Tag: Altamura

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Altamura Akakor Male Bento Mesh Head and Delphinus Male Skin Applier

As promised, Altamura has given a free group gift of a fully-adjustable, Omega-compatible Bento mesh head for male avatars, called Akakor, which appears to be named after the mythological Amazonian ancient underground city. (See what you can learn from Second Life?)

It’s the 12th gift of their 12 Days of Christmas gifts, located under their Christmas tree to the left of the main entrance of the Altamura store (it’s crazy busy right now and will be throughout the holidays, so you might have some lag issues). Here’s a SLURL to guide you.

You do have to join the Altamura Design/Mesh Avatars group to pick up all the Advent gifts (the group join fee is L$25 during the Advent/Christmas season; usually, the fee to join is L$50). It’s worth it to join the group and stay subscribed, since Altamura often offers special deals to group members throughout the year. For example, Altamura offered Valentina, a fully-featured, fully-adjustable, Bento mesh avatar head and body package for women, for only L$300 during the 2018 Skin Fair!

Here is what the default head looks like, out of the box, with the with the included eyebrows shape, body shape, and head/body alpha:

Altamura Akakor Mesh Head 23 Dec 2018

This is a really great-looking male head!

Note that this head only comes with one HUD, for animating the eyes and mouth. There are no other included HUDs for different skintones. However, it is Omega-compatible, which means you can use any Omega skin and makeup appliers on it. You will have to buy and install the Omega System Kit for Altamura. A message recently posted to the Altamura group included a notecard (which you should get a copy of, for future reference), and it states:

Go to the Omega mainstore and buy the Omega System Kit for Altamura. It’s cheaper to get it there than on the Marketplace (MP). (It’s 99L at the Omega inworld store, but 199L on the MP.)

If you’re on a viewer that has Area Search, you can just search for Altamura when you get there. Please note that there is only ONE system kit for Altamura, so it doesn’t matter if you buy it from the Men’s or Women’s section.

Here’s the taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Omega%20Solutions/224/129/24

And here’s what the vendor looks like at the Omega mainstore (the SLURL should place you right in front of it):

Omega Store19 Dec 2018.png

Note that there is a tattoo on this head on either side of the neck of this mesh head (which you can’t see in the picture I posted above). I hate wearing tattoos, so I removed it using one of the free Omega makeup-removal HUDs available on the SL Marketplace (such as this free NEFA Clear All Layers Omega HUD).

Now, one of the other gifts under the Altamura Christmas tree is the Delphinus male skin applier, which comes in both Altamura and Omega versions. The Altamura version of the applier doesn’t work on this head, but the Omega version does, and here’s what it looks like. BE CAREFUL though; once you apply it, you cannot revert back to the original skin unless you re-unpack it and re-install the Omega system installer and relay on the new head. Here’s what the Delphinus skin applier looks like:

Altamura Delphinus Applier 23 Dec 2018.png

It’s nice too, but I think I like the default skin better. In the following picture, I have paired the default Akakor mesh head with the Altamura Robert mesh body, which I picked up as the Men Only Hunt prize last year:

Altamura Akakor Robert 23 Dec 2018.png

Note that there is a slight mismatch between the skin tone of the head and the body, which I hid by adding the Nina unisex choker by RxK (free from the Ajuda SL Brasil freebie store; more details here). If you picked up the free Altamura Robert mesh body at the Freebie Megastore at the London City sim, you will not be able to remove the head to replace it with this one. I find this to be a rather irritating limitation to all the free mesh full-body avatars that Altamura has been giving away this year, but it is a freebie so I can’t really complain. If you really like this head, perhaps you will spend some money and buy a fully-featured male mesh body from Altamura (or wait until another special deal for group members comes along).

Happy shopping!

