Skyrim was an absolute graphical masterpiece when it came out and in some aspects, it still is. However, the faces of the characters in the game really haven’t stood the test of time as well and so, they can often feel lifeless or just very basic.
This list brings you a comprehensive guide to all the mods in the game that change and improve the overall graphical fidelity of the character models. So, in no particular order, let's take a look!
15. Superior Lore-Friendly Hair (HD Textures)
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/36510/
Most of the hair styles in Skyrim straight up just look like someone put wet cloth on your head, or even made a packet of noodles and just let them rest on your noggin. It’s unfortunate, especially for those of us who love to get immersed in the games we play and want to inhabit the shoes of our character as much as possible.
This is where the superior lore friendly hair mod comes in. This mod adds brilliant new textures to the characters hair, making it look more lifelike and even makes it move better and more realistically. Hair Care is of the utmost importance for any self-respecting adventurer!
14. Actually Attractive Elves
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/83266
In most fantasy worlds, Elves are typically described as the fairest and most beautiful of all the races so it was pretty shocking when you booted up Skyrim and saw that the Elves in that game looked like THAT. Sure, they were fine back when we played the game initially, but now they’re terrifying.
This mod fixes this issue, especially in terms of creating an Elven character for yourself as it adds a lot more defaults and templates. These are just simply way more aesthetically appealing and really lend into the legend of the beauty of the Elves.
13. KJ Tattoos
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50032
I always found it weird that with how deep the game of Skyrim is in almost every regard, the tattoo options always seemed fairly lackluster. Just having a couple of dirty marks on your face doesn’t really constitute good tattoos.
KJ Tattoos is a brilliant tattoo overhaul mod that adds hundreds of new and unique tattoos to the game, with the option of you being able to put these tattoos on pretty much any part of your body.
12. Northborn Scars
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/720
This is easily the best scars related mod that is available in the entire game. The scars in the vanilla game always just seemed like marks across the faces of characters without really much depth to them at all.
Northborn Scars adds brilliant new textures to the scars, making it actually seem like they were gained in arduous battles in the unforgiving parts of Skyrim against vicious beasts and enemies rather than just seeming like they were plastered on. It replaces all the scars of the vanilla game with the new and better textured ones.
11. Better Vampire Fangs & Eyes
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/38829
The option of transforming into a vampire was added to the game with the Dawnguard DLC and is easily one of the coolest gameplay styles in the whole game. Even the base models of vampires in Skyrim are pretty good as they are, but it doesn’t mean that they can’t be improved.
This mod makes the fangs of each vampire much more prominent and more detailed, as well as making their eyes pop out way more and glow red. This is a great addition as they now more closely resemble the vampires of legend and make them far more terrifying to deal with.
10. Brows
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/30411
Now, now. I know this may seem like a bad pick for a mod for how miniscule the difference is but hear me out. The brow options in Skyrim are genuinely very bad as all the options just make it seem like very few hairs on the brow and the shapes are very limited.
This mod just adds HD textures to the eyebrows in the game and brings forth many more options to choose for your player. This works perfectly with the Beards mod of the game, but the brows option still greatly transforms the look of characters just from the base game as well.
9. Beards
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/28363
The companion mod of the previous Brows mod, this is one of the most essential texture mods for the load order of most players of Skyrim. It greatly overhauls and improves the beard styles of the vanilla game, as well as adding many new options itself.
The Beards mod adds brilliant new textures to the beards of the characters of the game and definitely strengthens the immersion of the game by making it seem very realistic. Definitely give the Beards and Brows mods a try!
8. Enhanced Character Edit
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/12951/
A great mod that allows the player to edit their characters in a much more natural and realistic way in order for them to best fit the tone of Skyrim and for the player to be immersed in the game as much as possible.
What this mod does is that it essentially makes the character edit menu way more nuanced by adding more options and even sliders for different parts of the characters body and adding a ton of new options as well. If you’re willing to put in the effort, your character can look exactly how you want with the help of this mod.
7. ApachiiSkyHair
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/10168
Another hair mod? Another hair mod. With hair mods being some of the most common character beauty mods available for the whole game, the competition to be on the list really depends on how each mod differentiates itself. This is where the ApachiiSkyHair mod comes in!
This mod not only adds customisable hair options for human characters, but also for Elves, Orcs, Khajiit etc. and are way more detailed and varied than other mods. This is because while it adds different hair styles, many of them are mods that are hairstyles that have been repurposed from Oblivion and other games!
6. Total Character Makeover
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1037/?
I’ll cheat a little bit. This one isn’t exactly a mod, rather it is a collection of different mods that can all be downloaded into your load order at the same time as they’re put into a neat package in the form of this one ‘mod’.
This is a collection of some of the best character looks mods that have ever been made for the game. The best part about that is that they are all compatible with each other, meaning that you can use all of them at the same time and not worry about any crazy glitches or game breaks.
5. Eyes of Aber
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/59952/
When it comes time to talk about beauty mods for Skyrim, not all of them have to be dependent on realism, they can even include fantastical elements that just serve to enhance the beauty of the characters. The Eyes of Aber is one such mod; one that sacrifices realism for just looking great.
This mod just serves to make eyes in the game as beautiful as possible, making eyes that range from sky blue to blood red. It just makes the eyes of the character really stand out and give a piercing gaze to your character.
4. Freckle Mania 2
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/86208
This may seem like a fairly useless mod to have and is especially one that is very situational. Well, it’s a good thing that this list is in no particular order because I really like this mod!
This is because it really gives a sense of life to the world of Skyrim by giving redheads of the game varying degrees of freckles, those that range from just on their face to those that may be all over their body. It’s a very tiny addition but one that definitely makes it feels as if the world is a bit more real.
3. Caliente’s Beautiful Bodies
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/2666
Now this is a mod that definitely dips more into the depraved and NSFW side of the modding community. However, that’s not what we will talk about here. Instead, we will talk about all the cool body modifications you can make to your character.
With this mod, you can choose to make your character as fit or unfit as you like, as it even adds sliders and details about just how you want your character's overall frame to look like. Sure, its NSFW aspect is one thing but if you want your character to look great, this is one mod you shouldn’t sleep on.
2. Windsong Immersive Character Overhaul
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2136
This is most people’s go-to beauty and character mod for Skyrim. This is the total package and upon downloading this, you probably won’t even need most of the aforementioned mods as this contains almost everything you could possibly ask for in terms of customization.
Not only does this include overall changes to all the aspects, but it also includes all the lore friendly modifications and customizations that you can add to your character. All of this plus the usage of new and improved textures definitely makes this mod a no-brainer.
1. Racemenu Presets
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/19080
Racemenu presets is a great mod that can really help your overall character creation and customization, especially if the desired look that you want just isn’t coming to you no matter how much time you take on your character.
This mod includes great presets for characters that already look really good and also adds those presets to your character so you can play the game asa great looking character. What’s even better is the fact that once you choose a preset, you can still customize that to remove any small or big aspects that you don’t like and just use the rest!
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