Available in an astounding variety of colours, and on every possible layer, the Basics One-Piece should not be missed!  It can be worn as a dress or a romper, but I decided to just show it like this.  And if you want to see a very cute romper pic, check out Anya’s Flickr stream!

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I have never made a secret of how much I really love the system skirt.  It is so beautiful when done well, and incredibly sexy.  To me it is, anyhow.  Ella is a casual day dress with a plunging V neckline and a wide wrap waist.  It comes in several colours in a floral print, and the little cap sleeves finish it off nicely.  These dresses are L$250 each.

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Oh My God I love this dress!  This reminds me so much of something Joan would wear on Mad Men.  Did I mention yet how much I love that show?  Yeah.  The bow and sash can be worn on the front or back and the contrasting colours work very well together.  The texturing is sublime, too.  If you love this as much as I do, you’ll want to pick them up at L$250 each.

I am a huge fan of the jaunty little hat that comes with this Fraxinus dress, it’s so freakin’ cute!  With the sweetheart neckline and flared skirt, this dress is perfect for a party.  The laced back adds interest to the deceivingly simple frock too.  This dress is L$350 each.

And finally, the dress that started off my spree at Ingenue this time, Japonica.  I don’t even remember where I first saw it or how I became aware of it, but wow is it gorgeous.  The huge flower at the waist reminds me of something Carrie Bradshaw would wear, except this is less giant and more classy.  Each colour the dress comes in has a contrasting flower, but I think this one is my favourite.

Now, I bought a bunch more of Ingenue’s outfits, and this post could go on for about 4 more photos, but I don’t want to bore you all with how much I love this store.   So instead, just go down to Ingenue and take a look for yourself!

Credits:

All hair by Truth and Friday \ Skin by Belleza (Allyson preview – when is this coming out already?!) \ Shoes by Maitreya and Ingenue (read more about the Ingenue pumps in my post tomorrow over on On Your Toes).

Phoenix Rising has some really gorgeous gowns, and I can’t believe I hadn’t ever heard of them until a couple of months ago.  I completely missed out on these beautiful dresses when they were released, but I’m definitely caught up now!  Natasja’s Seduction is lovely gown with a huge black skirt, and the bodice comes in several colours.  Now, while I do work for Phoenix Rising, I wouldn’t blog anything or work anywhere I didn’t love.  And the key necklace comes with the dress.  And I love key necklaces.

I know I’ve blogged the Icing Joli Bouquet dress before because I absolutely adore it.  I own every colour now, and I wish there were more!  I love the train especially, though if you’re not a fan of trains, it comes with a skirt without the train.  The roses at the waist are a perfect embellishment as well.

I recently bought the Ingenue Harlow dress for a different blog post, but I had to pull it from that one to instead blog it for my top five picks.  It’s different, bold and infinitely gorgeous.  I need to go back and get the rest of the colours now.  I wasn’t sure how much I loved it when I saw it and only got the one colour!

I used to work for Blaze as a greeter.  In fact, it was the first job I ever had in SL, and I got it about a month after I rezzed.  It saved me from having to do any of the standard things some people do to make money, like stripping or working in a hideous club.  I’m really not a big fan of clubs in SL.  The only one I ever liked was Seven Ultra Lounge.  Anyhow….the Gem gown is my all-time favourite one.  Look how sexy it is from the front and the back!  Blaze is a master at gowns, and I miss him being around and releasing more pretty stuff!

Now, I know that was my top five, but I couldn’t do a gowns post and not mention Last Call.  I know Last Call is gone, and Ginny too (may he rest in peace), but there was a reason Last Call went out on top.  The gorgeous texturing and details, the prim work…all spectacular.  I know a lot of people have maybe gotten rid of their Last Call items, but those people are nuts.  Or maybe I’m a packrat.  Whatever.  I will never get rid of any of it, never!

Well, it took me more than a week.  It may have taken me more than two weeks.  But my top five in seven different categories series is finally finished yay!  Now I just have to finish my series on shoes over on On Your Toes, and then I won’t feel like such a blogging slacker.

So today it’s all about the jewelry.  The items I mostly always forget to wear.  But there is so many beautiful pieces, and so many great designers it was tough to decide which to feature as my top five.

Muse, though now an inactive store (*sniff*), still has some of the best-made and beautiful jewelry around.  I love the textures used on her pearls especially, so I am showing the Margaux necklace.  One good thing about her store being so quiet is that I can buy all the older stuff I didn’t have already, because back in the day I didn’t buy fatpacks.  If I had to choose, though, I’d choose for Caliah to come back!

