Tag: 15-Minute Avatar Makeover

UPDATED! Another Fifteen-Minute Second Life Avatar Makeover: Autumn Maiden

It’s 4:00 a.m. and I have a wicked case of insomnia, so I decided to get out of bed and present yet another in my series of my patented 15-minute SL avatar makeovers (you can find them all here).

I have an alt (with, appropriately enough, the legacy name of Autumn Winter), whom I tend to trot out at this time of year, dressed up as the avatar embodiment of autumn. Here’s a Before shot of the classic system avatar, wearing a system-layers-and-flexiprims outfit, and rocking a hat from ye olde pre-mesh days:

Not bad, but I wanted to challenge myself to see if I could upgrade this alt to mesh, as inexpensively as possible. Here’s the After shots, and I think you’ll agree with me that I succeeded:

Styling credits:

  • Mesh Head: Genus Strong head (still a free group gift from Genus Project; the Genus group is free to join)
  • Mesh Body: Atenea from LUCYBODY (available for free from their Midnight Madness board in-store; once the board hits 350, everybody wins a copy of this mesh body, which is Maitreya Lara-compatible for clothing and Slink-compatible for footwear; you will need to purchase a Bakes on Mesh applier for this body for L$197 to use it with BoM skins. Note that this MM board does not reset at midnight!)
  • Hair: Jamila fatpack from FAGA (available on the SL Marketplace for only L$1)
  • Bakes on Mesh Skin: Flower Girl skin in Autumn from 7 Deadly S[k]ins (a fatpack of these skins was a recent free gift from their Gift Board in-store; gifts change daily)
  • Gown: Kensie gown (a free group gift from Just Because; the Just Because group is free to join)
  • Flats (not shown): red flats by Garbaggio (part of a free sample pack of Slink-compatible shoes from Garbaggio, available on the SL Marketplace)

TOTAL COST OF THIS AVATAR MAKEOVER: Only L$198!

Pictures taken at the Deer River sim, a beautiful place for a virtual autumn stroll.

UPDATE Oct. 24th, 2021: The Halloween Shop and Hop gift from Caverna Obscura (exact SLURL) is this lovely autumn maple leaves head wreath, which is completely adjustable. It’s the perfect finishing touch for this autumn maiden look! You have until Nov. 1st to pick this freebie up, before it’s gone!

Bronze Beauty: A Head-to-Toe Second Life Avatar Makeover for Only L$197!

I still derive a great deal of personal satisfaction from styling a Second Life avatar as inexpensively as possible, but still looking like I spent thousands of Linden dollars! Here is what I was able to create today, using as my starting point a wonderful free skin I found at the COCOAMATRIX store, called Avril:

This avatar stands out in any crowd! She is wearing:

  • Head: Genus Strong Face (a free gift head from the Genus Project; includes the mesh eyes shown)
  • Body: Atenea body by LUCYBODY (a free Midnight Mania gift, more information here; requires a L$197 Bakes on Mesh applier to wear BoM skins)
  • Skin: Avril from COCOAMATRIX (this striking bronzed skin is a free group gift; the COCOAMATRIX group is free to join)
  • Hair: Raphael hair by Sintiklia (a free gift from their gift wall)
  • Outfit: Shey by Scandalize (the top and leggings are both free group gifts from the Scandalize Outlet store; more information here)
  • Pumps: Wales pumps by Essenz (I joined the Essenz group when they had a free group join period, and a fatpack of these versatile pumps were a recent group gift)

TOTAL COST OF THIS AVATAR LOOK: Only L$197! If this isn’t proof that you can pull together a polished look in SL for next to nothing, I don’t know what is.

UPDATED! Another Fifteen-Minute Second Life Avatar Makeover: You Must Be an Angel

No one on earth could feel like this
I’m thrown and overflown with bliss
There must be an angel
Playing with my heart

—There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart), by the Eurythmics

Time for another one of my patented 15-minute Second Life avatar makeovers! I hope that you enjoy these transformation as much as I do 🙂

This time, I have selected an alt which I have styled as a heavenly angel (her actual, Second Life legacy name is Prayerful Vigil, quite fitting!). Here is a before shot from 2018, a classic avatar with a system-layers-and-flexiprims outfit, outfitted with the free Bento wings and sword from the Marcus starter SL avatar:

And here is the after shot. This avatar is a perfect example of one of Ryan’s top ten tips for freebie hunting:

Be patient: Freebies can come and go; freebie stores like The Free Dove and Ajuda SL Brasil rotate their freebies regularly, so it’s worthwhile to visit every couple of months, just to see what’s new. It can take some time to pull together a complete look from various components picked up as freebies at different times from different stores and events.

In this case, the complete look was pulled together by patiently picking up freebies at various times throughout the past two years. I also took full advantage of the then-free Kalhene Ariadna mesh body when it was avialable! The wings and hale were the final two bits I picked up in the past week (please see the style credits below the picture for details).

