Otherworldly

A princess of the Deep and her deadly Kelpie steed awaits you in my first vlog from this year’s Fantasy Faire. The Kelpie is one of two fantastical new horses from Teegle for this Faire, the other being the far more benign-looking Hippocampus. They have been released as Teeglepets so far, but there will probably be avatar versions down the line as well. The black skin is by CORN who has released a really nice set of textures for the two mer-horses in their Fantasy Faire store. You will find the Teegle store on the Last Stop sim, one of the underwater sims for this year. The video below was filmed at Thunnus Bay, another of the underwater sims.

In addition to the gorgeous Kelpie, the video also features a side-saddle riding mer-princess. The beautiful, glistening tail is the Odyssey tail by Brine, in the version fitted for the Legacy female body. The tail requires a little fiddling with your shape to fit perfectly at the waist, but it was fairly easy to sort that out. I have left the original materials on the tail, but added a black BOM texture from Krature. The crown is by Drunken Brokkr and the cuff necklace and armbands by Petrichor. The skin is one of the Draugr versions by Fallen Gods. Detailed credits with links to Faire-stores and main stores can be found below the video and the photos.

She raised the lantern up high and it cast a faint light over the dusky fields of flowers, the glittering waterfalls and the strange, twisted roots. What kind of place was this, she wondered, eager to explore more of its beauty and mystery. She did not know what lurked in the shadows, however…

Welcome to The Duskfall Court, sponsored by Quills & Curiosities and Cryptid. A lush Faireland shrouded in the colours of twilight and shadow, with beautiful little nooks and crannies to explore.

I wanted to echo the colours of the sim and the Sorana outfit by Petrichor and Ersch offers ample choice when it comes to textures, making that easy to achieve. I quite like the combination of the tiny bodysuit/bikini with a bolero and a flowing skirt—it looks almost modest from behind! For accessories a flower crown by Angelicus seemed appropriate, and the halo from Air added an air (pun intended) of mystery. Finally, the Beacons of Hope pose set from Audition offered an excellent pose with a custom lantern.

Ladies and Lords, mermaids and mermen, fairies and goblins and all other creatures, the time has come again. Tonight, the Fairelands become accessible and Fantasy Faire 2024 begins and stays open until May 5th. Prepare to explore, shop and be entertained across 20 unique Fairelands, all in the name of raising money for the Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society.

I’ve begun my journey to the Fairelands on my own sim, but thanks to HopScotch I have found a way to enter the Fairy Tale from here. I invite you all to follow along as soon as the mists recede fully and welcome everyone to the Fairelands. A few glimpses of what will be on offer from the fantastic creators taking part can also be seen here; a stunning gown fit for a Fairy queen by Les Encantades and jewellery to match by Drunken Brokkr. A pose from Uzme and fields of gorgeous flowers by MB.

The beautiful, steampunk-inspired wings from deviousMind absolutely insisted that I should take to the skies. These wings include both rigged and unrigged versions as well as PBR and non-PBR versions for each. I am using the rigged PBR wings for this shot and I think they light really beautifully. This is the first PBR release from deviousMind and a bit of a proof of concept, so there will be more gorgeous colours of these wings later on (the plan is, I think, for the Fantasy Faire).

I paired the wings with the Cleopatra dress from Aurora, which comes with some nice texture options for both the fabric and the metals, as well as sheer/opaque option for the dress. And to keep me company, a beautiful swarm of butterflies from Puke Rainbows. All three of these items are We Love Role-Play releases, whereas the wild curls from Analog Dog are a new mainstore release.

The roleplay gets a little naughtier today with the Rogue Shibari Frame from DICTATORSHOP, available at We Love Role-Play at 25% off from its usual price. The rough bamboo frame offers four textures and over 140 animations for 1 to 2 avatars, with both maledom and femdom menus being available. The Rogue series offers rough wood and suggestions of harsher play, which I think it fits right into the courtyard of the Quinta Palace by Fanatik. A public punishment for bad behaviour, perhaps?

I added in some mood lighting with the sturdy braziers from Tirrany Designs, also from WLRP, as is Superdoll’s Siren’s Modesty set, a minimal bikini with little moon designs. For a final set of WLRP releases, I used Boudica’s Brows in Ginger and one of the Iceni appliers for my eyes, a matching set from lovelysweet.

