Ugly Duckling: Carnival Hair

This time, there's not one but THREE different freebies...well, they're sort of freebies. And there's sort of three of them They come with any ss package, as part of the Carnival campaign. And they're yet again re-coloured copies of each other.

I actually really love party bobs in general, but the fact these are jewelry items and not actual, dye-able hair like Tress Up is a little frustrating. The advantage to these though is that, unlike Tress Up, they can be layered over the top of any facemasks. 

Unfortunately, I don't like the shape too much. They're a bit too bulbous and poofy. Again, being jewelry, I can make it bigger or smaller - unfortunately, while making it smaller makes it fit hats bigger, it just ends up looking wrong around the doll's face.

In suite, the green one was the best - it was the easiest for me to match with items I already owned, and while it was never an exact colour match, it worked. The purple on the other hand was nearly impossible to match with any other shades, so I ended up trying to contrast it with blue pieces. The pink wig wasn't difficult to match in terms of colour, but ultimately, I'm just not the kind of girl who really likes to wear pink in the first place.

Will you be wearing these wigs?

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Ugly Duckling: Citrus Wrap Dress

Yet another not-particularly-wanted item comes in the form of an SS gift. This one if from the latest RIO collection, which I'm not surprised about. But I still wish they'd picked something else from the collection, like the bustiers or culottes - they're just so much more on-trend at the moment than this dress is.

I will admit, this one grew on me - the colour is unusual and hard to match, but still very nice to pair with other tones and colours. I love how it looks with white, and with red.

Which look is your favourite - and would you wear this dress?

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Ugly Duckling: Yay, Glitches!

This one was a toss-up - cute pink socks, or Fudge body? So I went with both! Seriously, what's up with these glitches lately? Not that I'm complaining.

For the first look, I went straight to the 80s with denim overalls and sneakers. Why not? The body definitely has the right print and colours. Not my normal look, but I think it works well enough for this bodysuit. For the second look, I attempted to bring the peach colour of the suit into the outfit - which I'm not super happy with the results of, but oh well.

As far as colours go, pink is definitely not my favourite - but I do like a good pop of colour, so for my first look, I paired them with another pink items and otherwise black items. For the second look, I decided to contrast this, and added in a variety of different shades of pink, with white compliments.

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Ugly Duckling: Glitched Items

Today, not one, but two old Fudge items re-appeared in the plaza. Even more interesting is that, this time, you can actually buy them.

I decided to style the Fudge Boys Not Working jumper. Being a male item, and having a giant turtleneck thing going on, it was a little tricky at first to try and layer around.

For the first two looks, I attempted to cover it up as much as possible while still showing the texture of the shirt. Neither one is ideal, though, as I'd prefer to see much more of the top. The second look, I layered a coat over - which I'm currently selling - and the result was... not awful. But far too bulky for my personal tastes, not not particularly unique looking. The last look is my personal favourite, as I decided to feminize the style with a skirt, thigh-highs and statement flats, which worked well to both show off the Not Working piece, while stopping it from looking top-heavy.

Which one did you like the most?

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Ugly Duckling : Gift-O-What

So, apparently, my short stint as an internet-free non-ss over New Years and Christmas was just the perfect time for Stardoll to release a gift-o-meter. To be honest, I'm not mad that I missed most of it, but I'm still going to try to style the gifts I did receive. Which are, frankly, not that great.
If only they'd been seperate, the sparkly shoe-and-starry-sock combination might well have been OK. I'm always down for a feature print sock, or a crazy shoe, but stick them both together and it becomes far too difficult to style around.  I made an appropriately futuristic-space-travel inspired outfit. Silvers and Greys, this is your day.

On the other hand, the shape of the jeans was tragic - they don't sit properly at the waist at all, so all my crop top plans went right out the window! I decided to contrast the other look, and incorporated bright neon and khaki green.

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Ugly Duckling: Cropped Corsett Jacket

First of all - no. I did not misspell "corset", that's how it's written on the jacket! That, to me, makes it a pretty ugly start.

To be honest, I think I could have liked this is it wasn't so...crinkly. And not quite black. Seriously, what is up with stardoll and all their "Almost-but-not-actually" black items?!

Anyway, I initially just modified a room style, and well, it's not bad. I then tried highlighting the gold pieces of the jacket and making it more formal - and honestly, this looks is better off without the jacket. Or just, using any other jacket. Preferably one that's actually black. For the third look, I wanted to out-texture the jacket, and decided to stick with the gold and black pallette, and I think it turned out looking pretty good. The fourth look I continued with the textures but muted it down to a variety of different blacks. It's not my best look, but I think it helps bring out the potential of this jacket.

I do really like the length of it, and the lace-up details are super cute, so I will probably wear this sooner rather than later.

Will you be rocking this SS gift?

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Ugly Duckling: Red Bag

Usually, my Uglies posts are about freebies - but a glitched, old-graphic bag in starcoins is a pretty good alternative. Earlier today, I wrote a post for Stardoll's Most Wanted explaining this bag, and how to get it. It's several levels of weird - firstly, why has it been released again? Second, what's with the different plaza versus purchase price? And thirdly, why can we only buy one? Fourth of course is, why this bag and not something cuter? So many questions, and zero answers.

