Two Generations photos

Well as promised I pulled myself away for all of 5 seconds to take and post these two pictures on my blog.

First is a photo of the new give flowers interaction:

She's super excited

Second is a mini preview of Sleeping bags(in use) and bunk beds(not in use)

That's all for now... I'll be reviewing a store set this Thursday when I am home from work(as long as I don't absolutely hate the sets this week) as well as work on my first part of the Generations review.

Generations is here!

Just got Generations from Fedex about 15 minutes ago... installing and updating as per usual and will be running the game first without CC/Mods then adding my CC and mods when I am sufficiently satisfied that the game installed correctly. Will be posting some pictures in a little bit.

Makeovers! Part Three!

Ok I've finally stopped procrastinating and getting distracted by shiny things long enough to compose my next set of my makeover series.

First up is Eliza

Before:

After:

       Ok I really did a lot to change Eliz face and clothing wise. I took off all makeup... rounded out her face but kept the length of the jaw as I found it to be much more photogenic. The clothing she is wearing is an outfit from the Outdoor Living Stuff Pack(I just added some polka dots to it). I changed her from a pirate-esque chick to a more girl next door type. Funny enough her hair still looks great pulled back. The particular hair she is wearing in these pictures is from Peggyzone.

Eliza has quickly become one of my more photgenic sims with the new facial work and clearing her of that god-awful makeup(I really have no idea what I was thinking with that color she had before...it's just bad).

Next up was Arlene

Before:

After:

         Arlene has had absolutely no facial work done...the only thing I did on that front was make her skin tone slightly darker. I removed most makeup and she only has minimalist eyeliner. Most of the makeover happened with finding the right outfit and the right hair. 

    Now I had been trying to find a face that fit with this peggyzone hair. Faces that are too small are swallowed up by the bang on it and if they're too wide they tend to clip through. I found a perfect face for it in Arlene. Not only did it fit her face but it just made her look so much prettier than a hairstyle that didn't cover part of her face. The outfit top is from Outdoor Living Stuff. Pants are from the store. Definitely one of my least effort but most successful makeovers 

Last on this set of makeovers was Ada

Before:

After:

        Now Ada I worked on a lot and really love what I came up with for her new look. I softened her jaw and lengthened it a bit. I made her chin a lot smaller and softer. I took off all her makeup and changed her eyes a bit as well as gave her this lovely short haircut from MyBlueBook and changed her hair color to white(I really just love the way the white hair looks on her.

Her gorgeous new top is from All About Style, one of only three sites I ever use for CC clothing as I find the Sims 3 store clothing to be beautiful and varied. Her pants are from The Sims 3 Store. I believe her sandals are from the base game.

That's it for this set of my makeover series. Stay tuned as the next two parts will finally feature my MALE makeovers! I'll have Generations on Tuesday and will hope to have my first part of the review up early the week after(I will be going away for a three day weekend where my PC cannot follow). The first part will probably be the new CAS features as it will be the quickest for me to explain and showcase. 

I also plan to have a weekly Sim spotlight where I feature one of my created Sims and how they came to be.

Sim creating updates and a photo shoot!

I've been busy creating Sims and preparing for Generations with many more toddlers/children and teenagers than I usually create. It's been fun working on their faces and hair(I'm waiting for Generations to give them official clothing. I also have been working on a few more YA sims.

Here's just a taste of the children/teenagers/children I've created. I also downloaded a bunch of CC hair for my children and toddlers and hope to get more clothing and hair from the store for them as well as teenagers as their wardrobes are quite limited right now. 

This is Candice... I think she's one of the most adorable toddlers I've seen in my game in a while.

These are two of the YA I've made recently... I've been trying to make more male sims but they still pale in comparison to my females in terms of hair and clothing...and also only amount to half the number of females I have in my simbin(which is 41 females 41!).

I've also been playing round with pose player and this beautiful lady. You might recognize her as the model in the Everyday Casual Chic store review being cradled by the male model(wearing Curt's Jacket). I changed her hair and put her in this dress, a replica of Kate Middletons wedding dress from All About Style. 

Unfortunately the dress isn't as high quality as I would like it to be but it still looks absolutely lovely, especially the lace-work on the arms.

Well that's all for the update for this post. I plan on doing a review of Generations(probably in a few different parts to focus on CAS, Items and Interactions) and another post in my makeover series soon. 

Stay Tuned and Happy Simming!

