Otherworldly

I was supposed to be on vacation and thus a blogging hiatus. But our car broke down last week as we were on our way to our summer cottage, so for a few days more I am stuck at home with much less to do than I had planned. Hence, blogging. Fortunately, there are some great events right now, including a new round of the Epiphany. I couldn’t resist the SultryGarden gacha from deviousMind, which features a ribbon harness with intricate lace appliqué. I tried out the first colour that I won and said to myself that there was almost something bridal about it. I gave it another try and fortunately it gave me the Pearl next time, perfect for my idea!

Of course, this would definitely be something for after the ceremony, unless you are having a very unconventional wedding. ;) I am still wearing that ridiculously pretty hair from Stealthic, Lavish, and my favourite skin and head combination even though they’re far from new: PXL’ss Ava on LeLutka’s Cate.

It is (almost) that fantastic time of the year when the Fairelands return to us. Yes, it is time for Fantasy Faire 2021. From April 22 to May 9th, you will be able to enjoy 21 amazing sims! I will be blogging the Faire this year as well and I thought I would start with a little sneak peak from Nefekalum, paired with a bunch of fantastical goodies from a couple of other events. So dive in!

I admit it, I have a thing for big swords. Well, any swords, really. It just looks so cool to be carrying one around and you always look great when posing with one. So when ContraptioN released the Mercenary’s Flambard for the Warehouse Sale, I went right over to grab it and insisted that Ran do the same. After all, while you can pose alone and look cool, a duel looks even cooler. Of course, we needed to dress right too. For Ran’s part that meant a trip to the Engine Room to pick up the amazing Bloodlust outfit from toksik whereas I received a review copy of the Aeon gacha from deviousMind, a very cool steam punk outfit that also is available at the Engine Room.

It is Friday, after all, so how about a bit of spicy romance? Heart-shaped seats and pillows, rose petals on the floor and a hint of dominance & submission. The heart-shaped ottoman and the heart-shaped pillows are recent releases from Roawenwood, whereas the rose petals are from a previous Roawenwood set. There are several texture options for the top of the ottoman and the pillow with the animations and then there are additional decor-only pillows with preset textures. The ottoman has some single poses but is mainly for couple poses, the pillow has only single poses.

Both Ran and I are wearing the latest hair from Wasabi, Asia. It is unrigged and works very well for both male and female avatars. Not shown here is the windblown option of the style.

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.

Sometimes you discover frustrating information gaps. In this case, it was also accompanied by a surprising gap in my inventory, strange as that may seem with the size of it! You see, I tried to find either a sim or some decor to use for a photo of deviousMind’s distinctly steampunk-inspired Abigale outfit for the Engine Room. And I came up with nothing! Now, I probably could have gone shopping for something, but I was trying to mind my spending a bit.

In the end, that didn’t work out so well, because I suddenly had the idea of pairing the outfit with the skeleton horse if it could only be made a bit more mechanical-looking. Then I remembered the metallic skins from Mythril at the Shop & Hop. Perfect! Of course, I also needed some poses, because riding didn’t give quite the look I wanted. Back to the Shop & Hop I went to buy a pose pack from Mythril since they were discounted there.

The Lunara gacha from deviousMind is dreamy and magical, evoking moonlight on a dark night. I love everyhing about it; the fantastical headdresses, the beautiful modelling and texturing of the dress and of course the adorable owls. You’ll definitely feel like a moon goddess in this!

I used the ruins from Fanatik to evoke a temple-like atmosphere, and I love the effect of the dark sea in the background. The poses are from deviousMind/chanimations as well, from one of the Sourceress sets. I’d love to see more of those pose and prop sets one day, even if these full fantasy outfits are absolutely amazing too.

Of course the heatwave hits a week after we return from our vacation right by the sea, making me wish I was some kind of mer-creature living in the actual ocean. Maybe not so nice in wintertime here in Sweden, but right now it would be glorious. If you too have a craving for the waves, you might also want to slip into the latest release from deviousMind, Meerilyn. I am also wearing Wasabi’s latest release, the pretty Sora hair, which is available at Anthem.

