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Mother Goose Esmeralda Skin

I’ve been seeing several people wear Mother Goose skin so I went to the store to check it out. I’m wearing one of the newest release, Esmeralda, and it’s very pretty at first glance but upon closer inspection, I feel that this skin needs a lot of work.

The skin tones are not given names, but numbers. I am wearing tone 2 and tone 3 – each skin tone comes with 4 makeups and also freckles version.

I’m very impressed with the freckles on these! They’re subtle and complements the skin tone perfectly. I also like the no-freckles version too.

Here are some things this skin does NOT do well…. there are seams all over the legs, arms, and torso (pretty much everywhere). That’s bad. Seams are bad! Some seams you can live with, some you can’t… if it’s pretty much all over, that is sloppy. I also think the textures is sloppy throughout, here are some examples below:

When it comes to skin texture, I truly believe that less is more. If you put too much or don’t blend it well enough, the area looks like skin disease or something. It is not a nice effect at all.

I’ve seen some pretty ugly toes in SL, but I’ve never seen toes that don’t extend all the way. These toes are not ugly, but the texture needs to be extended further so it doesn’t look gross (odd) when you wear flip-flops or open-toed shoes.

The Esmeralda skins from Mother Goose costs $1,000L per pack of 4 or $300L each. These skin are pretty and I wish they were done with more attention to details. Hopefully the creator will improve the future releases because right now, I feel that with these.. “you get what you pay for” which is average or slightly below average skins for a cheap price. They’re like cheap shoes, it’s great to wear for a little while but they don’t really hold up to well.

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13 Comments

  1. Raine

    God, talk about picky. If you were a skin maker you would know that making skins is not a simple task, it takes a lot of time and patience to even make it look have decent. And making seams match is something that is next to impossible when creating skins. I think these skins are beautiful even with the “gross” feet and seams.

  2. Cath McMahon

    I don’t think she’s being picky. You can find in SL skin makers who can make seams match. I switch from one skin to another in the past year and none of them had visible seams (and this includes a freebie skin). Also, it’s not because something takes a lot of time to make that you are allowed to not make sure the skin is the best it can be. If you are not willing to put in the time and the effort, do something else.

  3. isisprincess

    it is great to want to give the creators advice because you want to see them grow even further and prosper, i think thats wonderfull. but i feel that this should be said to them personaly. the way it is done now (saying it on a blog) it feels more like someone telling you to stay away from them :/. you could really help them writing them personaly, it would make them feel like you cared. you dont even have to blog them until they are at the quality you feel you need to have, however it may be the quality others would love or enjoy (as long as there creation is not disrespectful or harmful in any way ). when it comes to skins it’s always best to check the demos, they tell you what is happening though maybe not everytime, a great lot of the time. that way you wouldnt have to buy it and then blog the things you feel disapointed on. you can just check the demos, and write them and say hey i love these but i would love if you could look into this or that. some are angry hearing crituiques sent to them because they may have already gone through some other tramas in different ways which make them iuneasy to hear it in secondlife, and to people who spend weeks and sometimes months working on these it can hurt. but try anyway, you give them the chance and they can grow without any real harm happening to them by being openely spoken about, and they will in turn thank you someday in words, or maybe just in how they joyously create beautiful things which you may someday enjoy ,so it’s a win win ^_^. anyway, i wish you the best and hope you will think about it and take care

  4. Kghia

    This is a well-written piece of constructive criticism. She balances the negatives with positive comments, and she provides examples to support her statements. All of her comments are about the product, and she doesn’t make any personal attacks on the creator. This is the type of review I expect from someone writing a popular blog.

    When a creator starts to charge money for their products, then they have to expect others to review and critic their product. It comes with the territory, whether the review is in Consumer Reports, an Amazon customer review, or a post by an SL fashion blogger. Charging for your product moves you from the realm of the amateur to that of a professional, and it changes expectations.

  5. Alicia Chenaux

    I see NOTHING wrong with this blog post. Had she shown the skins and not talked about the seams, someone would yell that she misled them and now they’ve wasted money on a product that they will not wear. With as many skin makers as there are out there, you have so many choices, and there ARE skin makers who can not have a huge seam running down the leg.

    This is a great review – REVIEW – of this product.

  6. Mouse Mimistrobell

    Great review of the Mother Goose skins GoGo! I have one of these skins, and found a few of the flaws that you describe, although I have the Mary skins. What I liked about them is the quirkiness (which is what I called them). I felt that they were fun for a ‘different’ look. A lot of times I go and look and sometimes purchase the skins that you review on your blog. I appreciate knowing what I’ll be getting!

