Billy Beaverhausen
What's this? What's happening? What's going on?
Ex on the beach
The Exmachina Davide avatar has been taking a long nap in my closet. When I popped it on I got an updated 6.02 version. Fuck me if I know what’s changed this time. That’s an expression, not an invitation. It probably is going to be something small I hadn’t even noticed. For the previous look I created with this avatar I used the version with its own head. This time I chopped of the head cause I was in a murderous mood. When someone asks me how I’m doing, I sometimes answer with: “I started the day feeling suicidal, but it slowly shifted towards homicidal, which is better for MY personal health.” Turns out that joke is a bit of an acquired taste. Anyway let’s take a closer look.
This is a combination I hadn’t tried before. It’s the Exmachina headless body with the Vista Gerard mesh head. The skin for the head is Bennett by Birth and of course I’m using the Birth omega applier on the body. It’s not a 100% match as the toe nails look very funky, but you can fix that by applying one of the body’s own nail texture options, after you’ve applied the Birth skin. “What about the neck seam”, I hear your mumble. It’s not perfect, it’s not awful. It is what it is. Que sera sera. I’m somewhat jaded. Live with it or leave it.
Finding some nice swimwear for this body is hard. Here’s another case where the great brands like Thirst and Noche don’t bother with this body, so you’re stuck with more obscure brands. I guess the String Thong by RGDW isn’t a bad consolation price. The knots can be added separately, so we’ve got to give it some points for that.
If you like going around in your birthday suit, I recommend you take a look at the “Athletic” version of the body. You get this along with the normal one at no extra cost and it has a bigger booty. Great for those of you that like to have something to fall back on in hard times.
With previous versions of this body I have shown beachwear from a couple of high-end brands. It can’t hurt to give you a short recap of that here.
- Left: Legal Insanity Milo swim trunks.
- Middle: Legal Insanity Thor briefs
- Right: Gild Boudary swim briefs
I got the hair at this years Hair Fair. You can read more about that in my previous blog post.
Hair Fair 2019
The yearly Hair Fair event just opened. The male symbols floating over various booths made it easy to quickly run through the event and check out all the hairstyles for male avatars.
I snatched up this ‘Daniel’ hairstyle by theMARS, a brand I wasn’t aware of yet. It’s playful, yet smart and can be worn with the side parting to the left or right. Isn’t it interesting how one of those two options will look wrong on some heads. I don’t know why and it most probably is just personal preference, but I have this immediate “nope!” feeling when I flip it over to the other side. Anywhoooo, nice to have the option.
Shown on the Akeruka Clay head with Stray Dog Jonatas skin, Real Brows by Identity and Luigi facial hair by Mister Razzor. Wearing the Heart Suit by Deadwool.
Don’t dilly dally and head over to the Hair Fair now, cause it ends on September 1st and I think the hairstyles on show here are exclusive for this event. Important to know is that a percentage of the proceeds goes to a “wigs for kids” charity.
Equal10 August 2019
Retail therapy isn’t really my thing, but my work days are long at the moment and an event like Equal10 is a quick and easy shopping trip with more or less an equal offer for male and female avatars and virtual homemakers alike. I wasn’t shopping to suit a particular mesh body this time and I was determined to make this shopping trip a relaxing one, like my life depended on it.
On these unplanned quick shopping trips it’s typical to go home with something nice and easy, like a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. The Thirst Basic Tee comes with a hud that’s pretty jam-packed with texture options. If you’re not feeling particularly cocky, chances are you’ll find another print that is more you, or you can keep it simple with a plain colour. Textures can be applied separately to the main part, sleeves and trim so you can mix and match to your heart’s content. The t-shirt is rigged for the Belleza Jake and TMP Legacy body.
The Vuk Vince Pants are rigged for Signature Gianni and Belleza Jake. There are six colours to chose from and each one includes a normal and a rolled up version. There’s just a hint of underwear but no colour options for that, which is a shame. The jeans are low riding, so be prepared to get cheeky if you decide to take of your shirt for a beach walk.
If you want to know more about the head, body, skin and hair I’m using, check out my previous post about L’Homme Magazine group gifts. The shoes I’m wearing in the first shot are the Kurtov sneakers by Versov. With that another bites the dust… or sand.
L’Homme Magazine Group Gifts August 2019
L’Homme Magazine is celebrating its 5th birthday and apart from being a skillfully created digital “glossy” magazine full of high-end virtual fashion and interior design, it is also a good source for some nice group gifts, especially as there is no group joining fee. I’ve put a few of the gifts together to create a look.
Gifts: Stray Dog ‘Lewis’ applier for Catwa mesh heads in skin tone #4, Mister Razzor ‘Bill’ facial hair, Midna ‘Fel’ necklace, Noir ‘Chuck’ bracelets and Kalback Casual Shorts ‘M3’. I’m not sure, but I think the Kallback gift is a leftover from the previous magazine, so it’s possible you’ll find something else when you go looking for it.
You’ll find a list of gift contributors on page 29 in L’Homme magazine. Landmarks can be found throughout the magazine by clicking on the logos of the various creators.
Items shown using the Belleza Jake body with the Catwa Victor head, ‘Narcotic’ hairstyle by Stealthic, ‘Solstice’ eyes by Avi Glam, mesh ears by L’etrê and Noche nipples. Shape is my own.
Time for a Romp 2
It’s not hump day, but for me it is Romp day. This sexy monthly event offers plenty of playful items to titillate your self-confessed debouched side and get your freak on, all in the best possible taste, naturally. This event has a rather short run time, having started on August 11th and ending on the 25th.
Of course as usual most of what’s on offer at Romp is geared towards female avatars, but my sponsor Thirst has the rather intriguing Himeros set at this event. In Greek mythology Himeros was the god of sexual desire and one of the Erotes, the winged gods of love. Logically the Greek key design features in this harness and jock and obviously I felt compelled to wear my Blueberry wings. The Himeros set is rigged for the Belleza Jake and TMP Legacy body.
Other creators for male avatars that have a presence at Romp this month are Matova, Cureless, Radix and 4BIDDEN. There are also some adult furniture creators with items that predictably lean towards BDSM experiences. If you’ve missed the event, you can go check out the Thirst main store, chances are the Himeros set will be there.
Items shown using the Belleza Jake body with the Catwa Victor head ,
Erwin skin by Stray Dog (not available in store now) and Modulus Bailey hair. The mesh ears are by L’etrê.
Pleasing Aesthetic – Episode 3
I’m still quite new to the Niramyth Aesthetic body, but I wonder why there isn’t more support for it from clothing designers. One could say that this body’s particular physique is an acquired taste, yet if one spends some time at various gay sims, it becomes clear that it’s far from obscure. Perhaps those that have it, want to flaunt it and prefer to stay (semi) naked most of the time. There’s nothing wrong with that, but personally I do like dressing my virtual dolls. I guess it’s a repressed childhood thing or maybe the self-indulgence of a wannabe stylist.
Regular readers will know that a lack of underwear options for particular bodies is one of my pet peeves. While I dare say that the Aesthetic body isn’t as well supported in that area as for example the Signature Gianni and Belleza Jake bodies, it does have the aptly named Cox brand to fall back on, so to speak. I rather like their strategically wrapped and tied bandanna. This piece is very representative of what the Cox brand is all about.
Something else I take issue with is the complete lack of skins for the Aesthetic body. For those that want to use the head that automatically comes with this body, there’s a handful of appliers like the one I’m using in this case. It’s ‘Blaze’ by Birth and it matches seamlessly with the body’s original skin. The tone I’m using here is called Medium and I made it darker with the body’s tinting option. It’s looking pretty fine, but I can’t help but wonder if it wouldn’t have been even nicer if Birth had an applier for the body as well.
The hair I’m using is ‘Essential Dreads’ by Camo, the mesh eyes are ‘Solstice Eyes’ by Avi Glam and the accessories are group gifts from the current issue of L’Homme Magazine (see page 29 for a list of contributors).
Another fun brand that has some sexy gear for the Aesthetic body is Guilty. Their offer is limited, but the Suntek shorts and Tankyes tank hit the spot. You can wear the shorts respectably pulled up, or teasingly pulled down. The ‘Sandov’ sandals by Versov are a group gift and thankfully come in an Aesthetic size so you don’t have to go through the rigmarole and kerfuffle of stretching a pair of resizable ones to make them fit.
Next I zipped over to The Mens Department to try my luck at the current round of that event (runs till the end of August). Eventually I found a very smart set by Tori Torricelli which includes an Enzo size (some designers use that name instead of Aesthetic). The Jumpov sneakers are another group gift at Versov. I’ve noticed that newer Versov items no longer include an Aesthetic size, but this older gift which has stood the test of time, thankfully does include such a pair and it comes with a colour hud too.
Well that’s it for my escapades with the Niramyth Aesthetic avatar for this time. I rather enjoy how it’s thoroughly different from all the other bodies I regularly use. A change is as good as a holiday. I wonder who first came up with that saying… It’s a bit crap really.
What’s Eating TMP 17
Rather curious to see how it’s going with support for the TMP Legacy body, I headed back to the Man Cave event, before it closes on August 11th, to see if there were any new items that specifically include a Legacy size.
I’m going to approach this as a silver lining and will say that luckily for my wallet, there weren’t many options that fit that description. Of course you can try anything at Man Cave in a different size and see if you can make it work with a combination of alpha cuts, shape adjustments and perhaps the body deformer, but I want to keep it nice and easy.
