MHOH4 - I love this hunt

Seriously. So much good stuff.

Audacity Hair - Dana (TAH Hunt - was still there as of the 23rd) Pretty sure it was meant for women but the messy loose braid and bandana, resizable worked really well with the new LaVie skin.

#25 Kumaki Style - Glasses with the simple style and flair Kumaki is known for.

# 2 Alphamale - Leather Jacket and Classic T-shirt & Jeans. Sturdy russet leather over a two tone tee and well worn jeans.

#48 Venus Fashions - Black High Top Sneakers. You can never go wrong with a pair of these. I like the loose laces.

#15 Culture Fine Jewelry for Men - Bravado Sport watch. Clean and easy to wear, finishes an outfit without rather than being the focus.

Skin is from LaVie - Echo member special (not free). I like the promo for this when I saw it and the actual product did not disappoint. It's interesting that this, relatively youthful skin came out the same week Redgrave's older, rugged King was released. No one can say SL's designers aren't giving us a range of choices!

# 7 Adjunct - Khaki Maroon Tipped Pants with belt for that edge between outright casual and a step below dressy.

# 4 *Fir* - Hartford Hoodie. I'm not really a huge fan of hoodies but I like this one with the stripes and the shoelace style ties.

# 1 MADesigns - Rebel Hair Brown - among their recent releases. There are actually three different styles in the gift along with eyes.

#10 Rozoregalia - Gemma Bracelets. Detailed on the close up, unobrusive in wearing, really nice work.

#107 Jeepers Shoes for Men Russet shoe. I really like these classic leather uppers with ties although it may be partly because of the effort it took to get them. The Jeepers hide for the gift was the work of an evil genius.

#163 Atomic Bambi - Omar skin - even tone, not quite ethnic, nice shading

Morning after the Day Before

Make Him Over 4 starts tomorrow, and I wanted to show some recent finds before that takes over my time and brain (not to mention my inventory).

After a long hiatus, the creative minds at Zanzo are trying to make it up to us: shirts eyes, new skins, they've been a busy bunch. This smart looking striped polo shirt came through as a gift this week, along with two pairs of eyes. Zanzo Le Classique Polo (Rochelais) is a double layered polo with rolled, buttoned sleeves and a prim lower shirt option to give you that loose fitting look so many of us prefer.

Paired with the shirt, I have on Fashion Bar Peppermint Blue's 3rd anniversary gift - Cell Frame Glasses in Midnight Blue, which are simple and sharp looking. There's a women's set in the gift as well. They come with a resizer and I really do like them better than most glasses I've paid for. Also from Peppermint Blue were the Paws Walker Tartan Blue Sneakers I'm wearing to go with F2H's September gift - Monday Jeans, available for free in their lobby.

Not to be outdone by anyone, 22769 has released more of their ethnic casual couture styles; on of which is their MHO4 Gift: Brown linen zebra pants & pink Comfisweater and for Festifall Fair: Fall kick off Leaves Vest & striped trouser.

Both outfits have that kind of funky fun casual look, but still with an edgy style. The striped pants, especially, are growing on me with each new version they release. And while Pink is not my first choice, ever, I have to admit mixing it with the brown makes it work for me pretty well. If they don't offer a unisex version of these, then there will be a complementary one for the ladies, so, take a jump over to 22769 tomorrow and take a chance on something a little off the wall, a little out of your comfort zone and a whole lot of fun.

The last thing isn't a freebie. The new Redgrave skin - King -- appeals to me on a lot of levels. It's got a truly different look from most skins -- older, mature male, a little rough around the edges without being a classic or historical warrior. I know in a few weeks, this skin will be everywhere, as Redgrave skins tend to be, but I think this one is worth taking a look at if you want to stand out among the other bad boys in SL. This skin is representative of the bad boy that makes it through to middle age and still has that sense of mischief, tempered by a lot of experience. There are two versions of the base skin, both tan. One with body hair and one without -- both come with multiple beard options. And then, there's the King FX skins, designed specifically for RPers. Roughs, scarred, bloodied and still standing. You can see it above in the Zanzo pictures for a close up of the face. Left is the full body version and Albertt Olkhovsky does a nice review and picture spread of it on his blog, Stylish Man.