The worst part about this items ended up being the colour. It was just far too difficult to match to anything. As anyone woho's ever been in, watched, or helped judge the cycles I've been involved with, you know it's a big deal when even I give up on trying to colour match and item.



For the first look, I adapted a room style. I just wanted a clean, basic, mochrome look with a featured bags. The lace up tights reflect the bag pattern nicely.

For the second look, I wanted to bring in some of the old graphic style items that I own, as well as more of that red. This skirt was as close a colour match from the "new" graphics styled items as I've been able to find.

For the third look, I wanted to challenge the bold bag with a different colour - navy. It's still subtle, but it's not black, and the sleeve/neckline on the shirt are a near perfect match for the bag. The white chunky boots and jewel hair add some texture, and again the tights - this time, fishnets - match the diamond bag design.

For the last look, I was aiming for an outfit that speaks for itself - the kind of outfit the bag is styled into, rather than around. I actually really like the concept of layering a print under the sheer ruffle top, and the floral jeans have colours to tie into both the top and bag.

Which look was your favourite?

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Ugly Duckling:

Let's forget about the royalty "gift" and focus on the ss one. This top proved as difficult as I'd expected it to, though not for the same reasons.

Initially, I thought the colour would be an issue, which is why my first three looks are entirely monochromatic. As it turns out, it really isn't very difficult to find colours that match it. In fact, I went a bit wild with the last look, which I think ended up accidentally reflecting just how much Magical Girl anime I've been watching recently.

But there were still plenty of issues. Firstly, the cropping being so high made it difficult to find pants or skirts high enough. I didn't want hiphuggers, but even high wasted items left this super awkward gap. For the items that were tall enough, the sleeves  became a problem. many of those pieces were flared out, making going under the sleeve look awful. But, going over the top made the waistline looks terrible instead.


All in all, I think I'd give this item a solid 7.5/10

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Ugly Duckling: Equestrian Pants

If you're new here, don't worry, I'll recap - I'm SO over striped pants. Whoever is running the Stardoll office has got to let this non-trend die, asap. But in the meantime, superstars the world over have been graced with these moderately un-pretty pants. For free. Great.

The Pros:

- They're neutral

- They're high wasted, and full length

The Cons:

- Equestrian is not my aesthetic. Or anyone elses', so far as I know.

- Is it a grey stripe? Is it black? Who knows.

- The crotch shading. Just look at it.

- The stripe, period.

The Styling:

Initially, I wanted to wear it for what it was - firstly, by using a striped to, and secondly, going all-out "equestrian". For the first look, I'd be much happier swapping out the pants, while the second look is just not my style, at all.

For the third look, the all-important, desperate decision - just making them disappear. I layered tops, dresses, and boots to make sure I could see as little of them as possible Unfortunately, if I put the boots in front, they quite literally vanished, and the point of this post is to style them, so I couldn't quite take it that far.

For the final look, I again tried just using them as they were, aiming for something a little more layered than the first but more formal than the second. The irritating thing is that the stripe is a totally different "black" to the other pieces, which is much more evident in this look than the others due to the contact between items.

Do you like the stripe pants?

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Ugly Duckling: Royalty Choker Roses Playsuit

Yesterday, I wrote a review on the recent Royalty gifts. And, since I've gotten my laptop to work, I though I'd style it!

For the first outfit, I tried to have the whole item on display. I'm not fond of this look, as I just don't like how white and plain it is. The belt looks more awkward than I'd intended, but without it, I just hated how solidly white it was.

For the second look, I tried turning it into a top, and coordinated the bag with the red pieces, and the tights with the floral theme. I don't like the flower decal to be honest. The red is just super difficult to match, and in such an awkward place, which is probably why I didn't buy the original version (that, and it's ridiculously expensive.)

For the third look, I decided to try and turn it into shorts, which is definitely an advantage to this gift being a playsuit instead of a body. I decided to go with a white top because I really do like the choker effect, and the long sleeves, it's just the red flowers that ruin this for me. Unfortunately with this look, and all the other tops I tried, the sleeves poked out either on the sides from being loose of the bottom for being long, and I just am not happy with it.

For the final look, I decided to make a statement out of the sleeves by creating a purposely layered shirt look. I think it worked out pretty well, but ironically I wish I'd found a nice pop of colour to use, because it does look a bit plainer than I wanted it to.

So to summarize:

Pros:

- Decent shading  

- Can be used as a top, bottom,or playsuit and look decent

- I love the choker piece

Cons:

- The red flowers are a pain to have to style around

- The sleeves are difficult to cover up

- It's a dupe

- Plain white bodies are just not my thing 

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Ugly Duckling: Buy & Get Embroidered Skirt

The Buy & Get Embroidered Skirt has a lot going on - and not much of it good.

So, it absolutely had to be me next Ugly Duckling item! Unfortunately, I'm not so convinced that this one grew to be a swan.

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