UPDATED AS OF DECEMBER 24th! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: FREE LeLutka Evolution Kaya and Logan Heads, Available ONLY from December 12th to 24th, 2021!

IMPORTANT NOTICE: I have been informed that many of the stores participating in the LeLutka 12 Days of Christmas promotion have already taken down their gifts today, December 24th. You also can no longer access the three special sims where you could pick up the LeLutka gift!

The posters for this event said it runs from December 12th to 24th, but I never know whether or not that means Dec. 24th is included in that date range! I find it very irritating when stores do this, and I do apologize to those of you who had waited until Christmas Eve to try and pick up these generous gifts.

O.K., I am breaking my vow to take a December vacation from blogging to report on a special, time-limited freebie in Second Life! LeLutka has once again this year decided to gift us with two free Bento mesh heads from their Evolution line, Kaya for the women and Logan for the men! These are the full and complete versions, on which you normally would spend thousands of Linden dollars!

According to their post on Flickr:

Hello LeLU’s,

It is so hard to believe Christmas is just 12 days away! We know last year we gave away two heads due to the pandemic and to help cheer everyone up, while we are hoping everything will be back to normal soon, we know it will be a little bit longer before it does. We have had a successful year even though we have experienced some bumps along the way, but one thing remains, your support has pushed us to reach new heights, and thanks to you, we are celebrating yet another year in Second Life.

Today, LeLUTKA has worked hard on two new releases (KAYA and LOGAN), but these are a little different… these will be set to L$0 for ALL of our group members from December 12th to December 24th (once this period is done, we will set them to our regular price), while this will not help alleviate the situation around the world, please allow us the opportunity to make this period a brighter one.

We only ask one thing of you, actually, a couple (lol):
– Do NOT use hammers as this will impact the performance of the sims.
– Take your HUDs off, and anything that will create lag.
– Stay time has been limited to 10 minutes per agent, those who remain will be sent home.
– And do not idle on the sims, this will ensure everyone gets a chance to grab the gifts.

We have rented a total of 3 sims in hopes that this will assist with the masses, please note: GIFTS WILL NOT BE ON OUR MAIN SIM, as we want everyone to be able to shop for their favorite heads. Take the taxi to one of the following 3 sims for KAYA AND LOGAN: 

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Twilight%20Woods/134/119/21 

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mischief%20Roses/128/128/2 

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Jubilee/128/128/2

There’s a lot in these packages! Here’s the contents of the main folder of the Kaya head once you unpack it:

Note that you have 7 more items labelled “Unpack” at the bottom of this folder to unpack: Bakes on Mesh add-ons for LeLutka Classic and LeLutka Evo X heads, hairbases for Classic and Evo X, piercings, gestures—even a Christmas surprise!

Yes, that’s right: these heads come with a HUD to allow you to select whether to use standard-definition LeLutka Evolution Classic skins, or higher-resolution LeLutka Evolution X skins!

The LeLutka group is free to join, but this special offer ends on Christmas Eve, so don’t delay! Expect all three sims to be very crowded, so please be patient.

UPDATE December 13th, 2021: I was able to get a male alt into one of the three sims to pick up the LeLutka Logan head, and I wanted to show you what he looks like, using the default brow and head/body shape included in the package. There are 5 skin tones included in the package, but you will still need to purchase body skin to match (I just picked a skin tone for my Legacy mesh body that came the closest to this head skin, skin tone 3, but it’s not a perfect match). You can also see the eye settings on the included HUD; I have found that the eyes are very adjustable!

One thing which I forgot to mention is that about a dozen other stores are piggy-backing on this generous offer by LeLutka, by offering free gifts of their own! One of these stores is Stray Dog, where you can pick up the following highly realistic skin in three skin tones (again, only the head skin is free; you will still need to buy body skin). I quite like this skin, although it does have a bit of a frowny look to it!

Here’s what the Logan head looks like with the Clef de Peau gift, in one of the Clef de Peau skin tones and adding high-definition eyebrows from the LeLutka head HUD (again, you need to purchase matching body skin separately):

The gift package from Clef the Peau contains head skins in 5 Clef de Peau skin tones and 4 Velour skin tones (Beige, Fair, Peach, and Petal). This is what the beige head skin looks like (the eyebrows are part of the skin; note also that there is a gradual neck face so these skins might work better with a different body skin).

