Billy Beaverhausen
What's this? What's happening? What's going on?
Inspiration – Episode 1
Belgium is a distinctive player in the world of comic books. Along with France, little not-so-old Belgium played a major role in the development of the European comics. Arguably the most famous one of them all is Tin Tin. Personally I grew up in the Flemish part of Belgium and my favourite comic was Suske & Wiske. In English they are known as Spike & Suzy, or Luke & Lucy or Willy & Wanda… How the hell did that happen? Anyway, I decided to use the boy of this duo as inspiration for a look, cause it’s fun and kinda easy and goodness knows, I need fun ‘n easy right now.
Luckily a pair of jeans with rolled up cuffs isn’t hard to find in SL. For this outfit I went with the Broberry jeans by Deadwool and a red polo by Cold Ash, who are really good at this kind of item. I think Suske (Spike, Luke, Willy… what’s in a name) is wearing some kind of boots, but I opted for the smart Nardov sneakers by Versov in dark brown. We’re going for “inspiration” here, not a carbon copy.
Recently the characters were revamped and Suske’s default outfit is now a red hoodie, skinny jeans and a flashy pair of trainers. Finding shoes that don’t clip with a pair of skinny jeans in SL is a bit of a challenge. Didn’t I say I was going to keep it simple? Oh well, in the end I settled on the Leo Jeans by Ascend which fit smoothly in the the Retro Dunks by Vale Koer. The hoodie is from Cold Ash and can be worn with or without the t-shirt, but I don’t think our hero is used to showing a lot of skin. It’s a rather wholesome comic book after all.
Speaking of skin, I have used one of the more obscure options. Stray Dog is of course very popular and they have a vaste back catalogue of skins, but not very many options for the Signature Gianni head. This is their Roman skin which, as you perhaps can see, does come as an applier for the Gianni head. I wanted to use this particular head for this little project, because I felt it suited Suske. The eyebrows on the skin were a bit too heavy for my liking, but Stray Dog always includes a no-brows version and I have applied the Identity Real Brows. Of course I’m going for a grown-up version here, as I’ve got no place for bloody teenagers in my life, so the Birth Bristle beard applier adds some years to the look in a good way. The muscle on the Signature Gianni body doesn’t doe a bad job at that either. The Stealthic Obscure hairstyle works a treat for this look and my trusty Avi Glam Solstice eyes are only to happy to make an appearance. All to hear you better with, I stuck on the Mandala Steking Season 5 mesh ears and that completed the look.
Now it’s bed time, maybe with a classic Suske & Wiske. I have collection of over a 100 of them all from my childhood and some later nostalgic purchases. *Sighs*… Simpler times.
Quench Your Thirst 15
For those of your with an insatiable thirst for a constant supply of new fancy underwear there’s reason to rejoice. Thirst has recently released their August JOCKED set.
As usual there are two brand new designs in the JOCKED set. With this Lace Trunk, Thirst really is crossing into the arena of what I’d call sexy lingerie. The trunk is rigged for the Belleza Jake and TMP Legacy mesh body and comes with 10-colour hud, so you can be virginal in white, smokey in black, sizzling in red and whatever adjective you wish to be in any of the other seven colours.
The other item in this set is called Infinity Jock and I’m looking forward to blogging that one of these days. Now I’m off to bed though… By myself, to get MUCH needed sleep.
Sweet dreams. TTFN.
David @ MOM August/September
The current round of Men Only Monthly kicked off some days ago and it’s time to try my luck at this event to find something new to cover and/or adorn the NX-Nardcotix David mesh body. If you see anything you like, make sure to head over to MOM before September 15th. After that you’ll have to go check out the stores of the various mentioned brands to see if they’ve put the item up yet.
If you’re using David with a Catwa mesh head, you can treat yourself to a new skin by Birth at the current round of Men Only Monthly. It’s called Hugo and according to Birth this skin is somewhere between a rugged model and handsome Greco-Roman statue. Of course the final look strongly depends on which particular Catwa head you are using and your shape. The Birth omega applier is the only option I’m willing to use with this body at the moment. For the sake of full disclosure I should mention that I’m part of the bloggers team for Birth, but I genuinely prefer their skin on this body. I actually wanted to try something different this time, but nothing really appealed to me all that much.
Men Only Monthly is quite heavy on the tattoos this month, so I grabbed the very colourful Panther Tattoo by Dappa. If you can’t beat them, join them, right? It took a while to get sharp though, which I find somewhat worrying. One would not wish to be seen looking blurry, so after this spot of cheeky nude modelling I took it off again. At least in SL that doesn’t require painful laser treatments.
I have lost count of how often I’ve grabbed something from Aitui for David. Their loose, casual style is very forgiving for cases where one doesn’t have a size that’s been made specifically for one’s mesh body. – Why have I started using “one” so often… I should stop listening to all those documentaries about royals while I’m working. Something weird is happening on a subliminal level. – The Aitui Pulled Sweater at MOM comes in different versions and for those of you that don’t like prints on your apparel, there even is a plain gray one. You can try whatever size suits you best, but I’m using the TMP size with David. To keep things easy I’m wearing the sweater with the NX-Nardcotix Finlay Cargo trousers. The Nardov sneakers by Versov easily fit under these trousers, so you can pop of you feet and wear the Gianni size.
This outfit by MGmen’s is rather fun. I guess someone’s been taking notice of the French tuck. I like how this is very relaxed, yet quite smart. The ensemble looks light enough to wear it with the NX-Nardcotix Mecatl sandals an to be honest, I had trouble finding a pair of shoes that wasn’t clipping with the hem of the trousers. Sometimes you just have to take a hint and quote from the movie Babe and tell yourself: that’ll do pig, that’ll do. Oh, I think I can close on that now.
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!).
