Skins - Face vs Body

What's the deal with skins?

I have been SLing for quite a while and I have amassed quite a collection of skins. There are several skin designers that I have great respect for and whose skins I wear quite often. But I have yet to find the perfect skin for me.

And I think I know why. It's face vs body.

I love some skins for the faces. Laqroki skins have beautiful faces. They are fresh and young looking. The new Rennaisance skins are the best from them yet. And the bodies are improved as well. These are currently my favorite skins my a narrow margin.

Redgrave has skins with marvelous bodies. The nipples are especially nice, but the faces come up a bit short. They seem overly made up in some cases, and they somehow lack the softness of Laqroki.

What I need is Redgrave breasts on a Laqroki body. Oh yes, with the nipples positioned just a tad higher, please! Where is the designer who can do both the face and the body?

Too bad we can't mashup skins like we can outfits. And nobody of any stature will do custom skins seemingly at any price.

Well, that's my mini-rant. If anyone has a great skin designer to mention, I will be greateful for the info.

I might come back with my rant about how certain body parts need to move a little more naturally and how some parts should be more than a texture, but that's another thread!

As you look at any avatar, from the freshest n00b to the most expensive pro SLer's avatar you notice this -
They are always perfect. Even a crappy [by comparison to others] avatar is stunningly perfect...
compared to real humans.
That being said, if you are looking for skins that would have human-like imperfections, it might be a hard hunt.
Like the nipples you mention, I don't think those will ever be out of place on an avatar like they often are on RL women.

People tend to design thei own avatar based on their own ideal vision of beauty, be it a male or female one...
Unfortunately, most people don't find imperfections beautiful.
My avatar does not have perfect skin [light freckles] or a perfect figure at 5'9" and 180 pounds and sometimes I hear "Well if that is what you are happy with..."

A "realistic" looking avatar would have imperfections but it certainly would not have most people idea of "perfect beauty".

For the record - yes I am VERY happy with how mine looks.
Good luck.

Well..... the skins I gravitate towards the most are Canimal...Celestial Studios.... ARS Nova and Skin Within.

But......that said...no matter how great a skin looks on the sales board.....it's going to look different on every avatar because of the 'shape'. It's easier to adjust a shape a bit to enhance a beautiful skin......but it's tricky to find a skin that looks absolutely perfect on 'any' shape.

SL is, after all, a world of fantasy and unrealistic perfection. Avatars are not actually meant to appear as life like as a photograph. And, if you've ever seen an avatar using a skin created from a photograph.....you'd quickly understand the reason. 'Real' skin looks almost scary on an avatar....creepy at the very least. There are folks out there who will do life like skin based on a personal photograph, but again....be warned...it looks like something out of a horror film (ok, IMO).

One of the best examples of just how strange a life like skin looks on an avatar, is some of the work posted in flickr using poser and SIMs avatars......some are obviously created using images of real human beings......but the vacant appeaance of the avatar gives the whole thing a very freakish appearance. I'd site an example here....but I don't have any desire to offend the artists who use those methods.....

Anyway....your best bet is to just shop around......try as many skin demos as you can find.....there's sooooo many skin makers out there.....you're bound to find something that makes you happy.

ah The happy medium quest, body and face!
And the added 3rd element, what does it look like w/o a face light in diff suns ...

My current favorite skins are by Gala Phoenix, from the sim Curio. Her older line was well done, but the new ones are outstanding, in my opinion. The body shading is beautiful, and the faces-- especially the lip textures-- are what really won me over. Something about them makes me look younger than I'm used to, but that's not a problem. I wear her skins most of the time now.

In the past I've also worn skins from Naughty, Celestial Studios, Canimal, Nomine (especially her newer Windlight skins) and the freebie Pleiades skins from Another, to name just a few. I almost always have to change my lip and eyebrow shape a bit for skins from a different maker; I just name the shapes accordingly and keep them in a folder with the skins.

I've tried a lot of skins, and collected dozens of demos; some skins were beautiful, except for a particular detail or feature, so I had to reject them. I agree, you just have to try on a lot of demos. I have a short list of my favorite designers, and I check regularly for new releases. Also, don't forget sources like the various fashion blogs as ways of finding out about various skins.

Youre so right...as a newb a kind friend bought me a gala skin as a gift..and for almost 2 years ive worn nothing else...ive got almost her entire collection of sunkissed in the old range(especially as she reduced them to 500 a skin for a while!!)

I looked at the new range with GREAT enthusiasm...BUT..the colours just dont match me like the old ones..too light...too dark...no inbetweeny ..i was so sad to have to go look elsewhere...her detail is just awesome...and id LOVE to buy her new range Ive got laqroki now and a redgrave..but ...they just dont *feel* like me...

Bring back the SUNKISSED colour but in the new range !!!!!!

The one thing that people tend to overlook, and some designers ignore, are the feet. I've seen skins with no toes, some that appear to have a hideous infection and some with toes that are half the length of the foot.

Photorealistic then?

Pep (Some want perfection, some don't . . . )

I know what you mean-- I used to wear the tan or dark tan shades in the old range. Since they aren't available in the new line, I've started wearing the Classic shade a lot, and I've grown to really like it. You might try asking her about the possibility of adding a couple of the old tones... never hurts to ask!

I think I might ask...Im not so happy with the others ive bought..id LOVE to wear hers ...good thought ty

Yeah I know what you mean, good body and good face combo is haaard to find. Hehe people are so different. I love Redgrave's faces and not so keen on breast. They look too much like fake tits. Gala skins have great bodys but face doesn't work at all on my shape. Celestial skins have very good body and face. Belleza new skins have the best body(very good shading, best nipples, nice butt), my current favorite.) As for face I prefer Redgrave.)

Gala skins have 10 different skin tones...!! The skins are fantastic, I definitely think she covered pretty much all the bases when it comes to skin tone. I can think of very few skin designers who create all the tones that she does, most stay between 3-6 skin tones.

Yes I have that issue also. I spent a lot of time a while back going through my skins and any skin creator I could locate. Looking for "the best" that is whole body. Face, whole body, and the "naughty" bits.

I never really found the "perfect" skin that had it all, though I do tend to return to Hi-Rop a lot. Closest I've come to the overal skin look.

I am always on a quest for new skin but I have had the same skin from Nyte’N'Day for about 2 years. All the skins I seem to find are more realistic and I like the cartoon look better. Although a more realistic skin is nicer for taking photos.

Count me as another fan of the new Gala line...I don't really love the hands, elbows, and heels, but I can overlook that considering the overall awesomeness.

Pretty face:





I will say, I was a Celestial Studios girl prior to this and I still prefer Starley's makeup selections overall.