During certain holidays in Second Life, you can acquire a mesh head for as little as L$10 or even for free! When I discovered that LAQ is offering a Black Friday Sale on the Era2 mesh heads, I teleported over to check it out. The Era2 EvoX head is available for L$10, while the full version is 75% off, priced at L$1,150. It had been a while since I last blogged about the Era2 mesh heads, so I took the time to become reacquainted with all of their features.
Let me begin by saying that I hold a great deal of admiration for Mallory Cowen as a creator. She has her own distinct style and has been creating in Second Life for a long time. LAQ has cultivated a loyal following. For many years, LAQ was my go-to destination for realistic, youthful face skins. Despite my feelings for Mallory and the brand, my reviews will always remain honest.
Now, let’s discuss the Era2 EvoX head. I was eager to try it on, especially since I could wear the new Paige (EvoX) skin from Glam Affair. I also noted that the teeth are now adjustable, which is fantastic! I have always wished to reposition the teeth to avoid them protruding when I adjust my face shape for smaller lips. Upon trying it on, I immediately observed that this EvoX head does not come with a HUD. It’s not a mistake; it simply does not include a HUD. Therefore, you cannot change the lashes, adjust the teeth, correct the skin texture appearing on the ears (which is a notable flaw), or utilize any of the animations included with the full HUD. If you own the full Era2 mesh head, you already have this HUD, including the EvoX head version. However, for residents who are experiencing LAQ for the first time, here’s a pro tip: Get the demo of the full Era2 mesh head, and you can utilize the HUD on the EvoX head. Thus, this L$10 sale is an excellent opportunity for those dipping their toes into LAQ for the first time and needing a functional head. In my opinion, it is a mistake not to include the full HUD. Even free heads offered by other brands come with complementary HUDs.
As always, even though the head is EvoX and the skin is EvoX, the fit differs from that of a LeLutka EvoX head. This variation is true across all mesh head brands; the EvoX version is always… interesting. Sometimes it works well, and sometimes it does not. In this case, I found that it works reasonably well, aside from some texture stretching on the shadow of the lower lips.
If you’re starting your Black Friday shopping early, be sure to check out the FabFree Black Friday Listing. Most brands are offering discounts of 50% or greater, which presents an amazing shopping opportunity.
What I’m Wearing:
C’est La Vie – Vale Headband @ Anthology
Amiable – Oversized Padded Top, Coat @ Anthology
LAQ – Era2 Elle2 (EvoX 1.2)
Glam Affair – Paige (Snow C) @ Anthology
Truth – Tumble
Tres Blah – Stella Jeans
Thanks for this thoughtful review!
Your comments seemed mostly technical — how do you feel about the aesthetics of Era2?
I feel like when Mallory took that couple year hiatus in the Era2 development, was the time that the LeLukta juggernaut took over the grid. I confess I haven’t tried out Era2 (and I should! 🙂 It seems like it’s hard for LAQ or anyone to get too much traction against the juggernaut at this point.
As avatars we sure have lots of choices! If only it was so easy and modestly priced to change up our clothes, looks, and entire bodies in first life!
PS: the “Blog Archives” link on your About page: https://juicybomb.com/about/ seems to be broken.
Thank you for all the great articles!!
Hi! Thanks for letting me know about the broken archives page, it’s fixed now. I think LAQ has a lot of unique ideas that some other brands don’t have, such as the high def skin and different facial animation features. It still has a ways to go, before I can adopt it as my main head just because the skin brand that I want to wear isn’t on board yet, they have not created UHD LAQ skins. The fit for LeLutka is so-so, and that’s true with all other mesh heads that offer an EvoX fit, it just doesn’t fit that well. I do know that for some people, LAQ is their preferred head choice, because it suits their aesthetics and they’ve been wearing LAQ skins for so long. Mallory is really good with skins, offering realistic sweet faces, just wish she would expand her offerings to EvoX heads!