tricks or features. If so, please share your wisdom in the comments.

Here is how I work with clothing in SL. I mix-and-match items to create complete looks. These looks are organized into individual folders. In order to do so I specifically look for items with copy permissions. Especially hair, shoes, nails, eyes and jewelry.

A few items, like AOs and HUDs, I have to manage separately because they are nocopy. Because of this I cannot use the "Replace current outfit" feature because it will strip off things like my AO. So I have to manually find the folder for the outfit I am wearing and "Remove from current outfit." I usually need to use the inventory search feature to find out what I'm wearing. (Type "worn" in the entry field under the "File Create Sort" menu and anything currently being worn or has 'worn' in its name will be displayed)

Below is what one outfit looks like in my inventory. (Click the image for the full size version.)


Notice I categorize my outfits using folders, in the above example having a folder for my casual outfits. Within each category I have separate folders for each outfit. I labeled the above outfit's folder with the designer name, outfit name, color and the hair style (Abrupt). At the moment I only use one shape, one skin and have only two hair styles I switch between, each in multiple colors. (I have other avatars I use with different shapes, skins and attitudes.)

I have dedicated a folder for one of my favorite designers where I have folders for each style of outfit and then folders for each color combination. It can get crazy fast.


If the merchant includes a landmark to their store with the clothes I keep that with the outfit so I can share it with anyone who inquires on where I purchased something. Unfortunately with relocations and closings the landmarks usually end up out of date (another issue for the Lindens to figure out- smart landmarks that can update themselves).

At this point I love the "My Outfits" management feature of My Appearance in the 2.0 viewer. For those unfamiliar with this feature, it gives you a special view into your inventory and allows you to create outfits. Each outfit appears like a normal inventory folder does, but it isn't. This outfit folder only appears in the special My Appearance tab. These outfit "folders" don't actually contain items but instead links to items. Also known as shortcuts. This means you can have multiple outfits that all use a single nocopy item.


This presents an interesting shift in how designers and merchants should look at permissions. There is an thread on the matter on the Second Life Commerce Forum.

Since I have 12,378 inventory items, most of which are copies, the My Outfits feature should make my inventory management easier. Unfortunately this is not so. The My Appearance > My Outfits virtual view into my inventory does not support nesting folders. So all of my outfits will be in a long list. I won't be able to sort out my beachwear from my ballgowns. That is unless I name each outfit with keywords and use the search function. I am very use to clicking through my virtual closet and having to type keywords seems old fashioned.

A feature I wish Linden Labs would introduce is including an image of the outfit, much like how they include people's profile pic in the People tab. It would just have to be large enough to be useful. One of the projects I've been meaning to get to is to create a second blog of just photos of my different outfits so I can remember which is which. Along the lines of the above photos. The text "leather boots" as a description is insufficient when dressing for a specific event or locale. And trying on clothes that have to be downloaded first is time consuming.

After some more time I'll fill out the Viewer 2 Feedback Survey.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

A&k Designs

I last visited A&k Designs in August of 2009. Fashions have continued to be updated and the main store has moved (perhaps a couple of times given grid wide changes). Unfortunately the amount of merchandise has shrunk. I suppose that is a small price to pay for maintaining fashionability.

The store remains a hybrid between a department store and a mall. Midnight Madness has been replaced with Daytime Madness. The store continues to give back with Giveaway Madness and freebies for group members and a L$50 section on the second floor. As usual, mostly fashion for women, but there are a few items for men.

Others displaying at the store include Alli & Ali Designs' hair, Scandalust Designs, Blow-Up, S@ss Shoes and Alyssa Bijoux Jewelry.

A special treat for Avatar fans, the Nahvee Tribal Collection on the second floor. Complete SL avatars :)

A&k Designs continues to be one of the few stores has the discounts that let you fill up your inventory with good looking outfits without going broke.






Price Range:
  • Clothes, L$175-550
  • Nahvee Tribal Collection, L$175-450
Owner/Staff: Adrianna Marquez - Owner

In Their Own (Key) Words:
Specializing in fetish, latex, leather, kinky, slavery & Collars,Latex clothing, slutwear, clubwear, thongs, costumes, Gowns, Ladieswear, Mens Wear,skins, hair, shoes,Pandora, Na'vi, Navi, avatar
Language(s): English

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Fountainhead/203/214/53 (Mature)

URL: http://a-kdesigns.blogspot.com/

Last Updated: April 8, 2010

Twinkle

Twinkle offers some cute and affordable poses. No fancy animations or AOs. Sometimes simple is best. You can spend 20 minutes camping for a free pose.

Twinkle collaborates with Candy Nail and Fascino Hair Salon. All are located on the same SIM.







