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Alts & Blackmail & Griefing, Oh My!

I think pretty much everyone is fairly familiar with the above graphic, which is sadly correct all too often. But what happens if you take an already mentally unstable SL user, give them an alt account with even less accountability?  I got a crash course over the last few days which I will now share with you to serve as both warning and entertainment.

It started innocently enough three days ago. I got a fairly standard offline IM from a customer who'd purchased a couple skins from me. She wanted me to give her my shape, which I don't do. I get asked fairly regularly and I just don't give it out. Never have, Never will.  Keep in mind there is NOTHING anywhere in my store, profile, or land to indicate otherwise.  Below are the chat records of the ensuing conversation spread out over three days. (Note my first few responses are not verbatim, but they are close. I try to treat my customers with utmost politeness and courtesy, unless they prove to be completely mental. I didn't know at the time this was going to end so badly so I didn't save my own text.)

scarrlette LeSuere:
hey Starley =) i bought 2 of your skins, i think they are gorgeous! but im needing some help because my face shap isnt the same as whats advertised so i was wondering if you could give me the numbers on the face...eyes nose mouth etc...

Starley Thereian:
Hi Scarrlette! Glad to hear you like your skins but I actually don't sell any shapes. The one shown on the ad is just my own personal shape and I don't give it out, sorry for the misunderstanding.

scarrlette LeSuere:
oh np hon could i go ahead and sell the 2 skins back then?

Starley Thereian:
Sorry, the skins are "No Transfer" and thus non-returnable.

scarrlette LeSuere:
oh okay well this is an alt i have another that ive played for over a year who is a dj and knows alot of people ...i will be sure an advertise your hospitality to all of my friends who will tell all of your friends thus everyone will know

scarrlette LeSuere:
tell all of their friends*

scarrlette LeSuere:
that your a rip off artist

scarrlette LeSuere:
have a beautiful day :) 

I admit at this point I should have just muted & banned her and carried on with my life, but it reminded me of the alt encounter Elika had a couple of weeks ago. It makes me wonder if this is some new scam going around. "Make an alt, buy stuff, ask for refund, act like an asshole to see if you get your way." And I decided I really don't have to take that from someone. Let's see... She admits she's been in SL for over a year. If that is true, she has no excuse for not reading the signs. In her first message to me she says the skins are "gorgeous", so obviously she does not have a problem with the merchandise. She wants her money back simply because I won't give her my shape. Nowhere, anywhere inside my store does it say the shape is included, nor is there any allusion that I will give it out after purchase. She certainly could have checked the contents of the boxes or IMed me to ask beforehand if she was unsure.  If you've been in SL for a year, you know how to check the contents of a box. And also, after purchasing one and finding that the shape was not included, why would you buy a second if the shape was what you really wanted? So anyway, I wrote back. The rest of the conversation is as follows:

Starley Thereian:
Oh that's classic. So you are an older resident yet you somehow didn't know you couldn't transfer items marked as "no transfer"? Brilliant.

Starley Thereian: Well don't worry, hon. I have a lot of designer friends and I'll be sure to let them all know you are a scam artist as well. Have a nice day. :)

Starley Thereian:
Maybe you wanna let me know the name of your main so I can pass that around too? :)

scarrlette LeSuere:
lol ill get right on that...your a greedy little theif who likes to advertise something your not selling and im going to make sure my money was well spent

scarrlette LeSuere:
whether its no tran or not you should do the right thing and return my money...but keep it lil welfare recipient

scarrlette LeSuere:
fucking skank

scarrlette LeSuere:
i could wipe my ass with $1250 per day and never feel it but thats not the point the point is your advertising and selling a product that doesnt exist

scarrlette LeSuere:
and by the way skank..lie to your friends and say what you will about me..but im no scam artist im a paying customer who expects to actually get what im paying for

scarrlette LeSuere:
enjoy my money cause soon you'll be buying your lindens- if you can afford them lol

Now she's muted, banned, and ARed -- the griefer trifecta! You know, if she would have asked, I would have been more than happy to help her adjust her own shape, or at the very least sent her some LMs to some shape shops. But she jumped right in with the threats. It's actually pretty comical, and I do wonder if the alt was created for the sole purpose of harrassing me, since it seems the  first thing she did upon creation was come to my store and start trouble.