Perfectly Flawed

My last post was an incomplete entry for a modeling comp on the Sims 3 forums. Here is the completed entry:

The modeling comp is based on music and each assignment we are given a different song and we have to show our interpretation of the song. This particular song was Perfectly Flawed by Otep, a favorite of mine. 

The song is about depression and suicide(prevention) so for my photo I decided to portray my model as a teenager and have her older, wiser self sing the song to her younger self as a faded apparition. I faded the photo as an homage to the chorus line about faded photographs.

I was so happy I was able to do this photo. It meant a lot to me to finally be able to represent one of the songs that saved my life and truly show that it does get better.  

Work in Progress

Will update later today and explain when finished.

Everday Casual Chic: Store Set Review.

I decided to Review the Everday Casual Chic set from the Store because I think it's one of the best sets in the store... and definitely the best for everyday wear.

Now the outfits in Everyday Casual Chic are not just for everyday wear in Sims 3. Some carry on to Formalwear, Athletic and even Sleepwear. There is also some great variety here as the clothes range from "girl next door" types to more fashion forward.

I'll start with the first six outfits on my models and go from there.

I'll go from left to right here. The first two outfits you see are Cordial Chiffon Dress and Cowl-necked. Cordial Chiffon is great for your more feminine, shy, small town girl types. 

     The upper portion and bottom are seperated, as are the two folds of the skirt for recoloring/patterning. There is also a belt like midsection that is seperately recolorable and patternable. The model is wearing the Long and Luxurious hairstyle in the set. One of my least favorites in the set as the curls are "painted" on the hair rather than having individual dimension. This gives it a rather two-dimensional look when you're dealing with the lighter hair colors. 

Cowl necked is one of my favorites from this set. It features zippered leggings(which are recolorable/patternable as are the zippers). and a cowl necked shirt that looks almost scarf-like. The top and bottom parts(the bunched up folds and the frayed ends) are seperately recolorable and patternable from the midsection allowing for some great and unique color combinations.

      The model is wearing the Can't Care Hair from the set. This is my favorite hair from the set as the curls in the front frame your Sims face and there are two three-dimensional small buns in the back of the hairdo one above the other.

       The second set of models are wearing the Sleek Chic hair with the Clever Cardigan outfit and the Braided Bun hair with the After dark ensemble.

     The male hair(Sleek Chic) is not a favorite of mine...there are better male hairs out there but this one is good for preppy men or for a more formal look. The Clever Cardigan is great for preppy sims...it is a Top only(the pants paired with are from Outdoor Living Stuff). 

    The outer cardigan, inner shirt and cardigan trim are all recolorable/patternable. I really wished we had seen more male items in this set as these are a few items that are actually different in their look than most of the male clothing we already have.

       The Braided Bun hair is also not one of my favorites in this set. It also has painted on curls and a braid that can give your Sims hair a flat look, although this hair seems to have avoided doing so completely with the lighter colors unlike the Long and Luxurious hairstyle and can look quite good on your Sims with a very strong face.

     The After Dark Ensemble is one of my favorite outfits in the set as it works for Athetic, Everyday and Formal. The outer and inner shirt as well as the leggings are all recolor and patter enabled. This is a great outfit for Athletic as it does seem like a workout outfit but you can also modify it color wise or pattern-wise to make for a great everday or formal outfit.

         The last couple of models are wearing the Over the Shoulder Braid hair with the Long Scarf is Long outfit and the Curt's Jacket top.

    The Over The Shoulder braid is a wonderful hair, reminiscent of Curls on the Side and is a cute and functional hairstyle that can suit many different styles/faces.  Here's an up close so you get a better look at the outfits/hair.

     The Long Scarf is Long outfit is a cut sweater over leggings outfit that works for Everyday and Athletic and can be recolorable in the scarf ,sweater, undershirt and leggings. I love the scarves in the outfits of this set because they aren't just painted on and actually have dimension to them(like the furry ends in this outfit). This is a great everyday outfit for your more fashionable sims.

      Curt's Jacket is quickly becoming my favorite male top. It is recolorable in the base, zippers/trim, and inner hood of the sweatshirt. It not only looks great in game but can be used by so many types of sims. It's also FINALLY a proper sweatshirt for the males and has no other colthing items that are like it. I'm really hoping they continue with this Chic style but with more male clothing.

