Tag: Essenz

UPDATED! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Advent Calendar Gifts for December 2nd, 2020

Here’s my blogpost with links to four lists of Advent Calendars and 12 Days of Christmas Calendars, plus my “Top Ten” Calendars you should not miss in 2020!

The Advent Calendar at Virtue

I don’t usually do writeups on Advent Calendar gifts in Second Life, because they are only available for 24 hours, and for those people who don’t visit my blog every day, it can be a bit frustrating to see free apparel and footwear that they might have missed picking up the day before.

However, since I am still stuck in self-isolation in my home during the province-wide pandemic lockdown in Manitoba, I might start doing a show-and-tell of some of the bounty that I did pick up that day, just to keep busy. So, here is my haul for December 2nd, 2020.

Virtue is a store run by Abiela Heartsong, who is a Christian woman who specializes in modest but stylish womenswear. Every year, she has an Advent Calendar in her store, with a free gift each day (you do need to join the Virtue group for free to pick up these gifts).

If (like me), you have some time to kill, then in front of the Advent Calendar are two camping chairs, a relative rarity in Second Life these days! You can sit for 60 minutes and win this lovely pastel party dress:

Camping chair at Virtue: My avatar looks so bored…

While my avatar waits, I will show you a couple of the December 2nd Advent Calendar gifts I picked up today. The blue Felicia outfit from Virtue comes in three separate parts: pants, tube top, and sleeves (not shown below), in sizes to fit Maitreya Lara; Belleza Venus, Isis, and Freya; Slink Physique and Hourglass; and Meshbody Legacy. The texturing is lovely, and it’s the perfect outfit for being stuck at home!

The December 2nd Advent Gift from the Essenz women’s footwear store is this lovely pair of Athens high-heeled sandals in black, which include a HUD to change the colour of the sole and the bow. This shoe comes in sizes to fit Maitreya, Belleza, and Slink feet. If you do not wish to spend the L$350 to join the Essenz store group to pick up all the Advent Calendar gifts, you can choose to buy this pair of shoes for only L$50 by clicking on the appropriate panel at the front of the store! (I love it when stores provide that option for non-group members! I believe Entice does that, too.)

Just a reminder that both WOW Skins and 7 Deadly S[k]ins have Advent Calendars with gifts of female Bakes on Mesh skins for your avatar. If you missed your chance to join the 7 Deadly S[k]ins group before December. it now will cost you L$1,000 to join, but for that, you will get 31 days on gifts! The cost to join the WOW Skins group is only L$199, but with that you can not only pick up each day’s Advent Calendar gift, but also all of the monthly group gifts (there is a box with all the previous group gifts on a small table underneath the display of the most recent monthly group gifts).

Happy freebie shopping!

UPDATE 9:15 a.m.: Camping is done! Here’s what the Alexandria Dots party dress looks like:

The shoes in this last picture are the Wales pumps from Essenz. This is a group gift, a complete fatpack, which alone is enough reason to join the Essenz group for L$350, as I explain in a previous blogpost about the Wales pumps:

That means that you get 26 shoe colours times 4 sole colours times 4 metal colours times 4 shoe styles, which works out to 1,664 different shoes! So even if you aren’t already a member of the Essenz group and getting this fatpack of versatile pumps for free, the L$350 group join fee works out to L$0.20 per shoe! Now, if that’s not a deal, I don’t know what is!

The group gift of the Wales fatpack of pumps is located on the front counter of the store, just behind the Advent Calendar (see red arrow below):

So, you listen to your Auntie Ryan, the undisputed Freebie Queen of Second Life 😉 , and you get your pixelated ass down to Essenz, join their store group, and mop up some truly lovely shoes!

UPDATED! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: What Advent Calendars and 12 Days of Christmas Calendars I’ll Be Hitting This December (2020 Edition)

Looking for the 2021 edition? What Advent Calendars and 12 Days of Christmas Calendars I’ll Be Hitting This December (2021 Edition)

Advent and 12 Days of Christmas calendars are a Second Life tradition
(image by Susanne Jutzeler, suju-foto from Pixabay)

Well, as November winds down, it is time for the dedicated freebie fashionistas to begin planning for December, when many Second Life stores have either an Advent calendar or a Twelve Days of Christmas calendar, with gifts for you to pick up each day!

There are four lists of 2020 Advent calendars published by various websites:

UPDATE Dec. 1st, 2020: I have gone through and checked each of the SLURLs to the stores linked to below, and updated them where necessary. All of them should now take your directly to the store (some have changed location since last year!).

