good quality skin / shape - some advice please!it

[feugue1488303203]

Need some advice on some good quality shin and shape. Tried Laq, didnt work for me, spent a lot on the new Susan skin, using redgrave now, but wanted some idea of how to make sure i dont just buy some arbitary skin - btw the demos dont help me at all! thats what Susan was a massive fail on. Planning to buy from maybe BDR, any suggestions?

Update #1 - will attempt to get a snapshot - thanks for your answers, i think the main problem was with the shape, since i dont look anything like the shapes they sell with susan, and and moment i edit it, it looks weird. Hopefully will get this sorted - @BDR - thats a seller of skins which i was looking at.

[Randall Ahren]

What's a BDR? How about posting some photos of what you have now so we have an idea of what's not working for you.

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

Why did the demo not work? I've always tried LAQ (and other) demos before buying skins, and can't imagine how a demo skin would "fail". Can you give us more specifics of what the problem is or what you are looking for?

[UncommonTruth]

Like they've already said, Idk what you're looking for. For myself, I realy liked Ys&Ys skins. My main problem was deciding wich one to go with lol. The demos looked exactly like what I bought, exept without demo written all over it ofc.  I got a nude version, and theres plenty of freebie makeups on the market to play dress up ^^ As for shape, I found a free one and modified the heck out of it. :smileyvery-happy:

[Marianne Little]

I don't know why the demos worked either. Did you think the demo markings covered too much skin? What about some snapshots? Try taking a picture of the demo, if you still have it, and the skin you purchased so we can see what went wrong. Stand on a posestand while you do it, so we get the same angle and lightning.  If you don't know how to save them to your computer, you can watch a video here: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Taking_snapshots

 

[Amethyst Jetaime]

Skin and shape work together to create a look.  You may see beautiful skins you love , but when you try them on with your existing shape they don't look right.  That is because of where the shadows and highlights on the skin fall on the shape. If the demo you got failed was it because it didn't look like what you thought it would on you vs. the picture? 

You can approach this either by looking for a skin that works well with your shape if you love the shape, or buying the skin you love and either buying the shape that goes with it,  hunting for a compatible shape, or modifying your shape.  Whatever way you choose to go, don't expect instant results unless you buy the skin and shape together.  I hunted for months and tried hundreds of skins the last time I choose to upgrade my skin.  Modifying a shape or even creating a shape is not a process that takes just minutes either.  There are many subtle changes that you can make to one slider that make a huge difference in your appearance.  So take your time with it..

 

 

[Marianne Little]

I never heard of BDR...The best advice is to buy a skin/shape combo, if you will look like the poster. Some includes the shape with the skin, some sells it. 

[Ariel Vuissent]

If you don't love your shape and can afford a new one, hunt around for one you do love, then go skin shopping with it, trying on the various demos until you find what you like.

If you do love your shape, keep trying on demos using that shape until you find a compatible skin.

Like the others who have posted, I don't really know what you mean when you say the demo "didn't help." I have noticed for myself that the skin looks a little different without all the demo lines that it does with them, so it can be a little difficult to imagine it without those lines - but it didn't make a huge difference for me, just a very small one.

My newest skin is Pink Fuel. (I didn't think I'd ever buy from them, because they look a little young to me, but it grew on me...) They're pretty hefty, price-wise (for the fatpack, with all eye make-up options, at least), but equally hefty content-wise, so to me it was worth it. Other than that, I'm an LAQ fan, but others I've heard about include Dutch Touch, Mynerva, Curio, and Belleza. And more that I can't currently remember. Some sell shapes to go with their skins, some don't. Also, Dr. Life has a couple nice shape/skin combos, but they're very Asian in appearance; don't know that that's what you're going for.

Hopefully with a snapshot, myself or someone else will be able to help more.

[Stella Carver]

I'm not positive, but I think BDR is Beautiful Dirty Rich. I only know their hair (which is pretty nice), haven't seen the skins.

A note on one of the shops Ariel mentioned, Belleza. They have a group join fee of 300L (may be 250-it's been awhile) but they currently have a couple of gorgeous new skins out as group gifts. If you try their demos and like them, the join fee is a great bargain for some very high quality skins. Exodi also has a join fee but very nice group gift skins & they currently have a pretty natural/low makeup skin on their lucky chair. (I'm a bargain shopper & I love me some group gifts. lol)

[nikita Jefferson]

I do all my shading and skin color in Gimp

This skin is more on the darker side

I also wear a face light,i find them more flattering to showing a skin properly and i provide a facelight with all my skins and avatars,,i also uncheck atmospheric shaders because with a face light one will appear overbright with it checked.

I make those who come to my shop well aware of that with boards explaining it.(atmosheric shader setting)

I do nothing with windlight settings, i have never adjusted those.

What you see is what you get, no air brushing, just a face light to show the skin as it was designed to look

[Clarissa Lowell]

I suggest you decide to start with a shape you like or a skin you like, then find the other part to fit that. If you love a skin find a shape that looks good with it. If you love a shape find a skin that looks good with it.

Lots of places offer free or cheap skins as loss leaders or group gifts. So check those out too. Start out cheap until you get a feel for what you really want.

 

[Aline Dubratt]

Hi.

I've naver had good experiences with purchasing shapes, so I just edit it by myself, it pretty much depends on what you want.

For skins, I can recomend Al Vulo or Curio.

Let me know if it works for you or IM if you have questions.

Good luck!!