Get Layered!

Ahoy there mateys! As SL "Talk Like a Pirate Day" drew to a close, I battled through lag as chunky as shark fin soup to buy things. Yes, I was in a shopping mood and no pesky post-upgrade clagginess was going to stand between me and retail fulfilment.

And I did find it in the specific form of the Pixel Dolls stock liquidation sale! Nephilaine Protagonist has cleverly injected a sense of urgency at the store with "count-down" vendor boards primed to self-destruct after the 25th purchase, so that got me on a roll. I was a little disappointed at first to find that the charcoal version of the Comfort skirt had already seduced 25 buyers before I got there, but ultimately I was satisfied with the chocolate (which is an uncannily familiar pattern in my life - see profile).

I enjoy playing with the contents of my inventory to create layered looks and essentially this means prims, ideally mod-able. I picked up a knee-length wrap dress in a texture that I've always liked. Despite the fact that I tend to favor pieces in solid neutral colors for their versatility, a girl always needs a bit of print here and there to spice up her wardrobe. I felt the plunging V-neckline was a little out of kilter with Autumn, so I teamed the skirt piece with a black turtle neck from Seu Shop and could not stifle a chuckle at how perfectly its colours matched my Dune slouch boots from Maitreya in Olive. With semi-opaque tights in midnight from TaP, the overall effect was elegantly cosy - almost perfect for shopping, but definitely in need of a few finishing touches. I threw on another Expo acquisition - a set of subtly-colored bangles from Turnstyle, where the presentation was imaginative and the pieces showed creative promise. The soft tones of the bangles complement this skirt beautifully. But something was still not quite right. The contrast of the deep black top against the skirt print at my waistline seemed too stark. I found a couple of sashes in the far reaches of my inventory and after about 40-50 mins of modding and with unflattering dark circles developing beneath my eyes, I had devised something that I was really happy with using a bronze & black hip sash from Opium's Giselle bikini set.

I get like a dog with a bone over this stuff and when I finish up, stand back and look at the result I guess I have a glimmer of the kind of pride that some of SL's amazing designers experience quite regularly. Top-of-mind candidates include Fallingwater Cellardoor, Elika Tiramisu and Caliah Lyon (who I recently heard described as SL's new Prim Empress). And what thrill it must be when people actually buy the fruits of your labor!

I can't close without a mention of the splendid freebie on offer at Pixel Dolls. The Cimarron set includes a nicely done laced vest plus jeans & fingerless gloves in a total of 8 rich colours. And get this - the vest in on 3 layers and the jeans on 2 with prim leg-pieces! This is a L$0 genuine freebie. There is something a little vulgar to me about the dollarbie (and the L$1 demo). But therein lies a different rant.

In my layering mood and never being one for revealing much cleavage before 8pm, I wore the skimpy black vest over a floaty chiffon blouse (also Pixel Dolls) thus adding some much-needed structure into this silhouette via the prim peplum, as well as scrunchy socks courtesy of the Kutsushita set from Seu. The shoes are black Maryjanes from TaP. My necklace is the long drop chain in gold/opal from Shiny Things (with some color modification).

The hair is Patricia in caramel from ETD.