Tag: Seniha

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Gifts from the Cosmopolitan Christmas Tree

IMPORTANT EDITORIAL/HOUSEKEEPING NOTE, PLEASE READ:

Many of my regular readers are probably wondering why I have written so much about Second Life this month, instead of all the other metaverse platforms I could cover.

First: My faculty union at the university where I work went through a five-week strike which ended in early December, and we are now in a rapidly worsening Omicron wave of the coronavirus pandemic. I am STRESSED and UTTERLY EXHAUSTED and I need to take a break. Second Life is my happy place, and my preferred way of dealing (or, perhaps more accurately, not dealing) with messy, painful, chaotic, dumpster-fire reality these days. I am therefore taking December as a vacation from this blog (with a few exceptions, such as this blogpost).

Second: As I have often said before, Second Life is the perfect example of a mature, fully-evolved metaverse, which the newer social VR platforms would be wise to study and emulate. Do not be so quick to dismiss Second Life as quaint and outdated! At a time when the concept of the metaverse is suddenly very popular again, you can learn many lessons from studying SL. For example, merchandizing avatar fashion (such as that profiled in this blogpost) is now a very hot topic in the blockchain/crypto/NFT space; Second Life content creators have been earning full or side incomes by creating and selling avatar fashion for over 18 years now!

Thank you for your patience and understanding. I do expect to return full-throttle to blogging about any and all aspects of social VR, virtual worlds and the metaverse in January 2022!

Every December, the Cosmopolitan shopping event (SLURL) has a large Christmas tree placed between the entrance doors, which is a sort of Advent calendar, but in a different form. Every day, more and more stockings are added to the tree as decorations, and each stocking is a free gift from a participating vendor. Join the !!Cosmopolitan Club & Lounge!! group for free to pick up these gifts.

However, because the stockings all look alike and are attached to all sides of a three-dimensional, cone-shaped object, and therefore it can be very hard to keep track of what you have already taken and what you haven’t! Here’s a useful tip, from a previous year’s blogpost, on how to tackle the tree:

If you insist on visiting every day, the layout of the stockings around the tree can be somewhat confusing compared to traditional Advent calendars, and you might land up collecting the same gifts multiple times. You might want to use this tip provided by SL blogger Chic Aeon: once you have clicked on a stocking and received its gift, right click on it, Select More from the pie menu, select More again, then select Derender, then Blacklist. You will no longer be able to see that stocking on return visits! (These are the instructions for the Firestorm viewer; I do not know what the equivalent is for the standard Second Life viewer.) This is a genius tip! Thanks, Chic!

Another tip: derender the Christmas tree first; then the stockings will appear to be floating in mid-air, and they are much easier to find and click on! 😉

Today my avatar Moesha Heartsong (the Naomi Campbell supermodel of Second Life!) models some of my favourite gifts from the Cosmopolitan stockings. I do apologize for using a pose stand for these images; I can work much faster this way, and therefore get this blogpost out to you more quickly! I do not know how long the Christmas tree will be up at the Cosmopolitan event, so don’t delay in picking up these fabulous freebies!

First up is the Mei jewelry set from Supernatural, a choker and two necklaces (three separate pieces which you can wear together as shown, or separately as you wish). The Mei set comes in gold and silver versions, and each version comes in four different colours: black, red, pink, and white.

From AVALE comes the Gorra party dress with a dark silver skirt and a colour-changeable top (the included HUD gives you 11 colours). Sizes: Maitreya, Legacy, Freya, Isis, Hourglass, and Kupra.

ZVI’s gift is this cropped top with a choice of 20 colours via a HUD (sizes: Maitreya Lara, Meshbody Legacy, INITHIUM Kupra, eBody Reborn, Kalhene Erika).

Blossom&Seeds offers you this Costa Rica dress in sizes to fit Maitreya Lara, Belleza Freya, and Meshbody Legacy bodies:

From Shybird comes the Mina party dress, which comes in a fatpack with a whopping 64 options (32 colours in silk and 32 colours in suede!). This dress comes in sizes to fit Maitreya, Legacy, Kupra, and eBody Reborn.

The Eliza outfit (in the stocking from Meva) consists of a red dress and a white jacket with a belt. The dress and jacket can be worn together as shown, or you can mix and match with other items from your avatar’s wardrobe.