Pictured: Redgrave Men: Tan Skin -King- /unshaved+base+bodyhair. A single iteration of a Redgrave skin runs $990L, Full packs are $2990L.

also pictured above is MADesigns Army Crop hair (also not free.)

Man for all occasions

Hat tip to Yves at FFFM for pointing me to GryphonWings -- but it figures I'd find a designer I really like just as she's taking a break. My loss is your gain though because most of her store is on sale for $10-75L and she's got some nice things to fill in those empty corners of your inventory.

On the second floor is this Legacy leather coat (left), a fat pack of three colors (Black, Russet and White)) for $25L. Now, the coat is designed for women so on the white colors, the shading at the chest will be off, but the black is good and the russet looked pretty slick too. And for that price, one coat (Which comes in 4 different lengths, open and closed and includes a sleeveless version, plus optional arm buckles) is a pretty good deal.

Back down on the first floor you can find this Arum tunic (right) for $10L. Shown here is Seabreeze. I'm really liking the off center collar and details and the nice fade of colors. Goes really well with the low rise ripped jeans, ($10L for a fatpack of five colors.)

I'm still making my way through all my Steampunk treasures and finally got to Nachtmusik and their red leather Gallant prize. Tight trousers, vest, full shirt with sleeves perfect for the Victorian man lounging about in his study or workshop.

Additionals:

Hair base is from booN - vine shaved hair base black from Hair Fair
Choker is from Sable Rose - Enkomi for Wear Gray (blogged earlier) which will be gone forever at the end of the week.

More Steam - Punk'd

The Steampunk Hunt continues to amaze and delight with its mix of whimsy and Victorian science, and it's guaranteed to take you to some interesting places. More of what I've gathered...

The full outfit from Mire was in a previous post, but the arm belt makes a marvelous accessory to this black and gold suit from +ezura+; waistcoat and tails and pant, Oh My!

Added to that, Yellow JesteR's hat and hood with a mask for when you are poking about all those dusty, musty places. Orquidea gives you a festive Mechanical Orchid for you chapeau (or for your hair, ladies,) and Steampunk Adventures has a Turning Clover Pin for your lapel to bring you luck in your hunting.

Black Opal offers you a shiny waistcoat in shirt and jacket layers to give stylishness to your tinkering about. It made the Echo Dragon group gift skin from LaVie even more striking. For the ladies there's a corset to match the gentleman's waistcoat.

Not to be outdone, Rag Dollz gives you the Regal Men's Suit in royal blue, with cream colred pants and lace, perfect to impress should the Queen Mother wish to bestow some award upon you , or a knighthood to honor your contributions to the advancement of Victorian Society.

And to make sure you see clearly along all spectrums, Wildz Creations provides you with these JW Steampunk Multi-view glasses.

Wear Gray for a Day

Relay for Life and Hair Fair are probably the best known in world events for fundraising, but there are a lot of events for a variety of good causes and the netizen's of SL can be pretty generous when it comes to pretty much anything. Cancer is a disease that affects everyone; you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn't know at least one person who has had to deal with cancer of one kind or another, and most of the time it's someone they know well as opposed to some removed form them by being the sister/brother/cousin of a coworker.

You may have passed a few signs while shopping or sightseeing referring to Wear Gray Day. Wear Gray Day is charity event and market running from September 12 - 25th to help raise awareness of Brain Tumors and provide funding for research through the ABTA - American Brain Tumor Association.

A lot of inworld designers are supporting this effort in a variety of ways; donation kiosks, special gifts, special events, and yes the market. Merchants from A-Bomb to Rfyre are participating in this and have been asked to create between two and four items exclusively for this market. his isn't a sale, per se, but a fund raiser, meaning once the Market closes, most of what's on offer won't be available.

My very good friend Rosie Barthelmess of Sable Rose has joined this effort and created a really unique set of jewlery for men and women in three styles as part of this effort. She's create Enkomi; in three color choices, two of which will be exclusive for the Wear Gray Day project. Male and Female Versions:

The Ladies get a gorgeous necklace, matching earrings and a multiband bracelet in either gold, silver or a mixed metals set called Painted desert.

