Billy Beaverhausen
What's this? What's happening? What's going on?
A Signature Look IV
For those of you that prefer a one-stop solution when it comes to combining a mesh head and body, both Signature Gianni and Geralt are prime examples of keeping it simple, but that doesn’t mean you can’t look beyond the standard skin and play with your shape till you have something that is quite different from the out-of-the-box look.
Birth currently is showcasing their first Signature head applier, named Asher, at the Signature Event till 20th July and I assume it will be available at their main store thereafter. It comes with black, brown, blond, red and no brows. I’m using the no-brow skin here and have applied ‘Real Eyebrows’ from Identity just to mix it up. There are also two tintable beard options, to add definition and ruggedness to the face. There’s no hair base included with this one, but to be honest I prefer using the Stealthic hair base most of the time, especially when I’m using Stealthic hair, as is the case now.
I applaud Birth’s effort to create something for the Signature heads and I hope that they have more of these skins in the pipeline. An applier specifically for the Geralt body would be a great idea too, because when I tried ‘Asher’ on the Geralt head it worked nicely, but when it came to the body applier, the nipples were looking a bit funky. I tried both the Gianni and Omega appliers and in both cases there were nipple issues. For now I’ll stick to using this skin with Gianni only, but I’ve got “girl look at that body” playing in my head anyway, so I’m guessing it’s all good.
I went overboard with the testosterone this time and went for a more furry option, but of course the Birth skin comes with generous options for body hair and you can be as smooth as baby’s behind, if that is what you prefer.
Speaking of smooth things, the Asher skin comes complete with a shape and brow shape, so you can wear it with minimum effort. Naturally I created my own shape, because playing with the shape sliders is one of my favorite things, along with raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, piercing green Newclan eyes and the Mossu boxer briefs.
Anduril revisted
Much of my time in SL is spent faffing with fiddly bits and styling my avatar. I sometimes joke that I came here for the sex, but stayed for the style. I get satisfaction out of it, because I always wanted to try my hand at styling people, but never could get my hands on any victims, oh, I mean volunteers. The same goes for home decoration. I enjoyed putting together my real life apartment, but I don’t have the resources, time or energy to have a complete do-over every other month. Putting all that styling fun aside for a minute, I wanted to do some exploring. I went in search of interesting venues and stimulating vistas and after a couple of hops to sims that didn’t quite hit the spot, I landed at an old favorite.
I first discovered Anduril on a hunt over a year ago and I hadn’t been there for a while, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that it’s still there and that it has changed a lot since my last visit. It is a mix of an abandoned village and melancholy places of outstanding natural beauty. In my opinion the creators have succeeded in doing an overhaul without destroying the vibe of the previous design. It is different, less spooky than before, yet there still is a mysterious undertone.
The windlight is set to a constant moody sunset and you’ll find some good spots that are great for just sitting and zoning out. This is the point at which SL can be almost therapeutic and has the potential to actually help you unwind and prepare for bed.
Once you start looking around a bit more, you’ll find that the place isn’t all that abandoned after all. You can easily imagine a few people are living a quiet mindful life here, perhaps after having lived in the hustle and bustle of a big city for a long time. When it comes down to it, the biggest luxury of all is… time.
Credits
Taking David to TMD July 2018
The Mens Dept. event started as usual on the 5th of the month and will run until the end of July. For me this a good occasion to slip into the NX-Nardcotix David mesh body and see what I can find to enrich his wardrobe. I understand that some people say there are no clothes for this body, but simply because an item does not include a designated -Nardcotix size, it does not automatically mean you can’t make it work. My goal with this particular blog series is to find out what you can wear with this body without making ridiculous shape alterations and share these findings with other desperately seeking Davids. So without further ado, let’s get stuck in.
The Hamptons swim trunks by Tori Torricelli are a nice surprise. I wouldn’t call these exquisite, but they are well made and if you go for the fatpack, you get some amusing pattern choices. Even if you go for just one colour version, this is a good standard item to have in your wardrobe this summer. The most surprising thing about it, is that the Enzo size fits the NX-Nardcotix body very well. I did make some adjustments to my shape to allow for a tighter fit, but all in all it was pretty easy peasy lemon squeezy.
