Three Twisted Knots

I know what you guys are thinking: “Aw, yeah! Finally some sexy photos!” Wrong!

I’m really just going to talk about mesh bodies and heads.

There was a lot of discussion around the Lelutka Mesh Head, which was released on the first of April, on the Skin Addiction group, which (after the Wylds OOC group and MOCK cosmetics, natch) is probably the most fun chat group I belong to on Second Life. Talk about people who know everything that’s going on! Anyway, over at A Passion for Virtual Fashion, Harper Beresford reviewed the Lelutka Mesh head before it was released, and she noted that with the head, you can change the face a little bit. Now, I’m madly in love with Gwyneth, but I had been planning to make The Amazing Catwoman over in advance of the SL Fantasy Faire, and so I brought home demos of all three heads, tried them on, and decided on “Aria”, mostly because it has smaller lips than the others, and I don’t tend to make av faces with big, pouty lips. I also picked up the Belleza Mesh Body to go with it, because I knew the Lelutka head was specifically designed with that body in mind.

I’d demoed the Maitreya body a couple of times and really liked it, but Gwyneth is already in the SLink, so I figured I should stick with what I had. And actually, though I love the SLink body, the Maitreya one is so easy to use, the alphas are more targeted, and I feel like more mesh clothing is going to fit than with the SLink one.

Now, to tell you the truth, The Amazing Catwoman started out as just a photo personality. Her shape was exactly the same as Gwyneth’s, except she had a very different skin, wore different clothes, and carried weapons from time to time. But she’s become much more than that: she’s sort of my adventurous, edgy alterego, I guess, whereas Gwyneth is really much more me in so many ways. But enough philosophising. I widened her hips, gave her a little more in the tit department, increased her leg and torso musculature, broadened her shoulders, and shortened her down to normal woman height rather than Gwyneth’s willowy Sidhe height.

Now, you’ll notice I put her in a very light, almost moon-pale, skin. I have always liked very, very pale skins, and Gwyneth is about as pale as it’s possible for a Seelie Sidhe to be. With TAC (The Amazing Catwoman), I figured I could go a little lighter than that. Glam Affair has done the basic skins for the Maitreya body and the Lelutka head, and they are gorgeous. Glam Affair has already released appliers for the Lelutka head in a variety of fun makeups, but there’s makeup in the Mesh Head’s HUD, so you don’t even need that. Even better, the basic skins are available in 10 tones from Glam Affair. If you’re wearing the Maitreya Body and the Lelutka Head, you will only ever have to buy skin appliers for the head: they should just match the skins on the body effortlessly. And they do!

So without buying any skin appliers, you get ten beautiful skins with the head/body combination, in a full range of colours.

But what can you do with this head?

Lots of stuff! Her mouth opens, her eyes close, you can change the eyeshadow, lighten or darken lipstick…

Change eyelashes or tint them, remove them altogether. The last four pictures here are about playing with some of the Glam Affair appliers to give TAC a unique look. One of the things I worried about before getting a mesh head was whether my avatar would now look “the same as everybody else”. And there is a generic quality to the face that falls within the realm of what’s currently popular on SL, particularly the lips. So I thought about TAC. Who is she? Mostly, she’s a doll I dress up and take photos of, but who is she really? What’s her style? Let’s see. She has long, pointy ears with plenty of metal in them. What about facial piercings to carry that look over on to her face? She favours trousers over skirts and is often posed with a bow or other weapon. She might really be a complete badass. Which means she needs badass hair. Truth, as ever, delivered! I put her in Rogue, coloured it half purple, and voila! Instant badass!

I also shopped around for AOs and ended up with TUTY’s “Dangerous Girl”, which is a lot less sexed-up than your average girl AO.

So that’s my story of how you can take a mesh head and make it your own.

So, meet the New! Amazing Catwoman! She and Gwyneth will be ready to take on Fantasy Faire at the end of April, and I’m looking forward to all the stories they’re going to live, and the stories they’re going to hear and tell, as well. I hope some of you will come along for the ride.

Head: Lelutka
Body: Maitreya
Skin: Glam Affair
Ears: Gauze
Piercings: Ellabella
Necklace: The Forge
Boots: Just Design
Tunic: Mirage
Leggings: ABC (applier)