Creating East Asian, Southeast Asian, Polynesian, and African American Looks

[Nuuanu]

Aloha to other newbies. After some frustrating trial and error I was able to replace my system avatar with one that looks more like me. Yay! But the search for upgraded body, head, shape, and hair were super frustrating, and I hope this post will help you to avoid some of the irritation I went through.

To be fair, I got annoyed at this whole process because I was searching for stuff on the Second Life Marketplace website, which feels like some Angelfire or Tripod site from the 1990s. Ugghh. No Boolean search terms are allowed, so every search gives thousands of useless results. I gave up on Marketplace and started doing searches via DuckDuckGo, StartPage, Google, YouTube, etc and found a bunch of relevant blogs and videos outside the official SL universe. Those sites allowed me to identify some items to try inworld. This SL Forum was a great resource too!

There are plenty of bodies and hairs, but I'm mixed race so my search has been for modifiable stuff appropriate to East Asian, Southeast Asian, Polynesian, and African American looks. For me that means slimmer body, no hips, no butt, practically nothing on top, flatter face, etc. Not much to hold onto except a heart :-) Sort of a difficult match for most North American or European creators, so I don't hold toooo big grudge against Marketplace. Even after wading through all the huge anime eyes, botoxed lips, and overly sexualized stuff there was little to choose from though. Sorry boys, not all of us are voluptuous pole dancers! So, here are some inworld sites I found useful. Bear in mind that tech and life are always evolving, so I should point out that these places have interesting items now, in February, 2021. Blink and they may be gone.  

Bodies
Maitreya Lara   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Maitreya%20Isle/128/133/23
Slink Physique     http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Slink/36/123/25

 

Heads
Genesis Lab   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Genesis%20Lab/229/170/25
GENUS Project    http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Genus%20Project%20Mainstore/100/130/34
LAQ    http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LAQ/135/122/76
Lelutka    http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LeLutka/128/128/39

Skins and Shapes
7 Deadly Skins   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Shadow%20Crest/81/59/43
Genesis Lab   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Genesis%20Lab/229/170/25
Glam Affair   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Beauty%20Avatar%20couture/153/72/32
ItGirls     http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cedar%20Springs/49/43/2003
Jael    http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cedar/101/144/2002
Monso / Mudskin   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sweet%20Isle/205/52/28
Not Found   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mountains%20of%20Spirit/186/67/27
Pepe   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Pepe%20Skins/68/58/20
Sublime    http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Official%20Munkin%20Island/89/202/3001

Hair
AD (Analog Dog)     http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Analog%20Dog%20Hair/174/133/22
Dr. Life     http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Fashion%20Boulevard/84/131/1949
Homage     http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/XODOHTRONU/127/131/3152
Stealthic   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Rapture/106/142/106
Truth    http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Truth/107/129/28

I've seen a some really beautiful avatars with Slink Physique bodies and Genesis Lab heads, but in the end I decided on a Maitreya Lara body (because of clothing options) and Lelutka Ryn head (it looks a little more like me). With BOM, maybe clothing options won't be so big a draw for Maitreya in future. I added an ItGirls Ryn shape/skin, but have to admit that all the shades are pale for me. Maybe after another year of COVID quarantine I WILL be that pale though :-) 

 

 

[Nene808]

Mahalos Nuuanu. I went same kine: one Maitreya Lara, Lelutka Nuri, Jael Eve, and AD Maritza hair. Pretty Poly :-)

[Halomonas]

Thanks, good guide. I change pretty frequently, but mostly use Slink Physique bod (can't beat those Slink hands and feet), Genesis Jade head, Genesis Mieko shape/skin, and a variety of hairs to suit my mood :-)

 

[AlohaShoyu]

So right. I went with the Lara body too, but a Vista Emily head and Ryo shape. Then fidgeted around to get the shape the way I wanted it.

For HAIR you gotta see YumYum! They're at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Minnaloushe/186/196/28

[Waiomao]

Agreed Nuuanu, shopping on SLMP is frustrating. Thanks for the fun guide! Like you say it will be more useful to Polys than to your average North American or European :-)

And agreed AlohaShoyu, YumYum do some nice hairs! I use almost entirely DrLife hairs though, just because I have so many of them :-)  FWIW I use Maitreya Lara too, most of the time a Lelutka Simone head, and a shape I found at Sublime a long time ago that they no longer carry. 

[Waiomao]

I wonder where our Maui girl Alyona Su is? She normally has lots of suggestions for topics like this.

[Nene808]

1 minute ago, Waiomao said:

I wonder where our Maui girl Alyona Su is? She normally has lots of suggestions for topics like this.

Wow yeah I haven't seen her on here in like forever. Hmmm. She'll be back bumbai.

[thewittyone]

Nice list there Nuuanu, and I totally get where you're coming from. I ended up with a Lara, then added a Genesis Lab Molly with their Fei shape. I have a Lelutka Chlow head too, and it's nice but it's less like "me." As for hairs I've got as bunch of them and mix and match. I'm always on the look out for that hair that will be it, the final choice, the hair to end all hair, but haven't found it yet.

[Waialae]

Cool beans Nuuanu. I had the same kine problem getting a hapa / Poly male bod-head-shape going. Even fewer choices for guys, so finding the right stuff is pretty difficult. I finally went with Slink Physique body, which is nice and slim and surfer kine. Most male bodies make avatars look like a protein sheik, all Bruce Banner and all. I used a Catwa Shaheen head for a while, but it had goofy expressions and just wasn't quite right. Landed a AK Deluxe Yang head and shape, and those work out well. And yeah, gotta concur with AlohaShoyu - my hair was a mess until I found the YumYum store.

