Skell Dagger

EMO-tions have a couple that - while not exactly what you're looking for - do come close: Sandra (70s big wave, but the volume is a bit more 80s and it has a hairband) Charlie (side-pinned bob) You can also try Rezology, who have several retro styles - but make sure to demo those, as their styles can sit unnaturally high on the head (and, if rigged, they can't be edited down) and can sometimes be high-complexity. Lastly, it's not mesh, but I recall that one of the additional old sculpted starter avatar hairstyles (now in the inventory library folder under [I think] Accessories > More Hair, or something like that) was a shoulder-length, side-curled style very much like the one in your centre image. It's a shame that Pocket Mirrors don't have much available in their MP store. They use to have a lot of retro hairstyles. You may also get more success if you widen your search to include 1960s hairstyles (albeit you'll then be scrolling through a lot of backcombed beehive 'dos). A lot of designers seem to create long, shaggy hair (more Woodstock hippie, in all honesty) when making 1970s hair, but - since your photos are from '71 - the 60s aesthetic was still around and influencing styles. Sadly, so many of the styles that might have worked for this are very old, horribly-dated, high-complexity prim offerings from creators who thought that full-bright glowing hair textures should have been a thing...

Catwa CSR here. Hopefully we can get you sorted out as quickly as possible. Firstly, I think you mean Stray Dog, rather than Mad Dog You shouldn't need any neck fix as long as you're using the same skintone from the same skin designer for both head and body. Stray Dog skins fit perfectly well on both Daniel and Jake, so my initial suggestion would be to redeliver your Daniel head and start with a fresh copy. The current version is v3.2, and it now contains a load of new features including motion capture animations. To get an updated copy go to the Catwa inworld store (either of the two regions is fine). At the landing point you'll see several pillars that look like this: Click the 'Redeliver' option, and - when the webpage loads - find your original purchase. It won't say 'update' or anything like that; it will just list the first version that you purchased. Click that link to redeliver, then - when you open that redelivery - the updated head will be inside. I can't tell clearly from your image, since not only are you using default lighting but you're also underwater - but that looks like it might be Stray Dog's 'Tone 04' skin (earlier versions of that were called 'buttermilk'). I can see that you're aware of the whole 'preferable Windlight' thing, but don't want to use it; however - while trying to match skintones - it's always best to do it under such a preferable Windlight, just to ensure you're as close as you can get. The region Windlight setting at the Catwa store is set so that it gives a good light for skin-matching, so if you want to tuck yourself away there while you experiment it'll save you the hassle of having to change your own settings. Add your v3.2 redelivered head, then re-apply your Stray Dog head applier. You should also be wearing the Stray Dog body skin applier in the same skintone, on your Jake 2.0 body. Do not use the 'Jake' neck size on the Catwa HUD Master M or apply the Stray Dog neck fix. It should not be necessary with the updated Jake body, and it's what's causing that differently-coloured stripe around your neck. Keep that neck size setting to the default 'off', as shown below: Do be aware, though, that for some reason it can be difficult to get a good match all the way around a male head and body join. I've used hundreds of skins and some are better than others for matching, but quite often - even with some big name brands - the match might be perfect at the front and sides but there's a visible shading difference at the back. Or the front and back are fine but the difference can be seen at the sides of the neck. Sorry to say that it's usually a case of either trial and error with skin designers, or 'get it as close as you can and ignore the bit that doesn't work so well'. If you need a guide for working with the v3.2 Catwa Bento heads then I have one on my blog that's written specifically for guys. Come back to this post if the above doesn't fix the issue. I'll keep an eye on it over the long weekend, and I'll be inworld later and able to help you one-to-one if you need more detailed assistance. (I'm in the UK, so tend to be around in the evenings, GMT.) If you need immediate help, search for and join the Catwa Head Friends group inworld, and you can ask your question there (either in group chat, or you can IM one of the other CSRs that are online. All of us are listed in Catwa Clip's profile, or you can see who is online and contact them by means of the CSR boards at the store's landing point).

