Friends Don’t Let Friends Shoot In Low Res.

If you’re a fellow blogger, SL photography enthusiast, or you just like clicking buttons and having pictures of your avatar, this may be a familiar, fateful fable. Maybe it happened like this…

*cue Scooby Doo doodle-ooh doodle-ooh doodle-ooh sounds and the wavy yet groovy screen*

You found the outfit. You matched the clothes, the hair…and of course, the shooz. Don’t forget the accessories. You have your smexy self and/or photogenic friend poised and posed with you. The camera’s ready. You take your shots. Hell, if it was anything like you see on TV, you’d be bustin a move irl with an expensive camera and looking ridiculously cool while doing it. You check your pictures on the hard drive. They’re made of awesome. That’s a wrap.

And then…

*cue more Scooby Doo music*

You take a break. Maybe grab a beer, an Evian, a diet soda. Snag a munchie. You come back to your ‘puter and you click open Photoshop. You’re in the zone. You’re ready to rock with your awesome pictures. You open the first one, and…

*cue the movie “Psycho” and the REE REE REE! music!*

IT’S PIXEL MAYHEM! Pixels are hither and thither, and your masterpieces are reduced to original Nintendo Mario Bros. quality. You realize, all of the sudden…

You forgot to click “Ultra” in your Graphics Preferences before you took your pics.

*headdesks*

And then, if you’re really like me, you convince yourself that it would be madness to simply retake the shots. Oh no. You’re going to be the next “Photoshop Picasso” and “fight the man” and “fix” these pictures, dammit! You get back in the zone. You smooth every little pixely edge and liquify the Hades out of almost every body part. You lean back with triumph when you hit save and upload to Flickr. Then…you look at the clock. And you realize you could have retaken about 20 beautiful, “Ultra” graphics enabled shots in the amount of time it took you to fix just this one and it would have looked 10 times better than what you were able to produce.

Now, you may be wondering by now…Adaire, why the heck are you going on and on about this? You probably wasted even more time crying about your original Nintendo-quality shots instead of just retaking them.

Yep. I sure have.

But here you have it anyway, and no extra charge for the pixel tragedy when I say that Sn@tch has got an awesome freebie out this week. It’s called “Backstage,” and the pants in particular are to die for. It’s among the regular vendors in the brand new Sn@tch City shop. Be sure to grab it soon, as I think it’s going to poof around Thursday-ish.

Annnnd…if you dig the fortune teller thing, you can score this outfit on the free too, called “Half Dressed.” The skirt is color and texture-change with a click, making it uber versatile.

Ooh! And there is a “Condom Quest” event in the Sn@tch sims that starts this Friday, April 17th and goes through the weekend. It’s apparently in honor of “STD Awareness Month,” so I’m sure all kinds of “love” will be spreading. Stay tuned for details. (But not gory details. I’m a mostly decent person. Mostly.)

And…while not free, all the hairstyles you saw above are a part of the Philotic Energy sale going on now. All styles (‘cept for the latest release) are between 25%-50% off, like the “Teagan” I’m wearing in the first pic and the gloriously sapphire “Dakota” in the second one. (Gecko has on Kannon and Kam, also on sale!) If you wanted to score some seriously amazing hair on the cheap, head on over before the sale is over!

And…if you put Philotic Energy in your profile pics, you can get “Shelly” in Mochachino for free!

So remember kids…friends don’t let friends take photos in SL in low res. Or, they’ll end up like me, hunched over a keyboard, nose an inch from the screen, yelling at Photoshop like it is a sentient being and it is somehow completely responsible for all of your life’s troubles.

