Feeding My Addiction: Skin Review

I realized that I demo a lot of skins and never really talk about them very much. I will harp on a new skin when I find it and like it on me but there are a lot of decent skin makers out there in the dark range that I don't personally choose to wear but still should be discussed.  So I'm going to share a few with you that I have either been gifted (thanks Rita) or stumbled across due to my rampant feed stalking.

First up is the Belleza skin Elle in Dark Mocha.  This, and most of the other skins I will talk about, are closer to the tone I was wearing when I first began using SL.  It's a basic dark tone that will of course look slightly different on everyone but in my usual inspection of the nooks and crannies didn't have anything that made me go oh no don't want to ever wear this again.  It didn't change my face in a significant way and was lacking shading issues for me.  What I noticed was that I was staring at was my stomach.  The Laqroki line tends to add great definition to the stomach area and that was missing for me here but the makeups were good, the face not overdone and had a variety of options in the way of hairbase and cleavage.  Well worth looking at if you haven't been inundated with skin posts already.

The next skin I want to show you is from Kira Ahn's [KA] Designs.  I have ventured in and out of her demos a lot and hadn't made a purchase until recently when I got a notice about a sale on soon to be retired skins.  I am almost positive I somehow skipped these skins because I think I would have bought them at the time but regardless it's another darker skin that I really liked when I sported it.  I grabbed the fatpack of Loona in Ebony and have to say I'm very impressed.  I am one of those lazy models that doesn't want to make a new shape for each skin I wear.  If a skin doesn't immediately strike me as looking great as is and may need minor tweaking I just won't buy it.  This is as close to my old skin tone and still the same facial features that I have been able to come in a very long time.  Great skin with good shading and makeups both with and without hairbase as well as three eyebrow shapes AND lashes.  Wooh, that was a mouthful but regardless good skin.  I'm showing you eyebrow option number one by the way in the following picture.  The only thing that would have made this better is that lovely glow I get with Laqroki.

Next up we have a skin Bare Skins from Rita Freese.  I love the dare to go bare part of the store tag by the way.  When I was in the Best of SL chat the other day we were having yet another skin discussion and I mentioned I happily blog good skins and I was quickly gifted with Naomi in Peacock, Citrus and Smoke.  Tone was a little darker than the first two but not dramatically so.  The lips are a bit fuller than the others but the makeup was done quite well.  I particularly loved the Peacock (one shown in the picture) as it successfully pulled off a very interesting palate on a darker skin that others seem to just overlook for fear of failing miserably.  It would be great for a show if for no other reason than it was good and dramatic.  The stomach was lacking a little definition but had a very adorable belly button and great shading around the body.  It's another keeper for those seeking out a dark skin.

And finally the last skin I will show you is the latest from Laqroki.  Elena was released a few weeks ago at this point and I was thrilled to have another dark option.  The tone is the same Ebony that she normally uses which is more a mid range chocolatey candy bar kind of complexion.  The makeup is more subtle to me than a few of the more recent ones but skillfully done and having another 10 makeups to play with, with and without hairbase, is always good if you are as focused on coordinating skin and clothing.  Laqroki always does a good job of trying to put out a dark tone and then experimenting with makeups.  It's one of the first places I always send friends and models but as I pointed out earlier I should pay attention to the fact that everyone doesn't want to be my shade of brown lmao.  It's another great release and my tummy looks fabulous ha!

And for those wondering what the outfit was about in the photos lol, I was in a casting for an African inspired/themed show and just hadn't changed when I decided to do this set of photos.  Full outfit details will be below the photo.  Please go check out the skin designers and have a fantastic weekend.

Outfit: Boom Rhapsody in Picnic (no sash skirt option)
Jewelry: Miel Cue Set (from 50L Friday)
Headwrap: CE Cubic Effect Bohemian Glow Red
Shoes: Maitreya Gold Shanti in Champagne
Skin: Laqroki Tasha 2 in Ebony
Poses: Reel Expression *Luth* Party Dress 4, 9
Background: Tuft Dreamy Field Photobox

I may be a Fair Hater but I'm a Theme Lover

I shared my lament with the pose fair (and skin fair and accessories fair and hair fair-I think, fairs in general) in my last post.  I again didn't spend much money there but it left with lindens to peruse 50L friday--didn't get to all of the shops this week but I did grab this adorable pillow I saw on the feeds made bye Annunziata Macchi of Molto Bene!  When I saw it I thought it would just be cute to have and would probably take good photos in the bedroom theme.  Then I thought oh crap, the photographer boyfriend is out of town and thus can't buy this today and since it was no transfer I couldn't buy one and send it to him.  So I contacted Annunziata and she was happy to both tell me about the fact that it would be on xstreet soon and sell me one for him while it was still 50L and on off the off chance he didn't get it to resend it when he logged back on.  Now let me say typically almost all content creators are great when I ask them a question but Annunziata was great, cheerful and quick so I had to give her a nice nod on the blog.  I grabbed some glasses and a great pair of boots and was done with my 50L Friday shopping.

That led me to The Dressing Room.  I didn't grab a lot there to be honest but love most of the designers that were featured so I had to join the subscribo and add just a snippet to the tip jar.  By all means head over and check it out because you'll be pleasantly surprised by the prices and selection.  My final theme shopping stop was The Fashion Circus.  I totally can't list everyone that is featured but I grabbed some new stuff from Opa's and Sonatta Morales and wandered around to the Hope for Haiti tent that is still on the sim and found a lovely dress there.  I had a good time roaming around and will be back there as well.  Good old subscribos.  Anyway I have theme love all around me.  Be sure to check them out before the next round of designers is inserted.

I think I'm a Fair Hater

How can you hate a fair you may ask?  Well I love the ones with turkey legs and funnel cake but so far in SL I find myself a little blah with fair offerings.  It took me forever to get over to the Pose Fair even though I was super exited when I heard about it, like I am with all fairs.  Granted real life was so kicking my pixelated booty the last few weeks but eh no excuse for a certified poser like myself.  I roamed the whole fair barefooted and missing as many prims as my vain self can tolerate.  I bought lindens when I started JUST because I didn't want to be broke by the end of my perusing.  It was nice to see new stores and I picked up something at This is a Fawn's shop and swear didn't know poses were among the offerings at the main store.  After that and another stop at another new store to me, don't freak out!, I swore no more than one purchase at each store.  At that point it was kinda not an issue.  I roamed all the stores and can't say I bought too much after that as I still had most of my lindens lol.  The problem with poses for me is no matter how well made they are there are only so many ways my body can pose to the left with my hand on my thigh.  And because I am a pose whore I tend to hit the bigger spots as the poses are released so there weren't a whole lot of new items in LAP, Behavior Body or the like that I hadn't seen already.  And the picture frames I had been so excited about from the feed seemed way too bright to be cute against my skin tone.  I did grab poses at LAP and found another cute luggage set at StoRin called globetrotter but I seem to never go broke at any fair even if I do luck upon a few new places to roam.  That's a good thing I guess lol more money for hair and pencil skirts.  And it did give me a chance to go to Veschi and pick up some truly funky things so all in all I guess my fair snobbery isn't a bad thing.

And because I wasn't distraught about my interview for Maniera which had wrapped up shortly before my perusal I guess I wasn't prone to impulse buys.  For those of you wondering what interview well I applied to be one of the agency bloggers and found out yesterday that I was selected so you'll get to see much more restrained input from me on the My Maniera blog that I'm hoping blogger quits trying to direct to a feed and lets the link go through.  If not the address for those that need it is http://manierainc.com

Toodles for now
Rouge