Here are the "Fair-est of Them All"!

Before we announce and congratulate the winners of the Fleur "Who's the Fair-est of Them All?," held in conjunction with the Vanity Skin Fair [running until April 5], we want to thank EVERYONE who entered. You submitted such wonderful and imaginative images that you made our job a pleasant, albeit difficult one. We enjoyed every one of your images, reveling in the variety of avatars, styles and locales depicted -- all of you wearing Fleur skins beautifully :)

On to the winners! Since the decision was so excruciating the final result was that we awarded TWO First Prizes of a L$2400. Fleur Gift Card each, TWO Second Prizes of a L$1200. Fleur Gift Card each as well as naming two Honorable Mentions. The recipients of the awards are:

First Prize: Mellyn McCarey & Noena Merlin


On the left Noena is wearing Fleur Boutique Shoujo 4 in Lotus, while Mellyn appears in Vivant Chaton 2 in Buff.

Second Prize: Creamy Cooljoke & Halfpint Pennell



Creamy chose Vivant Soiree in Chestnut & Halfpint selected Boutique Shoujo 4 in Lotus

Honorable Mention: Nawja Eclipse & Gaia Granada


Nawja is wearing Vivant Basic Nude 3 in Bronze and not much else! Gaia glows in Fleur Boutique Parfait 1 in Vanilla.

Their pictures will be on display in the store shortly in one of CJ Carnot's wonderful displays. The winners will receive their awards soon.

Again our heartfelt thanks to all who submitted and congratulations to the winners!

You can see all the entries at the Jolie Fleur Flickr Group

It's Meme Time Again

Our lovely assistant Samara Barzane decided to tag me with the meme of the week. Apologies to her for taking my time to respond but here it is at last.

The Rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

It just so happens that I have one of several bookcases within reach of my desk. I chose my favorite book off of the shelf that was closest to me, Dick Hebdige's Subculture: the meaning of style. It's a pithy little book that utilizes several forms of academic analysis(<3 semiotics) in the exploration of several post-war, music-centered subcultures in the UK. *takes a breath*

"As such, punk style was perhaps interpreted by the teddy boys as an affront to the traditional working-class values of forthrightness, plain speech and sexual puritanism which they had endorsed and revived. Like the reaction of the rockers to the mods and the skinheads to the hippies, the teddy boy revival seems to have represented an 'authentic' working-class backlash to the proletarian posturings of the new wave. The way in which is signified, via a magical return to the past, to the narrow confines of the community and the parent culture, to the familiar and the legible, was perfectly in tune with its inherent conservatism."



I'm going to try to tag some people and ask that they forgive me if they have already been tagged. I have a hard time keeping up with this sort of thing.

I tag:

Dot Lane
Kit Maitland
Adri Saarinen
Achariya Maktoum
Grazia Horwitz

Spring Skin

Spring is finally on the horizon and we have some great additions to the Vivant line that will help you start the season off right. The first makeup set, Marni, was created at the request of Marni Grut the imaginative and vivacious designer behind Royal Blue. Soon after I created the colorful makeups she campaigned so hard for, I was tickled to see bright makeup touted as the "it" makeup for spring. We released the makeup last week at skin fair but it is now available in our main shop in Fleur as well.

For those of you craving the softer side of spring, we have Blossom. With this makeup set, I decided to draw from the colors of spring, the eyes on blossom 1 and 3 are in more subtle, pastel shades and 2 is a bit more vibrant. Those who love the pouty lips we used in Paon, Vin, and Rose, will be happy to see them returning in this makeup set.

Announcing a 50% sale on Fleur's Boutique Line skin sale to celebrate our new Rue D'Antibes location!

Fleur is having a ONE DAY 50% off SALE on our Boutique skin line in celebration of our store at the new Rue D'Antibes sim, which opens today at 11am SLT. This gorgeous Mediterranean style sim was designed by Barnesworth Anubis and is run by The Otherland Group.

Both the Shoujo and Parfait Boutique skins will be priced at L$600 at the Rue D'Antibes location only and for today only. Because of the special nature of the sale, the L$500 gift cards may not be used.


Come join the sim-opening festivities and get yourself some Boutique loveliness at an amazing price! Today only, and only at Rue D'Antibes!

The new Vivant skin, Marni, remains available only at the Vanity Skin Fair for the time being.

