It’s been awhile, but Munchflower Zaius has released a brand new male skin, and it’s ... well, it’s quite pretty, which I think is the plan. Before I go further, though, note that this skin is from a preview release, and Munchflower is not entirely done with the skin line. So, on to the particulars

The previous skin line, Sylvan, is rather similar in some particulars, and much of my praise for that skin holds for this one. And some of the negatives, too—the feet are still as low-detail as ever, but that’s not a major issue. So, what are the differences?

You can see, comparing the two photos, that Noam is a distinctly more boyish sort of face, more rounded, with less of the sharp angles of Sylvan. Noam also lacks a hair base of any kind, at least at present, though as you might guess from the picture and its “happy trail”, the pubic hair is still in place while chest hair has gone by the way side. Instead, the difference with Noam is that you get two levels of body definition—low definition and high definition. High definition is more or less the same as with Sylvan, but low definition fades it out and makes it less distinct; the close-up above is done using the low definition shading, while the full-body shots are high definition.

It’s an interesting approach, as one of the common complaints I hear among men in SL is that there are too few skins suitable for a “regular” guy. Many skins in Second Life are aimed at those who want a bodybuilder’s physique, and that’s certainly fine, but variety never hurts. On top of the two levels of muscle definition, the skin also features an eyeliner or eyelinerless option, for a total of four skins. At L$500 (L$1500 for the pack of all four facial makeups), it’s certainly a steal.