Butta's Review - November Luxebox: Decoy, Rowne, Lamb, Tarte & Fancy Decor

LuxeBox November 2017

Every month we wait anxiously for the 15th and the release of a new LuxeBox. This month was no different. Let's dive in and see what this months box has to offer. In this post I will be looking at five of the items included in this months LuxeBox.

Butta's Base -  Maitreya Lara, Catwa Catya, Shape (Custom - Self Created)

Marissa Sweater - Decoy for Luxebox
Mara Jersey Skirt - Rowne for Luxebox
Wait Hair - Lamb for Luxebox
Modern Luxe Bench, Side Table and Candleabra - Fancy Decor for Luxebox
Delilah Shed - Tarte for Luxebox
Kerria Heels - Empire for Luxebox (Read Sami's Review)

Fall Key Table - Apple Fall
Charlotte's Pears - Apple Fall
Dandelion Pallete - Kunst
Ashdon Wall Illustrations - Trompe Loeil
Old Rug - Death Row Designs
Shimmer Strings - Keke
Snake Plant with Stand - What Next
Vintage Floral Room Divider -  Pilot
Sifter with Roses - 8f8
Chestnut Tree - Heart Botanicals

Review

Marissa Sweater: Available for Maitreya and Slink Hourglass, this off the shoulder, foldover sweater is available in 12 color options. The fit on Lara is what you would expect. The sweater comes with an auto-alpha in the top that works properly on both wear and remove. The biggest issue with all tops of this type in Second Life is the way the mesh reacts when the arm moves. Decoy has done about as good a job as possible making the mesh move properly as the arm moves. As you can see from these pictures, some extreme bends will show breakage but general wearing works as expected. I do notice some texture pulling during AO movements, but as mentioned that is very hard to avoid with a top of this style.

Mesh holds up pretty well to even an extreme bend

Showing a breakage in the mesh due to extreme bend in this pose

Mara Jersey Skirt -  This miniskirt comes sized for Maitreya, Hourglass, Freya and Isis bodies and can change between 8 colors on the HUD. The included Maitreya auto-alpha works properly on wear and remove. The skirt fits well with the included alpha except in the back. The included alphas are not quite enough to prevent all clipping, especially in the back. Fortunately you can add some additional alpha to fix the issue. Setting your alpha as shown below will make the skirt perfectly usable. Note that the alpha in the back is a little lower than the front, if you go lower on the front the alpha will be visible.

Wait Hair - Pony tail style, rigged mesh hair from Lamb with all of the normal fatpack HUDs we have come to expect. The hair sits fairly well on my head but could benefit from a resize option or an unrigged version as it sits almost a little too far off my ears. The included style HUD gives you four options for wearing the hair. Interestingly, one of the options is a shorter pony tail than the other the three styles which gives the hair some additional flexibility. The hair doesn't strictly need, but benefits from wearing a hairbase as none of the included styles have any bangs or wisps of hair at all in the front. There is some moderate alpha blend clipping with this hair when worn with clothing that has an alpha or standing in front of things like a window. its not overly noticeable but it is there.

Modern Luxe Decor - Set of three items from Fancy Decor in various colors. the bench (2 li) and table (1 li) each come with four color options and the candelabra (4 li) in just copper and silver. Each piece is separate and no HUDs are included. The overall look of the set is quite simple, and modern, with a combination of black or white leather with silver and copper metal accents. The texture does have materials enabled, and it can create quite a strong effect. The bench includes 7 poses in each of two swapable positions and includes the ability to adjust the poses by avatar. The bench is a bit small scale wise, it is both very narrow and quite short. It is modifiable though to make some adjustments. The candelabra has 5 candles which can each be individually lit/extinguished by clicking on the wick. 

Delilah Shed - A slight departure from the norm of what I expect from Tarte, this month we have a small, single room shed. The build is 13 land impact and comes with doors scripted to open and close with sounds. The build itself is fine though a bit small. My biggest issue with this, and with many buildings still in Second Life, is the inclusion of shadows in the texture of the build itself. As you can see in the picture below this building becomes far less useful for photographers when there is already a shadow on the floor which conflicts with the shadows created in world. In addition to the shadows included from the front doors there are shadows on the external wall from the lights above the door. I would have preferred to see an option that didn't have these shadows included or for Tarte to simply not included them at all. 

In world vs. baked shadows on the texture

Overall these items work for their intended purpose. I  would have loved to see more color options on both the skirt and the top, perhaps some more textures for the top other than simple solid colors. One thing that really is more on the creators of the box as a whole is that the Decoy top and the Cosmic Dust romper are very similar. I would love to see more variety in such a small set of items. This really isn't an issue with the designer so much as the creators of the box as a whole though.The Lamb hair is actually one of my favorite things from this round. I am very glad to see the included style HUD on the Lamb hair now. The shed and furniture are to me somewhat uninspired.

One pairing item to note. The top and skirt do glitch when worn together. I edited the area where the skirt pokes through in the picture below using Photoshop.