Style Notes of the Free and Not-So-Free:
Picture 1 ~
April Skin (Freckles): Atomic Kitty (Group Gift – $250 to join, beautifully blogged by the Creamster here)
Teagan Hair (Charcoal): Philotic Energy (25% off!)
Starlight Tattoo: Sn@tch ($200L)
Smash Kicks Shooz (Black Canvas w/Scripted Texture Change Laces): Sn@tch ($250L)

Picture 2 ~
Daktota Hair (Sapphire): Philotic Energy (25% off!)
Misfit Platform Boots (Black): Sn@tch ($275L)
Modeling 15 Couples Pose: SEmotion ($210L)

Picture 3 ~
Shelly Hair (Mochachino): Philotic Energy (Picks Reward)
Butterfly Attack Tee: Kunstkammer (Albero Hunt Freebie)
Nana Choker: Ultra Kitty (Bunny Hop Hunt Freebie #76)
Rust Bracelet: Kosh (Bunny Hop Freebie #281)
Street Meat Jeans (Black): Sn@tch ($250L for 6 color fatpack)

Yummy Gifts For You!

Have you all had a fabulous Easter so far? I’ve had an absolute ball catching up with people I usually only get to see fleetingly due to timezones.

I have some beautiful things to show you. First is this subscribo gift from Trap. The “Koi” tattoo is designed to go with the infamous skins of the same name, I own the Rose, but I thought I’d show off the art work on a plain skin, no other tatts. You can see the progress on Selos’s blog, as well as a really gorgeous full sized shot.

The next outfits are an Easter gift from LeLutka. You get the pants, several belt versions and 4 colours of the shirt. And ssshhh, look closely. There’s a sneak peek of an upcoming release from Dare Designs. The shoes are called “Mistress’ and they are the awesome. Stay tuned for a release date.

And here is one of 67809567854794768 group gifts sitting in the archives of Lemania‘s group atm. The group received a massive box of goodies this morn, but just so you know, if you’re joining now, there will be a 500L fee. The fee will be waived when the gift poofs from the archives, as a way of ensuring loyal Lemania groupies get rewarded. Sounds fair enough to me. The skins I’m wearing throughout the post are from Laqroki, who is having a massive sale. This “Tasha” skin in olive was the most amazing value. 21 makeups for 950L. I’ll just let that sink in for a mo 😛 If you do want to take advantage of the sale, head to the second flooor where the “Portrait” skins are located. And now I’ma run back to Photoshop and fiddle with stuff, sound profesh don’t I! Ash Out.

Credits
Pic 1
Hair (not free)
Troof
Tattoo
TRAP subscribo gfit

Pic 2
Hair (not free)
LeLutka
Troof
Outfits
LeLutka group gift
Shoes
Sneaky preview from Dare Designs 😛

Pic 3
Outfit
Lemania group gift
Hair (not free)
LeLutka
Boots (not free)
BAX

Skins worn throughout
Laqroki (massive sale I got 20 skins for 950L) *faints*

Who Knew?

I’m not sure how often this wonderful woman has been blogged but she is very deserving of attention.  Tucked into the corner of the Monkey Mall at Baby Monkey is Rarurick Ragu’s :WhoNose: shop.  Rarurick has a very distinctive style of layered skirts and uses lush colors.  The first dress is an exclusive gift for the Lucky Chair Stalkers group (it’s in my profile).  We recently grew to over 1000 members and Rarurick’s store is a big favorite of one of the group owners, Elliandra Parx. 

I paired the dress with the adorable elven skin and ears that Brutus Martinek gave to the Pididdle subscriber group.  She is eliminating her regular group by the end of the month and going all subscriber.  I believe you must be in the group already to receive the gift so get over there and get your name in.  She is one of my favorites.  The hair is a score from Madam Ashia, who told me that you can get older Kin hair free on XStreet.  All the hair I feature in this post is from there.  There are other styles, including some for men.  

I was telling Rarurick today that her Lucky Boards hate E so she came over and set her boards to wild for a spell and some of us got this incredible dress and egg backpack from her lucky boards.  The colors in the egg are fantastic.  If you don’t want to wait for your letter or want different colors she has a fatpack of eggs for only 50 L.  If you see Rarurick around the grid she is probably wearing a Lucky Board backpack that really gives out prizes!  Look for her for a gorgeous pink dress.  The skin I am wearing in the last three pictures is a new dollarbie from Beauty Avatar called Alyssa. 

