MAY THE GACHAS EVER BE IN YOUR FAVOUR!

MAY THE GACHAS EVER BE IN YOUR FAVOUR!

It’s June, so that means a new round of THE ARCADE. Of course, getting in is nigh on impossible, and once you do you have to wait for everything to rez before you can go on a Linden spending frenzy, but it is utterly worth it.

THE ARCADE is probably the most popular event on the Second Life calendar, and let’s be honest here, with good reason.  The items available are just outstanding and I get some of my most treasured items that I own each round. The creators must spend an absolute age on the wares that they contribute, so I really do hope they make a small fortune in returns from this extravaganza; it’s completely deserved.   This month will break me because the furnishings and knick-knacks are just utterly glorious, and don’t even get me started on the skins and the hair and, well, let’s just not go on about it eh?   Sadly for me I have to keep a close eye on my Linden spending, but even on a restricted budget I find I can treat myself to a few awesome items, and that’s just what I did earlier.

There’s a yard sale at THE NEST which is looking promising, and it’s pretty ethical too. It’s free to use, but  the items on sale MUST be sold at Gacha cost price, even rares, which is brilliant in principle.  However, I don’t  think we’ll be seeing many of those this round sadly. Already  lots of people on Plurk are reporting that they’ve spent absolute fortunes on the machines without even a sniff of a rare. I’m hearing that the scripts have been changed this round, and I do wonder if that’s to try and curb some of the ridiculous prices that rares were selling for at many of the Yard Sales across the grid. I can sort of understand that, but at the same time if someone has dropped an absolute wad of cash on a Gacha to get a rare I can sort of understand the need to try and get some of that back.

That said, I can’t help thinking that if you were prepared to do that in the first place, then why not just keep a hold of the rare rather than sell it?  I dunno, but it’s easy enough to NOT buy something that originally cost L$50 and is now being sold for thousands if you just bite your lip and walk past it very quickly! No, it is, honest!

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Lucky for me I’m good friends with the wonderful Sienia Trevellion who kindly gifted her Arcade items on me this round, and they’re fabulous. Sienia is just one of those people that oozes creativity out of every pore. She’s so ruddy clever, and makes utterly fantastic items, and her ‘Magnet’ range for The Arcade is no exception. Honestly, where does she get her ideas? It just astonishes me! Anyway, the prizes are some pretty outstanding fridge magnet sets as well as worktop style mini-polar fridges to display them on.  Guys they’re chuffing awesome; textured to absolute perfection and really adding the finishing touch to your virtual kitchen, as you can hopefully see from my snap below…

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Doesn’t this look nifty? I absolutely adore it!  I love the fact that Sienia has been so on trend with her colour selections too; there’s a fantastic orange fridge in the collection, and the magnets are just sublime. I think the Kitty and Russian Doll magnets are my faves, and  I can see the picture-pegs being incredibly popular too; they will definitely be a much sought-after rare.  Incidentally I picked up my PIXICAT lilac kimono and the utterly squee TRUTH hair at THE NEST YARDSALE too.  I can see myself getting rather a lot of these outfits because PIXICAT just happens to be one of my absolute favourite brands at the moment, and as for the TRUTH ‘Sakura’ hair?  Well it matches perfectly:)

Could I be any happier? Well, yes, if I had a squillion Lindens to splurge at THE ARCADE, but that’s just being greedy! Be sure to check out THE ARCADE SHOPPING GUIDE and enjoy the month-long madness.  

May the Gachas ever be in your favour!

Drifting Into Autumn

Drifting Into Autumn

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DRIFT has released some lovely knit frocks for the Autumn season.  

The shape of this dress is one that a number of designers are using in their work at the moment, and I really like what people are doing with it. I’ve seen it Gothed-up courtesy of  SAKIDE, and now it’s been given a lovely warm knit texture, courtesy of DRIFT.  There are five colourways available for this ‘Solid Knit’ dress; I’m sporting the gold knit for this shot taken in the wonderful skybox decorated by Editorial Clarity-Flux, subject of a previous blog post. If you haven’t visited yet you really must! 

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Incidentally there are matching  and co-ordinating ‘Solid Knit’ leggings available too which may be worn with the dresses or mixed into different outfits.  I’m wearing it with the outstanding  ‘Harley’ hairstyle from TRUTH (please make more styles like this!)  along with the GLAM AFFAIR ‘Vera’ skin which has been getting a LOT of press, and rightly so, because it is simply divine.

Here’s your LM to DRIFT. 

Kitty LOVES The Catnip Carnival!

Kitty LOVES The Catnip Carnival!

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Well come on guys, I wasn’t going to dislike it given that it’s so feline-centric!

It’s a bijou event; there are only a handful of participants and it won’t take you more than ten minutes to peruse the offerings that are available, but every single item on show is lovely and raises funds for Kitties. YAY FOR KITTIES!

