Otherworldly

La vie en pose opens its April round tomorrow, with plenty on offer for blogging, roleplaying and socializing. I thought I would give you a sneak peak of a nice set from Rebel Poses, featuring five emotional poses (including mirrors) set in front of a window with an optional backdrop that provides the outside scenery. I selected two of the poses to also showcase a sexy pair of garter tights from Luxuria. I love the way the shine comes out on these; it is actually materials applied to the body, but it affects the tattoo layer as well. My hair is one of two new styles from Wasabi’s new gacha at the Epiphany, which is opening in a few hours. Both Milk and its sister style, Toast, also offers a windswept option to both the bangs and the lengths of hair in front of the chest.

Alaskametro recently released an update to her current body skin, the “Fit” series, which includes updated shading and a materials applier. If you have bought the skin previously, you can get a redelivery of this new version. I was excited to try it out and see how the materials would look, which meant a good opportunity to get (nearly) naked. And I don’t pass those up in SL!

I opted for the Slink Physique Original body (my favourite by far) for showing the skin on; the body jewellery is an older set by Voluptas Virtualis from when they were still releasing items for this body. The head is also by Slink, the lovely Ashlynn head which looks really stunning paired with the Abigail skin from alaskametro. Having the face framed by the most recent release from Stealthic, the gorgeous Metropolis hair, certainly doesn’t hurt either. The curl textures of this one are to die for. This hair also represents a big update for Stealthic that includes new colors, new sizes and new pricing.

The poses are also from the depths of my inventory, a set by HopScotch which features some very classic water bearing poses. So much more interesting to photo these than regular modelling poses, props don’t have to be complicated to add a sense of story to a pose.

I had meant to make this post yesterday, but I ran out of time. By now I believe the Skin Fair and possibly also the March round of We Love Role-Play has concluded, so it may be a day or two before some of the items shown appear in the mainstores of Sköll, the Rotten Lab and Faida & Velvet Whip. The magic crystal is from an earlier We Love Role-Play round, so I think you will be able to find that at Roawenwood already.

A bit of fashion, a bit of home & garden, all set against a beautiful sunset that represents a first for me—I bought this lovely sky setting and the matching water on the Marketplace. EEP has its issues, for sure, but sellable and tradeable presets are a great idea. This particular preset is Mesmer from DHS and if you want to try it out for yourself there is a demo.

The reason that I started looking at buying a ready-made sky was that I am still not as comfortable working with EEP as with Windlight and I wanted a really nice sunset for showing off the setup I made with the deck from EED Home & Garden from the Home & Garden Expo together with the boulders from Fanatik’s Land Shapes set. On the deck I have also got a few decor pieces from Headhunter’s Island, also for the Home & Garden Expo.

Les Encantades has a lovely set with a tunic, pants and shoes (each sold separately) out at We Love Role-Play and to me they suggested a hunter, especially in the Olive green version with brown accents. I found the shoes a little modern-looking so I wore a pair of boots from Senzafine instead and because the pants end a little below the knee that worked pretty well. The set is available for a wide range of bodies, including Slink Physique, which always makes me very happy. There are also alphas included, something I wish more creators did these days. After all, BOM was supposed to be the end of alpha cuts on the bodies, but sadly not all body makers have gone that route.

The Midnight Order event is threatening to create a bit of a hole in my virtual wallet as it features a very good selection of creators and said creators have done some particularly fine work for it. The Descent dress from toksik, for example. It created an immediate “must have” reaction in me. Of course, I had to decide on a colour, which was easier said than done. In the end, I steered away from the black and the gorgeous red and went with this amazing purple. Its not quite as dark as the black and less vibrant than the red, which worked perfectly for this sort of moody, slightly dusty-feeling shot.

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.

A new round of La vie en pose is opening tomorrow, on the 10th of January. This is the “naughty” edition, so expect some sexy poses and props. Like this sinfully red motel room backdrop from Lacrime dell’anima and the sultry “Welcome Back” poses by Nya.Gore. To go with it, I picked up the latest release from Salt & Pepper. The light setup (including the EEP setting) is handled via the PhotoPro attachment and HUD. Now that I have started using EEP I will definitely be setting up some more EEP & light combinations to have on hand.

