Otherworldly

It has been a while since I tried out a new skin brand. I am pretty picky and I also have tastes that aren’t quite “mainstream” Second Life; in particular, I don’t tend to go for cute all that often. I often look for skins with a bit stronger faces and perhaps more character than classical prettiness or beauty.

When I visited this year’s Skin Fair, I ended up collecting quite a pile of demos, but out of the new-to-me brands I tried only one stood out for me - DeeTaleZ. I tried on several of their faces and found that they had something that interested me. However, none grabbed me strongly enough that I made up my mind (I am indecisive). But I did sign up for their subscriber and started following their Flickr. And then a new face called Shirin was released, catching my attention both with the name (I happen to have a role-play character going by that name) and its appearance. After quite a bit of demoing—I just couldn’t decide which tone to get!—I finally took the plunge yesterday, then immediately set out to create a new shape for the skin. As it happens, I think the look of the skin lends itself quite well to a Dornishwoman, so I made the shape with that in mind and decided to show off another of the Dorne-inspired gowns from The Muses.

When I reviewed Astrali for the Skin Fair (which goes on for just a few days more!), I noted that there was also an in-store release at The Plastik, featuring a massive number of tones, including a wide variety of fantasy tones. I decided to play around with one of these tones for this photo and together with the armour from Bare Rose, we ended up with a lovely desert creature seducing an unsuspecting knight. The photo also uses the Nanda hair from Mina, available at this month’s We Love Role-Play, and the Jewelled Dragon’s Egg Necklace from Maxi Gossamer.

Bare Rose is a true SL institution. When it comes to fantasy outfits for just about any occasion, the store is undoubtedly the one that is likely to have what you need—and that is regardless of whether your avatar is male or female as June Dion almost always offers a variant for both genders. Such as of these fabulous fantasy armours.

Just in time for the start of season four of Game of Thrones, the Muses has released four gowns inspired by Dorne. Dorne happens to be mine and Ran’s favourite region of Westeros and when Nephilaine very kindly asked me to create the posters for these gowns I jumped at the chance. I hope you will love these four gowns as much as I do and as you see by this post I can’t stop playing with them. In this case, I am showing off Shining Sun, but I really can’t pick a favourite out of the four because they’re all stunning. And if Dorne isn’t your thing, then they will work beautifully for other looks as well, both fantasy and (in some cases) more modern.

I don’t usually do posts without an avatar in, but when I went through my recent clothing acquisitions I found that just about everything belongs in a fantasy setting and definitely not in a modern spring cabin furnished as an architect’s springtime retreat! So, for this post I am letting the Convair releases for FaMESHed and The Arcade take center stage all on their own.

The release of two mesh heads by Siddean Munro of Slink can hardly have passed anyone unnoticed. There is already a wide range of appliers ready from many different skin creators and more will undoubtedly be showing up soon. In this post I will be looking at the Becky head with the Amy applier from Adam n Eve, a Skin Fair exclusive for all those who love freckles. I will also be showing off a brand new release from Convair for the Liaison Collaborative.

Skin Fair is now open and it is time for my second skin review, featuring Sunny from Tuli. I am always glad to see Tuli back in Second Life and Sunny is hopefully a sign of more good things to come as it appears to be something of a special edition for the fair. This post also features the Rosalie hair from Calico which is a new release available at a discount through this month’s

We Love Role-Play as well as the Cassis necklace from Bliensen+MaiTai for the same event.

In just two days, on the 14th, the Skin Fair opens. It is quite a massive affair this time around, with three whole sims full of skins and with each participating designer offering Skin Fair exclusives that won’t be in their stores until the fair is over. I have decided to start my coverage of the fair with the new Astrali line from The Plastik. The line itself was actually released in the new store today, but you will have to wait until the Skin Fair for 7 of the tones. The Plastik will also be offering a large set of striking eye makeups at the Fair as well as nail polishes for Slink’s hands and feet. But lets dive in and take a look at the lovely Astrali.

For this month’s We Love Role-Play I transformed into an elven huntress and stalked the Wetlands sim which is a very well-done marsh/swamp environment.

Alright, alright, Despite my earlier protests, it would appear I have been bitten by the gatcha bug. And for once, I’ve had a bit of a luck: at the March round of the Arcade I managed to win one of the rare carousels from Culprit. Normally, pink isn’t my thing (though I’ve started to change my mind of late) but when you have a carousel with unicorns and one is pink with hearts on…well, you don’t have much choice, do you? And, as it happened, this gave me the perfect use for the adorable Monoceros Constellation Tattoo from Silentsparrow for the current round of Collaborr88.

In the midst of a steady stream of new releases, the Plastik has moved to a new location, so that is where you will find—among other things—the striking Living Lights Horns. These highly detailed mesh horns have an incredibly range of customisation options, covering all of your…err…horny needs. ;)

Genre’s latest round has opened and the theme is Fae. From mischievous fairies fluttering by on iridescent wings to dark lords and ladies of the hills, luring unwary humans to their doom, there are numerous myths and legends about the fae folks of the world. With the Aes Sidhe dress from Senzafine and the Cour de Cauchemars collar and crown by aisling, I wanted to capture something of the darker side of the fae.

Historically-themed clothing always catches my interest, but not all of it takes my fancy…. but at the Seraphim Social event, which had a “Pride and Prejudice” theme, I came across this terrific ensemble from Heathcliff, Junbug Mantel’s line of male mesh clothing. From head to toe, the outfit is very sharp indeed, capturing early 18th century style very well indeed.

The latest release from Dutchie might look deceptively simple at first, but with that simplicity comes a lot of fun and flexibility. The mesh wall rings are full of quality animations and can be set into any wall, allowing great flexibility in the sort of scenario you might want to use them for. Use the shiny rings for a more polished, comfortable surrounding and use the rusty versions for that bare stone wall in a dark dungeon. Your imagination is the only limitation.

Valentine’s Day isn’t really a big thing around here, but the Internet makes it impossible to miss it. And really, if you don’t feel pressured to buy into the commercial aspects of it, there’s nothing wrong with a bit of extra love. But rather than pink and sweet, I decided to go for a cupid with a bit of an edge, using most of the highly sought-after Faranth set (the ultra rare crown not included) from aisling at the Fantasy Gatcha Carnival together with the belt from the deviousMind Harpyia gatcha and a couple of the Huntress poses from HopScotch.