Skin recommendations?

I hope this is the right place to ask this.

I've been living happily off of freebies and cheapies for the length of My Second Life So Far, but I've decided to bite the bullet, buy some Lindens and get a quality skin for my avie.

I'm not really sure where to start. The only thing I can tell you about what I'm looking for is that I'd prefer something on the pale side that goes will with red hair (since I seem to have developed a fondness for being a redhead) and that doesn't have that flat quality that the cheap skins I own seem to have. Oh, and btw, since the name isn't obvious, my avie is female. For now.

Suggestions? Recommendations? Or even places to avoid?

thanks,

Beginning Thursday

Check this recent thread, it covers most types of skins including skins for redheads


/327/93/218103/1.html

Hi, Thursday
There have been a lot of threads on the best skins and skin makers in SL. Throughout these threads there are several places that you'll see mentioned frequently. They are Celestial Studios, Naughty, RaC, Sin Skins, Skin Laboratory (I think it's called), and some others I can't remember off hand. When I first chose to invest in a "good" skin, I looked tons of places and tried on tons of demos. That's the first thing you need to know....always always always try the demo first. The coloring, shading etc of the skin will stay the same from avie to avie, but the actual "look" is very dependent on your shape. My favorite skins by far are RaC, I own 3 packs of them. Like I said, I've tried on tons of demos and still do occasionally, but they are consistently the skins that really look nice with my avie's shape. Others on these forums really like Celestial Studios skins and they DO look fantastic with their shape, but with mine....ehm, not so much. The downside to RaC skins is that you can only buy them in packs of 6 and other then lipstick shading they're all very similar in the makeup. They're also pretty expensive. Never stops me though, because I really like the way they look on me. If you go over to the Gallery section in these forums, you can see my avie's pic with one of the RaC skins, it's on the second to last page. Also, if you want to see how great a Celestial Studios skin can look, look for Ann Launay in the Gallery forum. Her avie is absolutely gorgeous with their skins. Good luck, and try on lots of demos before you settle for what you really like.

If your forum join date matches up with your SL join date, hurry over to Sin Skin island and get the 30 day newbie package. Many skins, some pale. Quality skins. Free.

I have no connection with that business.

"avie is female. For now." - you will need different skins for male and female.

Suggestions:
Sin Skin
Body Politik
Rac is recommended alot, haven't tried it

There are at least two fairly recent and lengthy skin threads here...do a quick search and you'll find more choices than you can shop in a single day.

My most usual haircolor is red, too. I like the Celestial Studios skins, either Vogue or Charmed. Vogue has a freckled option, and the Champagne shade goes well with red hair. Charmed has a special tone range for redheads (although I myself prefer the #40 shade in this particular skin).

With any skin, always try the demo. And, don't succumb and make an impulse buy. Keep the demo, go home. Try it on several times under different light, with different hair. Compare it with other demos. Take your time, then go back and buy with confidence.

ps -- I love your name.

I have Sin Skins, a free one which I'm thrilled with. My main Av is blonde, my alt is a redhead. I don't remember offhand which one it is, but I love it, and it looks really great on the red hair. I'll try and remember to get you inworld tomorrow and send you the name.

Id help but its only Wednesday.

(Were I helping .. )

Nomine, Celestial, and Second Skin Labs have nice red head skins.

There was a recent thread about skins, here is a link that has a lot of brand names in it:
/327/93/218103/1.html

I got mine from RaC and I love it because it has a "natural look", with lip colors in several soft shades. Not cheap, but I spent about 2 months shopping before selecting it!

Since good skins tend to be expensive, I would suggest:
1) Take your time. It's worth it to be happy and skins are not refundable.
2) Try demos, as many as you possibly can, they look quite different on your avatar than in the flat pics because your face shape will be different.
3) When you are wearing the demo, try tweaking your face shape if the face doesn't look quite right, I found that different skins needed different settings to look like "me".
4) Do NOT buy a skin that has no demo.
5) Try to buy a skin that is copyable so that you can keep a backup copy in case something bad happens to your inventory.
6) If it's important to you to have a manicure/pedicure and/or ummm.... anatomically correct attachment parts... see if the creator of the skin you are considering also makes these, so your look will be seamless.

[EDIT: Wow, fast answers, all while I was writing... what a slowpoke I am!]