A dashing nobleman visits his mistress and gifts her with a magnificent set of jewellery. She sits down at her vanity to admire how the stunning necklace and earrings looks on her, adding a dash of perfume while she is at it. Her lover looks on admiringly.

I love how this came together, the beautiful vanity from Dictatorshop serving as the focal point for the rendezvous. The store is very generously offering group members an L$1000 gift card for L$1 to cheer everyone up. There are plenty of decor-only items in the store for under 1000 and even quite a few with PG animations or a more limited selection of Adult animations. If you want the really fancy versions, with all of the adult options, they cost more but they also include a very large selection of animations so they are well worth it. There are several different furniture series available, to cater to a wide range of tastes.

At the December round of We Love Role-Play I came across a new and very promising creator. The brand is called Portal and they have just a few releases out so far but the focus on historical clothing captured my interest right away. Their item for WLRP is a classic medieval gown called Marguerite that is rigged for Belleza Freya, Legacy and Maitreya Lara. I hesitated a bit at first since there is only a HUD-driven fatpack available, though this makes sense since at least half the fun with this gown is how you can mix and match the six independently colourable areas (sleeves, pads, bodice, outer skirt, inner skirt and lace). The price point is a little higher than similar all-in-one options from brands like ContraptionN, but on the other hand it is a full gown. So, I picked it up.

It is the season for getting cosy, but nothing says you can’t combine cosy and sexy. The Holiday Thigh High Socks from Luxuria can go either way depending on what you pair them with. Here, together with the Quinnessa slip from Voluptas Virtualis, the vibe is definitely more towards the sexy end of things. The red of the couch from Roawenwood adds seasonal warmth and sensuality.

If you’d like to spice up your Second Life a bit, there’s one Black Friday sale you do not want to miss out on this year, namely Dutchie’s 20% off on all Adult items. There’s so much to choose from, for just about every taste. I decided to bring out one of my favourites for this setup, the Pet Pillow, to also show off my new tattoo from Nefekalum (they make fantastic use of materials!) that I got at their 50% off Black Friday sale and a new chain harness from Voluptas Virtualis for the Black Fair. The tents and the fire pit come from Paper Moon, and they too are having a fantastic 50% off sale.

It is only November, but I am starting to crave snow—especially instead of rain, rain and more rain! Right now, I have to settle for the virtual kind, however, so when Del-ka Aedilis sent out a blogger package with a wintry theme, I changed over one of my sky landscapes to match. Fortunately, Studio Skye recently released a 4 Season Bolt-On for the Woodland Path, which came in handy for this scene. The gown from Senzafine may not quite be warm enough on its own, but I rather like it in combination with this cape, an older release from Stitched.

I love the train on this gown by Faida & Velvet Whip, it gives it such a sleek and classic look. I think that is what made me choose a lighter colour than usual, option for the pale ice-blue option. The delicate Calla jewellery looks fantastic with it and I was pleased to see that the diadem goes very well with the new VIP group gift hair from Truth. The overall look is quite regal, I think, so it is only fitting that I used the Quinta Palace from Fanatik as the setting.

La vie en pose, that is. The current round closes today, so get yourself over there if you haven’t already been. There are quite a few props and poses with a seasonal theme, so if you need to pose in a witchy way, you don’t want to miss checking it out. For this post, however, I went for something sweet and seductive. Creative StyleZ offers a set of five poses (with mirrors) that include strawberries as props in various positions. I picked two of them to showcase and decided to wear the latest two releases from Voluptas Virtualis, the Tania hair ornaments and the Zasha outfit. The hair is a new release from Wasabi for Logo’s 15th anniversary. And speaking of that, the head I am wearing is Chelsea, which is one of two free heads from Logo during the anniversary (the other is Chase, a male head). Its a lovely gift that you do not want to miss out on and make sure to check out all the fabulous releases for it from various merchants (as well as Logo’s own new skin, of course!).