The things we do for love…Take this lovely dress made by Monica Outlander of MiaMai. One of the frustrating elements of living with cancer for Squinternet is that she would still love to create, she still has ideas and her imagination is still dancing along the runway of glamour and whimsy. The pain, though, of sitting at the computer and working prevents her from realizing her ideas. Monica understood that frustration as only another artist can and offered herself as an amanuensis for Squinternet’s idea, collaborating with her in creating this first MiaMai for Donna Flora dress – a new release at the Donna Flora store.

She wrote about the process at the Love Donna Flora event blog, but I wanted to share my admiration and appreciation for her compassionate understanding that found the perfect gift she could give Squinternet – the gift of being able to create again through her generous collaboration. Hallmark itself could not have done better. And lovers of Donna Flora and MiaMai will recognize the collaborative elements, the vintage shape and soft pastels of Donna Flora combines the modern avant graphic boldness of MiaMai. Incidentally, the mesh of this dress flows like a dream. If you have doubts, take a peek at this picture. The construction itself is a work of art even before the gorgeous colors are considered. Add to that the luminosity of being made with materials textures that react naturally to the light and it’s pure magic.

Details matter, and the dress details are gorgeous, as is the detail in the amazing Ginger ring from Donna Flora – one of the first pieces I bought from her store. The hands are from Slink, the elegant pose and aren’t they though? The nail polish is from Sasy Scarborough, surely the busiest manicurist on the Grid.

The entire Ginger set is a delight with the Noemi gown from Donna Flora.  The skin is Kate an upcoming release from PXL Creations.

I added some eye shadow textures from Chelle and the gorgeous hair from Hair Fair made by ISON. I will confess that I was confused by the shopping experience at ISON, but I figured it out. Frankly, unlike Gidge, I did read the instructions and they left me still confused, but let me break it down for you. In the Hair Fair booth, each hair style has its own styling chair. You can buy the hair by buying the scissors on the stylist’s station. When you buy just that hair with the scissors, you get a basic color pack with representative blonde, red, brunette and other hair colors that you select with the HUD that comes in the scissors purchase pack. You only  need to buy the dyes if you want more variety within a hair color. I bought the pack of red dyes to give me more red options, but that is not required. It’s a clever separation and lets you choose how much you want to invest in your hair pack, but for some reason I was totally lost and originally only purchased the dye packs – even after reading the directions – which just goes to show that Gidge is right, reading directions is for the birds.

Store info at Blogging Second Life
****SHOPPING LIST******
Poses: Pretense (on Marketplace only)
Skin: [PXL] JADE NAT
Makeup Tattoos: cheLLe – (eyeshdw) Mix and Match Naturals (Outer – Dark Purple)
cheLLe – (eyeshdw) Mix and Match Naturals (Inner – Gold)
Eyes: Insufferable Dastard
Lashes: Lelutka
Mani/Pedi: SLink Mesh Hands with FLAIR Nail Applicator
Hair: ISON – hairbase (reds 07) ISON – Leighton @ Hair Fair
Clothing: MiaMai/Donna Flora DF_Noemi Pink at the new Donna Flora Main Store
Shoes: Deco Mesh Sequinned Heel
Jewelry: Donna Flora Ginger  at the new Donna Flora Main Store