Otherworldly

Tall buildings strive towards the sky, light filters through colourful stained glass windows and ominous robed figures stand watch. In the middle of the city lies a great, fallen figure, entombed in stone. Somniatoris Arx, sponsored by ContraptioN, is one of the wonders of this year’s Fantasy Faire. Others have done wonderful work capturing images of the build, I opted for something more modest and tried to put together an outfit that echoed the mood of the sim.

For that, I went to the hood by Raven Bell, pairing that with a mask from Air and a gown from Kotolier, creating a mysterious figure in black and gold.

At the December round of We Love Role-Play I came across a new and very promising creator. The brand is called Portal and they have just a few releases out so far but the focus on historical clothing captured my interest right away. Their item for WLRP is a classic medieval gown called Marguerite that is rigged for Belleza Freya, Legacy and Maitreya Lara. I hesitated a bit at first since there is only a HUD-driven fatpack available, though this makes sense since at least half the fun with this gown is how you can mix and match the six independently colourable areas (sleeves, pads, bodice, outer skirt, inner skirt and lace). The price point is a little higher than similar all-in-one options from brands like ContraptionN, but on the other hand it is a full gown. So, I picked it up.

Because August flew by so quickly between various trips, I did not manage to make more than one post for Enchantment’s King Arthur round. However, I do have more things to show you, you will just have to hunt them down in the various mainstores now. That is always a good reason to have a browse around other releases from those brand—with everything being so event-focused, that gets done far too rarely these days. This post isn’t just about Enchantment, however, as I also have a couple of brand-new releases from the Dreaming Thicket and Adam n Eve, the latter for the round of We Love Role-Play that just opened.

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.

I started my coverage of the Fantasy Faire at Midas, the sim built by Alia Baroque of Fallen Gods Inc, and I couldn’t resist going back there for some more photos. In the end, I just got the one that I was happy with, it was a little too laggy at the time to setup more. But I think it gives a lovely look at one of the spots on the sim where you can hang out to enjoy the view. And, of course, of some more Fantasy Faire goodies, this time from Wasabi, the Annex and Eudora 3D.

It was a bit of a dilemma for me what to call this post. On the one hand, it does feature the Hair Fair releases by Calico. On the other hand, it also features the Lootbox gacha set by the Plastik. In the end, I opted for giving the Hair Fair the title spotlight as it is a charity event, with all purchases donating at least 15% to Wigs for Kids. However, once you have done your hair shopping, you should definitely check out the Lootbox gacha event as well if you already haven’t.

I am back to wandering the Fairelands after a short break for RL interruptions. Today, I settled on the lovely Kakushi Pasu sim where the Literary Festival is held. In fact, I was there on Sunday as well, holding a small talk about history in A Song of Ice and Fire. I have participated in the Literary Festival for three years now and I think it is a fabulous part of the Faire, so do check out what they have to offer during the rest of the Faire.

Since I spent the weekend at a couple of dog show’s in Norway I was only able to visit Enchantment yesterday to peruse what Cinderella had inspired this round’s designers to create. It turned out to be quite a nice collection, capturing different facets of the fairy tale. There were, as one would expect, quite a few stunning ballgowns, but what also caught my eye was this shorter dress by the Muses. It seemed like the sort of thing one might wear when wandering about an enchanted wood…

Evangeline Miles of Evie’s Closet has returned to creating for Second Life after a bit of a hiatus. Before the advent of mesh, her flexi gowns stood out from the crowd as she always managed to give them an ethereal feel. It is not easy to translate that to mesh, but I think that the textures and colours of her latest release capture some of that quality. There’s almost a feeling of watercolours over the texturing, and that gives the gown a lovely flow that suggests movement.

My final Fantasy Faire post will unfortunately be brief than I had intended. Our day at the dog show turned out longer than expected and I am pretty knackered after being up and about since early in the morning (it is now midnight here). But I did managed to have a wander around Malfience, the quest sim (sadly, I had no time to do the quest this year), and took these photos there. The dramatic Lienna skirt with the matching top is from Sakide and I am wearing it with the beautiful Seraph pendant and earrings by Musa. The hair is Kai from Wasabi Pills and all of the aforementioned releases are available at the Fantasy Faire until it closes.

It is that wondrous time of the year again when the Fantasy Faire has opened and the Fairelands can once again be reached. This year the Fairelands consist of no less than 14 sims of shopping and entertainment. Each sim has a different builder and a different theme, offering different looks at the Fairelands. And, most importantly, the Fantasy Faire is an RFL event with all vendors offering RFL exclusives. My first stop at the Fairelands this year will be the Golden Delta, built by the always amazing Alia Baroque of Fallen Gods and Libertine.

Today I am dancing through the woods on my tiptoes to summon spring. Or rather, my virtual self is, but given that its back to rain around here I might be up for some spring summoning myself. In particular, I am really hoping the weekend stays dry as I am doing my first-ever dressage competition on Sunday. For now, though, I am content to listen to the rain (it sounds a bit springy, admittedly) putting together this post which focuses on the latest We Love Role-Play round as well as a big Slink update.

The Fantasy Gacha Carnival opens today, so prepare to be frustrated once again as you try to win those must-have pieces. I can almost guarantee that the set from aisling that I am featuring here will be the cause of some of that frustration, because it is quite gorgeous. Fortunately, even the commons are utterly stunning and very wearable on their own.

I am also showing a bit of a house from Entity, which is a store I found just yesterday through Plurk and which I will definitely be keeping an eye on from now on.

February 1st is drawing near and with it will come the final round of Enchantment, the fairy-tale inspired stamp rally event. The theme for this round is Beauty and the Beast and the enchanted rose is a red thread throughout many of the designs. As with previous rounds, you buy qualifying items in the mainstores of the participating designers and each qualifying item gives you a stamp card. You stamp these by visiting all the participating stores and when your cards are full you head to the prize location to claim one exclusive prize per card.

The Secret Affair is in full swing again and the theme for their January round is Untamed Purity. One of the designers tackling this theme is lassitude & ennui with a beautiful ensemble called Virtue.