in desperation dreams, any soul can set you free

First Hair Fair post for 2012: Argrace, Bliss and Alice Project.
Second Hair Fair post: Alli and Alli, Amacci and Analog Dog.
Third Hair Fair post: Battle Angel and Bliensen + Maitai.
Fourth Hair Fair post: Calico Ingmann Creations, D!va and Curious Kitties.
Fifth Hair Fair post: CheerNo and [COLORS].
Sixth Hair Fair post: Discord Designs (and skinless Em).
Seventh Hair Fair post: Discord Designs, now with skin!
Eighth Hair Fair post: Gauze and Hairoin.

(from the Hair Fair album)

Rosy Mood's "Sweetbuns" style WILL be mine. It's shown in Custard, it's a fun EGL bob, and oh yes, I am tracking this one down.

(from the Hair Fair album)

This is another tempting smooth bob, "Satsuma", shown here in black. It cuts in rather deeply on the right side part, but I'm hoping that the actual hair is modifiable, so I can tweak the part just a little bit. Either way, though, it's cute, it's clean, and I think I want this one too. (Brief update; before picking this entry up again, I did go down to Garden and pick these two styles up. Each pack of five colors [I chose the Darks set] set me back L$180. For five colors? That's great!)

Two other styles were included but are not shown. You can find them at the Hair Fair in Garden.

(from the bizarre album)

Several hours later...I returned to the grid and changed to the outfit described below. Tracked down all the SLUrls and got everything correctly linked, and then watched most of my upper-body textures fall off in patches.

BUT I AM UNDAUNTED. Or, well, only slightly daunted.

(from the bizarre album)

Actually, overall I'm more puzzled. Is it something grabbing one of the alpha textures I'm wearing and applying it to the skin and upper-body clothing layers? But why? I don't get why this is happening.

(from the Hair Fair album)

This is [kik] hair in "grey3", named "Brigitte II". It's mesh, but it's simply done, looks realistic, and I love the shade. (Oh, and a friend mentioned I should try taking off the corset alpha layer, see if that fixed the display problem. I did; it worked; and I left the alpha layer off because it didn't interfere with the corset's wearability. Coincidentally, this made me run out and get this dress in one more color.)

(from the Hair Fair album)

This is "Gisele 1" in a shade called "black3". Simple, slightly messy updo, well made, but it won't cause that many wows on its own, right? Not saying it's not pretty; it is, and I love the flexi wisp draping on both sides of the face.

(from the Hair Fair album)

No, what really ended up capturing me was the back. Those are two prim bobby pins holding the hair up. Sometimes it's the littlest details that push something past just 'good', into 'really impressive'. For me, those two bobby pins did it.

There were eight other styles included in the demo box, mostly variations on four styles; they're not covered, just "Brigitte II" and "Gisele 1". You can find the booth for [kik] in Flower.

(What I'm wearing: On a Lark, for 25LT this week, put out a set of partial mesh corset dresses for L$25 each. This is the Black variation, wearing the size Small mesh corset; it's worn with My Ugly Dorothy's 'Skin of the Sunday03' (L$150 on the back wall of the store) with Mock Cosmetics' "Lucir Lipcolor Rubyfruit" in 'Lip1', which changes the bright glossy blue lips to the most perfect tone of cerise. The belted sandals are included with the Corseted Black dress, and JE*Republic made the "Glitter Real Eyes" in Moment. Windlight settings are "*Starley* Settings 2".)

your actions turn conquest to dust

First Hair Fair post for 2012: Argrace, Bliss and Alice Project.
Second Hair Fair post: Alli and Alli, Amacci and Analog Dog.
Third Hair Fair post: Battle Angel and Bliensen + Maitai.
Fourth Hair Fair post: Calico Ingmann Creations, D!va and Curious Kitties.
Fifth Hair Fair post: CheerNo and [COLORS].
Sixth Hair Fair post: Discord Designs (and skinless Em).
Seventh Hair Fair post: Discord Designs, now with skin!

We jump to Gauze for the next few:

(from the Hair Fair album)

Now, I have a few Asianesque Gauze hairs, but most of them were all very, very long (or I made them longer), for the 'ghost girl' effect I was going for a couple years back. These styles are anything but derivative in this sense (though anime hair? Why yes, they certainly are). This is "Munera" which is shown in the dark purple from the "Gems" color HUD.

