Otherworldly

The Fantasy Faire has now been going on for a few days and many of you have probably had a chance to visit. If you are anything like me, you probably have favourite stores that you check out first. I even tend to go so far as to make a list of stores to visit for each sim, just to keep myself organised. But if you always head for the known quantities, how are you going to find those exciting new things? The “My New Shiny” Blogger Challenge is about encouraging bloggers—and everyone else—to branch out a bit. When I was on my browsing the sims during the blogger preview, I tried to do so with an eye towards finding something new that would catch my attention. That is how I came across Arx Loricatus. And when I needed an outfit to go with my fancy new sword, one of the review copies sent out seemed to fit particularly well. As it happened, it came from a brand that I’ve never blogged before either, 22769.

This is an exceptionally good month for fantasy events and I can only apologise in advance to all the creators who have sent gorgeous review copies that I may not have time to cover. I want to showcase as many as possible, but work isn’t leaving me time for more than a post or so a day at the moment.

One of the events on the table for May is We Love Role-Play, as always opening on the 4th of each month. The quality has really been on a steady upwards trajectory and the variety across different genres tends to be quite good as well. For this post, I am wearing one of the event gowns from The Muses together with a hair from Calico (also from We Love Role-Play) and jewellery from Sax Shepherd Designs (for the Fantasy Gatcha Carnival).

I thought about calling this post “When Events Collide” as it features items from no less than three fantasy-related events opening in May: Enchantment (already open), Fantasy Faire (already open) and Fantasy Gatcha Carnival (opening on the 4th). There was just something about these pieces from Kalopsia, aisling and Sax Shepherd Designs that demanded that they be used together.

Tomorrow, May 1st, the new round of Enchantment opens. The format has been changed since previous rounds - instead of shopping at a central location, each of the participating designers will have new, Enchantment-specific releases available in their main stores. Each time you purchase one of the qualifying releases, you receive a stamp card and here’s were the added fun begins. You see, in addition to the main store releases, each designer has also made an Enchantment-specific prize and these are available at a central location. However, you cannot just go and buy these special prizes. This is where the stamp card comes into the picture. For each prize that you want, you will need a stamp card. Once you have all the stamp cards you want, you visit the main store of each designer to stamp the cards (you can wear all of them at once at this stage). When the cards are full, detach them and visit the prize location. There, you attach one card at a time and start claiming the prizes you want.

So now that you know how it works, what about this rounds theme? It is Sleeping Beauty, and for my first post, I decided to dig deep into the fairy-tale’s origins…

Pose Fair 2014 is underway and it is time to fill up those pose stands with some fresh new poses. I have to admit that my shopping so far has been rather limited as I feel I have plenty of general modelling poses already. Instead, I look for sets with interesting themes as well as for props. Seeing as most of my posts are fantasy/role-play looks, I am particularly keen on finding poses that suit such photos, but that’s anything but easy. For example, I don’t want my avatar to look like she’s modelling the clothing/accessories, I want it to be more of a portrait look. And while I am at it, I might as well wish for some couple poses depicting combat, like sword-fighting/fencing. ;)

But, I did find some must-have poses on my first visit to the Pose Fair. oOo Studios has several new sets out, including two sets of seated poses, and one of these proved to be just what I needed to shoot a few pieces from Sax Shepherd Designs.

A new release from the Plastik generally means some sexy, versatile pieces in a wide array of colours and patterns. The latest release features a clothing layer bikini, a sexy dress and the distinctly minimal Raedra skirt which I picked out for this post.

Also featured in this post is my first hair purchase from EMO-tions. I cannot believe it has taken me so long to try them!

ieQED has been producing a nice series of A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones inspired (but wholly original in design) crowns for various gatchas and for the Secret Affair the set included one called Sunspear. Being the big fan of Dorne that I am, I knew I wanted to feature it, so this look and these photos were largely built around the crown. The other item I really wanted to focus on was this brand-new henna designs from Chandra Masala’s Jalwa brand. It includes both arm and leg designs which you will see in more detail inside the post.

I may be suffering from a slight house addiction in Second Life of late. I suspect I will never get our sim fully landscaped and finished since I can’t avoid rezzing out new shinies rather randomly to setup for photos. Such as this Oakside Bungalow from Convair at the Home Show.

Once you step inside, you’ll also get to see a couple of the new releases from Miamai’s Luxe collection, which launched this weekend.

For the spring round of The Seasons Story the team behind aisling has created a three-part outfit (dress, shoes and headdress) and a matching swing with both single and couple poses. I thought these would pair perfectly with the stunning new house from Trompe Loeil, available at this month’s Collabor88. My hair is also from the Seasons Story and is created by Wasabi Pills.

Gatchas are wicked things. I continue to try an exercise restraint (but that doesn’t mean I haven’t ended up with a bunch of duplicates for sale), because for the most part I really would prefer paying more and knowing what I get, but sometimes you end up fooled into thinking you are an extra lucky person who of course will get just what you want… But don’t believe that feeling, it is always a lie.

Case in point? The Alchemy gatcha at the Secret Affair. I just wanted one of the common iron crowns. By the time I had used up my self-imposed limit for that machine, I had ended up with one common (but not the one I wanted, of course), the rare and the ultra rare. So, lucky indeed, but not what I had originally been after! However, since the rare and the ultra rare are incredible works of art, I do have to show them to you, even if it feels like a terrible tease.

The Secret Affair opened yesterday, featuring both brand new gatchas and brand new non-gatcha products. I have some concerns about an event themed around a copyrighted property and about some of the merchandise on sale, but I’ll stress that it is largely a matter of personal preference and of holding to the same rules that we apply on Westeros.org about not allowing any unlicensed A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones products to be advertised. Actually determining what would be considered a product based on A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones is a tricky matter (is it appearance, names - and if so which names - or a combination of elements?) and it is very possible that I am erring on the side of caution.

But, enough about that. I did go to the event and fortunately I found that the one item I just had to have wasn’t a gatcha! The Wyrmling from Alchemy is my new favourite item in Second Life and I don’t ever want to detach him. Alchemy has put out some really cool-looking attachable, animated pets before such as ravens and wolves (now kicking myself that I missed the latter at the Red Riding Hood event), but the Wyrmling definitely takes the cake.

Also in this post, also from the Secret Affair, a stunning gatcha gown from Junbug and a lovely braid from Calico.

As my blogging of late has no doubt made plain, I love gowns. But sometimes you do need to slip into something more comfortable and practical, and thanks to The Muses latest offering for We Love Role-Play you can now do so in proper fantasy style with the Doronthor outfit (or the corresponding Doronthel, if you happen to be male). Four special colours of these outfits are offered at a discount at the event and will not be available afterwards, so make sure to check them out.

My accessories, the elegantly casual Spring Necklace and Headwrap, are from lassitude & ennui, also for We Love Role-Play, and the same goes for the tied-off pony tail from Epos, who are making their first foray into hair in a very nice way.

Normally, I’d write a fair bit more, but my arms are quite exhausted as I just came in from a riding lesson and Nelson (my horse for the day) was in a very frisky mood and wanted to run a lot more than I was keen on. So this time you’ll have to settle for these (hopefully) pretty pictures.

We Love Role-Play is now open and I am working on another set of photos to showcase some more items from there, but I thought I would sneak in a post from a couple of gatcha events as well, namely the Love & War gatcha (open) and the Secret Affair gatcha (opens on the 6th), to show case a gown from Junbug and more jeweller/accessories from aisling. I also wanted to feature the orchard trees from Dysfunctional Designs which we picked up from the Home Show.

April promises to be another great month for fans of fantasy-inspired clothing and accessories in Second Life, with several themed events about to open. I’ll look first at the new round of We Love Role-Play which is just around the corner. With the elaborate Chestlace piece from aisling and the cheeky Took an Arrow hair ornament from Bliensen+MaiTai, I felt inspired to create this rather dangerously seductive courtesan. After all, can you be sure those arrows are just hair ornaments? I am also wearing the second release from aisling for the event, the Hind shoes which are add-ons for the flat Slink feet.

It has been a while since I tried out a new skin brand. I am pretty picky and I also have tastes that aren’t quite “mainstream” Second Life; in particular, I don’t tend to go for cute all that often. I often look for skins with a bit stronger faces and perhaps more character than classical prettiness or beauty.

When I visited this year’s Skin Fair, I ended up collecting quite a pile of demos, but out of the new-to-me brands I tried only one stood out for me - DeeTaleZ. I tried on several of their faces and found that they had something that interested me. However, none grabbed me strongly enough that I made up my mind (I am indecisive). But I did sign up for their subscriber and started following their Flickr. And then a new face called Shirin was released, catching my attention both with the name (I happen to have a role-play character going by that name) and its appearance. After quite a bit of demoing—I just couldn’t decide which tone to get!—I finally took the plunge yesterday, then immediately set out to create a new shape for the skin. As it happens, I think the look of the skin lends itself quite well to a Dornishwoman, so I made the shape with that in mind and decided to show off another of the Dorne-inspired gowns from The Muses.