Something's coming, something good *

At the Vanity Skin Fair that begins today at 1pm SLT, Fleur Skins will be introducing Marni, a wonderful new skin in the Vivant line. I'm not seeing the display in the main store so you'll have to hop on over to the Vanity Universe sim to meet her:)

Since Roslin didn't leave me the poster ad, I'm showing you a photo of our store at the fair. That would be Roslin on the poster taken by CJ -- you're HOT lady ;) And Marni is just inside the door. At L$ 500 per makeup and L$ 1200 for all three, Marni is not only gorgeous, she's affordable :)


Wear your Fleur skin and a smashing outfit when you drop by to say hello, and Ros just might award you a gift card on the spot! And also look for rules to be posted shortly on our Jolie Fleur Flickr group and on the Fleur Update group inworld for our contest that starts today. We're looking for "Who's the Fair-est of them all"? PLEASE direct all questions about the contest to me, Samara Barzane, as Roslin is busier than I want to think about! And if you can't wait to see Marni -- hop over to my blog for a sneak peek ;)

*from West Side Story with full credit to Stephen Sondheim.

Something new for the Skin Fair from Fleur

Roslin has, for better or for worse, given me access to the Fleur blog :) So first let me thank Roslin and CJ for thinking that I could be of service to Fleur Skins. It is an hono[u]r indeed! On to my first post.

Fleur Skins is delighted to be participating in the Vanity Skin Fair that everyone is talking about. It opens Saturday, March 1 at 1pm SLT. Our store is next to the Fashion Stage, so please drop by and say hello :) The fair will run until April 5.

There will be a new release on Saturday for the fair... I can't show you the skin until then [I wanted to show you my back wearing the skin, but Roslin said you'd seen our backs LOL], but I can say that it is called Marni, because avant-garde SL designer, Marni Grut was the motivating force for the skin's being made. It is in the Vivant line, thus will come in three makeups and the Vivant range of skin tones. The colors are wonderfully vivid and done with Roslin and CJ's usual clarity and style. I've been allowed to try it on and I can say that it's been hard to get Marni off my avatar ... it's just that cool! So on Saturday ... Marni will be available to one and all at the normal Vivant price of L$500 per makeup, L$1200 for all makeups in a tone.



And since Roslin's nowhere around to stop me ... here's my back -- the clue it provides is that my shirt matches one of the Marni makeups ;)

See you at the fair!

New Release: Shimmer Nails

An addition to our collection of prim nails has been long overdue. It's been close to a year since we did the last nail release. We are releasing prim nails in 10 shimmery shades. Just a little reminder, there are demos so please try them. In the past,some people have reported issues with nails floating. The nails have an AO with the highest priority so if there are ever issues of that sort, it's due to SL glitches. Also, be sure to make sure your hand size is set to one of the 3 sizes we offer our nails in. As always, feel free to let us know if you would like to see the nails in other colors. Enjoy!

Good News/Bad News

First, the good news. CJ and I would like to welcome our new assitant, Samara Barzane, to Fleur Skins. Samara's love for Fleur Skins and positivity is contagious and we are sure she will be a valuable asset. She's already proven herself in her induction by fire this weekend. This is what leads me to the bad news.

We are very sorry to say that we have ended the offer of free gift cards to our group members. Due to a combination of SL performance and scripting issues, we have had some technical issues that we don't see a solution for at this time. The vendor was created to handle up to 1,000 group members over the course of a week and we did not anticipate that we would have over that number joining in just the first 24 hours. We would like to take this time to apologize to all those who may have not had a chance to receive a gift but we do promise that there will be other special offers for our members in the future. Also, all gift cards will still be honored, so if you already do have one, have no fear.

Fleur Sim Closed Until Further Notice

I'm sorry to say that we've had to end the gift card giveaway for group members and shut down the sim until CJ has the chance to investigate the issues we are having. I apologize for any inconvenience it means to you all and I really hope that we will be able to find a solution very soon.

Gift Card For Fleur Update Group Members

As a special thank you to all our group members, CJ and I have will be giving out a $500 gift card to all members of the Fleur Update group. To receive your gift card, all you have to do is tp over to our flagship store in Fleur, wear your Fleur Update group tag, and touch the sign. You will receive a gift card with instructions inside. To redeem a gift card, all you have to do is wear it while purchasing any of our items for 500 or less. If you wish to purchase an item of greater value, just pass the card back to me in a folder titled, Gift Card Redemption 'your name' and let me know what you want and pay me the difference. The enrollment is open so if you haven't joined the Fleur Update group yet, just do a search for Fleur Update in groups and join. The gift card will be available until next Friday. If you haven't left the Tete group yet, now is the time to do so because I will be closing it next week.