(from the Hair Fair album)

And this is the back of "Munera", to show both the backswept spikes, and the twin tails.

(from the Hair Fair album)

This is "Ceres", in the dark red found on the "Pyromaniac" HUD, and this is yet another one I may have to nip off and buy at the Fair.

Two other styles were included in the demo box, but not shown here.

(the "Cronos" style from the Hair Fair album; or, in other words, "Cross my heart, smack me dead, stick a lobster on my head.")

This? This is a hair lobster.

No, seriously--I like braids and all, but Hairoin's "Cronos" style would snap my neck in half! Unless the center of this hair is filled with helium, I'm not standing upright.

(from the Hair Fair album)

On the other hand, their "Heather" is fun, simple, flirty and very cute. They do make mention that they have a widely divergent style--this pretty much shows you the extreme to the everyday in two shots.

Three other styles were included in the demo box; they're not shown.

(What I'm wearing: On a Lark, for 25LT, put out a set of partial mesh corset dresses for L$25 each. This is the Fern variation, wearing the size Small mesh corset; it's worn with My Ugly Dorothy's July group gift [seriously: join the group, get the skin, couldn't be simpler, plus I like the way she makes skins anyway], the belted sandals included with the Corseted fern dress, and Avatar Bizarre's heterochromatic eyes in Green and Violet. Windlight settings are ".AnaLu. default3".)

and he took me to the river, where he slowly let me drown

First Hair Fair post for 2012: Argrace, Bliss and Alice Project.
Second Hair Fair post: Alli and Alli, Amacci and Analog Dog.
Third Hair Fair post: Battle Angel and Bliensen + Maitai.
Fourth Hair Fair post: Calico Ingmann Creations, D!va and Curious Kitties.
Fifth Hair Fair post: CheerNo and [COLORS].
Sixth Hair Fair post: Discord Designs (and skinless Em).

Five more days of Hair Fair, right? We'll see how this goes.

(from the Hair Fair album)

This is Discord Designs' 'Delrey' in Cast Iron. It sits on the Skunk hairbase, which is pretty damned adaptable considering it was designed for specific braid styles. This is unisex, and closely braided to the skull, but very attractive.

(from the Hair Fair album)

And this is Discord's "Devlyn" from the back, in Natural Ginger. From the front it's another close-braided style, but there are two reasons I'm showing just the back: first, because it gives the impression in the front of very short braided hair, and from the back there's this lovely wind-tossed to-the-hips length going on. And second, I've been watching myself from behind wearing it, and for the life of me, I could not decide--visually--whether it was just prims or mesh hair. (Jury says: rigged mesh, because I can't edit it, but I had to go that far before I believed it. It doesn't attach like most mesh [pop in at the top of the skull, then scuttle down], doesn't rez like most mesh [as in, out of the box it's on the head, not in multiple little spikes or circles], but, as mesh, it'll have a much lighter footprint overall, in terms of what this would be like in sculpted prims.)

Both the "Devlyn" and the "Delrey" use the Skunk hairbase.

This next one I am not going to make look good, I'll just warn you of that up front:

(from the Hair Fair album)

This is the "Bouncer" style in Nut Brown, and I'm not even going to say it's only a male style--I know there are butch women out there who could rock this completely. How'ver, I am not that butch. :p

That being said, this still isn't your standard flat-top buzz cut. It sits on a very close-trimmed tattoo base, but these are fine fine fine little spikes of hair, not just chunky spears. I can't even say it's a true Mohawk style, because of the way the front is rounded, and then angles to the nape of the next in a bar. It sits on the "Ripley" hairbase.

(from the Hair Fair album)

This is the "Dhilon" style in Tan (Gracile variation). This style comes with two variations, and both sit on the "Urchin" hairbase. What's the difference?

(from the Hair Fair album)

It's subtle, but there, and mostly a bit of added weight. This is the "Robust" variant, and it's just overall chunkier. The thing I love about this style, though, is how realistic the dreads textures are. I have friends with dreads, and while it's not a style I've ever succeeded at (mostly I'm a braid it and forget it girl), those who do have this same interlocked, almost felted look to their hair that these two styles have.

