Otherworldly

The latest furniture release from Dutchie is a cozy outdoor sofa set with enough space for 6 avatars if all 3 sections are used (for a smaller sofa, you could use just the middle section or put together the left and the right without the middle). To fit in with the rest of your decor, the sofa offers 4 wood options and 7 fabric colours. There is also a matching table with the same 4 wood options.

If you choose the PG version, the sofa comes with 10 solo animations and 10 cuddles. For the Adult versions, some 80 couple animations are added. Adult versions, you say? Yes, the sofa is available in FF, MF and MM, and you can get a set that allows you to mix and match different sections to cater to all your guests. To read more in detail about the various options, see the product page.

I placed my sofa set on the patio of Trompe Loeil’s Modern Villa, overlooking the pool. That gave me an excuse to slip into a bikini by Salt & Pepper and for Ran to be dressed for some casual lounging about. My hair is a new release from Wasabi, a very flattering style called Ash that you can get at Kustom 9.

NeXus is CheerNo’s brand for skins and related items and they have three new releases at Skin Fair: the Icon body skin, the Theo face skin and the Elio eyes. Ran decided to try out one of the shapes we released for Skin Fair (check it out here) with NeXus Icon and NeXus Theo on the Legacy body and LeLutka Connor head. A pretty nice combination, I think!

We’re back home again after our vacation, which means we have two sad dogs missing the beach and having free run of the nearby woods. But it also means having a bit more time to kill in front of the computer. For the last few days, I have spent some time messing around with the Firestorm Beta with EEP. Its…interesting, but so far I am not seeing any great advantages and a few drawbacks. Anyway, this photo is taken with the beta, so its perfectly possible to use it for blogging.

I am actually wearing a new (for me, that is) body in this shot: the Legacy Perky body from The Shops. I do like the upper body a lot, but just like on the Maitreya Lara the hips need an awful lot of tweaking to look normal and not exaggerated. I absolutely love the body skins that come with it and wish there were matching head skins, but the neck fade system works pretty well for matching to other brands. In this case, a skin from Adam n Eve.

It is the 4th of the month, so We Love Role-Play is almost ready to open (the start time is 3 pm SLT). The previews are looking great and fortunately I’ve got my hands on some of my favourite releases already, such as this beautiful gown and cape combination from Luminary. My hair is also perfect for a fantasy/roleplay style, but it is a new mainstore release at EMO-tions rather than an event release.

A little quickie as the end of the year approaches, to draw your attention to the fact that Zaara has released some of her delicious lingerie sets as appliers for Slink Physique and Maitreya’s Lara body. I am wearing the Chanchal set here, which has to be one of my all-time favourite sets from her. Its so barely there and yet so exquisitely detailed. The elegantly designed applier HUD offers five ways of wearing this set; in addition to being able to wear everything, the bra, the panties and the garter + stockings can each be worn on their own or you can wear the bra and panty together.

From The Mesh Project at The Shops comes the long-awaited beta of the male mesh avatar that they have been working on for quite awhile, according to all indications, and the fact that The Shops! have been jam-packed since the release a few days ago suggests that they’ve come not a moment too soon. The Mesh Project’s male avatar is, I think, the first really serious attempt at a male avatar aimed at the widest possible market, including support for third-party appliers, complicated alpha setup, and more. Alongside the release of the body was the release of their male mesh head in five different variations, another much sought-after accessory, and no less than seven brand new male skins. For this review, however, I’m using a somewhat older skin, Prince from The Skin Shop (part of the The Shops! collective, who are known to have included the prolific designers behind some of SL’s most well-regarded brands over the years: Naughty, ARMIDI,and Abyss.)

The May round of We Love Role-Play includes several gorgeous corsets from brands such as the Library, lassitude & ennui and aisling. I went with the corset from the latter for this post as I wanted a darker look to go with the accessories from Pale Empress for the World Goth Fair.

I may be suffering from a slight house addiction in Second Life of late. I suspect I will never get our sim fully landscaped and finished since I can’t avoid rezzing out new shinies rather randomly to setup for photos. Such as this Oakside Bungalow from Convair at the Home Show.

Once you step inside, you’ll also get to see a couple of the new releases from Miamai’s Luxe collection, which launched this weekend.

For the spring round of The Seasons Story the team behind aisling has created a three-part outfit (dress, shoes and headdress) and a matching swing with both single and couple poses. I thought these would pair perfectly with the stunning new house from Trompe Loeil, available at this month’s Collabor88. My hair is also from the Seasons Story and is created by Wasabi Pills.

Gatchas are wicked things. I continue to try an exercise restraint (but that doesn’t mean I haven’t ended up with a bunch of duplicates for sale), because for the most part I really would prefer paying more and knowing what I get, but sometimes you end up fooled into thinking you are an extra lucky person who of course will get just what you want… But don’t believe that feeling, it is always a lie.

Case in point? The Alchemy gatcha at the Secret Affair. I just wanted one of the common iron crowns. By the time I had used up my self-imposed limit for that machine, I had ended up with one common (but not the one I wanted, of course), the rare and the ultra rare. So, lucky indeed, but not what I had originally been after! However, since the rare and the ultra rare are incredible works of art, I do have to show them to you, even if it feels like a terrible tease.

The Secret Affair opened yesterday, featuring both brand new gatchas and brand new non-gatcha products. I have some concerns about an event themed around a copyrighted property and about some of the merchandise on sale, but I’ll stress that it is largely a matter of personal preference and of holding to the same rules that we apply on Westeros.org about not allowing any unlicensed A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones products to be advertised. Actually determining what would be considered a product based on A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones is a tricky matter (is it appearance, names - and if so which names - or a combination of elements?) and it is very possible that I am erring on the side of caution.

But, enough about that. I did go to the event and fortunately I found that the one item I just had to have wasn’t a gatcha! The Wyrmling from Alchemy is my new favourite item in Second Life and I don’t ever want to detach him. Alchemy has put out some really cool-looking attachable, animated pets before such as ravens and wolves (now kicking myself that I missed the latter at the Red Riding Hood event), but the Wyrmling definitely takes the cake.

Also in this post, also from the Secret Affair, a stunning gatcha gown from Junbug and a lovely braid from Calico.

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.

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.

We Love Role-Play continues to provide yet more gorgeous gowns and accessories. This time, the gown is courtesy of Senzafine and the headpiece is by On a Lark. The jewellery also comes with cuffs and the whole set is matched to a dress from On a Lark, also available at the event. The Solveig gown from Senzafine is available in four colours (including the Garnet seen to the right) at We Love Role-Play and in an additional set of colours (including the Indigo seen to the left) at her mainstore. The gown consists of a sleeveless undergown and the sleeved overgown with the bands across the chest. This allows for two very different looks in the same gown.

We Love Role-Play has just opened its February round at a brand new, gorgeous-looking location. This round offers the usual mix of clothing, accessories and props to cover all your roleplay needs. It slants towards fantasy, but there are some steampunk and sci-fi inspired products as well. My tastes do run primarily to fantasy, however, so my first picks are a lovely gown from the Plastik and a striking accessory from Enfant Terrible, plus a subtle and very useful lip tint from Musa.