When I met you in the summer – News from Tableau Vivant, Mina and some thoughts on blogging!

Hi peeps,

the Arcade is starting soon and god, there are gonna be sooooo many cute items again. :) June is also a month of another round of The Fantasy Collective, a new event called Tales of Fantasy, The Secret Affair and of course WE LOVE RP. We got quite a few new designers in this round and I am reaaaaally looking forward to it. :) However, this post is NOT goign to contain JUST fashion. But lets see. :)

The hairs!

The first hair is soon available at June’s round of The Arcade. :) It is offered by Tableau Vivant (M4ri1lyn Magic) and is called Longfall. And that name is fitting: It is suuuuper long and wavy. :) Perfect mermaid hair imho and perfect for all kinds of fantasy characters in general. It’s soft and nicely shaded. I did notice that it bares a LOT of the forehead, so if you got a high one, it might look a bit too bald on you. Still, Tableau Vivant has really, really provided a very unique style here. I have seldomly seen hair this long done so well. Of course, a boobie version is included. :) And,, the best part is? Each colour comes with an invidiually designed, super pretty hairpiece. I hopefully willl get around to showcase that one soon, too! :)

The second hair (second pic) I am wearing is Astrid by Mina Nakamura for her store Mina, available at the most recent round of The Attic. And…it is soooo cool. It is a 50s inspired style (I think…ahem) and comes both with and without materials and includes a boobie version. I am showing the non-materials version because for some reason my lightning was being especially screwy today and looked weird on the materials. I think I need to update FS again. I LOVE this style. It is surely not an every day style but it is elegant and unusual. There have been quite a few of these styles lately but this is one of my personal favs, tit is just extra-big. :D Love the fact that it is asymmetrical too! But, I would ahve loved a hairbase for this one. :)

Thoughts on Blogging!

I quite often get asked this. “I want to start blogging, but I don’t know. What should I do?” Or: “How can I improve my blog?”

I wrote up a little list of things that I, both as a blogger and as an eventmanager always consider to be pillars of good blogging. Now before you scream “How dare she? Who does she think she is?!” This is a personal list that -I- consider important and isn’t necessarily a universal perspective on blogging.

1. NEVER beg or demand review copies! It reflects VERY badly upon you and your blog. Be patient, blog continuously and once your blog is old enough (~ 6 months), apply whenever a store/event accepts bloggers. If people like you, they will approach/invite you. Applying for events/stores which you never blogged before is a bad idea.

2. Find your niche! Be unqiue, offer something the 10000 other bloggers don’t already. Don’t just open the 50th blog of the same kind. Research what is missing and try to fill in that blank. This is super, super important. No event has any use for 100000 bloggers with the exact same kind of style.

3. Have a good layout and good pictures! A good, easy to navigate website is important. If everything is cluttered and all over the place, it is very distracting and annoying. Large, crisp pictures are a must in my book. Don’t pick a theme that downsizes your pics to tiny thumbnails.

4. Only blog what you like! I don’t see the point of blogging what you DON’T like. If you like an item, but spot a major mistake with it that needs fixing, tell the designer before you blog it so they have a chance to fix it. If it’s a thing like…a missing hairbase or maybe you think the textures could be smoother? I think that’s fair game to say. Bashing items is shitty.

5. Never blog only for freebies! This is a thing that I personally find very important. I think you can SEE when people just blog whatever is tossed their way. Few people can conceal their lack of passion for a certain outfit. Blogging to get free shit will usually result not so awesome outfits.

6. Be honest! If you review, don’t fawn all over an item when it has visible downsides. People will value you for honesty, not for endless asskissing. Any designer with guts will also value your opinion, IF you a) word it politely and b) can back it up.

7. Get connected! Link to other blogs you like, link to Flickr (important!), Facebook, Plurk, Google Plus, whatever floats your boat. Use the social medias to get your blog out there. :) Get on the feeds!!!

8. Always improve! Chances are, there are 200 bloggers out there who are much better than you. Watch tutorials, try to get the gists of basic photoshop editing. You can add a lot of flair to a pic by just doing little things. A few neat tutorials can be found on Stawberry Singh’s blog. It took myself a long time until I finally dared to try it out, but…it works! :) Learn how to tweak WL settings in SL to fit your image. If you look at my pics from a year ago and now? I learned a lot I think and there is STILL room for so much improvement.

