I had been looking forward to the new/updated mesh head and applier releases from fiore for weeks now. When they arrived, I wasn’t disappointed. There are five different base heads available, and two new appliers (only for these heads, mind) in a wide range of tones. For the purposes of this review, I am showing the soft head with the Toni appliers in SPF 35 and SPF 15 tones.
What You Get
The heads and the appliers are sold separately, and the head is literally just a blank mesh slate – with no base skin at all – so you must have at least one applier. There are fatpacks of head shapes and appliers available. YMMV based on how much variance you see in the heads. I happened to like most of them actually, and with all the customization you can do with the HUD, you will be happy with all the variance you can achieve whether you purchase one head or all of them. Keep in mind, the HUDs are only sold with the appliers, so you can’t do anything with just a head. I feel like there’s a joke in there…You also get all needed body appliers for all tones with each applier. Good stuff.
My Take
The quality of this product is excellent IMO. Not only do you get so many ways to change the facial feature options for lips, eyelids, expressions, complexions and brows, the makeup portion of each HUD is incredibly detailed with colors that complement each skin tone. You will want to play for hours with all the features and different makeups. I highly, HIGHLY recommend this head. Not only based on the product but for the support creator Sanya Bilavio gives her customers. No more than a few hours after release, Sanya addressed an issue with the lashes that were looking very clumpy under some settings. It’s an issue so common with many mesh heads that I normally have to fit my own lashes to each different head. However, Sanya very quickly released an update to the lashes with a mask/blend version, creating a much more pleasant look. To me that was incredibly important action and made me sit up and pay attention to this creator. She addressed her customers’ comments directly in her Flickr. Two big thumbs up, way up!
Room for Future Improvements
There are some parts of the head that I hope to see changes on. Most importantly, getting eye makeups to show properly seems inconsistent and there is an annoying flicker and conflict with the layers on what I think is the eyebrow layer where it meets the lashes. I *think* this could be addressed with a mask/blend option for the eyebrows or maybe eyelids but I am not sure. I use the Firestorm viewer (latest release) on Ultra settings and I definitely have issues painting the eye makeups (shadows and liners) on all tones. While this doesn’t seem to be an issue for customers universally, it’s definitely affecting some of us and it makes certain parts of the makeup HUD inconsistent. Also, there are slightly visible seams in some lights, given the customization options we all have for lighting. I suggest playing around to find a light that minimizes the seams but understand you can’t control how others see you.
The Bottom Line
If you’re already on the mesh head train, keep on going and pick up a fiore head for sure. I can tell you that of all the heads this year, I am probably most enamored with this one. If you’re new to that part of Second Life Beauty, I would suggest this is a specialty head with (at the moment) appliers only available from one creator. That will undoubtedly change over time with the developer kit now available and should help you get more wear out of your head when it does. In the meantime, I would suggest beginners start with LeLutka or Catwa heads, which give you access to hundreds of easy to use appliers from dozens of creators grid-wide.
xoxo
- Head: fiore Soft *new*
- Appliers: fiore Toni SPF 35 and 15 *new*
- Hair: Vanity Hair Monte Carlo and Monaco *new @ Tres Chic*
- Ballet outfit and pointe shoes: Dead Dollz *new @ Shiny Shabby*
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