A new door cannot be opened until you have the courage to close the one behind…~unknown

Grab yourself a cuppa something and munchies.  This is the long read.

I don’t like change.  It’s not in my nature as I’m an Aquarius.  I’m not adverse to change but, sometimes you have to drag me kicking and screaming until I realize it is for the best, and maybe even better in the long run.

On March 12, 2015 I received this notecard from Tuli Skins.  It reads…

The good news: Maitreya and Slink skin appliers for the Pearl, Powder and Petal tones are available for you for free (temporarily) in the mainstore. You’ll find them above the vanity desk.
The bad news: there won’t be any more appliers for the Radiance skintone range. It’s sad, but I lost a bunch of stuff in my last harddrive crash, and sadly the Radiance body textures were part of that. I also can’t find them in my SL inventory. Fate is cruel and ‘why me’.

As I sat in my chair tears began to well up in my eyes.  I was having a difficult time reading the note card.  Taking a couple of deep breaths it finally dawned on me that this was a death sentence for Cougar.  Cougar would never have the mesh body she hoped for with this skin. She would be trapped, not able to move forward, and we are all about moving forward.

Having worn the Claire skin exclusively for over four years she has become such a huge part of the 1st life me as well.  It’s amazing what we become attached to.  Cougar is me, I am her sort of thing.  We go together like limes and tequila.  Yes, limes and tequila, cause I don’t like to mix my veggies together, as in peas and carrots.  I’ll mix limes and tequila together anytime, with a bit of salt on the side 😛

So what is a girl to do when she is faced with a dilemma such as this?  Well duh!  She sits there for a minute, dries her tears, gets her shopping face on and then heads to Skin Fair 2015 for a make over.  I may be slow to join the mainstream but I ain’t stupid 😛

The old Cougar will be missed but it’s time to grow up. So say goodbye to the old Cougar, bye-bye,

and…

The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but in building the new ~ attributed to Socrates

 

say hello to the new and improved Cougar 🙂

My goal was simple, find skins that I could see some essence of the old Cougar. I visited every skin maker at Skin Fair 2015 picking up DEMOS.  I have no idea how many skins I tried on.  My inventory ballooned big time. Narrowing the skins down to a couple of skin designers, I went to their stores and looked, and picked up more skin DEMOS.  I even went on Marketplace and got the ones not available instore.  I finally narrowed it down to the one skin maker who I thought had the best skin tone and overall look I was going for. Boy! if this was a time to completely change my look I should have dove right in, but I just wanted to update my look.  I told you I don’t like change 🙂

Let me tell you a bit about my updated look.  I now wear the skin Della by Zoul Creations and it’s available at Skin Fair 2015. Buying the skin got me every skin tone available, ten in all, in varying shades of pale to dark and three cleavage options, and options with eyebrows and no eyebrows for each tone.  I choose to go with ST6 and no eyebrows for my new look. I was able to pick up the appliers available for Slink, Omega and for the Eve body.  I am not familiar with the mesh bodies but I trust me, I will be a pro at them before I am done 🙂

I had issues getting the lips right with old lipsticks and the new shades that I bought separately designed for Della. I didn’t want to throw the old shades out so I IM’d Shantia Soulstar the owner and designer of Zoul Creations.  I even enclosed pictures to show the look I was going for. Shantia replied fairly quickly the next day even sending numbers for the lips so I could work on my shape.  I only had to tweak the numbers slightly to get the look you see above 🙂 While these are the old lipsticks I had in my inventory,  there is more tweaking involved to get Della lipsticks to work, but I am getting there. I bought the eye shadows too.  Again ten shades with three different options from light to dark. I should mention the lipsticks come in twelve colors with three shade options as well.  A lot of bang for my lindens.

I am wearing the Destiny Eye Series by IKON in Cerulean.  I purchased four different pairs of eyes, and I may go back and get more, all blue of course.  I am wearing the eyebrow set5 by Zoul Creations.  While they have a slightly higher arch they remain natural and come in four main hair colors,  even one you can tint yourself.

Other than the skin tone being darker (which I am totally comfortable with since I am Cherokee), the differences are subtle. I still see the essence of the old Cougar 🙂  For me Cougar feels somewhat older (that is fine too), and maybe a bit more exotic.  That’s how I feel about my new look anyway.  New skin, new eyes and once I get use to being comfortable in this skin I will try the mesh bodies.  Not that I will wear a mesh body all the time, but most definitely will use it for photography, which was the goal to begin with. Oh! A friend also told me the mesh body was good for raw, untamed sex.  Any comments on that statement?  I would welcome any and all ya know 🙂 I am all about learning here.   Be kind to one another.  TWMA ♥

I would like to thank:

1st Photo

Shape – My shape has been discontinued and tweaked by me so much that there is barely any resemblance to the original

Tuli Skins : Claire Radiance Bronze still available but only slink hands and feet appliers available.  No longer being updated.

ILLMATIC : Frenchie Noir not available

EDDESIGN : Cytrus Series Eyes blue sky dark eyes 35

Mon Cheri : Falsies Eyelashes

Attitudes : Lourmel Black Lingerie no longer available as store is no longer in world

2nd Photo

Shape : see above

Zoul Creations : Della Skin in skin tone 6, cleavage option B no eyebrow option available @ Skin Fair 2015,eyebrow set 05 Black – Store is closed as they are  relocating, so I will give the market place link for now

Tuli SKins : Claire Radiance Bronze Lips Nude

ILLMATIC  : Frenchie Noir not available

IKON : Destiny Eyes Cerulean

Mon Cheri : Falsies Eyelashes

Attitudes : Lourmel Black Lingerie no longer available as store isno longer in world

By far this is the longest post I have ever done and if you stayed to the end I am fan of yours for life 🙂