Now, it just so happens that VELOUR is giving away body skins for male and female bodies! The problem is that the tones for the male body skin are called Moon, Pluto, Sand, and Silk! So I had to spend some time testing out combinations, mixing and matching Clef de Peau head skins with VELOUR body skins. Here’s the closest match I could get, the Beige Clef de Pau head skin with the Silk VELOUR body skin. This is the so-called “soft” body skin; if you want ripped muscles and washboard abs, you gotta pay extra for those, sweetheart! 😉

Finally, here is the Not Found head skin on the Logan head, which comes in five different skin tones (the one shown below is the Tanned skin; once again, you have to purchase matching body skin):

Below are my ROUGH NOTES on which stores are offering free gifts as part of this promotion. I have not included a few stores where I really disliked the look of the gift skin or cosmetics (sorry, guys!), and I have not yet visited any of the stores offering the women’s skin gifts (perhaps later this week?).

Note that all of these stores are INSANELY busy right now, so please be patient! I expect things will die down a bit when we get closer to Christmas Eve, which is the final day of these promotions. Even if you get into the sim, you still might have to wait a while because everybody is clicking madly on the same vendor panels to receive their gifts (at No Found, I waited a full fifteen minutes).


Not Found (free group join)
BoM male and female skins for LeLutka Evo X (head and ear skin; body skin sold separately) See above for a picture of the men’s skin (I couldn’t show you the women’s skin because the sim is currently, ironically “Not Found”!).
UPDATE Dec. 22nd, 2021: Here’s the new SLURL (thanks, Dreamer!)

Clef de Peau (free group join)
BoM male and female skins for LeLutka Evo X (head with neck fade and ears in 5 Clef de Peau skin tones and 4 Velour skin tones) Body skin sold separately, but note the VELOUR body skin deal below! (Please see above for a picture of the men’s skin, and below for a picture of the women’s skin.)

MILA (free group join)
Women’s eyebrows for Evo X

TOP1SALON (free group join)
Women’s lipsticks for Evo X

Lilo’s Fit (free group join)
Shape for Kaya head

Avi-Glam (no group needed)
Nice eyes in purple, green and brown (LeL, BoM)

DeeTalez (free group join)
Women’s skin for Evo X (see image below)

VELOUR (free group join)
men’s Eros Lite skins and women’s Ipanema skins in four skin tones each (also a Black women’s head skin gift). The men’s skin comes in versions for Belleza Jake and Legacy in the following skin tones: Moon, Pluto, Sand, and Silk. The women’s skin comes in versions for Maitreya, Legacy, Kupra, and eBody Reborn, in the following skin tones: Brownie, Chantilly, Ebony, and Porcelain (also a no-nipples version). A package of ear skin and neck fixes for the female skin is included.

The gift from VELOUR is male and female Bakes on Mesh skin for a variety of mesh bodies

Nuve (temporary free group join)
A very generous gift of women’s skin for Evo X (see picture below)

Lara Hurley (free group join)
Women’s skin for Evo X (se picture below)

Bold & Beauty (temporary free group join)
Women’s skin for Evo X (see picture below)

Glam Affair (temporary free group join)
Women’s skin for Evo X (see picture below)

Stray Dog (free group join)
Men’s skin for Evo X (head & ears only; body skin sold separately) Please see above for an image of this highly-realistic male skin.


Note that some stores which usually charge to join their store group are free to join during this promotion, so you just might want to stay subscribed to them if you have the group space!

UPDATE Dec. 17th, 2021: Here’s what the Kaya head looks like with the default eyebrow and head/body shape, wearing Tome 4 of the included head and ear skin, plus the brown eyebrow tattoo (you can also choose high-definition eyebrows from the LeLutka HUD):

The LeLutka Kaya head with default shape and skin

Unlike the men’s skin gifts up top, the Clef de Peau head skins and the Velour Ipanema LITE body skins do come in two of the same skin tones (Chantilly and Porcelain); the heads also come in the Cloudy, Frost, Ibiza, Rose Kiss, Sienna, and Sunkissed skin tones, and the body skin also comes in Brownie and Ebony. Here’s what the Chantilly Clef de Peau head skin and Velour body skin looks like together:

The gift from Nuve is this Angie skin for LeLutka Evo X, which includes the Bakes on Mesh body skin and ear skin in the package. This generous gift includes 15 different skin tones! Here’s what the Fair skin tone looks like:

