I was pleasantly surprised to find so many choices for representing women of African descent when I dropped in on the sale going on now at Pulse! Lorac Farella has developed a great deal of skill with her designing, and has made a great effort to offer a range of darker-toned skins that are flattering and realistic. If you like freckled looks, you should check out the Emotional skin in T4; if you are expecting a wedding proposal any time soon, you might want to purchase the one of three Tears versions, which have cleverly drawn smudgy eye makeup. If your SL is more adventurous, you may need to add the Lessons, Chafed, Fight or Punished versions that include some strategically placed bruises, band-aids, cuts and scratches, or other marks. I found the Valeries skin in Bistre to be a bit flat and gray rather than brown, but Valeries in Sienna or Sand will work if you are going for a mixed-chick/light-skinned girl look. I really love the dramatic makeup too, really strong eye or lip colors, and the variety of brow colors; they will make your AV's face distinctive and memorable. I feel like I'm looking at an albino version of my familiar digital self when I try on skins that are light; it took a few tries with the i skin before I found that Nos. 1--11 were all meant to be super-pale, so skip those. Elegance 7 is a nice warm, honey brown, with makeups named for the months of the year that are subtle and natural, and ones for the seven deadly sins that are very dramatic--they will get LOTS of attention! There is also a choice of makeups named for the virtues (are there seven of those too?), and they are really pretty and romantic. I think the Life skins are my favorites, and Tones 8, 9, and 10 are all warm brown skins with 8 different makeups each. They have just the right amount of shading and highlighting to make your AV look great, and you can get it clevage-enhanced too! Almost all skins are marked down 50% right now, so check it out!
