Otherworldly

It has not been a good couple of weeks since I last posted, so I have been slow to embrace the change of season and start looking forward to the rest of the year again. But Easter is hard to just ignore (and Easter candy always helps to perk one up), so when a box of adorable new releases showed up from Dysfunctional Designs, I found myself with a bit of inspiration again.

This started with the dark and somewhat twisted Iron Maiden design by aisling for The Secret Affair. As it happened, it turned out to be a rather good match for one of the new releases from the Plastik—no surprise, really, since dark and twisted is something the Plastik does very well. The final touch was the new shoes from Bushu for My Attic and some bold red makeups by elymode and Adam n Eve.

Two more days and Skin Fair 2015 will open its doors. The second skin that I am featuring is from Imabee, whose new face Imogen will be launched at the fair. In this post you will also see new horns from the Plastik and some adorable fluttery critters from Dysfunctional Designs.

From The Mesh Project at The Shops comes the long-awaited beta of the male mesh avatar that they have been working on for quite awhile, according to all indications, and the fact that The Shops! have been jam-packed since the release a few days ago suggests that they’ve come not a moment too soon. The Mesh Project’s male avatar is, I think, the first really serious attempt at a male avatar aimed at the widest possible market, including support for third-party appliers, complicated alpha setup, and more. Alongside the release of the body was the release of their male mesh head in five different variations, another much sought-after accessory, and no less than seven brand new male skins. For this review, however, I’m using a somewhat older skin, Prince from The Skin Shop (part of the The Shops! collective, who are known to have included the prolific designers behind some of SL’s most well-regarded brands over the years: Naughty, ARMIDI,and Abyss.)

Not my usual style, but I wanted to do something that fit a pose set that I picked up from elymode. Then I spotted the bodysuit from Luxuria for Fifty Linden Friday and Ran suggested that I go with the white version (you also get a black and a nude) and use a more austere build than what we normally go for.

If it wasn’t for foolish boasts and ill-considered promises, there would not be many fairy tales to tell. Rumpelstiltskin, the theme for the new round of Enchantment, is a prime example of both. As before, Enchantment is a stamp rally event, meaning that you purchase as many qualifying items from participating merchants that you want and each purchase gives you a stamp card. You then visit all the merchants to fill your card(s) with stamps and then you head off to the prize location to claim one prize per card. The event page has a visual key to all the prizes so that you can determine in advance how many cards you will need.

As soon as I put on the Dona gown from Luminary for the next round of The Fantasy Collective, I knew I had to do something inspired by Renaissance paintings. It isn’t just about the style being perfect, it is about how spot-on the drapery of the gown is. Those folds look like they came out of a painting!

Its Midsummer here today, but for my blogging I am abandoning Swedish traditions and heading out into the desert courtesy of the latest round of Genre - Arabia. I also added in a dash of Totally Top Shelf, a new event where the first round is inspired by Greek mythology.

When mesh eyes were a relatively new thing, Damien Fate released his FATEeyes, a scripted product that allowed for each user to make a wide range of spectacular eyes. Over time, individually coloured mesh eyes improved so much that I largely moved away from FATEeyes except for when I needed to whip up an eye colour on the fly. Now, however, version 3.0 of FATEeyes is out and it is definitely time to give them a second look.

With June fast approaching, so is another round of We Love Role-Play and I will also be sharing a couple of previews today, from lassitude & ennui and Luminary.

Dysfunctional Designs has this fabulous Library Set out for the May round of We Love Role-Play and you really don’t want to miss it. It is packed full of different shelf options and could easily by used to setup anything from just a single shelf in a room to a full library. All pieces come with several wood options, so you can fit them to a range of rooms.

For a couple of more looks at the library parts, some other We Love Role-Play pieces and a gorgeous new hair from Analog Dog, read on.

The September round of Genre has opened and this month we are treated to an Old West theme. The Molly outfit from Senzafine immediately caught my eye and I decided that it would be lovely to pair it with the new Alisha lace booties from lassitude & ennui. These are made for the Slink medium feet and available at the new round of the Boutique.

For a while, mesh made it very hard to find nice clothing for roleplay looks. This has all changed rather drastically in the last few months and now there are several stores producing high quality roleplay-oriented clothing in mesh. And, of course, there’s the We Love Role-Play event, which is a great way of getting familiar with both established and new designers within the field.

This month’s lineup includes three outfits from FATEplay, Damien Fate’s latest venture. Some of the outfits made their debut during the Fantasy Faire, but they have been updated since then and now feature materials. I thought that made the Wende dress a nice match for the poet shirt from bastard (Maxwell Graf’s new male clothing line) since that one also utilizes materials.

A new round of FaMESHed is starting tomorrow and if you like corsets you just have to try on Perception’s new Sweetheart Overbust corset. Brand new is also the gorgeous necklace from Mandala and my hair is a recent release from Analog Dog’s Point B line.

Just a few hours remain of this year’s Fantasy Faire, so hurry over to do your last minute shopping and some final admiring of the lovely sims. There is also the first part of the Key of Hope hunt; I did it earlier today and you may be able to manage in the hours that remain.

I had to take a little breather to concentrate on work, but I still have quite a few gorgeous things from the Fantasy Faire to share with you. Such as this lovely hair from Analog Dog, a gown from Bilo and makeup from Beautiful Freak.