  7. Shannen

    the skin does suck but i hate how she acts like she’s a professional skin artist. she’s just some noob. Luckily it doesn’t take a professional to tell us what crap skin is, but on the other hand 95% of the stuff reviewed or posted on this site is old news, with the fashion groups in sl always being faster.

  8. Sevenstar Amat

    I see nothing wrong with Gogo beeing honest and saying her oppinion. The skin is nice and CHEAP, so its okay it has some faults. Noone is forced to buy it. And the creator will learn …

  9. Delila

    There’s always someone who thinks that its not okay to speak your mind.

    Gogo, kudos for both complimenting the creator on the things she did right and showing where there can be improvement. I bought a skin a few weeks back for the same reasons you said – it’s quirky and the face is fairly cute, but because of the flaws, I can’t wear it with everything or take it everywhere the way I can, say, a Laqroki. I wouldn’t pay more than 300L for it – they’re priced right for the amount of work put into them.

  10. Lash Xevious

    Gogo is not a noob, nice try. Nor do I think it’s picky to review a product that is up for sale. Heck even when things arent for sale, someone’s going to say something about it. This is a constructively critical review of a product that obviously needs some work. Since when did people have to be “professional skin artists” first before they can see something wrong?

    Seriously, I’m not into molly-coddling any of these designers. They don’t walk on water. They’re trying to make money in SL, competing for our $L . Stuff like this comes with the territory. And this review is pretty merciful. I’ve had reviews of my hair in the past that I felt didn’t qualify as valid reviews since the blogger didn’t bother to fit the hair correctly on her head. Imagine: “ZOMG LASH MAKES BIG HAIR” (err no, try modding it dammit). But would it be fair if I said she shouldn’t have said anything about it?

    Bleh all so funny. This is the most CONSIDERATE review of a flawed skin. Instead of getting all huffy, how bout just fixing it before sales get too bloated that replacing it would be cumbersome? This is prolly why no one blogging really says anything critical, cuz designers get all butt hurt crazy. Instead of being dismissive of the messenger, take the critique and fix it. It’s a valid flaw that does bring down the quality of the product. Sheesh.

  11. Nimil Blackflag

    this is why skin creators should beta test! find several people with different shapes and let them nitpick over it with a fine tooth comb before you send it out to the public! they look like they have a great start, i hope they will take your critiques as advice and work on making their next skin even better.

  12. isisprincess

    i spoke to a designer i know about this & was surprised that she really agreed (with your critiques) and seemed excited about the chance that everyone is going to get to upp there creation skills with the new critiquing style people are taking up or have been doing (where you speak about what you like but also problum areas and such). she said without blacklisting them, it is good to speak honestly about the parts of the creations which needs work and could be better in that way they will be able to excell faster and also put more dedication into what they are making. i did not think about it like that. i thought about it more as another way to be made to feel less then because of a seam problem. but i guess i was wrong, you handled it properly , and she agrees with you whole heartedly, so i am sorry. but still, kinda wish there were another way so people dont get a backlash of mistreatment from others over a review .
    by the by, she has also tried writing some designers personally and giving helpful tips on fixing trouble spots in designs (when she was just a fashion wearer and not designer) and all she got back was alot of mistreatment, what a bummer :/

    and to the poster who said that the skin creator is just a newbie, i dont think the creator deserves that treatment, she did not seem to be trying to make herself out to be better then anyone, but just wanted to create and release creations. i am sure that a lot of the great big name creators out there started out learning and trying there best and then after a while finding out how to match seems and how to blend skins tones. i have never tried making skins, but i can only imagine that it is a really demanding job, making it look authentic to a real human being is a large feat on it’s own. don’t throw them away completely, the future will always bring better for the person who is creating and growing 🙂

  13. Lenora

    boohoo – cry more – you come here to read her reviews … don’t like it – don’t come here – pretty simple logic people. What else is a blog other than a compendium of someone’s thoughts on stuff? Laff @ people trying to censor someone giving their opinion on their site.

    -the skin does suck but i hate how she acts like she’s a professional skin artist.
    -she’s just some noob. Luckily it doesn’t take a professional to tell us what crap
    -skin is, but on the other hand 95% of the stuff reviewed or posted on this site is –old news, with the fashion groups in sl always being faster.

    I just laughed outloud – did you actually say this as you’re here reading this post? I laughed again… you’re such an elitest with your “fashion groups”

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