'Best' is - as always - entirely subjective. However, if you're asking for recommendations for a body that has a huge amount of clothing available for it, there are really only two of those: Signature Gianni and Belleza Jake. Both are well-built bodies that have muscle 'built into' the mesh itself (Gianni more so than Jake). If you want to go more muscular than that, then try the Aesthetic bodies by Niramyth (but take some time to work on the shape of those, as - out of the box - they can be disproportionate with everything maxed to 100%, and if you don't edit things like head size to match them you run the risk of looking like a pin-head on massive shoulders). Clothing choice for Aesthetic is more limited, but there's still a decent amount out there for it. With regard to mesh heads, as Matty has said, Catwa's 'Stanley' head is one that many black guys in SL use, but she has recently released 'Gac' which may also suit your needs: For skins, Stray Dog has already been mentioned, and that creator (the 'Gac' head was named after him) has many skins covering a range of different ethnicities. You can browse through them at his Flickr, here. As an example of the look you could achieve, this is Stray Dog's 'Khemir' skin (available at the current [May 2019] round of The Mens Department event) on Catwa's 'Gac' head:

Wait... I'm supposed to be paid?!

Glad you've figured it out. If you're wearing both a mesh head and a mesh body you only need one single full-body alpha. Two alphas is not recommended, because there have been issues in the past with at least one male body's alpha being just a little bit too short, so a tiny sliver of system avatar skin poked through and caused a lot of questions in Catwa support chat, with guys using that body asking why they had a thin differently-coloured line of skin around their head and neck join. Just to address the bolded sections of the following, though - - always use the 'add' option when wearing anything from inventory, never the 'wear' option. Many mesh items - from bodies and heads to clothing - make use of the same attachment points (the left hand is very popular as a default). Using 'add' (even on system layers such as alphas) allows you to wear multiples of the same thing on the same point. However, an additional note to that: if you find that things are disappearing from your avatar after a teleport, you probably have too many mesh items attached to a single point. Check the 'worn' tab of your inventory to see where each thing is showing as being worn, and try not to have more than two things attached to each point. Rigged items (you'll know they're rigged if - when you right-click to edit them - you either can't select them, or you can select them but they don't move when you try to use the 'move' editing arrows; the arrows will move but the items won't) can have their attachment point changed to any other point and they'll still go to the correct location. Examples would be - mesh body attach to avatar centre mesh head attach to skull shoes attach to left foot (or left & right, if they're separate in the folder) skirt attach to left hand top attach to right hand - and so on.

As others have said before me, "best" is entirely subjective. Practically every mesh head brand out there will have female heads that fit perfectly well on the Maitreya body, so try lots of demos from lots of brands (don't forget to try them with lots of demo skins - for both heads and body - as well; you're not just limited to matching the skins in the Maitreya HUD) and find the one that not only looks right, but also feels right. You will eventually find 'you'. Something that nobody else has brought up yet, however, is that your current mesh head (TMP) is non-Bento. This means that it can only be changed by applying different skins and makeups, and the only physical adjustments to it can be made by stretching it. Many of the head brands mentioned here also sell Bento heads, and these open up a whole new world of customisation options. You might already be aware of what those are, or you might not, so to err on the side of caution here's a quick primer, copied from another post that I made a few days ago to help someone new to mesh avatar customisation:

It's usually rather obvious, isn't it? All one needs to do is consider who has stopped posting shortly before another troll starts posting...

Scylla, this is beautifully Hepburn-esque. I wish more people valued negative space, because it makes for some incredibly striking images.

Sara, I completely missed this (my bad; wasn't in SL all weekend and just cleared my notifications without really checking them, as they tend to just be 'reactions' instead of mentions). Dear god, what a monumental task you set yourself. I'm rather stunned (and a bit embarrassed) that I ranked so high when there are so many people here who take a lot more care in setting up their images than I do.

Oh bless. You just found that Mommy and Daddy once "did it" in order to make you, didn't you? *patpat* Never mind. you'll get over it once hair starts growing in all those unmentionable places and/or your voice stops going all squeaky. I'd love to know whose responsibility it will be to accompany Second Life to The Internet's HR Office, wait discreetly outside while Second Life is fired from The Internet, and then walk them out to clear their desk, before escorting them off The Internet's premises.

Right-click your name tag and select Appearance > Reset > Skeleton & Animations.

This is notable, because of the claim that their amazing 'deformer' (that you can't test until you've forked out L$5,000) is supposed to allow people to wear any clothes with the new body. So... does it allow you to wear any clothes (including old TMP ones) or... not?

Unless TMP are actively posting their sales figures somewhere, all I have to say is this: I work for Catwa, and even I have no idea what her sales figures are when she releases a new head. There are no updates on either of the TMP-related Facebook pages (The Shops FB page hasn't been updated since June 2017, and the TMP News FB page has only clothing ads on it, going way back). Where did you get those very exact sales figures from, Brooklynn? I'm genuinely curious.