(from the Hair Fair album)

This is the back of the "Robust" variation; the Gracile's not much different, and while being rigged mesh, it can't be adjusted like prim hair, it really doesn't seem to matter that much. It looks good out of the box.

(What I'm wearing: On a Lark, for 25LT, put out a set of partial mesh corset dresses for L$25 each. This is the Fern variation, wearing the size Small mesh corset; it's worn with My Ugly Dorothy's July group gift [seriously: join the group, get the skin, couldn't be simpler, plus I like the way she makes skins anyway], the belted sandals included with the Corseted fern dress, and Avatar Bizarre's heterochromatic eyes in Green and Violet. Windlight settings are ".AnaLu. default3".)

me, I'm emotionally colorblind

First Hair Fair post for 2012: Argrace, Bliss and Alice Project.
Second Hair Fair post: Alli and Alli, Amacci and Analog Dog.
Third Hair Fair post: Battle Angel and Bliensen + Maitai.
Fourth Hair Fair post: Calico Ingmann Creations, D!va and Curious Kitties.
Fifth Hair Fair post: CheerNo and [COLORS].

So...about this Hair Fair thing. Yesterday proved both frenzied and crazed, featuring everything from an emotional breakdown (nope, not going to talk about it here) to my computer wholly ceasing to function (thankfully, easily fixed: main fan burned out). Today has not been better, so at this point, I'm just going to get out what I get out, no careful organization, and screw the consequences. Here we go.

Starting with the first style I bought this year, "Phoenix":

(from the Hair Fair album; the front of Discord Designs' "Phoenix" in Damson)

Now, I'll be honest--it's rigged mesh hair and I still don't know how to adjust the gap between me, and the curve of the braid. It's not getting taller, I tried that--unless it relies on leg height, which I'll try now I've thought of it. I bought the reds pack, which includes six different red shades, and it's the first time I've ever seen a big, beautifully long braid treated this way.

(from the Hair Fair album; the front of Discord Designs' "Phoenix" in Damson)

This is (most of) the back of it, showing the curve over the shoulder (and part of the big spherical shield light I'm using for...some effect, I'm really not sure why at present. Could be coffee nerves). I love the color, I love the length of this braid, I love how this is an oddly practical style--rather than brushing the floor with the braid tips, just cart it around looped over your shoulder. So damned cool.

(from the Hair Fair album, and...what just happened?!?)

And then, you know, me being me...this happens. Looked away for a moment at Skype, switched back to Nirans, to find my entire body (save for hair, eyes, teeth and skirt) had fallen off my virtual bones. The hell.

But look how white my teeth are!

...hey, there has to be SOME advantage to this.

(from the bizarre album)

NOT GETTING BETTER NOT GETTING BETTER--

(from the bizarre album)

Great. Now I'm the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Oh, how I miss you, skin...

ONE RELOG LATER...

(from the bizarre album)

Well...hell. Okay, I give up. G'night, everybody!

(Just for reference, the last two images featured Discord Designs' "Jada" and "Delray", but hell if I'm going to let those stand as good shots, because damn it, I will get my skin back! Curse you, invisible skin thieves!)

(Wearing--at least, until I stopped being able to see myself--Silent Sparrow's "Shruggie" in Ash over Bare Rose's "Baby Alone in Babylone" EGL frock in black with DV8's "Danse Macabre" ballet boots in black, Aleida's "Couture Skin 1" [sadly, Aleida closed], and glossy black eyes from saki Bosatsu [don't know if SAKIBO exists as a store anymore]. I'm also using the Windlight setting "Nam's Optimal Skin 2" with a shield light.)

she can't hear your voice, she can't hear you call

First Hair Fair post for 2012: Argrace, Bliss and Alice Project.
Second Hair Fair post: Alli and Alli, Amacci and Analog Dog.
Third Hair Fair post: Battle Angel and Bliensen + Maitai.
Fourth Hair Fair post: Calico Ingmann Creations, D!va and Curious Kitties.

(from the Hair Fair album)

And back to Hair Fair posting. This is CheerNo's "Osmar" hair, a male style but with potential for women who favor a more retro, unisex look; and

(from the Hair Fair album)

the one that baffled me completely, the "Chicane" style. Does this come with the antler crown, or is that part of the demo? Are those antlers? Maybe it's coral. Wait, there's a coral crown included with this hair? What?