Tete-a-Pied also has a freebie pack of female skins for AVs 30 days or younger. Very nice skins in different tones.
Oh, and try the Adam & Eve free pack as well.

Not the freebies, but here is a review of the TaP redhead skins:

http://lindenlifestyles.com/?p=269

Hi Beginning!

I'm a redhead as well and took me awhile to find a pale skin that I liked. Found it at Gala Skins - the alabaster line. Perfect!!

To tell the truth, I have found NOTHING better than the freebie Celestial Studios Malibu skin that is in a lot of the freebie packages for my shape. It's no modify, the only downside, but I've tried EVERY demo at CS and I don't like any of the new ones.

Then again, I custom make my shapes, most of the premade ones I've seen are WAY too busty and bubble butt for me. I guess if you are into the plastic surgery look that's great. I can't tell you how many faces I've looked at and wonder how people can think that it's pretty.

I'm going to check out some of those 30 day packs, thanks for the tip, people!

To reiterate some of the recommendations I made in the other thread, here are some of my favourites: Pixel Deep (you get all brow colours, four makeup options and one without makeup with each package), Adam n Eve (when I want to wear makeup, I wear Pandora), Skin Within (great ethnic skins), Tuli (very nice freckled skin in her series 2) and Mellie (really nice makeup-free option).

As far as I know, the Malibu skin was never intended to be a freebie. It leaked due to a permissions bug. If you enjoy it and use it then think seriously about buying one of her new ones even if you don't intend to use it, or just send Starley a donation as a thank you.

Also, I hear that Chip Midnight guy makes some pretty nice skins, but I've never been to his store so don't quote me on that.

clarification for Nomine,
Munchflower has some nice freckled skins (my sister got one of them) but the skins are in 2 different sections... there is a main section, and then there is another section, second floor, in one of the corners with older skins that have been marked down, which is the one you want if looking for the line that was created for redheads... I think the tp link from the main hub says something like "older/drow skins", and they aren't silicone enhanced like many skins I see these days (or her newer ones)

Chip, I had the fortune to discover your store yesterday while in one of my walk arounds. Don't know why I couldn't find it before, very nice skins. I'd be great though, if you had a bit more choices for male skins.

They are very nice ;p

There's nothing on the skin to indicate who made it, I'm pretty sure the name slot for creator is blank. I'd be pleased to send a donation since I am very happy with it, I'd like to be able to modify it, but you can't have everything. If she's made some of the new CS skins, no thanks they all look alike to me, other than the makeup. And if I remember right they went way overboard on the hueing to lend depth to the body features.

If she's got new work I'd love to see it. What's the full name? I mean seriously, I went to CS intending on buying since I liked the Malibu so much, literally tried EVERY demo and didn't like a single one.

/me adds Chip Midnight to list of places to check out.

Chip.. some of your skins are VERY nice... but sadly there are only demos of some of them not all... I sent you a Notecard the other day with some questions regarding them.. if you could respond when you get a chance it'd be great

If you lost it.. send me an IM ingame and i'll be happy to resend or talk to you directly.


As for the actual topic : I am currently using a SIN SKIN myself, don't recall the name but it's Extremely nice... and very inexpensive compared to some of the skins I've seen out there... I've also noticed that some skins look HORRIBLE with certain shapes, yet they look great on others.. try a demo before you buy always

Gala Phoenix

All the skins have demo versions, just not all the makeup variations. That would require around 600 additional demos and I haven't figured out a good way to serve them up other than dumping a folder full of 30 or so demos on people for each skin. Maybe one of these days.

Apologies for not responding to your questions. I must have missed your notecard. Feel free to IM me (I get them to email) or I'll contact you when I get in world later today.

tete a pied skins are wonderful and inexpensive. I highly, highly recommend you start there.

D-Skins give them a try they are really great and I have looked at every skin shop in SL!

I am a skin junkie, and many of my favorites have already been mentioned here: Celestial Studios and Pixel Deep are the ones I wear most. I also like Deviant Kitties skins and some of the ones at broken. But I have to say I've been really impressed with the skins from a place called Another shop (see the creator's post here /195/7e/219797/1.html for pictures). Each skintone comes with six makeups for a whopping....200L. And the best part is, they're super nice skins!