Otherworldly

Until Sunday the 12th, Dictatorshop is offering a L$1000 gift card for just 1 Linden if you are a member of their group. If you aren’t a member, it is free to join! Dictatorshop has a very large selection of adult furniture in various styles and of course both Ran and I thought the offer was too fun to pass up. We came away with a couple of pieces from their Smuggler’s Cove range, one of them being a pillory. As you might guess, there’s NSFW content inside this post, even if this first image is entirely safe (and shows off the new Indigo hair from Wasabi for Anthem very well.

I love it when an idea comes together and the result is a scene where you can feel that there is a story behind the picture. In my mind, I drew some very loose inspiration from the Wheel of Time as it could conceivably accommodate the two outfits we wanted to show off within the range of cultures and clothing styles described for the world. That would make my character an Aes Sedai, perhaps from one of the Borderlands given the style of dress, and Ran could probably pass as a nobleman of Andor. And yes, we used to roleplay on a pair of Wheel of Time MU*s, before A Song of Ice and Fire took over our lives, so for a while we were very immersed in that setting. In fact, the first characters I tried to create a look for in Second Life were my WoT-characters.

Like many others, no doubt, I find myself rather stressed and distracted of late and it is impacting my creativity and my concentration. It took me much too long to figure to be happy with this setup, though I am fairly pleased with the end results. I had forgotten that this pose/backdrop set from Exposeur was sitting in my inventory and it turned to be just what was needed for the rather raunchy Belit set from Voluptas Virtualis. I am also wearing their Nene nipples on my Slink Hourglass body and a piercing from their latest add-on set as well. Other than that, I am not wearing much!

My skin is Zara by Adam n Eve, which was released for the Skin Fair and now that that has ended it is available in the mainstore. The hair is Maite from Wasabi, a second style with windblown options and petal add-ons. It is available at Uber.

I didn’t feel like switching out of Slink’s Miranda head just yet, so I found another new skin from the Skin Fair to try on her, namely Gwenyth from 7 Deadly s[K]ins. A pretty match, I think, and I also like the look of the eyeshadow and lipstick from alaskametro’s Fire collection. Very sassy, just like the Amber bodysuit from Voluptas Virtualis.

The beautiful hair is Hanami by Wasabi, which includes both a regular (second image) and windblown (first image) version. There are also add-on petals for the windblown version. The decor (rug, candle, book) is all from Libertine.

Skin Fair isn’t just about skins any longer. Mesh body parts and mesh heads are a big part of it as well and one of the new releases this year comes from Slink. Miranda is the 6th female head in the Visage Redux range of Bakes-on-Mesh heads. She has lovely dimples and a narrow chin, making it easy to create a heart-shaped or a bit foxy look. I decided to pair her with the new Andy skin from alaskametro, also a Skin Fair exclusive. This is meant as an androgynous skin and has quite marked cheeks. The result on Miranda is strong rather than conventionally pretty, but I really like the effect.

It can hardly have passed anyone by that the biggest skin event of the SL year, the Skin Fair, opened on the 13th of March and will continue until the 29th. Right now the two sims are still pretty packed, but it has started easing up a tiny bit, at least when it isn’t peak hours. I’ve got a booth there myself this year, with four new Kanon shapes, though the one I am using in this post is actually not one of them. I had made mine to go with the three exclusive skins by Adam n Eve, and then sachi went and added a fourth just as the fair was about to open! So, I’ve made a shape for the Rafferty skin using LeLutka Erin, but I haven’t had time to package it yet.

I am back with more from Hullabazoo, because of course I wanted to cover Teegle’s new release as well—a fantastic set of jousting tack for each of the Teeglepet breeds except for the American Paint and the Shetland Pony. A perfect opportunity for Ran to dress up in his fantastic armour from Silhouette Warfare and setup a gorgeous fantasy scene of a knight meeting his lady.

Yesterday, the inaugural round of Hullabazoo opened. I think they have done an excellent job of describing their event on their page, so I am going to quote them:

“HullabaZoo is all about animals and creatures.  It’s more than a shopping event and will have classes, a quest, contests, photo ops, parties, and more.  Best of all we’re raising money for a great cause!  HullabaZoo is an annual event and we would love it to become the BIGGEST creature event of the year - one that you look forward to, get excited about and look forward to it’s return each year!

HullabaZoo isn’t a mainstream fashion event with an “animals” theme so you won’t find zebra-print nails, or paw print T’shirts for human avatars.  You will find creature avatars, pets, rideables, props and mods as well as accessories and mods for those creatures.”

The chosen charity for the 2020 event is the Jane Goodall Institute. I’ve only had time for a quick visit so far, but it looks like a great setup and I am really interested in checking some of the things they are planning before the event ends on March 31st. During that quick visit, however, I had time to check out the new Dressage System from Mythril and that is what this post (and, more importantly, video) is all about.

