Otherworldly

The weather was too gorgeous yesterday to sit in front of the computer until later in the evening, so I didn’t actually manage to get the post out before bedtime. But I am thinking I will get a second one done today, to try to keep up with the one post a day schedule. Fortunately, I had my stitches in the finger out yesterday so typing is a bit easier. But you still get another combined blog and vlog because the star of this post really deserved a video. I am of course talking about the Interactive Tavern Table from Fantavatar & Moonstruck, a fabulous roleplay piece. Also featured in this video are two hairs from F&M, a gown from Les Encantades, an awesome outfit from Last Ride and a skin from Bite & Claw. Note that in the credits, it just says Fantasy Faire after each item, but the links are different depending on which sim the store is actually on. You can also use the excellent Shopping Catalogue to easily find where each and every brand at the faire are located.

Fantasy Faire 2018 is now open and the Fairelands will stay with us from the 19th to the 29th of April. I am starting this year’s coverage of the Faire with a vlog featuring the Fairelands Junction (built by Saiyge Lotus of Balderdash) and three of the new releases from the Plastik (in collaboration with Trap) for the Faire.

Typing is still a bit difficult due to my injured finger, so to give a sense of what awaits you at the Fairelands, I am going to quote briefly from the press release:

“In addition to the ten shopping regions, there’s also five whole Fairelands dedicated to various Faire events from Memorial Garden to the Fairelands Quest, from Literary Festival to Performance Stages, from Art Galleries to the Worldling Collection. This brings the Fairelands count of 2018 into fifteen sims, just waiting for you to come and explore them.”

I have also included a couple of closer looks at the skin, horns and eyes, but for any information beyond the credits at the end I refer to the video to give my finger a rest.

I talk about this a bit in the video as well, but this will be a rather brief post as my typing is currently hampered by an injured finger. I will just leave it at saying that this video is a brief look at Vista’s latest bento mesh head, Zoe, as well as the latest release from Voluptas Virtualis, the Sheryl gacha set from the Epiphany. Unless my finger heals faster than I think, there might be quite a few more videos coming up.

The Pose Fair has now been going on for about two weeks. I actually went shopping on the first day, but haven’t had time to blog my purchases until now. My favourite find has to be the “Shame Stand” from Artis, a pedestal with seven poses (versions for flat and high feet included). I used them unaltered for the first two poses, then used Animare to tweak the head position in order to better show off the jewellery from the Plastik in the close-ups.

A rustic wooden bed with texture options (three wood colours, five fabric colours) and many, many animations is the featured item of this post. The Vilnai bed comes from Roawenwood but it is by no means limited to a roleplay setup. The style and texturing of the bed will fit into any rustic home. It is also done in the same wood style as the bondage star previously released from Roawenwood and briefly seen in this post.

Also shown in this post are two new hairs: Marcus (unisex style) from Wasabi and Bewkie, the March VIP Group Gift from Truth.

The new round of We Love Role-Play made a bit of a dent in my virtual wallet as there are some very nice pieces available. In particular, I just had to have the Desert Villa and Desert Wall Kit from LORE, perfect for building a little retreat in the desert area of the sim. The red cliffs are of course done using Fanatik’s Lofoten set and the palm trees are a new release from Fanatik with 11 different tree models. The dress is also a We Love Role-Play release, from Dreaming Thicket, and the hair is Wasabi’s latest release.

I wasn’t very old when I got my first book on Greek mythology and for a while I could recite some rather long lists of deities and their familial connections. I don’t remember all of it any longer but the stories remain some of my favourites. In most English-speaking countries, the Roman names for various deities and heroes are more commonly used than the Greek ones, but I always preferred the latter and you will occasionally hear me muttering “it is Herakles, not Hercules, dammit”. This gacha outfit from deviousMind, however, is gorgeous even though it is called Diana rather than Artemis. ;) Fact is that while the Romans did end up borrowing a lot of Greek deities and heroes, their own pantheon was quite different before many of the main gods and goddesses ended up merging with their closest Greek counterparts. So it might be more appropriate to refer to Diana and Artemis as “sisters” rather than exactly the same goddess.

Well, I haven’t been tricked by anyone today, though I suppose you could say my dog pranked me when he turned an obedience competition into more of a disobedience competition. He’s lucky that he’s cute, at least.

I didn’t go for either funny or Easter-themed with my photos either. Instead, I decided to try out the pool table from Apple Fall that I picked up at the big sale some time ago. It has some quite nice single poses (as well as cuddles and adult poses) which worked well for showing off this harness/lingerie from Voluptas Virtualis. Also new is the short, unisex hairstyle from Wasabi.

A simple portrait today, using a lot of depth of field and a lot of haze. I wanted something a bit ethereal and having a less distinctive background helps create that feeling. The new items on display is the hair by Calico and the top by the Dreaming Thicket, to which I added a long skirt from .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

For the second time in a short while, I head underground for a video, now to show off the full cave system from Fanatik as well as the nifty crypt chamber add-on. My intrepid explorer outfit has been exchanged for another guise suitable for hanging out in caves and secret chambers: a dragon(ess). This gacha by the Plastik offers some very cool accessories for dressing up as a half-human, half-dragon creature. The picture is completed with a fantasy skin from Stargazer Creations.

This will be unusually brief, but I fell off during my riding lesson today and landed on my behind, so I am not sitting very comfortably. As a result, I am simply going to make a short and sweet introduction of Jenna, a new skin from Adam n Eve that is made exclusively for Vista’s bento heads. Jenna comes in the usual six tones from Adam n Eve and with four brow colours plus a no brow option. She was designed on Diana, the second of Vista’s two heads, but I think she looks just as good on Lia. To show her off, I decided to dabble in some close-up head shots, something I always find a little tricky. You will find Jenna at Vista’s mainstore.

Stardust has three lovely sets of tattoos out at the Skin Fair (which is approaching its end, so make sure to visit if you haven’t already!) and to best show them off I needed a no clothing scenario. Fortunately, I also had this chair from Roawenwood to blog, which in addition to male and female single poses has several menus of couple poses. I decided to make use of my favourite little desert camp (with gorgeous tents from Paper Moon) and called in Ran to play the noble with the pretty serving girl. He was happy to oblige. ;)

No, not for sale, but I did get dressed mostly in last Friday’s 50 Linden offerings, with items from the Plastik, Luxuria and Maxi Gossamer. I rarely have time to actually blog anything on Fridays, but I know the item from the Plastik (items, actually, as it is part of a larger set) at least will be out at a regular price once the 50 L offer has expired.

Lost cities, ruins, mysteries. The past has fascinated me since I was quite young and while I know now that archaeology is rarely about discoveries like Knossos, Mycenae and Troy, it is still fun to let your imagination run wild at times. This is why I just had to have the latest add-on to Fanatik’s cave system, the Petra Chamber. Inspired by the Petra site in Jordan, but placed within a vast underground chamber instead, it looks just amazing. So, of course I had to do a video of it. Do note that this is just about the Petra Chamber, as I don’t actually own the rest of the cave system. For interiors, it can definitely be used as a stand-alone, though I am sorely tempted to get the whole system and the other add-ons too.

At first, this was going to be all about this nifty Grecian-inspired armour from Noble Creations. But then I ended up making a new shape and using a new skin from Skin Fair, so of course I had to add in some nice body shots as well, though I passed on doing close ups of all tones since I had decided on this bright red hair and it really didn’t go with the darker tones.