Paper Couture has been featured on my blog recently, but that’s because their jewelry is absolutely amazing!  My rings folder is almost all Paper Couture.  I don’t even know what else to say except GO GET IT.  And if you’re looking for older pieces, they keep all that stuff on XStreet.

Luc is sadly another store that seems to be inactive.  Why do these amazing jewelry designers seem to go away and stop making stuff?  Though I *suppose* I can understand the need to take a break from SL, I just hope they come back too.  Luc, rebranded from Earthtones, makes so many different styles of jewelry, but somehow it’s still all very recognizable as his work.

I really love Zaara‘s jewelry.  It’s really unique and very pretty, and there’s so many items that are so versatile, dressing up a casual outfit or adding the special touch to something far more formal.

And finally, we have Mandala, one of my favourite new stores ever.  I love virtually everything in there and every time I go I find something new to wear.  I recently splurged on the fatpack of the Pearl Rain sets, these are just so beautiful.

Well, day four is done!  OMG I don’t think I’ll ever finish this series, but if I do two or more blog posts today, forgive me, ‘kay?

Okay, that’s not true.  But I wanted to explain away the delay in getting out these posts, which was supposed to be daily.

Anyhow, lingerie.  The clothing that a lot of “fashionistas” won’t buy, because they won’t ever wear it or have anyone see it.  But there’s some really gorgeous lingerie and undies out there, and I buy it and parade around my skybox in it.  I don’t care that no one besides me sees it ever.  So these are my picks for my most favourite top five.

Fishy Strawberry came out with several different styles fairly recently, and they’re all pretty different and really sexy.  The Ignition set is my personal favourite, though all of them are very cute.  It comes in tons of colours and it can be worn in several different ways, which I definitely look for when buying lingerie.  This can be worn as just a bra and panties without the garters and corset, which also looks super sexy.

Also worn -  Skin: LAQ Ania 01 in Fair \ Hair: Fri.day Deena in Timid Brown \ Jewelry: Muse Margaux Draped Pearl Necklace in Black, Muse Celine Pearl Necklace & Earrings in Black, Muse Claris Pearl Bracelet in Black.

For some reason, I only just discovered these new lingerie sets by Blowpop, then of course I went a bit crazy and bought a ton of it!  This is the Yvette set, which is simple but gorgeous.  Though it is just a bra and panties, it makes your avatar look heaven-bound, emphasizing your curves perfectly.  I had to show you the ass shot because your ass looks so great in this!

Also worn – Skin: LeLutka Jade (can’t remember the makeup number) in Dark \ Hair: Truth Lillian in Night \ Jewelry: Zaara Karmuka Necklace in Wood.

Insolence has been one of my favourite lingerie stores forever now, though I heard camilla was AFK for a very long time (though it was during my absence, so it worked out just fine for me ).  This is one of the first sets I ever bought, but I still love it every bit as much as I did that first day, though there are lots of other, newer, probably more technically excellent lingerie sets.  Alice is available in several different colours, this being brown.  The bra shows off your cleavage just spectacularly too!

Also worn – Skin: Belleza Jesse group gift \ Hair: Truth Candice in Chestnut \ Jewelry: Earthstones.

I adore Casa del Shai, especially their lingerie which there is just not enough of.  It’s always got some little detail that makes it a bit more special to me; this Adriana set has a black system skirt which makes it okay for a sexy naughty secretary type outfit, not to mention the cool key on the corset binder.

Also worn – Skin: Eclat (Ara’s Makeup – not sold) \ Hair: Truth Grace in Treacle \ Jewelry: Paper Couture

And finally, we have Zaara‘s newest release, the Kanti set.  There are tons of little details in this set that I adore: the mesh panel on the back of the panties, the fact that the stockings don’t have lace at the top, which I do also like but I have too much of, and the fabulous decollatage of the bra.  She promises this to be the first in a series, and I look forward to seeing what else she comes out with.

Also worn – Skin: L.Fauna Lapine in Pale \ Hair: Maitreya Zoe in Chocolate \ Jewelry: Paper Couture.