I’ve been anticipating these shoes for a long time.  My darling Pixieplumb Flanagan, the creator of Baby Monkey shoes has been working on these hunnies for awhile.  The Ultimates are prim footed shoes and get this:  You can pick your skin tone from a menu (or you can match colors)! The nail color can be changed as well as the toe rings.  This style was a group gift today to the Baby Monkey Junkies group.  There are 4 more styles in about a million colors.  And even better: if you are a member of the Baby Monkey Junkies group you can get them for 100 L a pair!!!!  Nongroup members can get them for 150 L, which is still a bargain, but Pixie is such a generous designer and always working so hard to expand her selection.  I’ve been a devoted fan forever!  

 I received this incredible dress yesterday from On the Catwalk through their subscriber.  It is a very sexy number which wonderful texturing.  I didn’t show the back but it has a great skull graphic.  It’s hard-core and posh at the same time.  It is #1 (Ed Hardy mini-gift) in the messages.  I haven’t taken in off since I got it. 

PS.  Rarurick just added a Midnight Mania at :WhoNose:, too, for an amazing color change jewelry set!

Hunty Goodness

I have to admit, the thought of hunting at 300 stores scared me a little, also the strain of my already ridonculous inv had me fearing sim crashes and all sorts of other madness on Ash. So with that in mind, the only choice is to do it as Q. Also, my personal plan of attack is to go to my favie stores first, then have some exploring time, going to stores I’ve never heard of before.

This first outfit is the hunt gift from Little Heaven. The ears are made of total win, all floppy and pierced!! You even get 2 types of hair with this gift, but I had a hell of a time trying to get them to look right so I haven’t shown them.

An amazing gift from Wretched Dollies shown with shoes from Nonko. You get a choice of aprons to wear with this outfit, I chose the ones with bunnehs on it of course!! The gorgy skin is the gift from Chaos By Design. The pack also has mens skins too, yay for the boys!

And lastly on today’s hunt agenda is the outfit from Bare Rose. Shown with the TOTALLY NOT FREE NEW HAIR FROM ETD. Can’t wait till the stores properly up and running, oh Elika how I’ve missed thee!! Look at my adorables shoes!!! These are the new gift from the Dilly Dolls midnight mania board. I’d get in early if I were you, the board has no problems filling up as soon as it’s opened again!! No wonder, these are colour scripted so you get 790856078540 options.

And as a break from the hunt, check out this amazing jacket from the Lunas Boutique group. I totally love it, and am so stoked to have such a versatile piece. Shown with undies also from the same group. They were sent out last week, so get in quick. I’m telling you, this is one group to keep in your 25, not just for the gifts, but for news of the new releases too! Ash Out

Pic 1
Outfit
Hunt Gift #2-Little Heaven
Hair (not free)
The Stringer Mausoleum
Skin (not free
Bebae

Pic 2
Outfit
Hunt Gift #246- Wretched Dollies
Skin
Hunt Gift #288-Chaos By Design
Shoes
Hunt Gift #27 –Nonko
Hair (not free)
Aden

Pic 3
Outfit
Hunt Gift #1-Bare Rose
Shoes
Dilly Dolls MM Board
Skin (not free)
Bebae
Hair (not free)
ETD

Pic 4
Outfit
Lunas Boutique Group Gift
Skin (not free)
Bebae
Hair (not free)
Aden

Shtuff

Yesterday has to go down on record as one of the weirdest days of the year. I had been clinging onto the hope it was a full moon, and therefore perfectly rationalised ahem….not to be!

Want a sneak peek? Come closer and check out the yummy thats about to go in the lucky chair at Dare Designs. Either today or tomorrow, depending on Dare’s schedule, you can nab this, and other versions in the chair. So fecking hawt. The boots are previous freebies from SHI, and the sunnies, well they’re a sneak peek too. They will be released next week at Dare Designs.