[Unpronounceable1]

Good recommendations all. I went with the Slink Physique too, then Genesis Lab Jade head, Genesis Mieko shape - skin, and Homage hair.

Hey Nene808, I've seen your Analog Dog hair and love it! Free and natural and looks so full of life!

[Nuuanu]

Thanks so much everybody! Looks like I lucked out and found the right stuff pretty quickly. Thanks AlohaShoyu for YumYum hair, I'll check 'em out.

[thewittyone]

2 hours ago, thewittyone said:

Nice list there Nuuanu, and I totally get where you're coming from. I ended up with a Lara, then added a Genesis Lab Molly with their Fei shape. I have a Lelutka Chlow head too, and it's nice but it's less like "me." As for hairs I've got as bunch of them and mix and match. I'm always on the look out for that hair that will be it, the final choice, the hair to end all hair, but haven't found it yet.

Hooboy, I just went to Analog Dog, tried a few on, and picked up the Rae hair. Nice! It looks like my natural hair, just tighter curls. And now I get to match hair color to mood or clothing or favorite song or whatever the heck I want 

[Rowan Amore]

39 minutes ago, thewittyone said:

Hooboy, I just went to Analog Dog, tried a few on, and picked up the Rae hair. Nice! It looks like my natural hair, just tighter curls. And now I get to match hair color to mood or clothing or favorite song or whatever the heck I want 

Stealthic and NO.Match also have some nice curls/waves.

[Evangaline Enchantment]

Phoenix also has nice curly/wavy hair.

[CandyJewels]

Limerence also has some curly hairs.

If Doux, Knox, or Stealthic made a curly hair that didn't look like you spent 3 hours styling(and straightening) it, i'd be in heaven.

Or.. at least curly hair that isn't all to one side. Crazy looking, even. Closest i've come to what i'm referring to are some AD styles.

Edited February 9, 2021 by CandyJewels

[Lysistrata Szapira]

Nonnative has some of the best non-caucasian skins in world.  I don't normally wear them, but I always notice when they have skins at events. They look really good. 

 

[Bree Giffen]

Woot. Such a useful list. I'm going to check out all the skin stores.

[Doc Carling]

On 2/7/2021 at 11:49 PM, Nuuanu said:

No Boolean search terms are allowed, so every search gives thousands of useless results.

One can filter keywords with NOT. For example, if you type in "skins NOT applier". The results won't show applier skins. Seems that doesn't work with multiple keywords like "skins NOT applier, demo". But if you type in "skins NOT applier NOT demo", that works.

[Nalates Urriah]

8 hours ago, Doc Carling said:

One can filter keywords with NOT. For example, if you type in "skins NOT applier". The results won't show applier skins. Seems that doesn't work with multiple keywords like "skins NOT applier, demo". But if you type in "skins NOT applier NOT demo", that works.

Right... I think this changed recently. I used to type '-'  rather than 'NOT' to get the same result.

[Doc Carling]

4 hours ago, Nalates Urriah said:

Right... I think this changed recently. I used to type '-'  rather than 'NOT' to get the same result.

It is  the minus key? I tried "-applier" and "- applier" and "applier-" But none works. What do I wrong?

Edited February 12, 2021 by Doc Carling

[Nalates Urriah]

I wasn't clear... the minus sign stopped working recently.

In real search + and - are operators in search. With + = must include and - = NOT or exclude. SL being a simulation... I think they did a simulation of a search in the mp. 😠

[Jessicathenobody]

I might have missed mention of this store in the convo, a lot of No Match hairs favor non-Caucasian looks, esp in the area of braids, dreads, and tight curls. This isn't my first SL rodeo and in the past when making POC looks No Match was my go-to. 

 

[Pris Aquila]

Thanks for posting this topic for us Southeast Asians. I'm actually a hapa (half white), but I look more Asian. My early years were always LAQ skins and I did my best to find shapes that had the Asian-y nose. I found that searching for "blasian" works for shape, then I really love LAQ. Now, I'm all mesh and I love it. It was a learning curve, but I'm glad I converted, even though I think my system creation looks more like IRL me. Now I look like a super idealized version of me lol . If anyone needs help, feel free to HMU. Here's my Flickr, you can see the difference.  

 

 

[AlohaShoyu]

BTW, Slate has some beautiful and unique African hair styles. More African than Asian, but a nice option for those of us somewhere in the middle. 

[Yuumo Ichibara]

Some excellent recommendations here, thank you! I am East Asian but I also have an avatar for other ethnicities (one representative for each country in Miss Universe lol) and some stores I discovered through this thread (Analog Dog, No Match) have been incredibly helpful for my African, Pacific Islander, and Hapa beauty queens. It is not an image I specialize in so this was awesome. Diversity FTW!

EDITED to include my contributions:

One of my favorite creators, wattanatagun of BOATAOM (deserves more recognition IMO), specializes in high quality non-Caucasian skins, especially South Asian faces. This one here is PLOY SAI, a skin that is distinctly Thai/Vietnamese looking than the usual Japanese/Korean:

Also, from 23rd Feb - 5th Mar 2021 all BOM and skin appliers 50% off for the VIP group (L$99 join fee)!

I may have recommended it on another thread, but REVOUL has some nice African and Afro-Asian looking skins and hairstyles:

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by Yuumo Ichibara