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.

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Free Angel Wings!

If you act quickly, you can pick up a free pair of beautiful, Bento angel wings for your Second Life avatar. Join the Blueberry group for L$20, and check the group notices for a HUD. Simply attach the HUD and click on it, and you will be awarded L$350 in free store credit for Blueberry!

Of course, the sim where the Blueberry store is jam-packed with avatars at the moment, so unless you have a Premium account, or use a handy tool like the Teleport Hammer, you are unlikely to get in to use those credits before they expire in a week. However, you can easily get into the two neighbouring sims, and do some cam shopping! (Here’s a blogpost with all the information you need to cam shop. All you need to do is change a couple of settings in your SL viewer, and you’re all set to go!)

You’ll have to use your camera to hunt through the store to find the angel wings, though (it’s located to the right of the grand staircase):

These wings come in a variety of colours, and the package includes Bento and non-Bento (static) versions. Just right-click on the shade you desire, select Menu, then choose to pay using your store credits. Each pair of wings costs L$250, so you still have L$100 left over to put towards another purchase.

The wings are unisex and work just as well for male avatars as for female ones, as you can see here:

In fact, over the past couple of years I have been steadily using the generous Blueberry free store credits given away at various events like the Shop and Hop, to build a small inventory of angel wings for each of my Second Life alts! (Hey, you never know when a halo and pair of angel wings come in handy 😉 )

The credits are only good for another week, so don’t delay!

Here’s the SLURL for the Blueberry store, and the SLURLs for the two neighbouring sims (for cam-shopping purposes) are here and here. Like I said, you’ll have better luck with the latter SLURLs than trying to hammer your way into the main store sim.

Happy shopping!