Today, I'm talking about mesh heads! I've bought two of them within the past week, and I'm becoming a bit of a head hoarder! I bought a head from TMP (I hate them so much that I'm not even going to put a link to their SLURL) a while ago, which I have blogged about previously. Long story short, I hated it. The Pink Fuel skin I wore was beautiful on it, but that was really the only thing it had going for it. TMP is brutally expensive for the features you get, mainly the lack of expressions. I think I purchased it, thinking (hoping) that something that expensive would have regular updates, maybe they would add expressions. WRONG. Their customer service is the absolute worst I've encountered (except maybe for 7 Deadly Skins, of which we won't go into). But, anyway, my main reason for looking for a new head was for one reason: I want to be able to look happy.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have a really wonderful family in SL, and I am incredibly happy, but sadly, my face in SL never shows it! I constantly have a really grumpy look, and seems like I always have somewhere better to be. But, I don't, really! I set out to look for another mesh head that was still "me", and had the ability to have expressions!

I demo'ed a Catwa head, and liked a skin from TheSkinnery with it. I bought the head, skin and appliers, was wearing it around to really see if it "grew" on me. As I was still in the 'I don't really know how I feel about this stage', Mochi, from Pink Fuel was plurking gorgeous skin photos of something she was working on for the Logo mesh head. My immediate thought: "But, I literally JUST bought a Catwa head!" Seriously! Why do these things always happen when I make a large purchase like this?!

The Pink Fuel skin was Omega compatible, and guess what! So was my Catwa! Just for kicks, I decided to see if it would apply to the head. And it did! I was so happy, and it even looked SO gorgeous, even on the Catwa. I decided to try a demo of the Logo head, just to look at it, but unfortunately, the Logo demo... is not Omega compatible. However! I absolutely fell in love with the expressions. The Logo head had such fun, beautiful expressions. And I loved them so much that... I bought the head. Without being able to demo the skin on it. Yep.


However, I have absolutely NO regrets. As soon as I was able to put the Pink Fuel skin on the Logo head, it was worth it, I had absolutely no buyer's remorse for this purchase, not being able to demo it first! It really feels like "me", as most Pink Fuel skins do. The smile is big, happy, and as silly as it sounds, I feel these expressions really even show it up to the eyes. They like, change the whole feel of a photo! I loved the expressions so much that I bought all the add-on packs of them!


My husband likes the Catwa head, and I much prefer the Logo one. I can't wait to see what other skins come out for the Catwa and Logo heads, and all the other Omega compatible stuff! I know that the Catwa head is still new, too - I really hope that the creator can make it so you don't have to use the included shape! I used my shape and had a neck gap, and couldn't quite get rid of it.

Notes on Catwa:

• Alpha mask eyelashes! YES!
• Able to alpha hair bases! Great for hair that can't fit, otherwise!
• Omega compatible!
• Able to save appliers into the HUD.
• Expressions! Expressions play like on a loop, but you're able to pause them for photos.
• Need to wear the included shape, otherwise you have a neck gap.
• Required to wear mesh eyes. And even then, I had a complete nightmare of a time fitting them *just* right. And I'm not a noob. 

Notes on Logo:

• Expressions, expressions, and more expressions! LOVE!
• Omega compatible! 
• Fits mesh bodies well!
• Unable to demo Omega skins before buying.
• Gives you like 15 folders when you unpack the box. 
• As for the other features, I'm not sure, as the HUD is too small for my laptop screen to even see! (And it's no modify, so I can't even stretch it to make it bigger)

Let's talk about mesh bodies! So, hands and feet have been in SL for a couple years. I love mine and wear them all the time. During the time that I was in and out of Secondlife, Slink released a mesh body. I ran out and purchased it as soon as I saw it was available, then went and got appliers to match my current skin. It was okay, however, unless clothing is made specifically for the Physique body, I can't wear most of my inventory. I find that the alpha layers do not hide what I need hidden on my body.