New Release in the Boutique Line: Shoujo

A few months ago, everyone's favorite fashionista moppet, Iris Ophelia, persuaded me to give the manga series, Paradise Kiss, a read. It falls into the Shougo genre of manga which targets young female readers. It turned out to be a deliciously indulgent read filled with romance, fashion, and teenage angst. I not only devoured the series but I started to watch the anime as well. This is what served as inspiration for our latest addition to the Boutique line and our first release under our new brand name, Fleur Skins. The Queen of eyes, Miriel Enfield, was kind enough to make anime eyes for us. They should be out soon in both her her brand new sim and our shop in the next week or so.

I'd like to also thank everyone for coming out to the party yesterday. CJ and I were moved to see how many people took the time to celebrate with us. We would also like to thank our new neighbor, Nicky Ree, for donating gift cards for prizes. I think everyone really enjoyed themselves and there are some great pictures from the party sitting in my inventory and email to prove it! I hope to put them up in the next day or so.

Celebrate the Opening of Fleur Skins

CJ Carnot & Roslin Petion invite you to attend the opening party for their new flagship store, which not only represents our rebranding from Tête à Pied to Fleur, but is now located adjacent to Designing by Nicky Ree, bringing together two of SL's premier skin & clothing stores together in one place for your shopping pleasure.

Enjoy an opulent Casino Royale themed party with music, dancing, a new skin release, and the chance to win prizes from both Fleur Skins and Designing Nicky Ree.

Sunday, February 10th
1PM and 5PM SLT

50% Off Select Skins

We are doing some reorganizing and need to let go of some skins.Cercle, Horus, Kyoko, Candy, Rebelle, Octobre, Novembre will be on sale for 50% off in our special sale shop only. The sale will last for the next week and then those skins are gone forever. During this time, our flagship store will be closed down so CJ can work on a new build. Yes, it's been less than 2 months and we are already planning a new build! CJ and I are very sad to see the current incarnation of Tete gone but we have some changes up ahead and this is part of the plan. The sale shop can be found in nouveau 221,94, 23. Sorry, no time for a slurl!

Lalique Love

The talented and very lovely Rebel Hope dropped her new Lalique lingerie set on me a little while back and asked if I would be interested in creating a variation of the Boudoir skins to compliment them. The set is really stunning and available in a color to suit every taste and mood. The bustier has beautiful flower detailing reminescent fo the work of Lalique.

Like our Boudoir skins, Lalique features matte lips, defined cheekbone shading, and smoky eyes. This time around, I've not only changed the lips to compliment Rebel's lingerie but also added color to the eyes. I think it's created even greater variation among the makeups and I'm pretty pleased with how well they go with Rebel's sets.

Hair: Angel IV in Mocha by Naughty Designs
Eyes: Aqua by Fashionably Dead
Lingerie:Lalique Lingerie in Purple by Rebel Hope Designs

Custom Skin Reminder

I totally flaked out and forgot to post this in time for the first session of the custom skin event but the second session begins at 7 so here's a reminder.

Event is only open to group members and please do not mix outside of the range. When you arrive, take a number from the ticket vendor, read directions, fill out the notecard and wait for your number to be called. Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Less Than Three

For the longest time, I've been wanting to recreate the makeup from a Moschino perfume ad. It's a bit of an avant garde look though, so I keep pushing it back but with Valentine's Day just around the corner, it seemed the perfect time. I love how it is both romantic and carefree. Romance doesn't always have to be so serious! I decided to lose the little tear drop hanging from the heart and CJ suggested a white heart outline, instead of black. I think it was a great idea and does a lot to soften the look and make it a lot more wearable. The first and third makeups include freckles.

I thought the Rosemary outfit from Savvy?'s Classy Broad series would complement the makeup perfectly. It manages to be girly and elegant all at once. Like most of Dakota Buck's amazing work, it's available in tons of layers with lots of great options and the outfit is available in our little friends of Tete shop that is located next to the train in Fleur.

