Name That Skin!

Edit: Thank you so much guys for your overwhelming response to the contest! Let me just add a few things that I neglected to share earlier. You can submit up to 3 names and please drop the notecards on me, Roslin Petion.

CJ and I are stumped for a name for this new skin. It will be available in a bright green and a yet to be decided upon third color. The name should be no more than two words and NOT related to the color since we don't know what the third color is just yet. It should be about the style or spirit of the makeup. It could simply be just a pretty name. If we choose your name, you will win the 3 pack in all six skin tones. To enter, please fill out a notecard with the following in the title: NTS Contest: "Your Name" "Makeup Name"
The Contest is only open to group members and will last for just 24 hours.

Look Mom, My Degree Isn't Wasted Afterall

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Happy Birthday to ME!

Today is my 30th birthday. It's something I've been dreading for the past year. I know it's not exactly OLD but I am most certainly an official grownup. So to combat my "I'm a big girl now" blues, I've decided to do a little something to make other people happy which should make me feel good as a result. So, look for the sign with the pink ribbon and enjoy 50% off that makeup set. I chose my favorite 10 looks, that's 30 makeups for my 30th birthday. The sale is only good for 24 hours and at our Nouveau shop. The makeup looks set for sale are: Biba, Boudoir, Cercle, Celeste, Chaton, Novembre, Paon, Pin-Up, Sultry, and Terre.

Makeup for Special Occasions: Soirée

The moment I saw Rebel Hope's Gala Formal, I fell in love. Everything about it is spectacular. The dress comes in two colors; the classic black which is a well done black, light enough to show detail but dark enough to look black as opposed to gray and the most amazing shade of PERFECT red. This perfect red, which has just the right amount of saturation, just the right balance in hue to be festive with out being too Christmassy and flattering on most skin tones. The dress also has lots of other lovely details; a sexy slit, lovely back drape, and great texturing on the fabric overall. What I really appreciate most about the gown is not all together apparent at first blush, it's something I discovered while trying to find the perfect hair to go with it. Rebel had matched it with a modern bob by Abyss. It's a smart, polished combo but of course I wanted to inject some of our aesthetic into the look and so something a bit different. While I scoured the grid for the right hair, it dawned on me just how timeless this design was. A woman could have worn this gown just as easily in the 40s, or 80s as she could today.

I didn't approach the makeup with anything other than the outfit in mind. I wanted something appropriate for evening with fabulous red lips. I realized I hadn't used the eyeliner from Pin-Up in any other makeups and I thought it would pair nicely with matte lips. I kept the shadow soft and focused on the lid and just above the crease. Hopefully, we managed to create a makeup worthy of our inspiration.



Hair: Torch Song in Natural Black by Ingenue
Eyes: Dirty Blue (Big) by Miriel
Dress: Gala Red Formal by Rebel Hope Designs

A Makeup for Dakota

As soon as I saw Tuli's Ana outfit, I knew our next makeup would have to be centered around that outfit. It's a richly detailed tweed suit in gorgeous muted hues with lots of lovely layers. Luckily for me, I also had the perfect makeup look to pair with it. A few weeks ago, Dakota Buck dropped a picture of a makeup look from the Fall 07 Versace show. It is a great makeup look and of course I was happy to try to bring it to Second Life. At first glance, just another nude lip and smoky eye but upon closer inspection, all these little extra details come to light; a touch of highlighter on the inner corners of the eye and just above the liner, the way the liner never meets top to bottom, the white liner on the inner lower lid of the eye. These details make for a complex and rich makeup and in some ways, are very representative of Miss Dakota Buck. Since I met her nearly a year ago, I've discovered she is so much more than a stylish and fun girl, she is a fiercely committed friend who continually amazes me with her skills as a content creator.

Hair: The Pasadena Girl IV-Brown Collection by Armidi
Outfit: Ana by Tuli
Gloves: Black Leather Gloves by Tete a Pied

Bad French

In his review of the Vivant Skin for men at SL Men, Ben Vanguard mentioned that Tête à Pied means nothing in French. Well, I have a confession to make, I almost failed French in college and while CJ's French is better, we both tend to have a rather lackadaisical approach to interpretation. It's too late to change our name and I'm sure that in the 1+ years that we've been around, we've made a lot more errors and I know I've done yet another with our latest skin. The newest look is called "vin" as in wine but it lacks the right article and well...I'm sorry but I'm passing on giving it one. I ask the French speakers of SL to forgive us, our French is only skin deep and we never mean for them to translate literally, it's more....literary.

Now on to the makeup. A lot of the ladies out there seem to love a makeup with a pout and it's been a month since our last one, so that was the first priority with this look. I have been reading suggestion card on makeup looks and noticed a good handful of women suggested wine shades so I went in search of the right outfit to inspire me with that in mind. As soon as Nicky Ree's Divine Sisi gown, I fell in love. I especially adore the off the shoulder neckline and well placed prim, puffed sleeves.

Skin: Bronze Vin 3
Hair: ETD- Ashley in Caramel
Eyes: Miriel- in Steel Blue
Jewelry: Miriel- Beatrice in Silver/Amethyst
Gown: Nicky Ree- Divine SiSi Evening Gown in Black

Some Love for the Men

Technically, this skin has been available for a few weeks now in the CSI shopping sim, Fashion Ave, as well as on Onrez. We had wanted to save the official release in our store until we found the time to create a few outfits to go alongside it but it seems like there simply aren't enough hours in the day to do so. So here they are. These skins fall very nicely between photoreal and hand drawn. Like our women's line, they are a hybrid skin. We wanted them to compliment our women's line but gave them a little extra contrast to add strength to the detail. Each skin comes with a version with and without scalp hair and they are available in 6 skin tones. We might consider red haired and blonde versions if we hear there is enough of a demand and as always, we are happy to do customs. In addition to a Clean Cut and Beat (goatee) option, we've created a Mature look, a few extra lines and wrinkles lend the skin a dignified older man look.

November Release

This month's Calendar Girl release was inspired by the release of our men's skin line. We'd been asked months ago to do a tux for women ala Yves St Laurent's Le Smoking. I realized the timing was just perfect. We did end up going back a little further in time to draw our inspiration. The woman in a tux look makes me think of Marlene Dietrich and the 30s. I used this site on swing style as a guide for the 1930's makeup but took some liberties with our version. We recreated what I thought were the two most important aspects of the look, the color palette and the shape of the mouth. o I have included a notecard with the skins and demos to give you my numbers as a starting point to recreating an authentic to the period shape. You don't *have* to do this of course. It's just a guideline. I love how different the shape is, I'm pretty sure I've never seen a skin with this look so those of you that appreciate standing out in a crowd, this might appeal.

As for the men's skin they are out but I feel that they deserve their own post which I plan on doing very soon.

Thank You

CJ and I would like to say thank you to all those who turned out to our custom skin event. It was really wonderful to get to know the faces behind the names of our group members. I was amazed by some of the great looking makeup looks you all created as well as the patience and understanding while I worked. I'd like offer a special thanks to Amelia Abernathy and CronoCloud Creeggan for their offer to lend a hand last minute. Last but certainly not least, special thanks to our DJ, ingo Rosenberg, who kept me going all night long with her amazing selection of music. If you are a group member but did not make it to this event, don't worry, we plan on more in the future. CJ and I would welcome any feedback group members might have about the event, just drop a notecard on me or send an email to roslin.petion@gmail.com.