Skin

Bliss, Beauty, n Portia

Adam n Eve recently released the Portia skins — the first in a new generation of skins by sachi Vixen.  Let me tell you, they are gorgeous.  Now, you know now much I like comparing things, so here we’ll take a look at Portia with two previous Adam n Eve skins, Bliss and Beauty.

About Portia:  she’s beautiful.  Notably, she comes with a hairbase (not shown here) in three different haircolors: dark, blonde, and red; each has matching eyebrows, which I love love love.  The eyebrows are, in my opinion, perfection.  The arch is graceful and classic, and there’s just enough detail of individual eyebrow hairs.  The eyes are lovely, as always, and Portia’s nose has more definition than previous versions.  The lips have a pleasing shape, and I’ll draw your attention to the subtle shading below the lips and into the chin — it’s well-done and shows a keen eye for detail.  The freckles are the same as the previous generation of skins, but as I love them, that doesn’t bother me a bit.  New with Portia is freckled/unfreckled options in each makeup, as well as the hair color/hair base options.  I also like the overall blend of youth and sophistication Portia brings.

I’ve only shown neutral makeup here, but there is a full line of 12 makeups available, with a variety of eyeshadow/lip colors and a few “exotic” makeups.  Check the full line of makeups here.

Now, the differences in the bodies of theses skins is particularly striking to me, and › Continue reading

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Friday, September 18th, 2009 Fashion, Freckles, Skin No Comments

Freckleface: Four that fit me

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the quantity of quality skins on the grid.  On the other hand, the selection means that we can find just the right skins to suit us, that feel right.  You know what I mean — ever tried on a skin that looked amazing on everyone else, but when you slapped on the demo, it looked like a stranger was staring back at you from your screen?

Here are four skins out right now that feel right to me.

Each of these faces are unique and have their own personality, yet they all have that special something that makes them feel right to me.  The bodies are equally unique — see how each creator has approached the stomach and back in a different way?  (I so love comparing things side by side.)

Want to try these skins on for yourself?  Here’s the info you want.  From left to right:
Adam n Eve Bliss T1 makeup Freckly
5th & Oxford Medium Fresh Freckles 6
*blowpop* N2 Elizabeth tone C 5.1 Graphite 1
Imagen Irene – Este – Patricia

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Friday, August 28th, 2009 Freckles, Skin 4 Comments

Feature: Blowpop N2 Skins

Outside cirumstances mean that this post will be significantly less word-heavy than I’ve intended.  There are still a boatload of pics for you to eyeball, though.

Annyka Bekkers has released the N2 lines of Blowpop skins.  These are updated and expanded versions of the former Infinity lines, and they’re awesome.  If ya like a particular makeup, click the picture for details on flickr.

There are four separate lines, each with four tones. 

In each line, there are a total of 6 eyeshadow options, each of which comes with two lip options.  With the four tones, that makes a total of 48 faces for each skin line.  For full makeup options, check out Annyka’s flickr pages: Maya Carmen Ava Elizabeth

Don’t mind the dropshadow fail on the last pictures. 

All hairstyles are from Tiny Bird, which as awesomely amazing hair.  The lingerie is from Artilleri, and all poses are from [LAP] Long Awkward Poses.  You can get slurls at http://slurls.wordpress.com.

Thursday, July 9th, 2009 Feature, Skin No Comments

Beauty

I read that when Sachi Vixen of Adam n Eve creates skins, she mentally creates unique characters for each skin, and it shows.  Each of her skins has a unique personality, which for me is both interesting and attractive.  I have my everyday av, which I adore, but I’ve been playing with new looks lately.  Anyway, I’d just picked up wings and ears to create my first real fairy concept when Adam n Eve released the lovely Beauty skin.  It was a Eureka moment — Beauty suits my regal fairy queen to a tee.  Now, you may not be looking to be a fairy queen, but keep in mind the Beauty skin is stunning on human types, too.