This amazing dress is from Primalot. I actually read a post on The Freebie Telegraph about a jewelery set, the story behind it alone was enough for me to instantly TP. There are 2 lucky chairs aswell as a whole freebie section. The necklace shown is part of that very special set, read about that here. The gorgy wings are from Fancy Fairy. I don’t remember if I bought them, or if they are an old gift. Whutevs, they’re my faves!!

Isn’t this dress the cutest. It’s got such a Madonna 80’s vibe to it.It comes with matching boots and fishnets too! Grab it at Vixens, for a limited time only.

I hope after last week’s vampire post, you all stayed in the Lunas Boutiqe group. I did 😛 and looky what I got today. “Purple Disco Dream” baby, love it!

And last but by no means least, something that is most certainly not free, but worth every penny and more. This stunning, delicate lingerie is the RFL outfit from Fancy Fairy. You can get it for 150L, I paid more, cos I love it, and the money goes to a good cause. Ash Out

Not Free
Hair
Kin
ETD
Fuel
Maitreya
Junwave

Skins
Bebae

Lingerie In Pic 5
Fancy Fairy RFL Item

Ssshhh, spot the green!!

As I’ve mentioned before on the blog, if you’re a hard core RP type, finding “your look” can be terribly hard on a budget. Recently there have been some incredible packs floating round the grid, covering all sorts of looks/avatars. So today it’s the turn of the vampire. Fitting as one of the terribly good looking undead has joined our ranks 😛

Lunas Boutique is a store I’ve blogged a few times, discovered through Fashcon around the New year. Do a search for the LL group, there are some super cool gifts in the archives. Including a pose hud stuffed full of poses, total must have. But these outfits are what I’m stoked about, a gift from Candy Shop (in the Lunas Boutique group archives). They are complete vampire avs, including skins (not shown) shapes, teeth, emote hud and all the clothes shown. So many options and stunning pieces, to say I’m blown away is an understatement! Skins! The skins worn with the red outfit are from the Imagen hunt. You’re looking for 20 teeny shamrocks, and you’ll get 19 skins and some eyes. If anyone needs a hand, drop me a line inworld and I’ll be happy to help. None are hidden in walls or anything like that, lets just say that sometimes the most obvious hiding places are the hardest to find 😛 The skin worn with the black outfit is a gorgeous dollarbie from Domestic V. There’s a huge sale going on also, and loads of freebs on the ground floor (you’ll find the skin shown upstairs).

I had to sneak a wee bit of green in here!! This beauty is a group gift from Fairytails. You’ll need your group tag activated, then snag this for an L. The skin I’m wearing here, and for the rest of the post are part of the Rockberry gift for the most random hunt ever. I love love love them!

I saw a small post about this store on the Freebie Telegraph, and had to go have a nose for myself. Nah! is a new to me store, and all these outfits are free from there, unbelievable! The brown dress also comes with super cute cowboy boots, not sure if you can see them too well. I can’t wait till the store is fully stocked so I can go spend, as at the moment, everything is free. Now I’m off to try and give mini Ash a bath, hard at the best of times, but the little princess is sick, so I anticipate much sadness! Ash Out.

Non Free Awesomeness
Hair
Gritty Kitty
ETD (still closed?)
Dejavu (some avail to buy, 2 are old group gifts)

Hoofies
Lazy Places

Ballet Boots
DXD

Bunny Hop Flair

3am, all was not well in the Tomsen household, mainly due to my super loud boinking neighbours, who not only woke me up, but Mini Ash too, grrr. And the grid was broked too, awesome. So I was moaning on Plurk about my Sasybum being MIA and me missing her terribly. Well I found out last night there’s a terribly good reason for her not hanging out. Shoes. Awesome sauce ballet flats to be precise. Sasy has a new project on the go, named “Flair”.

