Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Free Gifts from the Halloween Shop and Hop Event!

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There’s no less than 14 shopping sims at this year’s Halloween Shop and Hop event in Second Life! At every merchant booth, there is a free gift for you—many are Halloween-themed, but others are not. Below, Vanity Fair models a selection of gifts which I think you’ll enjoy.

Once I saw the generous Shop and Hop gifts from Sintiklia and AtaMe, I knew that I would be taking this picture! The Yasmine hair from Sintiklia comes in a fatpack of regular and Halloween shades, with styling options for both normal and windswept looks! And the stunning Lilly gown fatpack by AtaMe includes a HUD to change the texture of the bodice to five different metals, as well as select both the colour (6 shades) and the transparency (4 levels) of the swirling skirts. The Lilly gown comes in sizes to fit Maitreya, Legacy, and Kupra mesh bodies.

Strike a pose! The Lilly gown by AtaMe and Yasmine hair by Sintiklia

There’s several beautiful ballgowns at the Halloween Shop and Hop for you to pick up! From the SOFIA booth comes this sexy red Anne Star gown (sizes: Maitreya Lara, Belleza Freya Perky, Slink Hourglass, and Meshbody Legacy).

The Anne Star gown package includes a set of cream-coloured Eden jewelry (earrings, necklace, a ring and even a clutch purse!), which Vanity Fair is wearing below with the gift from Sascha’s Designs, a romantic cream gown with an optional flexiprim skirt attachment:

You’re all set for your next fancy event in Second Life in this ensemble! The gown comes in sizes to fit Maitreya regular and Petite; Legacy regular and Perky; Slink Physique and Hourglass; Belleza Freya; Tonic Curvy and Fine; and Kupra mesh bodies, as well as a medium-sized standard fitmesh version. (Please note that when you add the unpacker HUD, it rather disconcertingly fills your entire viewer screen, so attach it to your right hand instead, right click on the HUD and select Edit, then drag what versions you need from the Contents tab to your inventory.)

The gift from Bee Dumpling and Solas NaGealai of Silvan Moon Designs is this Anais Saturna gown, which comes with an optional coat and a chain belt in three colours: black, gold, or pewter as shown (the dress and coat comes in Maitreya Lara and Slink sizes).

The Anais Saturna gown by Silvan Moon Designs

From the TO.KISKI booth comes this complete outfit (dress, shoes, cat head band, and an animesh floating heart for your hand), plus a black voodoo rabbit doll!

This sexy red metallic dress with matching heels is sure to be a hit at the nightclub! The dress and shoes come in sizes to fit Maitreya, Belleza/Hourglass, and Legacy/Classic. Here’s s short video showing you one of the six different animesh hearts in action:

The generous gift from Essenz is a complete fatpack of these Aranea pumps, adorned with a spiderweb and dangling spider! Perfect for a dressier Hallowe’en outfit! These shoes fit Legacy, Maitreya, and Belleza mesh feet.

The gift from Caverna Obscura is this lovely autumn maple leaves head wreath, which is completely adjustable (other styling credits for this autumn maiden look can be found here):

Autumn Maiden (wreath by Caverna Obscura; other styling credits)

Among the many gifts from the Petrichor booth are a set of Azre weedcrowns, which come in no less than 36 different colours!

If you’re trying to pull together a witch look this season, here are two gifts for either end of your witch! (Do you know which end of your witch is which? 😉 ) The witch heels are from Hilly Haalan (they come in two colours, black as shown and green, sized to fit Maitreya, Belleza, and Slink mesh feet), and the wonderful witch’s hat and rigged mask are from Giulia Design. Click on each picture to see them in a larger size, and appreciate all the details…

And if you’re feeling devilish, perhaps you’ll want to snag these delightful purple horns from AERTH, which feature an animated orange swirling pattern! You’re sure to stand out in any crowd of demons! 😉

I leave you with the present from Jian, which is a keeper! It’s a cat sleeping on a pillow. If you click on it, you can change the texture of the feline’s fur, as well as the colour of the pillow! It’s adorable, and instantly earns a place in my Linden home.

The Hallowe’en Shop and Hop is on until the end of October, of course, so there’s no hurry! I’d suggest waiting until later on in the shopping event, when it’s less crowded and laggy.