Now that my husband and I are coming back into SL and starting over, for the most part - he started looking at men's mesh bodies. Once we decided on and purchased his mesh body, I started exploring other options for female mesh bodies. Boy, have they changed since I first got mine! There's a whole handful of body creators, which makes it even more difficult to decide (I hear even the Avastar creators are planning on releasing an open source mesh body!). After running through the pros and cons, I decided on the Maitreya Lara. Mainly because I wanted to stay with a brand that I know and am familiar with. Mesh Body Addicts was a HUGE resource in deciding which body I wanted. I'm trying to familiarize myself with all the new tools, like the Omega, which Slink Physique will not seem to support. Bonus that Maitreya will support Omega. I feel like if I'm going to wear a mesh body, I need it to be as versatile as it can possibly be.

That being said, I went and purchased the almost L$2800 (plus an extra L$300 for skin appliers) Lara body, and I think I am quite happy with it! The body is absolutely gorgeous! Hands and feet come with it, and although I prefer my Slink feet for now because all my shoes only work with them, I adore the hands! I do not really care that they only come in one position because that's all I need. I've officially swapped out my Slink hands for the Lara ones.


The one downside that I have noticed, however, is when certain shadows cast on the neck join, you can see a visible seam. It's not a "squint and you might see it" kind of seam, it is a blaring you right in the face kind of seam. However, there's updates often with this body it seems, and I'm confident it will probably be fixed sometime soon, or I'll figure out which graphic setting is causing it. I've also gotten the updated version of my skin and appliers, but I still see the seam. But it's not enough to stop me from wearing the body! I love it!

I went to restart the sim my husband (eee! Haha, I'm such a dork) and I live on, and needed a place to go for a few minutes.... so I decided to go to Redgrave and check out if they have any new shoes. Little did I know... I wouldn't even make it to the shoes, instead I'd be standing there trying on skin demos.

I've always liked Redgrave skins. I love the cleavage on them, and the shininess of the body... well, shininess on the paler bodies, the orange colored skin tone with the shine always looks a little dirty to me. The faces look sooo cute one most people. But never me. At one point, I tried every single skin in the store, but still couldn't make them work on me.

Well, I had some time to spare, and I picked up a couple demos again, and tried them on. I came to one of the skins and actually did a double take at it. It didn't look that bad :O I did something - I swore to myself I'd never do: I modified my shape to fit this skin. Mainly just my lips, but still.

Then, instead of packing up more boxes to end the night, I decided to pretend I'm a photographer, snap some photos and post process them. xD I'm such a procrastinator, its really sad. I have 2 days until I move, and I'm still sitting here playing with photos and blogging. xD

I think, the photos I did turned out pretty darn good. I found out how to put a pattern in the background the easy way, and found out how to take a green screen out of the SL photo. I love this skin on me, and I actually think I might keep it for a while. Jeffry doesn't seem to mind, he seems to be like the 'whatever makes you happy' kind of mood with skins. xD


I even cropped it a bit, to make this my new profile photo! \o/ Can I just say, how much I love love love the lips on this skin? I'm really not fond of the eyebrows, and I can't seem to get them how I like them, but the lips make the face worth it. :D And yes, I LOVE this Farrah hair... its so perfect for photos. And don't even get me started on the clothes I bought from fri.day during the Labor Day sale.... *fashion squee!*

Now, its time I run off to do some more procrastinating by taking a nap! :D

I was forcing myself to sort some inventory last night, and spent hours and hours doing it. So, when I came across some skin demos and tried them on - they actually looked pretty good to my tired, bored eyes. I filed them away, hoping to remember them when I was able to actually focus on them. And this morning, when I woke up and logged in, I went directly to the folder to look at them again. I was surprised. They actually look pretty cute! :O

The price is a bit steep, and that's what's really holding me back from buying it. I'm not sure I like them enough to spend $1500L on one. But, for some reason, I can't stop thinking about it.

