When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I’m feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don’t feel so bad.

When Kavar mentioned he was going to write a post highlighting some of his favorite items in SL, I thought it seemed like a great idea and decided to copy him by doing one of my own. I’d actually love to see more people do this as a meme on the fashion blogs. Give your favorite designers some holiday love, and help the rest of us with our holiday shopping at the same time!

The first thing I noticed after going through Kavar’s post was how much overlap we had in our favorites though I guess it’s no surprise really because we do so much of our shopping together. My first pick is one that wasn’t on his list, but it’s because it’s his hair. Yeah, I know, this is the Exile blog, and his hair is always spotlighted here, but I absolutely can’t have a post about favorites and not mention Exile. Illicit was the first Exile hairstyle I ever saw, and it quickly became a favorite along with the great black texture he had even back then. Now it’s a year later, and there are so many great textures, and each new hair becomes my favorite until the next new hair is created, but Illicit will always have a special place in my heart because it was my first and because it led me to my best friend.

Read on after the cut to see more of the favorites in my inventory.

Poses

I enjoy taking photos in SL, so I’m always on the lookout for good poses and animations that don’t distort avatars and their clothing and are interesting and versatile. Kavar already highlighted one of my favorites – Long Awkward Pose by Dove Swanson – so I’ll be quick here and say that many of my favorite poses are by her, and she rocks. I forget how I first found her, but I remember she shut down the shop at one point right after sending a freebie set of poses for chubby avatars to her group. It was one of the first times I messaged a creator to personally thank them because I loved the poses just that much, and I was thrilled when Dove came back a bit later and set up shop again.

I have a few specialized AOs from ANA_Mations by Surrealia Anatine, including her fairy AO that I’ve used quite a bit. I became a fan for life however a little over a year ago after contacting her to customize some of her stands for my shape. Those stands were integral to my AO for months, and I still use them here and there. She was so easy to work with, and I think from first contact to having the reworked poses in my inventory was just about 24 hours. I don’t know how typical that is for her, but I was very impressed. She still has the “Big Girl Pose Collection” for sale in her shop, and her Jabberwocky sim is one you definitely want to explore even if you’re not in the market for poses.

When I first started looking for poses and stands right after coming in to SL, I kept getting pointed to Luth Brodie and what was then Reel Movement and is now Reel Expression. I immediately appreciated her focus on poses that didn’t distort the avatar and were balanced. She’s even written a great guide to help all of us evaluate the poses we see. She’s done many of her poses in “curvy” versions that work great for bigger avatars. A couple of months ago she released a casual curvy AO, and my current AO uses several of those stands in it. She’s also having a gift card sale through Dec. 26, so definitely check that out for some great deals.

Skins and Body Parts

Last Christmas a friend gave me a 3-skin gift card for CHAI Skins by Launa Fauna, and one of those skins, the Siyu in the cream tone, became my signature skin almost immediately. I went from someone who might change skins multiple times a day to someone who pretty much lived in one skin the majority of the time. It’s not a makeup I would have really thought of as me, but I tried the demo and fell hard for it. Since then, I’ve also bought the skin in a darker shade, nutmeg, for something a little different, and it’s still my main skin. It’s also impacted the way I look at other skins now because I find myself drawn mainly to similar cat-eye makeups.

Some people might not consider wings body parts, but I file them that way in my inventory, so they are for me. Jen Shikami of Seven’s Selections is the creator of probably 95% of the wings in my inventory if not more. I love the wings for their value, the huge variety of styles, and the easy HUD to change their appearance. The wings can be tiny or even invisible when I’m just out walking around and then when I take to the skies, they can unfurl to their full majesty if I choose. These were the first wings I fell in love with in SL, and though I don’t wear my wings quite as much lately as I once did, I will always be eager to see what Jen creates and keep a special place for her designs in my inventory.

Clothing and Accessories

I have a fascination with lockets in both of my lives. I’ve long joked that it comes from being named after the song Brandy by Looking Glass – “Brandy wears a braided chain made of finest silver from the north of Spain, a locket that bears the name of a man that Brandy loved.” – but it probably has more to do with my sentimental nature and being able to keep the images of loved ones close to me at all times. Either way, the Antique Sterling Locket from Genesis by Ryker Beck is my favorite locket in SL. It’s elegant and understated, perfect for everyday wear but still special enough to not be out of place for special occasions. And like Kavar, I also wear one of her Halloween items, the Spooktacular ring, a lot. It’s a simple band but still unique in its design. Really you can’t go wrong buying something from Genesis. Each item is a piece of art, and I believe the items are mod/trans for easy gift giving.

Until Kavar’s influence, I really wasn’t much of a shoe person. Once I had my favorite sneakers, a couple pairs of boots, and some heels, I figured I didn’t really need to go shoe shopping again. Then I got sucked into Kavar’s world of shoe mania, and that was all she wrote. The very first fat pack of shoes I ever bought felt like a defining moment somehow, so I have to give some space to the Tesla Marie heels. The height, the color combinations, the t-strap. It was just instant shoe love for some reason, and the deal for the fat pack was too good to pass up. I look back and say that was the moment I truly understood shoe obsession.

I’m not sure if there’s anyone to blame for my fondness of doll keys in SL, but I guess one possible target would be Violet Voltaire for making accessories I can’t pass by without buying. Most of my doll keys are her creations, and they’re all great. If you’re unlike me and able to resist the doll keys, then I’m sure you can still find lots of other items to tempt you like her cupcake and lollipop jewelry that I also adore.

It’s kind of overwhelming to think about the many clothing creators I could mention here. Being able to buy and wear such a huge variety of gorgeous clothing is one of the things I love about SL, and I can easily spend most of my time just changing clothes and mixing and matching various pieces. I can’t highlight everyone here of course, but I absolutely could not do a favorites post without mentioning hyasynth Tiramisu of silentsparrow. Back when I was still pretty new to SL, I came across a poster promoting a silentsparrow fashion show, and I decided to try attending just to see how that would work. The event ran very smoothly from what I could tell, and by the end, I was a silentsparrow fan for life. I’m a big fan of hand-drawn textures, and hyasynth is able to draw brocade that is absolutely luscious. Her dresses make me happy, and her mix of color with the expected black and the wealth of options in each set she releases makes it so easy to create a multitude of looks.

And to wrap this all up, I just want to thank all the creators that make my SL a better place. I appreciate you so much, and I know I’m not the only one. Thank you for putting up with everything from rude customers to random SL glitches and bugs in order to continue bringing your visions to life for all of us. We probably don’t say it often enough, but you are amazing for all that you do.