Otherworldly

Alaskametro recently released an update to her current body skin, the “Fit” series, which includes updated shading and a materials applier. If you have bought the skin previously, you can get a redelivery of this new version. I was excited to try it out and see how the materials would look, which meant a good opportunity to get (nearly) naked. And I don’t pass those up in SL!

I opted for the Slink Physique Original body (my favourite by far) for showing the skin on; the body jewellery is an older set by Voluptas Virtualis from when they were still releasing items for this body. The head is also by Slink, the lovely Ashlynn head which looks really stunning paired with the Abigail skin from alaskametro. Having the face framed by the most recent release from Stealthic, the gorgeous Metropolis hair, certainly doesn’t hurt either. The curl textures of this one are to die for. This hair also represents a big update for Stealthic that includes new colors, new sizes and new pricing.

The poses are also from the depths of my inventory, a set by HopScotch which features some very classic water bearing poses. So much more interesting to photo these than regular modelling poses, props don’t have to be complicated to add a sense of story to a pose.

Poema is a skin brand that I been eyeing for a while. Their skins have always been quite varied and had a lot of character, but they have primarily been focused on skins for a more mature look. Nothing wrong with that, but it has not been quite what I have been looking for. For this year’s Skin Fair, poema has launched a brand within the brand called Rahra which will focus on younger looks, but still with plenty of character. There are three skins out at the Skin Fair and I have chosen to feature Bamby.

This is a most definitely NSFW look at Dutchie’s latest release, a wood-fire heated hot tub. It does come in a PG as well as an Adult version, but…well, you know me. ;)

This style of outdoor hot tub is quite popular in Sweden and sees use all year around. I knew I wanted to shoot this in a winter surrounding, contrasting the steaming hot water with chilly, snow-covered surroundings. Given some of the activities in the Adult version, it might have gotten a little cool at times; you would generally prefer to submerge as much of yourself as possible in the hot water. Then again, if things heat up in a different way, you might not notice the cold for a while!

The hot tub is available at the current round of FaMESHed and you can read the details of the functionality and included animations on Dutchie’s site.

I have a love/hate relationship with gachas. It can definitely be a exciting to play, but it can also be really frustrating. Over time, the excitement factor has lessened, but sometimes a set crops up that brings it back. For example, Lux Aeterna’s “Feast for a King” at the Arcade. Lux Aeterna makes beautiful things that are very much in my wheelhouse when it comes to style and sources of inspiration and the two rares in this set created an immediate “must have” feeling. Fortunately for my virtual bank account, the beautiful skybox landed in my inventory almost right away.

If you’d like to spice up your Second Life a bit, there’s one Black Friday sale you do not want to miss out on this year, namely Dutchie’s 20% off on all Adult items. There’s so much to choose from, for just about every taste. I decided to bring out one of my favourites for this setup, the Pet Pillow, to also show off my new tattoo from Nefekalum (they make fantastic use of materials!) that I got at their 50% off Black Friday sale and a new chain harness from Voluptas Virtualis for the Black Fair. The tents and the fire pit come from Paper Moon, and they too are having a fantastic 50% off sale.

It has been a bit of a crazy day, in more than one way. Fortunately, it also involved a visit to the stables in RL, which always works to distract and calm me down. I don’t knit (not since school, anyway), but I can imagine it would be pretty soothing to sit and work like this, with the comforting sounds of the horses in the background. The classic wooden rocking chair is one of two rocking chairs from Dutchie (the other is a mid-century style that goes well with Dutchie’s other furniture sets) released for the November round of FaMESHed. The rocking chairs have 10 female and 10 male solo animations each, including knitting and needlepoint. The props are auto-attaching with the AV-sitter experience and the animations are of course Bento-enabled. The wooden rocking chair includes several wood choices and paint options and the mid-century style offers different fabric options.

The massive new release from Fanatik is now out (11 new products, plus two new group gifts), which prompted me to return to the showcase sim yet again, this time in the guise of a wanderer exploring the rugged landscape. The new landscaping items and the sim built with them are inspired by St. Kilda, a remote Scottish archipelago in the North Atlantic, so it is no wonder that it reminds me a lot of the coast of Northern Ireland where we went on a tour a few years back to visit various filming locations for Game of Thrones. To visit the sim, head over to Fanatik’s main store and click the teleporter right at the front of the store. That is also where you will find all the new products.