Six Advent Calendars I Will Be Visiting Every Day

  • Firelight Hair has an Advent calendar running from December 1st to 24th (you do need to join the Firelight group for free). The gifts are mostly women’s hairstyles, but there will also be a few male/unisex styles. All hair gifts 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! You do have to join the group; I believe the group join fee is L$125 until the end of November, then it jumps up to L$1,000 during December!
  • Appliqué Chic offers two separate Advent calendars, one for men and a second for women! Each day’s gifts are free, and you can buy gifts from previous days for only L$10 each. No group join is required.
  • Virtue offers an Advent calendar with beautiful clothing gifts for women. The emphasis here is on classic, modest fashion. You do not need to join the Virtue group to pick up these gifts.
  • Entice offers Advent calendar gifts of womenswear from December 1st to 25th (you do have to join the Entice group for free). They also have a very handy sign on either side of their Advent tree, which shows you what each of the gifts look like, so you can plan ahead!
  • Essenz has an advent calendar from December 1st to the 25th, offering gifts of high-quality women’s footwear (the group costs L$350 to join).

Four “Twelve Days of Christmas” Calendars I Will Be Visiting Every Day

Please note that none of these calendars will be set up until mid-December:

  • The Baby Monkey calendar runs from December 12th to the 23rd, 2020 and is free each day. This year, you can pick up all the gifts at once if you prefer to make just one visit, between Dec. 23rd and the end of the year. All the gifts together form a complete, colour-coordinated capsule wardrobe. Even better, you do not need to join a group to pick up the gifts this year!
  • Altamura has a 12 Days of Christmas calendar running from December 12th to 24th, with a different gift every day: male and female accessories, clothes, skins, makeup, even a mesh head! Please note that the group join fee for Altamura is usually L$100, but during December the group is free to join.
  • JUMO usually gives away gifts of women’s apparel and jewelry from Dec. 12th-Dec. 24th, as well as on New Year’s Eve. This is the place to pick up some beautiful ballgowns and costume jewelry!
  • The eBENTO Event has an advent calendar that runs from Dec. 11th to Dec. 25th. Last year, the large red calendar numbers are randomly scattered around the shopping event, with two or three gifts from participating vendors each day. The eBENTO group is free to join.

Happy freebie shopping!

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Uber Anniversary Gifts

As you might know, one of my Top Ten tips for freebie shopping in Second Life is to hit the annual anniversary celebrations of the major shopping events, when most designers have free gifts at their vendor booths as a thank you to their customers.

Uber, one of the biggest and most popular monthly shopping events in Second Life, opened its sixth anniversary round on August 25th, 2020, and the event is running until September 22nd.

And, to celebrate, there is a free gift which you can pick up at each vendor booth (no group is needed). Here’s what the gift box looks like, you can’t miss them:

Because Uber is so jam-packed with shoppers and browsers, I would strongly advise you to wait until mid-September to pop by and pick up all the fabulous freebies!

(Me, well, once again I couldn’t sleep last night, a common complaint during the coronavirus pandemic, so I was lucky enough to able to teleport into the very crowded sim at 5:00 a.m. this morning, so I could collect all these gifts to show to you as soon as possible.)

Please forgive my use of a pose stand to show off some of these outfits; it’s the only sane way I could get through the dozens and dozens of gifts without going insane!

My favourite gift from the anniversary round of Uber is this charming embroidered dark blue belted skirt by Giz Seorn, which I have paired here with the Brooke top by Blossom&Seeds (the B&S gift also includes matching shorts in the same blue-and-red pattern). The Devorah sunstone earrings, the Uber gift from EarthStones, complete this look. Vanity Fair is all set to head out to the nearest folk festival!

Next up we have a much dressier look, the stylish lilac Charlize dress by Valentina E, with the black leather clutch by Zenith (which comes in a full-black version and the brown-accented you see here):

Here, Vanity is sporting Kaithleen’s rollneck sweater in mint green, which comes with a HUD to tint the collar, hem and cuffs a different colour. Here, I added the gift from Jeune, the Mara jersey skirt in red. The reds don’t match, but I was a man in a hurry…so there is an (unintentional) Christmas feel to this particular outfit!

The Uber gift from Masoom is this daring, backless olive green Imogen jumpsuit, with sexy slits up the side of the legs (and if that isn’t sexy enough or daring enough for you, it also comes in a sheer version!). The Polynesia high-heeled sandals, the Uber gift from Essenz, are the perfect finishing touch. (The sultry side-eye Vanity is giving you is optional.)

Up next we have the delightful, summery Croissant (?!??) dress, the Uber gift from Neve, which comes with a HUD with four different ombre tones as shown below:

The plunging neckline of this next dress, the lilac Tori minidress (the Uber gift from Pink Cream Pie) is the perfect spot to highlight the long, long, long dangle necklace by Mon Chérie, which comes with a HUD to change the metal to one of 12 different colours, as shown. (The PCP gift comes with built-in panties that you can tint to one of 24 colours—or remove completely—via a separate HUD.)