I’ve had this build, using components from Jammin, sitting around half-finished for ages. But this week I tired of that corner of the sim looking less put together than the rest and with considerable help from Ran with the alignment of the pieces it finally got sorted out. The decor might still get a few things added to it, but I am pretty happy about where it is at now. Not so coincidentally, it turned out to be the perfect spot for showing of some new pretties from Skin Within, deviousMind and Stealthic.

What wanders the lush woods of Queensgarden? A creature of legends, an elusive wood walker. Her skin is nut brown and dappled like a deer’s, she has long, claw-like nails and eyes like those of a cat, and she wears clothing made of leaves. At her side, a large wolf, a companion but nevertheless a wild animal.

With everything on offer at the Fantasy Faire—from skins to companion creatures—it is easy to create a fantastical character of your own, whether wholly original or, as in this case, loosely based on a pre-existing source. And remember, you will be shopping for a good cause if you buy from the RFL vendors that raise money for the American Cancer Society.

Today also marks the beginning of the first part of this year’s Faireland’s Quest, don’t miss it!

With the Fantasy Faire just around the corner—it opens April 23rd!—it is time to take to the high seas and sail in search of these mystical lands. While I am not teasing any Fantasy Faire releases just yet (but soon!), I wanted to get into full fantasy mode in preparation for what’s to come. To that end, I climbed the rigging of Rustica’s Neptune’s Revenge wearing a fanciful new dress from deviousMind and fabulous new boots from lassitude & ennui.

The gacha sets that Chandra Meehan of deviousMind puts out are always amazingly detailed and a lot of fun, especially when she adds pose props to use them with. Then you have a whole themed set to play with and also the possibility of using various pieces in mix & match setups. Her latest offering, for the January round of the Epiphany, is Berlin. This set is inspired by the cabarets of Berlin in the 1930s, a time of decadence and indulgence. This is strongly reflected in the very opulent costume, not to mention the champagne glass prop. I also used some of the other decor pieces for the background; there are several different painted backgrounds as well as a selection of different signs.

In just a couple of days (January 10th) a new round of La vie en pose opens, and this particular round also happens to be the naughty edition. Single poses, couple poses, group poses and pose accessories like backdrops, it will all have an adult spin. I don’t think I need to say more for you to know that there will definitely be some NSFW shots in this and forthcoming coverage of the event.

To start with, I selected a pose stool from Sassy Sweet Poses and set it against a backdrop from anxiety. Note, however, that the backdrop is not from La vie en pose, but instead it is part of a massive box of older builds that anxiety has put out for an extremely low price. A fantastic deal for blogging and this art deco-inspired set happened to be just perfect for the outfit I wanted to wear, from the Roaring 2020s gacha by deviousMind.

We’ve passed the Winter Solstice, so it is getting lighter again, but so far you don’t notice much of it around here. Especially not when the weather is dark and dreary and there’s no snow on the ground to brighten things up. It is fortunate, then, that there are a lot of Christmas lights around. I haven’t gone quite so far as to wear them on myself IRL, but maybe I should to cheer myself up further? In SL, however, I am decked out like a Christmas tree, wearing lights from both deviousMind and Paper Moon. I’ve also redecorated the Christmas cottage a bit with some charming pieces from Paper Moon.

Yesterday, I set about getting this post ready, uploading images to Flickr and the blog. Then, dogs and deadlines happened and here I am, a day and a half later with nothing written yet. And since the deadline is still hovering over my shoulder, this will have to be short and sweet. As I mentioned when reviewing the Quinta Palace from Fanatik, they also had a new castle out. In contrast to the palace, the Stalker Castle is a compact build with a footprint of 30 x 28 m and 170 prims.  There are three levels (plus the roof) and the castle is lit by torches and braziers. The beautiful lighting inside is what made me want to shoot it in the snow and even have it snow inside, which of course is perfectly plausible when you’re a snow queen courtesy of the latest deviousMind release.