A friend of mine was telling me how he was complaining (interpret…whining) to his SL girlfriend that it always took her an hour to get dressed whenever they were going to go somewhere. She made him start a female avi, took him shopping, and then made him get dressed. I was dying as he was telling me how long it took him just to put on fingernails. Ladies, if your man complains, put him in a dress and stilettos so he can experience what we go through to look great for our men…and ourselves!
It did get me thinking. I’ve never tried fingernails in SL and wondered if they were worth the effort. I dug around in my inventory and had one pair of long, long, LONG black nails. I tried them on.
Hmmm. That’s a lot of a nail. These are from Mstyle, which has a nice product that comes with a modifiable glove so you can match the color of your skin to cover the default nail bed. They do not have a large selection of nail art choices, but they do offer many different lengths, from short to super long, in both rounded or square tips, and a variety of colors. They even have a men’s nail.
Next I hopped over to Candy Nail to see what they were all about. They have a really nice selection of nails, many of them with embellishments like rhinestones or dangling jewels. They also have a line of colors in all shades of the rainbow in several different shades from light to dark. You should be able to get just about any plain color you want here. They also have nail gloves for hands and an interesting sock with toenails painted on them. I didn’t try them but it’s something that might be of interest to anyone who doesn’t want to wear a prim nail for whatever reason.
Mandala is a jewelry store on the Tempura Island sim, with some of the most detailed and interesting jewelry choices I have seen in SL. I remembered that last time I was there I had seen a nail/ring combo, so I popped on over to see what they have, and ended up grabbing one of the styles they offer. These are very elaborate, very detailed, and come with a set of bangles to match. They offer them in a variety of colors and another style as well. While these are higher priced then most of the prim nails I’ve seen, you get so much with these that it’s still a great value.
A quick note about how prim nails work. All of the sets I tried on came with a glove of some kind to cover the nail bed to match your skin. You should wear that first. Then go to a script enabled area and turn off your AO. Make sure you’re hands are not stuck in a fully open position or the nails will not “set-up” properly. Attach the nails to both hands. Once I put them on I had no trouble using my AO, the nails followed my hands perfectly. Also note that these attach to your hands, so you cannot wear jewelry such as rings that would attach to your hands at the same time you’re wearing these nails. Many nail shops are offering nail/ring combos now because of this limitation.
The other thing to be aware of is that prim nails come pre-set for specific hand sizes, usually 10, 20, and 30, though I did see some while I was shopping that only came in 10 and 30. So do pay attention and be prepared to set your avatar hand size in the appearance menu to a size appropriate for the nail. Prim nails should not be adjusted, as they are already set for the size stated in the package and should fit perfectly if you set your hands to the correct size. If you adjust them, they will never quite work properly as they are script driven, so beware and if you have a problem contact the merchant before trying to adjust them to fit.
The Stuff:
Look 1
Nails – Long Nails Classic in black from Mstyle http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Luck%20Inc/194/41/22
Look 2
Nails – #P023 Bride in blue from Candy Nail http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Candy%20nail/209/128/22
Look 3
Nails – Takara bangle/Buddha Red/ring & nail from Mandala http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife//88/184/25
All Looks
Dress – Coppelia in olive from Azul http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/joia%20azul/114/128/25
Shoes – Bare Tsa Tas in nude from Stiletto Moody http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Stiletto%20Moody%20BARE/78/37/46
Necklace – Autumn colors necklace from Donna Flora http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bonin/173/137/22
Earrings – Laurie pearl color change from Burroughs Jewellry http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ohana/86/103/21
Hair – Joanna in cherry from Truth http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Truth%20Hair/117/17/25
