Manic Liquor-Whats your poison?

Absinthe’s Thoughts:

In Second Life, there are many different types of businesses. The easiest type of business, and one could also say laziest, is being a reseller. Being a reseller is where you buy items from other creators in bulk and resell them at a higher price from either one location or various locations. Im not saying that this kind of business is bad, but in fact the way you go about it is what could make it a shady business. Ive never had a problem with resellers until today. I wandered into a store called TNY… at first glance I thought “ok a shoe creator who buys full permission sculptie shoe sets” then I walked further in the store and was shocked by what I saw… this reseller named Tango Bingyi is reselling clothing from Last Call, I’m not sure if any of you are old enough on the grid to remember what Last Call was, but the story in short is that Last Call was a popular store in Second Life. The designer was super talented in making clothes and paved the way for creators to start using attachments and sculpties in their creations. The store closed down due to a tragedy and one of the main creators of Last Call was killed in Real Life. Last Call was never a creator that allowed for reselling of their clothing, in-fact all of the stuff was no transfer right up until the end that the other creator made everything no copy and transfer. To me Tango has taken advantage of someones tragic death to make a profit, and on top of it he doesn’t even give credit to Last Call, he claims these creations as his own and has branded the clothing as TNY.

His store is all over the place, I was confused whether I was in a reseller store of a copybotter’s store. Some of his stuff is labeled as the original creator, where other items are labeled as TNY which its still obvious that he didn’t create these items. To top it all off nothing is consistent, he got different styles of clothing such as punk, classy, casual, and shoes, and furniture, and a giant cartoon turtle?.. did I just discover the first Second Life Wal-Mart?

I think this guy needs to come into his own and start to make his own stuff instead of buying everyone else’s and branding them TNY, or start giving the REAL creators credit. He has even gone so far as to steal an idea from one of the popular sky-boxes on the grid called New York Sky-box.. the sky-box has a window in it that when you look out seems like you are looking across the New York landscape. Tango has put this same idea at the front of his store. Just cause your name has New York in it doesn’t mean you have the right to take the New York Sky-box idea.Even his store name is unoriginal, Tango New York? Does he even live in New York or is he just ripping off the Maybelline New York makeup campaign. All I know is I wouldn’t spend a cent in this rip off store, and id advise the same for everyone else.

Below you will see pictures of the Last Call rip offs and the comparison of the New York Apartment and TNY’s store front.

Love

Absinthe

Vodka’s Thoughts:

Yet another cluster fudge of mess. Walking in you get shoes in your face like President Bush did. None of the shoes were innovative, so i passed them right by. The only creative thing about the shoes was one single ad up above the kiosk. Next, when I saw the Last Call outfits that I bought from Last Call itself (FOR WAY CHEAPER THAN HIS RIP OFF PRICE) I almost keeled over. I got so angry I told Ab I had to leave. In the distance I heard someone else complaining about his shoes. She said she spent L600 and nothing looked right. All I did was TP out. I’m glad items weren’t copybotted, but it’s a shame you put your name on someone else’s creations, considering the situation with Last Call, he should have done a memorial wall and shown the story WITH the creator’s partner’s permission. We were all heartbroken when the story of Last Call came out. The Last Call/Celestial/ETD sims closed down in memorial. Since then, I haven’t seen ONE thing that comes close to the quality of Last Call and Tango should be ashamed to put his name on their creations. They were not his, and I hope he is asked over and over to replicate it, because he can’t. Looking at his furniture store…I wonder what’s really his.

One store not to visit.

Bar closed on this one.

One of the outfits from Last Call labeled TNY

Last Call Outfit # 2

Last Call Outfit # 3

Last Call Outfit # 4

Wall mixed with Last Call and other clothing.

TNY replica of New York sky-box window.

The real New York sky-box window.

Absinthe’s Thoughts:

I was wandering around Second Life™ these first few hours in the day looking for some accessories to make my character look more unique and I came across a really cute and inventive store called Pink Fuel. The creator of the store is Mochi Milena. Her store itself is well designed with a eye catching colour scheme. when I walked in I immediately was drawn to the little stuffed animals that can be worn on all different attachments on your body. They are different then anything I have seen in the 3 years I have been part of this virtual world. Their uniqueness made me wanna buy them all, but I kept some lindens in my pocket and bought just one set. I also bought a bunny backpack (shown in picture below) and a pop-tart that attaches to my mouth, which makes my belly growl in Real Life. The store has numerous other odds and ends, such as cherries that hang from your mouth, a big sad but cute bunny that you can sit on, heart shaped glasses, leg warmers, eye patches, and a few other things. Once I was done buying the whole bottom floor I walked up and came across her skin line. I was hesitant at first because alot of skin designers spend more time photoshopping their ads and making the skins look amazing on the poster but when put on it looks like a totally different skin. Anyways, I tried on a demo and the face on the skin is really nicely done. The makeup is also unique like the rest of her creations, and it looks really good with my shape. I took some pictures of my favorite makeup, they are just demo’s right now because I cant decide which one I want, but you can still see the good craftsmanship.

