Otherworldly

Need some more hearts in your virtual life? Then DICTATORSHOP has you covered with their Valentine collection, which includes some previous releases as well as new additions for 2024.  I’ve mixed a few of each to setup this cosy loft and I’ve done opted for the black texture for all the pieces as I wanted a very sleek look.

So, what do we have here? The central pieces is the Canopy Heart Bed, which is an Adult Kink bed with 550 animations catering to straight, gay and lesbian pairings. It offers a range of metal and fabric textures and includes optional drapes and lights for a very sweet, romantic look. For this post, I only made use of some of the solo animations, so expect to see it again down the road.

The other piece with animations is the Dance Pole, offering a nice selection of both male and female dances that give your avatar quite a workout!

In addition to these two pieces, there are three new decor releases. The Swirl Lamp is a free gift at the Shop & Hop until February 19th. The Heart Lamps (includes two versions) are available at the store and discounted to L$50 for group members and the Heart Tables are a new instore release.

The bodysuit I am wearing is a new release by Faida for the Fetish Fair and I am using it on the sexy and athletic Khara body from Inithium.

There’s a secret lair on Opera, well-stocked with wine and luxuriously furnished. Make sure you explore the sim thoroughly; it was beautiful before it was fully decorated and now it is just stunning. I wish it would stay around so that I could move in there, but alas, the Fairelands are ephemeral.

But I did at least get to move into the lair for a round of photos and naturally I needed a decadent and mysterious appearance for this. I picked Faida’s Brielle gown in Noir, one of two colours available as an RFL donation item. This slinky gown features a lace across the breasts, naughtily hinting but not revealing too much. I wanted to bring out the lovely Khara body again and Faida provides plenty of clothing for her already.

A mask was of course needed and this one comes from Hanzel. This is the standard version but there is also an RFL version. It makes beautiful use of materials and the HUD includes a nice range of possible texture options. And to add a touch of danger, the fingertips from the Vonnika hand jewelry set by Drunken Brokkr. The Kupra size will work for Khara as the hands are the same.

Happy new year and time to get used to writing 2023! I’ve had the usual lazy first day of the new year, which has involved a few hours (or so…) in front of the computer. Part of the time was spent setting up a medieval kitchen from Del-ka Aedilis and taking some photos of a bit of virtual cooking, which is about all the cooking I am up for right now after the holidays. I should probably stick to virtual food for a while as well. ;)

The kitchen set includes the hearth, a table setup for sausage making, a sideboard with a basket of vegetables and cutting boards and a simple stool. The set is rustic and nicely detailed, with a very authentic feel. The only animations are in the stool, which has a few basic sits. For the photos, I used animations from Dutchie’s New Amsterdam Kitchen. I would actually love to see a HUD with various simple roleplay animations, perhaps one you could expand with different animation sets. That would be great for matching with sets of furnitures and props that don’t come with their own animations.

With the holidays coming up, one question is likely to crop up more than once—what am I going to wear? I think I have decided what I am wearing for Christmas IRL, but my virtual self is even more indecisive. Not to mention that she has a much, much bigger wardrobe in her overflowing inventory.

What better way to illustrate that well-filled wardrobe than with the latest release from Dutchie, the complete women’s walk-in closet (matching the complete men’s walk-in closet released earlier this year). This modular closet set includes 11 different closets, 3 that are closed and 8 that show different sets of clothing, shoes and bags. A colour-change menu offers the choice of 6 wood colours and if you are comfortable editing and tinting you can customize the clothing within the closets as well. Additionally, extra clothing and accessories are included in the full package (and available for purchase separately), for example the red and black dresses shown in the image. These pieces are perfect props for photos or for personalizing your living space in Second Life with a bit of stylish clutter.

As promised in my previous post, a closer look at the new Prima Femme body, created by Fizz Savira. I picked up some very minimal lingerie from Faida to show off as much as possible of the body and selected the elegant, expressive “Creo en Mio” pose from Be My Mannequin? for the “fancy” shots. The hair is a new style from Wasabi, a sleek ponytail with a bit of a witchy hair clip. I included a close-up of the same pose to give a better look at the hair, scroll past that for the “review” shots of the body and all the details.

The Klara hair from Wasabi adds a touch of playful innocence, as do the pale lilac of the stockings from Luxuria. But the Ohanna slip from Faida is anything but, with both the top and the skirt made from delicate lace (which Titania Halasy does so well). Altogether, the perfect little outfit for an evening at home…with some special company, of course.

For the daughter of a very minor rural lord, with a keep of wood rather than stone, being found a place in the royal household was considered quite the achievement. That her duties were those of a servant rather than a lady-in-waiting did not matter to her kin, as long as she served in the king’s own castle.

The last weekend of the Fantasy Faire is upon us. I haven’t yet managed to do the Quest so that is what I hope to do with my weekend, as well as sharing some final blog posts with you. The focus of this one is a grand furniture set from Laminak featuring a canopy bed, bedside table, chest and wardrobe. I love the look of the woodwork on these pieces, they are truly fit for royalty.

I also took the opportunity to show off the Terra Sigillata Wine Tray and Wine Jug from Del-ka Aedilis. These are of course Roman rather than medieval, but work well enough in place of other kinds of pottery. There are subtle designs on all the pieces, very much in the classic style of Terra Sigillata.

This year at Fantasy Faire, Del-ka Aedilis invites you to visit a proper Villa Rustica. To show this large build off in detail, I did a little video (and managed not to cough at all, despite being a bit sniffly still) which you can view below.

I have also included some still photos and of course details on the Villa, the Triclinium and what I am wearing.