You’ll find furniture, skins, poses, hair clothing and jewellery from ten superb content creators who have generously contributed items to the cause.  The full dazzling array of loveliness can be viewed via the Seraphim blog or by visiting Elysium’s Pinterest boards, but I thought I’d share a few of my favourite finds from the event with you here.

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve fallen totally in love with Izzie Button’s work, and she has provided a fantastic skin, ‘Irene’, to  this event. It comes in pale and mocha tones (you get each shade in the pack) and features a discreet cat-eyeliner.  I tried the demo on and was completely sold.  At L$890 for two superb quality skins I’d say you can’t go wrong, and it works really well with the fantastic hair that Truth has contributed to the event, see?

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 This style is called ‘Noemi’.  I love the heavy fringe (bangs) on this style, and the volume and curl on the pigtails. It’s also my first try-out of Truth’s new shades and I am especially in love with the ‘Gingers 04 Fade’ shade that I’m wearing in this picture.  There are a number of colour packs available at L$200 each at the event , but I treated myself to the fantastic variety pack at L$350 so that I could experiment with the colours.  (Stop Press: Truth’s promised me he’s working on some bobs; when they are released I will spontaneously combust!)

I also FINALLY got with the in-crowd and bought myself some Gos Boutique shoes. I’m not really a shoes-y gal in RL, and I can’t say that I am in SL either, but having tried these ‘Lolita Espadrilles’ I fear that I may be about to change (and lose!) my mind. Of course I’d heard all about the amazing GOS skin matching system and that it was totally easy and super-effective to use, so when I bought these (I had to buy them; leopard print) I sort of knew what I was letting myself in for. But OMG it’ really is THAT easy to match your skin to the shoes that it now seems plain ridiculous that I don’t own every pair that they have ever created!  What an absolute blessing to Second Life this concept is, and by the way, the shoes are absolutely sensational.  They’re perfectly shaped and textured and I predict that I will be wearing these all summer long, because they’re just THAT pretty!

I also splurged on a cat-bed (even though I currently don’t have any cats!) and lusted after the Cheeky Pea sofa.  I don’t have need of a new sofa so couldn’t really justify the expense, although I do think that if I was looking to purchase a new one this would have been perfect.  The textures are ideal for a cat-lover and applied beautifully. (But what do you expect, it’s Cheeky Pea!)The poses in the sofa and the co-ordinating floor cushions have been well thought out and carefully applied making this entire ensemble a worthy purchase indeed. I think it would work especially well in a small sky-box.

My absolute favourite item though has to be the Catnip necklace from Cae.  

The detail on this is just brilliant; from the intricate and extremely delicate chain to the cat pendant with crystal embellishment. It’s colour-change and is just so ruddy lovely that I want this in real-life, desperately.  I can’t think of a nicer and classier way to show your support for all things feline than by wearing this.  The metal can be changed to either Gold or Silver, and there are six crystals to select from in a variety of colours, meaning you can team it with practically any outfit in your wardrobe. I don’t envisage that I’ll be taking this off anytime soon!

 I really do hope that the Catnip Carnival is a HUGE success and hope lots of lovely cash is raised for the  River Cities Humane Society For Cats  (Thanks so much to Harlow Heslop, and to all the generous contributors, for bringing this event to our virtual world!)

 Click HERE to go visit!

 

Must Visit! Avatars For Animals presents ‘The Catnip Carnival’

Must Visit! Avatars For Animals presents ‘The Catnip Carnival’

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The ever-amazing Harlow Heslop is bringing a fantastic charity event to the grid under the banner ‘Avatars For Animals’ .

Harlow is passionate about animal welfare, and has decided that  it would be a good idea to raise funds in-world for small and very often underfunded shelters and welfare groups.  I couldn’t agree more, and I’m especially excited about the first event, ‘The Catnip Carnival’, which will begin tomorrow. (Location has yet to be disclosed, will update when I know more!) 

‘The Catnip Carnival’ will feature some FANTASTIC designers (are you ready for this?!)  Alouette, Adorkable Poses, Cae, Cheeky Pea, Fri.day, Gos Boutique, Izzie’s, Peqe, Pixel Mode and Truth, and will run from May 18th -May 26th

This event will raise funds for a no-kill shelter in Louisiana, USA, called ‘River Cities Humane Society For Cats‘.  You can read all about Harlow’s reasons for selecting this worthy cause by visiting her wonderful blog

I’m sure by now you know that I am obsessed with all things feline, so this event instantly appeals to me.  The quality of the content creators who will be participating as well as the cause for which the monies are being raised make this an absolute must-see. I’m not spending any Lindens until I’ve visited this event as I have a feeling I will be well and truly wiped out by it! 

I really hope you are excited about this as much as I am too. I can’t wait to see what goodies are on offer, especially since I’ve had a sneaky-peeky at the contribution from Gos Boutique…

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I know right?!! SQUEEEEEEE!!!!!

As soon as I have the location details I’ll update the blog for you guys, and I look forward to seeing you there!