There are plenty of shoe options at this round of TMD. One might argue that there are too many shoes, but that might just be my personal reaction. There was a period when every time I went into town a clothing store had been transformed into yet another shoe store. I feared that soon we’d all be running around in nothing but sneakers. All nightmares aside, I do believe it’s time for David to get some new footwear and I settled on the extremely well made Demonov sneakers by Versov. I’m using the unrigged version and made my feet smaller for an optimal fit. (“Oh if only we could do that in real life!” exclaimed Mr. Big Feet.)
Of course running shoes these days are worn with just about any kind of outfit, but Riot just happens to have a pair of ‘athletic’ shorts complete with leggings at TMD this month, so if you want to go for a run and look the part, you have everything you need in one place. You’ll find that the Signature size works best for these shorts with some shape adjustments. You need to play with belly, saddle bags, hip width and butt size.
If you appreciate the sportswear look but aren’t much of a runner and late night walks are more your thing, then you probably will want to cover up just a bit more. Try combining the Riot shorts with the Tiller Bryson’s jacket. I turned my butt size down all the way to 0, cause it sure was dragging along in this jacket. Belly size is best at 0 too, or the jacket starts ballooning too much and in this particular case the question to the age old trick question of “does this make me look fat?” would be… Oh God, YES!
The creator(s) at Aitui either live in a cold climate or don’t like summer wear, because yet again they are showing a layered item at TMD. Oy vey I’m gonna be schvitzing like a schmendrick in this coat, jacket, t-shirt and scarf! But hey, it’s fashion over function, right? Also, there are always those days that start out bright and frisky till the sun has had time to get to the boiling point. All joking apart, I do like the casual looseness and drape of this item and the subtle pop of colour provided by the scarf. If it looks a bit too wide for your liking, you can lower your shape settings to make the outfit appear more fitted. The NX-Nardcotix Finley cargo pants and Jude ankle boots are a nice and easy option to wear with this coat. You’ll find these at the NX-Nardcotix main store.
We’re taking off the scarf and are showing a bit more chest with the Julian jacket by Etham. As usual with Etham’s items, if you go for a single colour version you will still get a hud with a bunch of colour options for the t-shirt. I always love to combine items from the same event to put together an outfit. The Gabriel suit pants from Not So Bad combine very well with this jacket.
If you like the idea of coming home after a long day at work and taking of your shirt and tie but keeping on your Not So Bad suit pants, than you can achieve hat look too. The TMP size seemed to work best after I increased my belly and saddle bags and decreased my hip width to even things out again.
Well will you look at that, I have reached the end of this post and somehow found my way home. Nothing left for me to do than kick back, relax on my comfy outdoor sofa, knock back a can of refreshing lemonade and watch the sunset. See you next time!
Credits
- Mesh body: NX-Nardcotix David
- Mesh head: Catwa Stanley
- Skin: Birth Winston at the Men Only Monthly event till 15th July and their main store thereafter.
- Hair: Stealthic Reach
- Ears: Mandala Season 5
- Eyes: Newclan Tempting eyes
- Shutter Field coastal sofa
Revamping the fairy
Roll play isn’t really my thing, but I do enjoy the freedom of being whatever I want to be in SL. During my first year in our beloved virtual world , every now and again I frolicked, flitted and flied around the grid as a fairy, but I never update that fairy look with a mesh head… until now.
As far as I’m concerned there are no strict rules for what a fairy should look like. You can create a quasi androgynous look by getting the Slink body for example and searching for a skin that doesn’t have strongly defined abs. Alternatively you can take a leaf out of my story book and get the Signature body and combine this with the very athletic looking skin from Birth to magic yourself into a ‘warrior’ fairy.
There doesn’t seem to be a lot of choice in clothing for male fairies. Though the Rover pants by Meva perhaps aren’t technically traditional fairy clothing, I think they work quite nicely with this fierce looking winged creature and they are well made with expertly executed details.