One of my favorite parts of Sachi Vixen’s skins is the highlighting.  Her skins shimmer, without looking like body oil.  They have a slightly iridescent quality, subtly catching the light.  I particularly love the way the light catches the thighs and collarbone. 

The joints, I think, are stunning on this skin.  Take a look at the knees (front and back), the elbows, the toes, the backs of the heels.  (I’m a sucker for a great heel in SL.  Don’t know why.)  Also, please notice, the abs.  This girl is ripped.  The tone is well suited to a leaner shape.  The muscularity, for some reason, puts me in mind of a marathon runner — all muscle, while maintaining a lean shape and not looking all bodybuilder-y.

The makeups, like all of Sachi’s makeups, are elegant and delicately handled, with an emphasis on realism.  You won’t find extreme makeup here, but rather, perfectly applied makeup for the real woman.  Soft smooth face, perfectly glossed lips, perfectly blended eyeshadows with the eyeliner smudged just so.  The drawn-on lashes are enough for when you want to skip wearing prim lashes, but not too much to interfere with prim lashes.  The eyebrows are perhaps my favorite of the Adam n Eve skins, with a well-groomed natural arch.  (I should note that Beauty has a wide mouth, so you’ll need to tweak your shape slightly.  I have my mouth width cranked down to almost zero here.)

I also really enjoy the more mature look of this skin.  Beauty isn’t some girl dreaming of what she’ll be when she grows up; she’s a woman living it.  Beauty looks as we all wish we could leave our twenties — with a hint of wisdom and the killer cheekbones, without any wrinkles or sagging.

Now, about the hair. Beauty is Adam n Eve’s first skin with painted-on hair.  It has a very natural hairline, with a realistic blonde shade.  You get both a traditional bald skin and a skin with hair base, as well as a prim mussed bun with strands around the face.  I really like the included hairstyle; it’s simple and elegant, and the strands help to soften what could be a severe look.  In addition, there is an add-on pack of three hairstyles available for sale to match the Beauty hair base.

A few final notes: Beauty is available in four skin tones.  I’m wearing the lightest, T1, as it best suited my fairy.  There are a total of eight makeups available for each skin tone.  Each skin purchase includes the two skins, the bun, eyebrow shaper, and manicure/pedicure to match the lipstick.  Individual skins are $L1200; fatpacks of four are L$3000.

Credits:
Skin: Adam n Eve Beauty, t1 tone, Blossom and Natural Gloss makeups
Eyes: Miriel Realistic Eyes in Gilded Plum
Ears: Illusions Fairy Ears – Natural
Top: part of Casa del Shai Soleil Lingerie Set – Lila
Bottom: Tuli Worn Denim Mini Skirt in Pink (pants layer only)
Wings: Fancy Fairy Azarelle Iridescent Wings
Poses: [LAP] Long Awkward Poses

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Thursday, May 28th, 2009 Fashion, Skin 1 Comment

Freckleface

Freckles, oh freckles.  I not particularly fond of my real-life freckles; I wish I had a smooth, creamy complexion.  However, I won’t wear a skin without freckles in-world.  Odd, right?  Skins just don’t “feel” right on me otherwise.

The thing is, not all SL freckles are created equal, and we freckle-fiends are picky.  Fortunately, there are lots of freckled skins to choose from, in a variety of price points, each with unique freckle patterns, thanks to the talented creators we have in SL (y’all rock!)  From delicate barely-there freckles, to big fat freckles with a distinctly hand-drawn look.  From just a few, scattered across the nose, to freckles that cover from hairline to toes.

So, without further ado, I present freckles.










A few notes: All pics are taken with the same shape and the same windlight settings.  When possible, I’ve worn the provided eyebrow shaper for each skin.  Several of the makeups shown are previous hunt prizes or group gifts, but you should be able to find a selection of makeups offered from each store shown.

There are several skins above that are personal faves of mine.  And a part of me wants to talk more about them.  But really, this post is about the freckles, not about my own biases.  So scroll back up, and take another look.  Click to see larger sizes.  Choose your own favorites.  :)

Special thanks to [42], Blowpop, D-Skin, Fleur, and Genesis, who all generously sent review copies.

