« Checking in with Solange Cerveau | Home | Dresses! »
Raspberry and Holy Cow!
By Celebrity Trollop | December 5, 2006
I was floored the other day when Nyla Cheeky (House of Nyla) showed off one of the loveliest black skins I’d seen in Second Life (Chloe, shown right.) ”
“Who made it?” I asked. When Nyla answered “RaC” I thought, “Never heard of them.” I was surprised, too, since this is obviously a thoughtfully created skin, with special attention paid to lip texture, facial shading, especially around the nose and an exquisite eye for highly realistic skin tones among many other attractive features. I asked Nyla for a landmark so I could get a demo.
As soon as the demo resolved itself on my shape I was awfully certain this was a skin I would buy — and enjoy very much. Later, when I went back to purchase the “Deluxe pack” (six skins in the same tone with different makeup combinations), I had the opportunity to chat with Mallory Cowen, the creator of these skins. Mallory’s rezday was at the end of September meaning she’s been in Second Life an incredibly short 8 weeks. My first question to her was: Are you a RL digital artist? Unsurprisingly, yes, she is. Mallory also uses a decidely more analog canvas, paint and brushes to create art as well.
So far, Mallory has created singleton skins in a variety of skin tones, offering a handful of Deluxe packs. She plans to eventually create Deluxe packs for every skin tone, but she’s focused more on quality than quantity right now. “So what’s with the name?” I asked. “Raspberry and cow?” Mallory smiled. “Those are names my partner and I used before on the Internet.” Whatever you call them, these are really beautiful skins.
As I wrote earlier, I think the Chloe skin in particular is one of the most gorgeous looking skins in Second Life. I didn’t want you to take just my word for it either. Here are pictures of my avatar wearing Chloe underneath Nyla Cheeky’s “Red Jeweled Lingerie” and Ginny Talamasca’s “Naughty” dress releases. It’s been a lot of fun playing with the way colors, fabric textures, and hair all come together.
One final snapshot, featuring Sol Columbia’s “Sela” release. Since I bought the Chloe pack it’s only reluctantly come off and I really don’t anticipate that changing anytime soon.
I will say, having seen my friends enthusiastically trying demos after seeing how Chloe looks on my shape that the overall look of the skin is highly influenced by the underlying shape. Now that’s true for all skins, of course, but in particular some of the skins just didn’t look especially good on some of the shapes that my friends have. But it’s such a minor criticism and the quality level here is fantastic. It’s worth a trip to try on a demo and see for yourself. Find RaC in Gramela 122, 251, 39.
Seen in world: Yes
Review copy: No
Friends list: No
Topics: Skins |
Celeb dear.. you’ve beaten me on this one… I’ve found this shop today and i was thunderstruck. Finally another skin that looks goooood on me :-). Mallory told me that this lady passed by yesterday and that she wanted to write about the skins…. turned out it was you :-). Oh well… plenty to write about in SL. See you soon!
Posted by: Grazia Horwitz on December 5th, 2006 at 4:19 pmStunning!! Can’t wait to check it out.
Posted by: Zillow Dejavu on December 5th, 2006 at 4:42 pmI stumbled upon this store a while ago and fell in love with the skins, but I wish the singles were cheaper… 4000L$ for one skin, one makeup option? The skins are SUPERB, but still that’s a little too much for me.
Yeah, I’m a greedy one, arent I? ;D
Posted by: antonia marat on December 5th, 2006 at 8:34 pmI agree with Antonia, but that’s a relatively minor complaint given how absolutely smitten I am. I’ve been looking for a skin with amazing facial detail for a long, long time, and the Emma skin is just stunning.
However, I wish — desperately wish — that I could edit the skintone to make paler, though. Being as pale as milk is like my “thing” in SL in a sim full of tanned Barbies, and I wish I could have that back.
Posted by: Decadent Rothschild on December 5th, 2006 at 10:23 pmman!#@#!#! being poor isn’t my fondest attribute
Posted by: rosemary galbraith on December 5th, 2006 at 11:07 pmThat’s the best looking “black” skin I’ve seen in SL, reminds me of Gabrielle Union. Gorgeous.
Posted by: CronoCloud Creeggan on December 7th, 2006 at 7:52 amIt reminds me of one of the top black models–the one who is always getting in trouble, I think–but her name slips my mind now.
Posted by: Zillow Dejavu on December 7th, 2006 at 8:26 am[...] Celebrity recently filed a very enthusiastic report on the Raspberry and Cow skins over at Second Style. By the time a third person had mentioned them to me, I figured I should get my tucas over there and try them for myself. I tried three skins (Emma, Nikki and Sarah) at random. [...]
Posted by: Linden Lifestyles - The Unofficial Second Life® Shopping Blog on December 7th, 2006 at 10:18 pmAnyways Celebrity pretty much got owned http://lindenlifestyles.com/?p=284 .
I agree this skin isnt that great and for 4000? Come on Celebrity, your writing style is almost the same as Fox’s . Ie. you write for the choir. You don’t really look at the flaws in something rather you write cause someone sent you a 4000L skin and your way too happy.
That and the fact all your stuff is about people who are established. Duh. Go out and find newbies, there are many who are talented. Your magainze is all about “Oh and btw this FIC did this, and oh this FIC has something new now”. Maybe one day rubbing against these old FIC’s might get you some FICdome.
But seriously, it would not make your magazine anything worth reading. Maybe an ego boost for the FIC and your friends that end up in it.
Posted by: Alue Neuman on December 8th, 2006 at 2:55 amA lot of people, including me, happen to like the Raspberry and Cow skins. They’re one of the best I’ve seen and I’m certainly entitled to my opinion, as is Celebrity. If someone doesn’t like them, they’re also entitled to their opinion but it would be better to be civil about expressing it.
And if anyone doesn’t like this blog, why not move on? Cuz a lot of other people do like what’s here.
Posted by: Zillow Dejavu on December 8th, 2006 at 5:52 amHi Alue,
Thanks for your comments. We are constantly striving to improve Second Style. Perhaps one day it may live up to your expectations.
As far as getting a free copy of the skin, I must refer you to my disclosure at the bottom of the entry that I did not get a free set of skins. I liked them so much I spent L$4500 of my own money to buy a set.
I like and respect Sabrina’s opinion very much and her points about the skins in their lighter tones are well taken. That’s why bloggers write — we’re all cheeky enough to think you care what we think. Sometimes you will agree, and sometimes you will not.
In any case, thank you for reading.
Posted by: Celebrity Trollop on December 8th, 2006 at 9:54 am“That and the fact all your stuff is about people who are established. Duh. Go out and find newbies, there are many who are talented.”
Err, but it says in this very review that Mallory Cowen who made these skins is very new to SL… so isn’t Celebrity doing exactly the thing you ask her to do, by blogging about talented new people? ^^;;
Posted by: Joannah Cramer on December 8th, 2006 at 11:50 amIm not sure if the negative poster read the whole post?
“That and the fact all your stuff is about people who are established. Duh. Go out and find newbies, there are many who are talented.”
I agree. There are many talented new ppl! Mallory appears to be one of them!
“Mallory’s rezday was at the end of September meaning she’s been in Second Life an incredibly short 8 weeks.”
Keep up the good work here at SecondStyle, I certainly love coming here to read the posts about both new and established creators!
Posted by: Aleri Darkes on December 8th, 2006 at 12:11 pmAfter reading the Linden Lifestyles review (complete with pics) I have two suggestions: clear nipples (photosourced or otherwise) and a lighter hand on the shading. I do like these skins, but blurry bits and pieces make an otherwise beautiful skin unbuyable for me, especially at the price.
Posted by: Kalia Meiklejohn on December 8th, 2006 at 2:47 pmI did try the demo’s on after Celeb made me want to desperately! and I agree awith Kalia, it’s a nice skin but I am SO anal about my skins, i’d like to see some of the lil bits a bit lighter, less shaded etc etc.
Arbel bought one and the face is OMG gorgeous on her, totally, and celeb looks fab, but on me, sadly, didn’t go =(
Posted by: Willow on December 9th, 2006 at 4:31 amI have to admit they are pretty nice, but i dont think they are the best skins out there, i still love my Naughty Designs skin more than anything. I think 4000 is a little toooo steep of a price considering the quality is not really perfect and only one makeup option included. maybe she will change the prices sometime soon?
Posted by: pearlie on December 9th, 2006 at 8:18 amI think 4000L for one skin, one make-up is a horrible, horrible price. God knows that I’ve spent around 20-25k in total on skins so far, but there’s no way I would pay 4k for a single skin, no matter how good they are. That’s not enough value.
Posted by: Tallia Shui on December 22nd, 2006 at 9:01 amThey **are** the best skins in Second Life, so stop advertising them!!! One of the reasons why people will give you rave reviews if you sport one of these skins is because they look so different from the vast majority of skins in use. If word gets out to too many people, the we who use RaC will stop being “exotic.” :-)
Posted by: Jimbo Richez on January 16th, 2007 at 8:03 amTheir newly opened island (1/27/07) just closed after Erika Jun claimed on 2/3/07 RaC merely modded free skins made for Sims2. A notice went out from the RaC update group just this evening (2/4/07) stating the island store had closed (indeed, the parcel is now ‘invalid’) and the current inventory is on sale for 25% off. Whether or not Erika Jun’s accusations hold water it looks like if you want one of these fabulous skins now is the time to grab them up (or install Sims2 ;-p)
Posted by: Hale Viking on February 4th, 2007 at 8:29 pmAnd dayum, I spent the full $4K…. lol Does seem a bit too coincidental that their shutting down as these accusations are to the fore…but which caused which…..
Posted by: Korali Galland on February 5th, 2007 at 10:45 am[...] in December, I wrote a long post about the Chloe skins by Mallory Cowen of Raspberry and Cow (RaC). I loved it then — and I still love it now, although side-by-side, [...]
Posted by: Chloe by RaC, greatly improved at Second Style Fashionista on April 30th, 2007 at 4:05 pm