My fairy’s athletic physique goes well with the strong features of the Catwa Stanley head and Birth‘s Lazarus applier. Of course something would be amiss if you din’t have pointy ears. For those I always rely on my trusty Season 5 Steking mesh ears from Mandala. Wings are a bit of a must as well and though I haven’t been doing an awful lot of research to see what’s available in the wings department today, I dare say that the Titania fairy wings by Deviance haven’t lost their luster yet. The Hysteria hairstyle by Stealthic, tinted bright green, finishes off the look.
And now my dearies, I’m flying out of here. Cheerio! *leaves behind a trail of sparkles*
P.S.: Check out Lost Unicorn if you’re a fan of fantasy sims.
Beached Bunny Hunt 8
It’s that time of the year again during which, according to the funny people at Evil bunny Productions, an obese rabbit got stuck in the sand because it’s behind is just slightly too buxom. See, they need to stop feeding their pets all that nasty stuff from the pet store and put them on a plant based whole foods diet! It’s like when people have an overweight dog and I’m like: hey where’s that side table going with my drink?! Anywhoooo, I digress. There’s a hunt going on from the 3rd till the 31st of July. More information and a list of hints can be found on the Evil Bunny website.
You’ll be searching for a small turquoise bucket at 67 stops and each prize costs 1 L$. You’ll find images for some of the prizes on the website, which can help you to decide whether you even want to go look for the bucket. There’s no need to search for a bucket if there’s going to be a dress in it and you don’t have the puppies to fill it out (whispers: I have tried it). Now, in no particular order, here are some of the items which I deemed nice enough to show.
This cozy little raft is from Little 2 Large. You can make it rotate, or if that makes you dizzy, just keep it still. It’s bright and sunny and has some nice single animations. Arguably it’s not the height of refinement compared with the quality of furniture that’s currently available in SL, but there’s a certain sweetness about it.
Doughnuts are a death sentence! Eating something that is both sugary and fried is like begging for a heart attack. O.K. I confess, I have been binge watching clips on nutrition. Doughnut floaties in SL however, are just pure relaxation and most probably quit good for you. You’ll find this one in three colours at the Harambee Gwassi-Kenya Charity Shop.
One last snapshot rounds up this hunt with an elegant garden sofa from The Dark Fae, a simple but effective animated squirrel from Reality Designs and ‘hello sunshine’ letters from The Artist Shed. The bench has some texture options in it and a bunch of single and pg couple poses, the squirrel just keeps on playing with its acorn and the letters don’t do anything but look nice.
That’s it! That’s all! There’s no more. Move it along. Nothing else to see here! I didn’t find any menswear I want to show, but I do think there may have been some nice beach wear for the ladies. My hunt haul is rather small, but it didn’t take a lot of effort to find all the buckets and by now I am used to men being second class citizens when it comes to hunts in SL. Keep your expectations low and you’ll always be pleasantly surprised.
Credits
- Catwa ‘Stanley’ mesh head
- Signature Gianni mesh body
- Birth ‘Winston’ skin at the Men Only Monthly event till 15th July and their main store thereafter.
- Vango ‘Matt’ hair
- Noche ‘Christian’ trunks
- Riot ‘Emery’ denim shorts
- FE Style ‘Nomysh’ tank top
Elegant alfresco dining
Over 10 years ago I moved from Belgium to Sweden and in the course of those years I must have noticed many small cultural differences which today I already don’t notice anymore. One of those differences is that Swedish people tend to spend more time outdoors year round, but definitely during the summertime. That particular season is quite short here, so people are making the most of it. My personal favorite aspect of summer is the abundance of daylight. At night the sky does not turn pitch dark as it does in winter, but goes indigo with a band of lighter blue on the horizon as if the sun is just playing peekaboo for a bit.
Inspired by all that outdoor living, I set up a little elegant alfresco dining scene, ready for a nice evening with friends, filled with stimulating conversation, laughter and wonderful food. Go on! What y’ur still doin’ here? Get out of the house!
