Otherworldly

Maxwell Graf, the creator behind Rustica, has been on a longer hiatus from creating in Second Life. But yesterday he dipped his toes back in with the release of a versatile mesh fire, intended as a high-quality replacement fire for fire places, torches etc. Of course, since it is fully modifiable, I decided to do something rather different with it and created a demonic landscape with black crystals and fire. The fire can be turned on and off with a click and you can also edit the way the three different meshes that make it up fit together by editing linked parts.

The pose is Dark Matter by Be My Mannequin? and it is perfect for showing off the striking Draugr skin by Fallen Gods, here with the addition of the Orthae tattoo in silver. The hair is by Mythril and it allows you to set various specular maps; here I went for one with a fiery effect to match the surroundings.

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.

I’ve gift-wrapped myself today in this little number from Voluptas Virtualis that I absolutely adore. It seemed appropriate since so much of what I am wearing are gifts from generous creators, whether at their stores or at the Winter Shop & Hop. And while the skybox and the furnishings weren’t free, they were bought at Apple Fall’s incredibly generous Black Friday sale.

This is also my first photo on the new Firestorm release, with EEP instead of Windlight. So far, I am finding it incredibly useful to be able to flip through skies using the Quick Preferences but also annoyingly slow to import windlight settings and difficult to use the new way of adjusting the sun and moon. We need batch importing and we need to be able to get and set exact numbers for the sun.

It is the season for getting cosy, but nothing says you can’t combine cosy and sexy. The Holiday Thigh High Socks from Luxuria can go either way depending on what you pair them with. Here, together with the Quinnessa slip from Voluptas Virtualis, the vibe is definitely more towards the sexy end of things. The red of the couch from Roawenwood adds seasonal warmth and sensuality.

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.

La vie en pose, that is. The current round closes today, so get yourself over there if you haven’t already been. There are quite a few props and poses with a seasonal theme, so if you need to pose in a witchy way, you don’t want to miss checking it out. For this post, however, I went for something sweet and seductive. Creative StyleZ offers a set of five poses (with mirrors) that include strawberries as props in various positions. I picked two of them to showcase and decided to wear the latest two releases from Voluptas Virtualis, the Tania hair ornaments and the Zasha outfit. The hair is a new release from Wasabi for Logo’s 15th anniversary. And speaking of that, the head I am wearing is Chelsea, which is one of two free heads from Logo during the anniversary (the other is Chase, a male head). Its a lovely gift that you do not want to miss out on and make sure to check out all the fabulous releases for it from various merchants (as well as Logo’s own new skin, of course!).

Salem has opened its door to all things witchy and I went straight for the 3 Witches gacha from alaskametro and played, and played and played…but clearly, I need to sacrifice a black goat for it to deliver any of its rares! That said, the commons are also fantastic and I can happily report that all three skins work across a range of Slink and LeLutka heads, even though they are made for Genus. That just leaves the two Genus HD lip appliers as Genus-specific.

Since I also had a trio of stockings from Luxuria for Salem to blog, I decided on setting up three witchy looks using each of the faces from the gacha.

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.

Voluptas Virtualis has two new “barely there” sets out for the latest round of Whore Couture. The first is a delicate set of chain drapery and the second features piercings and lacing between them. I admit, my tastes definitely run more to the former, I rather like the idea of wearing nothing but some jewellery. I’ve used Dutchie’s performer chair, stage and stage lights to setup an intimate performance. Needless to say, this is not quite safe for work.

I was going for something elegant and seductive to show off this lingerie set with plentiful lace applique from Voluptas Virtualis. But as I was playing around with the lighting, Elio glanced over at my screen and said “oh, that looks nice, its so moody”. And I had to agree. The simple setup, the stark shadow and the pose from oOo Studios came together really nicely like this. The simple, clean lines of the Vivid hair from Truth plays into that as well, and the earring from Kunglers provides a striking accent.

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.

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.

It is way too warm and I wish I was closer to the ocean so that I could cool off in the water. Being down at the beach at sunset, especially when the water is still warm enough for a swim, is just magical. Hopefully I’ll be getting the chance in a few weeks, but until then I can only experience it virtually.

The latest releases from Voluptas Virtualis are both for the current round of the Fetish Fair, so it is no wonder that they paired very well with the Kivna Karcero Throne from Roawenwood which features both maledom and femdom animations, with more room given to the latter. The Angela outfit with the Duchess ballet heels definitely called for the poses from the femdom menues, so I called in Ran to be my boytoy.

I’ll have to start off by admitting that I cheated. I really wanted to take this photo on the Zodiac sim at the Fantasy Faire, but the lingerie from Voluptas Virtualis is too revealing for that. So, I used my favourite new workaround—I wore a dress over it that I derendered! A bit cheeky, perhaps, but perfect for when you need to show a lot of skin, such as for a skin review. You see, I am wearing a brand new release from a returning brand that I am really excited about. Skim Within, by Ayesha Bisiani, used to offer some of the most unusual skins on the grid, covering a range of looks and ethnicities. They also included some of the more elaborate makeups for its time. And now Skin Within is back and I am wearing the brand’s first new release, Aaliyah.