Comedy aside, this sort of behavior is really a shame. While my return policy is officially "No transfer = No return", I do evaluate every case. One of the things I consider is the age of the player.  It sucks because this kind of situation makes me skeptical of all newbies and that much more unlikely to help those that really need it.

That's all for today. Go buy a L$60,000 ladder. Hurry, there's only one left.

RFL Earrings

One more release for today! This week's RFL item is a pair of earrings. Rather, two pairs of earrings. These are a silver (platinum?) toned ribbon overlayed with jewels. Available with either diamond or pink sapphire gemstones.  These are priced at L$150 per pair and all proceeds go to the American Cancer Society Relay For Life.  Available at the RFL store in Celestial City.

Finally! Redhead skins

I didn't think it would take this long. This project got put on hold for awhile with all the Relay For Life fundraising going on, but over the past week I was finally able to sit down and figure out exactly how I wanted these skins to work and make it happen. Unfortunately, I think about four or five people beat me to the punch in the last week or two. Que sera. I'm just happy to have this project done, I'm very pleased with how they turned out. Thank you to everyone who gave me feedback and ideas. I used quite a lot of them.

During my research gathering phase, I think about half liked the auburn red brows and half thought they should be more of an orangey-red. So I decided to do both!  What I have are Charmed Skins in tones 20, 30 and 40 in both "Auburn" and "Carrot" hair colors (eyebrow & pubic).

You redheads seemed to be torn again on whether or not these should have freckles. So, hopefully my solution will accomodate most of you.  I've left tone 20 freckle-free, added medium freckles on the nose and shoulders of tone 30 and put the most and darkest freckles on tone 40 to simulate the effects of sun on fair skin.  I know not all redheads freckle in the sun, but some do and this was the best way I could think of to cover as many bases as possible without driving myself crazy making 900 skins.  Don't forget!  These skintones are *moddable*. So you CAN go darker and be freckleless on tone 20 (adding some warmth with the rainbow slider can produce a more realistic skintone when pigment is on 100. I would recommend something in the 30-40 rainbow range.).  You can also be freckled on tone 40 and very fair by setting pigment at 0. If that's not fair enough, try adding some blue undertones (rainbow slider 70-80) for a very pale, milky appearance.

What about makeup?

I'm glad you asked! I had SO much fun doing the faces for these. I did two makeup packs for both the Auburn and Carrot skins. First up is the Neutral pack. I brought over two of the most popular neutral makeups, Neutral 1 and Neutral 4.  Based on feedback I received I also did an almost nude face, called Barest. I tried to do totally bare, but I'm sorry, this girl just has to have some eyeliner. I also loved Nalirra's suggestion for the Clinique Tenderheart lipcolor, so I did up one to match that and called it "Tenderheart" (original, I know).

Shown here on Auburn tone 30:  Barest, Neutral 1, Tenderheart, Neutral 4 (click any to view full size)

Also available for the redheads is a green pack.  I am *very* happy with how these look. If there's enough demand, I may bring them over to the regular line with black hair.

Shown here on Carrot tone 30:  Green 1, Green 2, Green 3, Green 4

Here are the full body skin ads. These are NSFW (full frontal pixel nudity), so click only at an appropriate location. :P

Auburn
Tone 20
Tone 30
Tone 40

Carrot
Tone 20
Tone 30
Tone 40

RFL Scarves

Four new scarves for the Pixels in Pink project.  These are my first foray into flexi land. I think they turned out very cute, but I love scarves, so I might be a little biased. Hopefully you guys will like them too. :)

These are priced at L$100 and come with two (same) scarves. One to keep and one to give away. Share the wealth!  Enjoy!

