FAB ADVICE – EDITION #1
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QUESTION #1: I have a daughter in SL who has a child avatar. Well, I follow the Fab Free list every day and I was wondering why nothing is ever blogged for children? I want to be able to go on hunts with her and find new places to get things at for her…but I have no blog to follow for that advice. May I ask if you know where or how I can find out about hunts for child avatars and stores for them as well?
Love Says: We haven’t really had many requests to show child avatar gifts, nor have I seen many out there to actually show. We could reconsider this for the future if the interest is there, and we have child avatar inspired bloggers available. The HUNT SL Blog does include hunt listings for children avatars, you could try giving that a scan to see if there are any active hunts that you may participate in.
Serena Says: I have thought about creating a child avatar and showing items for children, but to be honest, I wasn’t sure of how that would be received among our readers. If there is truly an interest, I would be willing. The only event I can think of offhand is the Fifty Linden Friday for Kids, which you can check out on the Seraphim blog each Friday. I’m sure there are others, but none that come to mind at the moment, sorry.
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QUESTION #2: I have been following the FabFree Blog for a couple years now. I really admire your work, and I look up to your recommendations. Well, when you first blogged the XXX skin line, I loved it on first sight. It took me quite a while to get the lindens to go buy it but I did so recently and have been wearing it for about a month now. Well, I am not new to SL and I was at a club recently and someone IM’ed me saying I must not be very smart based on how my avi looked. I asked them what they meant and they said my skin looked noobish. I told them where it was from (XXX) and they said I had just proved their point because they had never heard of that place and they knew of all the best places. They also said they knew SL bloggers…I told them I found it through the FabFree Blog…anyway, I was very happy with this skin until this incident…and the insult came from someone who I had looked up to. I am feeling very hurt now and wondering if, in your opinion, the XXX skin store is just not well-known because it is a new place or if there truly are better quality places to get skins at. Since I got this skin based on your blogs alone, I am coming to you for advice. What do you suggest I do? I spent alot of lindens on the XXX skin line and I feel now like it was wasted. Please help?
Love Says: Of course there are skin designers with more experience and more designing tools available to them, but with that being said I think each skin designer has their strengths. One designer may be fabulous with eyes, while another makes luscious lips. What it really comes down to is that choosing a skin in SL is a very personal decision and if you love it, it’s perfect whether someone tells you they don’t like it or not. I am a firm believer in the saying “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”, and I think that whom ever told you that your skin looked “noobish” when you were quite happy with it was being rude. If you are now unhappy with the way your skin looks based on what others have said, I would suggest trying a demo of the shape that goes with it, or playing around with your personal shape which can alter the way a skin looks completely.
Serena Says: The beauty of SL is that you can be whoever or whatever you want. When you bought the skin, you liked it and felt good about it. That’s all that matters. Whoever IM’d you was rude, inconsiderate, and obviously not very knowledgeable of SL skinners. I would ignore her and write her off as jealous. Pffffft. 🙂
Tiana Says: I find there always has been an undercurrent of elitism in SL .. much like there is in the commercial world in RL. It mostly comes down to how people percieve a brand to be based on how well advertised a product. Some creators are more skilled at being able to promote their items and so reach a larger audience and more people blog it and wear it and it gains a following. Some lesser known or knew designers don’t have access to these connections and it can take a very long time to gain a following. It is a lot of hard work to gain footing as a designer in SL and just because a place isnt hugely well known, doesnt mean their items are not as good as the leading designers in SL.. I know we all have our favourites here in FabFree, but we all do try very hard to give everyone equal footing and give newer or lesser known designers lots of coverage!
Personally if you like something and you enjoy wearing it and feel good, then it shouldnt really matter what someone else who claims to have all of this knowledge thinks and you shouldnt let them make you feel this way. Insulting someone is not a friendly thing to do.. and anyway, cultivating your own personal unique look is much more fun than looking like everyone else!
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QUESTION #3: Where can we find good shapes and skins for men free or cheap… the last review for this is way back then 😉
Love Says: Recently I did a post showing shapes from External Appearances for free and low cost women’s shapes, but they also had free and affordable mens shapes there as well. There is also a men’s free skin and shape from Heartsick (now Aeva) at FabFree Headquarters that is quite nice.
Serena Says: Good question, and I’m hoping to put something together in the not-so-distant future! Mr. Bloch does a monthly group gift of a skin and shape. Red Sand also frequently has skin/shape gifts available. Belleza has some great men’s group gifts out, including some new Christmas gift skins. WoW Skins has recently started giving out a men’s group gift, but it’s not exactly on a monthly basis, and Story Leaf frequently has men’s group gift skins. 7 Deadly S{k}ins also started creating men’s skins; there is no gift out yet, but the Judas package is pretty reasonably priced.
Pru Says: RedSand has some good options I think for a more rugged dark haired look.
Tiana Says: The Mens Dept is a monthly event where you can sometimes find cheaper skins and shapes for men aswell as other amazing items. There are fewer freebies for men unfortunately.. but you
should check out and join groups for Belleza, Aeva and Tableau Vivant as they give out male gifts often!
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QUESTION #4: Are there skin store that specialize in making more mature/older looking skins?
Serena Says: The only store I know of is The Wrigglesworth Residence. They sell complete “Elderly Avatars,” plus some rather unique “Lifestyle Accessories” for the older avie. I’ve heard that Tellaq also sells mature skins, but I haven’t personally checked them out. There’s a SecondLife Senior Citizens Flickr group at http://www.flickr.com/groups/slactiveseniors/pool/ which might give you some inspiration. 🙂
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QUESTION #5: What is a good size to make your head so mesh hair will fit better?
Love Says: My head size is 57 and I usually don’t have any issues with mesh hair. There have been times where I need to adjust the head shape sliders in order to get a hat or something to fit right, but as for size 57 works for me.
Serena Says: My head size is a 53, for no particular reason except that I thought it needed a slight adjustment when I made my avie taller. I haven’t had any problem fitting mesh hair on this size, except with one store that sells smaller-head hair. In the case of that store, they included a note with the hair saying what size head should wear it, so I just adjusted my head size to make it fit. To be honest, I change my shape a lot based on what I’m wearing, so it’s no big deal for me to make a nip or tuck somewhere. Also, most mesh hairs come with an alpha layer, so be sure you wear that if your head is poking through!
Pru Says: I almost always have to resize hair a little bit. (I have trouble with hairs being slightly too small to start with sometimes.) My avatar’s head-size is 54. Alpha layers have been a blessing in my world! With this in mind, if you do not want to have to do any adjusting at all, I’d stick with a size 50 head or smaller.
Tiana Says: With mesh, the majority of hair should fit your head regardless of size, the only thing you might need to adjust is the forehead angle to make it more sloped. Older non-mesh that doesnt adjust
to fit always seemed to fit my head and my head is a size 50.. Again though you might need to adjust the Forehead angle to suit individual styles. Mine is usually 50 or 60, sometimes I have to make it lower if the hair doesnt have bangs.
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For more information – see THIS POST.
How to send in a request: Name your Notecard “Fab Advice Request”, and send it to LOVE TRILL (who will never share your personal details, promise!)
** Note – Names have been XXXed out, and small edits were made to protect privacy.
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