Otherworldly

The timing of Enchantment’s “Iron Throne” round has been quite excellent for my creativity, as the end of Game of Thrones has had me thinking even more than usual about A Song of Ice and Fire and the sort of moods and themes the series (the books, not the TV show that claims to adapt them) represents for me. Using Roawenwood’s set of weirwood trees, I made a little godswood within my pine forest, and I really love how it turned out.

After spending last week in Spain at an academic conference about Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire, we got back home just in time to watch and review the final episode of GoT. Given that this meant getting up at 3 am and not being back into bed until about 5.30 am, Monday was kind of a blur. But today I felt some energy returning and was able to setup the shot that I had initially planned to do before going to Spain. It includes pieces from the Iron Throne-round of Enchantment as well as from the current round of We Love Role-Play.

All ideas I had about catching up on my blogging prior to the start of Game of Thrones went out the window sometime last week when the interviews started to pile up. It also did not help that we brought home a puppy last Tuesday! However, Fantasy Faire is just around the corner, so I will just have to buckle down and get some pretty photos done. And while the Ice and Fire event is now over, you will probably be seeing a few more posts inspired by Westeros from me. Like this one, which does use some releases made for Ice and Fire as well as a new gown from Adam n Eve for We Love Role-Play.

The Ice and Fire event is now open and you have until April 13th to check it out. For my second post about it, I selected the full costume from deviousMind inspired by a certain Red Priestess as well as one of the giant animesh direwolves from Jinx. I then setup a truly “Ice and Fire” inspired scene with a big bonfire in the middle of the snow and ice.

The Ice and Fire event opens on April 3rd and of course I will be blogging it. Even though we’re already starting to get crazy busy now that the start of season 8 is less than two weeks away, I wouldn’t want to miss the opportunity to have fun drawing some inspiration from Westeros for a few posts. After all, I have bought all these castles and medieval buildings for a reason!

First up is a beautiful gown that is a collaboration between Faida and Velvet Whip together with one of a set of six pendants by Adam n Eve. For the background, I decided to setup my Iron Throne from Death Row Designs in the Dungan Castle by Fanatik. Not quite the Red Keep, but pretty good! I could have used some dragon skulls for the walls, though.

Last night we had frost again, but during the days the sun is starting to feel quite nice. There’s not much in the way of flowers as of yet, however, so for a field of poppies I have to turn to Second Life. These beautiful flowers are by Dysfunctionality and include several different patches of poppies and a wide range of colour options, including having a mix of different colours like you see here.

The floral theme is very much part of my dress as well. The Morning Glory gown is by the Dreaming Thicket and it is available at Ostara’s Altar which runs until April 5th. It is available in six vibrant colour combinations and includes fits for most female mesh bodies.

Today is the very last day of the Skin Fair so I am wearing one of the new Adam n Eve skins again for this post. I am also wearing another new outfit from Days of Yore, this one by deviousMind, and I just had to take to the desert to do this one justice. In fact, I regret not doing a short video to also show how cool it looked under the swirling sand effect from Balderdash. But the photos give a hint of it, at least.

For my second Days of Yore post I am showing you a dress from Adam n Eve and decor from Paper Moon. I wanted something like a temple or an altar, but my inventory is rather light on Greco-Roman builds and decor items. Fortunately, I do have the bathhouse from Tia and there is a fountain in there that seemed like a good stand-in for a place that my priestess might conduct a ritual at.

I am still playing with my new skins from Skin Fair; this time I am using Rachel from Adam n Eve on LeLutka Simone and I am really fond of this combination. Simone, of course, is the first bento head from LeLutka, but I still find that she (and Cate) are my favourites. That said, I tried their new release for Skin Fair as well and Korina is a really nice head. I may just have to splurge for it, though I have a couple of other expensive items on my shopping list that come first (animesh horses, yay!).

By now I had hoped to post a lot more about the Skin Fair, but I was away on a trip Friday to Sunday and have been pretty knackered since then. I had dressed up and gotten ready for these photos last Thursday, but did not have a chance to do them until now. The good news is that by now it should be a little easier to get into the Skin Fair (though I see the sims are still pretty busy!) to check out the goodies from LOGO, Adam n Eve and Alaskametro that I am using for this post, together with a new lingerie set from Voluptas Virtualis.

I’ve struggled a bit with a good way of showcasing this really very well-made and saucy outfit from Voluptas Virtualis, but yesterday I finally remembered that I had this principal’s office setup from Roawenwood, which includes some great single animations for photos as well as a whole heap of naughty couple animations. It is also a very good set for doing a more sfw school-themed photo as long as you use other poses. ;)

When Fanatik came out with their river set, I wished for a waterfall in my post about it. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it, but a week or so ago they released a matching waterfall. Naturally, I had to pick it up, though it took me a while to get around to featuring it in a post. But when I wanted to do a dreamy forest scene to feature Faida’s and Velvet Whip’s collaboration for Enchantment, the waterfall turned out to be the perfect backdrop when set at the edge of the forest from Studio Skye. I am also teasing another of the new Adam n Eve skins that will be out at Skin Fair 2019 and the gorgeous hair is by Wasabi.

Mainstore releases are almost a rarity in this age of the event, but occasionally they come along. And it is nice to be able to hop right over to a store to shop without being met by the dreaded “region full” response to your teleport attempt.

As you may have guessed by now, the focus of this post is a mainstore release, namely the sparkly little dress that I am wearing which is called Elvira and is from deviousMind. This is not a gacha either, but a regular release, so you get to pick precisely which colour you want. And if you can’t decide, there’s a colour pack with all of them plus six bonus dress colours to mix with the corsets from the other packs. The dress is available for Maitreya Lara and Slink Hourglass and I am wearing the latter here. I think it looks great on a curvy shape!

I admit, I am running a little low on ideas for wintry setups, even though I am by no means out of the mood for it. And that is just as well, as it looks like we’re in for a colder period for the rest of January.

In the end, I decided on something a little more artistic for these shots, using a windlight setting with quite a bit of haze. I think it captures a certain feeling of chill which suits the pieces I am showing off; a snowflake version of the Maxwelle chaise from the Plastik, icicle earrings (also from the Plastik) and the Donna lingerie set from Voluptas Virtualis in a silvery metallic texture. The hair from Wasabi from the new Salon 52 event is perhaps not very wintry in itself, but it has a sleekness to it that goes well with the rest of the imagery.

Without any help from cute cartoon animals, this Cinderella has to sort out a gown for the ball on her own. I just love the kind of scenes you can setup with well-made roleplay props and some of the best definitely come from Roawenwood. The latest set is out at We Love Role-Play and offers not only a few different work animations but also options for rezzing different in-progress garments on the dummy. The top and skirt seen here is one such option, the dress shown in the background another.