Credits
- Shutter Field:cathedral ruin
- Apple Fall: olive tree and daisies planter, Chester outdoor dining set, summer parasol
- Bazaar: place settings
- Ariskea: hybrid roses
Birth Reborn
On 17th June I celebrated my second year in SL. Just like everybody else I started out with one of the standard avatars. I fancied something quite different from the real me in SL, so I went for a somewhat scrawny red head. I thought he was rather good-looking in his own way, but that’s before I had seen all the much better looking avatars. I soon learned about mesh bodies and also about mesh heads. Linden Labs most probably was already working on the ‘bento’ project back then, but it wasn’t available to us yet and with very little customization options for the shape of a static mesh head, many people preferred to stay with their system head. I too for a while used my mesh body combined with a nice system skin.
That’s how I discovered the Birth skins. Their Highlands Tone went very well with the #20 skin tone of the TMP mesh body. Birth had several good-looking skins and I went for the youthful but mature Rufus with a very light stubble and well pronounced cheekbones.
Then the bento skeleton hit the grid and as we could start shaping mesh heads into something more personal, this meant the beginning of the end for system skins. These skins aren’t totally out yet because some people don’t want to ‘invest’ in a mesh head or find them too complicated. For a short while Birth was gone from the scene… Only to reemerge quickly with beautiful new appliers for mesh bodies and heads. I was quite happy to see Birth had made this transition and kept thinking that I really needed to get myself a Birth skin again. Just as I found myself staring at their latest male skin at Men Only Monthly, someone told me that they were looking for bloggers and that’s how I find myself now being part of the Birth blogging team.
If you like very well defined abs than the Birth body appliers will definitely be your thing. They come with a number of built-in body hair options to chose from ranging from smooth to ‘gorilla’ (their word). I like the manscaped look, fairly hairy but trimmed and I think I’m in love with that belly button… Okay, that sounded weird. Moving swiftly on to a technical detail: Belleza, Omega, Signature and Slink appliers are included.
You can make separate body hair choices for your torso and legs and it all comes in black, brown, blonde and red. You can keep it as smooth as a baby’s bum or go for a bit of bum fluff.
The handsome and slightly weathered looking ‘Winston’ applier from Birth for Catwa mesh heads is currently available at the Men Only Monthly event until 15th July and at the Birth store after that of course. If you don’t like faffing with the shape sliders than it will be reassuring that this skin comes complete with a shape and brow shape. Of course I love shape editing so what you’re seeing here is my own work. It’s easy to get a good looking result with a skin as nice as this one. Go on, have a go at those sliders! Just make a backup copy of your shape first.
Credits
Akeruka Group Gift June 2018 – Episode 4
There is less than a week left to grab the temporary group gift at Akeruka. For a 150 L$ joining fee you get access to their newest ‘Leon’ male mesh head which comes with all the bells and whistles. You have until 1st July to get this group gift, after that it will be sold at the regular retail price of 4999 L$. I have been styling this head with its original skin and skins from 7 Deadly S(k)ins, Lure and Stray Dog on the TMP, Belleza and Signature mesh bodies. Today I’m returning to the Signature Gianni body and I’m using a skin from Clef De Peau.
One could be forgiven for thinking that Clef De Peau only has Catwa appliers. They used to have TMP appliers which for obvious reasons they dropped when they remodeled their store. I think they also used to have a few more Signature head appliers, but now there seem to be just two, possibly three left. Perhaps it doesn’t occur to everyone to try an applier that’s labelled as “Signature” on another mesh head, but demos are free and SL is all about trial and error or in this case trial and win. Of course the body applier was made for Signature Gianni and everything lines up beautifully. Daaayum!
Their Calvin skin works very nicely with the Akeruka Leon head and if you like heavy eyebrows than you sure are in luck with this skin. If you like them more subtle, or want them to match your hair, you can apply the no-brows version of this skin and use whatever eyebrows you prefer, like for example the ‘Real Eyebrows’ from Identity as shown above. The light stubble is part of the skin and the pigment spots are an option that comes with the head. Look in de hud under Extra/Tattoo for that.
Don’t forget that you need an omega relay to apply 3rd party skins to the Akeruka head. You’ll find this at the Akeruka store. For other useful information and tutorials I refer you to Akeruka’s site.
Other credits
SL15B Official Shopping Event
Laggy! Very laggy! That’s the first impression I got from this Official Shopping Event to celebrate Second Life’s 15th birthday. I wonder if many old timers from the first days are still around in SL today or if we have lost them all in the lag equivalent of the Bermuda triangle. I don’t really understand why there are links to different regions, as it seems to be just one big shopping gallery, except when you try to cross over from one region to the next you end up crashing… Ah, so there is a reason for those landmarks after all! Anywhoooo I persevered, as I knew that there usually are some good discounts and gifts to be found at these official shopping events and it’s only on till 2nd July so I didn’t want to dilly-dally.
Here’s where I go into inner-monologue mode…
Oh! 50% off on a lovely selection of summer items from What Next! And look at that, 50% off on some really nice pieces from Apple Fall. Let’s grab that lovely Moroccan urn for 75 L$ so I can finally put grandmama in something a bit more suitable than a shoe box. Oh that girly Moss & Mink furniture is sweet but I wonder what the discount is. A nice adult bed for 489 L$ does seem reasonable though. There you see, Ariskea makes it nice and clear with their 25% discount signs and even a 50% discount on a new popcorn and ice cream stand, but I’ve given up on that kind of food. Keke is also being (deliberately?) vague about discounts. A lovely chair in 6 variations will set you back 145 L$, so I guess that might be a little less than what you would pay for it at their store and I decided I needed it. Okay you don’t really need anything in SL. I wanted it O.K., I wanted it! Happy now?! Right, neeeeext! Chez moi is another one that doesn’t want us to know their discount, but their patio set is only 293 L$ so that seems like a good deal.
30% discount at Ascend! O.K. I’ll take the jeans and sneakers for 203 L$ each, thank you. The necklace and bracelet in this image are gifts you’ll find at the event.
I also convinced myself I needed the ‘edgy kimono’ and a pair of trousers from Aitui for 180 and 205 L$ respectively. Again I’m wearing a bracelet you’ll find as a gift at the event and you can find the sneakers at the Vale Koer main store. These are a group gift and have a very extensive texture hud so they work with the colour scheme of almost any outfit.
The way that each store has another way of displaying their gift(s) makes this shopping experiencing also somewhat of a scavenger hunt, so I’m going to wish you all happy hunting and shopping and a great 15th SL celebration.
Credits
Akeruka Group Gift June 2018 – Episode 3
About a week has passed since I picked up the ‘Leon’ Deluxe mesh head from Akeruka, which currently is their temporary group gift. If you aren’t in their group yet, head over to the store and wack that group sign! The joining fee is 150 L$ and you only have until 1th July to grab this gift. I showed a first styling exercise with this new head, using it’s original skin and the accompanying matching skin applier on Signature Gianni and created a couple of looks with the TMP body. Now I wanted to make some quick work of putting together some looks with the Belleza Jake body.
I have built up a rich back catalogue of skins from 7 Deadly S(k)ins, because they are so generous with group gifts and hunts. Their ‘Kaye’ skin works very well on both the Akeruka Leon head and Belleza Jake body. Nipples are where they’re supposed to be and there are no nasty toe shadows. I do find that with this body it is more difficult to achieve an invisible neck seam. The body has a built-in ‘neck sheath’ which you can switch on and off and it helps to blur the line in some cases, but the 7DS skin does not recognise this neck sheath, so you need to keep it off. This means you’ll have to live with a neck seam that sometimes will be invisible if you’re in a particular windlight and sometimes very visible in other lighting. The same problem occurs with other heads on this body and it’s a bit of a pain, but maybe some day someone will find the 100% foolproof solution for this, possibly around the same time that piggies go oink in the sky and the devil finds himself shivering a bit. Instead of fretting about that we could focus on the cute freckles and birth marks which you’ll find ready to apply and tint right there in the hud for your head.
