Not only have I been blogging rather rarely of late, but skin-focused posts have been particularly rare. This is not to say I have been starved for skins, because I’ve had the lovely new photoreal skins from Adam n Eve to prance around in, but since I work there I tend to feel that they are perhaps best reviewed by someone less closely associated with the store. I do make the occasional exception, but given how many of the little beauties sachi has released of late I could barely keep up anyway. ;)

So, what I have been lacking is new review-material, since none of my other ... dealers have been releasing new skins for me to slip into. I am, for the most part, reluctant to add entirely new creators to the ‘must have now’ list, because my linden balance just wouldn’t survive it. I suppose I should sneak in a mention that I do accept review copies (and so does Ran), though I don’t tend to feel comfortable asking for any or even to make too much note of it here. This is not exactly the most high-traffic blog out there, and I am also aware that my tastes when it comes to shapes and styling may not be in line with what most of SL wants. Still, expect some revised ‘About’ information for the blog soon, as part of some other tweaks.

For now, though, enough mostly inconsequential babbling and time to move onto my latest skin acquisition, another international beauty from Ayesha Bisiani’s Skin Within. This time, you get to meet the Russian beauty Natalia. Just what’s needed to warm up a cold winter night in Siberia. ;)

Style Notes & Slurls

Skin: Natalia NoMakeup from Skin Within
Hair: Bella Light Brown w/Sandy Blonde from Jolie Femme

Natalia is a relatively pale skin, with what Ayesha describes as a “peaches and cream” complexion. I would also say the skin has a rather cool, almost faintly blue-ish undertone, which I think works really well to sell the idea of a cool, Northern beauty (she also has another skin, Anika, with a warmer pale tone). Like the previous skin, Chinese Alaysia, this is a pale yet highly contrasted skin, with distinct shadows and highlights as one would find on any of Ayesha’s darker photoreal skins.

Natalia’s body is fairly toned (there’s a fair bit of variety in the skins Ayesha offers, from as toned as this to quite soft), but still undeniable feminine. The breast shading is, as always, just to my tastes, and the nipples (paler than my general preference, but perfect for this skin tone) are a great shape with a bit of added perkiness. They are, Ayesha informed me, all new nipples, and they do have a more 3D look than on the other skins. I most certainly approve.

Style Notes & Slurls

Skin: Natalia NoMakeup from Skin Within
Hair: Bella Light Brown w/Sandy Blonde from Jolie Femme

The backside is just as good as the front, with a bottom that gets Ran’s all-important stamp of approval.

As with all skins from Skin Within, you can modify the skin tone to be darker or lighter than the default (which is what is shown here), and the pack also includes two options for pubic hair. That is, barely none (as shown in the first image) or a tidy trim. You also get a pair of eyes and a shape made specifically for the skin(and which can be modified as well), though as always I am using a shape of my own.

Style Notes & Slurls

Skin: Natalia NoMakeup and Alyona from Skin Within
Hair: Bella Light Brown w/Sandy Blonde and Dark Copper from Jolie Femme

Finally, a close-up of Natalia. As always, I think Ayesha has done a great job of capturing the intended ethnicity. The nose, in particular, gives the face so much character. I am sure there will be some who feel it is too strong for conventional beauty, but that is what is so great about for example Skin Within. We are really starting to get some photoreal skins that are more than “just a pretty face”. Of course, I do think she is quite pretty, but she is also striking.

Natalia is offered in 24 different makeups (as well as a no-makeup option) that are divided into 4 themed sets; day, evening, smoky and fantasy. I’ll just have to note that picking out a pair for myself was anything but easy. I really wanted to grab a bunch of the fantasy makeups, but Ran got to act the voice of reason to tell me that I should really start with some of the regular makeups since we had some particular photography in mind for the skin.

What I did end up selecting was the no makeup option, here seen as number one and three as well as one of the day makeups, Alyona, here seen as two and four. If you open up the larger version of the image, you will see that the makeups aren’t just about the eyes and the lips; Ayesha also varies the cheek-shading quite a bit which always is nice. I decided to show each makeup with both a blonde and a reddish-brown here after talking a bit to Ayesha about the skin. She was designed to work for blonde hair (and I think she definitely does), but Ayesha noted that she quite likes her with darker hair too. So, I decided I wanted to show her off in two ways.

A single makeup for Natalia is L$1200 and packs of six makeups are L$3600, and you will find her and a wide variety of other ethnic skins at the Skin Within mainstore. If you are lucky when you visit, you might win a special makeup for the Zarya skin in the on-going raffle, and there is a mobvendor with an Alaysia makeup that goes down as low as L$500. So, plenty of reasons to hop on over there.

For my own part, I think I need to find a figure skating arena, or perhaps an opulent Russian palace.