UPDATE 3:30 p.m.: I forgot to mention that there are also a number of free store credit offers available at the Halloween Shop and Hop! The following list is courtesy of SL vlogger NovataSecondLife—thank you for compiling it!

Addams 400L credits FREE
Ghee – 150L giftcard
Dust – 250L giftcard
Vanity Hair – 200L
TREND (250L credit Free)
Bumblebee (500L Giftcard Free)
Monomania – 250L Free ( pay 1l it get refund)
EscalateD – 250L Giftcard FREE
NEW! Alme – 250L (expires Dec. 31st, 2021)

You can pick up one of these lovely Flora tea dresses (which come in six different floral patterns) for free using the L$150 gift card available from the Ghee booth at the Hallowe’en Shop and Hop event

UPDATE Oct. 4th, 2021: One last fabulous freebie! Check out these truly glorious red wings, part of a complete outfit from the Alter booth at the Hallowe’en Shop and Hop! The outfit comes in sizes to fit Maitreya Lara; Belleza Freya, Isis and Venus; Slink Physique and Hourglass; and Meshbody Classic/TMP mesh bodies, plus five standard sizes. (The dress in the picture below is the gift from TO.KISKI, which I discussed earlier in this blogpost.)

Happy freebie shopping!

Bronze Beauty: A Head-to-Toe Second Life Avatar Makeover for Only L$197!

I still derive a great deal of personal satisfaction from styling a Second Life avatar as inexpensively as possible, but still looking like I spent thousands of Linden dollars! Here is what I was able to create today, using as my starting point a wonderful free skin I found at the COCOAMATRIX store, called Avril:

This avatar stands out in any crowd! She is wearing:

  • Head: Genus Strong Face (a free gift head from the Genus Project; includes the mesh eyes shown)
  • Body: Atenea body by LUCYBODY (a free Midnight Mania gift, more information here; requires a L$197 Bakes on Mesh applier to wear BoM skins)
  • Skin: Avril from COCOAMATRIX (this striking bronzed skin is a free group gift; the COCOAMATRIX group is free to join)
  • Hair: Raphael hair by Sintiklia (a free gift from their gift wall)
  • Outfit: Shey by Scandalize (the top and leggings are both free group gifts from the Scandalize Outlet store; more information here)
  • Pumps: Wales pumps by Essenz (I joined the Essenz group when they had a free group join period, and a fatpack of these versatile pumps were a recent group gift)

TOTAL COST OF THIS AVATAR LOOK: Only L$197! If this isn’t proof that you can pull together a polished look in SL for next to nothing, I don’t know what is.

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!

UPDATED! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Gifts from the 17th Birthday Shop and Hop Event

As promised, here are a selection of some of the wonderful freebies you can pick up as part of the Second Life 17th Birthday celebrations (more details here), which run until now until July 12th, 2020.

First, a pro tip: before you visit the Shop and Hop event, visit the SL17B Gift Boardwalk first. Why? Because many of the Shop and Hop vendors have also wisely made their gifts available here, as well as their booths at the Shop and Hop event. Trust me, you will find it much easier to get into these two sims than try to pry your way into the crowded, laggy Shop and Hop mall sims, which seem to be limited to 45 avatars each at a time, maximum. (Then again, so do the Second Life 17th Birthday sims where the Boardwalk is located.)

The SL17B Gift Boardwalk: Start Here

UPDATE June 20th, 2020: You should also know that there are a lot of gifts here at the Gift Boardwalk that are only available here, such as this striking, geometric design gown by Blue Rose Creations:


In this blogpost, I will be providing exact SLURLs to the locations at the Shop and Hop mall sims (not the SL17B Gift Boardwalk). Like I said, start at the Boardwalk first, and then, only if you cannot find it there, try to get into the Shop and Hop sims (I would strongly urge you to wait until July. The gifts aren’t going anywhere.)

I do apologize to you for using a pose stand for many of the following pictures. It just made going through all the gifts (well over 200!) a much less tedious process. I also tended to rely heavily on vendor photos of the gifts in the mall to decide what I wanted to unpack, wear, and show you in this blogpost.

Store Credits

First, pick up the two store credit offers available at the Shop and Hop event, which mean you can pick up whatever you want from the store later!

