Many of you probably remember the shopping guide I published last year for Christmas. Well, this year - 95 items spread across 20 pages in the December issue of Vain Inc magazine… written by yours truly!

The shopping guide covers categories from clothing to shoes, and people to shop for from Him/Her to Alternative Lifestylers. With 95 items to choose from, you’re sure to find something to grab! Click here to check out the shopping guide!

Happy Holidays!

*NOTE: I’m apparently a dumb ass that can’t read! The name of the store is INSTINCT, not Ignite! So forgive me my idiocy!!! *dunce*

I had the pleasure of meeting the creators of the CORN Furniture (SLURL) store this past weekend, Cornelius Sloat and Devon Fischer (I’m sure you’ve read of me blogging about them… they really are fantastic with the sculptie work). A lovely couple of people Devon and Cornelius are, and talented to a fault. I’m sure you’ve heard me rave about them in the past, and this time will be no different! It is with great anticipation, pleasure, and wide-eyed fascination that I tell you they will soon be opening a new store to take the Second Life furniture realm by storm…

I’d like to present to you the coming creations of Instinct (SLURL), a new furniture store set to open to the Second Life residential public on August 22, 2008. (Please click on the photos below for larger viewing!)

Everyone that knows me knows I’m a sucker for perfect lighting, excellent texturing, natural materials, well done sculpties, well-placed shadows, and all around TERRIFIC furniture. I’m a bit of a furniture snob, I guess you could say really.

After speaking a while with Devon and Cornelius, I was able to mosey around the preview rooms full of furniture, decor, rugs, and art. I was fascinated by the impeccable lighting and shadows I saw, not to mention the beautifully sculpted beds (there are sixteen new ones) and bathrooms. Everything is completely interactive, right down to the lighting systems… toilets are flushable, showers are usable (with multiple poses), water taps will run when clicked, lights will turn on and off, and the beds… oh, the beds. Let me tell you about the beds.

Being one of the lucky people to have obtained one of these fantastic new beds, I don’t think I can rave about it enough. After spending a considerable amount of time tinkering away at it, the bed is actually INCREDIBLY, WONDERFULLY, ENDLESSLY fantastic. It is based on an entirely new menu system, and comes with a VAST array of BRAND NEW, never-before-seen animations! Everything from hanging out with a friend to erotic intimacy with your favorite person, these beds have it all down to a tee.

In addition to the excellent furniture, there are also tons of lamps, vases, flowers, and various other forms of decor that have been created and detailed right down to the very last highlight, perfectly in waiting for you to take them home and decorate. As a detail and furniture whore, I can say that this store is definitely speaking to my inner interior designer. I am so incredibly excited for it to open!

Again, Instinct (SLURL) will open to the public on August 22, 2008! I’ll be waiting with baited breath… and I’m sure you will too!!! Get those check books ready… it’s going to be the sim rush of a lifetime!

Before I start this post, I’d first like to say… I will be out of town as of tomorrow morning (July 8th) until this coming Saturday (July 12th)! If you need to get in touch with me, drop a notecard on me and I’ll get back to you ASAP. Grazie.

NOW…

Let me tell you about a brand new shopping experience!

Amodica (SLURL) is the love child of Prad Prathivi and Adam Soler, with assistance from Rrishanna Regina and Natalya Homewood; a collaboration of designers, builders, scripters, and two of Second Life’s most prominent shops: PRrim Designs (furniture) and Lookr Fashions (clothing). The next Armidi? Perhaps. Let’s explore why…

To quote the press release, and at the risk of sounding a bit fangirlish,… “Think of a store where you can buy a complete starter kit to your Second Life. Packages which will transform your avatar, with all the customisation you demand. Selecting your home, all the furniture and even finding the land to set it up on – all just in a single visit to Amodica.”

Now, before I get into much further detail as to what the creation of Amodica will bring to the SL community, let me first explain a little about the two joining companies, PRrim Designs and Lookr Fashions (Blog).

Given my love for SL furniture, and good texturing and design in general, I happily blogged about PRrim Designs back in May. We all remember the $600L scripted sex beds, don’t we? K, good (XD). PRrim Designs has got to produce some of the most beautifully built, fantastically textured furniture on the grid, and I say that with absolute confidence, being the furniture whore that I am (don’t worry, I am still first and foremost a skin whore — but furniture whore is a close cousin). Scripted sex beds, texturing changing, multiple seating options on a single chair, you name it… PRrim Designs has something for everyone, there’s no doubt about that. (More blog posts on PRrim Designs are available at: Kitty Witchin, Prim Perfect)

Then there’s Lookr Fashions…

Lookr (Blog) has seen the SL blogosphere several times over the last several months (see: Ana Lutetia, Kitty Witchin, SL Men, Shopping Cart Disco, and Mui Mukerji to name just a few) and proves only to further impress the masses with each new release. A few shiny examples of what Lookr can do (click for larger picture):

I’m sure by now, you can see why the collaboration of these two fantastic stores will inevitably create one monolithic company sure to become a household name in no time.

