Royal Blue

Royal Blue just recently underwent a remodeling. It has kept a lot of the same themes and charm of the previous build, but evolved into more of a proper "building"- this time, for instance, there's actually a roof! The previous incarnation to that was the gingerbread house in Floyd, and it's been an interesting progression in theme to watch, as certain elements have become more prevalent.

(I'm sorry, I have to apologize here for a moment- the new ~silentsparrow~ tattoos have made it hard for me to actually wear clothing. However, as I was having a hard time deciding upon a shirt that would accentuate this skirt to its full potential anyway...so it worked out just fine! I love the floral motif on this one playing into the roses.)

As you might be able to spy in the background, there's a new addition to Horst. All that glitter has been gathering high above the sims...and it made a giant unicorn. I hear eventually Tres Blah shall be setting up shop in his innards!

It's a very chic build, but at the same time, there's a lot just a bit strange and wonderful about it. When you walk inside, you find that there are two distinct styles of architecture at war- on the one side you have the very fancy slick white walls with accents, clean and stark, like the interior of high end Beverly Hills boutique, or a nice department store like Saks, when it still actually was nice (it's even more that prefect ideal of what these things should be, what they try to be, than even the reality achieved)- and on the other it's an explosion of flowers and plants and grasses planted in a checkerboard pattern (even up onto the walls), as if Wonderland has come to take over.

I would like to thank the lovely Nivaya Barbosa, of Dressing in Pixels, for playing the fashionista Alice to my Cheshire Cat.

Royal Blue is located on the sheer cliffside of Horst, next to Sh!t Happens and Free*Style, and also keeps an update blog.

The Garden

We don't really have a name for the area in the middle of Floyd, the foothills of Mount Lolita covered in giant plants. I call it the garden (which occasionally gets "wait, where?" in response).

Originally there were 13 flowers planted on the slopes of Lolita, brought into being by Apatia Hammerer, Melatonin Hax, and myself; as each of us created some of the flowers until we hit our desired number- they almost built themselves, unlike most builds where I sit there and worry and plan and try to figure out how to work (I obsess. It's a character flaw). Well, two of mine aren't really flowers, per se, but carnivorous plants, as I have a bit of a soft spot for them (though, sadly, not the climate to grow them, as my venus flytraps and my pitcher plants have never lasted more than a season, regardless of the terrariums I try to set up for them). I'll let you in on a secret- the pitcher plant is my favourite. It's also the one with the most ridiculous traffic flow, having to climb up and down to get into it!

I shall momentarily single out one store in particular- usually I try to avoid much of that in the broad tours when covering a larger area because then I'd never finish, however Aisuru Rieko of Beloved Designs, not only chose the pitcher plant of the ridiculous way of getting in and out, she also helped out when the garden was replanted- first providing the adorable temporary booths of bowling pins and balls, as well as adding a few of her own creations for buildings when the garden expanded.

When the garden was originally planted, the Starlustland sign wasn't around- it only ended up coming into being one day I was working on Horst, before any of it was open to the public. I think, for some reason, it was the bra that brought it about (maybe because of some cognitive leap that involved Frederick's of Hollywood as one of the steps? I don't know, I just know that it seemed fitting and wanted to see it happen). When the mountain was (finally- if you visited Horst in the interim, you know that it sat there near the bra for a while, though it was always planned to move to Lolita once we terraformed for it) carved out to create a place for the sign, the garden expanded beyond the original 13 to include mushrooms, a potted onion, crate, watering can, wheelbarrow, and the barn. I find it a bit more fun to walk around in now, too, with little pathways hanging precariously off the edge.

Currently tending our garden:
Scribble, with cute clothing and funthings
i love 13, with imaginative inventive jewelry and floofy dresses
Beloved Designs, with quirky and adorable landscaping
77 Degrees, with pretty hats
Chaoslotus, with adorable jewelry
Picnic, with sweet garden and home items
Fresh Baked Goods, with candy coated jewelry
RC Cluster, with novelty items that make you cooler
Tousled, with cute girly hair
Hang the DJ, with casuals for men and women
Fresh Trash, with great clothing basics for girls
[CRAP], {BOUTIQUE}, Punch Drunk, and Fawn Fotherington Hair, all sharing a space in the barn, with clothing and hair spanning a few genres (you know I'm totally pulling all these adjectives out of my ass anyway, right? If you said "oh, I like _insert type of thing here_, I could tell you where to go, but I'm not good for coming up with the right types of descriptives! Also, yes, I overuse cute and adorable and fun, but, well, they all are, so....)
Kandy Kitty, with the most appropriate couch for smoochin' ever
Nimia store, with vintage and unusual clothing

Four New Stores in Area 408!

As if you needed an excuse to shop....here are some new stores and what they have to offer.

Whimsy:  Are you in need of a sculpty beanbag or pillows?  Maybe some new poses?  
Miel:  The sculpted shirts with flowers coming out of the pockets alone, should be why you want to check out this store.  It's full of adorable clothes, scarves, socks and headbands.  
Savoir Faire Shapes:  Shapes, shapes and more shapes.  Male and female.  
Herbalys:   Full of really cool looking plants and color changing candles.  

Hallie <3 

Smersh and The Golden Oriole

I'm sorry I've been a slacker of a tour guide- I was distracted by getting through the oxfords, finally. Sorry, you haven't gotten rid of me yet!

The two places I would like to show you today are Smersh and The Golden Oriole. Both have impact in Starlustland beyond just their shops- flopsie McArdle of Smersh has contributed a number of little touches all over the sims, from hot dog themed items (mmmmm) to paths to trees to picnic tables and beyond, when flopsie hasn't been off building sims for companies, she's been puttering around the 'Lust here and there. And, of course, the train station on Horst that houses VintageWear, one of her magnificent prefabs.

I've never met the person (or people?) behind the Golden Oriole myself, but they are directly responsible for the absolutely fantastic treehouse that perches high atop Mount Lolita on Floyd, that serves as the communal I (heart) the Starlust clubhouse. We used to have a castle there, but gave them freedom to do whatever they thought was good, and it blew away any expectations we had!

Both places have a lot in common- aside from being right next to each other, they also both do prefabs and gadgets and furniture, and they do it fantastically. Smersh is more modern retro and grunge, the home of the Laser Shark, a hotbed (hotdog) of revolutionary activity, and the place you can get the best damn corndog in Second Life. You can also ponder the existentialist emptiness of being as you wage slave your life away selling Flopdogs. The Golden Oriole excels at steampunk and Victorian delights: beautiful buildings, exquisite weaponry, gorgeously detailed furniture for the upscale abode, and what is certainly the best pith helmet in Second Life I have ever seen.

Smersh and The Golden Oriole are right next to each other on Lloyd, towards Herman Melville from the motel.