I'm Speechless... <3

Ok, maybe not entirely speechless, since I had to blog RIGHT NOW!  I am shocked, awed, overwhelmed, floored, and a few other happy synonyms  by the amazing generosity  of the residents of Second Life.  Let me back up a bit and explain what exactly lead up to this tidal wave of adjectives...

Earlier this afternoon, I posted in the forums about the pink themed skins I made for my Relay For Life team, Pixels in Pink. As mentioned there, these are a limited edition release and 100% of the purchase price is donated to the ACS.  Because these are limited and because I'm trying to raise as much funds as possible, I priced them slightly higher than my regular edition skins.  They're priced at L$1500 for one or L$5000 for the whole set.  I REALIZE this is pricey and could be cost prohibitive for some shoppers, so I have a number of smaller items I'll be releasing as we move forward too.

So after I make my post, I carry on with my regular saturday routine, which is largely away from the computer.  When I returned tonight, I had a couple IMs in my email from a woman complaining that the skins were a "rip off" and saying she wouldn't refer me to her friends.  Sometimes I can be thick skinned regarding negative comments and sometimes overly sensitive.  This was one of those sensitive moments, where her comments made me feel awful.  I think my heart is in the right place on this issue, and I don't understand why someone would feel making a charitable donation (where you get something nice in return, I might add) is a "rip off".

But wait, there's more!

So, feeling pretty down about the whole thing, I next checked my transaction history to see how the donations were coming along.  I saw a few sales at the top of my history. Yay! Then I started paging down... and paging down... and paging down some more and I was seeing practically NOTHING BUT sales for these skins!

So far, L$143,000 has been raised!

You guys, this is so much more than I could have expected and would have been a wonderful donation (roughly $500 US) over the course of the entire event.  I am so amazed that it happened during the first day!  I am seriously touched and was moved to tears. As you know from the post prior to this one, this cause is very near and dear to me.  I can't express enough how thankful I am and just truly amazed at the generosity of the Second Life community.

Thanks to everyone donating to the kiosks as well, you don't have to make a big donation to make a difference. Those are really starting to add up too!  Extra special big thanks to the certain avatar who made a very generous donation today (you know who you are!).

I have  a HUGE smile on my face! :) :) :) <3333

Relay For Life - Now it's Personal

I'd like to apologize right off the bat if this post seems theatrical.  I am a little high strung right now.  I learned yesterday that someone very close to me has cancer... again.  He goes by the name of Twiddler.  Rather than tell his story, you can read it in his own words here.

I've known Twid for years now. Though we've never actually "met", he's become very special to me. He's my partner in both business and crime. Most importantly, he's become my friend. Probably my best friend. 

I knew he was going to the doctor yesterday and though I tried not to worry, it was on my mind all day.  I kept waiting for the text message to my cell phone telling me that everything was fine. Instead I got the news I didn't want to think about.  I saw the word "cancer" and felt like I'd been punched in the stomach.  Since I got the news, I've become completely bipolar.  Crying hysterically one moment and feeling absolutely optimistic the next.  But most of all, I feel helpless.  I wish I could beat the stupid cancer with a baseball bat, but I can't. Given that an entire continent seperates us, I can't even give him a hug or squeeze his hand.

Since all I can do is be here for him whether he wants to laugh or cry or just carry on with business as usual, I've decided to put all my energy into raising money for RFL. Though it may not help my friend directly, it makes me feel proactive. Expect to see some goods in the next few days with 100% of the proceeds going directly to the ACS.  I'm brainstorming some other ways to donate as well, so keep an eye out for those too.

And forgive me if I'm scatterbrained, slow or distracted.  I can't seem to keep my mind on a linear path for more than five minutes at a time. Which I'm sure shows in this post. :P I'll end it now before it spins off into chaos. So in closing:

I love you, Twid. Big BIG hugs!

Coming soon... (Input needed!)

Coming soon: Charmed Skins for Redheads!

So, my latest skin project has been making some mods to my line of Charmed Skins to make them more compatible for blonde and redheaded avatars.  I was really hoping that we'd get generalized texture layers sooner than now so I wouldn't have to do this, but it seems like it's still very far off, so I decided it was time!