Next I took a look at Stray Dog. They are more known for their Catwa appliers, but if you go deeper into their store, you will find two appliers made for Logo mesh heads and these work quite well with Akeruka heads. Their ‘Uriel’ skin is one of those two, shown here on the Akeruka head in skin tone #4 (a.k.a. Buttermilk). The Stray Dog skins have the advantage of including a no-brow version most of the time. That’s what I used here and then I applied ‘Real Eyebrows’ from Identity, that way my brows match my hair colour. The Uriel skin also lets you choose between “natural” and freckles… What’s unnatural about freckles though? I felt like there weren’t quite enough freckles on the skin, so I used the so called natural one and then applied freckles from the head’s own hud. You’ll find those under Extra/Tattoo. Also great about Stray Dog is that their body appliers include a number of options, like for instance a freckled one, perfect for this red head look.
Don’t forget that you need an omega relay to apply 3rd party skins to the Akeruka head and Belleza body. You’ll find these at their respective stores. For other useful information and tutorials I refer you to Akeruka’s site.
Other credits
Taking David to MOM June/July 2018
Bravely going where no lag-avoiding avatar has ever gone before, I waded through the thick gooey invisible pixel river on the first day of the Men Only Monthly event to check out what’s happening, what’s going on and what I can squeeze the NX-Nardcotix David body into. (I’m talking about clothing!) There were plenty of items that simply didn’t work for David and there were one or two that did work, but I didn’t care for. Here’s what made the cut.
Invictus has a pair of jeans at MOM and it hasn’t escaped my attention that I already bought a pair from them at the previous round of MOM, so I deliberately went for light brown instead of more traditional blue jeans. Some minimal shape adjustment was needed to squeeze into the TMP size but all in all it’s a comfortable snug fit. These jeans pare quite happily with a tank top by FE Style, also present at MOM. The great news about that one is that FE Style recently started to offer items that have been rigged for a wider range of mesh bodies and a Nardcotix size is included. No fuss, no shape editing, just put it on! I went with an understated brown tank top, but there’s a number of very colourful striped ones to chose from. I’m keeping the outfit light with a pair of NX-Nardcotix sandals because my sim is in full bloom of early summer.
American Bazar has a pair of joggers at MOM, at least that’s what they call it. To me the texturing looks too much like a weave instead of a knit, so I’m viewing this as a comfortable pair of trousers with drawstrings. It could be cotton, it could be a light denim, but I wouldn’t go for a jog in these. With a bit of tuck here and a pinch there, I was able to make them fit. Both the TMP and Signature size can be pummeled into submission depending on which shape modification you personally find most acceptable. My NX-Nardcotix backpack holds whatever I may need for a day of discovering natural beauty and architectural splendor.
From Hevo there’s a shirt with rolled up sleeves at MOM and I didn’t have to think long about what I was going to wear with this, as I grabbed the Hevo camo shorts I recently bought. There are a couple of texture options for the t-shirt underneath and you can also leave it off. A sporty pair of sneakers from Semler finishes off the outfit. I suggest you try the unrigged version of these sneakers, hide your feet and adjust the shoe size and move them into place till they fit without showing a gap.
That’s it for David at this round of the Men Only Monthly event. He’s a happy chappy with another 4 new items in his wardrobe but I’m sure he’ll be off to another event soon enough.
Credits
- NX-Nardcotix David mesh body
- Catwa Stanley mesh head
- Clef De Peau Ivo for Catwa + applier for NX-Nardoctix
- Vango hair & hat
- Mandala mesh ears
MadPea Summer Hunt 2018 – Episode 2
The MadPea Summer Hunt is still in full swing and it sure has it going on. People are talking up a storm in their group chat and you’re bound to bump into fellow shell-hunting Peas if you join in on the fun. For just 100 L$ you get a shell hunting hud and a little bucket and spate. For that same price you also get the perfect opportunity to discover new sims and collect points to trade in for great prizes at the end. The fun continuous till 27th June, so what are you waiting for, join us now! If you’re more of lone hunter, that’s fine too. It can be all about just you and your wittle bucket.
- Credits: TonkTastic t-shirt and Riot shorts
- More details on www.madpeagames.com/madpea-summer-hunt.
