Greetings to all, and welcome to my blog if this is your first time here! As my YouTube channel is not a platform I can speak my mind on anymore, I decided this would be a great place to do just that.
Now, I know from the title that you might be thinking that I am here to drag Lelutka or something, but I promise it is nothing like that. I do think they play a role in this issue, but so do many other skin creators. However, this is not a post to drag or insult anyone or their brand. This is simply a conversation about a topic that I have experienced firsthand since joining Second Life. I know, I have only been on Second Life for roughly two years. Though in those two years, I have done my best to make myself very informed on the fashion and creator sides of Second Life. Thus, I have noticed the lack of POC support when it comes to skin creators. Furthermore, it is not just me who has noticed this. I have countless friends who have been here for ten or more years who tell me the same. One of those friends is a creator who, in the past, has received requests to make custom POC skins because other creators did not include any at that time.
I believe him when he tells me that because I recall my first months of joining Second Life. When I first joined Second Life, I was so shocked to see that an experience like this existed online because I had never heard of it. I am so grateful that I was subscribed to the beautiful Carmen King; she and Meela were my first introductions to Second Life, and I was instantly hooked. In my first months, I did so much shopping and freebie hunting that I must have spent over a hundred dollars. One thing, though, that always bothered me was that I could never find any skin tones that were like mine. It was a little disheartening, and I might not have stayed on Second Life if I had not come across the store MILA. This was the very first skin store I saw that created skins for POC. I had been to countless stores before then and could never find anything darker than a medium complexion. From MILA, I too found ItGirls, and by that point, I was in heaven. After looking further into creators and fashion, I did find more stores that obviously sold skins for my complexion. However, the fact that there are so few speaks volumes about the skin creators in Second Life.
Seeing as we are now in 2022, I kind of thought we were moving past that and creators were recognizing that there are more tones in this world than pale and medium. Alas, I was wrong. This is where the free mesh head from Lelutka comes in. I was so excited when this brand introduced their newest freebie head, Raven, for Christmas. Then I was even more astonished to see that they teamed up with some of my favorite creators to bring us some amazing freebies. Skins, hair, eyes, and basically everything you could ever need to make a free avatar It's honestly so generous, and I don't want this posting to make anyone think I am ungrateful. I am extremely grateful, and honestly, I have never seen such an amazing giveaway like this before. I am so appreciative of all the hard work and effort that every single creator puts into making their gifts.
Alas, my excitement was short lived. Here I am, struggling to log into Second Life on an older laptop because I know that these are going to be amazing one-time only freebies from my favorite skin creators. However, as I opened each of the gifts, I slowly began to realize that these gifts, at least not all of them, were not created for girls like me. In nearly every single skin pack, with the exception of a few, all the so-called fatpacks stopped their tone selection at medium, if they even got that far. I will admit, it hurt my feelings a lot because, as I mentioned, these were my favorite skin creators. The same creators that I praise on my channel for being unique, inclusive, and having well created skins. In an instant, they made me feel like I was not important enough to create a skin of my color.
I have had this issue before when it came to the weekend sale skins, but that seems to have fixed itself. Regardless, I accepted that some stores did not sell as many POC skins as they did the others, so they simply did not add them. It still stinks for the few of us who buy, but it's their store and their call. This is not the same! It's a free skin, so there is no need to worry about how many will sell. If you are offering something free, why not make it so everyone can use it? I don't understand the reasoning behind creating free items that only people with pale complexions can wear, especially if you've previously created POC skins. I hope someone can explain it to me because I would like to believe there's any reason other than that they either just don't care or don't consider us. I am not sure which one is worse, but they would both hurt. It's honestly just like real life—how we have to raise our opinions for inclusivity in cosmetic brands all the time.
I will be sending this posting to every single creator who did not include POC, and hopefully they will see it. I am not trying to call anyone out. I just want them to know that I feel unseen and left out. I was so excited about this amazing giveaway, only to have that excitement deflate with each gift unwrapped. Yes, I understand that because it is a gift, they are under no obligation to include everyone, but it would be nice. I can't say I feel comfortable spending any more of my lindens at these stores that do not support me. I truly hope they see this and, at the very least, reconsider how they create in the future.