So, the new Gala skins. I don't want to review them on my fashion blog or anything, because everyone else is talking about them on the feed. Since this blog isn't on the feed, and I give myself more freedom on this blog, I want to talk about them a little here. :D

I had grabbed the Gala group gift when it came out, tried all the demos of every face that was included with the gift, and came to the conclusion that they looked like crap on me. I was sad because I really liked the new faces of them (especially the new lips on Breeze), and kinda liked the shiny on them. I've tried Redgrave skins, and newest Laqroki skins (who recently started going shiny) - but none of them really called out to me. So, I was kinda depressed that the new shiny Galas didn't look good on my shape.

However, some of the girls in Ch'know *coughs* Sehra and Pumpkin *coughs* have been raving about them for days. I resisted the call for as long as I could, until I found myself standing in Curio purchasing a handful of demos. I took them home and tried them on once again. xD

I put on my "Normal Skin" shape (which only has a different eyelid crease number), and put on a different eyebrow shaper. I had instant cuteness! :O

Now, I've been wearing my previous Gala skin since they came out. They first came out at the skin fair last year, which I think was almost a year ago. So, I've had my previous skin for almost a year now, and I have never changed it. Sai changing skins is a seriously big deal. And I think I like this one enough to put my older Gala away for a while.

I found myself in total luff with the Breeze face. It's soft, cute, and doesn't make me look angry or sad. :D And, it's also a fair bit lighter than my older skin. I'll have to modify my windlight settings and such so I don't look washed out all the time. ^^

I had a nightmare of a time deciding on a makeup. Mainly because, my favorite really dark eye makeup, nude lip was not an option. It was all lighter-colored makeup options. I couldn't decide on one, and the fatpack was only $3,000L, I just gave up and decided to get them all. After all, I heard the number of skins in the fatpack was a total of 48? :O A deal, in my opinion.


I'm still deciding if I like the shiny (or is oily a better word?) or not, but so far, I'm kind of enjoying it. These seem to be "updated" bodies, considering the shininess is becoming popular now. I like them better than the blurred look of my older Gala.

But yeah, they still have to pass the Kamian test before I make the final decision to keep them or not. But right now, I'm loving them. They look so sweet and innocent. *snuggles new skins* :D

Seriously. LUFF. :D

So - I have a couple things today. I will be hosting the Hump Day party on Sept 24th, for the Asian Style theme, and I am excited about it. I found THE PERFECT skybox thing for it, and I can't wait to set it up. I didn't want to have us all dance -in- the shop, because there seriously isn't enough room in there xD So, I'll be putting in a skybox, themed for the party. I'll be spending the time this week setting it up and stuff. Its kinda small-ish, big enough for dancing, yet way too small for Meara's stay-puft avatar. XD I wonder if I should keep it a surprise? Or show progress of it?

Anyway. I went on a skin hunt yesterday. I was doing the Love Soul hunt (omg, the zombie killing was so much fun!), and came across a little store called Body Soul. After finishing the hunt, I went back to the shop to get a closer look at the skins. The had demos at the store, but no way to actually purchase them. O.o; So, I grabbed the demos, and went home to try them on anyway.

I think these are quite cute, however I am not sure they look all that great on my shape. *Bangs head on desk* WHY can't I find a skin that looks better than my current one?! But so far - Aden and MinaJunk are rating pretty high on my list. I might play with the Splendor skins a bit more. I think they look great on my shape too.

So - my PeeCee is grinding, freezing and definitely not happy lately. I believe my hard drive is failing, and should happen any time now. If I don't log in or blog for a while... that's probably why. xD

But, anyway. Last night, I went through my skins folder to see if I had any skins that I like better than my current one. I have a huge collection of skins, actually. I adore various skins, but I always only wear one.

These are the two I am debating between. I really love the one on the left. However, when I tried it on for Kagic, he wasn't too fond of it. And then - my Nora skin edit on the right. I love the Nora skins, but I fear that in the coming months - they will be as common as the Eloh Eliot mods. *Sigh*


Next: Dutch Touch. These are cute - I love many of the makeups. However, I think they make me look really, really bitchy.


These are Rosemar/Cupcakes skins that were either group gifts or freebies. I like them because they have a certain charm about them. But, I really couldn't find a skin tone I liked.