For the guys there's a braided choker, and two sets of wrist cuffs for left and right, one set with a stone and one without so you can mix and match.

Sets are Modifiable for easy adjustment, although I was able to wear mine pretty much out of the box.

The Shopatorium at Gallinas will be having live music events next weekend for this project and there are other events planned as well. Schedule is here: http://shop.inworld.sl/the-patio-live-music/

So, as you go through your week and wonder what you are going to do next weekend, keep Wear Gray Day in mind and visit the website to get a list of other participating vendors and more details about where and when.

Twisted Gears.

There's always hunts going on around the grid, but for some reason, fall seems to bring out the biggest and in someways, the best. Starting today a whole new set of hunts opened up including two of my favorites; Twisted and Steam Punk. Twisted has the benefit of a lot of seriously well known designers who all get to play a bit and put a slight bend in their designs, and really put their creativity to work. And Steam punk, well, I have a special place in my heart for the Steam Punk hunt: it's not so much that I use or need a lot of what is in the hunt, but it's all so damn clever! Seriously...they need an inworld museum just to show off some of the seriously amazing builds and gadgets that emerge from this hunt.

Neither hunt is limited to clothing; in truth I'd say clothing makes up less than half of twisted and even less than that of Steam Punk, but everything that you do get really is a testament to the amazingly smart dedicated people who make up the core of SL Life. But for some of what you can wear and just marvel at, stick around.

First up is#4 Mire, who always has something really fitting the themes of the hunts they participate in. Pathfinder is a full outfit except shoes, Tailcoat and ragged jacket and pants, top hat and goggles (for show) and an armband full of tools. Perfect wear for someone pushing through the rough ahead of everyone else.

22769 went a different vintage directions and fans of comic books and their long history will understand why. Enter a Vintage Captain America Tribute; red white and blue body suit, leather Baldric and belt, gloves, helmet and a shield, all to help you wage the good fight against the enemies of the post (past?) modern steampunk era. Haven't you always wanted to be a super hero?

From Twisted we get a mix of cool piercing sets from #67 .:CoLLisions:., the hand set I blogged earlier from #68 Sable Rose and for something completely different...a corn field maze from the twisted mind behind#103 Oddment. (hint: Sable Rose, .:CoLLisions:., and Oddment are all on the Gallinas sim and within walking distance of each other. TP's have been a little flakey lately so if you have trouble, you can grab all three without having to TP to the next stop.)


Guenevere DeCuir at .:CoLLisions:. offers two sets of piercings. A three pronged navel set with skull and bat wings on a chain and a torso chain set for the lower belly/hip area. She includes a set for men and women to accomodate disparity in avatar sizes and my set needed only the most minor of adjustments to fit properly. She also includes a facial tattoo called "Cracked" with a whitish base to match the metals on her piercings. It has the kind of eerie bone through skin look to it, perfectly matching the Twisted Hunt's Spooky theme.

Oddment actually has two gifts for hunters. There's an easy to find gift right by the sign that contains a crazy fun avatar that looks just like the orange twisted hunt gift box, including the rotation. It's the kind of wacky fun Helix Constantine, the creative mind behind Oddment, is known for. The other gift you will have to hunt for: it's a DIY cornfield maze complete with scarecrow emitter. You can see it underneath the shop build, so if you are looking to decorate for Halloween, Oddment gives you a massive headstart on decorations.

The last thing here isn't a hunt gift, it's a group gifts (for $1L) from LaVie to promote the soon to be released Echo skin. I really like this skin and have been waiting for the release since it was first announced. the gift comes in three versions: pale, normal, and dark and the dragon tattoo on this version is part of the skin. Goatee beard and a really nicely involved fully body and face tattoo with nice faded aged look to it. I don't know how long it will be available and you need to be a LaVie member to get it. Currently enrollment will set you back $250L but for the skin alone it's worth it, plus the other gifts Pompeja routinely sends out to the group (and occasionally membership is made free but it isn't currently. )