Actually, screw the hair--can we just buy the antler/coral crown? Because that would be fun.

One more style was included in the demo; it's not shown.

(from the Hair Fair album)

This is [COLORS] hair, style no. 58, in Light Pink. This is pretty strictly a mens' style shop, but they can be easily worn by women, as you see here. This one's a simple, shag-cut near-pixie style that can be easily worn by any sex that favors short hair.

(from the Hair Fair album)

And this is style no. 59, in Medium Gray; it's a similar short style, but it's center-part over an angled right-part; there's also a little more flip to the ends.

Two more styles were included, but not shown. You can find their booth in Sand at the Hair Fair.

(Worn for this entry: Nomine's "Pinstripe" dress (non-Empire waist version), SN@TCH's "Dauphine" stockings in Beige, Dulce Secrets' androgynous "Snow" skin, and Mayfly's "Liquid Light" eyes, in London Fog W2.)

(And you may have noticed the Windlight color-shifting in this entry and the last one. Because I'm having to relog every two demos--I wish I was kidding, but more demos just refuse to attach--I'm trying to pick the same setting [namely, Nam's Optimal Skin and Prim still], but the day cycle variant is just too much to deal with on top of the animation stuttering and the viewer flipping out.)

a million faces, each a million lies

KDC, as a fetish shop in SL, has been around forever, it feels like. The designer's always had an atmospheric, impressive build, and while she doesn't put out a ton of new items a year, those items she makes are always more than worth the asking price and incredibly well done.

At some point, Miss Abattoir both got a Marketplace store and got into mesh and Petites creation, as evidenced by this link a friend passed me. The gloss and shine on that suit are unparalleled, and yes, she also makes "big people" versions, too.

If you need high-gloss latex for your Petite? I'd say KDC's your store.

This next bit is an exercise in misunderstanding from the Help channel in City of Heroes.

[Help] RAGA.: I know its in beta right now
[Help] RAGA.: I want my tats for female toons
[Help] Areni: What??

Misunderstanding the first: "RAGA." (and seriously, people: if you can get the name you want only by spelling it in all caps or with an end typographic symbol...COME UP WITH A NEW NAME; IT'S NOT HARD) meant "tats" as in "tattoos", here. As in, there's only one tattoo option for females in City of Heroes: namely, glove-layer gauntlets. Which I believe are green and red faded dragons, so there's not even that much choice on that costume option.

What Raga was saying was, they're testing out tattoo options for female characters in the beta game, with the eventual goal of transiting them to the main game release. Which is something we've all been asking for--some of us for years now.

[Help] RAGA.: check out beta if you can
[Help] Areni: This is city of heroes

Misunderstanding the second: Areni mistook RAGA's saying "check out beta" (as in, there's a beta version of City of Heroes that anyone can download to check out upcoming features and give feedback), as "check out this entire new game".

[Help] RAGA.: Cybertech costume bundle
[Help] Areni: Females by default have huge breasts

(from the City of Heroes album; close-up of the average female model from City)

That's only half true. Female models by default, in City of Heroes, are about five and a half feet tall, and they run about mid-B cups. Maybe this is my perspective, though, too--the out-of-the-box builds look as if they have breasts, but they're not huge ones.

That shot is a close capture of the average City of Heroes female model, with all the sliders untouched.

(from the City of Heroes album; the entire screen as seen during character creation)

This is the larger shot of the above close-up: with all the sliders listed. If I had to guess, personally, I'd say the average City of Heroes model runs about 5'6", 5'7" feet tall, B cups, 125 pounds--thereabouts. I could be low on the weight, but I think I'm fairly accurate on everything else.

Again, maybe it's just me--I don't think B cups are "huge".

There was some chatter at this point about how deeply the game needs new hair styles and a new face pack--it's an older game, so to be fair these are things that would help. I would disagree that they're all "hideous", however--I think a lot of the hairstyles work, and a lot of the faces work, too.