Credits:
1.  [42] Angel Kisses, Neutral tone, makeup 02.  L$300 for a set of four makeups in a single tone.  Two makeup sets and three tones available.
2.  Adam n Eve Devon – Red Special Edition (previous picks reward gift).  L$1200 per makeup; L$3000 set of four.  Four tones and eight makeups available.
3.  Adam n Eve Bliss – Tone 1 – Freckly makeup.  L$1200 per makeup; L$3000 set of four.  Four tones and four makeups available.
4.  Blowpop Infinity line, Elizabeth face, Heavy Cream tone, makeup 5.  L$1000 per skin; L$3600 6-makeup fatpack.  Three tones and six makeups available.
5.  Blowpop Mellie3 line, Honey tone, Burlesque Queen, brunette.  L$1200 set of four makeups; L$5000 20-look fatpack.  Six tones and 20 makeups available.
6.  Cupcakes Lovespell line, Lace tone, Spring Fling makeup (Easter hunt gift).  L$1000 per makeup; $5000 for fatpack of 10.  Five tones and 35 makeups available.
7. D-Skin Skin 64, F1_E0_L1 makeup.  L$1000 per makeup.  Many faces, each with 6 makeups available.
8.  Fleur Allure line, Bare set, Truffle shade, makeup 3.  L$1000 per makeup. A total of four makeups on six tones are available with freckles.
9.  Fleur Boutique Parfait 2 line, Strawberry tone, Makeup 2.  $L 1000 per makeup. A total of three makeups with freckles are available on three tones.
10. Curio Lovely face, Petal shade, Dark, Firehouse makeup.  $L1000 per makeup; $L3000 for fatpack of six.  Five faces in three shades, each with six makeups available.
11.  Curio Radiance Shade, freckle demo.  L$700 per makeup; L$2000 for fatpack of four. 10 shades and 44 makeups available.
12.  Genesis Eden line, Sugar tone, Reluctant makeup.  L$1000 per makeup; L$15000 for fatpack of 20.  8 shades and 20 makeups available.
13.  Heaven’s Skin&Shape yuka Prototype1N F.  Free.  A small selection of free skins, some freckled, available.
14.  Imagen Irene line, Este tone, Humo makeup (current lucky chair prize).  L$995 per makeup; L$2985 for fatpack of four.  Four shades and 16 makeups available.
15.  KA Lost Special Evangeline Lilly Skin (part of a complete avatar — free).
16.  lessthanthree Sugar Skins, light tone, Godiva gift makeup.  L$600 per makeup; L$3500 per fatpack of eight usually — fatpacks on sale for L$240 through April 24th — yes, that’s $L240.  Three shades and 8 makeups available.
17.  LF Chai, Ginger tone, Antonia makeup. L$250 per makeup.  Six tones and and 45 makeups available.
18.  LF Chai Double-Shot line, Tone 3, Brisk makeup (previous hunt gift).  L$950 per makeup; discount fatpack cards available in different amounts. Eight tones and 35 makeups available.
19.  Pulse Climax line, Tone 1, Makeup 2 demo.  L$1200 per makeup; L$10,000 for the fatpack of ten makeups.  Four tones and eleven makeups available.
20.  PXL Creations Grace Line, Natural Tone, NudeEyes NudeLips BrownEB F makeup.  $L1500 per makeup; L$4000 per fatpack of four; L$7000 per fatpack of seven.  Five tones and and 28 makeups available.
21.  Redgrave Laura face, Bronze makeup.  I don’t see this one in the store right now, so it may be slated for an updated rerelease.
22.  Rockberry TMRHE Gift Skin 4.  L$1250 for a set of 6 makeups.  6 freckled sets available.
23.  Rockberry Megan A Natural Freckles (current lucky chair gift).
24.  Skin Within Adhira line, Profile Gift.  L$1200 per makeup; L$3600 for a set of six makeups.  24 makeups available.
25.  Skywalker Halloween Gift Skin [lash].  L$800 per makeup.  L$2000 for a fatpack of 5.  A variety of faces available, with about 10-15 makeups available for each.
26.  Tuli Elizabeth skin, Fair tone, Enticing makeup.  L$750 per makeup; fatpacks for L$1275/3 makeups and L$2125/5 makeups.  Seven tones and 15 makeups available.
27.  Tuli Kalista skin, Light tone, Valentine makeup (previous hunt gift).  L$850 per makeup; L$4500 per fatpack of seven.  Three tones and 21 makeups available.
28. Tuli Natalie skin, Light tone, previous group gift.  L$1000 per makeup; L$3000 per fatpack of 5.  7 tones and 10 makeups available.
29. Tuli Sumi Beauty Red.

