by Yvette Donner
Model: Yvette Donner
When I read about Juicy Bomb’s Newbie Style Challenge II, I thought to myself, Now, there’s a challenge for you! Cuz, you know, if you have a ton of money, you have a lot of options for putting together a pretty darned good looking avatar. Or like, it’s easy enough to find a bunch of free stuff on Marketplace, but you don’t want to just throw together some random looking avi. But doing an amazing avatar on L$550 or less? The game is afoot!
To summarize the rules: total cost is L$550 or less (including cost of any pay-to-join groups); any free stuff you can find is fair game; you gotta get the stuff during the challenge time (4 Nov – 31 Dec); and no fair using library stuff.
So I wanted to make an avi that would have a really different look from any of the choices you are given when you sign up for SL. And more than that, I wanted to give my newbie a personality. I was aiming for a classy girl who was gentle and kind, an approachable girl you might want to make friends with. (I’ll fool them all! Muah-ha-hah!) Also, I wanted to give her a seasonal outfit, warm and cuddly for these late November days. Let’s see how I did…
Model: Yvette Donner
In my little mind, the four essentials are the skin & shape (they have to work together, even if from different designers), the hair, and the animation overrider (I consider the AO to be our body language in SL). I found the skin & shape on L$60 weekend. Isis is not a store I was familiar with, but I was impressed with the makeup. That light peach lip color makes a delicate mouth, and a little shimmer under the brows really opens up the eyes. I was pleased with the overall quality of the skin, way better than I expected for the price. Oh, and the regular price for that skin is L$145. I spent a lot of time looking for the right hair, but finally settled on a freebie from Analog Dog. The color was great with this skin tone, and along with those big doe eyes from Daring, the hair style gave that soft, feminine look I wanted. The turtleneck sweater from COCO fits well under that big cozy collar of MEB’s Helene coat. The black sweater and navy coat go well together, but I wanted to offset them with a lighter pant. Perfect color and classy style, the tan cords from Bokeh looked like they were made for this outfit. Black ballerinas are a must for anyone’s closet (they go with just about anything). These silken ballerinas from LG are embellished with a subtle brocade, and adorable gold laces pick up the color of the pants.
So I was left with a few touches to give my newbie a finished look. Candy Nail has attractive nails that can be had for under L$100, but I scored these for free from the lucky letter board. The skin has no lashes, but I found these tattoo lashes from Pink Acid; they give sweep to the eyes, but don’t have heavy mascara that might ruin the look of the makeup. The AO was actually one of the first items I picked up for the avi. There are several cheap or free AOs around, some of them really fun. But I chose the Vista dollarbie for its natural stands. The full body picture was posed using one of the Vista stands.
A last note. The challenge was difficult, but way fun! While scouring the grid for high quality freebies/cheapies, I visited stores that I don’t often go to, and many that were entirely new to me. It gave me a new appreciation for all the designers who make our world such an amazing place.