[Help] RAGA.: and for the record...there is nothing wrong with large breasted women fighting crime
[Help] RAGA.: :P
[Help] Areni: No, of course not
[Help] RAGA.: Real women have curves...nuff said
[Help] Areni: Agreed!
[Help] Areni: Though...
[Help] Areni: I think there is something wrong with all of the ones that do having huge ones :B

Again, the default City of Heroes model? Not huge.

[Help] Nocke Icron: I'm not a woman, not entirely, but I still have curves. And small breasts, and real real sharp psi blades.
[Help] Areni: Maybe I'm biased though
[Help] Areni: Not entirely, Nocke?
[Help] Darth-Killer: hormones ?
[Help] Nocke Icron: Not entirely, but I've got it all there.
[Help] RAGA.: um..I think someone started talking about themselves ICly for some reason
[Help] Nocke Icron: Hermaphrodite.

Misunderstanding the third: but this one is sort of all over the place. Some people in the Help channel thought Nocke was talking in character; some people thought she was talking about the player behind the screen. Lots of confusion, from lots of different directions.

[Help] Areni: O.o
[Help] RAGA.: oh...nvm then
[Help] Areni: I'm pretty sure that's not what you are

Misunderstanding the fourth: or maybe this is not a misunderstanding, but that moment of separation. Areni had decided, in the space of maybe two minutes (or less) of conversation, that Nocke was not only lying, but that the entire conversation had become offensive.

Of course, some people were still confused:

[Help] Darth-Killer: Hermaphrodite... you're a frog then ?

What? Wait. What?

[Help] Nocke Icron: I'm not? Well [@*$@#!], that changes a few things.

Just for clarity's sake: I was on a new character for this particular run through City of Heroes. New characters, by default, have censorship on for "adult" language. And, City being City, it doesn't just replace symbols for characters and have done with it; it's generally fairly randomized, so you can't easily count letters and come up with the "real word".

Though I'm fairly sure I can guess what Nocke did say.

[Help] Areni: Having a gender identity that isn't cismale/cisfemale doesn't make you a hermaphrodite
[Help] Areni: Hermaphrodite is a much more -specific- thing
[Help] Nocke Icron: are you trying to tell me who I am?

I think more than a few of us were wondering that at this point.

[Help] Darth-Killer: Agreed with Areni. Hermaphrodites are male or female, simply can switch between one or the other

Errr...not usually...at least with bipedal lifeforms. Arthropods and fish seem to switch between sexes at will, with snails especially extruding sexual organs only when needed, and fish completely shifting from females to males when the female population lowers...but again, I don't think that's what Darth meant.

[Help] Nocke Icron: not only was that IN Character, you'll lose that battle, and hard.
[Help] Nocke Icron: No, that's sequential hermaphrodites
[Help] Nocke Icron: There are Sequential, and Simultaneous.
[Help] Areni: That's not it, darth
[Help] RAGA.: Who cares...[@!^%!].... [Help] Darth-Killer: simultaneous, then you're a plant... xD
[Help] Areni: :/

Again, Areni is still being offended about an issue that no one else seemed to have in this entire conversation. Oh, and Darth-Killer was being something of an ass throughout this entire thing.

[Help] Darth-Killer: Er, if you're talking about [$#&);+#@!], i call that a trans.... xD

Case in point.

[Help] Nocke Icron: ...And now we're in the third person.
[Help] Areni: Are you... ICly intersex, or OOCly intersex [%@#$%(*&;@!]

Seriously: why would anyone ask that in a game where the most important defining attribute is what powers you choose to beat up the bad guys? There's no way to be nude in City of Heroes. There's no way even to lie horizontally on a surface. All the adult play that goes on is entirely in private messages between people, or rarely, in small batches of local chat (though general roleplay conversations go on in all channels at all times). So...why be this invested?

And why curse after asking in the first place??

[Help] Nocke Icron: ....

And now Areni was irritating Nocke specifically, and many of the rest of us as well.

[Help] RAGA.: wow
[Help] RAGA.: ask personal questions much?
[Help] Nocke Icron: You're so lost.
[Help] Areni: Well they said they were intersex

No, Nocke didn't. Areni simply assumed that's what was said. That wasn't what Nocke said.

[Help] RAGA.: just how rude do you plan on being this morning?
[Help] Areni: That's pretty damn personal

Areni, after your opinionated declarations just a few lines back, you don't get to be offended when someone calls you on your behavior.