Now that I have said my piece on that, I want to highlight some of the creators who did include POC skins and share a little story about two of them. I hope they will not mind me sharing these stories, but they have stuck with me and made me view these creators very highly. This is not a paid promotion or anything, as I wish, but just my honest opinion and appreciation.
The first creator is ALT3 (aka "FemmeDaddy"). First, I want to say that I truly appreciate this creator and all the work they put into perfecting their craft and not just putting anything out to sell. I had previously made a video on my channel discussing their store and their skins. They saw it and heard my comment about how their skins were nice, but not in my tone. Little did I know, they were working on POC skins at the time and for quite some time. We had a conversation about this very topic when they dropped their newest skin collection, the Harlow Skin. They told me how they had been learning to create POC skins and did not want to publish any until they were sure they looked good. They were even seeking advice from other skin creators to ensure that they made the best product they could. That surprised and impressed me, in truth. I appreciate that they did not publish something that did not look good just to say they were being inclusive. This is clearly a person who cares about their craft and about their buyers, so they will always have a customer in me. If you have not checked out their new collection, you can find links in this text and at the end. Thank you, FemmeDaddy, for remembering that POC people exist in Second Life. <3
p.s. I forgot to change the skin on my body in that photo, so please accept my apologies!
Now, I do not have a story for Koonz, but I will admit that this is probably my favorite skin in all the gift sets. Do not get me wrong; I loved all the skins. This is just one I would probably wear more than a few times. As someone who enjoys experimenting with different skin and cosmetic products, I rarely wear the same skin tone for more than a week. However, this one is just so brilliantly done, I can see me wearing it for a while. Thank you, Koonz, for making me feel included in this amazing giveaway. You knocked it out of the park with this skin!
Nonnative, aka Ari, is another creator with whom I had a brief discussion, which made me fall in love with her store even more than I already did. To be clear, she had already been creating skins for all complexions. However, I was hoping to get one in my preferred skin tone, ebony, from Velour. I was not expecting her to reply to my question about whether she would ever consider adding that skin tone. Not only did she agree to try and add that complexion, but she was also extremely kind and just overall a joy to talk to. As I had been eyeing her skins for a while, I was eager to see if she would actually make a skin tone in Ebony. I will admit that I did not expect her to follow through, even though she was kind and patient. I know creators have a lot on their shoulders and their time is precious, so I would not have been too upset if she didn't add it. However, to my delight and surprise, she followed through on her word. She has been adding this skin tone to just about all of her POC skin collections. Words cannot explain how much I appreciated that. I love her skins, and I am pleased that she added more POC tones to her collection, which was honestly already very diverse. I truly hope you check out Nonnative for amazing products and a kind creator.
I do not have a story to go with this skin from Moccino either, but this is just me recognizing and thanking them for including me. This is such a beautiful, realistic kind of skin for POC. In truth, I much prefer skins that don't look too realistic, but that is just a personal preference. Not at all anything to do with the stellar quality of all their skins. I shop at this store often, and they make a wide selection of skins to match whatever your style or complexion is. This skin is stunning, and the complexion is a dream. Thank you, Moccino; you're a rock star!
As I mentioned earlier, I did not get to go to every single store on the list due to my current computer issues. I just made sure I went to my favorites, so if there are any stores I missed out on, you have my deepest apologies. With that being said, I recognize all the creators in this giveaway. POC skins or not, what you all did for Second Life is amazing and something we will never ever forget. Thank you, Lelutka, for pulling this together, and your amazing Raven head is absolutely stellar. I am so grateful that you bless us every Christmas with a mesh head, and I am sure I speak for many when I say that you are an amazing and generous person. Thank you so much for reading this commentary! I hope you all have an amazing new year and remember to tell someone you love them.
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