Another Fifteen-Minute Second Life Avatar Makeover: Victorian Parlourmaid

I have an old, classic system alt in Second Life whom I decked in out in a full-blown Victorian-era parlourmaid outfit!

As a running gag, I created a custom group for her called the Prim and Proper Cleaning Service. My profile states:

I proudly role-play a properly starched Victorian cleaning maid for Prim & Proper Cleaning Services (P&P for short, ma’am/sir). Dusting, vacuuming, etc. etc.

Bring that touch of Upstairs/Downstairs or Downton Abbey to your next social event. Impress your guests! Available for hire at very reasonable rates.

(Did you know a clean sim reduces lag?)

Every so often, when I’m feeling especially mischievous, I turn on her group tag, and unceremoniously plunk her down in spots like retail stores and clubs, where she busily dusts and even vacuums (on a modern-era vacuum cleaner, no less!). Here she is at the new, upstart Frank’s Jazz Club (she used to get routinely kicked out of the old one, where I found that the gate-keepers had no sense of humour whatsover):

“Lift your feet, hun…”

So, I decided it was time to give my Victorian parlourmaid a complete makeover, from a classic system avatar to a mesh outfit. Here are the after pictures, taken in the Library at Angel Manor Estate (how very Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey!)

This avatar is wearing:

Mesh Head: the Strong Face Bento mesh head from the Genus Project (a former group gift which, unfortunately, is no longer available)

Mesh Body: the Classic mesh body by Meshbody (L$1 group gift; The Shops! group is free to join; more information is about this body can be found here)

Skin Applier: Genus head skin applier and Bakes on Mesh body skin Brielle, from Amara Beauty (free group gift; group is free to join)

Parlourmaid Outfit: Victorian Maid Black by Melon Bunny (L$500 on the SL Marketplace)

Victorian Boots: texture-change Victorian Ankle Boots by The Mesh Cloud (L$299 on the SL Marketplace)

In fact, the only three things that the before and after looks have in common are:

Hair: Timeless hair in chestnut by *DG* Hair (which seems to be no longer available)

Maid’s Cap: from the Edelweiss Emma Victorian maid’s dress (L$600 on the SL Marketplace for the complete system-layers-and-flexiprims outfit)

Animation Override: Gown AO by Kamilah Hauptmann of Posture Is Everything (a very nice freebie for avatars under 30 days old, which I picked up at the Caledon Oxbridge new resident orientation centre; I added the Bento hands AO from the free Altamura Jenny mesh avatar body package available at the Freebie Megastore in London City)

TOTAL COST FOR THIS AVATAR: L$1400 (if you don’t care about the maid’s cap, the price goes down to L$800)

Hard at work dusting at Frank’s!
These dance machines get SO dusty…
Vacuuming the dancefloor at Frank’s Jazz Club (the glitter gets everywhere!)

Yes, I am having entirely too much fun in Second Life while I practice proper social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic!

Another Fifteen-Minute Second Life Avatar Makeover: Queen Elizabeth I

At the moment I am binge-watching Season 3 of The Crown on Netflix. I love watching the drama, intrigues and scandals of the Royal Family!

And it just so happens that I have a Second Life avatar whose actual legacy name is Elizabeth Queen (yes, I got lucky). Surprisingly, there’s nothing out there, either on the grid or in the SL Marketplace, to make her look like the current reigning Queen Elizabeth II. (Yes, I have actually identified a gap in the vast merchandise machine that is Second Life! Somebody needs to address this immediately!).

So, I decided instead to make her look like her namesake, Queen Elizabeth the First. Here is her before picture:

Not bad, but the look is a bit dated now: a classic system avatar, with system-layers-and-prims clothing. So I decided to do one of my patented 15-minute avatar makeovers (in the past, I have done the same for a nun, a vampire, an elf angel, Mary Poppins—even Santa Claus!)

And here is what Elizabeth Queen looks like now!

This avatar is wearing:

TOTAL COST FOR THIS AVATAR: Only L$839!

All pictures are taken in Tudor London at Jo Yardley’s wonderful Time Portal sim.

A 15-Minute Second Life Avatar Makeover: Here Comes Santa Claus!

People, I have spent *YEARS* working on the perfect Santa Claus avatar in Second Life. This is the best I was able to do in ye olde pre-mesh days, cobbling together bits and pieces from various Santa Claus outfits I had purchased:

Old Santa 14 Dec 2018

He was a little on the skinny side, but otherwise, he looked okay. The interactive Santa’s Bag from ED Creations (which includes animations to allow Santa to reach into his bag and throw real gift-wrapped presents at people) was the perfect finishing touch!

Well, today I gave Santa one of my patented 15-minute avatar makeovers, and now he looks like this:

New Santa 14 Dec 2018.png

New Santa 2 14 Dec 2018.png

This avatar is wearing:

Mesh Head and Body: Piggu Jonathan avatar version 2.1 (L$700)

Complete Santa Claus Outfit, including Boots and Hat: Piggu Jonathan Santa suit (L$100; available at one of the booths of the wonderful 1st Annual Piggu Mini Fair; here’s a direct SLURL to the booth, simply use the Show on Map feature in your SL client software and follow the red arrow!)

Santa Beard: Babbellotta facial hair bright white (L$225; available at the same booth as the Santa suit; this beard looks best set at full bright, so I added a free body light to make Santa brighter overall and to even out the effect)

Santa booth at Piggu Fair 14 Dec 2018.png

TOTAL COST FOR THIS AVATAR: L$1,025

Merry Christmas!

Santa Claus at Authors Point Sim 2 15 Dec 2018_001.png

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?)