Shush Now, it's BENTO!

Today I want to do a review of sorts, something that I've been thinking about a lot as of late... BENTO! Everyone, everywhere seems to be hopping on the bento band wagon. As well as the expected Heads and Hands, everything now seems to be available in BENTO, just recently I've seen wings, jewellery and even poses, yet I wondered how does that affect me and my use of these things, since at the moment I am not Bento anything - except my SL Viewer I mean. I'm not able to afford a Head or Hands, and am waiting until just the right thing comes my way - remember how long it took me to finally get a mesh head and body?! - but how does the use of Bento in other things affect my personal use of these things?!! 
One of the stores I blog for is Image Essentials, and they have wholeheartedly jumped onto the Bento Train, so I was concerned I'd find myself in trouble for not blogging, but there are things that everyone should know...

I will admit that I was a little concerned, I couldn't carry on blogging for the store if I'd be unable to blog the Bento releases and therefore not meet the monthly quota, but once again the amazing owner of Image Essentials - Kay Weston - and her new but equally friendly and approachable Blogger Manager - Danni Ironfist - really helped to calm my worries. I over worry, I know but it's a bad habit of mine! 
I wanted to see how much the Bento would affect things... Basically for those of you that don't know, Bento is a new project release from Linden Labs, which has created more "bones" in the avatar structural make-up, meaning that movement is possible in ways that were never possible before. So when it comes to poses, the designers are able to use the Bento body parts to move an avatar in ways that before would have been very difficult to achieve. 
For example, Image Essentials have released - in conjunction with 1313 I should add - a range of poses called "Shush Now" for this year's Fetish Fair. As soon as I saw the poses I LOVED them... The kinky stuff always makes me a little happy, don't ask me to explain why lol, but there are two variations to this series, and it seems that where one didn't really work, the other was pretty close and usable! Let me share with you the Image Essentials Ad created for this pose...

As you can see, yes there is a difference in the way the hands look, the model is Bento Handed whereas I am not, and OK I have not created a fist with my Slink Casual Hands however there are Slink hands that could do that, yet I still feel that the position of my hands can be counted as a viable position and therefore a good use of the prop and pose... I happen to like the picture that I have created, I will admit - and this is nothing against Kay or the pose - that I think I prefer my upper hand being a little more relaxed looking than is shown in the ad! It's a personal preference, I was so happy that I could use the pose and make it look good! 
The other set of poses in this series, with the Ball Gag, I could not... 

But you see the hands play a much bigger key role in making the pose speak! 
I was happy to see that even without Bento things, the poses that Image Essentials are making can still be used. Yes it takes a little more tweakage sometimes, but my advice to anyone is don't be afraid to try it... You never know how long it will be until Bento is the norm, it's time for a Bento Adventure. I think for now - if they will have me - I'm going to be sticking around with Image Essentials and letting them drag me on that adventure, I just hope they bring the riding crop!!! 

What is she wearing;
Hair: Truth - Ari in Reds 
Skin: Glam Affair - Seya in Europa 2 
Collar: GABRIEL - Slave Chain Necklace in Black - Silver 
Dress: Kaithleen's - Lace Mini Dress in Black (Available until February 12th at Cosmopolitan) 
Pose: Image Essentials & 1313 - Shush Now V6 Bento Pose (Available until February 17th at Fetish Fair)