Chai. OMG, the eyebrows. I adore her makeup ideas, and her Nutmeg tone. However, no matter what I do to the eyebrows or my shape, I can't make these skins really work on me. I have various skins from Chai that were group gifts, and even one that I loved so much I had to purchase xD


Tuli makes beautiful skins, but none other than the newest Elizabeth line really worked on my shape. But, these are stunnning, and probably really high up on my list.


My shape was actually made for a Japanese skin. When I was a newbie - I hung out at alot of Japanese shopping centers, so I was exposed to alot of Japanese styled skins. Ando f course, the first skin I purchased was one of them. So, I think this style of skin looks pretty good on my shape.

*Sigh* Sai's skin hunt continues!

My origninal plan was to wait until September 2nd to drop the new build down, but I am an extremely impatient person, and I wanted it done as soon as possible. XD So, I spent last night setting everything up - I think it turned out surprisingly well. :D

I thought this would take up my whole lot, but I actually have a bit of room to grow in. I should be able to stretch a few prims, and expand my store a few meters, if I feel the need to. But really, I am looking around and pricing a few bigger lots around the surrounding sims. I have my eye on a few - and I have no problems moving to a bigger place if I feel the need to. Right now though, this is working fine for me.


Don't worry though - the freebies are still there. :D I love having little sitting areas in my store - I think they are a cute, personal touch, so the main reason I bought this prefab was because of this central area. It was a fantastic place to put a couch, and a easy to spot freebie section.


I also decided to lower the price on some of my least favorite pose sets, mainly because I feel they are not up to par with my current ones, or the demand isn't very high for them. So, I am debating between $10L or $25L each for these. Not sure yet.


I love the arches, and they made perfect places to hang signs from. I still have some room to expand here in this main section, so I think that is really good, and was really what I was stressing out about.


Heh, I seriously love this sitting area. XD Also in the background are the stairs. I know people hate stairs in SL, so I will be putting in a teleport arrow thing that will allow you to bypass the stairs completely. ^^


Oh, and probably the most important change - I rotated the entire store to face a neighboring sim, which has been completely empty for as long as I've had a store in Glenn. So, no more ugliness outside my window. :D


And, I've been sooooo excited about the release of the Nora PSDs, and she finally released them last night! Woot! So, I played with them this morning, and created my own makeup. It's simple, but I think its totally cute and came out well. IM me if you would like a copy of it. ^^

So, BareRose added a lucky chair to its new Maid Cafe, and restricted it only to its VIP members.... AND put the timer on for only 2 minutes. Yay! I waited for a bit, and eventually got the gift. :D

I played with windlight settings, and snapped this picture of it. ^^ I love how easy it is to take pictures in June Dion's creations, no matter what pose I was in, it just begged to have a photo taken of it. xD


And, last night at the hump day party, Elora wore a really awesome outfit that I said: "OMFG, I NEED!" to. I inspected her, because it was much easier than just ripping the outfit off her avatar - and later went to hunt the outfit down. I spent almost an HOUR! hunting for that thing! But, its cute, and I actually have fun roaming the grid wearing it. :D

And, am I the only one who is unbelievably excited about Nora opensourcing her skins?! Eloh Eliot skin templates were good, but there was a ton of things I don't like about them. Nora's skins are beautiful, stunning, and I will get the chance to play with them! OMG. *bounces off walls* I think, this might be the chance I have to get a skin that not everyone and their mom has. I can make one personalized for me! :D

So, I started working on the skybox again, and I have to say, I don't think I am too pleased with how it is turning out anymore. When I showed it to Kagic - he asked: You aren't putting in windows? And my immediate thought was: Crap.


I thought a skybox wasn't supposed to have windows! So, now - everywhere I look in this skybox, I think, "Ah, a window would look great here." However, this is a huge problem for me, because I absolutely HATE texture windows. I know I don't have a choice most of the time... but if I am making this, I want it to be something I enjoy. That means: I need sculpted windows. -.- On SLX, they start at $600L and skyrocket from there. I think I need some time to decide if this is the direction I want to go. I've already dumped over $4000L into this project with buying textures and crap, so I am at the point where I am thinking: I'm too far into it to stop now.


