Otherworldly

This will be quick and dirty (well, okay, it could have been dirtier…) since we got back from two weeks of vacation yesterday and are taking off for the WorldCon in Helsinki in a few hours. I haven’t had the chance to blog at all during my vacation as the connection was too poor and my laptop too sluggish, so I have a list a mile long of review copies to get through. I’ve also not had the chance to check out any events that opened in this time frame, but most of the catch-up will have to wait until next Monday when I am back home for real. In the meantime, I simply had to show one of the many new releases from Voluptas Virtualis as well as the new skin from alskametro and two new releases from the Plastik.

Time for a second look at the Hair Fair and this time it is the releases from Calico that are in focus. I thought the style of the hairs went very well with a couple of the releases from the Crystal Heart festival, from Voluptas Virtualis and the Plastik. I also added the Seraphim wings from lassitude & ennui.

I am a few days late to the party, so by now I imagine everyone knows that Hair Fair is back with four sims of glorious tresses to browse through, plus two cam-shopping sims. As always, Hair Fair is a charity event, with part of the proceeds of each sale (minimum 15%, but it varies) going to Wigs for Kids. I’ve done some demoing and shopping so far and I think there are some nice styles on offer, including more and more brand using style huds to offer different versions of a hair. Having options for whether you have hair draped over your shoulder or not is always a good one since what works with one outfit may not work with another.

My first post, however, is all about the three styles offered by Wasabi Pills, with the addition of some eyecandy from Voluptas Virtualis and the Plastik.

The Lootbox Gacha is opening later today and I have a preview for you from the Plastik. It inspired me to setup a little scene to show off a selection of all the pieces available in the Apothecari Gacha. The Lootbox event is a little different from other gachas in that it offers a Lootbox in addition to regular rares and commons, which can offer things like special sets of commons, ultra rares, etc. I’ve seen a couple more sets in addition to the one from the Plastik and they look like a lot of fun.

It is refreshing to be out of my usual wheelhouse for a bit. This all started with the Anthophila book from the Plastik, a beautifully decorated tome adorned with bees. This prompted a more ...scholarly look, or at the very least something of a librarian look, which was accomplished through clothing from alaskametro and another release from the Plastik, the Hololense glasses.

A few days ago, Truth sent a new hair to his VIP group. This group has been excellent value but this gift was particularly interesting as it is the first release with brand new textures as well as a styling hud that offers four styles in one. The best way to show it was of course to make a little video, in which I also show off releases from deviousMind, the Plastik and Anachron.

Astrology is a new hair brand from the creator behind Alice Project, featuring among other things a custom HUD which allows you to pick your twenty favourite colours to make your own mix pack. I decided it could be fun to show it off in a video, in which I also try out some of the other features of the HUD. If I ramble even more than usual, it might have something to do with having gotten up at 4 am to take part in a working dog trial for the first time. I did manage to retroactively sort out that the two hairs featured in the video will be available at Hairology on the 10th of May. The first style from Astrology, called Magenta, is available at Uber already.

I had hoped to do more Fantasy Faire posts, but the past weekend was a bit of a blur with both a dressage competition and a dog show. Now I am trying to catch up on RL work (not sure what possessed me to squeeze in a Literature class amidst everything else!) so my blogging backlog has grown even larger. However, a bit of a break for some creative fun is good for recharging, so I took some time off to setup a scene with a charming prop from Noble Creations. The table, that is, not Ran. Though he’s a pretty charming prop too. ;)

On the second day of the Fantasy Faire, I visited the beautiful Dawn’s Promise sim, built by Marcus Inkpen and Sharni Azalee of The Looking Glass. Beautiful ruins and abundant flowers spread over this sim, where little islands are connected by arching bridges. Many of the elements used in the sim build are also available for purchase from The Looking Glass, which as a sim sponsor occupies pride of place on Dawn’s Promise. Many of them are sold as RFL items, including some shades of the gorgeous Blush Trees that sheds their beautiful rose/lilac flowers.

Fantasy Faire 2017 is finally open! The Fairelands are awaiting visitors and if you can’t manage to get in right away, you can get a look at three of the nine shopping sims in a video that I put together. I apologize in advance for some random panning around at times as well as a fair bit of rambling. The sims featured are Chaddul Ro, The Rose and San Mora and I also picked out a few creators on each sim to take a closer look at. I did learn after completing the video that some elements of the Rose were not installed at the time I made the video, so to see the Rose in full bloom make sure to visit the sim on your own (but you should do that anyway, it has some great creators on it).

Aisling launched their new brand Voluptas Virtualis some months ago, but it is only just now that the brand has received its own, separate store space as well as a subscriber group all of its own. From now on, the idea is that medieval/fantasy items go under the Aisling brand and more modern items, with a sexy and elegant feel, go under Voluptas Virtualis. The bodysuit I am showing today is one such item.

I am not quite sure what to call the look that came together today, but there’s certainly a bit of a futuristic flair to it with the tattoos from Fallen Gods, so I headed off to Insilico to find the right surroundings. Fortunately these amazing sims were saved from disappearing into the dark void into which all sims eventually must pass, which is fortunate since I don’t know of any other nice sims with a futuristic/cyberpunk feel to them. Then again, I mostly look for places that suit fantasy/historical roleplay looks, so maybe I am just not that well versed in what’s available when it comes to sci-fi.

I may be entering another decor phase (actually, I am not sure I got out of the last one) which undoubtedly will mean some rearranging on the sim yet again. Today, an in-progress build ended up being exiled into the sky to make room for my latest acquisition from the brand new round of We Love Role-Play. As it happened, it also turned out to be a lovely backdrop for some more new items from the same event plus a belated look at a skin that was released at the Skin Fair.

Creativity can be a fickle thing and all of a sudden I struggle with my photos again, finding it hard to compose the scenes and fit all the pieces together. I think I am starting to feel as if I need to change something up, but I am not quite sure what. I will just have to experiment a bit, I suppose. In the meantime, I thought I would at least point you to some excellent bargains at the Wash Cart Sale.

Today I thought I would take a bit of an overdue look at the bento update to the Slink hands which came out a few weeks ago. And, seeing as we’re talking about bento, a video was of course in order to show the new possibilities with these hands. I also took the opportunity to show off the FATE Hand Poser and several sets of new manicures from the Plastik, as well as featuring two new releases from the Ostara’s Altar event (which I ended up calling Altar of Ostara in the video) since that suited the beautiful spring weather we’ve had today.