Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Free Gifts from the FaMESHed December Round!

It’s Christmas time, and many of the vendors participating in the December round of the monthly FaMESHed shopping event have Christmas gifts for you! You do need to join the FaMESHed Update Group for free to pick up all these gifts.

Here’s a look at some of the fabulous fashion freebies for female avatars. This avatar is wearing three gifts together as one outfit:

  • the sweater is the gift from COCO Designs;
  • the skirt is the gift from Safira; and
  • the boots are by L&B SWEAR.

The detail on the boots are a little hard to see in the first picture, so here’s a closeup! These winter boots are by Lapointe & Bastchild SWEAR, and they come in Frost blue, Pine green, and Merry red, in sizes to fit most brands of female mesh feet. Truly beautiful craftsmanship by Lapointe & Bastchild!

The skirt from Safira comes in two versions, either with or without a large bow at the rear, along with a HUD to change the colour of the stripe on the red skirt and the included panties to one of 23 different colours (or, if you wish, to remove the panties entirely, but Auntie Ryan is not going to show you that! 😉 …it would shock the children!).

Here my avatar is wearing the SWEAR boots in Frost blue, with the same Safira skirt as above, plus the Christmas hoodie from Giz Seorn. She’s all set for a romp in the snow (well, okay, maybe if she swaps out that miniskirt for some snowpants!):

Next up we have this Unicorn pink bodysuit by Tori Toricelli:

The gif from Scandalize is the Lizzi dress with a separate belt, which comes in a fatpack of colours!

You can also pick up some nice shoes. The Mozambique heels from Essenz come in a three-colour HUD, plus the ability to change both the colour of the sole and the metal on the cheeky little safety pin!

From Gos Shoes, there are these lovely red sandals:

And there is a metric TON of jewelry at the December round of the FaMESHed event! Here are just a few examples. First up is the lovely ornate, antique Princess necklace from Junbug, with a delicate golden chain and a light blue gemstone. Isn’t it gorgeous? I will definitely be wearing this with a light blue ballgown at my next swanky soirée!

Kunglers offers the following Doriana necklace in two versions: gold pearl (as shown below), and silver teal:

The FaMESHed gift from Glitzz is the elegant gold Amira necklace, which comes with a HUD to change the colours of the gemstones:

Next up we have the Tressa necklace and earrings from Cae, which come with a HUD to allow you to select one of six different metals, and fifteen different gemstones!

The gift from EarthStones is the lovely Devorah necklace and earrings in bloodstone:

Finally, from Supernatural we have this chic, versatile choker, which comes in either white or black, in gold or silver, and with two HUDs to change the two sets of gemstones to 35 different colours, to match any outfit!

You can also find a few menswear and home decor gifts. This charming milk can, decorated with Christmas holly and branches with red berries, is the gift from Trompe L’Oeil, and the sweater this male avatar is wearing is the gift from ELEMEN’S (it comes in blue as shown or in red, in sizes to fit the Belleza Jake and Signature Gianni male mesh bodies).

Happy freebie shopping! This round of the FaMESHed shopping event runs from December 1st to December 27th , 2020, so you’ve got plenty of time to swoop down and vacuum up all the fabulous Christmas freebies! Here’s your taxi!

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: L$15 Combat/Hiking Boots from Scandalize!

Every so often, the popular Scandalize womenswear store holds a hunt.

Well, “hunt” would be a strong word, since that would imply actually hiding the items; the hunt items are simply placed out on the floor in plain sight, and all you really need to do is walk through all the aisles of the store to find them. Sometimes, they don’t even bother to scatter the hunt items around the store!

Well, Scandalize is once again throwing a Summer Hunt, on now until August 30th, 2020, where you are looking for a small pink-and-white unicorn pool floatie (see image above). You do not need to join the Scandalize group to buy the hunt items, which cost L$15 each.

I wanted to alert my faithful SL readers that I have discovered an incredible bargain with one item in the Scandalize Summer Hunt: a complete fatpack of the Darliane combat/hiking boots, with an truly mind-boggling number of customization options!