[Help] Darth-Killer: I'm not, that's vocabulary definition here
[Help] Areni: I was just trying to understand who they were talking about; themselves or their character

Then...couldn't you have just asked that without pushing buttons? Or, oh, hey, wait--couldn't you have sent a tell to them privately, if you really wanted to know something that personal?

[Help] Nocke Icron: not really at all, you just pulled out a microscope.

What Nocke said.

[Help] Areni: ...Yeah, I am completely confused. Sorry if I offended or anything.

Oh, NOW she apologizes.

[Help] Nocke Icron: THIS character, like most all my characters are Simultaneous hermaphrodites, it's part of their story.
[Help] Areni: Okay then.
[Help] Darth-Killer: Er, Nocke, we never talked about the real you. thought that was obvious... xD
[Help] Darth-Killer: simply analyzing definitions here
[Help] Nocke Icron: Yeah, but it didn't seem that way to Areni, from my perspective
[Help] Areni: Well what am I supposed to think; people don't generally talk in-character in the help channel

Really? Because that happens ALL THE TIME over the course of the last year, Areni.

[Help] Areni: I got confused!

Yeah, that's patently obvious.

[Help] La Chatte Noire: ((they don't? ))
[Help] Nocke Icron: When descibing themselves they usually do.
[Help] Areni: (( very, very rarely ))

AKA, not rarely at all, but thanks for playing.

[Help] RAGA.: Help chat isn't for rp'ing

Tell that to everyone who RPs in Help.

[Help] Pool Boy: HAHAHAHA I DID IT!
[Help] Pool Boy: Take THAT, server maintenance
[Help] Darth-Killer: what, Pool boy?

And then the server went down for maintenance, as it does every week at the same time.

Now, there's a lot of nonsense that goes on in City of Heroes, I won't lie. Oversexualized fetish characters that spend most of their time in Pocket D, RPing with this or that group. People who can't spell like it's a vocation, both in their character bios and for their hero/villain names. People who claim impossible things, both in character and for their own players beyond the game.

But I believe this is the first time someone's given out a character detail, and another player has baldly stated that they absolutely, positively, can't be that thing--and gotten offended on top of it when they were challenged for stating that opinion in the first place!!

and all the missing we love, I hope the darkness they find will give them light

[16:38] Mocksoup Graves: [16:38] Second Life: Can't rez object at { 147.387, 140.792, 762.619 } because the owner of this land does not allow it. Use the land tool to see land ownership.
[16:38] Mocksoup Graves: I AM ON MY OWN LAND

Welcome to the new bugs, Mock. Thank Linden Lab for their support.

First Hair Fair post for 2012: Argrace, Bliss and Alice Project.
Second Hair Fair post: Alli and Alli, Amacci and Analog Dog.
Third Hair Fair post: Battle Angel and Bliensen + Maitai.

I have to find a way to pick these up, or I'll still be covering them after Hair Fair ends for this year!

There's a bit in the D!va's announcement card that I feel I have to share:

The day of a start of Hair Fair this year comes on at last!
a holding period -- July. 14-29.2012


Hair Fair is held in summer every year -- it is an event --
Hair shop in an inworld ends to all the persons concerned, and is performed
for the hall boiled and crossed -- it is fair.

Eight days remain of the Hair Fair this year, and I don't know about you, but I'm beginning to feel quite crossed by fate and circumstance. At any rate.

First up, Calico Ingmann Creations, with...

(from the Hair Fair album)

Hair horns! Okay, I admit, part of the fun of wearing Tekeli-li hair is the absolute surreal styles on offer--some of which resemble this one (in a non-copybot way, I'm just saying, similar style, NOT a copied style)--but CiC has always been my place for the spiral-curl styles, which these days--like Battle Angel--are alpha-ing beyond all reason.

This is CiC's "Aaliyah" style, it has no alpha layers. And it's cute. And it's very fun.

(from the Hair Fair album)

Not sure if the metallic ivy addition is just plain overdoing it, though, but still--great style!

(On the other hand, at 250 prims for this style, it's up there with Tekeli-li's styles for ornately overprimmed wonders.)