Maybe I'll take a break from it for a while. Or not, because I am in my "MUST FINISH!" mode with it. T_T BTW - Sorry for the random furniture pictures thrown about, they are meant to show the progress I've made since I finished the kitchen. xD

But omg - the bed! I have to say something about it - I came across this amazing tool called the "PipeMaker". I made the fantastic headboard thing using this tool. It makes making curves and well.... pipe-looking things soooooo much easier. Rez it, adjust the size of the bottom prim, click the top prim, and adjust the curve, length and everything there. It is totally awesome and bypasses the need to adjust annoying mathematical disasters with cylinder to torus matching. It is full perms, so just send me an IM (or comment here with your SL name) and I'll drop a copy on you. ^^


However, I did take some time to try on the new Tuli skins, which I also blogged on FL here - so I apologize if some of you are seeing this picture twice! xD The S3 skins were the current ones out when I first took notice of Tuli and they looked absolutely terrible on my shape. However, every generation of skins after that looked increasingly better on my shape. This one, the new Elizabeth line, looks the best so far. I've always admired people who can really pull Tuli's skins off, because they are beautiful, and I could never do it. But, with this line, I think her skins look beautiful, AND now, work better on my shape.

But. Still not enough to drag me away from my current skin. *Sigh* (And yus - I was naked during that picture above xD)

OMG, I hate, hate, hate, hate organizing inventory. I find it utter cruelty that I am forced to do it. *sigh* I spent the majority of the day yesterday deleting countless amounts of hair, skins, shoes, clothing, and random things that I had no idea what they even were.

However, a miserable, bored Sai quickly finds other things to be amused with. While going through my skins folder, I came across some old Minnu Model Skins, from back when I was first introduced to them.... and of course I had to get a few pictures.

Minnu's Generation 2 skins, in my mind, were the best. I loved everything about them. After that, they just started to become "meh" to me. Gen2 looked beautiful on my shape, but as newer generations came out, they got worse and worse on me. Minnu took her skins in a completely different direction from what I prefer my "look" to be. But, the new skins look fantastic on other people, so that's good ^^

I still struggle with the thought that everyone and their grandmother wears Gala skins now, and I seem to have absolutely no originality anymore. I think, honestly, if I was to ever change my skin anytime soon, I'll probably go back to the Generation 2 Minnu skins. They are some of the best looking skins on my shape, that I have ever tried on.


But even trying on skins again could not keep my interest for very long. I soon found the Sick CSR gift again, and put on the gun to play with. xD I flew to the roof of our house and started taking pictures. Its a HUGE gun, and totally fun to take pictures of. /me wants to make poses now! :D

I am nowhere near finishing my inventory, and really - every time I think about it, I want to roll into an elf ball and huddle in a corner. *sigh*

Oh, and a little RL Rant here - Why is it people like to leave notes on my car, asking if I want to sell it? -.- Seriously, the note is always stuck to the windshield saying "I want to know if you are willing to sell your camaro. Please email me to let me know." So, it seems every week now, I have to email some random person, telling them that the car is not for sale. -.-; At least come to the door so I can judge you tell you in person. -.- Grrrr. Even IF I was to sell it (which will never happen, my camaro is my pride), I'd like to know the person who is interested in it. Bah.


Ah! I think I even finished the kitchen of the skybox I've been working on! I think it looks cute, though - I wish I had bought the stainless steel refrigerator textures, instead of the black ones. -.- The sink and stove don't match the refrigerator, which is really bothering me. The lighting also has scripted glow, which responds to the commands "glow on" and "glow off". :D I also might stick some lighting lines in there as well, so it they can both turn on and off with the same command... if I can figure out how to do it xD

Next - the bedroom! =.=;

Casandra pointed out to me in my last post that eventually, people will move on to new favorite skins in a few months, which puts my mind at ease a little. However... I'll be a clone until then T_T

I did manage to pick up some Detour demos while I was there looking at their shoes though. I poked through each demo (gawd! Stop with the $1L demos already! TT_TT) and picked out a few to post here.