The nitty gritty details of the collaboration… (as quoted from Prad Prathivi’s press release):

The following outlines the 12 branches of Amodica:

Amodica Design – Design will bring together the customised aspects of Amodica. Covering all custom work from clothing and textures, to building and sim developments, Design will continue the reputation of providing high quality, well designed content to our customers.

Amodica Lookr – Formerly Lookr fashions, Amodica Lookr will maintain its range of high quality, stylish and meaningful menswear and women’s clothing, and will continue to branch out into hair, accessories, skins and jewellery, providing the best look for your avatar.

Amodica Furniture – Formerly PRrim Designs, Furniture will continue its range of modern, contemporary designs and innovate to provide you with best quality products for every room in your home.

Amodica Graphics – As RL graphic designers, we can provide you with branding, website design and logo designs and media solutions, all completed to our high standard to give your company the best start or makeover.

Studio Amodica – Having a reputation as one of Second Life’s most popular photographers, Studio will continue to provide the best look to your avatar, products or builds.

Amodica Prefabs – A wide range of our prefab homes will be available soon, all designed by a real life architect and beautifully textured and finished so you can relax in the confines of your abode.

Amodica Botanicals - As one of the finest landscaping service providers in Second Life, Botanicals can provide complete landscaping solutions for your land. Our own range of botanical products will be launched later this year, and will expand to cover vegetation for all terrains.

Amodica Marine – Coming soon, a range of boats, yachts and marine equipment to get you going on the open seas! All built and textured to the high quality standard you’d expect from Amodica’s designers!

Amodica Home – Providing more traditional homes and furniture for your Second Life. As an already established designer of modern homes and furniture, we plan to move into more traditional styles, but continuing our reputation of original and beautifully textured designs.

Amodica Play – Novelty products and toys of a more fun nature, which interact and will provide an new and exciting experience to Second Life.. watch this space!

Amodica Poser – Coming soon will be our range of poses and animations for use in photography, furniture and anywhere your imagination allows!

Amodica Script – Providing innovative scripted HUDs and products to help make your Second Life experience easier and more exciting!

This really is just SUCH an exciting venture, and not only am I happy for Prad and Adam, for joining together to create what will hopefully be one of the most promising companies to emerge from Second Life, but I just can’t wait to see what they, along with their team of equally talented and dedicated creators, are capable of. Second Life is surely in for a treat — and I am definitely the kid in the candy shop.

What are you waiting for? Click here to visit Amodica for all your shopping needs!

Woo hoo!!! Furniture!!!

I’m here this morning (and will likely be here until this afternoon… I have SO MUCH blogging to catch up on, omg) to tell you about this fantastic new furniture shop, featuring a carefully crafted, innovative “meeting” couch known as the San Jose.

The store? The GREENE Concept (SLURL, OnRez, SLex, Blog).

Let me tell you how it started (culled from the GREENE Concept Blog):

Three months ago, Ivanova and myself started to talk about creating a furniture business in SL. On March 27, we paid the first rent for our workshop, and in those last three months we were very busy making concepts, building prototypes, working on textures and designs, making budgets, discussing prices etc. And now, finally, we went live!

The San Jose couch, the brainchild of Ivanova Shostak and Peter Stindberg, is absolutely perfect for those group meetings, gatherings, etc and actually kind of reminds me of the half-circle couches I see so often at clubs in real life. The couch will seat up to five avatars at a time and will randomly select one of three available poses upon sitting. Do you hold board meetings? Need couches with a little “flare” for your club? Looking to add a little touch of group-seating elegance to your home? These are definitely the couches for you.

Want to see it in action?!

There are currently 12 different colors/textures available for the San Jose: Anthracite, Cotton, Denim, Green, Jade, Mint, Ocean, Poppy, Red, Royal, Suede and Velvet. My personal favorite would have to be the black (velvet?)… but all of the colors are so beautiful and vibrant, there’s bound to be one for every taste. I know EXACTLY who else would love the red one! *smiles innocently in Codie’s direction*

The couches are available in two different permission options: copy/no-transfer ($800L) and no-copy/trans ($350L). What are you waiting for! Head on over to the GREENE Concept (SLURL) and try out one of these fantastic couches yourself!

I just love furniture designers in SL. Really, I do. If it weren’t for all of these spectacular builders, dreamers, creators, texturizers… we just wouldn’t have all of the nifty-cool-awesomtastic stuff we have in SL today. I mean, could you imagine if people like Barnesworth, Devon, Antonia, Raul and countless other content creators didn’t exist? You know… the guys that have become such a staple to Second Life culture that it’d be like something was missing without them.

Well, in addition to the previously mentioned furniture builders, I’d like to add two more to the list. Prad Prathivi and Rrishanna Regina of PRrim Design (SLURL).

