As part of the 16th anniversary celebrations in Second Life, there is a five-sim shopping event with discounts. Every participating store has put out a free gift for visitors.
Here are a few of the gifts I especially liked. All links provide SLURLs which should take you directly to the item at the event.
First up is the Willow Spirit dress by Silvan Moon Designs, paired with the moonstone and pearl Ferris earrings and necklace from EarthStones:
This is the Youthquake 1960s-era minidress with a Peter Pan collar by Fashionably Dead. This retro dress comes in black, ivory, navy, pink, and red, both in a floral pattern as shown, or in plain colours.
Here is the Pride tank top, a free gift from Blueberry (which comes in dry, half wet, and full wet versions), with the fun and funky Candy Rainbow June pumps by Garbaggio (one of my favourite shoe designers):
Don’t forget that at the Blueberry booth at the SL16B shopping event you can also pick up L$250 worth of free in-store credits to spend at the Blueberry store! Also, Addams is giving away L$300 in in-store credit if you go to their mainstore and click on the sign near the entrance. Both Blueberry and Addams require you to join their groups (for free) in order to pick up these credits, and both stores also offer numerous free group gifts, so it’s really a no-brainer to join these two groups.
Happy shopping! The event runs until July 8th, so you still have plenty of time to scoop up the bargains.
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!
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):
And here are the “After” pictures:
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.
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?)
OK, here’s another one of my fifteen-minute avatar makeovers. I started off with one of my old alts, named Peace Dove, who is essentially the avatar embodiment of peace. Here’s the “before” shot, taken back in 2012:
And here are the “after” shots, all taken in the gorgeous fantasy sim called Lost Unicorn. Everything I am wearing I picked up for FREE!
Here are all the details on what I am wearing and where/when I got it:
Bento mesh head with animated elf ears and mesh eyes: Jessy 3 head by Safybelle, who you can get for free by earning 30,000 points on her in-store roulette wheel game or piggie sploder (scroll down to the very end of this blogpost to get more information). Seriously, this beautiful head is one of best-kept freebie secrets in Second Life!
Bento mesh body and hands AO: the Jenny Altamura mesh avatar head and body from the Freebie Megastore at London City (free; one skin tone; has Bento hands and head; more information here); you can remove the head and replace it with any other head,only if you got the freebie Jenny body from last year’s Women Only Hunt; however, you cannot remove the head on the version you can pick up now at the London City Freebie Megastore!
Body AO: Chubby Girl AO by [ImpEle] (free from the SL Marketplace). This is a nice, simple, calm, free AO with no crazy movements. Perfect for an angel wearing a ballgown!
Bento animated wings: angel wings by Blueberry (I picked these up for free using the discount vendor and the generous L$500 gift card offered by Blueberry at the Second Life 15th Anniversary Shopping Event)
Gown: Nadia ballgown in white from Hilly Haalan (free group gift; group is free to join)
Shoes (not shown): White 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.
Jewelry: Daphne collar and bracelet by Beloved Jewelry (two free hunt items from the September Free Dove mini-hunt at the Beloved Jewelry mainstore). The included HUD gives a choice of 12 different metals and 33 different gemstones, so you can match any outfit!
Hair (the only thing I kept from the original avatar): Say 2 hair in white by elikatira (this was a freebie I picked up years ago, way back in the pre-mesh hair days, and I’m not sure it’s still available; I checked and it’s not on the SL Marketplace)
