Playing catch up, and this week netted some cool casuals. Equilibrium is offering their usual awesome range of jeans and shirts this month: Group gifts, Prize for Picks, MM boards, and their freebie of the week. They have put out a pair of jeans from their new grunge line, an open belt accessories on the MM board, Guitar hero shirts stepped up with collar and cuffs and a nice summer tank to keep things cool.
And you will need the EQ jeans to go with the bagful of shirts Cocora Lemon at Coco Designs is offering to her group. A fatpack of relaxed, soft-looking tees in 7 colors. If you've never checked out Coco Homme, this is great opportunity to do so. her male line isn't large but it is incredibly well done and not outrageous. Boots and belts, jackets and jeans...join the group, grab the shirts and talk a walk through and snap a few pictures on Cocora's interesting minimalist sim.
It might get a little cool in those fields too, so take and extra sweater: This Hip Woolen Sweater from Robbish from the 060MDN hunt settles easy on your hips, just in case a cool wind whips across the plains.
And while you are tromping through her open fields, you might need a pair of sturdy boots.Last post I suggested you check out the lucky boards at Knights Innovations -- well if you took my advice and did so, you should have gotten these boots in your Hell's Warrior delivery. Solid tread, multiple textures, quirky embellishments, and a resize menu. You may not get boots every time, and maybe you don't really dig the Kilt and Cuirass look, but grunge, ghetto, or gas station attendant, these boots and the others offered through Knights Innovations with their sets are kind of worth the 2 minutes it will take to TP and slap the boards. But I do recommend you take a good look around -- because you may be seriously surprised at what you find. (click for larger detail)
Also up are t-shirts from [arnadi], but not just any graphic t-shirt. yeah, you get cool pop culture shirts but these come with a few extras: Multiple cuff and shirt bottom options. What I'm wearing here from their lucky board has 6 different sleeve options -- I'm wearing the double sleeve and double bottom, which gives the illusion of a plain white T underneath. you can wear them tight tucked into your jeans or loose and lazy as pictured here. The graphics are well done and fun and the fit for all option an easy edit if you need it.
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Pictures Top to Bottom, Left to Right
Top left:
Equilibrium: Green ripped jeans Midnight Mania Board, Punisher tank male gift
Top Right: Coco Designs: Homme Gift-Tee Black, Equilibrium: Bloodygrunge group gift (check notices for the next week or so), Coco Designs: Homme Gift-Tee Black
Center Left: Coco Designs: Homme Gift-Tee Coral, Equilibrium: Blue Jeans on group notices
Center Right: Coco Designs: Homme Gift-Tee Grey, Equilibrium: Darkmeted jeans Lucky board prize, Hip Woolen Sweater from Robbish
Boots Left: Knights Innovations -- Hell's Warrior
Bottom Left: Equilibrium Brown drawed jeans MM prize,[arnadi] - Tshirt Red Geisha boy- Lucky Board
Casual Catches
Glam, Grunge and Groovy man
I got a virtual and literal handful of advances from two of my favorite designers: 22769 and Equilibrium, and a new find, the discount room at Glam Affair on the Beauty Avatar sim. Not all free but definitely worth a look.
(As always, click for larger pictures.)
22769 is participating in several hunts: Go 4 the Goal, Groovy Love, Fallen Angel, and the Song Lyric Hunt. (Fallen Angel ends Sunday, the 20th.)
Also 22769 is giving out a skin, Julian, as a gift for the group hitting 250 members (pictured left and right). This is a nicely detailed skin, striking classical features, moderate body hair and and overall nice even skin tone, excellently shaded and with a skin texture that eliminate the bland perfection of a lot of skins.Left: The June group gift is this Lounge Lizard casual look -- for those nights when Muzak and a bowling ball is all that you need.
Right: Child of the Sun should evoke every summer of love reference you ever heard. It's a unisex set, flamboyant and bright. I'm not sure how often I will actually wear the pants, but hey, everyone should have something flashy in their wardrobe for those club nights where the theme is peace, lovem and rock & roll. Comes with the belt, necklace and bracelet.
Below - Left to Right: 22769 - #1: Go 4 the Goal hunt gift #2: Modern Hippies hunt gift #3: Song Lyric Hunt gift#4: Living in the Seventies hunt gift.
