[Recommendations for best skin?]

Anahata's recommendations certainly look great!

Al Vulo would also get a recommendation from me - I'm still pretty new, and they're an excellent place to start off with if you're stilll finding your niche in second life. 

[Ditch the Facelight]

I had no idea people felt this way about facelights. Some of the avi's I use have these built in, and I was never fussed about it one way or the other. I use Nirans viewer, which tends to balance things out pretty decently, I guess. It's something I'll be more aware of in future, though - especially when I'm in public.