Oh Cumu
March 31, 2009
I’m sure you’ve had this shopping experience: You are going through your inventory and come across something you love, love, love that happened to be buried in some random place, etc. You realize you haven’t been to that shop in a bit, and decide to TP back to check out the newness. Much to your dismay, upon arrival the lot is vacant. You go to the other locations and face the same dilemma. Soon you are going through you invo, looking for any lms that may lead you to the new location, you peek into the designer’s picks to see if there is any trail of evidence there…but nothing comes of it. So eventually, you longingly hug the fantastic items you have and hope that somehow the shop keeper is just teasing you.
Well, this most certainly happened to me with *UnTone*’s amazing jewelry shop. I’ve featured this shop multiple times in the blog and love the pieces I have with a passion. One day, months ago, I tped back to the store which was an empty lot. It was so terribly sad. I thought, how could a successful shop just close like that? But it happens, sometimes it’s RL or artist’s boredom, etc. I smacked my forehead for not getting the clover ring and the headdresses, but such is life, yanno?
Being the tenacious shopper that I am, every once in a while I’d check UnTone creator Cocomitsu Mayo’s profile for signs of life. The items she made were just so beautiful, I couldn’t help but hope someone as talented as her was still creating, somewhere. I was in luck the last time I checked, as I saw she had just opened a new shop, Cumu! I was so excited and delighted when I arrived and realized it was a hair shop. The hairs are beautiful, artistic, feminine sculpts. Some of the prettiest updos I’ve come across in a great while, and to top it off, one of them has my beloved, missed clovers in it! The shop itself is like a while gallery, it’s beautiful and really sets the scene as the best of them do. The hairs come in 3 color sets: blond, brown and black, with two tones to a pack and 4 styles to choose from. I scooped each style up, because they really are that lovely, and well, I learned the first time, if you love it, buy it or risk not having it at all. :)) Check out Cumu for yourself! <33xo, Abra
details after the cut…
Inspire Me, you have
March 30, 2009
pictures after the cut…
Homes Round-Up
March 27, 2009
Hai. I mostly blog about fashion here, but what you may not know is I have a big love for homes and furniture. I think fashion very much translates into the home through personal style and expression, and a home is just an extension of one’s tastes, hobbies and lifestyle. I love having my little place in SL, to go hang out, change, take pictures, etc. Certainly, having the right set-up is vital for anyone. I went through a handful of homes before settling on my current digs, which I am totally in love with. I thought I’d round up some of my favorite places for you. Hope you enjoy! xo, Abra
Sneaker Luv
March 26, 2009
Hai. IRL I’m totally a sneaker girl. Mind you I like my heels and boots(!), but when walk around I want to be comfortable because that’s when I’m at my best. My philosophy: carry a big sack, wear some cute kicks and pull out the heels when you arrive at your destination. ;)) Today I bring to you my new favorites, Aitui’s “9ifni”. The name is Aitui mirrored horizontally. ;)) I’m really excited about these sneakers because they rock sooo hard and you can tell the kind of craftsmanship that was put into them. The look of the sneaker is totally cool, very distinctly Aitui with that perfect shadowy texture and I think, in the world of SL sneakers, 9ifni’s look is very fresh. As a SL sneaker addict, I can honestly say that I was able to justify the addition of these into my wardrobe since their look is something new. Versatility comes with this shoe, as there are 7 color changing parts and 15 colors to choose from (someone do the math…), my favorite being the muted rose color named “Clay.” The colors aren’t tints either, they are textures, which makes all the difference as you loose a bit of the texture when you tint something. Each color is rich, deep and lustrous. The style is totally unisex and resizable too. I have a bunch of outfits planned for this sneaker as it’ll go with just about every color scheme imaginable, but today I bring you an urban inspired look that’s comfy, casual and a bit flashy. Hope you enjoy! :) <3xo, Abra
Details and more pictures after the cut…
I love MinaJunk!
March 25, 2009
Back when I was a noob this summer, an old friend recommend a few cool places for me to visit. Back then I didn’t realize that most sims, themed or not, were dedicated to shopping. I remember my friend dropping me a LM to Koreshan Pointe. I Tped into this old, abandoned theme park and started wandering around. The design was amazing, and what’s more, I discovered a whole group of amazingly cool shops there, one of them being Mina Jun’s skin shop ‘MinaJunk.’ I loved the style of the skin right away, and ended up getting one that made me look like I had been in the sun, maybe a little too long. It was perfect for summer and had that perfect reddened summer face that I always have during June and July irl. I wore that skin around my beach home everyday and ever since then, I’ve been a big MinaJunk fan.
Mina hasn’t released anything new in quite a while now, and I’ve been patiently awaiting her new releases, tempted by the teasers she’s posted on her Flickr photostream. The new releases are here now and I couldn’t be happier with them! She has done something new, by putting together 5 unique avatar packages, each themed by a different flower: Aijisai (hydrangea), Kiku (chrysanthemum), Sakura (cherry blossom), Sumire (violet), Tsubaki (camellia). Each look comes complete with skin, shape, hair, eyes, clothing, shoes and accessories. Everything has been handcrafted by Mina herself, and I must say the finished items are amazing.
The skin is as mesmerizingly gorgeous as ever, even more so imho, with a soft, radiant creaminess to the texture that is just so, so beautiful. This time around we have hand-painted lashes, a slightly different nose, colorful eye makeup and big plushy lips. The face has soft, rounded cheeks and the features are versatile and lend themselves to many different shape types. Each skin comes with a hair/no hair version, which seems to be the new thing and is quite useful when you are zoomed out on an avatar. (Read: no bald patches!) Plus, some of the hair styles she has created are made to be worn with the hair version of the skin. The hair styles themselves are very imaginative and playful: braided, pinned with flowers and draped in delicate gold chains. Again, she has introduced a new concept with some of the styles, as the hair-base of the skin is made to function as a part of the hair itself. I love the texturing done on them, it’s very realistic and luminescent.
What really gets me, though, is the clothing. I am completely enamored with it. As far as my knowledge goes, this is Mina’s first foray into clothing (at least for her shop) and she has done quite a job with it. Going with the flower theme, each outfit comes bearing the traits of it’s own: Aikisai and Tsubaki wear their flower on the head, Kiku on the head and feet, Sumire’s comes in the form of a necklace and Sakura’s blossoms are fluttering at the top of a dress bodice. The outfits are completely breathtaking; they are colorful, feminine, modern and bring with them a presence of their own. I can see myself wearing the complete looks over and over as well as mixing, matching and adding pieces to different outfits. For me the looks are perfect in every way, the only thing I would change is to add a resize script for the hair and clothing as I had to modify my own gourd-like head to wear it. As the old saying goes: a small price to pay for such beauty.
All in all, this collection must be seen, worn, ogled over and played with. Very well done Mina Jun, if this is the beginning of your brand’s extension, I cannot wait to see what you will bring to us in the future. <3xo, Abra
Details and more photos after the extension.
♥ Better Imagined by Abra 