Lost Paradise – What do you believe in?

I am not uberly religious, but some themes, which as well are shown in arts again and again, do catch my attention sometimes. I more believe in nature and the power of even that, instead of the church for example. Religion or the believe in god, spirits and ghosts are something very personal and we all have different experiences with that, so I would never ever try to convince anyone of my own opinions about that. I do believe in the thought, that energy never goes away completely (Conservation of Energy) and always gets transitioned into something else πŸ˜‰

For me tings like the Wiccan cult – or some older forms of nature based believes – are way easier to believe in than god or even the church. There was a time, where I did believe in god and as well the church, but that did end with the death of my father when I was 7. He died because of stomach cancer and all I wanted to know – when I was 7 – was “Why?”. Why would that god, that I did believe in, allow that a disease would be able to take my father from me, when I still needed him so much. There was a group for kids at the church, which I was attending every week and after my father passed away I wanted answers. They had none besides the one the church always uses, if they can’t explain something – “The paths of God are inscrutable”. Tell that a 7 years old girl, which is kinda ripped apart – not really working out well. That was my first disruption I had with that. Later, when I did grow up and started to try to get to the bottom of everything I was told and what I learned, it became even worse… I questioned why god would let it happen, that in a war innocent babies get killed – after I they tried to convince me, that war is nothing god does, but the humans as all have their own ability to make decisions – babies who can’t even walk, talk, speak nor make any kind of deliberately decisions.

I read the bible – more than once, as I wanted answers and I wanted to understand – and the more I read, the more I again questioned so many things… for example, how can I believe in a god that breaks his own ten commandments in the bible? How can I believe in a god, that allows humans to murder in his name? I was taught god is good! I learned I never will get answers more than “God must have his plan” or like I said before “His ways are inscrutable”- which was not enough for me, as I always want to go to the bottom of things. Maybe that is the reason why I personally prefer science and nature over religion itself.

Like I stated at the beginning, for me it is way easier to believe in the power of nature. Nature is very rational and there are proves, that some things do happen as we see it everyday. There is stuff between heaven and earth, not all will notice – or not all will/want to understand. So everyone has the freedom to decide, what he or she wants to believe in Germany, which is something I highly value. I know it is not a matter of course everywhere in the world sadly.

What I had in mind for this pictures, was a modern version of Eve, paired with the believe in natural powers and the Wiccan doctrine – Something nature connected πŸ™‚ (I still won’t believe, that the female should have been the only reason, that locked out the human species from paradise πŸ˜‰ )

I LOVE the creativity of CURELESS [+] / CUREMORE, especially their gachas that contain those amazing, special and unusual/artistic torsos. This time it was the “Lost Paradise” gacha, which drew my attention. The gacha does not only contain wearable parts, but as well some cool creations for the scenery. The trees, which come with a HUD for the bones and the apples, the snakes in all colors and shapes and the apples on the ground are a perfect scenery. I wanted all kind of warm colors for the set and with the HUDs it was really easy to achieve πŸ™‚ I added some other things to my look – you all know I really love mix and match. I had some amazing parts, which I could imagine would fit so well, like the hand branches from .Drastic. or the cool claws from E.A.Studio. Iam not a fan of ling empty legs – I stated that in past posts already – so I wanted something wrapped around my legs and certainly no high heels πŸ˜‰ I wanted flat shoes… but I do not own many of those, as I rarely shop for flat shoes besides sneakers, heavy boots and those kind of style. So I was so happy, when I found the “Charro Flats” still sitting in my inventory. I know I got them at an event and then I never had the right look to use them – until today!

Again I was able to just play with stuff I got over the time and did not have to follow any deadlines. Sometimes I really do need that, as much as I enjoy blogging, sometimes I need my freedom. It is different, when you blog for a designer. where you have items you want to showcase in the focus in a very clear way, or if you just fool around with things. I really do enjoy both and I need both for my happiness πŸ˜‰ It feels like 2 completely different challenges to me and I do enjoy both!

Outfit &Accessories

Torso: CUREMORE – “Lost Paradise / Eden Diorama” (Maitreya, Gacha, Rare)

Legs: Storybook – “Savage – Brown” (Maitreya)

Shoes: Eudora3D – “Charro Flats” (Maitreya)

Apple: CUREMORE – “Lost Paradise / Eve’s Apple” (Gacha, Rare)

Headpiece 1: CUREMORE – “Lost Paradise / Wreath (fire)” (Gacha)

Headpiece 2: La Biche – “Branch Horns (Toadstool)”

Choker: Moon Elixir – “Mushroom Thron Crown”

Hands & Rings: .Drastic. – “Walnut Hand Branches”(Maitreya, Bento)

Nails/Claws: E.A.Studio – “Obsess Claws” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: [KoKoLoReS] – “Leighton”

Makeup: Zibska – “Kane” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: Zibska – “Folia Lips” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body; Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Face: Izzie’s – “Pores & Blemishes” (LeLutka Applier)

Body Tattoo: Astralia – “Forest Tattoo” (Maitreya, Ivy Elf Gacha)

Poses & Props

Poses:

Foxcity

Set:

CUREMORE – “Lost Paradise / Paradise Tree (Brown)” (Gacha)

CUREMORE -“Lost Paradise /Crawling Snake(Beige & Green)” (Gacha)

CUREMORE – “Lost Paradise / Crawling HeadUp Snake (Beige & Green)” (Gacha)

CUREMORE – “Lost Paradise / TreeHanging Snake (Beige & Green)” (Gacha)

CUREMORE – “Lost Paradise / Forbidden fruits (Fire, Red, Yellow, Green)” (Gacha)

Moon_Sha – “Wall Ivy 1 & 2 – Summer 1”

Little Branch – “WildGrass*1Li{Green}”

Location

Wicca’s Wardrobe (parcel beside the store)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Fantasy is Escapist, and that is its Glory

β€œFantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisioned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape?. . .If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!”
[J.R.R. Tolkien]

Isn’t Second Life a place where we can escape reality? Isn’t Second Life a place to experiment and live visions and dreams? – To me it is!