     All clothing items in the first shot are shown with their original colors and only the styles that download with the set. Now for the second shot of clothing in the set. The next few shots will be more female focused as there is only one more male outfit(for a total of 3) vs. the females grand total of 11 clothing items.

      I'll start with the two male models in this picture as they are both wearing the SlapDash outfit. First off, I love this outfit. I think it's impossible for a Sim to look bad with it on. Shirt, outer coat, pants and the inner sleeve are all recolorable. It's quickly become a favorite of mine.

    The model in the back and to the right is wearing the Can't Commit Outfit. This outfit is great for Athelticwear or Everday but is also available in Formalwear. the model to the bottom left is wearing Long Term InVESTment. a super fashionable flowy vest over a shirt with leggings. This is great for your fashionistas and can be recolored to give stunning, sharp looks or softer ones depending on your viewpoint.

The front middle and right are both wearing the All in Wraps Wrap top. A cute turtleneck with a scarf wrapped around it, the scarf is repatternable and colorable so it is a top that comes with some great variety. The middle model is also wearing the Pocketed Skirt. It's a cute, short skirt with tassles and pockets on the side and has more functionality than the miniskirts as it can go with less formal looking wear. Here is an up close photo of it:

Next up is the Day to Evening Dress which comes in three different styles and can be worn as Everyday or Formalwear.

         Honestly I'm not a huge fan of this dress. It's definitely cute but it just seems to lack any wow factor. The piping in the dress look crude in the star shapes at the bottom and I don't understand why we got 3 different recolors of the same dress to download with it instead of some new pattern/piping in the dress to make them different. It's a nice dress for your sims to wear out for like a day at the park but I really don't see myself using it that often.

Next up is the A Little Chilly Dress which comes in three different, unique patterns

           I LOVE this dress. I love the style, I love the different patterns on the different sections and I even love the leg warmers. This is great for your fashion forward sims, or even just a cute little outfit for any type of sim really. It is categorized under sleepwear as well as everyday and formal. The only thing I wish for on this dress is that the patterned sections on the two styles with patterns were repatternable(on the one in the middle) and recolorable(on the pattern on the right) as I feel like it would add so much more possibilities for this outfit.

Last up is the two styles of the Faux Fur Accent top, a shirt with a stylish coat with fur trim over it.

          I really love this top. It's really nice, recolor and patternable(although the overlay pattern on the red style version will stay no matter what). It can work on a variety of outfits and sims and is just a nice, functional piece of clothing to add to the list.

      All in All, I really love Everyday Casual Chic. There are a few items I don't care for but, unlike some other sets, I will still probably use the ones I don't like as much as they are still very high in quality. I love the 80's feel of a lot of the female clothing with the leggings and legwarmes but with a new, modern twist which is mirroring some fashion styles today. I really hope they continue adding clothing items in this set, especially more for the males.

I give this set an 8/10.

     I've decided that I will most likely be buying and reviewing a new set each month(as long as I have the money) when they come out each month and as long as I don't absolutely abhor the sets for that month so stay tuned for more store set reviews and pictures in the future. Most will probably be clothing sets if there are some for that month but I will sometimes throw in object sets as well since I absolutely love some of the themes in the store(Gothique).

Happy Simming!!

Makeovers! Part Two!

     I would have had this posted yesterday but Blogger was in read only mode for a while after I got home from work. Thank the lord I copypasted before I submitted last night. 

     Now for Part Two of my Makeover series I give you three more lovely ladies that have been redesigned and re-photographed.

First up is our lovely lady Kylie:

and here she is after her makeover:

     Now you're probably wondering why the hell I decided to give Kylie a makeover when she looked perfectly fine before, well I've never felt right about her look and always wondered what I could do to make her look better... and as I was rummaging through the many hairs in my game I found it in this super short haircut.

       I dyed her hair brown as the haircut with a blonde just looked kind've odd. I tweaked her face very slightly and put her in this outfit from Everday Casual Chic. I makeover all outfits on my Sims but will not showcase them all since it takes up too much space in a post.

     Did I mention she's insane? One of the most fun Sim traits to play as...this outfit is actually her Athletic outfit but she seems to love it...a lot.

She also loves having her picture taken.

Next up on the makeover train was Caroline:

and here she is after the makeover:

        I honestly don't know what I was thinking with original Caroline...I think she was a sim that I randomized and saw something in so I saved her to the bin. A few months later I was greeted by this mannish monstrosity and decided she was in desperate need of a makeover.

