Monday, April 7, 2008

Silk Caravanserai: Freebie Friday: Free Skins

Got a box as a group gift from Arabian Romantic Ballroom, claiming to be some of the best free skins available. Inside were some Shy skins, which have been around for a while, some skins with a landmark to Crazy, and a skin called Cindy, with a landmark to Mel's Little Shop. You can join the Arabian Romantic ballroom group, which is a very cool place to go dancing, or you can find these free skins at the landmarks above. There is some other stuff in the box including some female body parts, but I didn't try those on. Here's a sampling of the skins:


Shy Skin in Caramelle7 Dark Neutral Makeup. There are several Sky makeup options included, but I liked this one the best.


Naturally Skin. Also Included are Extreme, Hot, and Perfect.


Cindy included in this makeup/style only.


Cindy full-body shot. The manicure is nice!


Shy Caramelle, but a different makeup called Beauty mark.


Hot skin, from the same set as Crazy but with a different, more pink coloration and shading as well as different makeup. The detail on things like the bottom of feet are great on these.

Please keep in mind that I shot these with full light straight on at noon in Windlight and with no beauty lights. The extreme lighting isn't what one usually encounters while enjoying one's Second Life experience, but it is handy for getting a good look at the skin.

Skin is really important in creating a "look" for one's avatar and most free skin isn't going to make us happy for long. But it's a good bridge for new users from system skin to buying good (and usually expensive) skin. It's also great for trying out new looks, or for when you need emergency skin for an outfit that you just have to wear but doesn't go at all with your current complexion. My best advice for finding great free skin is to find some skin designers that you like and join their groups. Many designers give out group gifts as wonderful try before you buy incentives as well as special holiday makeup that you can't get any other way. And the Lindens wonder why we want more than [...]