I saw a notice the other day from Betty Doyle whose shop Ingenue was one I had heard of but hadn’t visited just yet. I was super impressed with Betty’s designs and had to show my absolute favorite item - the Femme Fatale. I have a love affair with navy and pink when paired together so this dress was calling my name. It’s perfection with top, glitch pants, system skirt (sense a theme here? I love them), and flexi prim skirt/bow. Honestly, even if you don’t do retro (or pink bows for that matter), you have to appreciate the originality of the dress. It’s whimsical, so well detailed and utterly fun. The price is great too - $250L. You can see more of Betty’s great designs at Ingenue. (click for full size)

Next a true FREEBIE from Neph! The Celeste dress is totally free and comes in 12 colors!!!1 You have to love a designer who gives us all another taste of her talent with no strings attached - while she’s traveling no less! I’m showing it in silver but again, there are 12 color combinations in the folder so you’re sure to love one or more of them. Again it’s FREE so go get it at Pixel Dolls and thanks, Neph!

Skins ~ Nylon Outfitters (in Ingenue snaps) and Cake (in Pixel Dolls); Hair ~ ETD

Another “new to me” shop is Deka Fashions, by Elena Durnan. She recently shared a series of outfits from her line of women’s clothing with me, though she offers men’s fashion as well.

I chose to show a couple of her bikinis and dresses - though her line really does span quite a wide range, judging from what I saw. By the way, I have to commend Elena on her pricing, which is more than fair and an excellent place to start. Particularly for new residents, affordable but quality clothing goes a long way to keeping people engaged in SL. I will definitely be pointing new players her way for their first outfits.

First up are the “Bronze Dream” and “Sunrise” bikinis. Important for some, these are not tattoo friendly as they both come on the underlayers. That said, I really like the Sunrise bikini (on the right) in particular (well, it’s orange and I love orange), though both show a little more bum than I would typically choose. But if you like to show a little more skin on the backside, these will suit you well. They both have cute little details like the sun accents and tiny bowties back and front. Both styles are $40L.

Next up, I sampled some of Elena’s dresses. Overall, I was impressed with the detail and the richness of the textures. I particularly liked “La Dolce Vita,” which is a red silk (well something silk-like) 3/4 length dress and comes very simply with shirt, glitch pants and flexi prim skirt. I hate when dress or skirt prims hang below your bum, so I was very happy in that regard. I also didn’t need to adjust the skirt at all, which is great because I ride the resize short bus every single time. La Dolce Vita is priced at $80L and it was my favorite.

Finally, this dress is called, “Red Roman Nights.” It’s quite formal, with lace overlay on the top and skirt bottom. What doesn’t come through in the photos is the red undertones throughout the whole skirt, which is almost a very heavy silk underneath a much sheerer fabric. Actually quite pretty all around. It comes with dress top, glitch pants, flexi prim skirt and prim (non flexi) scarf. Now, you’d have to mod the scarf attachment point if you wanted to wear a necklace, but since it’s a highly-detailed top, perhaps the less clutter the better. This piece is priced at $100L.

Visit Deka.

Skin - Lovey’s Boutique; Hair - ETD

“Maitreya” is - according to Google - the name of a person who will be the answer to the world’s quest for peace. There’s a lot more to it than that but to cut to the chase, it’s also the name of Onyx LeShelle’s shop. I had been to Maitreya before but only a quick peak and a small purchase. This time, I came away with a couple more things that I really like.

First was the hair. Now I typically stick with ETD or Naughty hair but I *really* love this cute hair called, “Sophie.” Quite literally, I am not taking it off (well for the next hour lol - which is a long time for me). It has a color changing band, with the default set to cute polka dots. It comes in a fairly small selection of textures and each pack features two tones in the same family, very reasonably priced at $125L. Not to mention Onyx has been very clever attaching a glow light right to the wig so you don’t have to use up another attachment point should you choose to wear one. Of course, you can also wear your hair without the glow too. Below is the blonde texture but this pack also comes with a slightly more rich gold tone…

I also picked up her “Bloom” boots in black. While I am going agree with Jelly on sculpted hair, I am really liking what sculpties can do for shoes and boots. The boots are so well done, rich suede and slouchy. They’re $350L for singles, $1500L for the 7 color fat pack, or two choices of color packs (cool or warm textures) for $1000L.

Visit Maitreya.

Skin - Toast Bard, Fashionably Dead

Just wondering what’s behind all the pirate fashion these days? Is it inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean? Or something else I missed? I’ve seen quite a bit over the last week so yup, I was wondering…