The Halloween edition of LL’s Shop & Hop event is currently ongoing, with lots of deals and gifts to be had. One of the more spectacular releases for the event is the latest Teeglepet, Styx. He joins the unicorn and pegasus as yet another fantastical equine, and being a skeleton horse he certainly qualifies for that! Styx also has his very own Spooky Carriage, and right now you get a voucher for the carriage when you buy Styx, which is a fantastic deal. This deal is valid until November 1st, when the carriage will be put for sale on its own. Teegle is also offering a 25% discount on the other Teeglepets at the Shop & Hop, including on the upgrades from no-copy to copy.

Since animesh products are best shown on video, that’s what I opted for. It also gave me the opportunity to offer a sneak peek at some forthcoming landscaping from Fanatik.

An elegant, yet comfortable sofa is a much-needed feature in any home, a place to curl up with a book if you are alone and a place for entertaining friends. Sometimes, very good friends. Dutchie’s latest release, the velvet tufted sofa, has you covered for everything from a cosy solitary evening at home, some sweet cuddles with your partner and to a full range of adult animations. The sofa comes in four versions, one PG and three Adult (MF, MM and FF), and includes seven colour options.

The version I have tried out is the Adult MF and the pictures below show only a small selection of the 80 couple animations included. However, we looked through most of them and they are very smooth and expressive. There are auto-attaching props with some of the animations and the adult ones are all Aeros compatible for automatic tilting. Additionally, some animations include the option to slow down or speed up.

Currently, there is an offer of an introductory discount of 20%, as detailed on the product page.

When it comes to mesh heads for male avatars, the situation is starting to get pretty decent with several brands offering multiple choices. Slink, for example, is now up to four male mesh head with their latest two releases, Marcus and Ethan. As with the previous two (Anderson and Finn), they have a “sister” each among the female heads, in this case Miranda and Emma. While you could certainly make them look a lot more masculine, I decided to try both of them with the androgynous “Andy” skin from alaskametro (even though the body of the skin is actually female) since I wanted to see how pretty they would get. ;) I also used the Nyx hair from Wasabi for both looks and a set of outfits from the Muses.

Is there such a thing? Well, that seems to have been what I ended up with at least, mixing the Trompe Loeil Isadora Rustic Cottage with Barley’s Scandinavia Bench. Either way, it turned out to be a moody, intimate setting for showing off a selection of new releases from Voluptas Virtualis för K-Pop United, together with a new hair from Exile for Collabor88.

Roawenwood’s latest release is not for the timid, as the somewhat NSFW name (see credits!) would suggest. There are plenty of couple poses (even some threesome poses) and they’re all rather forceful. The fact that this is an outdoor scene as well made me think of Greek nymphs fleeing amourous gods in the woodlands, and that’s where we ended up with this setup, even though the Mara outfit from Adam n Eve has more of a Gorean than Grecian feel to it. I am also wearing Wasabi’s latest hair, Pickle, which gave me the title for the post. Finally, I have another new alaskametro skin, this one is called Yazmin and is available at the Spoonful of Sugar Festival benefiting Doctors Without Borders.

The Lunara gacha from deviousMind is dreamy and magical, evoking moonlight on a dark night. I love everyhing about it; the fantastical headdresses, the beautiful modelling and texturing of the dress and of course the adorable owls. You’ll definitely feel like a moon goddess in this!

I used the ruins from Fanatik to evoke a temple-like atmosphere, and I love the effect of the dark sea in the background. The poses are from deviousMind/chanimations as well, from one of the Sourceress sets. I’d love to see more of those pose and prop sets one day, even if these full fantasy outfits are absolutely amazing too.

We’re off on vacation right now and the weather has actually turned quite lovely, so what am I doing at my laptop? Well, a lazy morning never hurts and I did want to share the latest release from Slink, the very sexy body jewellery set Leila. This style of “clothing” is hardly unique in Second Life, but if you are a Slink body lover just like me you are not spoiled with many such releases. This set comes fitted for both Slink bodies, plus the petite chest variations. Via the included HUD it has a very nice selection of metal textures and includes a naughty and a nice mode (I am wearing the latter here).

The poses I am using are both from WetCat’s Spiral set for La vie en pose, which are made for a particular staircase but also suit others, and the backdrop is by Paleto.

In a couple of days, on July 10th, the Anniversary Edition of La vie en pose opens. I’ll be trying to get a couple of sneak peeks out before we pack up and go on vacation at the end of this week. So what fits better than an early start to the vacation? Here in the shape of some beach fun with balloons, courtesy of Sweet Art. They will have a set of six poses with balloon props for each out at the event.