I’m not sure how I missed this, but one of the Advent gifts under the Christmas tree at the Altamura main store is a female Omega-compatible Bento mesh head, called Leila:
You do have to join the Altamura Design/Mesh Avatars group to pick up all the Advent gifts (the group join fee is L$25 during the Advent/Christmas season; usually, the fee to join is L$50). The Leila mesh Bento head is the gift for the 8th day (see the arrow in the picture above). The Christmas tree is located to the left of the main entrance as you walk in, you can’t miss it! Here’s a SLURL to guide you.
Now, this is an Omega-compatible head, but you will have to buy the Omega System Kit for Altamura. A message recently posted to the Altamura group about this gift head included a notecard (which you should get a copy of, for future reference), and it states:
Go to the Omega mainstore and buy the Omega System Kit for Altamura. It’s cheaper to get it there than on the Marketplace (MP). (It’s 99L at the Omega inworld store, but 199L on the MP.)
If you’re on a viewer that has Area Search, you can just search for Altamura when you get there. Please note that there is only ONE system kit for Altamura, so it doesn’t matter if you buy it from the Men’s or Women’s section.
Here’s the taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Omega%20Solutions/224/129/24
And here’s what the vendor looks like at the Omega mainstore (the SLURL should place you right in front of it):
UPDATE Dec. 31st, 2020: The location of the Omega system kit for Altamura heads and bodies has moved; it is now located here.
Here’s what the default head looks like, with the included eyebrows shape, body shape, and head/body alpha. I also included the notecard that comes with the head:
If you want to apply your own Omega makeup to this head, you will first need to remove the default makeup provided by Altamura using one of the free Omega makeup-removal HUDs available on the SL Marketplace (such as this free NEFA Clear All Layers Omega HUD).
Note that this head only comes with one HUD, for animating the eyes and mouth. There are no other HUDs for different skintones or makeups for the Leila head, which were (for example) included in last year’s Giselle Bento mesh head gift at the Christmas 2017 eBENTO event. In this picture, I am using the default system eyes, but Altamura recommends:
WEAR or ADD your mesh eyes. The Altamura Leila does not come with eyes, but there are plenty of lovely FREE eyes on the MP. Here’s one that you can try:
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/NSS-VERMEER-mesh-eyes-demofree-sample-AMETHYST/9638616
NOTE! Don’t be afraid if it says DEMO on the link. It’s a WORKING demo, meaning it’s a fully working free sample that the creator generously provided so everyone could have a good pair of mesh eyes.
Now, it just so happens that LAQ is offering a very generous free gift throughout the month of December: the Joline Omega skin applier in all skintones, both with brows and browless, so you can apply your own brows! You do have to join the LAQ Updates group (which is free to join) in order to get this gift. Here’s the SLURL to pick that up.
Isn’t it beautiful? So, let’s put the two together, along with the free mesh eyes recommended by Altamura, and see what we come up with, shall we?
Looking good!
The total cost of this head (not including the mesh body and LAQ appliers for that mesh body to match the skintone of your head): only L$124 (L$25 for the Altamura group join fee, and L$99 for the Altamura Omega System Kit). I think the result compares very favourably with much pricier Bento mesh heads that cost L$5,000 or more!
Note that if you can’t afford an expensive mesh body like the L$2,750 Maitreya Lara, there are free and inexpensive options available. Try them out with your Leila head!
Here is what the Altamura Leila head looks like with all the default makeup removed, and a dollarbie Omega lipstick by Poema added, with a Maitreya Lara body (LAQ body appliers to match the LAQ skintones are L$300 per tone):
Looking very good!
Since you can pick up all the previous days’ Advent gifts at Altamura, I would suggest you wait until all 12 gifts are under the tree, then make one trip on Dec. 24th or 25th to pick them all up! I plan to do this for several stores which allow you to pick up all the previous days’ gifts at one time. Happy shopping!
UPDATE Dec. 21st: The 10th Advent gift under the Christmas tree turns out to be an Altamura Omega full-body skin applier HUD, in all the Altamura skintones! You have a choice of with brows or browless (so you can apply your own Omega eyebrows):
What this means is that you can now match your Leila Bento mesh head to literally any Altamura body! In the picture above, I am wearing the Leila head with all the default makeup removed, and with the third Baltic Sea skintone applied. I am wearing the head with the free Altamura Jenny mesh body I had picked up at the Women Only Hunt back in 2017 (not the free version you can pick up now at the Freebie Megastore at London City; that version, unfortunately, does not let you remove the head).
Frankly, I was a little surprised that this was not part of the Advent gift on the 8th day. But I now see they are spreading out the gifts over several days. So be sure to drop by and pick up gift #10 to use with your Leila head!