Just A Friendly PSA

CJ and I have always joked that we will know we've 'made it' if we saw our skins ripped off....well, looks like today is the day! Caliah Lyon IMd me to let me know that she was sure someone was selling some of our Vivant skins under their brand name. She had received the tip off from Teagan Blackthorne. We have confirmed that they are indeed our skins and we identified skins by other content creators as well. I just want to take this time to thank Caliah and Tegan for tipping us off and to ask all of you to please follow their good example. If you see any content that you think may have been ripped off, please do not contact the suspected thief directly and do not blog about it. The most helpful thing a person can do is to contact the creator that is being stolen from and allow them to assess the situation. This prevents innocent parties from being falsely accused as well as allows the content creator a chance to gather information about the possible thief before they can be scared away. And by the way, for those of you that think you are getting a deal by buying stolen goods, think again, the our stolen skins were being stolen for twice the price of what we charge!

Custom Event Returns

Didn't get what you wanted this holiday season? Well now is your chance to treat yourself to a special something. Like our last event,you will be able to mix and match eyes, lips, and blush/shading options. Customs will be allowed on the new boutique range as well but you must stick to mixing and matching within the range-Parfait makeups with other Parfait makeup, Vivant makeup with other Vivant makeup.

New Year, New You

It's time to share why we've been a bit quiet since the new sim launch. Tete has been working on a new line of skins, which we are calling our Boutique line. Vivant is about providing as great a variety of makeups as possible and we will continue to add to the line, but the Boutique series will focus more on the character of the skin. Each new look will have distinct differences in style and be available in a select number of makeups that fit that character.

Our first skin in the Boutique line is Parfait. This look is available 3 skin tones and 6 makeups. Our face is 100% hand drawn with stronger shading and details in the skin. It's deliberately further away from a more realistic looking skin. My favorite feature on this skin are the lips. They have a sweet, rounded quality to them, almost like on a baby doll but they aren't as full as the pouty lips in our Vivant line. The brows are still mod and you can still use the pubic panties that work with the Vivant line.


Because each addition to the Boutique line will utilize different styles and techniques, there will be radical differences in the appearance that goes beyond what you see when just changing makeup. Our hope is that this will satisfy those of you love the Tete quality but may be looking to stand out a bit more in a crowd. This is also one of the reasons why the skins will be priced at 1200. Fewer skins with the unique look of the Boutique skins means fewer sales for us and more exclusivity for our customers. The other reason for the price difference in the Boutique line is that we have put a little bit more time into these skins in order to give them their distinct character.


With every boutique skin, we will also include a face light created by CJ. I tend to avoid face lights except for pictures. I find they spoil the environment in a lot of places that utilize local lighting and/or time of day to create a certain atmosphere. CJ made this light so that it is very subtle and does not extend out far enough to spoil local lighting.

For those of you that love the idea of a more unique skin but aren't a fan of the hand drawn look, don't despair, we have a few other radically different looks in works. Stay tuned!

Something Pretty To Look At While the Grid Is Down

In a way, it's a good thing the grid came down today. I've been so worn out from the sim launch that I haven't had the motivation to post all our new releases. CJ and I opened our new sim, Fleur, on Sunday. I'm am so proud of the work he did and I look forward to discussing the sim at length in a few days when we've had the chance to take some pictures. For those who haven't had the chance to visit and are curious, our main shop is a train station, with a train that you walk through to get to the other side of the sim. For now, it's just a single prefab and an ice skating pond but we hope to have more in the coming months. Now on to the new products.


For the gentlemen, we have Late Shift which has a heavy stubble, Ardent, which is a smooth face skin with liner, and Noir, a black and white skin with 4 facial hair options. I've also created 6 male shapes that are available across from the male skins.



The ladies have 4 new skins in addition to a speciality. My personal favorite is Aurora, based on a look found in the Sephora winter catalogue. Rose is a full body freckle look named after my friend Rose Farina who suggested the color combinations I used Lustrous is simple, shimmery shadow, and Apres Ski is a flushed cheek look with light makeup. The Noir is a black and white version of our Pin-Up makeup. We created it in all black and white and one with just red lips. Some may have missed the ticket hunt we held to win special edition skins. Don't fret, we will have more contests in the future and we have left the suits for men and women as well as the white gloves out.

An Invitation

The sim will open at 1pm PST for group members and then to the public at 3pm. The rules for the ticket hunt are available on a sign placed just inside the main entrance and to the left. The hunt will be on for 24 hours. In addition to free skins for both men and women that can be won in the hunt, we've scattered a few other gifts throughout the sim.

We've created a slew of new skins, shapes, and a new automated gift card system. I'll be posting about them in the coming days.

Thank You

CJ and I just wanted to take a moment to extend our thanks out to all those who voted for us in the Bloggers Choice Awards. We are pleased to announce that in addition to placing as runner-ups for a handful of categories, we won for Best Skins. Thanks also go out to Tanya and Amelia Book for organizing the awards.

I'm sorry to say that we won't have the time to do a release this week but we promise to make it up to everyone next week when we open our new flagship store in our new sim.

Tagged

Ana Lutetia, Callie Cline , and Amelia Book. I'm kind of jealous of all the interesting facts everyone has shared so far. I'm rather boring and I don't think I can share any really interesting facts but I'll try.

My Random Facts
1. The French Connection- My maternal grandfather was born in France but his parents were Russian. My grandfather immigrated to America right after WW2. I still have some family living in France.
2.Until I worked for a French company, L'Occitane, I didn't care for the smell of lavendar. They have the most awesome lavendar products and omg, verbena too. YUM.
3.I'm a bit of a francophile but I suck at languages. I passed my 2 semesters of French required for my degree by the skin of my teeth.
4. I'm an anglophile. Books, films, tv shows...I love the English. When I first started SL, I had more English friends than all other nationalities put together, including American. Now those damn Aussies are gaining ground.
5. I've been with my fiance for 8 years and we've never had a single fight. I credit this to the fact that we don't live together. I might want to keep it this way.
6. My family is almost all holiday babies. Sister was born on Easter, I was born on Thanksgiving, one cousin on Columbus Day, the other on St Patrick's Day. My little brother, pain in the ass that he is, spoiled the streak by being born a day before Veteran's day.
7. I was a perfect angel in high school, not because my parents were strict, just because that was how I was. My first year away at college, I went wild and flunked out. I did go back to school and graduate with a totally useless degree BA in English with a writing concentration. I am trying to decide between finishing up my MA in Media Studies at The New School (if they will take me back) or go for my MLIS.
8. I dropped out of my digital design course in grad school because I was having a hard time picking up photoshop. CJ taught me everything I know.

I'm going to randomly tag people, not sure if they've been tagged yet but cut me a break, I've been sick. Kit Maitland, Grazia Horwitz, Miriel Enfield, Jackal Ennui, CronoCloud Creeggan, Barnesworth Anubis, Cory Edo, Shai Delacroix, Marni Grut.

Here are the rules:
(1) Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
(2) People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
(3) At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
(4) Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

We Have a Winner

Marni Grut is the lucky gal in our Name That Skin contest. The skin she named, Lustrous, will be available sometime next weekend. CJ and I would like to take this time to thank all of you who have participated in the contest. There were so many great suggestions that I'm going to put my favorite ones on the side in case I need them in the future. But please people, no MORE. I'm drowning in notecards here. We also would like to take the time to say, thank you so much for being such amazing group members. Not only have you all helped us grow as a business, but as creators, your support has been appreciated. I love watching our little community grow. I love that the group chatter is kept to a minimum, that everyone is always friendly and helpful with one another. I love the respect that everyone treats one another with and I hope to see it continue.

Fit For a Queen

The very talented Miriel Enfield and Nicky Ree have worked with us in a collaboration on a Snow Queen look. Miriel did the hair and crown, Nicky, the gown, and of course, we did the skin. I'm really pleased with how ALL of our work turned out. Collaborations can be so much fun, it's really great to get extra feedback on your work and the process causes you to stretch your wings a bit in ways you normally wouldn't.

Now to take care of odds and ends. For those of you wondering, we will be doing a December release, we've just fallen a bit behind so it will be out late. The contest for Name That Skin is closed and we will announce the winner in the next day or so. Thank you everyone for participating, we are overwhelmed by your responses! It's going to take us a day just to sort through all of them. I will announce the winner in both group notices and my blog. Thank you once again, guys.

Hair: Winter Hair-Ice by Miriel Enfield
Eyes: Predawn (Big) by Miriel Enfield
Crown:Snow Queen Crown- Silver by Miriel Enfield
Gown: Snow Queen by Nicky Ree

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

Get a Cash Advance

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.

Custom Skin Event is Today

A week ago, we sent out an invitation for a special custom skin event to the Tête à Pied group. This is to serve as a reminder and to answer any questions that may come up. Please, please, please, in order to ensure this event runs smoothly, make sure you carefully read all the steps and ask questions before you do anything you are unsure of.

1. You have to be a group member to take part

2. Click on the ticket vendor located upstairs. Please do so JUST ONCE. You will receive a ticket with a number. When that number is called in the group chat, it's your turn.

3. Decide what combination of lips, eyes, cheeks you want and/or other custom options that are possible according to the notecard. I will NOT be doing custom colors or any custom option that involves changes other than simple mixing and matching of already created makeups.

4. Listen for your number in the group chat. Do not put busy on or you will miss it being called. When your number is up, go to the makeup seat, let me know you are ready and when I tell you to, sit down on the chair. Give me your order on the notecard with your ticket number. If you have questions, feel free to consult with me at that time.

5. When your order is ready, I will show it to you for approval, when you are satisfied, the item will be placed in the box. I will let you know when you can purchase the item for the box.

6. ENJOY!

50% Off Speciality Skins

To celebrate Halloween, we've decided to mark all speciality skins 50% off from now until 11/01. This discount will not apply to the custom skin event we will hold on 10/30 and includes just the Marie, Drow, and Gothique skins.

Earth Angel

I do love a good play on words. This week's release is Terre, French for earth. Like many of my friends, I was ecstatic when the very talented Julliette Westerburg released new goodies for her Tres Blah line. Right away, I wanted to create a makeup for the mod dress. I messed around a bit and was leaning toward a sort of little lost orphan girl look but it just didn't feel right. It was looking too much like a lazy attempt at doll makeup. Luckily for me, just when I was hitting a wall, Celebrity Trollop had emailed me some makeup pics which were simple and lovely. I kept the eyes the same in all three faces, brown shadow across the lid and blended out just beyond the crease, dark brown liner with a hint of a cats eye and a little bit of highlighter just under the brow bone. The lips were 3 different complimentary colors in a moist lip texture; a nude, pink, and bronze lip.

Skin: Vivant Buff Terre 3
Hair: Lynne II by ETD
Scarf: Scarf and Corsage in brown by BP*
Dress: Black Jumper by Tres Blah
Shirt: Eve of Destruction Shirt by Savvy?

Royal Beauty

Some months ago I saw the lovely Iris Ophelia in a swoon worthy Marie Antoinette inspired gown by Digit Darkes of X3D. Over the course of the next few months I've seen many other content creators draw inspiration from that period and even a sim pop up by the likes of Draconic Kiss, Curl Up and Dye, Nonna Hedges and have been wanting to do our version of an 18th century skin for ages. I assume this influx of Marie inspired fashion all came from the same place it did for me, Sofia Coppola's cream puff of a film, "Marie Antoinette." It was amazingly delicious and when I watched it for a second time a few weeks back, it was the kick in the pants I needed to finally give the skin a try.

We used both images from the film, as well as images of the real Marie. I wanted something almost wearable and authentic for the period. Based on my research, despite it's fresh and almost modern feel, the film did a great job of representing the period authentically. Lightly powdered skin, a little rogue and a pretty pout. The only real artistic licese I took was in the two lipstick variations. I did a pink and red in addition to the traditional almost cerise pink. In addition to creating a totally new mouth shape, we also added a little extra shading to indicate that the lips were drawn in smaller than the natural mouth and there is almost a hint of dimples in the corner of the mouth. I think it lends the face a rather sweet look.

Automne

The inspiration for this week's release came from Tamara Kirshner, a long time customer and friend. When I told her I was stumped for this week's look, she suggested flushed cheeks, the kind you get from a walk outside in the cool air. It didn't take long to stumble upon the outfit to inspire the palette, over at Be Less Stupid, there was a review on a little known gem of a designer. The dresses were done by Anju Enoch of Putit Ange. I wanted the flushed cheeks to take center stage so I kept the lipstick really low key, just a tinted lip balm look and a wash of color on the lids with matching liner. All three looks were based on the different colors from the dresses.