     As you can see I gave Caroline a pretty much complete overhaul, From facial construction to clothing and hair. The most work was in the cheekbones and jawline. I thinned out her jaw and lengthened her chin, raised her cheekbones and downsized her lips in width and length. Her outfit and hair are both in the Everyday casual Chic Set at The Sims 3 Store.

     I ended up giving Caroline a new hairstyle for each outfit... a habit I've been trying to break lately since I want my Sims to have a more concise look to them.

The last makeover on this part of my series went to Daphne:

and here she is after the makeover: 

     I went for a completely different look for her outfits than her previous incarnation. She's wearing a CC top from all about style and a skirt from Everyday Casual Chic.

     For Daphne's face I really rounded it out and fixed the jagged look in her jaw/cheekbones that she seemed to have. Obviously I changed her hair and hair color as well as slightly tweaking her nose.

That's it for this part of my Makeover series. There are sure to be more makeovers as I have been going through my Simbin and systematically making over any Sims whose looks seem outdated.

Makeovers! Part One

      Ok I lied a little since the first three Sims I gave makeovers had the least done to them. Anyhoo, have you ever just looked at something you made either a few days/weeks/months ago and thought: What the hell was I thinking? That was happening to me lately when going over my Simbin and seeing some of my Sims... the colors didn't match, the hair was hideous, and the outfits were just..ugly.

     So I decided to go on a mass makeover undertaking("mass" being  6 - 8 sim makeovers). Most outfits were scrapped or reworked, all hair was changed. All. Hair. and some of the gals even had a little work done(Blasphemous!). Unfortunately for my first batch of girls there were no before pics as I deleted them as soon as the cleaner, better versions were created. So lets get started!

     The lovely lady in my first post of the blog is Brittaney. She has actually gone through 3 seperate iterations as there was just something about her face that didn't look right. I actually feel like she is "complete" now and personally think she turned out beautifully.

      This is her everyday outfit. It is from the Outdoor Living Stuff SP(which seriously has some amazing clothing in it). Believe me it is much much better than her original outfit which was some brown jacket and blue skirt combo that just was so....awful.

     I'll only post up one outfit pic and one face pic for each girl made over as it will stop clutter. As you probably can tell, I do not use the EA default face skin. I actually use the Ephemera Face Skin Replacement and have found it has a much better texture for the skin and lips.

Next up on the makeover train was Lanthe Merestes, who out of the three here had the most work done.

     I actually didn't have to change anything clothing wise on Lanthe, her outfit here is from the Faire Folk set in The Sims 3 Store. What I did work on with Lanthe was her facial structuring as her face was very....jagged  . This is what I came up with:

     I played with the sliders on her jaw/cheekbones A LOT. It took quite a while but I was able to soften up her face and give it a much rounder appearance overall. I ended her makeover with a hairstyle change from a shoulder-length haircut to the shorter, almost boyish cut you see here. I think it just makes the angles of her face really stand out in the photos.

and the last of the first group but definitely not the least was Octavia. Octavia was actually the one of the group that actually had the least work done as all I did was change her makeup and soften and shorten her jaw.

     I think she turned out quite well. She's one of my more themed Sims as most of her outfits and hair are from the High-End Loft Stuff SP.

She also has a great personality.

     You may have noticed something about these three Sims on the close-ups of their faces. They use very little to no makeup. I've been on a little no makeup kick and quite honestly, it's been going quite well as a lot of my Sims look even better without full on makeup.

     Stay tuned for more Makeovers with actual Before and After pictures! I'll also be writing a review of the new Everyday Casual Chic Store Set as I think it is one of the best Store Sets yet and well worth your money(and you will definitely see some of those outfits on my made over sims. I'll leave you with a pic of the three newly made over ladies enjoying a picnic in Twinbrook.

Hello World!

     Hello everyone(anyone). I'm Kael, I created this blog mostly to post my Sims 3 content whether it be my creations or interesting goings on in my everyday Simworld.  That doesn't mean I won't update this blog with something completely unrelated though.

    I like to harness any creative energy that passes my mind and document it before I forget it ever existed(which is much easier to do when you're at your PC). So if you ever come here and read something completely random, a snippet of information that makes absolutely no sense or a picture, then know that it was posted for the sake of my own sanity and will probably be fleshed out in later posts.

I'll leave you now with a picture and a buzzword: Makeovers!