UNDER THE MANGO TREE--Tamsin Barzane

She'd been wheedling for months, throwing free trials my way. And yesterday it built to a head! "Now what you need," said she, "Is a really fly ass makeup to like, set it off--make it POP off!" That was after complimenting my dress, one of my own creations.

Was my skin so very bad? Admittedly it was a freebie, but I'd always been told it was an accidental freebie, launched on SL by a major skin artist, and I had grown attached to it. So attached that I clung to it for nearly three years! I didn't WANT to change--I loved my Tammish self. And yet....I longed for makeup variety. Couldn't she just have a sharper version, for special events? But one that kept her adorable features (based on my own, of course!)?

Yes, Kiko Moleno, alt to Osuntomi Melendez, had caught me at a vulnerable moment. It was Makeover Time! Just like countless preteen slumber parties and Glamour magazines.

She circled me, sizing me up. "Hmmm, Butterscotch." Although my conditioned response to the word "butterscotch" was to start salivating for candy, I already knew Kiko's skins were named as deliciously as they look--toffee, cocoa, tea, caramel--but would they look tasty on me? My alt had already enjoyed many compliments in a Kiko skin....so I bit my lip and clicked!

And was delighted! I was still Tam--I know it's the shape that makes the features, but still was afraid I wouldn't recognize myself. My structural integrity was intact, but my complexion bloomed, my lashes lengthened, I had scads of new looks for new moods!

That's what it's all about for Kiko/Tomi--the freedom to indulge in variations, even if you aren't so shape-shifting you want a new skin every month! The 6 skin tones have 30 makeup possibilities, as well as a choice of black or brown eyebrows. And there's an eyepack, too, and shapes, and..... "A woman without options is a slave," Kiko declared.

After my frenzy of trying one makeup after another--some subtle and natural, others dramatic for parties, or bright and professional, a Goth/fantasy or two slipped in--I settled in to ask some questions of the creator.

The rl Kiko/Tomi first wanted to be an anthropologist surrounded by dirt and dusty tomes, but she was steered into writing at about age 18. She rapidly became an accomplished columnist, writer, web publisher and businesswoman, working in both the West Indies and London. Her forays into this world forced her to conquer graphics, and her legacy--mom is a painter, dad was a sculptor--had already familiarized her with color and form.

But skins are no piece of cake--unless, perhaps, you label a tone "Devil's Food Cake." Despite familiarity with Photoshop and a good eye, the transition took time. But it was a mission.

Kiko/Tomi had been on SL since 2006 and wasn't happy with the skin tones being produced for the diaspora. Many looked lifeless, probably because their makers never paid close enough attention to the undertones and the rainbow of shades in the diaspora. She started by trying Elo Elliot's templates, spending three weeks working on her first set, with nary a salvagable skin to show for her labors.

She didn't like the shapes either--nor the end results of tinted European faces on bodies that sometimes had booming bosoms and buttocks, but lacked reality or subtlety. Beginning with shapes, she decided to launch Kiko Life to market them in March 2009. Thirty shapes are now available. As we were talking, a customer gushed about a recent purchase: "Just bought Zaila shape - I love it, I've never looked so good!"

Skins were still getting under her skin, however, despite the shapes' success. More improved versions were showing up on the market, but not with the exact look she sought. Plus, she knew how many possibilities were possible. "How on earth could a redbone, red haired child like me grow up in the Caribbean--BARBADOS of all places--and NOT be conscious of skin tones?" So, it was back to the drawing board, fired up and ready to paint after two months of stalled frustration.

Things flowed! But the computer crashed and her new files were lost. Undaunted (she is a heroine, after all!), her zeal glued her to her seat and she started yet again. Now a new skin takes a few hours. The makeup is available suited to every tone; all the skins sell well, and makeups 04, 16, and 27 are particularly popular. Some additional ones are in the works.

She does some photosourcing, but blends that with her own handpainting for a fantastic and original result, beautifully highlighted and shaded. I particularly like the makeups with little eye doodads, which Kiko said had mostly featured in fae and other less worldly skins elsewhere on SL. Not socko-pow like Mike Tyson's neo-Maori facial tattoo, they are delicate and sexy, making you wish you had a personal maid to paint one over the crow's feet each morning (oh, I'm not talking about MYSELF, you understand!).

The male skins are particularly welcome, along with less hulking musclebound shapes than those dominating SL. (Oliha is a Kiko, and gets constant compliments.) Kiko says of the male skins, "They were less fun because they were like waaaayyyy harder. The muscle. And with the men the shapes and proportions are a lot larger than women, so [the skins] needed to accommodate a lot of stretching."

Kiko/Tomi has big plans--the sim will expand, and so will her product lines. Besides her main store, she usually has about 15 satellites (Saminaka included!). It's now looking as if thisingle mom might make a rl living at sl, Photoshopping as her son happily pulverizes his Fruit Loops. Part of it the brand's success is due to her marketing skills, as well as the excellence of her products. She does her own photos and ads, and uses her group effectively to give out freebies and trials.

Her website, http://www.kikolife.com/index.php?option=com_wordpress&Itemid=106, proclaims on its banner "How to look great in minutes, not months," and she is ultrakind to noobies who have lots to learn.

So some hints on the upcoming items? Well, some new shades, some new men's shapes, and some new products--I promised mum's the word on the last, but they are very exciting directions! And I'm trying to get her to promise and do some African scarifications exclusively for the Saminaka store...

See more of the skins on Kiko/Tomi's Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1030431@N21/

Enough of writing--I must change my makeup and be off to troll the clubs, picking up hapless men in my new improved self. Kiko had the last word: "I dunno Tam. You look like you--but more you than I've ever seen you. I will BITE you if I see that old skin again--EVER!" She won't--and nobody better try to take the Butterscotch away from this baby!