Like him or hate him, Count Vladislaus Straud IV is part of the game. For most players, he is an early annoyance that most of us evict and delete immediately after his unannounced visit. One thing is clear if you are thinking about Halloween themes and creepy townies, Vlad comes to mind first. We decided that Vlad needed a softer more modern look, so we gave Vlad a Makeover!
About Count Vladislaus Straud IV
So who is this neighbor that only comes out at night? Well, Vlad is a townie that came with the Sims 4: Vampires Pack. What do we know about Vlad? Vlad is unemployed and his traits are; loner, music lover, evil, and a quick learner. In the game, Vlad’s lot starts off with $20,000 simoleons. Vlad has a high skill in charisma, pipe organ, and vampire lore. Although Vlad appears to be an elder he is in fact a young adult Sim. He is also quite dangerous and powerful, contrary to his fragile appearance. According to lore, Vlad was a sole survivor of a disaster settler party of twenty-five sims over two hundred years ago. He lives alone in the Straud manor and claims to be Count Vladislaus Straud IV. Now we all know and believe in our heart that there has only ever been one Vlad.
The Straud mansion is in the neighborhood of Forgotten Hollow, Vlad supposedly founded this town in the memory of the other settlers. Of course, now Forgotten Hollow is a known location for vampires and also perfect for creepy Halloween screenshots.
The Makeover
Our Look of the Month for October is a dashingly elegant but Modern Vampire look. To make Vlad playable and allowed to stay in my game, he had to undergo a full-on reconstructive makeover and painless plastic surgery.
Vlad’s look was definitely outdated! We now say bye to creepy Vlad and say hello to our Modern Vampire Vlad! Vlad’s new look needed to be fresh and full of CC. Of course, all fifteen of these highlighted CC (Custom Content) items are all found here on TSR.
Hair -Magpiesan’s Kristian Hair
Magpiesan’s Kristian Hair is a perfect example of a real-life hairstyle trend that works great in Sims. The colors are beautiful and vibrant giving twenty-six swatches of options. The texture is very high quality and you can see the detail in the individual strands that lay to the side of the Sim’s face. The slightly messy longer comb over is a very popular hairstyle right now in the real world, so what better else to pick for a Modern Vampire for Vlad’s makeover.
Pralinesims’ MM Eyebrows N05 – Elle
Picking the right eyebrows can be a little tricky, especially when you are not trying to overly manipulate the Sim’s features. The Eyebrows N05 Elle by Pralinesims is a Maxis Match CC eyebrow that gives your sims a more polished look. There is a bit more detail in the eyebrow hairs and more curve styling, but not overly done. Eyebrows for male sims can be generally harder to find, so this modest but clean download is perfect for a lot of Sims who just want nice neat eyebrows.
Nords’ Lenis Skinblend & Nords’ MB Skinblend
Obviously, Nords’ skin blends are in general one of my go-to Sims CC. Lenis in particular just adds a nice finish to the overall texture and color to the sim and Lenis and MB together can add that look and features to your Sims’ appearance. My taste in Sims leans more Maxis Match and Nords’ CC is more geared to that style, however, a lot of the skin blends mix pretty well with any other skins. Vlad is a default skin and Nords’ creations work also work perfectly on the default game content. The way the blends are set up as different elements of facial details so that with some you can mix and match adding even more detail to your Sims.
RemusSirion’s Soli Lipstick
With the super light default skin tone selected for Vlad I wanted to bring his lips out just slightly. One of the most natural with just a hint of shine lipsticks for this purpose is RemusSirion’s Soli Lipstick. This content is nothing super bright or glaring, just a nice finishing touch to complete your Sims. RemusSirion is known for high-quality makeup and eye overlays, the Soli Lipstick is no different. It is a great item to have in your keeper folder as you can use for so many different occasions and looks.
Merci’s Contour Palatte N02
I personally am a fan of strong facial features, sure in Vlad’s case, these features are very strong. All I did was soften them up and made his jaw wider, chin shorter, and nose wider. With Vlad, I selected Merci’s contour as nose contour, as that nose is definitely a staple look for Vlad and needed to remain even after the makeover. The contour gives Vlad’s nose a little bit more shadowing and layers well with the face detail cc. Merci’s Contour Palatte N02 gives sims a nice finishing touch bringing out their features a bit more. Pairing this with the Nords’ skin blends gives a great balance of highlights and shadows on the Sim’s face.
RemusSirion’s Chaperone Eyes
One of the great things about many of RemusSirion’s eye overlays is that they are categorized in the face-paint category so they are easy to find and you can still add great makeup and skin details to your Sims. With anything RemusSirion makes you can expect high-quality results. The Chaperone Eyes in particular are very dramatic in their coloring and shadowing. The download comes in twenty-six different swatches and works with all ages and genders of Sims.
Pralinesims’ Damage Lip Ring Piercing Set
I really wanted to add piercings to Vald’s makeover. Although he is super creepy in-game he seems to be very clean cut and Victorian themed for style. For Vlad’s makeover, I wanted to create his look to be something completely different. Being that Vlad is technically a young adult sim I selected to modernize him up a bit, so at least one piercing was needed. The idea of a vampire with a lip ring seemed appropriate as the piercing would draw even more attention to Vlad’s mouth showing off his pearly white snappers.
Sugar Owl’s Spider Earrings
Even if you do not like spiders you have to admit that Sugar Owl’s Spider Earrings are super fun for Halloween. They are a little bit creepy but absolutely perfect for this particular look. The little spiders are offset on the different sides and they come in ten swatches. Perfect for a vampire who is known to creep around.
SimmieV’s SleekStreet Leather Jacket with Hoodie
SimmieV’s Sleek Street Leather Jacket is a City Living recolor that offers twelve variations for both male and female sims. There is a good mix of dark and vibrant colors within the swatches that add a lot of utility for your game. The gray and black were almost too perfect for a dark modern look for a vampire.
RemusSirion’s Salt Pants
The Salt Pants by RemusSirion are the most used pants I have ever downloaded. Their versatility is incredible and they are good quality content. The pants do not clip with any poses I have tried and pair easily with almost all other creators and maxis made tops. The colors are practical and the buttons and pockets add a nice clean bit of detail to the CC.
Feyona’s Skull Ring
The Skull Ring by Feyona screams “use me for Halloween!” The ring has a lot of detail for a small accessory and it not what I would consider to be a small ring. The Skull Ring also can be worn on either the right side or left, or if you really want to you can put it on both sides. I really like that this ring is that it is located on the index finger, allowing for more rings to be easily added without any weird overlay.
Pralinesims’ Short Nails for Men
Another great addition to Vlad’s makeover is Pralinesims’ Short Nails for Men. Looking for nail polish for your male sims? Pralinesims has you taken care of. This polish is for shorter nails and comes in a variety of great colors. It is not anything too bright or too long, just right for a sim who wants a little bit of color on their nails.
DarkNighTt’s Male Pride Socks
You cannot see them in the photos all that well, but they are there! Even for a vampire wearing leather boots without socks is a definite no-no. In dark colors, white socks unless they are ‘statement socks’ are also not advisable. Fortunately for Vlad here DarkNightT created these nice comfy lightweight socks that have a black swatch included.
SonyaSimsCC’s CAS Recolorable Background (Real Time)
I promise you this is not a lie, it is exactly what the description says. The lovely SonyaSimsCC created a CAS background as an accessory that has different color swatches. You can change the background color in real-time all in CAS. All of the solid blue backgrounds are from this download. There are a variety of colors ranging from super bright to dark colors. SonyaSimsCC has set up multiple different types of accessories as this background. This way you can still wear earrings or piercings and still have an empty spot to use this. This CC is an absolute game-changer for those of us that like to play photoshoot in CAS with our Sims, as it entirely eliminates having to swap out a new CAS BG for each image.
