M.O.C.K. Cosmetics

I've not mentioned the new "makeup layers" in Viewer 2 very much since I don't use them very often, relying on my trusty classic 5th & Oxfords....but....if you you to ask me: "Hey CC, where would you go to buy makeup layers?", my first answer would be Mocksoup Graves"MOCK"

Why MOCK?

Mocksoup, like Roslin Petion of 5th & Oxford, is a makeupista in RL, and it shows in her makeup. And she understands makeupista talk, so when I tell her, "I'm an NC20 and I need a gloss like the Juicy Tubes" she knows EXACTLY what I'm referring to. She also makes a ton of colors in her eyeshadows, lippie formulations and whatnot.



That's the L'Eau Russian Red Lipgloss combined with the Tonal Gold Complements eyeshadow over a 5th & Oxford Fair subtle 1 skin. That's one of the best lip glosses in SL, it really looks like one.

The M.O.C.K Cosmetics flagship store is at Rockhopper City 2 (38, 218, 23)

Callie Victorian skins from AGENDA

While watching the Independent State of Caledon chat I saw a notice of some new Victorian style skins. As it is now, Caledonians tend to favour certain specific skin lines, so new skins designed with Caledonians with mind got my attention:

From the release notecard.


Thank you for trying on the Callie DEMO skins from Agenda. There are six skins in this package in two skin tones. These were designed specifically with Caledon residents in mind, capturing features of both Victorian style and some features that address modern resident needs and tastes. Also included is a Body Shape and an Eyebrow shaper. These extras can be used to show what I believe is an optimal face shape for these skins, but feel free to modify them to suit your own preferences. I have also included my best pair of pale blue eyes, gratis.

At this time, Agenda Skins and Clothing is not yet open to the public. Our schedule will hopefully allow for a late October opening in the Bad Wolf Bay region. For now, you can buy these skins in Kittiwickshire at the Discovolante shops.

They're pretty skins, very classic in appearance. They only come in two skin shades, pale and medium (which I show in the closeups below) and three different makeups. The lips on the skin do not flatter either of my standard shapes lips, so if I was going to wear these I'd have to do another lip shape/lower face shape. The cleavage shading is well done, that's quite necessary for a Victorian Trollop like myself.



This is the pale skin shade:



This is the medium skin shade:



My personal opinion is that they are worth getting, if the lips flatter your lip shape, and if you like "classicly elegant" skins like I do. I only got the demos because I want to tweak my lips sometime and try them again, and I'm saving my cash for the new Fleur skins coming up next week.

Cheating on Fleur with Rosemary Galbraith.

I wear Fleur skins pretty much exclusively, everyone knows this. Last night Rosemary Galbraith of OH! What a neat boutique asked for my input on some skins she had made. One of them was this skin:



Uh huh, it's pretty. She customized it according to my input, with slightly different torso and belly button. And red brows of course. I like, oh okay, I LOOOOVE. Pretty! I might actually wear these along side my Fleur's. They're a touch more "traditional SL skin" than the Fleurs, but more classic than say Minnu's.

And look at the face! I still look like me! And like Kit Meredith, who also looks like me in certain respects. :-)



And now I feel guilty for skin-cheating on Roslin and CJ. waaaaaah.

RealSKINS by Stephen Lightworker

I don't do heavily photosourced skins, everyone knows this. Can't stand em. So when Stephen Lightworker of RealSKINS dropped some one me I was filled with trepidation. What should I say? Should I not write about them? I finally decided I should write about them, at least a little.

Here's the Krista skin, pleasant perky face. Reminds me a bit of Paige Davis who formerly hosted Trading Spaces (US version)






The Erica skins, which have a rather young looking and cute face (and come with a young looking shape)





Nitpicky points:

The lips are picky shapewise and do not flatter my shape's default lips.
I don't like the torso shading, the blurry boobehs in particular.


But....if I wasn't going to get nekkid, I could tolerate these because of the great faces. Which means for fans of photosourced skins, I would recommend these. That said, I still personally prefer hybrid skins, sorry folks.

RealSKINS is located at: Pogon 32, 51, 38

Tete a Pied Vivant Review.

The new Tete a Pied Vivant line has been released and here is a review from Tete a Pied's #1 groupie, Roslin and CJ's *****, me!

Here's the ad:



The new skins use different shades from the Tap Deux line. In fact if you want lots of variations of Tan, Faux Tan, Dark Tan, Dark, etc. TaP is not for you. The new shades are from lightest to darkest: Cream, Blush, Almond, Buff, Bronze and Chestnut. Cream is very light, Jackal Ennui style goth light I would say.

These are the makeup types: Basic red, Basic pink, Basic nude, Just Lips, Pinup, Biba, Bebelle, Kyoko, Candy, Sultry, Natural, Feline, Freckle, Horus, Glam, Cercle. I got the same preview pack others got, ie one skin in Pinup, basic nude, and Candy. I also purchased a three pack in Buff in both Just Lips and Red Lips.

The Vivant skins, unlike the previous TaP skins are hybrids. They have some photosourcing, but not too much photosourcing in my opinion. That makes them look a bit more modern than TaP Deux, which might appeal to more skin buyers, as well for those looking for more realism. But since they are not heavily photosourced, they won't turn-off TaP's loyal markets of certain fashionistas, redheads, and Caledonian ladies.

Here I am in the Buff Pinup 1, which was the first of the Vivants I put on. It was love at first sight. This skin reminds me a bit of some of the old TaP Une series in a way, which I like.



Here I am wearing the Bronze basic nude 1. This one said to me that TaP is trying to reach outside the traditional TaP market. This one is very modern and more like a traditional SL skin than older TaP's were.



And in the Blush Candy 3. You'll notice that the lips are slightly different on all the makeups. If one makeups lips don't look good on you then try another.



That's ETD Roslin hair worn in the photos above, I just had to wear it.

In the vendors in the store you'll find demos of every makeup in every skin shade. That surprised me because that's a lot of work doing that, and Roslin said that they weren't likely to do it again after doing it for TaP Deux. But they did, and I appreciate it greatly. I do have one complaint about the build, because of the way the stairs are set up the walkway in front of the skins is a bit narrow, but there's space at each end of the store for hobnobbing and kibbitzing, not including the roof.

Also, the pricing is different than the TaP Deux skins. Singles are L$500, three packs are 1200. That's right, they're a steal! Roslin and CJ want people to think of skin as an acessory that one changes with clothing and the new prices reflect that. Here's another important thing, brows and kitty's are mod.

That's right redheads, with TaP Vivant you can have every skin match your gorgeous red tresses. Just pick up the mod brow bases, and put it on. That goes for blondes too. That makes me ecstatic in joy and tribulation. See the results in this collage using the Just Lips 1 skin.



ETD Maaliyah hair

Pubic hair works similarly, just put on what kitty hair options you want, they're on the underwear layer. For those interested, the traditional TaP heart shaped kitty hair is included.

Here's some comparisons of Tap Vivant Red Lips 2 skin with the TaP Deux Sophisticate 1 skin (custom redhead version) I compared these two because of the similar lipcolors:


Full body front, notice the changes in the torso shading.:



Full body back, notice the new butt! I love the new butt!:



Torso. You can see the torso shading changes better. The cleavage enhancement is still evident, but my boobehs look a bit more realistic in the Vivant:



And the face. There's subtle changes in the facial highlighting, a sort of glow. There's some changes in the lip texture too.:



Again, ETD Roslin hair

If you're wondering how the skins might look on everybody's favourite missing Redheaded Shameless Hussy (Sabrina Doolittle) and Patootie Head (Salome Strangelove), here is yet another homage to my bosses at Linden Lifestyles If any skin has a chance to steal Sabrina's Whoring Heart(tm) from her Gala's it's TaP Vivant. This is the Just Lips 1 skin.



Armidi Bombshell hair in Ginger III on my faux Sabrina self, and ETD Patootie in Chestnut on my faux Salome self.

And here I am crying and pouting because I want them ALL! Yep, I LOVE them, but of course, I AM Roslin and CJ's ***** (Inspired a bit by Ida Keen's New World Notes Uncanny Valley contest entry last year.)



ETD Patootie in Crimson, facial emote from my Mystitool.

Tete a Pied is located in the Nouveau sim.

Skin Review: Minnu Model Skins

There's a been a plethora of new skin designers showing up in SL, and established designers that I have not heard of releasing new skins. I was dropped a Sample pack of Minnu Model Skins a few days ago. I had not heard of their creator, Minnu Palen before, and gave them a try. Originally I was not planning on doing any kind of a review, because when it comes to skin reviews, my boss Sabrina Doolittle is the best skin reviewer around, in my humble opinion. But she's away from SL, and I thought these skins deserved a review, at least on my own blog.

Lets get the basics out of the way. Minnu Model Skins (which I will abbreviate to MM) are mostly hand drawn with some photosourcing on the body, but not too much photosourcing, because Minnu believes too much can ruin a skin. There are 5 skin shades, Pale, Light, Mid, Tan, Dark. I, of course, am a pale face. Pale is the new tan! This is the Pale skin shade with the Dominate makeup.



First thing I thought when I put them on was: zOMG, I've got the "Aspire" look a la Colleen Desmoulins or Isabella Sampaio. I have to admit that I think the overall look is "generic SL glamour". There are a lot of skins that can give a look like this. However, most of those have much more photosourcing, which in most cases makes them look like crap on my avatar. MM skins keeps it more subtle. The abs are defined but not too over shaded, the knees are nicely done, and it's a very pleasant and easy to look at skin. It does everything reasonably well, even if it's not a "stand out from the crowd" skin.


There's a been a plethora of new skin designers showing up in SL, a

I even like the brows! They only currently come in this brown shade, though Minnu has said that different brow colors have already been requested. The faces themselves have that generic "slightly exotic SL glamour" look on me with the high contoured cheekbones. The lippies seem to be all frosts, which is a downside in my opinion. (I prefer matte, creamy and glossy lippies in RL) The faces worked well with full lips and thin lips as can be seen. I tried them on a bunch of different shapes and the face flattered them all, even the famous Spin Spin Sugar shape. That may be the reason for the "generic SL glamour" look, that look may work on more shapes and faces than other basic looks.

Here's the Light shade in the 40's makeup:



Now the standard MM skins may not be "stand out" skins but the Mia's are. The Mia's are "Asian" skins. Very pretty skins. In fact the Mia's are IMHO the best "Asian" skin in SL that I have seen:



On the left is the Mia Deep on the right is Mia Ice Queen. You can also see the boobehs, which are the standard boobehs on all the MM skins. Yes the nipples are blurry but that could just be my shape, which seems to make ALL nipples blurry. They could also use a bit of highlighting/shading to enhance the cleavage, IMHO.

Now, I am no Sabrina Doolittle but here's a kitty shot:



The kitty is important to some. Now I'm not that familiar with kitty's in SL, but I think this kitty's pubic hair is a bit sparse. As for the bits themselves they aren't scary looking. You can also see the hands, which are very nice with knuckles and prettily manicured nails that don't look like someone dipped them in white paint.

So overall do I recommend these skins? Yes, for those who want the look this kind of skin gives, and for those who want a bit of photosourcing but not too much, and for those who want a reasonably good skin that's very pleasant to look at. Single skins are $L 1100, fatpacks of four are $L 4000, older skins are $L 900, and eyes are $L50.

Minnu Model Skins is located at: JT World VI 211,208,22 The build does NOT suck, and you know how I am about builds. There are also other locations. In addition to skins, MM also sells shapes and eyes.

One other note, the location above has a small fashion runway with seating suitable for a small fashion show. Minnu has said that she wants to support new designers and give them a place to show off their stuff, which I applaud. Contact Minnu Palen for more details.

Sorry for the image problem folks, I had a duplicate of this post saved thanks to a glitch and when I deleted the duplicate it deleted the images too, and I didn't realize it was doing that fast enough.

Contest entry and skin comparison

Yeah, I entered the Ginny/Starley Are you the face of style contest, but I had to get a Starley skin first. I only had a Passport and I don't flatter it and it makes me look like Salome. So I tried demos.......lots of demos and figured out right off that I don't like the Vogue/Deviant Nation brows. Can't stand them. Course, that's me being picky on brows. After doing some searching I found the Carrot and Auburn Charmed series and got a Carrot:




My shape flatters it much better than the other Starley skins, I actually look like me and the I can tolerate the brows. I know, I harp on brows, but they're very important, especially to redheads. The shape and color just has to "work". Give me a groomed, shaped, "classic" brow with a nice arch, but not too much arch any day.


For comparison a shot in TaP Sophisticate 1, one of my favorite skins ever:




Yeah, I'm Roslin and CJ's ***** all right.

I'm lip picky too, but that is another story.