Blogging has many perquisites, or perks, that we try to make as transparent as possible so our readers know what may or may not influence us. I had to use the word perquisites instead of the usual perks just because 10 dollar words drive Tenshi crazy. And who can resist the opportunity?  Among the perks are occasional promotional copies, advance notice of some releases and even seeing and having an opportunity to give opinions on items in the process of creation. One perk not often mentioned is the occasional discovery of new stores and talents that come about as a result of a designer knocking on my IM window and saying I am sending you a couple items and hope you will look at them.  And that happened this weekend when Nikki Herron of G&N Quality Design sent me a couple folders, including this freebie that she has on offer for this week only.  I was immediately impressed by the quality of the textures – and the bold sweep of the top. I really love the attention taken with the wrinkles, the weave of the fabric and the weave in the capris.

The outfit came with mules and a belt, but I just bought this Leather and Lace belt from EarthStones and could not wait to wear it.  I had to IM Abraxxa and shake my fist at her for conspiring with Stiletto Moody and the Lelutka trio to drain my bank account.  I totally overspent this month and it’s not half over.  And Aoharu has a 50% off sale! It’s a conspiracy, I tell you.   Anyway, back to the outfit: called Nadja and free for the week, I am happy to say there are multiple layer options. And this is where the blogging perks meets the blogging perils. When I put it on, there was only one layer option and I was kind of harrumphy about that so I im’ed Nikki and said, “do you mind some critique?” She said no (did she have a choice?) and so I shared my opinion that buyers like multiple layers so that they can wear jackets, etc. Seriously, if creators thought of the outfits they put in folders as one combination of separates they put in a folder – they would approach their assembling of their outfits in a more versatile and flexible way and be, I think, more successful. What made this such a happy conversation is that she totally got it and let me know that she had added additional layers before putting the outfit out on the floor and would be putting more layers in her outfits in the future. Yay!

And see what I mean by flexibility! When I saw this top I immediately pictured about 5 other outfits it would work with  – just off the top of my head. And that’s what makes for exciting design. To add to my excitement about this new-to-be designer is that nearly everything in the store is under 100L – many in the 45 to 80L range, so affordable clothing with quality fabrics – a win for any shopper.

****STYLE NOTES******
Promotional Copies are denoted by a Bold R
Poses: Reel Expression
Skin: Blowpop Ava R
Eyes: Poetic Color Night Forest
Lashes: Lelutka Diva Prim Lashes
Nails: PXL Creations
Hair: Mirada Codie
Top/Capris: G&N Nadja Capris (Freebie) R
Black & White: Humby Designs Pinstripe HighWaist
Black Skirt: Fuse Manhattan Aline
Shoes: Kalnins Coquette
Belt: EarthStones Leather & Lace Belt
Jewelry: LaGyo Noir Desire earrings, 69 Pyramid Necklace, tinted.