I actually kinda like the top two. I think they look very cute, and something I could live with. The bottom left one is very pretty, and I love the tone - however, it seems to have something wrong with the upper lip. It looks a little pinched on one side. O.o; The bottom right - looks a bit creepy to me. XD

And, because I felt weird today, I decided to have a little fun with one of the demos. ^^


I actually really love the Utter Black eyes from Miriel, but never really wore them. They are fun, creepy and picture-worthy all at once. O.o; Perhaps this means I've been playing too much Fatal Frame? T_T

I seen one of MiaSnow's dalmatian skins on Free*Style today, and pouted. I've always loved the dalmatian skins, but could never bring myself to buy one because I knew I'd only want to take a picture of them once, then they'd be stuffed in my inventory forevermore. But, then as I was skimming though, I seen that one of them was available in the lucky chair! Zomg. I TP'ed there as quick as I could. I was also totally glad that the chair was only 5 minutes long too. OMG. *huggles MiaSnow* :D

I think I actually like this skin more than I probably should. I traded my elf ears for the night for some cute inu gear from Hybrid, to really go all out. ^^I really like the dalmatian skin, with little bits of human-ization in there. I am looking forward to doing a few silly Inu poses as well ^^

Now, I'm going to say something here that I've been really mulling over for the past few days. It seems everyone and their mom is now wearing Gala skins with elf ears. I love, love, love, love my Gala skin - but, I really don't want to look like a clone of other people. Gala's skins are beautiful, and she should definitely get the love she needs for creating them... but, I think I'll be poking around various different skin stores and checking out some lesser-known designers. So, I could maintain a little bit of originality. Am I selfish for thinking this way? Most likely. But, its how I feel. Shoot me with hatemail if you'd like. :D

Today, I seen some gorgeous skins by MinaJunk on the feed, and I totally loved them. I never really considered MinaJunk before because.... well, I'm not really sure. But, I think these might be an option for a new skin for me.


I absolutely love the top left skin. However, I reaaaaaaalllllly wish the eyebrows were black (or at least tintable), and the tone a bit darker. I think MinaJunk is definitely on my to-watch list. And omg - the CSR gift! I'm totally going to be participating in the Creator's Stamp Rally, just so I can grab that beautiful skin (...and the pink maid outfit, and the gun, and the french bulldog... O.o;) ^^


And then Kagic logged in, and we went to Midsomer to dance. He's been gone all weekend, so I was glad to be able to glomp him again. :P We went home shortly after and I showed him my dalmatian skin and ears. :D Oh, and did I ever mention that I finally invited him to my land group? I think this was the big step for me, because it said: "Kagic lives here with Sai and is totally off the market". :P

Oh! A bit of RL for a minute - the fourth book in my favorite book series is coming on on August 2nd! OMG, I'm so excited because I've been waiting FOREVER for it! AND! Its being made into a movie, set to be released to theaters on December 12, 2008! *dies of happiness* Series information here, Breaking Dawn information here, Twilight Movie information here, trailers here. :D *bounces off walls* XD

Making skins was one of my goals in SecondLife. When Eloh Eliot began making the PSDs to her wonderful skins public, I had a huge push to start learning. Then, when I was told about the Another Fundraiser, I had an even bigger push. So, I began working on a modified skin from Another Shop!

So, here is the first candidate I have and have been working on. I changed the skin tone, made shading darker, and highlights lighter. I also added some pink nail polish to both the fingers and toes. I like having some cleavage in the skins I wear, so I made the shading around the bewbs more prominent.


And here is the face and makeup. I removed some shading and highlights from the face, as well as all traces of blush. I added different eyebrows, and created my own makeup. I am calling this skin "Masked" right now because thats what the makeup looks like to me - a mask.


A close up shot of the upper body. I really think this skin turned out pretty well. There is a slight issue with a seam on the belly, but no matter what I try, I can't get it to go away. I do hope to make more makeups and variations of this skin because I really did have a great time making it ^^