Tag: Free

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Fitch’s Freebies for Men

I’m still in a very foul mood from yesterday’s Facebook announcement, so I decided to distract myself by escaping into Second Life for a little while today, which tends to be my preferred way of dealing (or, perhaps more accurately, not dealing) with messy, painful, dumpster-fire reality these days.

I was once again enjoying the blues at Bray’s Place (my new favourite hangout in Second Life), when an avatar beside me rezzed out a wearable lawn chair (complete with a big bowl of popcorn!) and sat down to catch the next set, munching merrily away.

Of course, that was my cue to do a quick right-click/inspect to find out where I could get this wonderful wearable chair, which led me down the SL rabbit hole to Fitch’s, a spot with literally dozens of freebies, which I had never been to before! (Even after 14 years, I am still amazed at the places I find that I never knew existed on the grid.)

Now, I do know that a great many men (and particularly, straight men) seem to really hate going shopping, both in real life and in Second Life, and appear to be quite content with a very limited avatar wardrobe. Fitch’s is a dream come true for these men: one place where you can pick up all your basic clothing needs in one stop, and best of all, it’s all free! This place is a hidden gem.

Fitch’s offers freebies for both classic, system male avatars as well as for newer mesh avatars, and most of the mesh clothing includes HUDs with an extensive variety of colours and patterns to choose from. If you hate going shopping, well, this is the place for you, guys! Ten minutes and you’re done, tops! (Although I would still recommend visits to a few other freebie stores to augment your look.)

But first, that lawn chair. Among the many freebies available at Fitch’s is this Drama Watching Chair, which you wear as an attachment. Simply turn off your avatar’s AO and you’re sitting back, scarfing down popcorn from a huge bowl, intently watching whatever Second Life drama is going down! It’s the absolutely perfect accessory! Of course, this chair works for female as well as male avatars. Fitch’s is worth a visit just to pick up this wonderful freebie, alone.

The Drama Watching Chair (popcorn included!)

But there’s so much more! If you are rocking a classic, system avatar, you will find a full selection of complete (nude) male starter avatars, each complete with hair, eyes, skin, shape—even a penis! You can mix and match them to your heart’s content, to create your own unique look!

And tucked away in one corner of Fitch’s Freebies, there are many free men’s outfits! On the left are panels, each with a basic capsule wardrobe to fit eleven different brands of men’s mesh bodies. Among these bodies is Altamura, which is a real find because it can be hard to find high-quality, free men’s clothing to fit male Altamura mesh bodies (this clothing will work with both the free and paid-for versions). There are also similar capsule wardrobe packages specifically designed for Slink, Signature Gianni and Geralt, Belleza, TMP/Classic, Aesthetic, EXMACHINA*, Adam, Mado, and NX-Nardcotix male mesh bodies. Something for everyone!

The Fitch Altamura capsule wardrobe jeans and sweater (shown here on the freebie Altamura Robert mesh body; the sandals are a free group gift from VERSOV, a free-to-join group)

To the right are even more men’s mesh outfits, just click the big orange button! Most of these come in standard sizing, but a few items also have mesh body fits as well. Be sure to unpack all twelve mesh outfits to check them out (there’s even a handy rezz spot nearby, just for unpacking boxes).

Lots of menswear freebies!

All of the clothing at Fitch’s appears to be original items, created by Fitch himself, which you won’t find at other freebie stores in Second Life.

The Jason jeans and Andrew shirt come in a truly mind-boggling fatpack of colours and patterns—and you can even tint various parts of the shirt and pants separately! (I am also wearing the same Jason jeans and Andrew shirt, but in much more subdued colours, in the first and third pictures in this blogpost.)

A look at the extensive HUDs for the Jason jeans and Andrew shirt

Here’s another look, an unzipped hoodie and the Chicago jeans, both of which come in a fatpack of colours and patterns. You can tint five different parts of the jeans separately using the included, interactive HUD:

The HUDs for the unzipped hoodie and the Chicago jeans: lots of options

Below are three more looks from the bounty at Fitch’s. First up are the Boston cargo shorts, paired with the Bryan T-shirt (again, both come with a HUD with a wide variety of colours, patterns, and slogans to choose from):

The Bryan T-shirt and Boston cargo shorts come in full fatpacks

Need a formal tuxedo for that special evening out? Fitch has you covered there, too! The black dress shoes are included in this outfit. Looking sharp for zero Lindens!

Fitch’s free men’s tuxedo

Finally, my favourite outfit is the Blues Brother suit, with comes complete with shoes, fedora, and sunglasses!