Another one of my favourite gifts from this round of the Uber event are these wonderful rose earrings from Baiastice, which come with a HUD to change the colour of the gemstones and the roses! I think Vanity will be wearing these a lot, as they can match pretty much any outfit!

Chokers are very useful items to have in your SL inventory, and they are particularly handy to hide, say, a slight seam or mismatch in skin tone between your mesh head and body (which sometimes happens to the best of us). Luckily, you can pick up not one, but two choker gifts at Uber! (Well, at least two. There may well be more…but I confess that I haven’t unpacked everything yet!)

The Reckless choker by Avec Toi comes in a complete fatpack, with 36 colours for the leather, and 8 colours for the metal studs:

The high-fashion golden Diane metal choker is the gift from David Heather:

Osmia’s rather bizarre unisex Uber gift is this bucket hat (safety pins included), which comes in a fatpack of colours. Perfect for your next fishing trip! 😉

And (of course), Uber has so, so many gifts of footwear! Here are just a few of them.

From Mangula, we get a complete fatpack of the strappy Leila shoes, which coms in two versions: the ones that have straps going up your calves, as shown, and a second, shorter version that doesn’t go quite as far up your leg:

Seniha’s Uber gift is a complete fatpack of the Caroline wedges, where you have numerous options for tinting each part of the shoe:

Now for something completely different, these awesome black combat boots with the side pocket, the gift from Memoire! These come in sizes to fit both male (Legacy, Belleza Jake) and female (Legacy, Belleza Freya, Maitreya Lara, Slink Hourglass) feet.

Here’s a few more shoes that I picked up (not fatpacks, just single colours as shown) from Vanilla Bae:

And from NX-Nardcotix:

And from Nerido:

And from Decoy:

And finally, these completely over-the-top pink pumps from Breathe:

But I saved the best gifts for last: this cute little stuffed sheep from Le Fil Cassé, called Aggie Snow, which sits on your head, and an absolutely adorable fat red chinchilla, the gift from Foxwood, which comes in two versions, one you hold as shown here (comes with a Bento pose), and another for decoration!

I mean, look at this not-so-little cutie! Look at him!!!! I may just have to go back and buy the entire fatpack of chinchillas at the Foxwood booth!! Awww…

Like I said up top, this round of Uber runs until September 22nd, 2020, so you have loads of time to swoop down and scoop up all the freebies. There are literally dozens and dozens of other gifts not shown here, including many items of home decor.

Happy freebie shopping!

Vanity Fair is also wearing:

  • the Kimberly Catwa Bento mesh head
  • the Maitreya Lara mesh body
  • Daria skin by The Skinnery
  • Dasha hair or Astra hair by Truth 
  • and the beautiful Sahara eyes by Avi-Glam (a gift from the recent SL17B Shop and Hop event, but they are also a group gift at the Avi-Glam mainstore; the Avi-Glam group costs L$5 to join)

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: How to Get L$600 in Free Store Credit at Bumblebee!

Did you know that you can obtain L$600 worth of free store credit at Bumblebee? Today I will explain, step by step, how to do it.

First, visit the Bumblebee booth at the Second Life 17th Birthday Shop and Hop event (here’s the exact SLURL) before it ends on July 12th, 2020, and click on the panel shown here:

You will receive a folder containing a HUD which you have to attach. Once attached, click on the red button on the bottom left-hand corner of the HUD to receive L$300 in Bumblebee store credit.

Then, teleport over to the Bumblebee main store, and head towards the group join panel, which looks like this:

Click the panel the first time to get a message in chat with a link to join the Bumblebee store group (which is free to join). Once you have joined the group, click the panel a second time to receive a second HUD. Attach the HUD and click the button on it, and you will receive another L$300 in free store credit as a welcome gift!

Most clothing items at Bumblebee cost L$199 each, so L$600 in free store credit lets you pick up three items! (To buy an item using your store credit, just right click on the item and select Menu, then Buy on the blue pop-up window, then Gift Card. You will be asked to confirm your purchase before the amount is deducted from your balance.)

Here my newly-renamed Afro-Canadian avatar Moesha Heartsong is wearing the Xiomara knotted long-sleeve top paired with the Gretel high-waisted suede pants:

(The black Wales pumps were the June group gift from Essenz; there is a L$350 fee to join the Essenz store group. These wonderful pumps come in four different styles and 26 different colours.)

In addition to the free store credit, your membership in the Bumblebee group allows you to play the lucky boards located to the left of the store entrance. There’s usually a small crowd gathered and the letters change over quickly, so you are almost certain to pick up a few more free items!

Here Coupon Clip is wearing three of those lucky board prizes: the Sophie knitted top, with the Cecilia sweater over top, plus the Cecilia rolled-cuff jeans in light blue:

The Jumpov sneakers are a free group gift from VERSOV (exact SLURL); the VERSOV group is free to join, and there are five other group gifts you can pick up there.

Happy freebie shopping!