You know that fair girl that burns before tanning? The one with the freckled nose? The one with the sensitive skin?

In SL too, I most often wear fair skins because I personally find them the most beautiful for my AV and a truer reflection of my real self. Of course, many of my friends often sport the tanned look, which suits them, but I regularly gravitate to the fairer tones if possible.

In this case, I’m talking about the Gen 4 Fair tone from Minnu Model Skins, which like the other darker tones, contains a wide-variety of make-up choices for a range of different looks. It’s by far my favorite MMs release to date…as I know it is for so many.

For this post, I’ve let the make-ups in the tone guide my clothing choices…and they took me in and out of my inventory for several hours. I’m impressed by the range of looks you can get with just one tone - or even just one skin, since each comes with 2 different eyebrows AND freckled versions.

I do have favorites though…make-ups #3 and #4 (shown here) are definitely 2 of my top picks.

Continues (with a few sneak peeks)…
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Maria Gherardi, the driving force behind MG Fashion, has been a constant in my SL wardrobe since she started designing. In particular, her Silk Collection - featuring rich textures and bold colors, and innovative prim work - are usually always collectibles for me. Recently, I spoke with Maria about her design work in SL and got a look at what’s next. I hope you like it

The earliest releases in the Silk Collection were perhaps more muted than what we’re seeing now. But no less innovative, the “Silver Lake at Midnight” featured some of the first sculpted short pants I owned in SL, while “Mademoiselle Mimi” showed us Maria’s love of classic fashion with pleated skirt and pillbox hat.

Maria’s path on the way to becoming a virtual fashion designer started as I’m guessing many of our fine creators do. As a young girl, she wanted to be an archaeologist, then in her teenage years, it was the dream of becoming a famous fashion designer, and later, to be a psychologist. As it happens, she’s none of those things offline, but she has been able to live the dream of virtual dressmaker in Second Life.

Maria was prompted to start making clothes as a Linden balance challenged noobie - just like all of us - but with the taste of something finer. She says she’s inspired by items in her own closet, feelings, abstract concepts or just the freedom of experimenting.

Her later releases in the Silk Collection gave us some of the fresh colors that Maria is known for.

(wearing “Jupiter Crash” in Brick and Deep Red, and “Miss Parrot”)

See more and what’s next after the jump…
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Cachet - the new clothing line on its way from Thora Charron and MMSkins - was previewed yesterday at the Glam Magazine debut with great fanfare.

If your stylings lean towards high fashion, you’ll be wanting to check these out when they’re set for sale sometime in the next week or so I am told. I am also personally excited about Maitreya’s new shoes…you can see pictures of those on the On Your Toes blog and also on Sofia Gray’s.

This is “Max” from Cachet. Worn with MMSkin’s Pale Linda skin and stilettos from Maitreya. Feathers? Check. Glitzy glasses? Check. Fierce belt? Check. Skintight pants? Indeed. You can see it larger on my Flickr stream - just click “view all sizes.”

Coming soon…

Skin ~ MMSkin PaleNF Linda
Hair ~ Coif Sushi (snow)
Outfit ~ Cachet “Max”
Shoes ~ Maitreya Slinky Stilettos (white)

I have pictures of my mother wearing knit tunics, with patterns very similar to the most recent releases from Maria Gherardi and MG Fashion. They were particularly fashionable back in the 70s, although many cuts were shorter than the new “Zig Zag Knit” dresses you see here.

Maria Gherardi is a designer that is well known for her bold releases, packed (and I do mean packed) with options and color combinations for every style. While I tend to stick to neutrals if left to my own devices - both colors and patterns - since I started wearing Maria’s designs in SL, I have definitely acquired a taste for the more bold. However, my first picture is predictably, the charcoal

The Zig Zag dresses come in 7 color combinations, each with two choices of very cute berets. We’ve also seen that Maria is working on some sculpted hats, which have yet to be released.

Each pack comes with dress top with corduroy cinching (on all the layers), glitch pants (layer options), sculpted neck tie and cuffs, flexi skirt and coordinating tights. Nothing has been overlooked, and I particularly like the innovative color combinations - with my favorite being the eggplant and green combination (below). All the skins I am wearing are previews of Tuli’s new forthcoming S5 skins, available February 7. Incidentally, I would suggest wearing a very light prim eyelash with these skins, so as not to cover up the fantastic eyes.

More…
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