Equilibrium has released an entire grunge line for your fashion pleasure. Six styles of grey gritty t-shirts and 6 versions of jeans at various levels of distressing.
The graphic Tees run $150L Each and the jeans are $250L.
I'm particularly fond of the Mug Grey jean and the N002284 shirt - I like the fit and stresses of them both, and overall I think Junior offers a nice addition to the casual wardrobe.
While you are there though, do check upstairs and get on the MM board and grab your prize for picks. EQ also has a Mystery Board as well, so you can try your luck at the prizes there.
For World Cup Fans, $10L gets you Brasil's yellow team shirt.


(Glam Affair is formerly Beauty Avatar and some of the clothing still has that line name. Don't be confused)
Almost everything is $10L. A couple of the suits will cost you $20 -- separates and sets, there's a lot to choose from.
Left is one of the suit sets at $20L: Padborg 08, separate jacket and tie set.
Right: Caen Blue/white - one of several color combinations.
When dog days were puppies
I've been a bit MIA lately -- wish it was because I was on a fabulous vacation but alas, mostly I've just been insanely busy. But, here's hoping June will be a little less hectic...and to start the summer off right, both Gabriel and Equilibrium have some cool stuff for you.
Gabriel swapped up the group gift to include a tribal tank in blue and black. Summer is the best time for tank tops and these graphics reflect that -- not a store logo, just a cool summertime sun emblazoned along one side.That makes them perfect to be matched up with the usual generous gifts offered by Equilibrium -- this month there are three separate pairs of jeans and a fun Guitar Hero graphic Tee (in store gift -- look for the bag near the door.)
The pale blue jeans, with the dark shading are this month's Group Gift. For having the store in your profile picks, you can pick up these dark brown jeans, and the Midnight Mania offering are these open-waist blues (and fixed boxers - sorry those of you who like to go commando -grins-) complete with undone belt.Over at Bellissima! you can snag this full outfit from their lucky board. The T shirt set (three versions, tucked and untucked ) are from the popular "Archer" animated series on FX --the outfit comes fully loaded: shirts, jeans, belt and boots. Even if you aren't a fan of the series, you can certainly be a fan for the generosity at Bellissima!
In the Free and Not Entirely Free category, I offer up the new monthly from F2H, which is one of my favorite places for nice looking , stylish looks that don't break the bank, Linden or otherwise. This red Racerback tank has a nice sheen, shadow and wrinkle texture, an unobtrusive logo and pride star at the chest.I put it with this not free kilt from Sangre Noir (at the Shopatorium) which you should consider for a couple of reasons: First, its $200L which is an excellent price for a kilt of this quality. And what makes it quality, you ask - well, you can't see it in this static picture, but this kilt moves like it's made of cloth. It's a dark charcoal grey texture that looks like finely scraped leather and the triple wrap belt detail on it is amazing (take a look at the clasp sets). You actually get two versions of the kilt itself - one with a resize script and one without. Noirran Marx, the creative mind behind the Sangre Noir line, doesn't do men's clothing very often, but she's a kick ass designer and when she does something she does it well. (She also has a couple of turtlenecks available for men with equally nice detail and textures -- but since we're going for the summer theme here, I'll let you take a look at them for yourself.)
MHOH3 - Separating the men from the boys
MHOH3 Started off with a lot less furor than past hunts; fewer masses of male (and female) AV's starting off in a cluster, like competitors at an Olympic freestyle run. A lot of the names of the creator participants are well known by now, and the few I didn't, I've been pretty pleased with.Crowded start or not, I still tend to run from end to beginning, and while it's a an entirely unscientific assessment, I figured the hunt was going to be pretty damn good when the very first gift I get out of it is a really nice henley from #174 Sky Clothing. Comes in two colors, Navy & Cranberry with both long and short sleeve options.
I tucked it into these Basic LR Jeans in grey from #166 TuttiFrutti. Pocket glasses are a gift from Equilibrium MM board (not part of the hunt.)From #122 Santero you get a whole Avatar. Angelo skin and shape, eyes,
Keitaro in Hessian hair from discordDesigns [dD], jeans, shirt, shoes and accessories...and as fond as I am of the skin I wear, I like this skin, both versions of it, a look you don't see often in SL.