UPDATED! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: What Christmas Trees and Advent Calendars I’ll Be Hitting on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day

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Photo by Evelyn on Unsplash

There are various locations within Second Life where generous content creators have placed free Christmas gifts under the tree:

  • FaMESHed Event: You can join the FaMESH ed group for free to pick up the gifts under this Christmas tree. As a bonus, there’s also a wheeled cart off to the side where you can still pick up an assortment of gifts from a recent autumn round of FaMESHed!
  • The Dubai Event has an assortment of gifts under their Christmas tree (including a particularly nice blue and gold ballgown by Virtual Diva, for Maitreya Lara mesh bodies only).
  • The Free Dove has gifts under a large Christmas tree, located to the right as you enter the freebie store. You do need to join The Free Dove group for free.
  • The Swank Event has quite a few gifts under their tree outside, but also many more scattered around outside in the snow! So wander around and see what you can find. No group is required.
  • Epiphany has some lovely gifts under a Christmas tree in the centre of the event. No group is required.
  • At the Man Cave event, the “tree” is a stack of green beer bottles, and the “gifts” are beercans with red ribbons standing underneath it! There are over 30 gifts here, all for male avatars.
  • The VERSUS event has five gifts at the landing point, including ice skates, roller skates, and a jetski, and there are many other gifts which are located in Christmas stockings at the various vendor booths. You must join the VERSUS group for free to get these gifts, including the Estephania full-body female mesh avatar by Altamura, which previously was a gift in the SL Frees & Offers Hunt. (UPDATE: Although this was a free group join when I first visited, the organizers have since raised the group join fee to L$50.)
  • The Très Chic event has a pile of presents under the Christmas tree outside, plus gifts at some of the vendor booths inside. Join the Très Chic group for free to get these Christmas gifts.
  • As in past years, the Cosmopolitan event has gifts in over 30 Christmas stockings hung on the large Christmas tree at the entrance. You do have to join the Cosmopolitan group for free to get these gifts.
  • UPDATE Dec. 23rd: I just found out that all the gifts under the Christmas Tree at Sn@tch will be FREE on Christmas Day!
  • UPDATE Dec. 25th: Fallen Gods has a wonderful assortment of gifts under their Christmas tree! No group is required.
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Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Most of the advent calendars and 12 Days of Christmas calendars operated by in-world stores in Second Life require you to show up each day to get the advent gift for that date. Sometimes, you may be able to purchase previous days’ gifts for a small fee. But there are a few calendars which allow you to pick up today’s gift, plus all the previous days’ gifts, for free or a small group join fee. Here’s a list of locations where I intend to visit sometime on Dec. 24th or 25th to pick up all the gifts at one time!

  • ALB Dream Fashion & ShuShu has an advent calendar where you can pick up most (not all) of the previous days’ gifts. No group is required.
  • At ML Fashion, you can not only get all the gifts at once on their Advent Calendar on Christmas Day, you can also pick up their Peace on Earth Hunt prize, which is tucked away at the very top of their Christmas-tree-shaped calendar! No group is required.
  • Both Emerald Couture (women’s wear) and Emerald Man (menswear by the same designer) have not one, but two Advent calendars: one requires you to join their respective groups (for free) and you can only pick up gifts on the appropriate date, but each store also has a second Advent calendar which does not require a group, and you can pick up all the previous days’ gifts for free! (Use the provided SLURLs to find the exact locations of the no-group-required Advent calendars; they are in a different location than the “regular” Advent calendars.)
  • JUMO has a 12 Days of Christmas calendar where you pick up all the gifts at once. Remember to come back on New Year’s Eve for a final gift! All gifts are free and do not require a group membership.
  • And, last but not least, Altamura lets you pick up all their 12 Days of Christmas gifts under their Christmas tree at one time! You do have to join the Altamura Design/Mesh Avatars group for L$25 to get these gifts, which include the Omega-compatible Leila Bento mesh head for female avatars, and a nice set of Omega skin appliers, in all the Altamura skintones, to use with that head! And apparently, they will also put out a male Bento mesh head as an Advent gift well sometime in the coming days. Altamura often has group specials and gifts throughout the year, so it’s well worth it to spend the L$25 to join their group now, and stay subscribed (usually, the join fee for the Altamura Design/Mesh Avatars group is L$50).
  • UPDATE Dec. 25th: Surprise! Firelight Hair has made all the previous days’ Advent gifts available for free (you do need to join the Firelight group for free).