The gorgeous and aptly named Lush hair is a new Truth Collective release from Truth and Wasabi, available at the Truth mainstore. It comes with and without bangs, with four options for how to style the hair and with optional clips at each temple.

I love how the colours of this came together, all very warm and earthy. That gorgeously sexy little thing I am wearing is Kamille from Tres, available exclusively at We Love Role-Play. Kamille supports a nice range of bodies (here I am using the athletic Khara body from Inithium) and comes in 9 different colours and patterns. Each can also be either opaque or sheer and of course I had to experiment with the sheer version. I just love the look of it, not the least from the back.

I’ve got two other WLRP releases on display here. The major one is the Oasis decor set from Lore, which includes a well, a variety of pots, a bench and the whole surrounding enclosure. Wonderfully earthy and realistic textures and a great set for building a desert village centered around a vital well.

The pot I am carrying on my head, however, is from Lorien and includes a holding animation which I adjusted somewhat to go with this pose.

What a lineup We Love Role-Play has for April! A really strong mix of avatar accessories and various builds, furnishings and landscaping. I dove right for the massive Gothic castle by Nocturna Deed, even though it clocks in at a hefty 800 prims. It makes gorgeous use of PBR and lights beautifully. Need a home for your brooding lord or reclusive vampire? This would certainly serve! I really like the way it is laid out as well and the fact that there are proper windows and doors. There are also quite a few rooms, allowing it to serve as a home for several people if so desired. In fact, it took me a while to discover the very cool crypt and the bloody dungeons.

The castle certainly seemed like a perfect home for the Skull Throne from MoonSha. It is similar in setup to the Dragon Throne I showed a few rounds back, but featuring a skull motif instead. It comes in a variety of base materials and with the included HUD you can change the fabric texture. The PG version includes single poses for male and female avatars as well as couple poses.

For my own outfit, the Eowyn gown and the Dragon shield by the Muses made me feel right at home. The gown layers leather and chainmail details on top of the fabric and comes in five colours with either black or brown leather details and either gold or silver chainmail. The sturdy shield comes both as a wearable and as a display version. And if you take a closer look at the second image, you can admire my lovely new eye appliers by Musa. I decided to play around with mismatched eyes and I love the effect here. These gorgeous eyes are sold in smaller packs or a fatpack and with the fatpack you get some great bonus colours as well. At the 30% off for the event, this is a great deal!

I am having the oddest error in my blog where I specific paragraph of text results in a 403 error when input. Unfortunately, that was the paragraph giving the details of the decor for this post. I’ve tried rewriting to see what triggers it, but for now I have left that on Flickr instead.

My outfit is by Petrichor and & Ersch for the Wizarding Faire and I love the leather texture pack on this little dress, very sexy. I also like how it has separate arm and thigh straps that I could leave on after taking off the dress.  I also got Ran to go off shopping for a new hair and he picked up Starling by Raven Bell from the Engine Room. What a gorgeous short style for guys.

A final look at this month’s round of We Love Role-Play, featuring an intrepid explorer who has come across an enigmatic statue in a cave. But what magic guides our adventurer here, especially as her milky eyes suggest that she does not see in the normal fashion?

Combining items from Harshlands (the statue, which comes in 3 versions and with and without PBR), Senzafine (the Brielle tunic, available in eight colours) and Poema (eye appliers with various eye conditions), with poses from Uzme.

The Queen was gazing out the window when the knight was shown into the royal study. His eyes fell briefly on the cabinet next to the window, beautifully painted with unicorn holding the royal standard.  On the desk, a half-finished scroll and a bottle of ink sat next to a couple of leather-bound tomes. After a moment, the Queen turned away from the window and approached him. The royal crown gleamed on her head and in her hand, she held a small handkerchief embroidered with a black rose.

The Lady’s Favor from Schoen is one of those fabulous little role-play items that can add so much to a scene and it was the starting point for the rest of the setup. The beautiful gown by the Muses is certainly regal enough (and looks particularly stunning when lit right thanks to the use of materials) and with the gorgeous crown from Angelicus you have a look worthy of a queen.