“We’re on a mission from God”

Here’s your taxi to Fitch’s Freebies! Happy freebie shopping! (Please note that this is an adult-rated, gay sim. No child avatars are allowed.)

*I have tested the EXMACHINA clothing on the new EXMACHINA Evolve mesh body, and it does not fit. The clothing should work with older EXMACHINA bodies, though.

UPDATED! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: The Free G&D Ruth 3.5 Mesh Head and Body

Please note that I am taking the rest of the summer off as a self-imposed vacation from the blog so I can focus on my other work, except for sponsored blogposts, and the occasional exception such as this blogpost. See you in September!

There’s a new full-body (i.e. head and body), Bento, Bakes on Mesh compatible mesh avatar for women, an update to the original open-source Ruth mesh body called G&D Ruth 3.5. You can pick one up for free from the SL Marketplace. I decided to take this body out for a test drive, just to see how well it stacks up against other free and inexpensive mesh heads and bodies for female avatars I have blogged about.

Please keep in mind that the head and the body are separate items, so if you wish, you can mix and match them with other Bakes on Mesh heads and bodies.

The creator notes in the Marketplace listing:

The head has been rebuilt from scratch to a more attractive standard and no longer has visible jagged edges. There is more Bento functionally and a full range of shape support. There is a fitmesh neck blender that is also BOM and the old Ruth choker collar, to provide different levels of coverage.

There is a robust nail system that is as easy as wearing a system tattoo. Simply right click and ADD to yourself in your inventory. There is also a pure white modifable tinting option.

Skins are NOT mined freebies from other websites, they have been made specially for the body and head. There are a variety of colours including natural and supernatural tones. There is also all three tints of our Color Wonder ultra customizable skins.

Finally, a compact, low lag mesh body accessible for all SL viewers with no catches and no sacrifices. Look beautiful for the lowest possible price…free!

I spent a fair bit of time tinkering with the head and body sliders on this one, because I was dissatisfied with the default settings, particularly on the head, which I found to be rather long and thinner-faced by default compared to other Bento heads I have used before. (If you have found other Bento mesh heads to be too round, perhaps the head in this package might just be perfect for you!) The body responds well to the sliders.

I also didn’t like the system skins that this body came with (a selection of both regular and fantasy skins), so I used the Elvira skin in the maple skin tone from 7 Deadly S[k]ins, a former Advent calendar gift from last December. Here is what the body looks like, with the alpha sections HUD, wearing a swimsuit I picked up as a group gift from DM:

At first, the alpha sections HUD didn’t work, but a quick logout and relog into SL fixed that problem quickly.

There is a slight, barely noticeable seam at the neck, which the included Bakes on Mesh neck fix addresses fairly well. Here’s a close-up of the head (the Kristen hair was the gift from Ade at the SL17B Shop and Hop, and the eyes are from the Leonard starter avatar already in your SL inventory). As I note later on, you might have better luck using an alpha to remove the system eyes and replace them with mesh eyes on this particular head (here’s a recent blogpost with some good links to free mesh eyes).

The ears are a separate and adjustable attachment, which of course means you can replace them easily. The feet are also a separate attachment, and come in two types: flat and high. The hands come in two versions, too, one with short nails, and one with long nails, which include several tattoo layers to tint them various colours (plus one modifiable tattoo layer which you can tint any shade you wish):

I found in my testing that most clothing and footwear for Maitreya Lara fits this body fairly well. Here my avatar is wearing the Sonnet pumps from Hilly Haalan (unrigged and easily adjustable), along with the black Vibsy minidress by PULSE, a recent gift from the Second Life 17th Birthday Shop and Hop event:

The only problem I encountered with the G&D Ruth 3.5 body is that I could not get the alphas that come bundled with clothing to work with it. However, there are a fairly good selection of alpha sections on the included HUD (after I got it working properly), so that should not be too serious a problem.

UPDATE Aug. 8th, 2020: I have been informed that the G&D Ruth 3.5 body has been updated by its creator, and that the alpha layers that come with clothing will now work properly. Here’s the link to the Marketplace listing. Thanks for the heads up, Dagger Faulkwing!

All in all, this is a pretty nice body at a price that can’t be beat—free! I would recommend that you give this one a spin, testing it out with various system/Bakes on Mesh skins, to see how well you like it.

I’m not the only SL blogger who has noticed this new, free mesh body. Midnyte Childs, of the blog Silent Raindrops, has started an Avatar on a Budget Challenge, and her second post in that category featured this body, too! Here’s her blogpost. She noted something I didn’t mention up top, that there is a barely detectable seam where the hands and feet (which are separate attachments) connect to this mesh body. And I learned from her that G&D stands for Glitter and Doom!