So, there you have it! Play your cards right on Christmas Day, and in one series of teleports around the grid, you can pick up dozens and dozens of Christmas presents for free or next-to-nothing! Happy freebie shopping!

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Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

 

UPDATED! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Altamura Leila Bento Mesh Head and LAQ Joline Omega Skin

I’m not sure how I missed this, but one of the Advent gifts under the Christmas tree at the Altamura main store is a female Omega-compatible Bento mesh head, called Leila:

Leila Bento Head 2 19 Dec 2018.png

You do have to join the Altamura Design/Mesh Avatars group to pick up all the Advent gifts (the group join fee is L$25 during the Advent/Christmas season; usually, the fee to join is L$50). The Leila mesh Bento head is the gift for the 8th day (see the arrow in the picture above). The Christmas tree is located to the left of the main entrance as you walk in, you can’t miss it! Here’s a SLURL to guide you.

Now, this is an Omega-compatible head, but you will have to buy the Omega System Kit for Altamura. A message recently posted to the Altamura group about this gift head included a notecard (which you should get a copy of, for future reference), and it states:

Go to the Omega mainstore and buy the Omega System Kit for Altamura. It’s cheaper to get it there than on the Marketplace (MP). (It’s 99L at the Omega inworld store, but 199L on the MP.)

If you’re on a viewer that has Area Search, you can just search for Altamura when you get there. Please note that there is only ONE system kit for Altamura, so it doesn’t matter if you buy it from the Men’s or Women’s section.

Here’s the taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Omega%20Solutions/224/129/24

And here’s what the vendor looks like at the Omega mainstore (the SLURL should place you right in front of it):

Omega Store19 Dec 2018.png

UPDATE Dec. 31st, 2020: The location of the Omega system kit for Altamura heads and bodies has moved; it is now located here.

Here’s what the default head looks like, with the included eyebrows shape, body shape, and head/body alpha. I also included the notecard that comes with the head:

Altamura Leila Head 19 Dec 2018.png

If you want to apply your own Omega makeup to this head, you will first need to remove the default makeup provided by Altamura using one of the free Omega makeup-removal HUDs available on the SL Marketplace (such as this free NEFA Clear All Layers Omega HUD).

Note that this head only comes with one HUD, for animating the eyes and mouth. There are no other HUDs for different skintones or makeups for the Leila head, which were (for example) included in last year’s Giselle Bento mesh head gift at the Christmas 2017 eBENTO event. In this picture, I am using the default system eyes, but Altamura recommends:

WEAR or ADD your mesh eyes. The Altamura Leila does not come with eyes, but there are plenty of lovely FREE eyes on the MP. Here’s one that you can try:

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/NSS-VERMEER-mesh-eyes-demofree-sample-AMETHYST/9638616

NOTE! Don’t be afraid if it says DEMO on the link. It’s a WORKING demo, meaning it’s a fully working free sample that the creator generously provided so everyone could have a good pair of mesh eyes.

Now, it just so happens that LAQ is offering a very generous free gift throughout the month of December: the Joline Omega skin applier in all skintones, both with brows and browless, so you can apply your own brows! You do have to join the LAQ Updates group (which is free to join) in order to get this gift. Here’s the SLURL to pick that up.

LAQ Joline 19 Dec 2018.png

Isn’t it beautiful? So, let’s put the two together, along with the free mesh eyes recommended by Altamura, and see what we come up with, shall we?

Leila and Joline 19 Dec 2018.png

Looking good!

The total cost of this head (not including the mesh body and LAQ appliers for that mesh body to match the skintone of your head): only L$124 (L$25 for the Altamura group join fee, and L$99 for the Altamura Omega System Kit). I think the result compares very favourably with much pricier Bento mesh heads that cost L$5,000 or more!

Note that if you can’t afford an expensive mesh body like the L$2,750 Maitreya Lara, there are free and inexpensive options available. Try them out with your Leila head!