Non-skin Credits:
Eyes: Genesis Au Naturel Eyes in Hazel
Lashes: LeLutka Seductress Lashes
Hair: Truth Ana Lu in Auburn

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Friday, April 17th, 2009 Fashion, Freckles, Skin 4 Comments

Skin: Genesis Eden

Ryker Beck, the creator behind Genesis, will be launching her first skin line next week.  She’s been sharing her progress on Plurk for a while now, and the excitement has been building as we get closer and closer to the release.  Eden will be available in eight different tones, ranging from pale cream to a dense dark chocolate, with 20 different makeups available for each.

Ms. Beck was kind enough to drop a few review copies on me, and I’ve chosen to show you the skins at the ends of the spectrum, Sugar and Juniper.  Often, the extremes of skin tones can be a little off — pale skins can be too yellow, too pink, or too geisha-white, while dark skins tend towards an orange or gray tone.  The Genesis skins, on the other hand, are just lovely.  Sugar is creamy and porcelain, and Juniper is rich and chocolatey.

There are a total of 20 makeups available for the Eden line, including the ten shown here.  Shown above, from left to right, top to bottom, on each skin tone are Au Naturel, Bare, Chocolate Orange, Codie, First Time, Irish Eyes, Pretty Pixie, Reluctant, Rockstar, and Saturday.  As you can see, each makeup has been slightly modified to compliment the lightness or darkness of the skin tone.  The variety of makeups is excellent, and should suit a variety of avatar looks and situations.

Genesis Eden, Sugar tone, Irish Eyes makeup

The face in general is quite nice to look at, and well suited to a variety of av shapes.  The brows aren’t my favorite shape, nor are they offered in multiple hair colors, but that’s not a big deal to me.  The eyes are fantastic, with well-defined eyelids.  The lashes are painted on, which not everyone will love, but I like them that way.  It’s so much easier to wear a skin with lashes than to fit prim eyelashes.  The nose is good.  Ryker Beck has a narrower, pointier nose than any of my shapes, and the highlighting at the tip of the nose seems a little odd on me.  Again, a minor detail, and may or may not affect you.  Now, the mouth.  The mouth looks rich and lush on full lips, as you can see on the Juniper shade.  I often have trouble with the mouths of skins not fitting properly on my rather small mouth (my usual face is wearing the Sugar tone here), but the Eden skin only took minimal tweaking, and looks good.  That’s a huge plus in my book.

Now, the freckles.  Oh the freckles!  I’m in love with these freckles.  They have a very natural look to them.  The color is just right; the scattering across the nose and cheeks is just right.  They’re nicely blended with the skin tone, so they avoid that “drawn on” look some SL freckles have.  I particularly like the freckles on the darker skins.  I do wish the freckles continued on to the chest, shoulders, and back, but that’s less important to me than having good face freckles.  Of course, if freckles aren’t your thing, the makeups also include a non-freckled version, which is lovely and luminous.

