Red and Re-read

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

Tags: 42, Adam n Eve, Blowpop, Cupcakes, Curio, D-Skin, Fleur, Genesis, Heaven's Skin&Shape, Imagen, KA, lessthanthree, LF Chai, Pulse, PXL Creations, Redgrave, Rockberry, Skin Within, Skywalker, Tuli

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.

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

Tags: Armidi, Genesis, Reaction, Truth

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

Tags: 42, Opium, Truth