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.

More Than Tête à Pied

Those who are familiar with the Nouveau sim may have noticed a cozy cottage that was once nestled in at at the end of our little pond. I was happy to call it home for close to a year but I had to give it up to make room for our Vivant line. It didn't take long for me to miss having my own little spot. Unfortunately, we can't spare too many prims and I'm too spoiled by Nouveau to find land somewhere else. After some begging and pleading, I did manage to convince the Renaissance man of SL, Mr. CJ Carnot, to build a smaller, lower prim version of my old cottage so that I could squeeze it onto a little 1024 plot in our sim. This sweet little English cottage is just 67 prims with a 20x20 m footprint that includes the terrace. The cottage also comes with a fireplace with both particle smoke and fire. I think most will agree that CJ's years as a first life architect and SL builder show. His textures are almost entirely hand drawn and have lots of great character. Since we've been receiving a number of requests to purchase some of CJ's builds, we are setting both the cottage (and the tea house should be next) up for sale in the little green house next to our main shop. Even if you aren't in the market for a prefab, I think it's worth a trip to just appreciate his lovely work.

Stars In Your Eyes

The inspiration for this week's skin, Céleste, comes from a few different places. The theme for the jewelry expo auction items is celestial which reminded me that I've been wanting to create a skin with a face tattoo like tattoo artist Kat Von D from LA Ink. I've been seeing a good number of bloggers covering Dutch Touch (not to mention the suggestion of a good friend to check it out) and I found the clothing there to be helpful in shaping the makeup look. It was shortly after that I remembered the Escape necklace that Lucas Lameth of Earthtones had just created and I paired with with my favorite Deviant Kitties hairstyle, Katya. I created Céleste in three different variations but all share the same semi-moist lip paired with softly smudged black liner and a hint of color swept across the crease. Mr. Carnot was kind enough to create the stars that run along the side of the eye.

Unleash Your Inner Sex Kitten

As soon as I saw the Kats Meow coat over at Artilleri, I knew it had to be mine. It conjures up visions of 1960's sex comedies. Depending on how you wear it, the coat could really go either way, coy kitten or naughty kitten, you decide. As soon as I put on the coat, I reached for ETD's Tasha. It's like they were made for one another. Wide part with side swept bangs that almost completely obscures the left eye, a perfect combo of sexy and sweet. All of these elements inspired this week's new release, Chaton a perfect combination of sexy and sweet. The lip has a very sexy high gloss but a natural nude color. The eyes have a cat's eye liner paired with sensually applied shadow available in three different colors.

Just Following the Crowd

I never do this sort of thing but thought it was too cute to pass up. It's official, I'm not a nerd and I'm UBER cool. Yay me.

This Week's Release: Covering You Tête à Pied

When we were planning the Vivant line, CJ and I did some brainstorming about how we could make this range different and special. We wanted to focus on the makeup but this week, the makeup isn't as much the focus as another part of of the skins, the shading. When I read that Ginny Talamasca of Last Call had drawn inspiration from Gautier's Fall 07 couture collection, I decided to go back and take a look. I really liked some of the makeups and this one in particular stood out. It is a unique twist on the cat's eye as it doesn't continue across the lid as is traditional, rather it stops short just shy of half way across the the lid and there is a bit of highlighting that meets it. There is very little other makeup on the face, just what I call in my mind geisha red lips-right red, almost pink. It took CJ some convincing that we could do yet another cat's eye and the two of us are so used to putting a lot into each look, it almost felt too easy. That's when we decided to put in cheekbones. It's not a permanent change to our shading, just something to try on for a change. We in the biz would call it contouring. I think it does add that extra little something to the look and hopefully you all agree. The look is called modèle, french for model of course. It is available in three variations, one with a lip like in the inspiration photo, another a deep wine, and the third makeup has a deep, red-brown, lip that is a bit vampy. The necklace in the ad pic is Chatelaine Shoulder Brooch and Chain by Caliah Lyon of Muse, hair is Alexandra by ETD, and dress of course is from Last Call,Arachne.
We have a few other new releases as well this week. We thought some socks and tights would be a nice addition to all the fall wear that is coming out right now. We have two sets of tights, one opaque and one with ribbing and we also have a set of over the knee socks that come in a ribbed material. One thing that is very neat and might be fun to play around with....pairing the tights with our socks or those of someone else. The tights are two pieces, an underwear layer that goes down to the ankles and a sock layer. If someone were to wear a sock with the underwear layer, it would have a perfectly layered sock over tights look which I think is VERY cute.

The last part of the release are our gloves. We've had customers asking for different colors for the pair in the Janvier outfit for ages but we never seemed to find the time to do it properly. I wanted to make sure we did more than just different colors. We finally have found the time and we've made them in 3 lengths, I'm particularly excited about the long ones which would be considered opera length. Gloves are huge in first life fashion this season. I suggest all of you take a look at the fall shows on style.com or pick up the september issue of the bible, er I mean Vogue. *swoons*

Calendar Girl: Septembre

September has always been one of my favorite months, the warmth of summer lingering and slowly giving way to the crispness of my beloved autumn, the promise of a new school year, and with it, new school clothes. The septembre outfit makes me think of the kind of thing that would be perfect for the first day of school. I personally always liked to dress up just a bit on my first day. This outfit is the kind of thing that would work just right. The short sleeves and skirt cool enough for late summer but with very fall colors that will transition nicely into fall and winter. When you feel like wearing a more cool weather look, the outfit will look adorable paired with knee socks or tights and a sweater.

The shirt has sculptie sleeves with a bit of fullness to them, a square neckline with a ruffle and some ruching on the bust which has an empire seam. The line of the skirt is fitted from the high waist and some soft fullness from below the hips, a definite 40s vibe to it. The buckle around the belt is a nod to nouveau though. The outfit comes in 3 color palettes and as always, a limited release skin. When September is over, the outfit stays and the skin is gone forever. This month I've decided to create 3 makeups to go with the 3 outfits. I didn't intend for it to work this way but while I did create a makeup to go with each specific outfit, I noticed that they all work with more than one of sets so don't worry about wearing it 'right'. I've also been thinking about writing a bit about real life makeup and offering some tips from time to time. Anyone who reads this, please leave a comment and let me know if it might be something you would be interested in. I have been a bit reluctant to post about anything not strictly related to Second Life fashion because of the Fashion Planet aggregator.