A sultry invitation to bed, in a dress inspired by lingerie with its slinky fit and lace-edged hem. Nikki is the latest release from Aleutia, available at the Whore Couture Fair. That is also where you will find the new eye makeups from Petrichor & Lune (formerly the Plastik). My eyes are also new, a set by Voluptas Virtualis available as both appliers and system layers. Finally, the cute updo one of Wasabi’s two styles for their gacha at the Arcade.

Dutchie has a new release on the way (due tomorrow, in fact), a modern canopy bed with a bit of an industrial touch thanks to the metal frame. It blends the classic elements of a canopy with clean, strict lines and offers six different colours for the cover. Of course, since it is Dutchie, what is under the hood of the bed is also very important. This particular bed comes in three flavours: PG, Adult and Femdom. All versions have All have AVsitter experience enabled for auto attaching of props and all the animations utilize Bento hands. As it is the Femdon version that offers some new functionality, the review focuses on that one. Please note that some of the images included could be considered fairly explicit even if they do not show much detail.

Given this, I want to note the new releases that I am wearing before the cut. The corset is from Voluptas Virtualis for Kinky (available for Belleza Freya, Maitreya Lara and Slink Hourglass) and the hairstyle is by Wasabi for Uber. The eyeshadow is from alaskametro’s new Fire set, also available at Uber.

Del-ka Aedilis has another building in their Civitas series available at a 50% discount at the current round of Redeux (which ends in just a few days!). The Ludus Magnus is a villa with an attached gladiatorial school. Those who watched the Spartacus TV-series may recognize the design of this complex. I decided to focus on the gladiatorial arena for my photos, though the rest of the villa is a very nice build as well. The arena is nicely sized and surrounded by the cells in which the gladiators lived; the gladiatorial school was essentially a prison.

An enchanting view from the Tower of the King skybox from Trompe Loeil serves as the perfect backdrop for the Florin daybed by Barley, available at Enchantment. The daybed comes in four beautiful shades and in pg, adult and threesome variants. For these photos I am just using animations from the singles menu, but I’ve looked through the couple animations as well and I quite like the overall selection.

My clothing, such as it is, is by Voluptas Virtualis (save for the stockings by Luxuria) and that includes the add-on nipples which I found quite easy to match to my skin by alaskametro (there are both available preset textures and tinting options). The pearl string top and bottom are from FaMESHed X together with the nipples (there are two versions of the top; one meant to be worn with the add-on nipples and one with your regular nipples) and the corset is from Anthem. All items include fits for Belleza Freya, Maitreya Lara and Slink Hourglass and come with many texture options.

Just a quickie heads-up. As a Valentine’s gift, Dutchie has sent out a new item to their subscribers, a charming breakfast tray with three bento poses. So if you’re not already subscribed, now is a good time to sort that out! Man-Freyja is not included, however. ;)

Redeux opened its doors to another round of discounted goodies yesterday and I have a few things to share with you. But first, a reminder about what Redeux is:

Redeux is a bi-monthly event taking place in the months of February, April, June, August, October, and December from the 14th to the 21st—Noon SLT.

In this event, you will find over 60 merchants offering both gacha and non-gacha items.  In each of the merchant stalls, there will be at least one offering 50L, and many will also have 50% off items and new exclusive items, highlighted with specific tags, and discounted by 25% for the event.

In this first post, I let the ornate Conquistador Bath set from Artistan Fantasy take center stage, but my corset and mini-mini skirt outfit from On a Lark is another great find from this round. I used the Isadora Rustic Cottage from Trompe Loeil to house the Conquistador set and this also gave me the opportunity for a cheeky shot through one of the tower windows as the closing image.

I think I am well on my way to becoming a virtual horse hoarder. I’ve now got six of the seven Teeglepets plus the Teegle avatar (on a separate account, so I can take myself for a ride) roaming around on the sim. The latest addition is the absolutely gorgeous Arabian, beautifully modelled to have the distinctive dish-shaped face, large eyes and nostrils and proudly carried tail. The movements of this horse are also very well suited to the breed and while I did not do a video this time, I tried to capture some of it in the shots I took.

The Arabian is currently an event exclusive at the Princess Bride round of Enchantment and the same goes for the lovely Arabian Nights tack from Jinx that I also picked up. This made it easy to decide how I wanted to show off the horse and so off I went to setup the Sahara Oasis solid sky landscape from Landscapes Unlimited. To this I added the new ruins from Fanatik and tinted these to blend in more with the desert sands. As for myself, I decided to be a desert prince rather than a desert princess—easier to find clothing suited to riding astride.