Bento isn't a brand; it's the name for an update that Linden Lab put out a few years back that added more bones to the avatar skeleton. It allows us to have (among other things) realistic moving wings, to have our (Bento-rigged) hands animate (and have any Bento-rigged rings/gloves/etc move with them - very brief example animation here), to have our faces animate (if using a Bento head; example video here), and to use the underlying system shape sliders to adjust Bento-rigged heads. Think of 'rigging' as a mesh item being 'pinned' to you at certain points, and you can adjust the position of those pins. Where, before - if you wanted to wear thigh-high boots - you would need to wear them in three sections (foot, shin, and thigh) that would 'break' whenever you bent your knees and ankles to walk, you can now wear a single boot that will flex and move with your knees and ankles. You can learn more about Bento here. So yes, mesh head brands do have both Bento-rigged and non-Bento heads. Bento rigged heads usually (except in the case of a couple of lesser-known brands, such as Utilizator) cost a great deal more than non-Bento. The average price for a 'big name' Bento head (depending on brand and how they're sold; some brands offer heads and HUDs separately and some offer both together) is roughly L$5,000. These heads usually contain motion capture animations, as well. For a non-Bento head, you're looking at approximately L$500 to L$900. That's a loose summation of a non-Bento head, yes. But you're not limited just to (in your hypothetical example) using different skins. You can apply makeup etc as well, so you're not going to look like an exact clone of someone else wearing the same non-Bento head. The face shape is the same (albeit you can stretch the head in any direction to elongate or squash it, for example) but the customisation options don't just stop at skins. Given the number of creators in SL that would be a massive undertaking if you wanted it done for skins! However, most mesh heads from the major brands should fit perfectly well with most major brand mesh bodies, if you wanted to know what fits with what. A small additional note about Bento heads: each one starts out shaped a certain way (talking about the 3D shape of the mesh here, not the actual system shape). For example: some may start out with a square jaw; others with a pointed jaw. Most of the time you can only work within certain parameters of that starting mesh shape. If you want to edit your head to have a pointed jaw, you won't be able to do that with a mesh head whose 3D shape starts out with a very square jaw. This is why demoing is important: to find the heads that show promise for the eventual shape you want to achieve. Be aware, too, that - while you won't be able to replicate your system face exactly - it might be possible to replicate it close enough that it will pass your own critical inspection. Just how close you'll be able to get depends on a number of factors, not least of which is what your system head actually looks like. If you have specific features that cannot be replicated by a mesh head, then you may get close but not quite close enough for your liking. Only you can decide whether that's worth the work, but it is worth a try. Don't forget that - just as with system skins - the right skin applier (and any accompanying additional appliers, such as makeup, freckles, age lines, etc) can alter a mesh head, to the point where 'almost-but-not-quite' becomes 'well damn that's close enough for me!'

