Otherworldly

Ladies and Lords, mermaids and mermen, fairies and goblins and all other creatures, the time has come again. Tonight, the Fairelands become accessible and Fantasy Faire 2024 begins and stays open until May 5th. Prepare to explore, shop and be entertained across 20 unique Fairelands, all in the name of raising money for the Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society.

I’ve begun my journey to the Fairelands on my own sim, but thanks to HopScotch I have found a way to enter the Fairy Tale from here. I invite you all to follow along as soon as the mists recede fully and welcome everyone to the Fairelands. A few glimpses of what will be on offer from the fantastic creators taking part can also be seen here; a stunning gown fit for a Fairy queen by Les Encantades and jewellery to match by Drunken Brokkr. A pose from Uzme and fields of gorgeous flowers by MB.

With Ryo, the latest NextUp release from deviousMind, you too can become an exotic sword dancer, wearing silk and jewellery and both enticing and intimidating with your skills. This set paired beautifully with an old pose set from HopScotch called Dancing Blades as well as with a brand new hairstyle from Navy and Copper for the Hair Fair. This gorgeous braid can be worn over either shoulder or down the back and the accessory and be hidden for a less ostentatious appearance. But for this, the jewellery was the perfect touch.

Hair Fair runs until July 2nd and as usual the event benefits Wigs for Kids, with all styles sold at the Fair donating a percentage of the sale price. Many sellers also offer lovely gifts, so make sure you browse all the booths on the six sims.

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.

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.

Given the scarcity of gorgeous male historical/fantasy clothing in Second Life (unless you’re a grungy barbarian), I am always really thrilled when I come across something that I know Ran will want for his avatar. One brand that is sure to never disappoint in that regard is Junbug’s male side brand/sub brand, fittingly named Heathcliff. At the Fantasy Gacha Carnival, she has a gorgeous set of tunics and matching knee breeches which I promptly spent some money on and then passed over to Ran with orders for him to get dressed. As it happened, I had a new dress to blog, so we made it a little scene in a tavern.

A darker side of the fantasy this time, as a priest of the Runic Cult prepares a sacrifice. These outfits, both the priest and the sacrifice, come courtesy of paper moon. They are available with gold or silver runes and come with a HUD for customising the main colour. On the priest (and matching priestess) outfit, there are numerous combinations, whereas the simpler garment of the sacrifice is more straight-forward. You will find paper moon on the YoZakura sim of the Fantasy Faire.

HopScotch has the Pretty Doll cage in two colours out for ROMP‘s Fresh fair. After a visit to Collabor88 today, the right look for it finally came together for me as I added accessories from Japanese creator Silvery K to the lingerie by alaskametro.

Skadi, the huntress of Nordic mythology, is a most appropriate guise for the depth of winter. The lush dark gown, brightened by a scattered fall of snowflakes, and the collar adorned with arrows are the creations of Axi Kurmin of Pale Empress. This brand is without a doubt one of the best in Second Life at taking a theme and an inspiration and interpreting it in a unique and wearable way. A gown might not be the first thing you’d imagine for a huntress and skier like Skadi, yet surely every goddess needs a chance to be festive? In Skadi’s case, perhaps she’s celebrating that her husband Njord, whom she selected based on his beautiful feet, is off somewhere else…

Both the Fantasy Faire and Enchantment are still going strong so it is time for another little event cross-over. It seemed to me that the Enchantment releases from HopScotch and Lark would make a fine pairing with Alia Baroque’s RFL release for Fantasy Faire from Fallen Gods.

Do you roleplay in Second Life? Or do you perhaps—like me—just like dressing up for it? If so, We Love Role-Play is the event for you. Opening tomorrow, May 4th, it is a new monthly event that features clothing, accessories, props and anything else that might be useful for roleplaying in Second Life. There is a recurring roster of creators plus special guests for each cycle.

I am starting off with a look at a lovely mesh outfit from the Library.

So many gorgeous new things, so little time. That continues to be my bane, though I imagine that is only too common. Plus, these things do have to come together naturally for me to be really pleased with them. Like this one, which definitely grew quite organically. I had had a number of the pieces sitting in my inventory for a while, and then this fountain by DECO showed up at Collabor88 for March and provided the (almost) final piece of the puzzle.

A new round of Zodiac by the Hottie Cooterati Experience opened yesterday and I fell head over heels in love with the archery poses from HopScotch. My first impulse was to dress up as Artemis, but then another idea popped into my head. This one’s for the really obsessed A Song of Ice and Fire fans; a loose interpretation of Princess Daena, having snuck out of the Maidenvault dressed as a peasant girl to go hunting.