Off-Line’s present is this Nali dress in salmon, which comes in opaque and sheer versions (sizes: Maitreya, Legacy, Freya, Hourglass, and Kupra).

The present from Amias is this delightful grey Deer Sweater! There are versions for both male and female avatars: Maitreya Lara & Petite and Legacy & Perky for the women; and Belleza Jake, Signature Gianni, and Legacy for the men.

Seniha very generously gives you a complete fatpack of the Rosse outfit, consisting of a bodysuit and boa/fur stole, each of which comes with a HUD with a dizzying array of colours and textures to choose from! You can tint the top, belt, and bottom of the bodysuit separately via the HUD, for even more options!

From Little Fox comes the Darling set of top and matching panties in cherry red (Maitreya, Legacy, Freya, Kupra sizes).

The gift from Masoom is this pink Minerva gown (which comes in both regular and windblown versions). The gown comes with a gems HUD and a separate package of tintable panties to wear underneath. The Minerva gown comes in sizes to fit Maitreya Lara, Belleza Freya, and Slink Hourglass mesh bodies.

The stocking from Poison Rouge contains this haute couture Alma de Rosa hat in coral pink:

This is the Makina pigtail hairstyle from Ayashi, which comes with the HUD as shown, with eight different anime colours and a tinting feature to make your hair any colour under the sun!

Petite Maison offers a lovely selection of home decor (seven separate objects):

And finally, for something completely different, we have this set of unisex Bakes on Mesh cosmetics from Poema, the Editorial makeup pack! You’re all set for your next Vogue fashion shoot!

Again, I don’t know how long the Christmas tree will be up, so go TODAY.

Happy freebie shopping!

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Gifts from the 9th Anniversary Round of the FaMESHed Shopping Event

The ninth anniversary of the FaMESHed monthly shopping event is upon us, and almost all of the vendor booths at the event have a free gift for you! Vanity Fair will model some of those fabulous freebie fashionista finds for you today. Here’s the first look:

Vanity Fair’s entire look, from head to toes, consists of gifts from FaMESHED! She is wearing:

  • Hair: Diana hair by Phoenix (which comes in a full fatpack of colours)
  • Sunglasses: PM N1 glasses, the present from the BONDI booth
  • Top: this double-layered blue-and-white top is part of a complete outfit, a gift from Neve (which includes matching shorts)
  • Pants: these two-tone jeans are the gift from the Pink Cream Pie booth (they come in versions for flat feet and high feet), and they match the Neve top perfectly!
  • Shoes: peppermint Ada pumps by Garbaggio
  • Watch: Lana watch with a fabric wrist strap, the gift from Baiastice

Here’s the second look, once again FaMESHed gifts from head to toe!

For our second look, Vanity Fair is wearing:

  • Hair: Lola by Navy+Copper (comes in a full fatpack of colours)
  • Earrings: Leaf earrings by RealEvil Industries (comes with a HUD with 4 metal choices)
  • Dress: Maddy dress by Seniha
  • Boots: these sexy boots are the Farah tassel boots in gold, the gift from the Gos booth

Here’s the third look, again consisting of free gifts from FaMESHED:

Vanity is once again wearing the Ada pumps from Garbaggio, along with:

  • Hair: No Basics hair by no.match (comes in a full fatpack of colours)
  • Earrings: Triple Tear earrings in azurite from EarthStones
  • Dress: the Star dress in mint by Safira

For our final look, Vanity Fair is modeling:

  • Hair: Dana hair by Sintiklia, which comes with a Colors & Pastels palette as shown above (Vanity is wearing the default colour, right out of the box)
  • Dress with optional belt: Charlotte dress, the gift from the Luas booth
  • Shoes: Debra platforms by UTOPIA Design

The FaMESHed event runs from May 1st to May 27th, 2021. Happy freebie shopping!

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: L$750 in Free Store Credit Offers at Seniha and Scandalize (Plus Nine New Free Womenswear Fatpacks at the Scandalize Outlet Store!)

The Seniha and Scandalize stores in Second Life are each offering free store credits to their group members. The Seniha group is free to join, and the Scandalize group is also currently free to join, but only until October 4th!

Scandalize

I would encourage you to join the Scandalize group and remain in the group, because normally it costs L$100 to join the group. And (as I have often said before), Scandalize offers, without a doubt, the most generous selection of free group gifts of any store on the grid, dozens and dozens and dozens of women’s apparel and shoes to satisfy any freebie fashionista!

