Gala Converted Me Once Again

Okay I want to preface this post by saying that I am in no way a skin reviewer…but I recently aquired (along with half the grid) the newest skin release by Curio-Gala and since doing so, I’ve noticed that a lot of people are really confused about them. I thought this post might help with some of the confusion and in the process I thought I would share some good and some bad points…in hopes of being a fair perspective even though I am totally biased – you figure that one out!

First I want to say that I love my new gala skins, I bought a fat pack of my favorite tone and face (and can’t wait for more makeup options), so the things I’m about to say are irks, but they were obviously not major enough to keep me from making the purchase, just keep that in mind while reading and decide for yourself. Here you are, the unveiling…

This is the new Vibrant skinline in the Petal-Light tone with the Breeze face (mauve mist type 2 makeup). Before I continue I want to break down the explanation of the skinline for those who are still confused.

The skinline is called Vibrant.
The tones are Acorn, Sundust, Petal and Moonbeam.
There are three new faces, they are Breeze, Lovely and Vixen (yes the faces are different from one another).
Each face has six new makeups.
Now if that weren’t already enough choices and names to keep track of, you should also know that each skintone comes in two variations – light and dark. The variation is subtle in most cases but it allows for, technically, eight new tones.
Also, each makeup comes with two lip variations, it’s usually a lighter or darker lipstick but a dramatic enough change to qualify as twelve new makeups per face!
Add on top of all of that that each skin also comes in a freckled version.

What does that mean? It means that when you purchase the fatpack of a tone/face you are getting 48 skins! Now with all that said, in this post I’m probably only going to address the face and tone that I chose, mostly because I’m too lazy to take pictures of all of the others. I’ll make a quick note about the other two faces:  Lovely has this really odd ability to make any avatar that wears it look somewhat concerned or saddened, try it on and see for yourself. Vixen is probably the most different of the three and to me could have easily been another skinline entirely, I believe that Redgrave lovers will feel right at home in that face. So…

If you’ve ever owned a Gala one thing you’ll know is that the skins have always been so beautifully blended together and really flawless. This skin, for the most part, is no different in that respect…with the added bonus of what seems a growing trend – this lovely ‘glow’ or ’shine’…Redgrave or Laqroki skin-wearers are probably already very familiar with this. While I would have personally loved for the shine to be an optional feature, I really can’t complain, it’s done very well and already so many other options were included with this skinline debut.

Now here I want to take a side-step and mention that this tone I’m wearing, petal-light is probably the most equally shaded and blended of all the tones. My personal opinion solely. I feel that the darker you go in the tones (sundust and acorn) the more harsh the shading becomes and in some of the tones the use of shine almost looks a little streaky (see: the upper arms).

Another point of interest and for some a bit of an irk (myself included) is the way that the face on these new skins appears to be a shade or two lighter than the actual body of the skin, it almost looks like your avatar is wearing a lightly painted mask. I suppose this is to give the face the appearance of ‘glowing’ or ’shining’ along with the rest of the body, I’m not sure and as I said, in this tone combination I find it less harsh. See below and note the face and neck tones…

I took two different snapshots of the same because I wanted to show something else that I’ve been finding kind of interesting. These skins are some of the first that I’ve owned (and I am a two-generation previous Gala skin owner) that react so oddly and sharply to light settings. I don’t know if these skins were intentionally created with better WL settings in mind or not, but as you can see from the top and bottom photo comparison – they *love* Caliah’s WL presets. Look at how much depth and detail is lost in the mid-day normal setting below. The lips have no plumpness, the collarbone looks like a flat line. It’s really interesting, I’ve never owned a skin that took so well to windlight and seemed to be better because of it. And no…I’m not just talking about face shadows that we all loathe…if you compare the two back and forth you will see what I’m saying.

Before I continue on I wanted to share this odd-angle shot to show what a friend pointed out to me about the face on these skins and how the actual ‘face’ seems to just …end…at the edges with a lack of blending on back along the skull and sides of the face. I personally am not irked by this, mostly because hair and such will probably always be hiding this but I thought it only fair to show it if it could possibly be a bad point in someone else’s book.

While I’m still up here on the head, I might as well note that these skins have drawn-in eyelashes. It’s not something I prefer but it’s also not something that bothers me, but I just thought that if you are normally wearing prim lashes while demoing skins (like I was) you might want to know that these do have drawn-in lashes so that you can make a better informed decision! The second picture there is of the ear – it’s not a bad thing but these ears are super realistic, they almost border on kinda creepy they look so real and might I add again that Gala is the queen of blending…so yeah, there you go, an ear.

Now, these next two items are actually things about this beautiful skin that *do* annoy the hell out of me. I am so not a fan of deep body shading, and especially certain areas, like say the buttcheeks and the underbust. Luckily, the butt on this skin is still as darling as all Gala skins, but the underbust shading is a little too heavy for my taste. Some people prefer it and love it, I’m just not one of them…good thing for me that Dove is rarely showing off her tits. I’ve heard from some people that the nipples are a little too, uh, perky, but I have always loved Gala nipples and these are no different. I just want to pluck them!

This next point was actually a shocker for me…I demoed my skins with my socks and shoes on because I’ve never had an issue with Gala skins below the waist really and I could careless what feet look like really. So, I had already made my purchase when I got naked to admire it and then I saw this…

I don’t know what that is, but it looks like my grandmother’s knees. If you take a look at my first picture up there you’ll see how these knees look perfectly fine from afar, but if you get even the least bit close they look like a horror show. I just know that I won’t be showing off Dove’s knees any time soon, which is alright, I am the sock queen, it’s not like I show Dove’s knees much anyway.

Lastly, and this is purely for my own amusement, Autumn brought it to my attention that these skins have a tiny little easily missed detail that should be much more appreciated in the skin world: a butthole. Isn’t it just darling?

There you go, so long winded but I had a lot to get out from all the conversations and questions I’ve heard since the skins were released just a few days ago. Again, I really want to emphasize that I lovelovelove my new gala skins, they have such a huge attention to detail, and such fun little quirks to them that make them unique and special and oh-so-cute. Try them on and find them out for yourself. Oh! And if all of that wasn’t enough to convince you to make the plunge and purchase one for yourself, I did want to add also that Gala has some of the best customer service I’ve ever experienced in SL.

Alright, now I’m done.