Otherworldly

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.

How fortunate that I sent Ran to shop the Salt & Pepper retirement sale, because a few days later it turned out that a naughty priest was just what I needed for the couple pose “the Noose” from Be My Mannequin.  Clearly, the temptation of the beautiful concubine was too much for this man of the cloth. 

I am wearing the very revealing Keraves dress from Petrichor & Ersch, a one-piece outfit with plenty of texture options for the fabric and the gems. Here I went with gold and red to match the utterly stunning Theodora Circlet from Old Treasures. That has to be my new favourite piece of jewellery in SL. And it fits very well with the beautiful new Morgana hair from Magika, a must-have style.

Another delicious round of Midnight Order has opened and my visit there resulted in quite a bit of shopping. I absolutely had to have the gorgeous sabatons by Static (and, of course, the matching gauntlets as well), though instead of wearing it with something that might combine more naturally with pieces of armour, I couldn’t resist wearing nothing but the stunning Porcelain tattoo from Fallen Gods. With the right choice of hair and some carefully selected poses and camera angles, I am almost decent. ;)

I love the We Love Role-Play release from deviousMind, “Mistletoe”. Not only is it a sexy holiday dress, but the little scythe for harvesting mistletoe hanging from the belt is the icing on the cake. Perfect for the girl who wants to ensure that there’s mistletoe hung wherever it is convenient. Alternatively, if she has any Norse gods to slay and needs to fashion herself a few arrows. The set includes an unrigged piece of mistletoe as well, which you can spot in the background. The rest of the decor is from various holiday sets from Libertine, including the awesome decorateable tree.

There is certainly no doubt of what inspired the “Green Queen” dress from Old Treasures, the stunning green gown worn by Queen Alicent in episode 6 of House of the Dragon. A great choice for a dress to bring into Second Life, and it looks wonderful in this red gold/copper version as well. It (as well as the icon green version) is included in the Dark pack and there is also a Light pack and a Fatpack.  The Verity necklace and earrings from Random Matter finish off the royal look.

The impressive braid is from Wasabi for Anthem and this has to be one of the best styles they’ve ever released. I just love the way it looks and its handy that the braid can be worn over either shoulder. Optional, unrigged bangs are also included.

Del-ka Aedilis has three new releases for the A Thousand and One Night event; a large divan, an elegant tea table and a matching floor cushion that is available either at the event or as a group gift at the main store. Each piece is offered with a 25% discount at the event which lasts until June 25th. Three fabric colours and three shades of wood are included where applicable and the divan and the floor cushion include animations; singles only for the cushion and singles and couple (including adult animations) for the divan.

To complete the decor of the room, I used pieces from Libertine, Paper Moon and Senzafine. The outfit is from Salt & Pepper with the snake armbands being a gift at the Shop n Hop from AtaMe. Another gift from there is the subtly metallic lipstick from alaskametro.

Both Ran and I did some shopping when LeLutka had their Black Friday sale ( I picked up Zora and Inez while he got Paxton and Skyler), but with December being so busy we’ve not had a chance to play much with making new shapes until now. But here I’ve got a nice combination of Nar Mattaru’s Delphine on Inez while Ran is wearing Clef de Peau’s Evan on Paxton. I also picked up some new pieces on Salt & Pepper’s current retirement sale, where selected releases are at 80% off and the Miya dress struck me as a great one to wear for this intimate and possessive couple pose from Be My Mannequin?

I am not sure which is the cosiest and laziest day of the year for me, Christmas Day or New Year’s Day. Probably Christmas Day given all the leftovers available and the lingering food coma. Poking around in SL and taking some pretty pictures is about as intensive as things have gotten today. I wish I had a fireplace IRL to curl up in front, but I had to settle for enjoying it through my avatar. And while the Mangiafuoco Fireplace from Fantavatar & Moonstruck is pretty cool, I am not quite sure it would fit in my living room. ;)

HollyDays is a new release from deviousMind that you can pick up for L$50 per colour for Wanderlust Weekend. Very festive and with two options for the holly pasties, a covered and a peekabo version. The thigh highs from Luxuria match it nicely in colour and theme; these are available at the Arcade and also come as tights. The classic updo is the latest style from Wasabi, an unrigged alpha hair with options for bangs and streaks.