Aside from the fact that these two are simply rotten with talent, and their furniture is to DIE for… they are also selling… wait for it… scripted sex beds for $600L. That’s right, I said it. While I am pretty newbtastic when it comes to SL sex, I do know people that would jump on these beds in a heart beat, no pun intended. They’re GORGEOUSLY textured, the above picture being just one of many examples. It looks so cozy looking that I just want to jump right in. Prad also informs me that he is working on a modifcation that will allow changing the duvet texture. How is THAT for modification! *drools* That little tidbit of joy should be finished by tomorrow morning, provided Prad is not inebriated by sunrise (happy birthday, Prad!).

In addition to his omg-slex beds, there is also a ton of living room furniture as you’ll see both above and below this paragraph. There is even some nicely done oriental furniture, with very strong red, black and white colors in them… which I find to be perfectly stunning. Prad, if I ever build a dojo or a Japanese set, you’re my man!!!

So, ladies and gentlemen of the jury… PRrim Designs. Head on over there!

PS: OH! And since I’ve been getting SO SO many requests for information about the skybox in my previous post… it is the Lodo Loft by Ravish Tyne and can be purchased for $1500L at this location! It is sold copy/mod and can easily be modified to be bigger than what it is (as you can see in my post… I actually modded the box to be four times its original size). The window scenery can be changed to various cityscapes (I am rather fond of Paris, but also available are Prague, London and Glasgow, among others) and the box itself is just fantastically done. Enjoy!

Recently I became “homeless” in SL for various reasons — sometimes people just aren’t who you think they are. And because of this, I found myself in need of new land, and a new place for myself and my daughter, as well as anyone else who may come along, to lay our heads.

I spent most of yesterday evening decorating the new house — and it was some of the most fun decorating I’ve ever had!

Most of the above pictured items (with the exception of a few “touches” like lamps and such) were obtained from Cubik Circle, a furniture store by Flickr’s very own Raul Crimson! Visit his store here or his blog here. I was looking for something very colorful — cheery. We can all use a little cheer in our lives, right? All of Raul’s pieces are just wonderfully modern, and add a vibrant touch of life to any room. Truly talented, this man is. :) And Raul… I don’t think you know just how much I truly thank and love you. :) *big hugs*

All of the above pictured furniture can be obtained from that funky, styling, insanely fun lady Antonia Marat over at Artilleri Home. Visit her store here or her blog here and pick up some of these things… they’re RIDICULOUSLY cute, and my home wouldn’t be a home without them! I especially love all of the attention to shading Antonia provides, especially to her rugs. God is in the details!!! And Antonia, my dear, you rock HARD at that! Isn’t that little Tiki bar KYUTE??? Oh. My. God. *stares*And I imagine all of these fantastic retro pieces will be used in set building in future photography efforts to come!

All of the items pictured above can be obtained by CORN Furniture by Devon Fischer. I have recently discovered this store and given my pension for texture, light, and shadow — this place should not be missed. Their items and attention to detail are INCREDIBLE. If you find yourself needing an extra added touch of realism — head on over here. Visit the store and see what I mean!

The kitchen is a very important part in any home, and since discovering Depoz Celebrations by the fantastic Mash Mandala, I’ve become addicted to having the perfect foodie items in all of my SL kitchens. The placemats on my table are all scripted and will rez breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and various drinks for your enjoyment. The textures are FANTASTIC — the best I’ve ever, EVER seen for Second Life food. The refrigerator, toaster, breakfast griddle, pots of soup on the stove, tray of fruit and cookie plate (as well as a coffee pot and tray of hot chocolate you can’t see) are also ALL SCRIPTED — and will give you their respective food items. I’ve had so much fun with Mash’s stuff, that I seriously can’t contain myself when I go to his store anymore. It’s just crazy how kid-in-a-candy-store I get when I find fun, new things to play with that make me so, so happy. :D Thank you so much Mash for creating such awesome stuff. Visit his store, and see it all for yourself!

The kitchen set itself came from my absolute favorite kitchen furniture shopping spot — Ramos Designs. As well as the fantastic lines of kitchens, they also produce damn near everything else under the sun — including some wonderfully built houses! I’m also quite partial to the living room furniture in this store — lots of poseballs to play with! :D Visit it here! The table set is, again, from my dear Raul Crimson over at Cubik Circle Furniture. :)

All photos are raw, straight out of windlight with no post-processing save for a few crops here and there.

Again, 99% of the items mentioned above can be found in these places:

Cubik Circle by Raul Crimson (SLURL)
Artilleri Home by Antonia Marat (SLURL)
CORN Furniture by Devon Fischer (SLURL)
Depoz Celebrations by Mash Mandala (SLURL)
Ramos Designs by xTrojan Ramos & Susan Ramos (SLURL)

Have fun shopping! :D