Back from my hiatus.

With the start of the school year and intense workload that comes with it, I felt like it was time to take a little hiatus for the first month or so. And during then, I also felt as if I'd missed quite a few good blogging opportunities, especially with October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month. But, alas, life goes on, and fashion waits for no man! (or woman!)

 

So with that, let's look forward to our next upcoming holiday that's just an excuse to dress up in a costume no matter how old you are: Halloween!

 

Since Stardoll really isn't making as big a deal about Halloween as they normally do, I feel compelled to compile a few tips and ideas that will help jazz up your Halloween costumes, and maybe throw in a themed makeup tutorial, as well. 

Klimt takes Tress-Up by storm...

So it appears that Klimt's eccentricly colorful artwork hasn't just graced the floors of Museum Mile, but the mannequins at Tress-Up, as well. A random search of the Starplaza revealed the haute couture wigs that are now available for purchase.

 

At first glance, they have the look of those items that look good on the mannequin, but not so great on your dollie. After trying on a few, I was fully convinced that they should just stay on the mannequin. Some of them look like they could double as clown wigs or something of a more humorous nature, while others were just strange. Although I did find some ways that they would work in more haute couture ensembles. They're more catwalk-esque, rather than everyday wear.

 

Leaving it to that, one of the most famous pieces of Klimt's creation is "Judith", whom many may recognize as a doll that you can dress up on the Dress-Ups page. His use of strange proportions and colorful eccentricities make him the perfect candidate for a new Starplaza collection.

Article on My Favorite Season (Trial Article for TTT)

When you think of winter, you normally associate it with some cheery, seasonal memories; cozy nights by the fire, hot chocolate, and that week-before-Christmas where everyone scrambles to the mall to get their last-minute shopping done.

 

And then there's me, hiding in a closet with my laptop and a blanket, checking the latest updates on vogue.com, because I am a self-proclaimed fashion addict, and holiday cheer always brings with it the annoying commercial ads on television, coupled with some stroke-inducing meals and deliciously fattening desserts. 

 

Winter also brings the comforting promise of the ceremonial "changing of the wardrobe", where my summer clothes end up shoved to the back of my dresser drawers and closet, making room for the long-sleeved V-necks, puffy vests, and knit-berets. I also look forward to Alexander McQueen's models on the catwalk during this season, engulfed in the most creative kind of winter outerwear. Their winter catwalks are always enjoyable for the fashion addicted. 

 

Winter is a pleasant month for standing beside your window and gazing out at the perfectly undisturbed snow settling gently on your front steps. After the snow plow comes through, all bets are off. Seasonal cheer, Christmas tree-shopping, and those obnoxiously cheesy, yet nostalgic holiday songs tend to somehow "magically" lift my spirits and keep me from cursing the beautifully cold, wintry bite of the great outdoors.

 



Having a chat.

A lot of us may remember a time when the Stardoll "Chats" was originally just called Stardoll "parties" or just plain chatrooms. It wasn't that long ago, dollies. Now that this is a decided appendage to the actual Stardoll chat system, and named rightly so, I've felt the need to bring it up with the personal complaints about it.

 

Being on my laptop and getting access to Chats is virtually (no pun intended) quite difficult, as if the program didn't load slow enough. Secondly, there is a much higher limit to how many people can be in a chatroom at once. This not only slows your computer down significantly more than normal, but heaven forbid one party-goer has an animated item on their person, all bets are off, compadre.

 

I know this really isn't something to complain about for one particular feature such as Chats, but the users that frequent these chatrooms tend to frighten me a little. It seems like most of the older, more mature generation of Stardoll tend to stay away from Chats, due to the fact that it is practically overrun by trolls and 9-12 year old girls, half of them pretending to be males on Stardoll. Many of the aforementioned parties are looking for "boyfriends/girlfriends" for their virtual dollies. Charming.

 

In any case, despite the cons of Chats, there are some decent features that accompany it, such as the ability to create your own chatroom without having to name it. I personally thought making rooms was such a hassle, because you had to pick from a list of pre-chosen words, and there was always that one person trying to spell out the word "single" with the only letter choices available. Thankfully that is no more.

 

Aside from that, nothing is particularly awful about the Chats system. It's a good way for younger users to interact with users on Stardoll their own age (and get some first-hand experience with trolling while they're doing that.) 

September 2012 Hotbuys Review

*Cracks knuckles* Let's get to work, shall we? I think we all know the drill by now. Oh, and look at this season's oh-so-original pieces! Just some random accessories and clothing thrown together last minute with halfway-decent graphics and no solidifying theme! Well, color me surprised.

 

 

Forget what I said just now; I think I've finally found out the theme for this month: seizure-inducement!

 

First, just to kick-start everything on an average note, the HotBuys Runners (sneakers) is what we'll be starting with. I really don't understand it, but they kind of resemble the Skecher's Shape-Ups, you know, the ones that old people wear? Except these lovely sneakers were duct-taped into a dizzyingly-colorful...pattern...if you even want to call it that.

 

Moving on to the HotBuys Chevron Pants (grey pants with pink hearts on them); these honestly aren't too bad. I expected worse, to put it simply.

 

Next is the HotBuys Romper, which seriously resembles the aftermath of an artists' smock after a long day of painting. You know, how they just get random smears and splotches of paint all over their clothing? It's not intentional, Stardoll, please don't even try to attempt the splatter-paint look. Like I've said before, their experiences with rompers hasn't been significantly good enough for me to comment nicely on them.