The ones shown here can be nabbed on Xstreet for an L. In the pack you actually get 2 versions of your chosen shoes, so thats 4 pairs of shoes for 2L. Get the grey ones here and the pink ones here.

If you want other styles, colours or demos check out Sasy’s merchant page here. The regular retail price is 150L, so it’s well worth checking the dollarbies out, trust me theyre gorgeous. Speaking of gorgeous, how are these little short suits!! Tomoko Manamiko sent me a lm this morning for an amazing store called DrLife. Not only do they have 4 lucky boards (2 of them contain full skin sets) but there’s also some yummy group gifts you can claim with your tag active. The shorts come in all sorts of colours, there’s hair and jewelery also. yay for new to me stores!

A big hunt is about to get underway, the Bunny Hop grid wide hunt. Check out the official blog here. This first dress is the gift from Weird Designs. It’s called “Dead Bunny” and I fecking love it. Shown with the very not free, but totally awesome “Dead Dreamer” skin from Miasnow.

Here we have offerings from Angelwing and Spork for the clothes, Sentou Yousei for the shoes and Chaos By Design for the skin. The shoes are truly to die for and you get 6798679 colours, not just the ones shown here.

The bunny outfit is from Venice Picassa, the ears twitch, too cute!! And the skin and middle dress are from Skinzors. The skin is beautiful, delicate and ever so pretty. Do check out the official blog, for more participants, and stay tuned here for more gifty previews. Ash Out.

Not Free
Hair
Troof
Dejavu
Inorite
Aoharu

Skin from 1st & 2nd pic
Minajunk
Miasnow

Dare To be Reasonable

So I was tarding about on Q last night, getting up to all sorts of mischief, when I got the ping from my email. Alexx Usbourne had sent me unbearably yummy lingerie from Reasonable Desires. There is a group gift available at the moment, have you tag active and head to the main store. You’ll also find a tintable version there too, it’s a pick reward. Y’all know the drill with that! There are 6 (yes 6!) lucky chairs, and all sorts of costumes that had me drooling.

Perfect for these “Vicious” boots from Dare Designs. These are in the lucky chair now, as well as 678987867 other colours 😛 Thank you Mr Monroe, pwn is not the word for you, although it goes a little way to describe your ossumness! Also another excuse to show off moar of my Miasnow skins. Shown here are Green Goddess and Gorgeous Grape. I’ve blown the picture out alot in Photoshop, for a true idea of the colours, get thee to the store and demo!

OMG. I’ve been waiting, and I totally set up camp at the store, Bebae has finally released Coral FTW. And and and, a group gift for juuus.

You get all 4 tones, Creme, Cina, Cara and Coco. The makeup is divine, the slash of liner is perfection. Yes rainbows and puppies and such, deal with it.

Do a search for Bebae in groups and grab these beauties asap, then go buy fat packs of your favie tone 😛

Thank you so much Torie, you can have your store back now, and I promise to move my sleeping bag 😛 Ash Out.

Not Free Awesomeness
Hair
Kin

Skins
Miasnow

Bracers
Flipside

Ears
Illusions

Pish Posh Mosh

Throwing together some of my fav’s this week from Lucky Chairs, Group Gifties, and Freebz….

Shirt: “flying skull” shirt freebie from Swanson
Skin: “Spring Showers” from Tyranny Designs Lucky chair
Boots: “CR Shortboots” from Studio M’z Lucky Chair
Mouth cupcake: “muffled by the cupcake” free from Cuppy-Cake
Hair: “Lucy Black” Group Gift from Romi Skins

Jeans: “Stars” from Swanson.. NOT FREE

Luck of the elven…

I got double lucky today….

Got this “Rabit Police Red” when my letter came up in the lucky chairs at Umi Usagi (it includes the hat & gloves), and prim cuffs and collar with tie!!

And consider myself double lucky for remaining in the DejaVu group, as she has at last reopened her shop, and set out this “Reopening Momo hair” as a group gift! The skin is a new freeb from [42] called Goth Whites.