It’s day number three of the glorious 30 Days of Skins and being the time of year when it’s cold, dark and all over rather drab i thought it was time to bring some warm, spicy Soul to the party.
The creator behind Soul is Nany Merlin, who work with graphic design and photography in real life. She has created several series of skins and shapes under the Soul label: Soul Special Skins, several male lines and her latest creation Race, a line of ethnic type skins ranging from Egyptian, African and Spanish to Indian, German and 3 different Asian skins. All skins come with 9 different makeup options or shading and facial hair options for men, a shape and a set of eyes.
What I find particularly attractive about Merlin’s work - which is a combination of photosourcing and drawing - is the texture of the basic skins themselves. The detail is magnificent even close up and has has the look of real skin with carefully applied foundation and blusher dusted with a light coat of translucent powder. The effect is truly yummy. Zoom in and you can even see pores! Anyone who has ever studied real skin up close will have to agree that Merlin’s creations are spectacular, and upon her perfect canvases she has carefully applied eyeshadows, blushers and sensually soft lipsticks. The body detail is as impressive as the makeups: lovely shoulderblades, supersexy tummy detail and unbelieveably cute and real looking belly buttons. Little things like this pleases me no end.
My favourite of them all is the Afrodite-line which comes in six different skin tones, all with nine different makeup options. I’m tempted to steal a cheesy advertizing line like: “don’t wear it if you don’t mean it!” - but these skins are smokin’ hot.
Being a bit of a retro fanatic means I’m always on the prowl for the ultimate cat eyes makeup, and Afrodite’s makeup no. 10 has the most perfect eyeliner I have yet come across on an SL skin. The effect is especially gorgeous on skin tone number 1, a slightly tanned hispanic look. Slipping into this skin gives me an instant sixites sexkitten look sported by legendary french bombshells Francoise Hardy and Brigitte Bardot way back then. The idea of smoky eyes and neutral to rosy lips is sensual rather than stark and the all over effect is very very “shut-up-and-kiss-me”.
The skins suits you Honey! I love the way the freckles look on Afrodite no. 6 - and the upper lip on the Africa skin is incredible.