 

Now we are left with another piece; the varicolored skirt with the black bow belt. I honestly could say worse about it, but my creativity is draining out of me just by looking at it. Not awful, but certainly not good enough to be considered a "Hot Buy" either. It looks like a first season DKNY reject.

 

 I really don't understand the geometric elements of that neon-blue gradient dress. The dress would actually look pretty nice, minus the peach and teal lines zig-zagging across the front.

 

The denim bustier "top" if you can even call it that, looks like something I could see a street hooker wearing. Seriously, it has the appearance of a DIY gone horribly wrong. Someone was trying to combine a bra and the ripped pieces of what used to be denim jeans and obviously didn't do such a good job.

 

Don't even get me started on that next "watermelon" dress. Did someone call a circus ringleader?

 

The Bizou purse really was the trainwreck on top of the car-crash. I don't even know where that came from; did someone just put it in there as a joke? I'm very confused about its classification as a "Hotbuy". Try "Notbuy".

 

Well, I can honestly say that was a huge failure of a masquerade mask, Stardoll. My grandmother probably could have thought of something more original while taking a nap in her lounge chair. Word of advice: never try to mix sunglasses lenses with the outside appearance of a masquerade mask.

 

That neon-pink hanging finger-bone necklace is kind of skeeving me out a little. I'm not a savage who chops off people's hands and bleaches their bones in a pink solution, thank you very much. 

 

 

Well, that just about concludes my rant on this month's Notbuys, or Don'tbuys. Whichever you prefer to call them, because let's face it: the only reason they're selling is due to the decent graphics that aren't on regular items of clothing. What ever happened to the really nice Hotbuys from a few years ago? Boy, do I miss those.



Diamonds aren't all they're cracked up to be.

The somewhat-elusive Royalty club, the Dollmails about upcoming Stardoll events/activities weeks to a month before the official release date, the accessibility of certain features on Stardoll, etc. All these are the benefits of being a Royalty member. Sure, the little diamond border on your dollie's icon sure looks all nice and sparkly, but does it mean anything anymore? Did it ever?

 

Such are the questions of the users of Stardoll that think Royalty is overrated, and in my opinion, they're pretty damn right. You can practically buy a Royalty membership now, being that the requirement is to be a member of Stardoll for at least a year. It is possible to purchase a 12-month membership, and there you go: instant Royalty status. Convenient.

 

Lots of Royalty members themselves think it is overrated, due the comments I've seen all over the blogosphere as well as Stardoll forums in general. Personally, I think it's ridiculous--the "so-called benefits" that are received through becoming an elusive Royalty member aren't too shabby, although I've been on Stardoll without them for about four years now. I think I'm OK.

 

More often than not, I've been noticing members of Stardoll that have practically no in-game experience as members in general, and to be quite honest with you, I don't think they deserve the Royalty status (not that it really meant anything anyway, due to this fact.)

 

If Royalty were to work the way many other users see it, it would be based solely on dedication. Members from last year really don't deserve the benefits they're receiving from paying $59.40 for a 12-month Royalty status, which gets stripped from you the second your money runs out and you can no longer afford to pay for a membership. I think it's petty and obnoxious, just because they want your money. But they have every right; Stardoll does need to make money, just the same as we need to eat. So as much as my opinion is my own, so they should be able to bribe us with a not-so-special virtual diamond in order to rake in about a $60 profit from each and every Royalty member, which according to the amount of users in the club as of right now, is estimated at about $3,731,580 for all the current members for one year of payment. (If those statistics are wrong, please feel free to correct me. I'm not very good at mathematics.)

 

So in order to wrap this up, (mainly because I'm hungry and I should probably finish my schoolwork that's been piling up on my table next to me) Stardoll's Royalty membership status is overrated and a waste of money. If you're going to pay that much, then go ahead, and I have no qualms about it, but what I can't stand is the fact that Stardoll practically lords it over all their non-Royalty members that the Royalties are an "elite squad" according to their club presentation. So elite that pretty much anyone with $60 to spare can get in. Joy.

 



Museum Mile: Yay or Nay?

Even though I agree with the majority of Stardoll in saying that the Starplaza needs a serious makeover, one store in particular caught my attention, and that was Museum Mile (thought I'm not exactly sure you could call it a "store", so to speak).

 

For those of you who've never visited, it's basically a museum, with a few limited edition art pieces that can be found in the outside world, as well. Paintings by Van Gogh, sculptures by Greek and Roman artists, and even ancient artifacts are displayed proudly with maxed-out price tags at semi-affordable prices. (Don't even bother counting the zeroes for some of them.)

 

**Another helpful hint, if you didn't already know, by clicking on a spot in some of the paintings, like a Renoir, for example, the red hat worn by the boy in the picture will appear in your dressing room, and such is the same for another painting in the gallery.**

 

While I was making my general parousal through the StarBlog, I came across a video link advertising the new Museum Mile collection, a series of clothing pieces by Gustav Klimt. The collection will be coming out on September 19th, and will feature over 150 years of shapes, patterns, textures, and all manner of eccentricities developed into clothing patterns.

 

If you want my honest opinion, however, I don't think it's going to be all that great. The designs that were displayed on the video looked like someone went on a finger-painting frenzy on several pieces of hacked off fabric sheets, roped them around a mannequin, and voila; clothing and art. Nowadays, we live in a world where you can dump a pile of garbage onto a table, photograph it, and call it "modern art" which apparently has a message to send about the human obesity rate or something. I'm more of a classical old-timey art-appreciator, and I'll actually be making a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the city very soon, so hopefully I'll be able to see some of these collections.

 

But in any case: Museum Mile's upcoming collection...yay or nay?