The body, for the most part, is luscious.  The blending on the skin is, overall, quite good, with a smooth and creamy texture.  There’s subtle highlighting and shadows, giving the arms and legs a three-dimensional appearance, without looking like they’re slathered in baby oil.  In addition, there are a few small moles scattered across the body, which add interest without being distracting.  (Perfectly smooth skins bore me.)

The cleavage (which I just realized you can’t see with my top)  isn’t overly pronounced, so if you’re looking for WonderBra or silicone cleavage, this skin may not suit.  However, it doesn’t particularly bother me.  The abdominal region (please see the first pic in the post)  has some muscle definition, and is drawn to suit a thin av.  It doesn’t look bad on an average-sized av like mine, but if your avatar is much curvier, the abdominal definition will definitely start to look odd.  On the back, the shoulder-blades are delicate and non-stabby-looking (yay!), and the shading along the spine is quite nice.  The dimples just above the buttocks are the kind of subtle detail that really entrances the viewer.

The knees, elbows, and heels are all very nice.  The shading is soft and not overly harsh, capturing the unique planes of these oddly-shaped regions of the body.  Please note the insides of the elbows and the backs of the knees.  The backs of the heels immediately caught my attention, and I really appreciate the work that went into an often-overlooked area.

Other reviewers have noted flaws with the hands and the feet.  To be honest, I hate avatar hands and feet in general, and do my best not to look at them.  The one thing that bugs me about this skin, though, is from the front, the toenails are distinctly claw-like — they’re arranged in an odd arc.  But I usually wear closed-toe shoes in-world, so it’s a non-issue for me.  In addition, the shading along the thighs isn’t quite as smooth and creamy as other parts of the skin.  These, however, are minor flaws, and don’t detract from my enjoyment of the skin.

Overall, this is a lovely skin, and you should totally go try it for yourself.  The subscribe-o-matic at Genesis has demos of the skin tones (just click to subscribe, then click again and choose “History”), and the full line of skins will be released on March 17th, Saint Patrick’s Day, at 5pm.  Each makeup will include freckled and unfreckled versions of the skins, 5 pairs of eyes (I’m wearing the hazel and the brown here), and a cute little belly ring!

Credits:
Hair: Truth Nikhita II in Auburn (tinted)
Skin: Genesis Eden in Sugar and Juniper tones
Top: part of Reaction Gridlock Bikini Set in Black
Shorts: Armidi Jordyn Shorts in Black
All poses by Dove Swanson of [LAP] Long Awkward Poses

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Friday, March 13th, 2009 Dark, Fashion, Freckles, Skin 1 Comment

Angel Kisses

[42] has finally released freckled skins! Hooray!

I’ve had my eye on [42] skins for a while now.  They’re lovely, and one of the best deals on the grid.  And now, sweet Imandra Wycliffe has released freckled skins, called Angel Kisses.  I can finally get in on the [42] goodness!  The freckles are scattered across the cheeks and nose, with a few freckles sneaking up onto the forehead.  The upper chest and back also have a scattering of freckles, which I love.

Now, as I said, these are one of the best skin deals on the grid.  Angel Kisses skins are sold by the skin tone, and with each skin tone you get four makeups, shown above, and a shape (not shown here) – for only L$300.  The makeups are simply lovely. The first is a nice simple neutral face, while the other three have smoulderingly smoky eyemakeups, in dark green, pink, and blue.  All eye makeups have enough eyeliner that prim lashes aren’t necessary for me.

All four makeups also have subtle variations in lip shade.  I really enjoy these lips — they have just enough color that you don’t look washed out, without competing with the eyes for attention.

The three skin tones offered are Pale, Neutral, and Tan:

What are you still doing here?  Freckles.  Four makeups for L$300.  At [42].  Get going!

Credits:
Hair: Truth Nikhita 2 in Auburn
Eyes: Miriel Realistic Eyes in Muted Hazel
Earrings: Opium Maria earrings (previous gift)
Pose from Vain Inc
Store names shown in bold; for locations, please visit http://slurls.wordpress.com

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Sunday, March 8th, 2009 Fashion, Freckles 1 Comment

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