I havnt spoken to Mochi yet, but from first impression of her store she seems like she has fun creating things here in Second Life™.

check out the pictures below!

Love

Absinthe

Vodka’s Thoughts:

I didn’t check out the skin, only saw photos from Ab’s post, but aside from that I think the number one product in her store is the backpack. It was the first thing that caught my eye as well. Though I fought back my urge to buy them, I did buy the cherries that hang out of your mouth. They come in 2 separate sets, one with skulls and one regular. 70L is what I paid, which is HALF of what I paid at The Golden Fleece (by the designer of LeLutka jewelry). I thought the animal attachments were really cute, but didn’t see anything super special or eye catching. The setup and colors were amazing. I love the pink she used.

Voddy

Sad bunny chairs, can hold up to 5 people.

Yummy treat wall!

Pink bunny backpack!

I love the lips on this makeup!

Crying make-up.

Sad bunny pets that can attach all different spots on your avatar.

Panda pets.

The outside of Pink Fuel.

Absinthe’s Thoughts:

I came across a store called Wishbox, and I think this store has really cute accessories, and clothing. her clothes are made very fairy tail like with a bit of a Gothic edge to them. I think the detail in her clothing and textures is really cute and her accessories are unique but can also be mixed and matched with other creators items to make them also look more unique. I know that my biggest thing in Second Life is trying to look different then everyone else, I don’t like walking around like a barbie doll clone model for the bigger stores such as Armidi. I truly think its these smaller stores such as Wishbox, and Pink Fuel that give people a chance to form their own unique style. The coolest feature about this store, is the mix and match wall for the gypsy dress (pictured below), you can pick the different colours of different layers to make your own custom dress. My favorite item though, would have to be the Lolita doll crown, because I am a princess after all! it is also pictured below, and the best thing about it, its colour change so again you can customize it to your avatar!

Check out the pictures below of Wishbox store and items that I bought.

Love

Absinthe

Vodka’s Thoughts:

I bought a fairy outfit from here quite a while ago. It was for a photo-shoot, but I ended up wanting to wear it everywhere. After checking back in this time, I fell in love with the maroon Victorian looking outfit, with the short skirt (pictured below). You can wear it formal or funky, which makes Wisp Jinn’s outfits very versatile. The back of the store has fairy outfits, Renaissance outfits/Gorean Free Woman outfits and slave outfits. Beautifully detailed and put together. Can’t beat it for the price. A lot of designers would charge an arm and a leg, but I definitely think her pricing is a lot better than most creators that sell the same style of clothing.

Voddy

Stocking Absinthe bought.

Absinthe's Princess crown!!

Some Wishbox outfits that we liked.

Gypsy mix and match wall.

Absinthe’s Thoughts:

Myself and Voddy have been around Second Life for quite awhile, close to 3 years or even a little more, and I have always had the hardest time finding jewelery. its either looks good on the posters, and then looks like cardboard on, or its so plain looking that I get tired of it after wearing it for 5 minutes. July 12th 2007, was a great day on the grid, because this is the day when Zaara Kohime was rezzed for the first time into Second Life, sometime later she opened up her store named {Zaara}. She is not only talented and can make various items, such as clothing, wedding apparel, and scarfs, but she is by far the best designer for jewelry in Second Life. The way she forms her prims and puts colours together is beautiful. every piece is well worth the price because you can definitely tell she spend hours upon hours making this stuff look as detailed as it does. Even her store is built with detail, her textures are just as rich on her walls as they are on her clothing. My pockets are pretty much filled with lint now because I don’t have any more lindens cause I spent them all at this store.

Look below for some pictures of her store and items that I bought.

Love

Absinthe

Vodka’s Thoughts:

I found Zaara quite a while ago, when I was looking for an Indian look. I fell in love with what she had then in her small shop. The first thing I bought was a scarf. Next thing I know, months later, I walk into Maitreya and find someone walking around with the same scarf and see headpieces by Zaara. I was in shock and so excited it was the same Zaara I had been to before. Needless to say, I went back to her store, this time, brand new, on her own Sim. She moved along to creating casual clothing and more jewelry. I fell in love all over again! I like eclectic/Bohemian style and she had it all! From her jewelry to her casual and formal clothes. She’s mixed modern with cultural and come up with beautiful pieces of art. This will always be my number 1 store!

Voddy

Wedding jewelry.

Some bangles and earrings.

Really pretty dresses and good display.

A great display with some of her casual clothing.

More of her casual clothing.

Back wall seating area, we liked the colours.

Absinthe’s Thoughts:

Shiny things has been the first nice shoe store that I found when I started Second Life almost 3 years ago. I still to this day wear their boots with all of my outfits. Most stores in Second Life I eventually get bored of and then most the time think the stuff looks cartoonish after newer and better stuff comes out, but Shiny Things still looks high quality to me even after all this time. This is the main reason why Shiny Things get put into the top of the shelf, and because of their high quality textures and inventive shapes and awesome colour combinations. I also think that Shiny Things was one of the first shoe stores that came out with nice looking sculptie shoes. Fallingwater Cellardoor has been part of the grid since october 11th 2003 and she seems to be able to keep up with the on going changes in Second Life, such as the sculptie prim which came out back in either 2007 or 2008. Shiny Things does not seem to come out with many new releases, but when it does they are usually good, and I kind of like the fact that she doesn’t have new things every two days, makes it look like its not some prepackaged company with 8 or 9 different people working under the same name. Another section of her store sells jewelry, although I don’t like it as much as I do her shoes, its still good stuff. I have many times over the last few years, found myself going to shiny things just to get a bridal bouquet, either for myself or for friends, because I think they are the cutest ones and most detailed in Second Life. Aside from her shoe store she also has a flower shop that has oversized flowers shaped in a unique way and really bright colours, you can buy them in 4 different sizes, and she also has a section with other plants that look sort of alien like.

I have attached a few pictures below of shoes I had bought and some pictures of the outside and inside of her store.

Love,

Absinthe

Vodka’s Thoughts:

I couldn’t agree more on the quality of her creations. She is a very creative person that always takes the first step in new fashion. I also like the fact that she’s not always coming out with new items, however, I think the frequency could be a little more. If i take a break from shopping there for a couple months, and go back, there’s still nothing new. What she has is amazing, not only her shoes and jewelry, but her flower selection outside of her mainstore. If you’re looking for innovative outdoor creations, wacky (large flowers) or normal flowers, she has a great selection, as well as trees. Ab knows I looove crazy things (check out the -RC- Cluster post) and she knowwws I love the large flowers that color change. Fountains and outdoor furniture included, it’s all two thumbs up! The wedding bouquets are unique because they have a walking AO included in them, that keeps your hands on the flowers and lets you walk. I’ve found a lot of other places have a sexywalk within the flowers, but your flowers are flopping by your side. She got it right!

Voddy

Different looking flowers and plants.

Gothic like flowers.

Flowers in all different sizes and colours.

Bangles, necklaces and earrings.

Wedding bouquets with animated walks.

More necklaces and earrings.

The outside of Shiny Things with a pair of giant shoes.

Outside of Shiny Things from farther back.

Shoes Absinthe Bought.

More shoes Absinthe bought.

Boots Absinthe bought.

And... more shoes Absinthe bought.

Display of some Shiny Things shoes.

Display of Shiny Things boots.

Vodka’s Thoughts:

For those of you who like random looks, random items, and random good laughs, go see -RC- Cluster! I found this store about a year ago, and thought it had closed at one point, but it had just closed so it could expand. How happy was I? So I dragged Ab in for her first visit, which lasted over an hour of testing out poses, taking pictures, and laughing our pixels off! You name it, they have it! For those of you who “roleplay” real life – you can pick a room, any room, of a house and set it up in your house.

This store participates in 50L Fridays, so I bought myself a clothes washer, drier, and laundry baskets for 50L. Why?? BECAUSE I LOVE RANDOM!! There’s a table of freebies so you can blow your nose, strap some glasses on (my new every-day glasses are shown), ride a weenie (not that kind) or visit the “Adult Room” where you can purchase prim pubes, and dye-able prim pubes, armpit hair, etc.

From normal to wacky this store belongs on the top shelf. It shows ultimate creativity, and that’s what me and Ab like to see!

Voddy

Absinthe’s Thoughts:

I had Tons of fun in this store, even if Voddy kept yelling at me every 5 minutes to go sit on a pose with her to take pictures.. hehe.. it was fun checking out all the different area’s behind each window, which by the way are also cool themselves, when you walk close to a window it turns on, kinda like in Real Life when you get close to the freezers in the grocery store. I think my favorite thing in this store was the pose where I got held upside down to drink out of a keg. After all this is Manic Liquor, any store that got a keg in it gets to go to the top of our list! The only thing i’d say that freaked me out a little (that may not be a bad thing) was the prim pubic hair.. umm hahaha… yea.. that’s all I have to say about that, if you think that might gross you out at all do what the curtain says.. stay out. Other then that I did end up with a profile picture from one of the poses, if your ever in Second Life look up my profile and check it out, its cute with a little bit of humor to it!

Love

Absinthe

I seeeeeeee youu!!!

Outside of RC cluster.

Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!

We're a little short!

Ladies man? This pose is for you!

Twisting around at the circus.

Forever!

Voddy loved her randomness.

We used to make forts as kids, now look!