(from the Hair Fair album)

I also want to point out something about the tinting HUD: it's s l o o o o w. This is a shot of the shift in progress from black hair to blonde. The scripts take each section of hair, tint it, then move on methodically to the next one. This is going to take serious patience for a lot of people.

(from the Hair Fair album)

This is the "Felicity" style in Black with Red tips; and

(from the Hair Fair album)

this is the first time I've seen something like this on offer--the same style, but mirrored. I love a hair designer offering that option.

Three other styles were in the demo box, but not featured here.

(from the Hair Fair album)

This is D!va's mesh "Rio" hair in Topaz. It's slightly slow to rez in and texture properly, but has nice enough flow.

(from the Hair Fair album)

But this is why I haven't fully converted over to mesh hair, which in general does lag less, can be worn with less fuss, and can be easily (almost painlessly!) rezzed in on mesh-enabled viewers: the clipping.

I will grant, there is no perfect solution for attachments on a moving object. If it's not the prims clipping into our avatars, it's the mesh not stretching well, or the alpha layers needed for them being just a little too large. Throw into the mix a dizzying variety of user-generated outfits, shoes, hair styles, animations and shapes, and yes, it's a nightmare.

But even assuming I could guarantee that everyone seeing me saw me through mesh goggles--so to speak--I'd still have these issues. All it takes is one animation moving the wrong way. And while I have the same issues with prim hair, for the most part I've learned which styles work better than others, and stay to those.

Two other styles were in the demo box but are not shown. D!va can be found on Flower at the Hair Fair.

Next up: Type A "Sane" hair from the V3 mesh styles at Curious Kitties:

(from the Hair Fair album; why am I reminded of Poison Ivy for this one?)

And here's where I prove the below "what I'm wearing" paragraph wrong, because this is a full-body mesh hair, crown to ankles and wrapped over all limbs in between. Wau.

(from the Hair Fair album)

And this is the Type B style "Khandi", a more traditional anime style; both of these are shown out of the box, without HUD tinting.

(Worn on today's run are Rag Dollz' "Shanghai Green" outfit, Nomine's "Peacock" fae skin in Constellation, Curious Kitties' "Honeybee" eyes in Yellow, DV8's Cabaret Velvet short gloves in Moss, SN@TCH's "Candy" stockings in Emerald, and DV8's "Danse Macabre" boots in Jade. Not that you're going to see the stockings and the boots--and possibly the gloves--but I'm wearing 'em nonetheless.)

(Also, the Windlight settings are "Nam's Optimal Skin and Prim" tweaked a bit in the Niran's viewer lighting settings. Translation: I still don't know what I'm doing, but I liked the effect.)

there is a moment in time when all the cards that you've played divide

First Hair Fair post for 2012: Argrace, Bliss and Alice Project.
Second Hair Fair post: Alli and Alli, Amacci and Analog Dog.

We continue!

(from the Hair Fair album)

Battle Angel included five styles in their demo pack for Hair Fair; this was the only one that didn't have major alpha issues that made them--at least for me--unwearable; unfortunately, it has major clipping issues, as you can plainly see in the above shot. This is "Vivian", in White/Blonde. Cue aggrieved sigh.

Battle Angel can be found on Flower at the Hair Fair.

(from the Hair Fair album; Bliensen + Maitai's "Curl Up" style in Night)

This is "Curl Up" in Night from Bliensen + Maitai; it's a sleek, glossy bob that's also 100% mesh. It's unrigged, but unfortunately, the demos are no mod, so outside of the notecard saying their full versions are modifiable, I can't show off the hair other than straight out of the box.

(from the Hair Fair album; Bliensen + Maitai's "Curl Up" style in Wine Multi)

This is interesting, though--each color comes with an alternate multi-color curl option. I can't see this being a great look in all their color tones, but for a few this would really stand out.

(from the Hair Fair album; Bliensen + Maitai's "Forbidden Fruit" style in Carrot)

Unfortunately, none of the hair adornments (seen in "Forbidden Fruit", here, and in the below images) can be tinted to other metals or tones; at least not on the demo. But this is something that manages to be a fun and elegant bob because of the ornament addition; that's really hard to pull off, and Bliensen + Maitai does it brilliantly. This style is shown in Carrot.