This avatar is wearing:

  • Mesh Head: the Strong Face Bento mesh head by The Genus Project (free group gift; group is free to join)
  • Mesh Body: the Kalhene Ariadna mesh body (I was lucky enough to pick up the free predecessor of the current Kalhene Anya mesh body, which is now for sale for L$1,695 here; this body is compatible with Maitreya Lara apparel and footwear, and includes a Bento mesh head, not used here)
  • Bakes on Mesh Skin: White Queen skin gift by A&A (free on the SL Marketplace)
  • Hair: I picked this Jessi hair in goth white up from Sn@tch as a free prize in a previous year’s Trick or Treat Lane hunt
  • Necklace: This was a free hunt prize by Dreaming Thicket, in the Spring 2019 edition of the Twisted Hunt (which had a colour theme of gold and white, perfect for this angel avatar!)
  • Gown: This was also a free hunt prize in the Spring 2019 Twisted Hunt, from Appliqué Chic
  • Shoes (not shown): Amy flats from Hilly Haalan (free group gift; group is free to join)
  • Wings: golden Icon angel wings from Blueberry (I was able to pick up the Gold Pack of these wings last weekend, using the L$500 in free store credit which was in the group notices, and taking advantage of their four-day 50% Off Sale; the Blueberry group costs only L$20 to join)
  • Halo: Aether halo by Cubic Cherry (free gift at the current Engine Room shopping event; the event group is free to join; the halo is resizable and I made it smaller)
  • Sword: from the free Marcus starter Second Life avatar
  • Particle Effects: This is the only thing I bought at full retail price! The Valkyrie particle aura is from Cole’s Corner: animated halo, hands, and body particles in either silver or gold! (L$300; more information here, including an animated GIF)

TOTAL COST FOR THIS AVATAR LOOK: Only L$320! (L$20 to join the Blueberry group, and L$300 for the Valkyrie aura particle effects; if you need to purchase the Kalhene Anya mesh body, the cost is L$2,015)

UPDATE Sept. 30th, 2020: I just found the perfect finishing touch for this avatar! It’s a gold wing necklace, the free gift from the MINDS booth at the 5th anniversary round of the SanaRae shopping event (here’s the exact SLURL; it also comes in a silver version). It’s beautiful, and very fitting indeed for an angel!

“After” pictures taken at the Engine Room shopping event.

Another Fifteen-Minute Second Life Avatar Makeover: Professional Business Woman

Everybody is familiar by now with the Elizabeth businesswoman avatar, one of Linden Lab’s selection of starter avatars for newbies:

Well, today I decided to give Elizabeth one of my patented fifteen-minute avatar makeovers, and take her to a role-play hotel operating in Second Life for a business meeting! The Essencia Hotel (website; SLURL) is a hotel and convention centre, staffed by both NPCs and role-playing avatars (you can even apply to work here).

To book a room, you just click on one of the kiosks in the hotel foyer, which takes you to a website. Rates range from L$150 a night for a standard twin single, up to L$500 a night for the premium suite!

If you join the Essencia Hotel group for free, you can even pick up a free gift: some luggage!

Here’s what Elizabeth looks like after her head-to-toe makeover. And, like any savvy businesswoman, she knows the value of a dollar. Everything you see here was free! (In some cases I joined a group when they had a free group join period.)

Elizabeth is wearing:

Mesh Head and Body: the free Kalhene Ariadna female mesh body (which, unfortunately, has been pulled from the SL Marketplace because of a DMCA complaint; more details here; I hope that this is resolved soon, but as Elizabeth the businesswoman well knows, legal matters over intellectual property can take time to resolve!).

Skin: Creamy in the milk skin tone from WOW Skins (a free system skin from the gift box of all the previous group gifts, located next to the panel with this month’s group gift; I joined the WOW Skins group when they had a free group join period a while back; Creamy is an older system skin, to which I added the Bakes on Mesh finger fix gloves which are part of a full package of BoM feet and finger fixes for Wow skins, tucked away on a shelf on the second floor of the new location of the Wow Skins store, located at this exact SLURL (click Show on Map and follow the red arrow).

Hair: Kristen by Ade (free gift from the SL17B Shop and Hop; more information here).

Eyes: Sahara eyes by Avi-Glam (free gift from the SL17B Shop and Hop; more information here).

Dress: Office dress in black from Kaithleen’s (I picked this up for free using the gift card that was a Christmas group gift from the store last December).

Shoes: I have been meaning to blog about this fabulous freebie for a while now! These are the sixtynine pumps in black, a free group gift from the KOKOIA shoe store (the KOKOIA group is free to join). These lovely free pumps come in six different neutral colours to go with just about any outfit!

Briefcase: I picked up this freebie from the SpotCat booth at a past Man Cave shopping event. It comes with the Bento hold post shown, and I think it’s the perfect finishing touch for this professional look! (Note: if you go to the SpotCat store in-world and join their store group for L$100, among the group gifts is a set of three of these briefcases for men or women, in white, brown, and black.)

TOTAL COST FOR THIS AVATAR LOOK: FREE!

All pictures taken at the Essencia Hotel.