All I snatched from Man Cave is the Joshi Top by Cubura. As far as I could see, the only other item that also included a Legacy size, was a big open raincoat. I can’t remember the name of the designer and can’t be arsed to go back to Man Cave now. I already had the Diego shorts by Legal Insanity and these were recently updated to fit the Legacy body. For footwear I used the resizable version of the Sandov sandals by Versov (group gift!).
Event: Notice Me, Senpai
It took some quick googling for me to understand the title of this event. According to Wikipedia “Senpai and kōhai are a pair of Japanese words which describe an informal hierarchical interpersonal relationship found in organizations, clubs, businesses, and schools in Japan.”
Apparently it is quite common in anime or manga for a kōhai to desperately and rather unsuccessfully seek their Senpai’s attention. So I guess the Notice Me, Senpai event is going to be a kawaii, anime, hentai, manga kind of thing. I’m mostly just going because my sponsor Thirst have something new there which they’re calling their Nekofun set ( Neko is the Japanese word for cat). It’s a once a year kind of thing and it ends on August 12th, so be there or be a Gömböc.
The cat ears, tail, choker and bracelets are exclusive for this event, but I imagine that the briefs and socks will eventually be available from the Thirst store.
I’m looking around at Notice Me, Senpai now. It’s a rather unimaginative rectangular space with vendors along the walls. The upside of this simple layout is that there aren’t any confusing corridors to get lost in and the risk of missing anything is very low.
As usual with these events, the content is heavily skewed towards female avatars, though of course you always can get a little adventurous with your make-up and or press-on nails on your male avatar. On the other hand, there’s a good chance that nails will only work on for example the Maitreya body.
Eventually I did grab myself a human-sized cat scratch pole by Half Deer. Does this make me neko-curious and more importantly, where do we squeeze that in on the LGBTQI initialism?
You can read more about the body, head and skin I’m using in my previous post: Whats Eating TMP 16. The cats are from the JIAN kitten collection.
What’s Eating TMP 16
In the previous episode of What’s Eating TMP, I combined the new(ish) TMP Legacy body with the Catwa Victor head, using a Stray Dog skin on the head and the body’s original skin. TMP’s solution to fade the body’s skin into the neck left something to be desired. I’m used to neck seams being visible on the back but this one didn’t look right on the throat either. Meanwhile Stray Dog has had a chance to create a first version of an applier for this body and it’s certainly worth a look
In these shots I haven’t done any photoshopping, but a rather bright wind light washes out most of the neck seam. In many other day-to-day windlights it will be a lot more visible on the back. The result on the throat however is much better with the Stray Dog skin when compared to the original TMP skin and looks o.k. in most windlights. Oh neck seam, neck seam! Wherefore art thou neck seam?
Of course if we stop focusing on the neck seam, we can start paying attention to the rest of the body, which looks rather smashing in this skin. We can also rejoice in the fact that Thirst started supporting the Legacy body with some of their latest creations, like the Jersey Brief from the July Jockd set. The briefs come with a bunch of texture options you can apply on different areas to make your own favourite combination. Naturally they are also rigged for Signature Gianni and Belleza Jake as well as the Legacy body. Good underwear is hard to come by for newer bodies and I’m happy Thirst picked this one up so quickly.
David @ Man Cave July/August 2019
“Where to this time with David?” I wondered, as I started my monthly styling effort with the NX-Nardcotix David mesh body. I decided to give Man Cave another go and it wasn’t too bad. There wasn’t an awful lot at this event that David could squeeze into, but that made this a budget friendly outing. You have until August 11th to visit the current round of Man Cave.
This pair of jeans shorts by Outlier can quite easily be worn shirtless if you use the Aesthetic size and make some shape adjustments. I particularly like the detail on the belt that comes with these shorts. All I needed with this was a pair of Nardcotix Mecatl sandals and I was ready to hang out by the waterfront to enjoy a cooling sea breeze.
If you’re more of a city slikker and prefer to be wearing layers, then maybe this Letterman jacket by Kalback is your thing. Even the single colour version has a lot of options for the sleeves, cuffs, t-shirt and patch. I’m wearing this jacket with the NX-Nardcotix Finlay cargos and Deadwool Chase sneakers.
Etham often has something that works with David. If you grab their Eden jacket at Man Cave, don’t be surprised at how far is flairs out in the back. In many cases when I’m wearing something from Etham, I end up flattening my ass and that makes it look a lot better. I often stop myself from buying fat packs, because when am I ever going to wear all those colours? In this case the fat pack was dirt cheap at Man Cave and it sure is fun to combine different colours for the jacket, scarf and shirt. The cargos and shoes are the same as in the previous shot, albeit with different texture choices.
This is where I wrap things up for this particular shopping trip and leave you with the rest of the credits.
- Mesh body: NX-Nardcotix David
- Mesh head: Catwa Stanley
- Birth Ryu applier for Catwa mesh heads and Birth Omega body applier
- Modulus Nial hair
- L’etrê basic mesh ears