Caveat for what follows: I'm a CSR for Catwa, and thus it's a head brand that I'm most familiar with. However - when giving advice to people regarding upgrades to mesh - I won't 'shill' for that brand, though I work for it, love what I can do with it, and use it almost exclusively myself. I'm a firm believer in people making their own choices, and in not pushing my personal favourites onto them. Therefore I will always suggest that people should demo lots of heads and bodies and skins from lots of different designers. Find the items that work for you, which may not necessarily be 'the best' by someone else's definition, or 'the most popular' by market definitions. Now that's out of the way... Most mesh heads come with a HUD that contains a set of default skins. Usually these match to body appliers from other stores. For example: the default head appliers in Catwa's (female) HUDs match to body appliers from The Skinnery. (There is also a free group gift HUD in the store containing more skins.) This is also the case with other brands, although I'm less familiar with those. Example: I think the default head appliers in Lelutka (female) heads match to Glam Affair body appliers (and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong there!) However, you're not limited to those default skins in mesh head HUDs, as there are hundreds of skin stores out there that create appliers. It's very important to take your time trying lots of demos, both heads and bodies in combination with skin appliers. Be aware, too, that there are different types of mesh head, from static ones that you can only change by stretching (and adding appliers) to Bento ones that you can customise not only by means of appliers but you can also use the system shape sliders to change them. Most mesh head and body brands will have the relevant Omega relay/installer for their brand in their store - usually close to the item itself - but yes there is also an inworld Omega store where you can get redeliveries and pick up any HUDs that you may need. (Omega is also on Marketplace, but the HUDs are much cheaper to buy inworld, especially if you're in the Omega group.) What those individuals mean (I didn't read the thread) is that LAQ are selling system skins as well as mesh appliers. Many people - especially those who have been in SL for a long time and grown fond of their system head - will make the jump to a mesh body first of all. They may take a lot longer to get a mesh head (or they may never get one). Stores such as those mentioned will allow you to buy a system skin (which will work on a system head) and matching body appliers (which will work on a mesh body). However, there is also an upcoming new feature that Linden Lab are developing: Bakes on Mesh (BoM for short). It's still in beta, but the basic principle of it is that it will allow people to wear system skins and clothing, and that will 'bake' into a layer that will automatically apply to a mesh body. A very few creators - in anticipation of this - are beginning to include sub-folders with their products (E.g. makeup) that are special layers optimised for when BoM goes live. A lot of people are putting faith in this allowing them to wear all of their old system stuff, but having tried early betas of it there is no guarantee that everything will look as good as one might think. For one thing, old system layers (including skins) are 512px resolution, and mesh appliers are 1024px, so there might be some fuzziness of fine lines in things like tattoos, etc. (You can see that in the body tattoos if you click to enlarge my photo, here.) And - just as Omega appliers 'based on' certain mesh heads might not work 100% on other brands of head - so old system skins etc might not map perfectly to mesh heads. But many of us are looking forward to Bakes on Mesh, as it should eliminate some of the more annoying issues that can happen with mesh appliers. (The good old alpha sorting glitch has never gone away, but BoM should rid us of that.) Don't hold your breath for it, though. It's been in the works for quite some time, and "soon" is all we've heard every time we've asked There's a whole section for BoM in the Creation sub-forum, here. Back to 'meshing-up' an avatar: my advice would be "demo the hell out of everything!" Take your time and pick up lots of demos (they should always be free, or at most a low price such as L$1) of mesh heads, body parts, and skin appliers. Make notes, take screenshots, and try everything out. 'Going mesh' isn't cheap, so it's good advice to figure out your favourites. Don't be like a guy I helped out a while back, who had just bought (at full price and without demoing!) one mesh body and head after another, and had already spent over $100USD without finding something he liked and could work with. (And yes, I pretty much begged him not to buy anything else without demoing it first!)

What you're looking at here are two different types of skin: System skins = what you're familiar with on your original avatar. These will only work on classic or system avatars that don't comprise an additional bunch of mesh body and head sections placed over the original avatar with alpha layers (the successor to invisiprims) hiding that original avatar. System skins are simply worn and they show immediately on your avatar. Applier skins = what you're calling 'mesh skins'. These will only work on mesh bodies and heads, and specifically only on the mesh bodies and heads that they are created for (with the exception of Omega appliers). I'll get into the whole 'applier thing' in more detail shortly. Applier skins come in HUDs that you have to wear, then click to apply the skin to your mesh body parts. You mentioned that your friend ended up with a 'mesh starter avatar'. Linden Lab did release one set of all-mesh starter avatars several years ago, but these are no longer available during the sign-up process (although they can still be found if you dig through your inventory's Library folder, and may also be available through the Avatar toolbar button/floater). These avatars are all mesh, from head and body to clothing. The later avatars (including those currently available at signup) are system/classic avatars with the addition of mesh clothing. The important thing to remember is that - if your friend has/had one of those Linden Lab-created all-mesh starter avatars (including a mesh body and head) - there are no skins (either classic or applier) that will work on them. They are incredibly limited and cannot be customised. She would need to remove the mesh body parts and the alpha layer, and look for system skins (as you appear to be guiding her to do). Either that, or she can demo third-party mesh heads and mesh body parts, which is where appliers will work. So, onto that 'applier thing' and to simplify as much as I can: An applier skin will usually come in two parts: one applier for a mesh head and one for a mesh body. This is because most people like to mix and match, and some of the mesh body/head stores specialise in one or the other and not both. For example: Catwa and Lelutka only make mesh heads; they don't make mesh bodies. But Maitreya only makes a mesh body and no mesh heads. In other words: someone might wear a Catwa head and a Maitreya body, so - to buy a skin that will work on both - they will need: a Catwa-compatible head applier and a Maitreya-compatible body applier, both in the same skintone from the same store. However, there are also Omega appliers. These are a kind of cross-brand applier that will work on any mesh head or body as long as you have the correct Omega Relay or Installer HUD. To use our example above: if you wanted to wear an Omega skin on a Catwa head and Maitreya body you would need to have (and be wearing) the Omega Relay HUDs for both Catwa and Maitreya while you apply the Omega skin. BUT! That same Omega skin will also work on, say, a Lelutka head and Belleza body, as long as you have (and are wearing/have installed) the Omega HUDs for Lelutka and Belleza. (I will mention, though, that since different head brands use different UV mapping, you will often find Omega head appliers listed as being 'based on' a certain head brand. This means that the head applier will fit perfectly on that brand of head, but - while it may look just fine on another brand of head - certain small details might be slightly 'off'. For example: the lip line might sit a little bit outside or inside the 3D lip line on the other head brand's mesh. With body appliers this is a bit less of an issue, so Omega is more frequently used for those when it comes to skins.) Most skin stores that sell appliers tend to have a single set of body appliers (for different mesh body brands) and their new releases comprise just the head appliers. Occasionally they will update their body appliers with new versions, and this can cause a bit of confusion if the necks of the head appliers (which is where the head and body appliers will meet) aren't updated to match them. Avatar customisation has become a bit of a convoluted minefield in the past few years, and I don't envy anyone coming in as a newbie to SL these days. But in these forums, and in the many groups inworld, you'll find people who are willing to help and to explain things, often in infinitesimal detail if that's what you need. So don't worry that you might be asking 'obvious' or 'noobish' questions