Here is the Salma skin from DeeTalez (you must purchase the matching body skin separately, but the gradual neck fade on this skin means you could probably match it with a different body skin). The head skin comes in versions with blonde eyebrows, brown eyebrows (as shown), or a no-eyebrow version. Ear skin, eyeshadow, and lipgloss layers are included in the package/

The Dani lightly freckled head skin from Lara Hurley comes in two skin tones (Pale and Midtone, both with red and brown eyebrow options and matching ear skin). You will have to purchase matching body skin separately, but there is a neck fade in the package which you can use with a different skin (I just reused the Bakes on Mesh body skin from Nuve for this picture):

The gift from Bold & Beauty is the women’s Frozen head and ear skin in 3 skin tones (Amber, Porcelain, and Sand) in 4 different eyebrows each (blonde, brown, dark brown, and browless). Matching body skins are sold separately.

From Glam Affair comes the following women’s LeLutka Evo X head and ear skin in two skin tones (Milk and Fair) in 3 eyebrow options (blonde, brown, and browless). The gift includes a separate package of tintable cosmetics and freckles. Matching body skin is sold separately, but the skins have a neck fade which means you could probably wear them with a different skin.


I also wanted to mention that many stores which are not part of the LeLutka 12 Days of Christmas promotion are also giving away skins for LeLutka Evolution mesh heads over the holidays. Here are just a couple of them:

Koonz (free group join)
Two women’s head and ear skins for LeLutka Evo X: Snow (4 Velour skin tones) and Mary (3 Velour skin tones). Body skins are sold separately, but there is a neck blend included in the packages so you could wear them with a different skin, as shown below. Please note that the Velour Ipanema LITE body skins gift mentioned above comes in one of the same skin tones as the Mary skin does (Chantilly).

Koonz’s Snow skin in the Rose Kiss skin tone

Dernier (free group join)
Women’s Kaya hear and ear skin for LeLutka Evo X in seven Velour skin tones (matching body skins sold separately). However, please note that the Velour Ipanema LITE body skins gift mentioned above come in four of the same skin tones (Brownie, Chantilly, Ebony and Porcelain); the Dernier Kaya head and ear skin also comes in the Rose Kiss, Sienna, and Sunkiss skin tones.

UPDATE Dec. 19th: I wanted to add a couple more stores which are giving away free skins for LeLutka Evo X (and I also updated the rough notes up top, and added a few more pictures to show you what the skins look like).

ItGirls (no group needed)
Women’s Natalia head skin for LeLutka Evo X in 7 skin tones (matching body skin sold separately):

Reed (free group join)
Ully women’s head and ear skin in 3 skin tones (Velour body skin sold separately). This skin does not come with eyebrows, so I used the high-definition ones from the LeLutka HUD, as shown here. Please note that the Velour Ipanema LITE body skins gift mentioned above come in two of the same skin tones (Chantilly and Porcelain); the third head skin is called Frost.

Happy freebie shopping!

UPDATED AS OF DECEMBER 12th, 2021! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies—What Advent Calendars and 12 Days of Christmas Calendars I’ll Be Hitting This December (2021 Edition)

TWO IMPORTANT NOTICES, PLEASE READ:

I am taking a vacation from blogging for the entire month of December. Between the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the recently concluded faculty strike at my university, I am utterly exhausted, and I need to take a break. I hope that you understand. I will be back in January 2022!

I will *NOT* be doing a daily blogpost of that day’s best Advent Calendar/12 Days of Christmas Calendar gifts this year; instead, I will be posting a notecard with all of my picks of the best gifts for that day (with store SLURLs) to my new Second Life group called RyanSchultz.com Steals, Deals & Freebies. The group costs L$50 to join.

Photo by David-Olivier Gascon on Unsplash

December is truly the most wonderful time of the year for freebie fashionistas in Second Life! Many stores have either an Advent calendar or a 12 Days of Christmas calendar, where you can pick up a free gift each day.

This year, instead of wearing myself out trying to hit every single calendar on the grid, I will be focusing my energy on just a select few which, year after year, consistently offer the best gifts. Here are my top picks for 2021!

Please note that I will be updating this blogpost regularly between now and Christmas, so bookmark this post and check back often for any changes or updates.

