Life Underwater

The RFL Fantasy Faire will be opening April 19 and going through April 25, sponsored by the Friends Fighting Cancer team. The focus is, of course, fantasy, including role playing, tinies, nekos, fairies, demons, vamps, and science fiction.

I was given the opportunity to cover one sim, and I begged to cover the Mer Market, because I just love the beauty of underwater builds and clothing in SL. It’s my kind of fantasy.

Opal Lei of Mer Betta, is the sponsor of the Mer Market, and a perfect sponsor for such an environment. Her work is beautifully textured and rendered, carefully built and considered, complex and beautiful. When you get a mermaid ensemble from Mer Betta, you get your money’s worth.

In this case, I am showing the RFL piece Opal is donating for this event with all proceeds going to RFL. First, there is a basic mermaid outfit with fins (that include and on and off for flexiness), the basic leg covers, etc., and it comes in two shades per ensemble (in this case a darker and lighter purple). Then she offers “upgrade” packages—the Intimates and the Mutation, which you buy in addition to the basic mermaid set. The Intimates include a bit sexier ensemble that shows a little more skin (see directly above and below). The Mutation includes fins and wrist and shoulder pieces that are beautifully sculpted and textured (top photo). I can’t write enough about how beautiful I feel when I wear one of Opal’s ensembles. This particular creation comes in yellow, green, red and blue as well and they are all equally as incredible. (Tip: look UNDERWATER at the Faire to find even more beautiful creations in her store.) She is truly an artist.

I show this glorious ensemble with another beautiful piece of work from Tuli Asturias. Her new skin line, Sayuri, was made specifically to cast an Asian aspect to an avatar. This skin does not look as good on an avatar where it is not meant to look Asian, frankly, so I altered my eyes to make them more appropriate. I have tried before to find a skin that represents a beautiful Asian woman and have always struck out. I have finally found one. The Sayuri skin is absolutely exquisite.

“I must be a mermaid…. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.”
— Anaïs Nin

Hair: Delora Purple by Queue Marlowe for Analog Dog (modified)

Skin: []::Tuli::[] Sayuri tone 2 :: 06a by Tuli Asturias for Tuli *

Outfits: Mer Betta RFL2010-Owain Purple Rosetail v3.1c (w) by Opal Lei for Mer Betta, sponsor of the Mer Market *

Mer Betta RFL2010-Owain ~ CrescentIntimates (w) by Opal Lei for Mer Betta, sponsor of the Mer Market *

Mer Betta RFL2010-Owain ~ MutationAlpha (w) by Opal Lei for Mer Betta, sponsor of the Mer Market *

Here is my first movie I ever did make in SL, showing this beautiful mermaid outfit.

Sun and Sand

It’s cold and rainy outside. It’s time for a trip to the beach.

A perfect outfit for this fantasy is Opal Lei’s new bikini and sarong set. Known for her beautiful mermaids, Opal has tried to emerge from the water and put her beautiful textures on humans too. She has done a darn good job. In this set, she provides both a Merkini and a Bettakini (you see the Merkini here). Merkini has a simple scale texture while Bettakini has a fin texture overlaid on the scale texture. Both come with the package so you can choose what you prefer. The colors are rich, the work impeccable.

I wore a bikini actually to show off my beach skin, a new one from Aradhana Voight. Known best for her beautiful saris and elaborate Indian-influenced jewelry, Aradhana has ventured into the skin trade and her gifts serve her well here. I will say I tried several hairs with these skins and opted for one of Truth Hawk’s darker colors—Aradhana’s skins need the deeper color to match the dark eyebrows and make-ups. Make sure you find Aradhana’s store on the New Delhi sim, which she is generously sponsoring for the RFL Clothing Fair, starting March 13. Make it worth her while and pick up a few of her gorgeous skins. I include pretty jewelry from Narita Rayna, being sold at this year’s Accessory Fair.

Finally take a look at my tooties. Maris Kanto has come out with another pair of gorgeous toe shoes with their versatile huds for changing the color of 3 different elements of the shoe, the skin, and the nails plus the hardware. They do everything but dance for you!

Even castles made of sand, fall into the sea, eventually. ~ Jimi Hendrix

Hair: >TRUTH< Anya – chocolate by Truth Hawks for >TRUTH<

Skin: :Mashooka: Samara skin {honey} m1with :Mashooka: Push up {honey} by Aradhana Voight for Mashooka *

Outfit (incl. armband and bracelet): Mer Betta Halimede Merkini+Bettakini v3c (w) by Opal Lei for Mer Betta *

Necklace and earrings: *Ticky Tacky* Tourist Trap Jewelry Set – Original Red by Narita Rayna for *Ticky Tacky* *

Shoes: Kalnins Shoes – Rhapsody by Maris Kanto for Kalnins

Sea of Love

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.
~ from “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot

A very nice person came up to me at SLCC and initiated an introduction—Opal Lei. I was startled—I am so often out of it, especially when I am just finishing a presentation or trying to figure out what to do next (there was a lot of that going on at SLCC for me). My brain was not functioning. We had a nice talk but didn’t really connect until she contacted me in world.

Opal IM’d me today about something else. After I spoke to Opal and had a great conversation with her, I ran over to her store. I was amazed. Opal has some incredible and fun stuff in her Mer Betta line.

This beautiful mermaid outfit comes with flowy tail fins and chest fins (which are not shown here). Opal includes system pieces that fade into the skin, making the wearer truly look like a mermaid. I used EmeraldEver Cline’s very inexpensive (150L) mermaid AO, purchased on xstreetsl.com.

I completed the look with pieces from my friend Teklili Tentalus’ collection. Nereid has a clever script that allows you to change the colors of each of the different elements of the jewelry—shells can be one color while pearls another. Each piece of jewelry is exquisitely made, in Tek’s typical fashion. You will see more in my blog from him—I am blown away by his work.

Shot on location in Night Swimming.

“I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each..”

Hair: Exile Love Song auburn by Kavar Cleanslate for Exile

Skin: Pulse Skin-Valeries T: Sienna/Citrus by Lorac Farella for Pulse Skins

Mermaid: Mer Betta Halimede Red Halfmoon v3c (v) by Opal Lei for Mer Betta

Jewelry: “Nereid” by Tekelili Tantalus for Tekeli-li!

AO: Em’s Preloaded AO Hud of Mer Animations by EmeraldEver Cline for Em’s Mermaid Shop By The Sea