Thursday, November 29, 2007

A Stitch in Time


All right, let's get down to business. I promised to review a couple of skins before the holidays, but as things go, I got a wee bit sidetracked by an overdose of tryptophan and sugar. But I've detoxed now and I'm ready to go.

First, let's take a look at the new skins by Launa Fauna, CHAI by LF Fashions. She has an adequate number of skin tones available, ranging from the darkest Cinnamon, moving lighter to Honey, Ginger, Cream and to the lightest, Sugar.

Each comes with a number of different makeup styles along a spectrum from light to heavy depending upon your preferred style. The choices seem abundant.

She has color-changeable eyebrows, but, in my opinion, they are still a bit heavy, hard to color and could use a lighter touch. This would yield more realistic eyebrows.

Her makeup detail is quite lovely, with full lips and variations of eye makeup and lip colors that work well together. I have no dispute with her makeup ability or the tone of her skins. In fact, the tones are decent, have a good range, nice shadings and quality definitions.

My bone-to-pick is about the seams. Yes, I am picky. And, yes, I do know from talking to a friend of mine -- also a skinner -- that seams are the bane of every skinner's existence. But these seams are really just too obvious. According to my friend, there are a number of ways to avoid this, (see pictures) but it takes time and effort.

That being said, it's my opinion that if you are charging L$1200 a pop -- no multi packs available -- you might want to make a more concerted effort towards these seemingly minor details and smooth out or blend the seams.

When I first picked up my CHAI demo, I was very happy with the makeup and was excited about adding to my growing skin collection. That is, until I noticed the dreaded seams. Not that I show that much skin, mind you, but these seams are on the neck and shoulders, where, if I can see them, everyone else can too. I prefer not to look like a rag doll. I contacted Launa Fauna, and sent pictures, but never received any feedback. Let's hope she takes it under advisement and works those out for the next batch of skins.

The next skin is by Trixie Wexler of The Plague. Her store has a variety of items for sale, from clothing and shoes, to shapes and skins. She has two major skin lines and also has a couple of special edition skins.

The first skin I looked at is Trixxxotic Passion and comes in pale, light and tan skin tones. Each skin is L$500, and the four pack is L$1500.

The other skin line is called Epidemic, with adjustable skin tones, lip color, eyeliner and nail polish. Each skin is L$1000 and the four packs are just L$3000.

Both Trixxxotic and Epidemic have smooth creamy skin textures and decent makeup choices, but of the two, Trixxxotic is my favorite. The eyebrows and makeup on Epidemic just don't feel as blended or real as her Trixxxotic line. The Trixxxotic skins have fine definitions and offer a good assortment of color and makeup ranging from mild to wild.

The skin texturing is well done, however, once again, we have the issue with seams -- this time at the shoulders (see pictures) in both skin lines.

As with Launa, I sent Trixie a note with pictures describing the issue. However, Trixie was quick to respond and was very thankful for bringing this issue to her attention. She indicated that she had not noticed those skin seams and planned to address them.

Personally, I'm looking forward to that, and I plan on picking up a Trixxxotic or two when she does. At only L$500 a skin, how can I resist?

In closing, both skinners I've reviewed here are quite talented and clearly have a good grasp on makeup detail and skin shading. However, both tended to skip over the small details of seams and blending in those areas.

I find it curious that would be the case, but as I was told recently by another skin aficionado, it's the makeup that sells the skin. Well, that may be the case for some out there, but not me. I like to know when I spend over L$1000 on something, it's going to be of the highest quality, and details will not be overlooked.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ashia runs off to check her seams under a microscope......just in case!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

/me whips out her magnifying glass on ashia... just as I thought... :)

Anonymous said...

I am curious if you have gotten the free skin from the update group. Could this be an issue on the demo only and not on the actual skin?

Cherie Parker said...

Well, I did send pictures and a notecard to LF. She never responded. I have wondered the same thing.

Tenshi said...

Yeah, I noticed her newest skin has a lot of pixels on it - not to be salvaged by shape manipulation either. I posted about it over at my own blog, Shopping Cart Disco. I think you'll find it in last week's cache.

Cherie Parker said...

It's unfortunate. Her makeup has a real flair. Her lip detail is excellent especially in the lighter colors. Perhaps in the next generation of skin she will address these issues.