The jeans come in both black and blue and have a lot of definition. They come with a separate belt buckle, useful elsewhere if you like it. Nothing but a win here. Hair below right is Lane Short hair in Mocha from #167 Pocket Mirrors.#15 Gabriel (yes, I jumped. -grins- I like Gabriel) offers a loose open shirt, graphic Tee and washed denim jeans, casual and cool for spring, with the usual attention to details. (There's also a set of wrist chains for group members, and lucky chairs for both men and women.)
There's a lot to like on this hunt, some symbols are hidden better than others. I've been a little short on time lately, so most of what I will be posting will be highlights, but I've been impressed so far and at the moment, Yves over at Fashion Freebies for Men is doing a hell of a job covering the hunt (and he starts at the beginning.)
But I will be covering more and a spattering of other finds this weekend.
I expect you all to look like runway models by Friday.
*click pictures for larger images.
Biker Boots From Redgrave
Army Crop hair from MADesigns
Weekend Retreat
Yves over at Fashion Freebies for Men tipped me off to the choker being offered by PRETURB/ation. It's a seriously nice piece of men's jewelery, but that's not the only thing being offered as an opening gift -- and not just by PRETURB/ation, but by the sim group, collectively known as [PLUTO+]. If you join the [PLUTO+] group and follow the paths of this beautifully laid out sim, you'll find a whole new way of living -- and I mean that kind of literally.

And in truth, the other offerings also give you great style at low prims without sacrificing look or quality. Also on offer is nonino's Swing Bench (prop) at 8 prims (in 2 sections) that offers two sits and a quiet place to enjoy.
If you keep heading down the path, Clematis will gift you with this three draw workable chest (8 prims) and this really nice potted calendula (6 prims). That doesn't quite furnish your weekend house in the woods, but it's a good start. I've no idea how long these gifts will be out, but I wouldn't wait. The sim is Bacio -- and take some time to explore, there's all kinds of surprises waiting for you there.



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Also here:
Choker - [P/a] PLUTO+ Male choker: PRETURB/ation
Hair -
Skin= Ichiro -Bronz- /02 Stubble (with Body Hair): DEN-DOU (not free)
Shrug it off
Upper shoulder shrugs seem to be the new style and trend for both men and women, and a couple of gifts and hunt items reflect that. The Black Canary is offering up two items, plus a bonus in the Tainted Heart hunt on the Necrosis Noctis sim (yes, a different tainted heart). Items are not free but at $6L each it's not a strain and you can check before you buy since there are items for men and women as well as non clothing, non-skin items.
The first is this black knit and furred shrug called Regret
(left). There's some frills and ruffles you can opt out of in the outfit. It comes in a jacket layer so you can add your favorite tank to it if it's still too cold to go bare-chested. Or you can surrender the shrug for this trimmed out hoodie called Malice (right), also by Black Canary. Options for hood are up and down and Morrigan has a knack for hats and hoods you can actually wear with your existing hair. Hair in both pics is Rob by Amacci, part of their sale. Jeans left are Funk Pants from .:Robbish:. (not free). Jeans left are also from Rob, and are free. Boots are the SAH prize at #BeforeSleep#.Equilibrium is offering up this blue rolled turtleneck shrug as their weekly freebie. They've been putting out some pretty cool things in their weeklies, as well as what you might tap into the other offerings they have. Check the second floor for the MM board. I paired it here with the short pants and leggings you can get from JetCity (blogged before) as well as the $30L sale hair -- Morgan -- from Amacci. The socks and suspenders are from the MHOH2 gift from *Mire* and the tennies are from the SAH hunt at .:Robbish:. and are still available.
Speaking of .:Robbish:., there's more than hunt items worth grabbing at Rob's store. Granted, the Funk Pants I'm wearing in the picture top left, will run you $149L -- but they are part of the "A New Man" stamp card hunt and with them you get a stamp card that you can redeem for at least one free item . Also at Robbish are a pair of distressed "one shot" jeans for free and this sweater Rob calls "The Hobo" -- underlying red pattern shirt under a zippered and worn sweater (all one jacket layer) for$10L.And while I know I've sent you there a lot, lately, you might want to cruise by Mimi's Choice for Men one more time. She's got a lucky chair in the shop now, and the current prize is this red down jacket from Gabriel, for both men and women (yes, both in the box). I'm not usually all that big on puffed jackets in SL, but I admit I like this one a lot -- it's not a fussy wear, you can wear other things under it and it doesnt' take up every single attachment point on your upper torso. I'm wearing it here with a thr group gift from Find Ash, Amacci's Morgan hair, the leather pants form F2H (previously blogged and the Judd boots that are the boys SAH prize from #BeforeSleep#
~*~*~*~*~Hair:
Amacci hair sale - red carpet room -$30L per pack: Morgan ~Jet Black & Rob ~Dark Brown
Shoes/Boots:
#BeforeSleep# Judd Boot (SAH) BOYZ - #153
Robbish - Red & Black Tennies -(SAH) BOYZ - #43
Mire* - Socks/Suspenders Black (from MHOH2)
Jeans/Pants:
Robbish - Denim Shot $0L & Funk Pants: includes pants cuffs w/bandannas. pockets, belt and lanyard. Part of A New Man stamp card hunt @ $149L.
Shirts:
Equilibrium -(EQ(GT)(Azul)(Prime) Shrug - free weekly
The Black Canary - Necrosis Noctis sim wide hunt $6L/item: Regret Shrug
Robbish - TheHobo (+Sweater) RED $10L
Jackets:
The Black Canary - Necrosis Noctis sim wide hunt $6L/item: Malice Jacket
Mimi's Choice presents Gabriel RED Down jacket (Lucky Chair)
Accessories:
Fiction & Condensed Chaos - Consume (mouth candy) from the Tainted heart hunt (previously blogged)
V3 Tattoo - Veritas
Skin by Redgrave: Emil
Scarf/Necklace combo - Find Ash Group gift
Thumb Ring from Gabriel at Mimi's Choice
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Just an FYI, the group pool on flickr for Designer Spotlight is open if you want to share your own finds.
Balancing Act
I'm running short on time as usual so it's nice when designers themselves give me a heads up about new stuff. Equilibrium is a new player in town for shirts and jeans. Right now, they are giving away a new freebie a week as well as a gift in their group joiner. This weeks. Freebie is a graphic white ribbed tank that you can pick up in the bag by the door. (click picture for larger view.)
Their regular prices run between $100-150L for shirts, $250-300L for some really well designed jeans and jeans sets (good texture, nicely done prim cuffs and belt options.) The freebie shirt comes in multiple layer option too. If you head upstairs where most of the shirts are, you'll also find a vendor that sells their older graphic design tanks and tees for $10L each. These are single layer as far as I know, but the graphic work is nice and the cloth textures are just as nice. I picked up this blue on blue fox graphic -- I wish it came ina shirt layer but I think I'm going to get a lot of wear out of it regardless.
After picking up the free tee, I headed over to Maschienenwerk to see what I could scare up there and while I'm not much of a track suit guy, the new ones looked sharp - top and bottom and a hoodie (down). I grabbed the grey, (365_Suit_coal) but there are multiple color options that are, as usual, free. These are great renderings, moddable, shirt in a jacket layer. But the other thing I caught was a really nice living room set on the first floor of the first building. Mute the Colors is a full set with poses; sofa, two stools and a table. It's not prim heavy, has a nice shadows, and again, free. (Sofa is partially pictured here.)
In a another time saver, Davi Designs, dropped a really nice tattoo called "Doodles" on me recently via DSN. It's a mayan/aztec influenced design in multiple layers and multiple shade options: Black, Dark, Henna and Soft.
I hit the store and what should I find but an MM board with a really nice dragon design and a fast camp chair for these gold and black wrist cuffs (10 minutes. ) I camped while typing and signed up on the board. The store offers and eclectic mix of goods: tattoos, jewlery, artwork, furniture and even photography. There are two lucky boards there that didn't roll me an "R" while I was there, but they are worth watching.
(The jeans pictured here are from Equilibrium (Calca)(RGs)(B1), $250L.)