Price Range:
  • Poses, L$50
  • Pose Sets, L$450
Owner/Staff: Kiala Mertel - Owner

In Their Own (Key) Words:
pose, animation, AO, beauty, model, female, woman, girl, freebie, LB, pretty, cute,
Language(s): Japanese, English (?)

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Candy%20nail/173/217/24 (PG)

URL: http://girls.slmame.com/

Last Updated: February 10, 2010

fascino Hair Salon

Fascino is the first store I recall ever having pose hair. I will keep this in mind for the next photo contest I enter. The salon also offers Twinkle poses to match and at the time of writing three hair styles for men.

Twinkle collaborates with Candy Nail and Fascino Hair Salon. All are located on the same SIM.








Price Range:
  • Hair, L$200-250
  • Hair Packs, L$680-980
  • Poses by Twinkle, L$50
Owner/Staff: Sola Meili - Owner

In Their Own (Key) Words:
womens hair, Mens hair, womens hair, men's hair, women's hair, flexi hair, flexihair, short hair, hat hair, hats hair, sculpty hair, sculpted hair, flexi hair. long hair,
Language(s): English

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Candy%20nail/25/135/22 (PG)

Last Updated: April 8, 2010

eSTYLE Skins & Shapes

Live models, two lucky chairs, midnight mania and great skins :)







Price Range:
  • Skins, L$899-999
  • Skin Fat Packs, L$1,699-2,999
  • Shapes, L$399
  • Cleavage Plus, L$399
Owner/Staff: Dragos Janus - Owner

In Their Own (Key) Words:
Be sexy, be unique. [ eStyle ] Skins & Shapes. The new trend. Style, Skin, Skins, Shape, Shapes, Fashion, Free photo studio, Photography, Avatars, Eyes, Quality, Lucky Chair, E-style , Gifts, Contest, Gorgeous, Promotional, Promo, Sexy,
Language(s): English

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Atlantis%20City%202/236/103/31 (Mature)

Last Updated: April 8, 2010

Sunday, April 4, 2010

DV8

Cyberpunk has never been more punk (even though DV8 describes itself as cybergoth, which is more accurate). And OMG, the color variations, free accessories, an unpack patio, three lucky chairs, a riotvend (mobvend) and hopefully soon a discount attic. You can get lost in the shoe section alone, and the currently empty second floor implies more is to come. There are a few DSC2/CSS weapons and some clothes for men.












Price Range:
  • Clothes, L$150-400
  • Outfits, L$1,100-1,400
  • Shoes, L$250-400
  • Accessories, L$75-300
  • Hair, L$200, Packs L$2,500
  • Furniture, L$2,500
  • Weapons, L$750
  • Eyes, $
Owner/Staff: Dysturbed Sin and Vasha Martinek - Co-Owners

In Their Own (Key) Words:
Dys and I own this (not so little anymore) shop that specializes in cybergoth gear (hair, clothes, boots & more) and assorted steampunk & goth goods too. It's a labor of love, where you can spend a little cash or a lot, and generally come home with things that make you happy. Plus you shopping here pays for my trips to see Dys, so get shopping. =P

*** STORE INFO ***

Refunds - we don't give them unless you bought the same thing twice in a row.

Things are clearly marked and permissions are always listed. Make sure you're buying the right thing and you're happy with permissions.

Most of our items are copiable. Make copies before you edit, so you won't have to buy another if you break it.

If you'd like to buy gifts, many of our items are on SLX, and we're always adding more.

All that said, we like people to be happy - so if you have a problem you feel we can help you with, feel free to contact me or Dysturbed Sin.

accessories cyber goth hair cyborg fetish cosplay vampire industrial rivethead ebm neko
Language(s): English

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lasombra/181/126/23 (Mature)

URL: http://dv8designs.blogspot.com/

Last Updated: April 4, 2010

Candy Nail

Looking for some stand out prim nails? Candy Nail has that. Peche has collaborations with Fascino Hair Salon, Rock Me Amadeus and Twinkle along with a couple of lucky letters in the back of the store.

Candy Nail collaborates with Twinkle and Fascino Hair Salon. All are located on the same SIM.








Price Range:
  • Nails, L$70-200
  • Arm Bouquet, L$100
  • Accessories, L$100
Owner/Staff: Peche Bury - Owner

In Their Own (Key) Words:
**CaNDy NaiL **Are Designed by a Real Nail Tech**
nail,nails,prim nails.prim nail,manicure,long nails,pedicure,accessories

nail,nails,prim nail,prim nails,long nail,long nails,glove,french,freebie
Language(s): Japanese and plain English

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Candy%20nail/202/127/27 (PG)

URL: http://candynail.blogspot.com/

Last Updated: April 4, 2010