Your point being...? Sorry, Lindal, but this post came across as unnecessarily 'superior'. Not all of social media comprises self-absorbed people posting filtered images of what they had for breakfast. Right now at the top of my RL Twitter feed (at a very quick glance) I have: an article from the British Library about writing on wax tablets in 2nd century Egypt an article about weighing the balance between antibiotic resistance and the long-term benefits of antibiotic use in poor countries an article about how Faber revolutionised British literature some daftness about rams from MERL (the Museum of English Rural Life) an article about the folklore of 'orphan heroes' in literature and art an article about the mnemonics of words on this day in 1792 Oxford Dictionary's word of the day an article about the General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge a beautiful 'Medieval Manuscript Illumination of the Day' image links to several book reviews an architectural tour through an 18th century Scottish farmhouse that was renovated to be energy-efficient a link to a podcast about how 'smart' cities should be an article asking if millenial 'cancel culture' is really a thing multiple fascinating historical words and phrases from Haggard Hawks cute dog pics and 'thoughts of dog' And so on. Not a breakfast image or selfie in sight. Only things that interest me and afford me some fascination, learning, and a smile whenever I glance at them. If you curate your social media with care then there's nothing 'exhausting' about it; it just becomes an interesting pool that you can dip a toe into now and then. I use Facebook to keep up with friends, yes, but also with musicians and bands that I'm interested in, as well as similar themes to my Twitter account. I use Tumblr to keep up with other things, such as fashion and gaming. I use YouTube to keep up with my favourite gamers (no, not the annoying ones like PewDiePie; I follow the 'gentler' ones who play the games I like, as well as various music accounts, and several people who post historical and/or science documentaries etc). I use Flickr solely for Second Life. I use Discord to talk to my best friend and partner. With regard to the OP, they posted some misconceptions: that Flickr was owned by Yahoo (when in fact it was acquired exactly a year ago by photography group SmugMug) and that one needs a Yahoo account to access it (as of a couple of weeks ago, that's no longer a requirement). Since it was a very strong option for their multiple other queries of "Where else can I advertise my items, outside of within-SL store groups?" - as there is a huge Second Life userbase on Flickr - I thought it both relevant and helpful to let them know that it was now an option. I then offered them some more options that may also be useful, relative to their questions.

A little late, but... Flickr is run by SmugMug, and you can now log in without a Yahoo account. You do, however, need to have a Pro account if you want to advertise. Facebook allows avatar pages, just not avatar accounts. You can create a page with your real life FB account and nobody - RL or SL - would be any the wiser who the real person is behind it. There's also Instagram, Twitter, Plurk (which has a surprisingly large SL contingent using it), your SL feed, Discord groups...

Thank you! Also, good lord, that's a blast from the past. 2017! If you're actually making your way through this humungous thread in chronological order then I can only salute your dedication.

This rather awesome cover of Bad Romance. (The audio quality on the live recording is poor, so whoever uploaded this dubbed the studio recording over it. Since the gig looks good, and the music is likewise, that's the version I'm sharing, rather than just a studio version.)