9. Do not over-accessorize! It’s something that I did in the past for sure. If your outfit looks as if you right-clicked on the latest gacha-event folder and then clicked ‘wear’? Not good. Designers want their items to be represented and if you wear 100 of them?…little of each one will be seen. Find a balance. Even I have a hard time with this one sometimes. :D

10. EFFORT! Your blog should show that you put effort into it. Pictures, layout…everything sums up to effort and how much time you are willing to spend to advertise products. If little effort is shown and every post looks as if it was done in 15 Minutes? Why should anyone invite you to blog for them? If you couldn’t even be bothered to find a pose that doesn’t make your layered meshclothes glitch all over the place…why would I bother buying it?

11. Credit your items!! I personally don’t do Slurls unless it is an event because too many stores move around all the time. But they are a nice addition for sure. Credits should contain the NAME of the designer, the name of the store, the item’s name and version/colour. If it is an event, link to it! Some people credit the price as well which is really nice.

12. Be picky! Your blog – your reputation. Which stores do you WANT to represent? Don’t accept EVERY offer and EVERY invite. Be picky and think carefully: Do the items fit your style? Do you truly like the items? If you doubt, don’t do it.

13. Not too much porn! This is a personal one. If your blog is full of pixelporn, mewmew and semen dripping from your giant pixelboobs, chances are you’ll get kicked from every feed and Flickr will not show your pictures instantly (maturity filter) which means a lot less exposure for the designers you blog for. The least thing you can do is push the porn pics into a different category, so they won’t land in the feeds and get you kicked.

I am sure there is more, but these are MY personal basics that I tell people usually. I hope it helped and don’t mind my rough wording. I am passionate about a couple of things in here. <3

Hair 1: Tableau Vivant, Longfall, reds (M4ri1yn Magic, SOON @ The Arcade!!)
Hair 2: Mina, Astrid, reds (Mina Nakamura, NEW @ The Attic!!)
Ears: The Skinnery, Puki Elongated Ears (Umazuma Metaluna)
Feet: Just Designs, My Feet, flat (Davidefre Resident)
Eyes: Buzzeri, Ardent Eyes, angel (Eleri Catlyn, NEW @ Kustom9!!)
Lashes: Snow Rabbit, R6 v. 1.00, attach to nose (Shirousagi Noel)
Eyeliner: Soiree, Last Call Eyeshadow X Liner, bare minimum (Julep Mixemup)
Top: Silk Worms, Venus Shirt (and Harness), burnt (Trippy Fall, NEW @ The Countdown Room!!)
Skirt: Indie Rose, Drop Back Skirt, black (Angelina Eizenberg)
Pants: Sur+, Amalfi Pants, mud (Sienia Trevellion)
Sandals: Just Design, Gladia Sandals, earth (Davidefre Resident, for JD My Feet!!)
Belt: Pucca Firecaster, Belt Packs, brown (Pucca Firecaster, Gacha!!)
Armor (red): Innocuous, Shell Outer Armor, garnet (Circuitous Resident)
Bracers: Meshed Up, Armlet, brown (Torridx Resident, Gacha!!)
Wreath: Zenith, Grape Leafs Corolla (Miffyhoi Rosca, @ FaMeshed!!)
Hairflowers: Distorted Dreams, Kyna, peach (Distorteddreams Resident/Epic Maidstone, SOON @ WE LOVE RP!!)
Necklace: Half Deer, Wooden Savannah Necklace, gazelle (Halogen Magic)
Pouch: The Forge, Leg Pouch, brown (Deccan Arida, Gacha!!)
Bow: LR Weapons, Hazel Bow (Allia Lane/Larion Rhode)
Polearm: Distorted Dreams, Del Trident, rare (DistortedDreams Resident/Epic Maidstone, SOON @ Tales of Fantasy!!)
Poses: Imeka (last pic), Lucy Set, (NatiWilliams Resident), Label.Motion (Anne Dakun)