I will be adding the G&D Ruth 3.5 mesh body to my constantly-updated list of free and inexpensive mesh heads and bodies for female avatars.

Happy freebie shopping!

Another Fifteen-Minute Second Life Avatar Makeover: Professional Business Woman

Everybody is familiar by now with the Elizabeth businesswoman avatar, one of Linden Lab’s selection of starter avatars for newbies:

Well, today I decided to give Elizabeth one of my patented fifteen-minute avatar makeovers, and take her to a role-play hotel operating in Second Life for a business meeting! The Essencia Hotel (website; SLURL) is a hotel and convention centre, staffed by both NPCs and role-playing avatars (you can even apply to work here).

To book a room, you just click on one of the kiosks in the hotel foyer, which takes you to a website. Rates range from L$150 a night for a standard twin single, up to L$500 a night for the premium suite!

If you join the Essencia Hotel group for free, you can even pick up a free gift: some luggage!

Here’s what Elizabeth looks like after her head-to-toe makeover. And, like any savvy businesswoman, she knows the value of a dollar. Everything you see here was free! (In some cases I joined a group when they had a free group join period.)

Elizabeth is wearing:

Mesh Head and Body: the free Kalhene Ariadna female mesh body (which, unfortunately, has been pulled from the SL Marketplace because of a DMCA complaint; more details here; I hope that this is resolved soon, but as Elizabeth the businesswoman well knows, legal matters over intellectual property can take time to resolve!).

Skin: Creamy in the milk skin tone from WOW Skins (a free system skin from the gift box of all the previous group gifts, located next to the panel with this month’s group gift; I joined the WOW Skins group when they had a free group join period a while back; Creamy is an older system skin, to which I added the Bakes on Mesh finger fix gloves which are part of a full package of BoM feet and finger fixes for Wow skins, tucked away on a shelf on the second floor of the new location of the Wow Skins store, located at this exact SLURL (click Show on Map and follow the red arrow).

Hair: Kristen by Ade (free gift from the SL17B Shop and Hop; more information here).

Eyes: Sahara eyes by Avi-Glam (free gift from the SL17B Shop and Hop; more information here).

Dress: Office dress in black from Kaithleen’s (I picked this up for free using the gift card that was a Christmas group gift from the store last December).

Shoes: I have been meaning to blog about this fabulous freebie for a while now! These are the sixtynine pumps in black, a free group gift from the KOKOIA shoe store (the KOKOIA group is free to join). These lovely free pumps come in six different neutral colours to go with just about any outfit!

Briefcase: I picked up this freebie from the SpotCat booth at a past Man Cave shopping event. It comes with the Bento hold post shown, and I think it’s the perfect finishing touch for this professional look! (Note: if you go to the SpotCat store in-world and join their store group for L$100, among the group gifts is a set of three of these briefcases for men or women, in white, brown, and black.)

TOTAL COST FOR THIS AVATAR LOOK: FREE!

All pictures taken at the Essencia Hotel.

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: The Free Bento, Bakes on Mesh Kalhene Ariadna Female Mesh Head and Body Just Keep Getting Better and Better!

Please note that I am taking a vacation from the blog for the next two to three weeks, except for sponsored blogposts (and the occasional review such as this).

UPDATE June 25th, 2020: The free Kalhene Ariadna female mesh body has been removed from the SL Marketplace, after Linden Lab received a DMCA complaint. More information is available here.

The creator of the Ariadna Kalhene mesh head and body (which I first wrote about here) has been very nimbly providing regular updates! The current version is 2.3 (which you can get for free on the SL Marketplace here, where it has racked up nearly 100 glowing reviews in an incredibly short space of time). Please note that, although the product description on the SL Marketplace item still says version 2.2, you do receive the latest version, 2.3, when you purchase it. Here’s a look at the HUDs for the body mesh and the included starter wardrobe for the latest version:

The Bodymesh and Clothing HUDs on the Kalhene Ariadna mesh body version 2.3

Among the newest features are blinking eyes (a separate attachment), and four styles of eyelashes. Version 2.3 of this body also has a new script system compatible with appliers for nails, eyelashes, pubic hair and stockings.

My former go-to mesh body for wearing fashion designed for Maitreya Lara was one of the free or paid-for versions of the Altamura mesh bodies, where I found that tops tended to fit very well, but bottoms (especially bikini bottoms) sometimes had problems. Often, I would have to alpha out the entire pelvic area on the Altamura bodies to get Maitreya Lara clothing to look right. (I have noticed that designer support for Altamura mesh bodies has been increasing lately, though.)

But over the past two weeks, I have been testing out the Kalhene Ariadna mesh body with various clothes and shoes designed for Maitreya Lara, and I have found that most such apparel fits it like a dream! Now, it’s not 100% perfect. Please keep in mind that for some clothing, the included alpha sections on the HUD might not be fine enough, and also that this body does not support medium-height shoes, just flats and high heels designed for Maitreya feet. But for a freebie body, this is very good news!

In fact, I am going to say that this body is the winner when it comes to Maitreya Lara compatibility, compared to every other free or inexpensive mesh body I have tried! Dagger Faulkwing, who is similarly impressed with the Ariadna body, said on the Freebie Queens SL Discord:

Ariadna is now the only body I wear unless I want to wear Slink shoes, then I wear the free body being given by out by the MM Board at LucyBody, Atenea*.

Below, I have an avatar who is wearing the Kalhene Ariadna mesh body and head, sporting a Maitreya Lara dress and shoes she picked up as freebies from the Second Life 17th Birthday Gifts Boardwalk, which fit perfectly:

The dress shown is the Vibsy minidress by Pulse, and the shoes are the Yuna heels from Sheba. The hair is also a SL17B gift; this long hairstyle is from Love and is called Lovely (it also serves to cover up the breast areola area on this daringly low-cat dress!). The skin is the Elvira skin from 7 Deadly S[k]ins in the fudge skin tone, part of a fatpack of Elvira skins I got for free from one of their camping chairs during their recent 7th anniversary celebrations! I simply love this look, and the best part is, it is completely free, from head to toe!

I think that the Ariadna Bento mesh head is absolutely gorgeous, straight out of the box, without having to adjust any of the head sliders! But one of the best features of this body is that the head is a separate attachment, and you can replace it with any other Bakes on Mesh-compatible head.

The following look comes from combining the Kalhene Ariadna body with the recent free group gift of the Strong Face Bento mesh head from the Genus Project (I decided to play with the many makeup options on the included HUD, and I went full glam!):

The dress is one of my favourite fashion freebies from Coco Designs, the Stretch Tube bodycon dress in berry red. (I blogged about this dress before here.) The red pumps are included in the Kalhene Ariadna package, and come in five different colours.

The hairstyle is a free group gift from Sintiklia, called Raphael; I learned from the Freebie Queens SL Discord that the Sintiklia group was free to join, so I took advantage of it. You’ll have to check yourself to see if the Sintiklia group is still free to join by the time I publish this blogpost, but if it is, join! You’ll pick up many different hairstyles for free. Even if Sintiklia has reimposed their group join fee and you’re flat broke, there’s still a free gift wall in the store with some hairstyles and makeup.

Once again, this entire look from head to toe is free!

Below, I have paired the Kalhene Ariadna body with the recent free group gift of the Freya Bento mesh head from Catwa, wearing the Elvira skin from 7 Deadly S[k]ins in the pineapple skin tone (an Advent calendar gift from last Christmas):

Her dress, pumps—even the bikini/panties under the dress!—were all included in the Kalhene Ariadna package:

And the best part is, once again, I was able to assemble this avatar look for zero Linden dollars! (This hair was a free group gift from Sintiklia, Called Minaj.)

There is a rapidly-growing market for shapes for this body (just do a search for “Kalhene” on the SL Markerplace). I tested out several freebie and dollarbie shapes for Ariadna, and my favourite starter shapes are those from a package of four sold for free by a store called D’Lea Lee by Pleyades Halsey, called Ideal (here’s the link).

Here is what one of the Ideal athletic shapes looks like:

And here to compare is one of the Ideal curvy shapes:

Of course, all these shapes are just starting points, which you can adjust as you desire to get “your” look. I find that this body responds very well to most of the head and body sliders.

In summary, the Kalhene Ariadna Bento, Bakes on Mesh body is an excellent product that just keeps getting better and better! I am seriously impressed with this product.

If you want to stay in the loop about this body, given how often it is being updated by the creator, there is now a free Second Life group you can join for news and updates. Just copy and paste the following link into the chat box of your SL client:

secondlife:///app/group/bd0eb745-549d-a04d-0b0c-28ffb08e88a0/about

To get the developer’s kit for appliers or to create mesh clothes, shoes and accessories, please send a notecard to the creator, Claudia Urdaneta, with your request. Claudia has also been very responsive to user feedback and bug reports!

Thank you for making this fabulous free mesh body, Claudia!

*If you are curious about the Atenea mesh body from LucyBody, I blogged about it here.