Hey Sweeties,
Well, I don't know what planet I've been on but I totally managed to miss all the buzz and then the release of the amazing mesh heads by The Mesh Project at The Shops. I only discovered them by chance the other day when shopping for lipstick! I'm not sure exactly when they were released, very recently though I imagine, and I'm sure there's been a lot of blogging activity about them but I thought I'd show you my take on them anyway. I bought the 'Soft' version in the basic head. It cost L$2000 for the basic head, which I think is a reasonable enough price for a mesh head, though the deluxe version is L$5000 which I personally think is rather pricey - even if it does blink and open the mouth. I own a few other mesh heads, along with mesh doll heads etc and so far I think this is the nicest I own. As you can see from the photo, the different make ups you can buy can change the look of the head quite drastically, which is something that really appeals to me. We don't all want to look like clones of each other not to mention that I like to change my look quite regularly. I think the make up and skin options are what really sells this product for me.
I've read a few reviews about The Skin Shop and a lot of people seem to have issues with the shopping HUD system. Personally, it doesn't bother me and I think its quite a handy gadget. I also love the stylemode HUD - this allows you to change the makeups and styles really easily - more about that later. What I do not like is the credit system. You have to 'buy' credit before you can shop, which is a bit of a pain in the ass for a start but what really bothers me is that you often have credit left over and there is no refund facility available. It might only be a small amount (in my case I currently have a balance of L$51) but its still money that could be spent elsewhere if you don't wish to purchase anything else from The Shops. I probably will buy some more makeups and stuff from The Shops so I'm not too concerned about my excess credit but if I had finished shopping there I would certainly be miffed about this - and L$51 will not buy you anything from the store. I think it would be better, if they don't do away with the credit system altogether or offer a refund facility, that they have smaller credit increments. At the moment you can purchase 1000, 500, 200 or 100. But given that a lot of items cost 175 then having a 25 option will allow people to buy credits to exactly the amount they wish to spend. Well anyway, that's just my opinion.
Now, as I mentioned, you can purchase a variety of skins, makeups, brows and eyes which can obviously be worn without the mesh head or are automatically added to the Stylemode HUD to enable swift changing of looks on the mesh heads. I probably should have included a shot of the HUD but I'm sure you've seen it around anyway. Its pretty easy to use (once you've figured out a couple of things) and I personally think this is a great idea. What isn't so great is the cost of makeups and extras. The mesh head does not come with any skin (or brows), its just a 'white' head so you have to buy at least one skin and one eyebrow before you can get going. The skins are priced at L$1000, a fairly standard skin price, though they do not come with any makeup options at all and no brows either. The cost of eyeshadows and lipsticks is pretty astronomical in my opinion. L$175 for ONE lipstick or eyeshadow. And they only come in the one skin colour so if you own skins (faces) in different colours you would have to purchase the makeups in all the different skin colours too! There are a couple of lipstick styles that are available in a colour pack but these cost 500 for 5 lipsticks which I still think is bloody expensive. Again, in my opinion, it would be far better if, say, a particular lipstick style did come in a colour pack but at perhaps a more reasonable price of 300. Same with eyeshadows. I personally would love it if they did a pack with all the different styles of lipsticks/ eyeshadows, perhaps in just one colour each - then at least you would have a few different options without having to totally break the bank. I mean, I think there are about 10 different eyeshadow styles available but if you even just bought one of each that would set you back 1750 which is a vast amount for 10 eyeshadows when you look at it like that. Its the same with the brows - they cost 250 for ONE brow in ONE colour. At least they ought to have each style available in a colour pack (and not for 500 but the more realistic 300). So, yeah, I'm pretty miffed at the prices of makeups and extras which is why I don't have a huge amount of options to show you in the photo.
After all my grumbling about the prices I do think the makeups are lovely - they are fab on the mesh head and look great on regular skin too. If you own the mesh head then its very easy to demo the makeups in store and its worth doing so before you buy as the lipsticks in particular look somewhat different on the mesh heads than they do on regular skin. Again, I think this is great as it means you can have different looks even with the same makeup, for example, the flirty lipstick looks totally different on the mesh head than it does on the regular skin. I'm really looking forward to the release of 'applier' skins from other creators - Pink Fuel will definitely be on my must have list. If other creators also do make up packs then I think the options for individual styling of the mesh heads will be pretty vast so hopefully we won't all be running around like total clones of each other. I personally really like taking pics wearing a mesh head as I find it allows really awesome use of shadows and windlight without your skin getting all deformed. On the system avi, quite a lot of bright or harsh lighting totally borks your skin and leaves you with that weird 'lipless' look. Not so, within reason, with a mesh head which is one reason why I love them. On a final note, I do hope The Skin Shop release appliers for Tangos/Phat Azz etc. I don't actually wear these very often but plenty of people do and most good skin creators make appliers for all the big brands. I appreciate that The Skin Shop make their own hands and feet so they may not be inclined to make Slink appliers but the others are probably a good idea. And hair bases for the mesh heads really have to be on their to do list. Seriously, we need hairbases! Ok, I've really ranted long enough, on with the credits.....
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Note: Pics taken on 'ultra' with shadows enabled using Chelle Powderpuff windlight setting. Photos not edited apart from obvious cropping and a slight sharpen. Click to enlarge...
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Credits:
On all
Head ~ *The Mesh Project* Mesh Head (Soft) Basic version (wearing system eyelashes)
Hair ~ *Tram* D208 (Brown)
Eyes ~ *Ikon* Destiny Eyes (Storm) M
Top Row - left to right
Skin ~ *The Skin Shop* Chanel (face) 09 (Bold)
Brows ~ *The Skin Shop* Eyebrows (Soft) 09 Dark Brown
Skin ~ *The Skin Shop* Pussy (face) 09 (Bold)
Brows ~ *The Skin Shop* Eyebrows (Soft) 09 Dark Brown
Eyeshadow ~ *The Skin Shop* Eyeshadow (Glam) 09 (Bronze)
Skin ~ *The Skin Shop* Pixie (face) 09 (Soft)
Brows ~ *The Skin Shop* Eyebrows (Soft) 09 Dark Blonde
Eyeshadow ~ *The Skin Shop* Eyeshadow (Moody) 09 (Emerald)
Lipstick ~ *The Skin Shop* Lipstick (Juicy) 09 (Soft Pinks) Blush
Bottom Row - left to right
Skin ~ *The Skin Shop* Chanel (face) 09 (Soft)
Brows ~ *The Skin Shop* Eyebrows (Soft) 09 Dark Brown
Eyeshadow ~ *The Skin Shop* Eyeshadow (Sparkle) 09 (Blanca)
Lipstick ~ *The Skin Shop* Lipstick (Muse) 09 (Mink)
Skin ~ *The Skin Shop* Pussy (face) 09 (Soft)
Brows ~ *The Skin Shop* Eyebrows (Soft) 09 Dark Brown
Eyeshadow ~ *The Skin Shop* Eyeshadow (Glam) 09 (Bronze)
Lipstick ~ *The Skin Shop* Lipstick (Fashionista) 09 (Rush)
Skin ~ *The Skin Shop* Chanel (face) 09 (Bold)
Brows ~ *The Skin Shop* Eyebrows (Soft) 09 Dark Brown
Eyeshadow ~ *The Skin Shop* Eyeshadow (Moody) 09 (Emerald)
Lipstick ~ *The Skin Shop* Lipstick (Flirty) 09 (Mojave)
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