The bountiful group gifts wall at Scandalize

At the entrance to the store are three panels. Wear your Scandalize group tag and click on one of them:

Please be patient; the store is crowded and there is usually a significant delay (a minute or two) between when you click on the sign and when a blue window pops up in the upper right-hand corner of your screen, Click on “Select reward” and you will be awarded L$400 is store credit, which you can then apply towards anything in the Scandalize store.

The free group join period for Scandalize ends October 4th, but it’s not clear whether the free store credit will still be available after that date (the last time Scandalize did this, which I reported on here, not too long ago), the store credit was still available for a limited time, even after they had raised the Scandalize group join fee back up to L$100.

(By the way, if you haven’t done so yet, be sure to visit the Scandalize Outlet store located south of the main Scandalize store, on the same sim, where you can join the Scandals SL Frees & News group for free and pick up scores of free Scandalize outfit fatpacks! (I reported back in July that you could pick up 72 fatpacks, but they have now added an additional nine fatpacks to the outlet, for a grand total of 81 free fatpacks of Scandalize clothing! This is one of the biggest and best free giveaways on the grid, and I urge you to take advantage of it. Details here.)

Seniha

At the Seniha store is a huge sign which, when you join the Seniha Originals group and click on it, awards you L$350 in free store credit, to be used on anything in the store:

Seniha also has a free group gift wall, smaller than Scandalize’s, but still packed full of wonderful womenswear items to add to your inventory. Many of these outfits are fatpacks which include HUDs to change the colour and texture of the clothing.

Now, I would caution you that, obviously, both stores are packed at the moment, and the sims they sit on are struggling under the onslaught. You might want to time your attempts to teleport in early in the morning or very late in the evening, when the stores will presumably be less crowded.

Please be patient. Lag will be a problem, which affects everything from getting your free store credits from the panels, to purchasing and receiving items. (In once case, my avatar crashed before the transaction could complete, and I did not receive the item in my inventory when I was able to log back in! In that case, I simply used the redelivery terminal in the store to request a second copy sent to me.)

My recommendation is that you might want to pop into both stores just to pick up your free store credit, and then schedule a time after this promotion has ended, and the store is less busy. to do your browsing and shopping in peace (as far as I am aware, the store credits offered by both Scandalize and Seniha do not expire, unlike those from Blueberry, which usually expire in 2 or 3 weeks).

Happy freebie shopping!

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Free Bakes on Mesh Skin from MILA

Now that The Genus Project has finally won the DMCA case filed against it, and reopened their store, the free group gift of the Strong Face head is once again available from the group notices of the GenusProject group (the group is free to join). This is a stunningly beautiful head, with all the bells and whistles of the full-price product, and if you haven’t picked one up yet to play with, now’s your time!

The head does come with a starter skin applier in three skin tones, but if you are looking for some more skin to use with that head, MILA is currently giving away two Bakes on Mesh skin tones of their Aggie skin, which is intended for Genus and LeLutka mesh heads:

So, I decided to visit their store (here’s the exact SLURL to their group gift wall; you will need to right-click on it and select Show Map, and follow the red arrow from the central spawn point). To pick up this free gift, you must first join the Mila Poses group, which is free to join.

Here is what the darker Aggie skin tone looks like on the free Strong Face head from The Genus Project:

This avatar is wearing:

Mesh Head: Strong Face gift Bento mesh head from The Genus Project (free group gift)

Hair: Aria by D!va Hair. Join the D!va store group for free and you can pick up this lovely Aria hairstyle from the panel right behind the front counter, which comes in a full fatpack of colours, plus a styling HUD.

Mesh Body, Nails, Rings, and Shoes: the Kalhene Ariadna mesh body, version 2.4. which I picked up for free at the time. Please note the Ariadna body is no longer available, but the L$1,695 Anya mesh body by Kalhene (which is frequently updated, and simply gets better and better with each new update!) is the successor to the original Ariadna freebie mesh body. Anya is available to buy at the Kalhene store, and is fully Maitreya Lara compatible; please see this blogpost for further information. I am mightily impressed with this body, and it is a great bargain!

Dress: the Lyna dress is a free group gift from Seniha (the group is free to join).

TOTAL COST FOR THIS AVATAR LOOK: FREE! (L$1,695 if you have to buy the Anya mesh body).

Happy freebie shopping!