It was incredibly hard to pick out five, but then I remembered:  I’m not picking out the five “best” of anything – I’m picking out my personal top five favourites.  They may not be the best in any category, but they look good on me and I like them, so there you go.  Your mileage may vary.  If I was willing to bend my own rules though, I’m sure there’d be five more skins in this blogpost.  But instead, honourable mentions will go to: Aden’s Gen5, which tbh I have no idea if it has a real name but it’s really pretty, Tuli’s Bella skin, Cake‘s Bella skin, L.Fauna‘s new skin line Lapine, Rockberry‘s Uma and Farrah (and maybe Jules, which I haven’t tried yet) and Belleza’s Jesse.

First is Laqroki (aka LAQ)’s Ania skin.  This is one of her more recent releases in the Glow series.  I love the face and I find it very soft and pretty. Talk about cheap, too!  The entire fatpack of like 10 makeups was less than 2K, and it’s my understanding that it’s because really only the face is new, though I could be wrong about that.  Really, all that meant was I could get the entire Ania collection, in all three skintones (fair, peach and nougat, worn here).  That’s my deep, dark secret, until now.  No one knew I bought all three tones.

Hair: Fri.day – Kate \ Lingerie: Zaara – Kanti.

LeLutka‘s been on a roll lately, releasing one great skin line after the other, while launching a fabulous new experimental fashion collection inbetween.  I really liked Eclat (aka Oksana), but the thicker eyebrows were not for the faint of heart.  The thinner eyebrows on Estelle, released not all that long after Oksana, were a bigger hit and I haven’t seen many avatars who don’t look pretty in this skin.

Hair: Maitreya – Alex \ Lingerie: Insolence.

Dutch Touch‘s Jolie is a goddess-like skin.  I was late in getting Cleo, which I loved.  I was late in getting River, which I loved more.  But then Jolie came out and I was like “Cleo, River, what, who?”  Jolie is amazingly beautiful, with tons and tons of makeups and lots of skintones (including a dark one, yay!), but is apparently going to be outdone hopefully soon by Gwen, which I’ll happily whore myself out to get a sneak peek of.

Hair: Maitreya – Zoe \ Lingerie: Fishy Strawberry – Ignition \ Ring – Paper Couture.

Alyson is a pre-release group gift from Belleza, and it’s not out in the store yet.  But Alyson is like Belleza’s own gorgeous Jesse’s younger, fresher, wide-eyed innocent little sister.  I’m really looking forward to seeing the entire lineup and I hope that’s in the very near future.  I was in the update group, which you have to pay L$250 to be in, and one night just before the holidays I went a little crazy in my group list and left nearly every group I could, Belleza being one of them.  Then the very next day I heard there was a skin gift in there, and I could’ve kicked myself for leaving early!  It’s a permanant fixture now, though.

Hair: Lamb – Baby’s Got Back \ Lingerie: Elymode – Halter Tank & Shorties (this colour was limited, but there’s other pretty colours).

And finally, we have yet another group gift pre-release, this time Tuli‘s lovely Eva.  I’ve been gushing over this one for a while now because it’s all I can do to just wait semi-patiently until it’s in the store.  I wear this most often lately, and the fresh clean makeup look is perfect for everything I wear.  I feel like going to Tuli’s sim and just standing there, waiting at the doors going “open open open” like that old commercial for some store in the US that I can’t ever remember the name of.

Hair: Truth – Lillian \ Lingerie – Blowpop – Yvette.

Now, despite my best intentions and my own SL resolution to write more blog posts, I’ve recently threw out my back and I can barely see with the pain of it; nothing seems to help but  I’ll take a metric ton of drugs anyway.  So, only one photo today.

Mere words cannot express the beauty and artistry of Paper Couture; it would be foolish to even try.  Instead, I’ll just sigh with delight over the amazing texturing and detailing of each piece.  If you go to only one place today to shop, make it Paper Couture.

Edit:  Okay. I took more photos of my favourite part of the collection!

Onyx Gemstone Set

Agate Bib Necklace

Noir Gold Set

What I’m Wearing:

Hair – Lamb Bang Bang Bob in Ink

Skin – Tuli Eva Group Gift in Tone 3 (when will it be released??????????)

Left Outfit – Paper Couture Cream Silk

Left Jewelry – Paper Couture Silver Bead Necklace, Paper Couture Water Over Wine Ring

Right Outfit – Paper Couture Snowdrift Suit

Right Jewelry – Mandala Lotus Necklace, Paper Couture Water Over Wine Ring

Poses – Long Awkward Pose.

Jewelry Photos:

Hair (Top) – Fri.day Tatum in Jealous Red \ (Middle) Lamb Bang Bang Bob in Butterfinger \ (Bottom) Kookie Chiggy in Ink.