For the decor, I used various pieces from Del-ka Aedilis, including the small cabinet that is available with four different paintings on the front.

alaskametro has several new releases out for Skin Fair, which runs from March 8th to March 25th. The “Fit” body skin has received a significant update, which includes new tones and new add-ons. The skin is now sold in 4 packs with 3 tones in each, which at L$250 per pack remains a fantastic bargain for a great body skin. And, if you have bought the “Fit” body before, make sure to check which packs you get redelivered as Alaska is generously providing updates for previous purchases.  This body skin is in my top three for sure, it is so natural and well-balanced in terms of texture and shading. Not too shiny, not too shaded, not too exaggerated in any way. I am definitely very happy to have even more tones to play with and to potentially match with other face skins.

Of course, Alaska also provides some very nice face skin. For Skin Fair, she has updated Abby (again, check for redeliveries if you bought her before) and created two new faces; Amber, a Genus or SLUV skin, and Maya, an EvoX Asian skin. I decided to photo all three ladies in the Basix underwear from alaskametro outlet on the Marketplace and posing on the Gelato limited edition of the Valentine furniture from DICTATORSHOP, available at Cosmo until the 16th of March.

Sometimes, you just have to go full Sword & Sorcery and seeing the Apophis snake from Axis Mundi immediately put me in that mood. The huge cobra can be extensively customised via the HUD and will slither along with you as you walk or slither in a coil around you when you are standing still. To dress the part I selected Superdoll’s Stardust Sorceress, a cute little fantasy outfit which also offers a lot of texture options. As accessories, Nefekalum’s impressive Shrike headdress, with sweeping horns and dangling chains, and a dagger from Thorn’s set of several variants. Each dagger is scripted for quite a few different hand/arm poses which you access through clicking the weapon. The final piece from We Love Role-Play is the Dragon Teeth collection by Cerridwen’s Cauldron, which helps create a fantastical landscape.

In addition to the new releases from WLRP I am also Wasabi’s latest hair release, out this weekend for FLF, and my skin is from alaskametro for the Skin Fair, though you’ll get to see that in more detailed in a separate post.

We Love Role-Play welcomes you to its March round. Its definitely getting to be spring weather outside in real life, but the Thyra outfit from Rakshasa with its luxurious fur wrap on top of the gown and the apron still made me think of snow. I love all the options in the fatpack, not just in the way of textures but you can also choose your sleeve length and of course go with or without the apron and the fur. The braided headband with the gold ornaments looks like it might have been a part of the Rakshasa outfit, but it is actually from Bliensen + MaiTai.  It sits very prettily on the thick braid from No.Match. I am also wearing new eye appliers from lovelysweet, from a pretty set called Kore that features beautiful jewel tones.

The rustic well is by MoonSha and comes in four different texture variants and include one version without animations and one with single animations (male and female) and couple animations.

The clean, elegant lines of the Breeze collection from DICTATORSHOP made me want to play with stark contrasts and shadows when it came to photoing the latest addition, the Shibari Frame. The frame is exclusively available at the Man Cave event until the 11th of March, where it is sold at a L$700 discount compared to what its in-store price will be. The frame includes six sleek metal options (accessed via the logo) and 140 custom bento animations for male and female avatars. Some, like those I am showing images of, are solo animations, others are for two avatars, either two submissives or one dominant and one submissive. The ropes are given out via the menu and are available for male and female avatars. Each piece is resizable and moveable.

For Valentine’s Day, Dutchie sent out a lovely vanity for her subscribers. It features the usual well-selected animations and impeccable mesh and textures, as well as a bonus feature: mirrors using PBR. Now, the included notecard explains that using PBR for mirrors is still in its early stages and still has a lot of issues, but of the implementations I have tried, Dutchie’s is the best I have seen and it really does add something to the room to have a mirror. Because of this, I made a short video showing a couple of the animations and what the mirror effect looks like. Note, I misspoke a little in the video; there’s several (10, in fact) couple animations under the Kiss menu. And if you like the look of this vanity, there will be an adult version coming as well, with an option for subscribers to get a L$1000 rebate. I also did not explore the texture options for the vanity since it fit so well into the look of Dutchie’s Waterland house out of the box.

Also worn in the video is a new Truth Collective hair and a sexy new Petrichor release (just Petrichor, not a collaboration this time as I think I may have said in the video). For additional credits and links, look below the video.