For about a year, I was a big fan of Amara Beauty Skins, buying almost every new release. I especially liked tone 25! Then, they switched to a Velour tones, and I didn’t enjoy the skins as much anymore. Additionally, the heavy shading on the nose didn’t look right, and I stopped buying Amara skins since mid-last year. I had almost given up on them until I came across the Elara skin from Amara Beauty at Uber (also see the shopping guide on Seraphim). Although the ad was enhanced by AI and looked stunning (see ad), I was curious to know how it would actually look in Second Life.
When I wear any skin in Second Life, I usually don’t wear the brows included because they’re usually too thick for my taste. I wore the no-brows version of the Elara skin and added LeLutka’s HD brows that comes with the mesh head. I found that it closely resembled the advertisement and looked lovely on me. I liked it so much that I adjusted my avatar’s shape slightly and added some extra touches with Izzie’s highlights to enhance the look.
My main issue with this skin is the dark shading in the middle of the lips; it’s quite noticeable and hard to hide, especially with semi-transparent HD lipstick layers. I usually wear HD lipstick at a lower opacity, so my workaround is to use BoM lipstick. Izzie’s Closed Lips helps a great deal, but it doesn’t completely hide the default lips’ highlight. I hope that skin makers will start offering a nude lipstick option with their products, free of any highlights or color.
I’m optimistic that many skin brands I like will move away from intense facial shading and adapt to how we currently use skins in Second Life, considering the new PBR lighting.
What I’m Wearing:
LeLutka – Billie Mesh Head
Amara Beauty – Elara (Chantilly)
Truth – Unravel
Truth – Eclipse
Sigma – Swallow Pendant (@ Anthology)
Ison – Michaela Rib Top