Here is what the Altamura Leila head looks like with all the default makeup removed, and a dollarbie Omega lipstick by Poema added, with a Maitreya Lara body (LAQ body appliers to match the LAQ skintones are L$300 per tone):

Leila Head 20 Dec 2018

Looking very good!

Since you can pick up all the previous days’ Advent gifts at Altamura, I would suggest you wait until all 12 gifts are under the tree, then make one trip on Dec. 24th or 25th to pick them all up! I plan to do this for several stores which allow you to pick up all the previous days’ gifts at one time. Happy shopping!

UPDATE Dec. 21st: The 10th Advent gift under the Christmas tree turns out to be an Altamura Omega full-body skin applier HUD, in all the Altamura skintones! You have a choice of with brows or browless (so you can apply your own Omega eyebrows):

Leila Head 21 Dec 2018

What this means is that you can now match your Leila Bento mesh head to literally any Altamura body! In the picture above, I am wearing the Leila head with all the default makeup removed, and with the third Baltic Sea skintone applied. I am wearing the head with the free Altamura Jenny mesh body I had picked up at the Women Only Hunt back in 2017 (not the free version you can pick up now at the Freebie Megastore at London City; that version, unfortunately, does not let you remove the head).

Frankly, I was a little surprised that this was not part of the Advent gift on the 8th day. But I now see they are spreading out the gifts over several days. So be sure to drop by and pick up gift #10 to use with your Leila head!

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: A Fifteen-Minute Nun Avatar Makeover for Only L$190!

“The power of Christ compels you!”

—The Exorcist

Just for the hell of it (see what I did there?), I decided to give a 15-minute makeover to one of my oldest avatars, named SisterMary Blister, who has been a classic system avatar for well over 11 years now. Here’s the “Before” picture (I remember I actually used a man’s skin to get this makeup-free look):

SisterMary Blister 27 Sept 2018

And here are the “After” pictures:

SisterMary Blister.png

SisterMary Blister 2.png

SisterMary Blister 3.png

Sister Mary Blister is wearing:

Mesh Avatar Head and Body: Kim by Altamura (which is still available for free at the UniHispana Crea Gateway Community sim; more information is available here). I had great fun playing with the mouth corners and the eyebrows to give her such a sour expression! You can also remove the long fingernails in the included HUD.

Mesh Eyes: Sunrise Mesh Eyes by eyden & yves (free from the SL Marketpace; comes with a 9-colour HUD).

Complete Nun’s Outfit (Except Shoes): Nun T2 Outfit by Bare Rose (available on the SL Marketplace for L$190 and at the Bare Rose store in-world). Bare Rose is well-known for selling an incredible variety of inexpensive costumes and outfits, and this one (the second edition of the original costume) is no exception. The outfit comes with the choice of a white belt or a black belt, as shown here.

Shoes: Black flats by Garbaggio (part of the free sample pack for Slink feet; available on the SL Marketplace). Altamura mesh avatar bodies have Slink-compatible feet.

AO: Chubby Girl AO by [ImpEle] (free from the SL Marketplace), plus the Hands AO from the Kim body package by Altamura (see above).

TOTAL COST FOR THIS AVATAR: L$190

The ruler, which comes with various animations including swatting and smacking nearby targets, was by Ming Lu of RP Fantasies. I bought this so many years ago, that I forgot what I paid for it, and it does not seem to be available anymore. However, RP Fantasies does sell a similar yardstick on the SL Marketplace, if you’re interested in meting out punishment to the poor sinners around you… 😉

(The last two “After” pictures were taken at the Mater Dolorosa Catholic Church in Second Life, which is actually a quite beautiful and serene place to light votive candles, pray, or just sit and contemplate.)

UPDATE 6:59 p.m.: I actually lasted all of five minutes at oRgAsMs Adult Free Sex Lounge, whacking the johns and escorts with my ruler, and shouting “SINNERS REPENT!“, before I was banned from the sim! Who says you can’t have good, clean fun in SL? (Yes, I’m evil. As I always like to say: if you’re going to go to hell, why not go express?)