We brought the tree in today, though haven’t dressed it yet. Instead, I dressed my virtual tree today, setting up my little Christmas corner with various pieces from Libertine. I love the aesthetic of Libertine, especially the Christmas collection which really captures the feel of old-fashioned Christmas card. If I could have my Christmas looking like that IRL too, I’d love it. No modern minimalism for me. For this year, I picked up the dark and snowy foliage add-ons for some variety and also a few extra ornaments, both interactive and unscripted. The Christmas Collections have been rearranged following the ban on gachas and Alia has put up a detailed post about how they are now being sold.

I also decided to get a little holiday festive with a new dress for my Chai body and a pair of heels that make my feet hurt just from looking at them. But in Second Life they’re no problem and the red leather does look very nice. The Wasabi hair is the second of their styles from the Arcade, very sleek and elegant, and I am wearing the new gift head from LeLutka.

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.

Hair Fair, one of the oldest events in Second Life, is back again after a hiatus last year. Just as before, the event raises money for Wigs for Kids; a percentage of each sale is donated to the charity. The event runs for two weeks, untill July 4th, and covers a total of six sims. The layout this year is super easy to browse through and the sims are very low lag as well. There are gifts from many of the creators and there were quite a few styles for men available.

The first hair that I am going to show off is the Everly updo from EMO-tions. I had already decided that I wanted to put together a vaguely 17th/18th century inspired look for the couple pose “To Live” from Be My Mannequin for the Anti-Event. An elegant updo suited the look very well. Other than that, I decided to raid my inventory for my outfit and the decor, the latter being a mix of items from Rustica and Libertine.

Alia Baroque went all out with Renaissance decadence for the Ice & Fire event, bringing three gorgeous pieces from this Libertine that go beautifully together; the Optimo Dierum Throne, Gianicolo bench (free-standing and wall version) and Tales of Might divider. I cleared out one of the grand rooms in Fanatik’s Dungan Castle to make room for this setup and then Ran and I dressed in some of our favourite pieces from the Muses. Though not from the Ice & Fire event, I thought F&M Oblivion’s Sansa Stark-inspired hair was a suitable choice to go with my Lucrezia gown and my Fair Lady jewellery from Old Treasures.

Both the throne and the two versions of the bench offer several texture options for the seat, including marble and stone versions for the benches which allow them to be used in a garden as well. There are solo as well as couple animations and the latter include both cuddles and adult animations. The only thing I would have liked to see as far as the animations go are some more sits that work with long dresses, apart from that it is a fun selection. I particularly like the couple pose I used for the bench, which portrays them arguing.

Carpe Noctem has a sweet set of five bento poses (with mirrors) at La vie en pose, each with a pre-positioned rose prop. I really liked the proportions of these poses, they worked very well with my avatar, which is not always the case. Arm length especially tends to be an issue but here it worked really well.

I definitely wanted to embrace the “boudoir” part of the name so I used the room where I have a selection of Libertine furnishings setup, including the Marquis set. Lounging on the floor among some pillows, candles and trays of wine and fruit seemed appropriately decadent. The strategically placed tray also allowed me to skip clothing while still keeping a little modesty. The beautiful Clarity style from Stealthic and features a lovely curl texture and a very natural fringe that effectively takes the place of a hairbase. It fits well on the LightStar Maya head, though the closeness of the fit does mean that there are some heads that it doesn’t work with, so make sure to demo.

The Winter Solstice is upon us and the pagan buried deep (okay, not so deep) within me tend to stir on days like this. The veil between the worlds does feel a little thinner then, especially as you consider the significance such days held for people in the past. I would love to experience the light hitting that inner chamber in Newgrange during the solstice or visiting Stonehenge to see the sunrise there.

Not this year though, for certain. But with the Lucia gown from deviousMind and the Lucia halo and candlestick from Lux Aeterna, I can at least try to capture some of that feeling of celebrating the light in the midst of the darkness, hoping that the sun will return once again.

The blindfold is what really makes this set from Aleutia stand out and it created a very strong image in my head of how I wanted to show it. But it also needed the right pose and after some searching I found this languid pose from Serendipity which was just right for capturing a sense of abandon and hedonism. The peacock stockings from Luxuria adds a further touch of decadence.