The first thing I learned was that there are about 50 million shades of red hair running around SL and there's just no way I can possibly match them all.  I decided to go with a darker red, since eyebrows are typically a shade or two darker than your hair anyway, and I'd always rather have my eyebrows a little too dark than a little too light.

I'm pretty happy with how the color looks with most of the red wigs I tried on. I'm attaching some pictures so you can see how it looks compared to a few different red shades (shown above with the auburn shade from Lashed, and below with my own auburn, copper and henna colors as well as ETD's auburn and fire red).

For this redhead skin, I've added a sprinkling of freckles across the shoulders and nose. I will probably make this version on my current tones 30 and 40 and then an unfreckled version for tone 20.

Input needed

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So, now that I have that all figured out, here comes the hard part: MAKEUP!  I am not going to be doing every charmed makeup on these new skins, just the ones that are most complimentary.  This is where you come in! I would *love* to get some feedback from some redheads on which makeups they'd like to see brought over, or some ideas for all new makeup!  So far I plan on some of the neutrals and earth tones, some of the glosses and am bouncing an idea around in my head for something in peach/green. So! If you have any input, I would be most grateful to hear it!  Please leave me a comment here or drop me a line in world.  Thanks!

Don't worry, blondes!  You're next! :D

Infini-Kinis are here!

Introducing the new "Infini-Kini"! This is a mix-and-match, tintable system of white pieces that you can combine, layer and color as you see fit.

Available are:

Four styles of tops: triangle, bandeau, teeny, and tankini.
Three styles of bottoms: bikini, boyshorts and g-string.

All bikini "base" pieces come in white for tinting, and are worn on the undershirt/underpants layers. You can then add a print on the shirt/pants layers and tint that too! There are five available print themes: dots, hibiscus, pirate, stars and stripes.

So choose your modesty level, add a print and have fun tinting!

Available individually or in one mega pack of 45 pieces.  Here are the base pieces. Stop by the store to check out the prints in person. ;)

This was a project I've had in the back of my mind since last summer. I just finally took the time to buckle down and do it. I'll be honest: it was not the most fun I've ever had creating for SL. I think the running total was 3 weeks from start to finish (with several breaks to combat burnout) but i think the end result is well worth it. I could tint these buggers for hours of amusement! Hopefully others will like them too!

A note about pricing:

I am testing the new VendeX system by SoLur Industries on this bikini. Not for functionality (it works great, Sol's a genius) but for acceptibility and customer reaction.  Details are provided in the store at the bikini display. I'd love feedback from customers about what they think of it. If you're interested, please check it out and drop me a line.  If it is well accepted, I will likely be using it on all clothing, hair and shoes at Celestial Studios.

Cuteness Overload

I just had to make a quick post about the adorable gifts I received at my rezday party. I wasn't actually expecting anything! In hindsight I probably should have written "no gifts please" on the invitation. Not that I'm not grateful! I was shocked and overwhelmed (and slightly embarrassed) to receive anything.

I was gifted with some incredible fashion and hair. Thanks to everyone for that, I got some great stuff that I absolutely love!  What killed me though, were the little gifts that were so CUTE you could almost barf!  I obviously don't get out enough, because I haven't seen most of these things before. If you haven't either, you must go looking!

First up is this adorable bear with built in snuggly hug pose that I got from the lovely ladies of Linden Lifestyles. I have named him Mr. Snuggles and will never let go of him except when I'm carrying my new

snuggly bunny from Canimal whom I've dubbed Bunny Smores.  This one comes with an adorable hold pose and an animation override that lets you pet it.  It also makes smoochie sounds if you poke him. I LOVE IT!  If I'm not carrying either of those in my left hand, you'll surely find the pink pooch pictured at the top which is almost too kawaii to exist!

With all that cuteness attached to my left hand, my right hand was probably feeling left out, but luckily it got some cute things to hold too!

Thanks to everyone who attended the party and sent me a gift. I had so much fun and love everything I was given.  I can't wait for my 3rd Rez Day party and shopping for more cutie cuteness!

<333