Hair: Amelieish by Hiccup
Dress: Knit Fringe Sweater Navy Blue by Putit Ange

What to Wear in the Boudoir

Our new Boudoir skin, naturally. Shai Delacroix of Casa del Shai has recently made a slew of gorgeous lingerie she's dubbed Boudoir. These lingerie sets run the gamut from innocent, to elegant, to smoldering. With this week's skin we tried to create a makeup that would compliment all of those different moods while still managing to stay consistently sexy. The first thing that came to mind was bedroom eyes and with some brainstorming assistance care of the lovely Grazia Horwitz, I decided to do an amped up version of the eyeshadow in our Sultry look and pair it with 3 very different lipstick colors.

We've also brought back the highlighting and shading we used on the Modele skins to amp up the sex appeal. They not only give the skin a little extra glow but create a slightly more defined cheekbone.

Credits
Outfit: The Marquise Lingerie Set-Plum by Casa del Shai
Hair: Tasha-Strawberry by ETD
Gloves: Long Merlot by Tete a Pied

Proud As a Peacock in Paon

This latest release came from wanting to wear something to go with Kit Maitland's OMG MORBIDLY OBESE fatpack of a release, Amarantine. Lovers of mix n match rejoice, this fall set is cozy, delcious, and full of options. I paired it with adorable knee socks from Shiny Things, tinted to match. Then yesterday Mr Lucas Lameth passed me his fabulous Chakra set. The ensemble just grew in a synchronistic way. I named it paon, French for peacock, because the liners were all peacock colors. I think the overall look is very Love Story, 70s meets 40s collegiate.

Hair: Juliana by ETD
Outfit: Amarantine by CKSD
Necklace: Chakra by Earthtones
Socks: Knit Knee Socks-Medium Colors by Shiny Things

Vivant Gothique Has Arrived

It's October and Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. In a lot of ways, Second Life is like celebrating Halloween every day, sans the candy. You get to stretch your fashion wings a bit and play with different personas and looks like you would never do normally. So hot on the heels of our drow skins, we have yet another fun look. Or rather looks. Gothique is our version of a goth skin. It's as pale as we could go without the skin becoming totally flat and fake looking. The desired effect was undead or made up, not unreal and blank paper white. As for the makeups, I tried to experiment with some looks a bit more avant-garde than my normal comfort zone but still keep it tasteful and aesthetically pleasing.

Unfortunately, I don't have a full line up of all 18 skins. You will have to go to Tete to see them but I can run through the 6 distinct looks that are available. All the looks come with 3 lip options (with only one exception) that are some combination of red, wine, purple, and black. The Siren was a goth version of one of my absolute favorite makeups, the Biba. Corbeau, which is the makeup in the main ad picture, has a double cat's eye liner that I saw on Dita Von Teese. The Ennui is based on a look we've been recreating with each one of our skin lines, just a pretty little flourish about the eye. Amanda is inspired by Amanda Palmer of Dresden Dolls which is amazing music by the way, fun punk rock cabaret. I had a lot of fun with Nova, it sort of has a harlequin look but it was a total accident. I was just flipping layers around and having a play, seeing what interesting looks I could come up with. CJ came up with the name because of the distinct star shape. The last makeup of the set is my most wild of the bunch, I call it CyberPunk. It has a definite punk/modern dystopian vibe I think. Enjoy!

Hair: Aveda Short Bob by ETD
Outfit: Nymphaea Suit by Silent Sparrow

Better Late Than Never

This week's release is a little late but worth the wait. First up is the October edition of our calendar girl series. For those that don't know, every month we make an outfit with a limited release skin to compliment it. The octobre release is a fun set for lovers of mixing and matching. We have a black patent leather belt on the jacket and shirt layer and the dress bottom comes in 3 different colors. The turtle neck comes in undershirt to go underneath the dress as well as a shirt layer if you wish to wear it in other ways. The three makeups were my idea of updated mod makeup. All three makeups have pale shadow and lips, which is fitting of the period. I gave each one a little something different and special. The first one has a very defined crease in the lid, another very mod detail. The second makeup has a subtle shimmer and soft, smudged liner, the third look has high gloss lips, cats eye liner, and a beauty mark.

Our other 3 pack this week is part of a collaboration with hyasynth Tiramisu of Silent Sparrow and Calico Ingmann of Calico Creations. We created drow skin with 3 looks, one an homage to the spider goddess Lloth, another based on a picture Caliah Lyon showed me of a look she liked, and the last, a no makeup look.