Lists of Advent Calendars for 2021

TeleportHub.com’s Advent Calendar listing is already up
  • The 2021 Advent list by SL Hunts
  • The Advent Calendar Store List 2021 by TeleportHub.com
  • The December Advent Listing by Fabulously Free in SL, which is the biggest list
  • UPDATE Dec. 1st, 2021, 2:13 p.m.: The 2021 Seraphim Gift List (which includes Advent calendars, holiday sales, and stores with giftable vendors and transferable items) has just been published!
  • UPDATE Dec. 1st, 2021, 10:25 p.m.: The Second Life Syndicate is taking a different approach! Instead of a list, they are maintaining a Google spreadsheet, which you can access here. The group-edited spreadsheet already has over 180 rows!
  • UPDATE Dec. 2nd, 2021, 1:40 p.m.: The hardworking folks over at the Russian-language VKontakte group Second Life – FREE are posting a daily roundup of that day’s Advent calendar gifts, with pictures! And they are actually building a list of stores with links to pictures of each day’s Advent gift! This is probably THE easiest way to actually see each day’s calendar gifts without teleporting all over the grid, collecting and unpacking items! (Please remember to use the Russian-to-English translator in your Chrome browser to read the posts in this Russian-language community. You do not need to set up an account on VKontakte; just click on the “Not Now!” link every time a pop-up appears asking you to log in.)
  • UPDATE Dec. 2nd, 2021, 2:13 p.m.: Low Price Fashion in Second Life is a little-known Japanese blog which usually posts a daily roundup of that day’s Advent calendar gifts (again, you will need to use the automatic Japanese-to-English translator in your Chrome web browser to read the posts).
  • UPDATE Dec. 3rd, 2021, 12:29 p.m.: Advent Calendars 2021 With Previews Updated Daily is a truly heroic attempt by Snarkness of the SugarSL blog to cover as many Advent calendar gifts as possible each day. Thank you, Snarkness!
The December Advent Listing from FabFree has the biggest list of Advent and 12/15 Days of Christmas calendars on the grid!

Five Advent Calendars I Will Be Visiting Every Day

The Advent calendar at Essenz women’s footwear store
  • Firelight Hair has an Advent calendar running from December 1st to 24th (you do need to join the Firelight group for free). You have to pick up each gift on the day it is offered. The gifts are mostly women’s hairstyles, but there will also be a few male/unisex styles. All hair gifts usually come with a mini 3-colour HUD.
  • 7 Deadly s[K]ins has an advent tree in their store, with generous gifts every day from Dec. 1st through to the 31st! Please note that you do have to join the new store group, called SEVEN – [7DS], to pick up these gifts; this group is free to join until Jan. 1st, 2022! So you have no excuse this year not to pick up some new skin for your avatar.
  • Virtue offers an Advent calendar with beautiful clothing gifts for women. The emphasis here is on classic, modest fashion. You do need to join the Virtue group for L$25 to pick up these gifts; you also need to show up each day to pick up that day’s gift.
  • Entice offers Advent calendar gifts of womenswear from December 1st to 25th (you do have to join the Entice group for free). Again, you do have to show up each day to pick up that day’s gift.
  • Essenz has an Advent calendar where you can pick up a gift of high-quality women’s footwear every day (the Essenz group costs L$350 to join). If you missed a day, or are not a group member, you can pick up previous days’ gifts for only L$50 each.

Three 12 Days of Christmas Calendars I Will Be Visiting Every Day

The 12 Days of Christmas calendar at Baby Monkey starts December 14th, 2021

Most of these calendars start on Dec. 12th, 13th, or 14th, and run until Christmas Eve or Christmas Day (and a few stores are having a 15 Days of Christmas calendar starting Dec. 10th, so be sure to check!).

  • The Baby Monkey 12 Days of Christmas calendar offers a free gift each day. All the gifts together form a complete, colour-coordinated capsule wardrobe. You do have to show up each day to pick up that day’s gift.
  • JUMO usually gives away lovely gifts of women’s apparel and jewelry from Dec. 12th-Dec. 24th, as well as on New Year’s Eve (the JUMO group is free to join). This is the place to pick up some beautiful ballgowns and costume jewelry!
  • UPDATE Dec. 12th, 2021: It would appear that the eBENTO Event has been cancelled for December, according to chatter in the eBento group in Second Life. So that means that there will also be no Advent calendar from them this year! 🙁
Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash