I am not having a good day. While trying to clear some space on my hard drive, I accidentally deleted the contents of the Downloads folder on my home computer. Fortunately, I was able to salvage an important document I was working on, but all the screen captures I made for this blog over the past two years are gone. I feel like such an idiot. And to compound the stupidity, I went and bought a rather expensive undelete program that didn’t really recover anything I had lost. All the image files it “recovered” were corrupted and unusable. So that was CDN$100 down the drain. Remember, kids: backups, backups, BACKUPS.
Anyways, to make myself feel a little better, I decided to spend some time on one of my favourite hobbies: pulling together an elegant Second Life avatar look for next to nothing.
This avatar is wearing:
Mesh Head and Body: Juliet by Altamura (former Valentine’s Day group gift; Omega compatible with the separate Omega system kit)
Omega Skin Applier: Ritual by 7 Deadly S[k]ins (a box of Omega skin appliers was the June group gift)
Mesh Eyes: Vanity Eyes in sage green by MILA (free gift at the current round of the Vanity Event)
Jewelry: Ophira by Lazuri (free, from the Free Dove at this exact SLURL)
Gown: Snow dress in green by Kaithleen’s (former St. Patrick’s Day hunt gift)
Shoes (not shown): Sonnet pumps from Hilly Haalan (free group gift; group is free to join; they come with a 20-colour HUD to match just about any outfit)
Animation Override: Chubby Girl AO by [ImpEle] (free from the SL Marketplace). This is a nice, simple, calm, free AO with no crazy movements.
MY TOTAL COST FOR THIS AVATAR: L$149 (I paid L$50 to join the Altamura group, and L$99 for the Omega system kit for Altamura available at this exact SLURL. I had joined the 7 Deadly S[k]ins group during one of their free group join periods in the past.)
It can be tricky to find free or inexpensive footwear for female avatars, so in this blogpost I will be pulling together all the information I have about finding free or cheap shoes and boots for women.
One wardrobe staple I turn to time and again is this free set of women’s classic pumps by Marquesse, available from the excellent freebie store at Ajuda SL Brasil on the third floor (here’s the SLURL):
They come in white, black, red, and nude, and fit Slink mesh feet:
Wander around the women’s section of the freebie store at Ajuda SL Brasil (on both the first and third floors) and you will find many other pairs of free footwear for female avatars, everything from sneakers to thigh-high boots! Here’s just a sample of shoes from Nala Design:
If you join the Rowne group for free, you can pick up this lovely pair of Jai women’s pumps at the Gift Wall in their store (here’s the SLURL), which comes with a 15-colour HUD:
The Jai pumps come in sizes to fit Maitreya, Belleza and Slink mesh feet.
The set consists of flats, mid-height heels, and high heels in four colours: white, red, black, and nude. Here’s a close-up look at the mid heel along with the colour HUD:
Baby Monkey has some nice freebies at a couple of locations. At the Free*Style store you can pick three different sets of footwear—pumps, hiking shoes, and boots—in grey, green, and blue (here’s the SLURL):
Here’s what the Leana pumps look like, along with the colour HUD:
If you go to the Free Dove freebie store, there’s an updated “basics” set of Baby Monkey Leana pumps available in sizes for Maitreya, Belleza, and Slink mesh feet as well as classic avatar feet, along with a 10-colour HUD (here’s the SLURL):
There are many other high-quality freebies in the shoe section at the Free Dove, so be sure to pay them a visit and check out what’s available:
And finally, there are dozens and dozens of pairs of stylish footwear available for only L$10 each in the Baby Monkey sale section, located in a skybox high above the main store on the Keraxic sim (please note: this is an adult-rated Second Life sim, so you need to set your viewer settings to include Adult content if you want to be able to visit the Baby Monkey store). Here’s the SLURL to take you directly there.
Each set comes with a 32-to-35 colour HUD, which should allow you to match just about any outfit you are wearing! This is an incredible deal, so you should visit and flip through the vendors just to see what’s for sale. Depending on the style, there are sizes for Maitreya, Belleza, and Slink mesh feet, as well as classic avatar feet.
Another place to pick up many pairs of free shoes for female avatars is Hilly Haalan. Simply join their group for free and click the panels at the landing point, or the nearby freebie store! Here are just a few examples:
The suede Sonnet pumps (upper right in the bottom picture) come with a 20-colour HUD, and are available in versions for Maitreya, Belleza, and Slink mesh feet. I find myself using them quite a bit.
If you join the Legendaire V.I.P. group for only L$49, you can pick up quite a few pairs of trendy shoes and boots from their group gift wall:
If you join the S@bbia group for free, you can pick up a nice pair of brown penny loafers for free at their store (here’s the SLURL):
If you join the Versov group for free, you can pick up a pair of Jumpov sneakers as a free group gift from their store (here’s the SLURL):
The Jumpov sneakers come in sizes to fit Maitreya, Belleza, and Slink mesh feet, as well as an unrigged pair which you can adjust to fit just about any foot (it also comes in men’s sizes). The included HUD allows you to customize every aspect of these sneakers as you wish!
If you join the Petite Mort & Oubliette VIP group for free, you can pick a couple of neat pairs of sneakers as free group gifts. Oubliette has a pair of floral skull chucks at this SLURL:
And Petite Mort has a nice pair of black floral chucks at this SLURL:
And, if you like flowers on your sneakers, there’s another free pair available at the entrance of the Baby Monkey store at this SLURL:
So, as you can see, it’s not hard to find some fabulous footwear for nothing, or next to nothing, in Second Life! Happy shopping!
So, I decided to grab a spare avatar and take it to the extreme, visiting the following six stores, each of which offers a large number of group gifts, and picking up every single one:
Legendaire (68 group gifts; group is free to join)
Scandalize (86 group gifts; group costs L$100 to join)
Shoenique Designs (29 group gifts; group is free to join)
Virtue (28 group gifts; group is free to join)
Coco Designs (35 group gifts; group is free to join)
Hilly Haalan (63 group gifts; group is free to join)
The Free Dove (where I picked up 152 items; you need to join the Free Dove group for free to pick up the freebies)
Ajuda SL Brasil (where I picked up a whopping 165 items, not counting obviously older system layer/flexiprim clothing styles)
Free*Style Store (12 items)
Sexy Shoppers Freebie Warehouse (63 items; you need to join the Sexy Shoppers group for L$1 to get the freebies here)
What did I get for visiting these 10 locations?
GRAND TOTAL: 701 items of clothing, shoes, hair and jewelry for only L$101 (L$100 for the Scandalize group join fee, and L$1 for the Sexy Shoppers group join fee)!
So, let’s take a look at some of the items we picked up in our shopping binge, shall we? (Please click on each picture to see it in a larger size.)
Look #1:
Mesh Head: Giselle Bento head by Altamura (no longer available for free; this was an Altamura gift from last Christmas at the eBENTO event, and you had to join the Altamura group for L$50 to get it)
Mesh Body: Jenny Bento body by Altamura (no longer available for free; this was a gift last Christmas from the Women Only Hunt)
Blouse: cream embroidered peasant blouse by Petite Mort (free from Ajuda SL Brasil)
Jeans: Thalia jeans from the Baby Monkey capsule wardrobe (free from the Free*Style Store )
Shoes: Classic black pumps by Marquesse (free at the freebie store at Ajuda SL Brasil; this shoe comes in four colours; note that the Altamura Jenny mesh avatar body has Slink-compatible feet)
UPDATE 11:44 a.m.: A commenter on a cross-post of this blogpost to the Your Second Life group on Facebook told me about another store where you join the group for free, with oodles of freebies! The store is called !Soul, and here is the SLURL.
Thank you for the tip, Susan Giroso! There are 88 group gifts here at this location!
That brings the new grand total to SEVEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-NINE items for only L$101!
Here’s a look at one of the outfits from !Soul, the Delicate Satin Mesh Dress in a floral pattern, with matching boots (there are seven different patterns available for this outfit).
Every stylish avatar has some wardrobe essentials: pieces that she turns to time and again to pull together a classic look. Alaskametro and the Free Dove freebie store have teamed up to provide a hunt for ten such wardrobe staples. Six of the items can be found by diligently hunting for the Alaskmetro shopping bags hidden all around the Free Dove freebie store, and another four (much easier to find!) can be found at the Alaskametro store. All are FREE (although you do have to join the Free Dove group to get the freebies hidden there; the group is free to join, however). The hunt will take place only during the month of May.
Each outfit staple comes with a HUD with three different textures. Here is a picture of one of my alts, wearing the T-shirt dress in a beautiful pastel pink:
