The Unofficial Second Life® Fashion and Shopping Blog

Gala Skins seem to be the latest “what everyone is talking about” skin in SL, and with good reason. I went to check them out and thought I’d maybe buy one to test drive for the blog; instead, I bought a five-pack and have since been back for another set, too. You may think its unfair of me to review a skin the day after the SL lighting was dramatically re-engineered in the 1.10 release, but I am of the opinion that the new lighting does nothing but improve an already excellent skin.

What You Get: The Gala skins come in six caucasian shades from Alabaster to Dark Tan. I chose the medium toned skin, called (naturally enough) Medium. Each skin tone currently has more than 70 makeups to choose from, consistant from shade to shade. They are organised within each skin tone by collection, ie a Gloss Series, a Shimmer Series, etc. You can buy them in singles or you can buy them by the series in packs of eight at a savings. Me, I’d buy by the freakin’ dozen if I could.

The Face: These skins are all about the face. The makeups on Gala skins are, in my opinion, completely without parallel. They are extraordinarily good and come in a huge variety, from the subtle every-day wear to outrageous catwalk colour explosions. There are plenty of people doing excellent, realisitc day to day makeups in SL; its the more unusual, nay amazing color combinations that really set the Galas apart for me:

This is the excellent Robin’s Egg makeup from the Spring series. How totally lucious is that face? Again, the colours and colour combinations are really what makes these skins so distinct. Note the nice lip shine. There are several variations on the shape and intensity of the lip shine among the Gala makeups, and they are all totally divine and render super-pouty lips. The lip plumpness factor is also helped out by a beautifully articulated lip cleft over the top lip; its a perfect detail as far as I’m concerned.

Excellent lip and eye cosmetics aside, the faces have some particular qualities which may or may not make you a fan, and the blush is one of them. Most of the faces come without blush, but on the faces that have it, the blush is in an unusual place - directly below the eyes. There seems to be a range of blush intensities across the face options ranging from none to heavy (above). It sounds far weirder than it actually appears, but the look is quite distinctive and may not be to everyone’s taste. I’m indifferent to the positioning; I’m in it for the overall look and I think the heavier blush on this medium tone gives an all around sunny look (but that’s just me). Out of 70+ faces, there are plenty with little or no blush at all.
The eyebrows deserve special mention: they’re the same across all the skins, but they’re an excellent light-brown colour choice that works well for blondes, brunettes and redheads. On the black hair I tried them with, they looked a little off, but you can’t match every hair tone with a single brow color.

The Body: All of the skin tones come with a bikini tan line effect, which you either like or you don’t. I don’t really, but I am so infatuated with the faces that I don’t care. On the positive side, while its a little Bay Watch, it also does va-va-voom things for your cleavage in low-cut tops.

The body is heavily white lighted, ie a lot of the detail is drawn out by adding white highlights to the skin instead of darker shadows. I take photos with full frontal light, where the effect of this is sort of a well-lit glow. Before the new lighting, I thought the effect in more shadowed setting was a little streaky and the overall effect under all lighting was arguably a little Barbie doll plasticky especially in the Pale skin tone. (I like it on the booty, for example, but I’m not sure I need it down the backs of my thighs.) However, before the legions of Gala fans surge forth to lynch me, I have to say that with the new lighting, this skin glows. It’s still very distinctive but it looks fabulous.

Finally, from the complaints department: Assuming I had any PhotoShop skills whatsoever beyond the Crayon tool level, I think i would have opted for a few more elements of shadowing as opposed to white lighting. The knees, for example, could use more articulation and notice that I have virtually no shoulder blades. There are no elbows, nor knee back nor ankle bone detailing that I can discern, either. Most people probably neither notice nor care, but that’s what I’m here for. Given the level of skill and detail demonstrated on all of the faces, it would be nice to see bits of that carried through to specific body areas as well. On the places it is done, particularly the neck, belly button, and hands, its done very well.

The Bits: The nipples are a nice mid-range size, and very definately pink with a textured areola (which always gets points from me.) Again with my white lighting obession: they’re white-tipped, which is maybe slightly weird in isolation but goes with the general lighting effects used uniformly across the skin.

The pubic hair is a nice discreet fuzz patch, and like the Helen skin, the kitty is front-facing. The basement is closed with one set of nicely shaded and rounded lips with no scary voids. The clit is a sort of an impled O but at least its presented, which believe me, I appreciate. (I never leave home without mine.)

Overall, the faces are extraordinary and the body issues are my own - as with all skins, with the exception of obvious flaws, it all boils down to personal preferences. These skins are tremendously popular; I buy them for the faces but plenty of people are in love with the complete package. At 1K each, the skins are right at the market average for price while delivering superlative cosmetics; at 5K for a set of 8, they’re a bargain.

Where to Buy:

Gala Phoenix Skins
Upstairs at Empyrean Emporium
Singles: $1000L
Bundles: $5000L
Vaoetere (192, 15, 21)