Fantasy Faire: San Mora

The transition between Kakushi Pasu and San Mora is abrupt and startling. On one side: calm and natural glory. On the other: post-modern destruction decorated with trash bags. Death Row Designs always does something post-apocalyptic (whether modern of medieval) and San Mora is an exemplar of the style. You can pick up a free gas mask from DRD (San Mora) at the entrance, and I recommend doing so.... just in case. Much of what you can purchase here is similarly modern and dystopic - and it's a good reminder, to me in particular, of what an enormous umbrella Fantasy is! I'm more of a sparkles and sunshine kind of girl, but the dark and rusted fantasies other people create are no less valid even if they aren't candy colored. Fantasy Faire always challenges me to get out of my preferred areas and into something different, and I'm deeply grateful for the yearly wake-up call.

Fantasy Faire: A Traveller in Echtra

Echtra is a world of ice and snow, a story about a child-like lord of winter missing his summer sister, and so it seems appropriate that the outfit I put together is the very embodiment of spring. Swirling around my bright spring look is a set of sakura petals from NAMINOKE (Echtra), which are also a pose-giver via a HUD - though I didn't make use of the poses here. The wings, with their pale flowers and long golden cloths tied around the veins, are also from NAMINOKE (Echtra) and I really adore them - from how naturally the branches seem to fall and how pretty the flowers are. The combo of wings and petals is just fun, especially when different poses seem to bring them into relationship with each other - as you can see. Trust that you will see these again in the future - these are absolutely a delight!

Fantasy Faire: Creations of Echtra

This lovely couples pose is a rezzable from Roquai (Echtra), a taller figure embracing a shorter one, fingers covering each other. It's one of a number of matched sets, each with accompanying swirls of Sakura blossoms from NAMINOKE (Echtra). The poses and petals were done as a collaboration between these two stores, and the effect is lovely and striking - whether one keeps to the arrangements included, or ads some flourishes of one's own. 

Beached White

This post is going to be more than a little event heavy. July has had a slew of events and there's no sign of us slowing down any time soon. Fit for a Princess continues until the end of the month, and it has lovely things for anyone seeking a Happily Ever After like this white gown from Kouse's Sanctum, also available in an amazing array of colors besides. It has a gorgeous, hip-length corset with delicate curls upon it. The sleeves  have pleasant puffs, and the neckline is a lovely square one; I had a little skin-bleeding through some of the ruffles since I'm a scooch fatter than the average avatar, but otherwise the fit is easy and good, and the included invisible layer works well without leaving any gaps. Each side of the skirt is strongly rigged to the legs, which means in poses where one leg is before the other you end up with a sharp angle, but other than that it moves quite well, and the length is such that you can see the peeping of shoes - or in this case bare feet - under the hem. I truly adore it; in fact, I'm considering adding to my considerable Kousely-Collection with a few more colors. I think the length of the corset is my favorite aspect, as I'm particularly fond of that smooth line over the hips with a flair out below. I'm also still wearing the nail shades from Frogstar on my fingers and toes, this time in a blindingly white shade which works beautifully with the rest of my look. I love how muted the colors are in this particular set, but the white itself is glorious.

My hair is a gloriously twisted updo from Ploom which takes full advantage of Ploom's divine ombre shades. I know I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating that these really add an incredibly punch to Ploom's styles - and you can see why in the gorgeous swirl where the color goes from a pale blond, through pink and green and ending on an eye-smartingly-bright blue. I love the effect of a relatively usual shade becoming suddenly rich and unusual - and in this case it adds a delicious pop of color to balance out darker shades elsewhere in my look. This particular look is one of several available at the Hair Faire, and well worth braving the lag and avatars to find. It fit perfectly, with delicate tendrils along the sides of the face far enough forward to not interfere with my ears; truly perfection held up with pins. Darker shades also come in with this set of color-changing jewelry from Elemental. This is one of the four cool color shades, a lovely rich purple, and the metals are color changing as well through a dizzying array of options, including several combination metals like a gold-tinted silver scale.

Oh My Gacha offers up another dizzying array, this time of gachas. I was completely floored by a sim full from edge to edge with gacha machines, often several from the same store, each with their own offerings. Naminoke is one of my favorite gachas to play, as the prices tend to be on the low side and the offerings are so adorable. In this case, it's sets of colored flowers to cling to several parts of the body - from growing out of the temples to twining around the wrists to clinging to the ankles. At least three different color sets - two shades of purple and a lovely blue - are available, and often they have additional flourishes like silvery strands from the hair or little creatures lurking among the blossoms. Sadly, I didn't end up with a full set of any color, but I have high hopes of running across these in a yard sale and filling out my collections. Finally, the ribbons around my toes are from BooBubbleGum and I was lucky enough to score the rare, which includes this cute charm above the heel. The ribbons themselves are rigged for the SLink high heels, but the charm is editable so that if it lands too far down your foot you can shift it around to fit smoothly. Since I ended up with the rare, I also ended up with a charming HUD to change the colors - including to this pure white shade. I've been wishing for foot ribbons for a long while, and these cheer me immensely.