The Darliane boots come in two versions (with or without socks) and they come in sizes to fit the following female mesh bodies (but really, they’re unisex; I’ll explain below):

  • Belleza Freya and Isis
  • Maitreya Lara
  • Meshbody Legacy
  • Slink Hourglass

Here’s what the Darliane boots look like, right out of the box. They come with three HUDs which allow you to change no less than nine different parts of the boot, to any of 42 different colours—every single part of the boot, from the sole to the eyelets to the laces to the loop at the back!

You can go crazy with any of a mind-boggling 42 times 42 times 42 times 42 times 42 times 42 times 42 times 42 times 42 (42⁹, or 42 with an exponent of 9) possible colour combinations, or just opt for basic black:

Yes, that’s right, 42⁹ possible colour combinations!

Here, my bored, surly goth girl alt, Nada Nix (a suitably nihilistic Second Life legacy name for a goth avatar, don’t you think? ), is rocking her new Darliane boots at the House of V club:

But the best part is this: these boots are unisex, and can be worn by men or women. And, even better, they are even resizable!

How is this possible? Well, you can always alpha out the feet and ankles on any mesh avatar body, using the included HUD that came with the body, so it should be a relatively simple matter to get them to look good on whatever body you are wearing: male, female, transgender, etc. (I mean, these are combat boots, sweetheart, not some delicate, strappy sandal where most of your foot is showing! If your foot is sticking through at any point, just alpha it out!)

And, if you wear the Legacy size of the Darliane boots, you can actually make them bigger or smaller, just by adjusting the foot size slider in the body sliders! If you’re not familiar with footwear designed for Meshbody Legacy, this is a standard feature. Just right click on your avatar, select Appearance from the pie menu that pops up, then select Edit Shape, scroll right and hit the Legs tab on the Editing Shape menu, and finally, scroll down to the bottom-most setting of Foot Size, as shown here:

There you go, easy as pie! Here, one of my male alts is out for a hike in the Mount Campion Caves National Forest (the rest of his outfit is free, from Fitch):

Here, I set the foot size using the body sliders to 80:

As you can see, these are extremely versatile boots, and at only L$15, they are a real steal! So hurry down to Scandalize before the Summer Hunt ends on August 30th, 2020, and snap up this bargain before it’s gone!

Here’s a couple of hints to help you (please ignore them if this feels like cheating to you). From the main front counter of the store, head right. The floaties tend to pop up only as you get closer to them, even at Ultra settings, so you may have to wander around a bit to find the Darliane boots.

And Scandalize is always busy, so expect lots of avatars and lots of lag. If you are using the Firestorm viewer, select Show Friends Only from the World menu to derender everybody except your friends, to get much better viewer performance (see image, above right).

Happy 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: eBENTO Event Third Anniversary Gifts

One of Ryan’s tips for freebie shopping in Second Life is to always hit the major shopping events on their anniversaries, when almost all of the vendors participating put out a free gift for shoppers as a thank you.

Well, the eBENTO event is now on in SL, and they are celebrating their third anniversary with an abundance of gifts! You do have to join the eBENTO group to pick up all the gifts (the group is free to join).

Here are just five of the many gifts available. First up is this Cute notebook from MOVEMENT, which comes with the hold pose shown that overrides your regular animation override. The Cute glasses are a separate attachment. I quite like this!

Look at this gorgeous turquoise blue gown! It is called Oceanic Aquatica, and it is the gift from the RAPTURE booth.

This sexy little red Beatrix dress is the gift from Eternus:

Mesh body maker Tonic has a free gift of these black snubby platform pumps, a wardrobe essential! They come in sizes to fit Slink-compatible feet and, of course, Tonic mesh body feet.

The gift from SlackGirl are these lovely Carezza Bento mesh nails, which come in eight sizes for just about every possible version of mesh hands out there, plus a texture HUD with eight different shades, including black. Best of all, the Altamura version of these nails works well with all the freebie versions of Altamura bodies, so if you picked up one of those at some time in the past, you’ll definitely want to get this gift!

There are so many more gifts to be snapped up, everything from skins and makeup to poses and animations. Here’s your taxi to drop you off right at the centre square of the eBENTO event! Happy freebie shopping!