LAQ’s Elle Era2 Head was the excuse I needed to upgrade my avatar, and now it’s 75% off for one week only! – Ryan Schultz

Personal note: I have been meaning to write this blog post for quite some time, but life has been quite hectic lately and I haven’t had the time. However, today I took a sick day off from work with various aches and pains and my 60 year old body is telling me that I need to rest, recharge and heal a little so I decided today was the day to write. finally Please write this review (plus I found out about the sale yesterday!).

Since 2017, my Second Life avatar, Vanity Fair, has maintained the same standard components: a Catwa Kimberly mesh head and a Maitreya Lara mesh body (with Daria skin from The Skinnery). Every so often—usually after struggling with the complex and unintuitive Catwa HUD and pulling out my hair—I’ll teleport to a LeLutka store and pick up a different model of LeLutka EvoX head from Vanity for a test drive, which I can use as a replacement. Thanks to LeLutka’s clever marketing (including giving away free male and female heads every December for the past four years!), the EvoX has become a nearly that much A new standard across the grid.

However, I decided to stick with my Catwa Kimberly hair, which I’ve grown attached to over the years (a common occurrence for Second Life users). So for years, this is what Vanity looked like.

However, in February I decided to purchase version 1.0 of the Elle Era2 Bento mesh head from LAQ after receiving and using a free demo. This is Vanity Fair wearing one of the three free head skins you get when you join Sophia, a free store group from LAQ.

There are actually three heads in the Era2 skin package: Standard, EvoX, and SupremeUHD. The Standard works with standard SL head skins, and the EvoX works with all LeLutka-EvoX compatible head skins (as mentioned earlier, there are new in fact Standard). But what really caught my eye was the SupremeUHD skin. This skin was new and, in my opinion, an exclusive innovation to LAQ.

The level of detail on this head using SupremeUHD skin and makeup is as follows: Insane! Here’s an extreme close-up of Vanity in her Sophia skin:

I was also impressed with the animation section of the HUD, which offered a variety of moods and animations. You can choose from several moods, and your head will randomly switch between them at random time intervals.

Here’s a 30 second clip (without sound) showing some of the moods (Vanity is wearing the Susanna skin on the Elle Era2 SupremeUHD head in the clip, which I recently got as a gift from Bellisseria for their 5th anniversary event). I switched from Sophia to Susanna, which is the skin Vanity Fair wears every day, and I like it! I also love the different smile moods on the Era2 Elle head, from a simple closed smile to a wide grin!

Over the past 4 months I’ve been experimenting with a variety of Vanity Fair looks using the LAQ Era2 head, paired with another upgrade, the Maitreya LaraX body, and have been very pleased with it. To give you a better feel for the head, here’s a gallery of some recent looks (click on each photo to see them full size):

And if reading this blog post has piqued your interest in the LAQ Era2 heads, you’re in luck. For this week only, both the male and female LAQ Era2 heads are on sale for 75% off the regular price! The selling price is only L$1,150. When asked on Flickr how long the sale price would last, LAQ owner Mallory Cowen replied, “From now until mid-summer (next weekend).” That means there’s only a limited amount of time to snag this head!

Teleport to the LAQ store (SLURL) and you’ll find the female and male Era2 head vendors, along with 4 free skins for the Era2 head (3 female, 1 male) if you join the LAQ store group (there’s also a sign telling you to join the group, it’s free). Both heads have been updated to version 1.2, which adds several improvements, including more hairbase and makeup options.

I love this hair so much that I took advantage of the one-week sale and went out to buy it. six Here’s another Era2 female head to use with 6 female alternate characters! Here’s one of those alternate characters, Fire Bird, wearing the SupremeUHD Emma skin (and another freebie if you join the LAQ Store Group for free). Again, click on each picture to see it full size and appreciate the details of this head and face skin.

Remember, this 75% off sale only lasts until midsummer (i.e. this weekend). Unfortunately, I don’t know the exact date and time when this sale will end, so if you’re interested, don’t hesitate, because this is a huge discount!

Free Fashionista Tips: In this photo, Fire Bird is wearing a LAQ Elle Era2 mesh head with a LucyBody Atenea mesh body. Looking for a cheap mesh body that’s compatible with Maitreya-Lara? Just pound the Midnight Madness board at LucyBody and wait until it hits 350 (usually within 2-3 days) and you’ll get the Atenea female mesh body for free, which is fully compatible with the clothing designed for Maitreya Lara! The Atenea body’s feet are Slink compatible and come in 3 heel heights (flat, mid, high), but the latest version of this body also includes a special foot setting that’s compatible with Maitreya Lara’s high heel shoes. (You can also get the BoM skin by purchasing the Bakes on Mesh HUD for L$250 to use with this body, see image below.)

June 18 Update: Tonight I used the Sophia SupremeUHD skin gift to create the following blonde look for another female alter character, Summer Fall, which I’m pretty happy with (and I really like the realistic smile animation on this hair!):

Additionally, in addition to the two SupremeUHD Hairbase HUDs newly added to Era2 Head Version 1.2, you can purchase a third SupremeUHD Hairbase HUD for just L$1 from the No Match Hair store to match the hairstyles sold there.Exact SLURL; see figure below):

Let’s take a look back at summer and fall at my favorite SL club, LOVE.

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