I am not saying my way is the best or the only one, as Second Life is a platform where everyone can do and life what ever they want. It should be a place where you can do everything that you can imagine and dream of for yourself. As kids we played Barbie or enjoyed various roleplay like Cowboy and Indian, Robin Hood and the Lady Marian or what ever we wanted. To me Second Life is just an extension of that.

I can dress up with everything my mood is leading me to. Mostly it is something I could not wear in RL. Sometimes it can be casual as well but usually it has some twist on it to make it my own. Often I was told, you need to decide to a certain direction to set a trademark or make yourself a brand – I never could decide for one and why should I in a world that gives you like nearly unlimited options? I thought by myself if it could not be my trademark to not have a certain look or style πŸ˜‰

Since I decided about that, I felt so much more free to experiment and play with all kind of things. There is only a few things, I set as my own limits to myself. I never would do porn, as I personally think there is no need to do that on a virtual fashion blog, as you can do so much more with nudity or semi nudity in an artistic way and it is nothing that I would like to share with a wide range of people anyways. As well i never would touch any illegal things, that go against common sense or the law, I never felt the desire to do such at all. That said, I just have fun playing with several things and lately I do love creating my own sceneries and backgrounds or add something personal to places I do love to snap at.

One of my favorite sim collectives for fantasy themed pictures is the Ippos Collective. A consortium of 4 sims. Sylpha, Nymphai, Ippos and Pegasoi. Each sim has a certain theme to it and all of them are decorated in an amazing way with much love to the details. All of them are changing their seasons, which always gives new things and settings to discover. There are a few parcels that are rented, but as long as you respect their privacy you can even rezz some props and pose stands to make your perfect shot. The owners are extremely sweet and kind and always have an open ear if you need help or advice. Most of them do amazing pictures like for example Duchess Flux. I am very happy to be allowed to call her a friend. She was there, backed me up and trusted me in some of the darkest hours of my SL. I won’t ever forget that – Thank you Duchie β™₯

I only can give a rough view of the sims as no words I know would satisfy the beauty of those very special places. You need to wander all across the collective and even then you won’t see everything on your first walk πŸ˜‰

Ippos is mostly a residential sim. It has a beautiful landscape of a fantasy world, like a hidden treasure in the middle of a forest. No wonder that it is built in such an beautiful way, since well known SL bloggers and photographers call that palce their home and the parcels are really desired and not often open for new rentals.

On Nymphai you will find all the amazing events like the Enchantment or the Secret Affair as well as some main stores of fantastic and creative designers.

Pegasoi to me looks more like the romantic and sweet fantasy part of the group. You will find the Lady Garden Cabaret there, which shows monthly shows of amazing and creative artists.

Last but not least we have Sylpha, the water sim. Any desire you have for water based pictures you will find there. Weather you would like to do some peaceful island pictures or you actually would like to really swim in Linden water together with fishes and dolphins – everything is possible!

If you like more and detailed info about the Ippos Collective just take a look atΒ https://threadsandtuneage.com/ippos/

If you are in such an amazing fantasy environment you have to dress up to fit in there πŸ˜‰ This time I wanted to showcase one of the amazing hats from Spartin Parx. The “Milli” hat comes with a huge HUD. You can change the base to 6 different colors and the sweet roses on the top have a variety of 9 colors to chose from.

I thought a long time about how I could style it to not loose the focus on the hat but as well have a cute fantasy look. First I thought about something uniform based, I do not know why and I discovered very fast that this was not the way it would work out. The hat had a Victorian touch to me and finally I found a sweet doll looking outfit that just did the trick πŸ˜‰ For the boots I went with the “Kora” boots form UTOPIA@Design. I do have an addiction to over-knee boots, maybe because I do not often have the opportunity to wear them RL, as they would not fit into my everyday job most of the time ;). With the laces in the front, they totally matched the Victorian look, while the steel caps in the front added some strong, modern feelings to the whole look, which i loved a lot for the whole photo composition.

Outfit & Accessories

Outfit: Violent Seduction – “Madame Chevaliere” (Maitreya,Gacha – Bra, Corset, Paudrons & Skirt)

Gloves: Maddict – “Starlet Gloves” (Maitreya)

Shoes: UTOPIA@Design – “Kora” (Maitreya)

Hat: Spartin Parx – “Millie”

Collar: Zombie Suicide – “Willow Collar”

Hair & Makeup:

Hair: No.Match – “No.Call”

Makeup: Slackgirl – “Kam” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: Zibska – “Chooli” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Face: Izzie’s – Pores & Blemishes” (LeLutka Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity

Props: JIAN – “Wolf Pack & Companion” & Moon_Sha – “Cinderella’s Pumpkins” (Gacha, Ultrarare)

Location

The Ippos Collective

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin