Tag: Classic Meshbody

UPDATED! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: The Cat Calm Bento Mesh Head from Genesis Lab

Genesis Lab is offering yet another steep discount on a Bento mesh head for female avatars. This one is called Cat Calm, and if you join the GenesisLab group for free, you can pick one up for only L$55, a 99% discount!

As you can see, this head has a striking, angular, chiseled appearance, with a sharp, defined jawline and high cheekbones:

The package includes Bakes on Mesh skin in six different skin tones with brown brows, light brows, and no brows options, but I decided to use a recent group gift Bakes on Mesh skin I picked up from Wow Skins instead, called Elora Bronze. Here is what the Cat Calm head looks like without any adjustments to the head or body sliders:

The cellphone HUD on the right is the Material Editor, which allows you to change various aspects of different parts of the head: tint, full bright, transparency/blend, glossiness, etc. The default head comes with an absolutely hideous white, diamond-shaped tattoo under one eye (?!??), which I immediately removed by clicking on the Tattoo button, then the reset arrow icon in the upper right-hand corner of the phone.

To the left are five of the mini-HUDs that control eyeshadows, eye colours (the mesh eyes are included in the package), hairbases, eyelashes, and lipsticks. (You can also tint and adjust all of these features using the Material Editor HUD.)

Here’s what the head looks after I made some slider adjustments to the mouth area, and with some hair (a free gift I picked up at last year’s Hair Fair called Lara Winks):

One of the things that drives me crazy is when stores do not include adequate documentation in their mesh head or body packages. There is a single notecard in the Cat Calm package that mentions a few new features, and nothing else at all! Even worse, unlike some more popular heads, I could not find a brand website with any online documentation, either, which many brands offer. It’s basically trial and error here, folks.

In particular, the included facial animation override is absurdly tiny, with lettering that is impossible to decipher, and I had to make guesses at what the various buttons did. Not impressed, Genesis Lab.

Here’s a full-length shot, after I played around with the body sliders to my satisfaction (I paired this head with the Classic mesh body group gift from Meshbody):

This is a strikingly beautiful head, and at L$55 it is a real bargain.

UPDATE June 3rd, 2020: Here’s another look, once again pairing the Cat Calm head by Genesis Lab with the Classic Meshbody group gift, and using the included Bakes-on-Mesh skin tone number 5 with brown eyebrows:

I have a little test I perform to judge how attractive a female avatar is: I plunk her down next to the dancefloor at Frank’s Jazz Club (as I have in the picture below), and I wait to see how long it takes before some male avatar hits on her. This one? I broke my old record! Less than 15 seconds! And there were two of them! (Yes, I am evil. But I don’t catfish. I just ignore their instant messages.)

I think this avatar look compares quite favourably with a Maitreya Lara mesh body/Catwa Bento mesh head combination which would set you back at least L$7,750 (and that’s before you spend any money on skin appliers, hair, clothing, shoes, etc.).

The hair, gown, gold choker, shoes, and AO were all freebies I picked up somewhere along the way. So the total cost for this entire avatar was only L$56 (just L$55 for the head, and L$1 for the body)…truly an outstanding bargain for a beautiful avatar!

Now, I do not know how long this promotion will last, so you might want to pop down to the Genesis Lab store soon (here’s the exact SLURL of the vendor panel in the store).

Another Fifteen-Minute Second Life Avatar Makeover: A Complete Head-to-Toe Mermaid Makeover for Only One Linden Dollar!

Photo by Annette Batista Day on Unsplash

Mermaid and merman role-play in Second Life is perennially popular (sometimes combined with pirate role-play). I have had a mermaid avatar in Second Life for as long as I can remember, although I must confess that I do not pull her out that often nowadays.

Here is what my mermaid avatar looked like before her makeover, a system-layers-and-flexiprims look cobbled together from various freebie mermaid outfits I picked up over the years (the lovely mesh tail was a recent free hunt gift from Solas NaGealai of BlueMoon Enterprise):

Mermaid: Before Look

Well, I decided to give my mermaid one of my patented fifteen-minute avatar makeovers today, to move from a classic, system avatar to 100% mesh!

Here is what she looks like now:

Mermaid: After Look

This avatar is wearing:

Mesh Head: the Freya Bento mesh head from Catwa (free group gift; the Catwa group is free to join; more information here). TODAY IS THE LAST DAY YOU CAN PICK UP THIS FABULOUS FREEBIE!

Lipstick: HD Lipstick (part of the Freya package, this comes in a wide variety of colours).

Hair: this absolutely perfect mermaid hair is called Spring Briar Fae Hair, which I picked up for free at a Crazy Hair Hunt many years ago now. I combined it with a hairbase from the Catwa Master HUD, tinting both it and the eyebrows on the Freya head to match.

Mesh Body: Classic mesh body by Meshbody (L$1 group gift; The Shops! group is free to join; more information here).

Choker: This beautiful golden Nefert choker is a free group gift from Poison Rouge at the current round of the Très Chic shopping event (you can join the Très Chic group for free). It hides the slight mismatch between the skin tones on the Freya head and Classic body perfectly!

Mermaid Bra and Tail: This is a freebie, too! Just join the Arata Shouten group for free, and check the group notices for this lovely gift (which was my impetus for making this blogpost). You’ll need to alpha out your legs, of course, using the included Classic Meshbody HUD.

Mermaid Animation Override: I picked up this mermaid AO as part of a free hunt gift at FallnAngel Creations many years ago. (If you hunt around at the various mermaid role-play areas in SL, you might find a freebie mermaid/merman AO.)

TOTAL COST FOR THIS AVATAR LOOK: ONLY L$1! (for the Classic mesh body from Meshbody). Everything else was free!

Another Fifteen-Minute Second Life Avatar Makeover: Victorian Parlourmaid

I have an old, classic system alt in Second Life whom I decked in out in a full-blown Victorian-era parlourmaid outfit!

As a running gag, I created a custom group for her called the Prim and Proper Cleaning Service. My profile states:

I proudly role-play a properly starched Victorian cleaning maid for Prim & Proper Cleaning Services (P&P for short, ma’am/sir). Dusting, vacuuming, etc. etc.

Bring that touch of Upstairs/Downstairs or Downton Abbey to your next social event. Impress your guests! Available for hire at very reasonable rates.

(Did you know a clean sim reduces lag?)

Every so often, when I’m feeling especially mischievous, I turn on her group tag, and unceremoniously plunk her down in spots like retail stores and clubs, where she busily dusts and even vacuums (on a modern-era vacuum cleaner, no less!). Here she is at the new, upstart Frank’s Jazz Club (she used to get routinely kicked out of the old one, where I found that the gate-keepers had no sense of humour whatsover):

“Lift your feet, hun…”

So, I decided it was time to give my Victorian parlourmaid a complete makeover, from a classic system avatar to a mesh outfit. Here are the after pictures, taken in the Library at Angel Manor Estate (how very Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey!)

This avatar is wearing:

Mesh Head: the Strong Face Bento mesh head from the Genus Project (a former group gift which, unfortunately, is no longer available)

Mesh Body: the Classic mesh body by Meshbody (L$1 group gift; The Shops! group is free to join; more information is about this body can be found here)

Skin Applier: Genus head skin applier and Bakes on Mesh body skin Brielle, from Amara Beauty (free group gift; group is free to join)

Parlourmaid Outfit: Victorian Maid Black by Melon Bunny (L$500 on the SL Marketplace)

Victorian Boots: texture-change Victorian Ankle Boots by The Mesh Cloud (L$299 on the SL Marketplace)

In fact, the only three things that the before and after looks have in common are:

Hair: Timeless hair in chestnut by *DG* Hair (which seems to be no longer available)

Maid’s Cap: from the Edelweiss Emma Victorian maid’s dress (L$600 on the SL Marketplace for the complete system-layers-and-flexiprims outfit)

Animation Override: Gown AO by Kamilah Hauptmann of Posture Is Everything (a very nice freebie for avatars under 30 days old, which I picked up at the Caledon Oxbridge new resident orientation centre; I added the Bento hands AO from the free Altamura Jenny mesh avatar body package available at the Freebie Megastore in London City)

TOTAL COST FOR THIS AVATAR: L$1400 (if you don’t care about the maid’s cap, the price goes down to L$800)

Hard at work dusting at Frank’s!
These dance machines get SO dusty…
Vacuuming the dancefloor at Frank’s Jazz Club (the glitter gets everywhere!)

Yes, I am having entirely too much fun in Second Life while I practice proper social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic!