Venetian Love Affair

Venetian Love Affair opens on a couple standing at the edge of a candlelit canal, and the first thing you touch is a mask sitting on a velvet stand. Slide it onto her face and the whole portrait shifts color, since the mask sets the mood for everything added after it.

The wardrobe splits into masks, gowns, hairstyles, jewelry, and lip colors, each stacked in its own row along the side of the screen. Masks range from a feathered gold piece to a plain lace half-mask, gowns run from a corseted ballgown to a slit satin dress, and hairstyles swing between a twisted updo and loose curls pinned back with combs. Jewelry adds a pearl choker or drop earrings over the collar, and the lip row holds shades from a deep wine to a soft rose, layered last over whatever base gown was picked first.

The one thing this princess dress up game does that most solo makeovers skip is put a partner in the frame, so every mask or gown chosen sits next to a second figure dressed to match the same evening. A round ends with a still portrait of the two of them under strung lanterns, ready to save before swapping the mask and starting over.

Pick the mask before anything else, since a bold jeweled one calls for a simpler gown while a delicate lace mask can carry more embellishment elsewhere. Save the lip color for last, so it can be judged against the finished mask and hair together instead of guessed at early. Check the jewelry against the mask's trim color, a mismatch there is the easiest detail to miss.