I love how this image came out, both moody and seasonal. I’ve been struggling a bit with ideas again, but I think it is partly because I have been trying to force myself to blog the wrong things. For next year, I will need to rethink my blogging commitments. On the one hand, if I don’t have some things I actually have to do, I can get too indecisive and just never get anything done because I keep waiting for the perfect idea. On the other hand, if I have to work too hard to get inspired it can be draining.

Anyway, when I saw this lovely dress from Faida and Velvet Whip at Redeux, I knew I wanted to do something with it. But I’ve wandered about in it for a few days now without just the right idea (see above), until I remembered the Starlight Lantern from Contraption that I picked up a few weeks ago. Off to my little winter landscape in the sky I went and then the magic happened.

In a few hours, there will be a new girl in town and I think quite a few of you might want to be just like her. Cinnamon (and her “sister”, Chai) is a new mesh body from Siddean Munro, the creator behind the Slink brand. This is NOT an update of the Slink bodies, nor does it mean those are being retired. Cinnamon & Chai is a completely separate brand and these bodies have been built anew from the ground up.

Why another body, you might wonder? What does it offer that we don’t already have plenty of in Second Life? Well, I am glad you asked and to answer, I prepared a little video. Note, there is pixelnudity in it.

If you prefer to read about the bodies, I urge you to check out the Cinnamon & Chai website, which has an excellent FAQ. As for the quick version of my opinion of the body (there’s of course a more in-depth review in the video),  I love the lower half of the body but would have preferred smaller or at least more natural breasts. I also think the new UV is a really cool and bold move and the seamless waist and ankles look fantastic. And the animated feet are great.

I’ve also included some shots of the body below, if you want to get a quick look at it without seeing the video. Again, pixelnudity follows. The poses used for the nude shots are from XTC and available at the new round of La vie en pose. Full credits are at the end, but since the store is not yet open the landmark will be added later. To be notified immediately when the release happens, I suggest joining the Cinnamon & Chai group.

Time to redecorate your SL bedroom? Dutchie has you covered with their release for FaMSHed for November, an elegant bedroom suite that can be matched to the sleigh bed released for the October round. The suite consists of dresser, lingerie chest, mirrored nightstands and a large wardrobe with mirror doors and animations which comes in a PG and an Adult version. Each piece offers 4 wood options (with the cherry wood matching the sleigh bed) and 2 metal options. The cherry gives an elegant feel, the rustic a heavier feel and the blue and white are very shabby chic with aged and flaking paint. To showcase a full bedroom setup I opted for the cherry wood, but I really like the other options too.

The wardrobe is my favourite piece, especially the Adult version. But both have the 10 solo animations setup with a special mirror view where the camera angle makes it so that it looks like you are looking at yourself in the mirror.  The couple poses do not have this setup, but you can cam around and approximate it,  it just gets more difficult to get it to look convincing with two avatars. Of course I had to try it for some of the adult poses. ;) There are 20 foreplay and 30 sex animations and there are some distinctly NSFW images in the latter half of this post that give just a hint of what’s available. All animations, PG and Adult, have bento hand poses and animations and where it is applicable they use auto attaching of props.

The Fawn outfit from On a Lark is a special offer for 25 Linden Tuesday; individual colours are 25L and the HUD-controlled fatpack only 125L. It includes six different fits, among them Slink Hourglass so that is what I opted for this time. To show it off I decided to make use of a backdrop from Faida for La vie en pose as well as poses by Creative Stylez, also for La vie en pose.  The backdrop includes several different textures both for the stone and for the drapery, the poses come with mirrored versions and a lipstick prop for each version.

The Butter slip from Faida may look modest enough from the front, but the back definitely makes it worthy of being at the current round of Kinky, as it reveals more than it hides. But this time around, you’ll have to check that out for yourselves! I also recommend looking at the special lace versions of Butter, the lace work is fantastic on those.

The Art Deco set from Dutchie is one of my favourite living room sets and here I have added the latest Dutchie release, a beautiful antique chandelier that is available at FaMESHed. You have the choice of six different metals and two sizes that vary in regards to the length of the chain. This is the perfect centerpiece for any room that needs that extra bit of opulence.

Both poses come from the A Lady Like That set from Sassy Sweet Poses, available shortly at La vie en pose which opens today.

If you ask me, the best female mesh body in Second Life is still Slink Physique Original. I do have an use Maitreya Lara and Legacy as well, it is virtually impossible to blog without at least one of those, but for a natural, realistic look Physique Original can’t be beat. The hip and thigh area, in particular, drives me crazy on the other bodies.

But like I said, I have had to cave in and start using them for blogging. Still, I am always thrilled when a new release that supports Slink Physique Original shows up! The Iris dress from Faida is one such release and this time Titania Halasy gave herself quite a task, modelling the dress for 12 bodies/body variants. And since it is for the Itty Bitty Titty Committée, there’s a version for Slink Physique Original with the Petite Chest Augment and that is precisely what I am wearing here.

Another day, another portrait between (re)packing our bags for Monday. Chronologically, this one fits in before the previous portrait, as Barba Bracken preceded Melissa Blackwood as a mistress. The Brackens are described as a bit stocky and I imagine Barba as pretty but less fineboned than Missy. I thought the Logo Bella head (with its matching skin) might suit that. I also opted for a more casual hairstyle for her vivacious personality. As Barba was particularly known for being buxom, I picked a gown from Faida and Velvet Whip that highlights this very well. The dragon egg necklace would obviously be a present from King Aegon, perhaps as he learned she was pregnant.