“Familiarity breeds contempt
Don’t put me in the basement
When I want the penthouse of your heart
Diamonds in my eyes
I polish up real
I polish up real nice
Nice”
Taylor Swift – Bejeweled
Sometimes a photograph comes together exactly the way you imagined it. Other times, it becomes something entirely different.
When I first saw Bubble Blvd, the latest collaboration between FOXCITY and Rosary for Collabor88, I expected the backdrop itself to be the star. After all, it would have been easy for it to be. What started as a simple car wash concept evolved into a complete destination experience featuring custom branding, landscaping, signage, running water, interactive elements, and enough personality to make it feel like a place rather than just a backdrop. The moment I arrived, I understood why.
Bubble Blvd is bold. It’s playful. It’s unapologetically colorful. Every detail feels intentional, from the custom signage to the atmosphere that stretches throughout the entire build. One of my favorite touches is that FOXCITY offers Bubble Blvd in two distinct versions. The Mono version leans into a sleek black-and-white aesthetic, while the Babe version embraces bright pink from top to bottom.
Unsurprisingly, I gravitated toward Babe. Between the vibrant colors, glowing signage, and playful energy running throughout the build, it felt like the perfect choice for the concept I had in mind. I’ve done my fair share of pink scenes and Barbie flavored posts. Once I started shooting, it became clear that the pink wasn’t just part of the backdrop. It was the personality of the entire scene. As I wandered through the build, eventually finding myself inside the wash tunnel surrounded by layers of brushes, lighting effects, reflections, and running water, I found myself thinking about Taylor Swift’s Bejeweled.
At first glance, the connection seems obvious. Bright colors. Confidence. A little glamour. A little attitude. But what has always stood out to me about Bejeweled isn’t just the sparkle. It’s the reminder. The song is about recognizing your own worth. It’s about remembering who you are when life gets busy, when doubt starts creeping in, or when you simply haven’t given yourself enough credit lately. It’s about realizing that your light never really disappeared. Sometimes it just gets buried beneath everything else that’s going on. I think that’s part of why the song has resonated with so many people (719,942,366 plays on Spotify as I write this).
One of the things I’ve always loved about Second Life is the freedom it gives us to explore different sides of our creativity. Different styles. Different aesthetics. Different ideas. Sometimes that means trying something completely outside your normal comfort zone simply because it feels right. We all know how much I’ve loved doing that lately. For this post, that started with stepping away from Lucky and bringing out Cori. The styling felt like a natural fit for her (quite literally because as much as Lucky -could- try to wear the outfit, it’s not happening even with my best efforts), but there was another change happening behind the scenes as well. Rather than creating a shape from scratch myself, which is something I’ve pretty much almost always done, I updated Cori using Lemonish’s Raven Shape.
Anyone who has followed my blog for a while knows that’s very unusual for me. I’ve spent years tweaking and building my own looks, so trusting someone else’s vision isn’t something I do often. This time, though, Raven simply worked. Lemony has a talent for creating shapes (and more!) that feel both distinctive and natural, and the moment I put Cori together everything clicked. Ironically, that’s probably fitting considering I unintentionally cornered the lemon market during Pride At Home’s Color Block Challenge. Apparently I wasn’t quite done borrowing inspiration from Lemony just yet.
What surprised me the most was how quickly Cori seemed to take over the shoot. The backdrop remained incredible. The atmosphere was exactly what drew me in originally. Yet somewhere between the water effects, the lighting, the endless shades of pink, and Cori’s new look, the photograph stopped being just about the location and started becoming about confidence, self-expression, and having fun with a concept that fully embraced being seen. Not perfection. Not trying to impress anyone. Just confidence. The kind that comes from finding something that just clicks. The kind that happens when you stop overthinking every little detail and simply enjoy creating. The kind that reminds you why you fell in love with Second Life in the first place.
For the styling, I leaned fully into the Bubble Blvd aesthetic. Cori is wearing Rosary’s Bubble Blvd top from Collabor88 paired with “Off-Line”‘s “Caliente” bikini bottoms from Tres Chic. Once I put the look together, it felt like one of those combinations that was always meant to happen. I completed the look with DOUX’s Sophie hair, WarPaint’s Porcelain lipgloss, and Avi-Glam’s Magicnight Eyes.
Looking back at the finished image, I’m glad I trusted my instincts and let Cori take the lead on this one. Between the styling, the water effects, the lighting, and the incredible atmosphere created by Bubble Blvd, everything came together in a way that felt effortless once the pieces were in place. What I enjoyed most about Bubble Blvd is that it embraces one of the things Second Life does best. It gives creators the freedom to build something that doesn’t need to exist anywhere else to feel real. A bright pink car wash filled with bubbles, fashion, personality, and charm might sound ridiculous on paper, but the moment you step inside it simply works, flawlessly.
That’s what I enjoyed most about this shoot. It wasn’t complicated. It wasn’t trying to tell some grand story. It was simply a fun idea brought to life by a group of talented creators who each contributed something unique to the final image. Sometimes that’s all it takes. Sometimes that’s exactly what you need. If Taylor Swift is right, maybe it’s okay to shimmer a little while you’re at it. Credits for everything can be found below, until next time…
“But some guy said my aura’s moonstone
Just ’cause he was high
And we’re dancing all night
And you can try
To change my mind
But you might have to wait in line
What’s a girl gonna do?
A diamond’s gotta shine”
Taylor Swift – Bejeweled
Credits:
~Cori~
Head: LeLutka EvoX RAVEN 4.0 ~ Jaden Nova
Hair: DOUX – Sophie Hairstyle ~ Dam1710 Resident
Head Skin: [Glam Affair] Korina [Lelutka EvoX] Valley~ Aida Ewing
Eyes: Avi-Glam. Magicnight Eyes ~ Eye Daddy
Ears: ^^Swallow^^ Gauged S Ears ~ Luciayes Magic
Body: [LEGACY] [BODY] (f) (1.7.1) ~ MeshBody Resident
Skin: VELOUR x VENUS for LEGACY (VALLEY/ATHLETIC) ~ Kiria Mama
Shape: [Lemonade Stand] – Raven Shape – Legacy ~ Lemon Crush
Lipgloss: Warpaint* Porcelain Lipgloss HD ~ Mafalda Hienrichs
Nails: [Eris Cosmetics] Almond Nails – Valentine Hearts Legacy ~ Aimee Aurora
Water: Izzie’s – Evo X – Wet Body & Face ~ Izzie Button
Water Shine: THIS IS WRONG Soaked shine 3D ~ Eva Artemesia
Top: Rosary. Bubble Blvd . ~ Kismet Chrome ~ NEW @ Collabor88 (June 8-July 6)
Bottoms: “Off-Line” x “Caliente” Bottom / Pinky / Legacy ~ Xaddy1 Resident ~ NEW @ Tres Chic (May 19-June 12)
~Scene~
Backdrop: FOXCITY. Photo Booth – Bubble Blvd (Babe) ~ Little Snacc ~ NEW @ Collabor88 (June 8-July 6)