MY ADVENTURES WITH LELUTKA CATE--THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

Hello there!

I have been very busy as of late, but I finally am getting to the point of returning with some blogs.

One of the new things in my Second Life is my new Lelutka Cate Bento head, which I picked up at the recent Skin Fair and which is now available in the Lelutka store. I had waited with great anticipation for the new Bento releases, hoping I would be able to find something I liked that could be modified to resemble my current system look as much as possible, and that system look was achieved with many hours of work to resemble my basic first life facial features.

Here is the system look I had before the new Lelutka Cate Bento head:

With the sliders for the system shape, there were a number of limitations in what could be done, and the stretching could only go so far.

Here is the same side view with adjustments made to the new Lelutka Cate Bento head:

The sliders gave me a greater freedom to achieve the look I desired, allowing me to make more finely-tuned adjustments than the system sliders ever could. You can especially see this in the features of the nose, for example. I am part Native American, and I have a characteristic bump on my nose that reflects this. I have considered having it removed, but, then, it is part of my unique heritage, and to remove it almost feels like removing part of me. With my new Cate, I could recreate that bump much more accurately than with the system shape. I could have made the bump more pronounced, but opted for a lesser one.

I was quite happy with what I could achieve with my nose tip, as well.

Here is a frontal view of the old system look:

And, frontal view of the new Lelutka Cate Bento:

My look definitely resembles my old system look, but I particularly appreciate the less-cartoony/more realistic, more natural, more smooth human look I was able to achieve with my new Bento head.

And, here is a completed look, with hair and makeup. I am very happy with my Lelutka Cate Bento head, indeed! I can still retain my basic system look while actually looking better than the system look ever could.

Now, I have to say here that I did not at all like the ears that came with the Cate head. They stuck out at a quite amazing angle, probably 45 degrees, I would say, giving a simian appearance to an otherwise very pleasing look. Fortunately, with the Lelutka HUD, it is possible to quickly and easily hide the ears, which I immediately did. I replaced them with mesh ears from Mandala, the Simple Hutuu ears. I had to manually set the color, which does not match perfectly, but works well enough, as you can see above.

Another thing I don't particularly like about the Lelutka head is that those items applied with Omega appliers seem to hang up when applying. Appliers made for Lelutka go on quickly and smoothly without glitches, while Omega appliers seem to require more effort to apply, and, even with the rerouter, often apply where I do not want them.

There was a very recent update to the Lelutka heads, making the current version the 2.7, which I am using here. With the current update, there are several new additions, including several teeth, braces, and eyes. I am using my usual Mayfly Luminous Mesh Eyes in Sea Green Shadow. I love the Mayfly eyes, with their many, many options, but the eyes and options in the Eyes tab on the Lelutka HUD are quite good. You can see that here:

In the Lelutka photos, I also am using the Lelutka hair base that comes in the HUD. I plan to get some additional hair bases as soon as time allows. I also am using some of the Lelutka eyelashes from the HUD.

In the system photos, I am using Belleza skin Nina Pale 0 with dark brows. Belleza only had one skin for Lelutka available, and the eyebrows on that were the trendy, thick, heavy brows that I don't care for. So, I went with a Glam Affair Skin, since the Maitreya body comes with Glam Affair already installed, and the fact that Glam Affair makes some beautiful skins. I chose the Luminay skin in Europa tone to wear with my new Cate head because it is subtle and smooth. This skin comes with an eyebrowless option which allowed me to find suitable eyebrows. I finally found some thin eyebrows at Sinful Curves Skins. I purchased the Classic Eyebrows Fat Pack that includes eight classic brows colors as well as eight appliers colors.

My eyeshadow is from Slackgirl, Cassandra, and my lipstick is from Alaskametro, Heat. I absolutely adore Alaskametro because it fits my lips shape very well and does not distort into big, bulky lips once applied.

I will note here that none of my friends, and not even my boyfriend, noticed that I had changed my head, even after I drew attention to that area (without telling them I had a new head.) My boyfriend did say that he noticed something seemed different, but thought it was my makeup. So, yes, I would say that the transition was really successful!

So, there you have it, my adventures with Lelutka Cate!


CURRENTLY WORN

EYESHADOW BY SLACKGIRL: ::SG:: CASSANDRA EYESHADOW OMEGA
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sun%20Dream/128/120/22

LIPSTICK BY ALASKAMETRO: alaskametro<"Heat" matte lipstick -
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Imogen/64/153/31


HAIR BY CHEVEUX: .:CHEVEUX:.F057 Blacks02
MARKETPLACE: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/136911



ALWAYS WORN UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED

BENTO CATE HEAD BY LELUTKA: LeLutka.Head.Cate 2.7
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LeLutka/134/104/22


EARS BY MANDALA: [MANDALA]SIMPLE_EARS_HUTUU
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/TEMPURA%20SOBA/97/119/23


SYSTEM BODY SHAPE BY AVID: Avid Gothic Avatar - Mist (MODIFIED)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gothic%20Clothing/76/176/56

MESH BODY BY MAITREYA: Maitreya Mesh Body - Lara V4.0
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Maitreya%20Isle/128/133/23


HANDS AND FEET BY SLINK
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Slink/59/123/25

Slink Hands - Dynamic - Female V1.3
Slink Avatar Enhancement Feet  V3.2


SKIN BY GLAM AFFAIR: LUMINAY EUROPA
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Beauty%20Avatar%20couture/136/96/24


EYEBROWS BY SINFUL CURVES SKINS: *Sinful Curves* Eyebrows Classic Black Appliers Hud
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Elmira/99/50/23


EYES BY MAYFLY: Mayfly - Luminous - Mesh Eye (Sea Green Shadow, w2)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mayfly/44/225/562