(from the Hair Fair album; Bliensen + Maitai's "Habanera" style in Magpie)

Remember, the demos can't be edited in any way, so the clipping is the demo straight out of the box. But with a little adjustment, maybe a little resizing (currently, for this run, my head slider's set at 50), I can easily see this with a black lace mantilla attached to the back of the hair. Lovely, intricate style. Well done.

(from the Hair Fair album; Bliensen + Maitai's "Immaculada" style in Walnut)

And the last one, another simple bun with two floral metal hair pins (this isn't a great shot to see the second hair comb, but I liked the pose and kept it). All four of these styles rez in quickly, very little texture fuzzing, and outside of some clipping issues here and there, they're beautiful out of the box.

Bliensen + Maitai can be found on Sand at the Hair Fair.

Then, when I came back from checking my head size slider...

(from the bizarre album, because this certainly qualifies as bizarre)

What new fresh hell is this, then? It's my face...all over. In more than six years on SL, this is a new glitch for me.

(from the bizarre album; what the hell?)

Does this qualify as a nude shot? Because it's not like anyone can see anything. What's most perplexing is that this patterning replaced the clothes I was wearing.

And as much as I think Ruina Kessel did a fab job on the faces for her Cabal line, I really don't need my lips stretched over my thighs, thanks.

I'm going to take this as my cue to stop blogging for now. Hopefully when I come back, I'll have clothes on--or at least have normally textured skin!

hard to find, blinded by sorrow

First Hair Fair post for 2012: Argrace, Bliss and Alice Project.

Something I forgot to mention in the last post from Alice Project:

(from the Hair Fair album)

This is the "Tessa" hair. I've picked the Aztec color HUD for this, so the main hair is in Aztec Orange, but the streaks--because there are separate streak, part, and whole-hair tinting options with each HUD--are in Aztec Green. And this style? Free at Hair Fair.

There were six styles included in the demo pack for Alice Project; including this mention of Tessa, I've only shown off three of those in this entry and the last one.

Holy gods--Alli and Alli sent ALL THE HAIRS:

(from the Hair Fair album)

This is the "Sugar hair 3" demo--I don't know what the "3" refers to, but I'd suspect the color. Takes a bit to rez in and doesn't look like mesh hair, but it's a cute little style.

But why did I say they sent everything? Because they sent each of their four styles (only the one of which I'm showing here) in all eleven individual color tones, and then all over again for eleven Petite-sized color variants on each style! (Showing none of the Petite styles because I'm still having problems getting the one Petite avatar to work, and frankly, beginning to regret I bought one in the first place.)

(from the Hair Fair album; Amacci's "Rosie" style)

This is Amacci's "Rosie" style in Sangria. It's a two-part hair--the actual hair, and the tattoo-layer hairbase.

(from the Hair Fair album; Amacci's "Rosie" style)

This is a closer look, because it's a very subtle, understated effect. It doesn't look like a standard all-over hair base because of the wisping effect that makes us think that there actually are individual hair strands pulled back to make the bun.

The only comparable hair base I've dealt with is Discord Design's braid bases, where they're wisped to create the effect of the individual hairs at the base of each braid. Really stellar look with the bun. I may end up buying this one.

Next up: Analog Dog...sort of:

(from the Hair Fair album, and oh boy)

Remember when I mentioned a couple days back that Analog Dog had some permission issues on their unpacker?

(from the Hair Fair album, and yep, both of them)

Yep. Both hairs. The above is the "Ging" hair in Seashell, or at least the flexi bits of it; above that is the lower part of the "Ging" hair in Cacao. Well, what arrived looks good; so I'd recommend if you're interested in how half the hair looks, find Analog Dog on the Hair Fair sims and take home a demo to try on your own.

Hopefully that one will work.

(For this shoot, I'm wearing 1-800-Bettie's high-waist shorts in blue with Schadenfreude's "Eleanor" ruched sleeveless top in Robin's Egg, one of Ruina Kessel's older skins (Cabal/Ice in Naif, though I don't think she sells it anymore--oh, but she's covering the Hair Fair with much more style and panache than I'll be doing!), and the Blue Glacier eyes from Ephemeral Neko.)

(I also modified the 'Luna Jubilee-Snowday' Windlight setting to get the photostudio bright effect without actually dragging in a light source.)