I've been a mad fan of Aikea Reiko's work for ages, and have blogged her items quite a few times on these pages in various LOTD's. Her store used to be named Tokeo Plastik but is now simply "
The Plastik." She makes clothes, eyes, ears, accessories and shoes for humans and furries. And recently branched out into skins. Her Bael skins for the ladies showed some of the most imaginative and breathtaking make ups seen in SL ever. And when she released a group notice mentioning she would be making male skins as well.... guess who was instantly all up in her inbox begging her to make these as creative as the females? She always intended to, but the poor lady had to deal with me hanging around her store moaning "Are they here yet? Are they here yet?" Now they are, and oh my god... they are SO good! You may have already guessed that this won't be an objective kind of review. As I loved them as soon as they spawned.
Less words in this one, as it's quite picture heavy. I've been told that certain people think it's annoying when I write novels. So expect a
lot more of those in future.
The face is really well shaded - look at that jawline, no dirty shadows at all. There also isn't any blockiness around the nose, which is rare in a male skin. Most skins don't suit me because of the lips, but these are soft and a good shade - not so pale that they disappear, but not rosy enough to make it look like I've forgotten to wipe after feeding. the light around those and up the philtrum gives it a three dimensional look, lifting it out of the flatness of a lot of skins. The brows are delicate and realistic, to the point where if you were bored you could count the individual hairs in each one.
(87 in the left, 93 in the right.)
The body is quite softly drawn. A lot of men - especially those that would
love these makeups - don't want to look super steroid ripped, and these abs and pects are good for that. Defined, but not exaggerated. The throat/neck/collarbone is also not forgotten, with the same light yet clear shading that you can see extends to the backbone and shoulderblades. And just look at that ass! I usually am.
I wear a light tone myself as I don't go out into the sun and the Ember was perfect for that. There are five different flesh tones available in the human Vaelian range. I'm showing these with the Violet Poetry makeup.
All tones feature the same range of makeups, and holy crap - you haven't seen anything like these in men's skins EVER. Finally,
finally someone who gets it. We are just as different as you ladies. A lot of dudes would never wear skins like this. A lot will. But either way, it's so damn good to finally get somewhere near the choices that the girls have. Until recently men's "makeups" have only been Clean. Stubble. Goatee. Moustache. Soul Patch. Beard. Guyliner. And that's on the more adventurous skin designers. Yeah, I know Jefferson - get off your soapbox and show more skins.
The part where it gets even better is that Aikea made Elven skins and released them at the same time. The colours on these are so very, very win. Here's just half a dozen of the twenty odd shades she has sparkling on her wall. You get the ears included in two shapes which is a huge relief, as I'm sure they'd be a nightmare to try and tint otherwise.
There are also even six makeup options in each of these tones as well. I can't seriously imagine how long this would have taken her. Looking over the walls at
The Plastik there would be a good eight hundred different options between all the tones, makeups and colours.
It was a very good week for men's skins, I counted releases from seven different creators. I'm catching up on all of them slowly but surely. But I can mention that none were anticipated by me more than these, and they did
not disappoint. Try some on yourself. They may not be what you are used to, but this is Second Life, remember? And all that guyliner will scrub off in seconds.
Additional credits - hair for the human skins is Aspen by MADDesigns, hair for the elves is Kyler by Wasabi Pills, and the eyes are Aegis and Animale also from The Plastik. .
