It’s no secret that I’ve always enjoyed blurring gender lines, although I always lean toward the ‘beautiful man’ side of things. But sometimes everything pulls together into something so wonderfully ambiguous that it’s a delight, and so I’m sharing it here.
Most people would take a look at the above image of Skell’s ‘Syd’ persona and assume he’s a woman, but if I’d included more of the outfit in the photo you’d see he’s very much a man, wearing an open (and, of course, flat-chested) black shirt and waistcoat, high-waisted pants whose hems have had an argument with his ankles, and 70s purple platform boots. I’m only mildly annoyed that I didn’t get a full-length shot to show you, because that outfit was gloriously gender-bending.
Bakes on Mesh has blown my creativity wide open again, and having Syd around as someone who can also delve into Skell’s massive (frighteningly massive) inventory and make with the grabbyhands at things that Skell’s blokey physique can’t wear is an absolute joy. This entire look is thanks to BoM, and all but one item in it is brand new. But oh, that one item is what almost makes the look… those eyes.
They’re ancient system eyes from Dead Apples, who made some truly beautiful eyes back in the day. Wonder of wonders, these ones are still available—in both unrigged mesh and system format—on Marketplace, although sadly my other favourite set (‘Broken Glass’) is no longer around.
With Syd I can do something else that I rarely do with Skell, and that is to use colour. Syd started out as a punky, mouthy brat, and initially I dressed him all in black. But he’s quite happy to wear colour (I’ve even managed to get him into an almost pastel pink, which is something that would probably bring Skell out in hives) so he allows me to indulge a little in different tones. I have two of them going on in this image—purple, and deep pink—and I’ve tried to match everything as closely as possible. The brows, hair, hairbase, piercings, and the lower part of the eye makeup are all in that beautiful muted purple, while the glasses and eyes pull out that fabulous pop of deep pink on the upper eyeshadow.
The hair is a recent release from Exile, whose fatpacks are a bargain at L$400, the eye makeup is by Zibska for the still-ongoing Vanity Event, and the Catwa HD lip appliers are from a new favourite of mine: Bus.
Credits
Hair: Exile – Yvette*
Eyeshadow: Zibska – Uliana Eyemakeup* (Omega, BoM)
Glasses: Tanaka – Flames Shades V2 (gacha – purple 6)
Lipstick: Bus – Cotton Candy Lips (Catwa HD)
Piercings: BLAXIUM – Nera 2 (rigged for multiple heads)
Shirt: Krankhaus – Wyatt Shirt (Maitreya, V-Tech, Kemono, Kuroo)
Brows: Warpaint – Keira Brows (BoM, Catwa, Genus, Lelutka)
Eyes: Dead Apples – Sinistre Eyes (pink shades edition – mesh & BoM)
Earrings: Artificial Hallucination – Loke Rigged Ear Piercings (Catwa)
Skin: Ritual – Elspeth (T1 – multiple appliers & BoM)
Head: Catwa – Margeaux* (Bento)
*review copy