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