CTRL+R is the shortcut command to Always Run. Try toggling that. Additionally: Make sure you check Stop Avatar Animations and Revoke Permissions, rather than just Stop Avatar Animations. While you're at it, also right-click your avatar's name tag and select Appearance > Reset > Skeleton & Animations. Then relog and see if that fixed it.

Welcome! I know how much I struggled to find stuff when I first started using V-Tech, so I'm happy to share anything I've found. Good point. I'll amend my post, just in case someone copies it verbatim into a notecard to give out (which, btw, is fine by me - as long as the date of the post is noted somewhere).

Glutz is a new one for me, so thanks for that. While it's punky (which is mostly Syd's style) a lot of it is a bit more femme than I usually wear, but I see a couple of pieces on their MP store that I'll definitely be demoing. I've not been immersed for that long (about a year) in the V-Tech crowd, and even then Syd is only a part-time persona for Skell, but prior to that I was (and still am now) forever hunting for things like heels that I could wear on my male bodies, so some of the designers I've found thus far include: Clothing (specific where stated; otherwise take a look around and see what works for you) Grima (V-Tech) Krankhaus (V-Tech, Kuroo, & Kemono) Boys to the Bone (V-Tech and some male bodies) FAKEIKON/FAKEICON (search for both, as the name changed a while back - items for V-Tech and some male bodies) Riot (V-Tech and some male bodies) Cubura (V-Tech and some male bodies) Violetility's Genderpunk! range (male bodies) TwoSided (V-Tech and some male bodies) Riot (V-Tech and some male bodies) Schadenfreude (includes gender-neutral items for male bodies, but this was some time ago; I recall male fitting corsets and thigh-high boots, as well as a sundress with a male standard size fit and flat chest option) Hotdog (mostly one-size for male and one for female, but also tends to include a 'flat chest female' option) Contraption (fitted to specific male bodies, as well as female, and including 'flat chest female' versions, for multiple female bodies) (Where 'male bodies' is listed above, this is usually Belleza Jake and Signature Gianni, but sometimes also includes Slink Physique Male.) Footwear (specifically heels for male bodies) Cubura (three pairs of heeled boots for Slink M, Jake, and Gianni) Riot (amazing thigh-high boots for all genders, and also look in the inworld store for their Trixie Heeled Socks, that allow male bodies to wear female heels) Violetility's Genderpunk! range (the Penta Platforms are amazing) Boys to the Bone For footwear, also don't forget the full-perm suppliers such as Meli Imako. I've picked up some amazing resizeable heels and boots from there. Also, check out Blackburns; their earlier non-rigged footwear (including the sculpt stuff, which still looks fantastic) are all resizable for male feet. I blogged about this (including a few specific links) in this post. Skins (these mainly include V-Tech appliers) Pink Fuel Lumae (as far as I know, as at April 2019 these are still all L$100 per full skin set) - ETA: check demos for these, as not all Lumae skins contain V-Tech body appliers. Go & See (recent releases have included V-Tech body appliers) Sun & Stars As with any search for items, make sure to check out inworld stores and not only Marketplace. Many stores don't have everything for sale on MP, and you'll often find extra stuff inworld. In general, make sure to keep an eye out for the Something Extra quarterly event (Seraphim page here) as it features a lot of gender-neutral designers. And the twice-yearly Femboy Hunt is worth checking out, too (their blog is also active and kept updated with new items, so it's one for the bookmarks). Flickr groups dedicated to androgyny include: Androgynes in SL The Androgyne Initiative A N D R O Second Life - Androgyny Flickr groups are a great way to find other residents and bloggers who specialise in androgyny, and thus find other new places to shop

I took Syd to work today. He hasn't stopped complaining that he's ready for his first tea break

Much though I love the V-Tech flat chest mod for Maitreya, because it's enabled me to put together fully androgynous looks again, by god its tattoo layer is a pain in the backside. It sits very high over the mesh, which means a lot of post-processing in Photoshop to remove 'floating' tattoos. Not only that, but there's often a 'split' where the edge of the mod meeds the Maitreya body, specifically on the arms. This can be mitigated somewhat by also wearing the tattoo on the Maitreya body, but then - with the limitations of the layering system (Maitreya only has the entire upper body and entire lower body, with no ability to mask off sections such as the arms) - you're left faffing around with masking and blending, and struggling to layer any other appliers. Before and after post-processing. It's just a quick job, so it's far from perfect, but it looks a lot better than the original...