(UPDATE June 20th, 2020: I mistakenly had written that Blueberry was among the stores offering a store credit at the Shop and Hop, but that was back in March for their birthday, and I had even blogged about it then. Please accept my apologies for the mistake, and a thank you to Brinlea for pointing this error out to me in the comments!)

Bumblebee is offering a L$300 store credit here (just attach the HUD and click on it), and Addams is giving away L$500 in store credit here (just click on the sign at their booth).

My Favourite Clothes, Shoes, Jewelry, Hair, and Eyes

I don’t usually blog about eyes, but I will make an exception for these absolutely gorgeous Sahara eyes by Avi-Glam, available at their booth here. They come in both classic system and mesh versions (Catwa, Genus, LeLutka, and Omega). I just may be wearing this pair for a little while!

Blueberry is, once again, being extremely generous with her gifts! She is giving away a fatpack of lace-trimmed tops, plus a fatpack of bow slippers! Christmas came early, kids. (Speaking of Christmas, the pink leggings are an applier from Baby Monkey and were an Advent calendar gift from last December.)

AlaFolie‘s free gift is the Floralie Happy dress, trimmed along the bottom in black lace, which comes with a HUD with four different patterns (and you can also change the texture on the black top part of the dress to match the rest). You can pick it up here (and there are another four patterns of this dress available if you join the AlaFolie store group, which is not free). Here I have paired it with the long, wavy hair that Sintiklia is already well-known for! This is the Ruby hairstyle, which comes in 17 different colours and includes a styling HUD to wear each side forward or back as you desire (get it here).

There are some rather nice hair gifts available at the Shop and Hop mall, and this is another one: a neat and tidy, top-bun hairstyle called Kristen from Ade (here), which comes in a full fatpack of colours. The slate-blue floral tied shirt is the gift from Pixicat (here).

Lybra is offering two gifts that can be worn together as shown or separately: the top comes with two HUDs with solid colours and floral patterns, and the micro-miniskirt in matching colours and patterns (which thankfully includes panties to preserve your modesty!). You can get it here.

The hair shown below is yet another SL17B Shop and Hop freebie, the Candice hairstyle by Doux (here), which also comes in a fatpack of colours.

Bella Moda‘s genrous gift is this entire outfit: a gold and red party dress, shoes, and jewelry! This is the Celebrazione Crimson dress (available here), and all the little details on each of the pieces are examples of some truly lovely craftsmanship:

Here’s a closer look at the top of the Celebrazione dress, the necklace and the earrings:

Next up is yet another hairstyle fatpack, this one by Love, called (of course!) Lovely hair (available at their booth here), along with a sexy minidress from Pulse, which features a cutout at the back (not shown here).

The dress is sized for Maitreya Lara only, but it comes in no less than eight different colours: red as shown below, plus army, black, blue, blush, plum, white, and wine! The chain belt you see is optional and comes in four choices of metal: gold, silver, rose gold and onyx. You’re all set for the nightclub in this outfit! You can snap it up here!

(I know for a fact you can also pick up this dress and this hair at the Gift Boardwalk.)

Finally, we have the Be Mine floral headband and a moon collar from Tentacio (available here; please note that the creator has mistakenly switched the labels on the included HUD for the collar—Metal should be Leather and vice versa!):

This headband is completely adjustable in various dimensions (a feature I wish more accessories creators offered), and it comes in four different versions, with pink, red, white, and blue roses.

There are literally dozens of other gifts at both the Gift Boardwalk and the Shop and Hop mall; this is just a sampling of things which I particularly liked. There are also many home decor freebies available this time around, and tons of shoes, which I have not covered here except for the Blueberry and Bella Moda gifts.

Here’s a list of all the Shop and Hop sims. Again, I would caution you to wait a week or two until the crowd dies down and you can browse and wander in peace. The 200 participating vendors are also offering discounts on a selection of their merchandise, plus a few special items only during the SL17B celebrations!

Happy freebie shopping!

O.K., back to my vacation from the blog… 😉

UPDATE June 20th, 2020: I forgot to mention one more fabulous freebie, this beautiful deep purple and brown medieval/fantasy gown by Silvan Moon Designs! This is the Iona Destiny Elven gown in amethyst:

The set comes with a separate brown leather jerkin and arm-guards, which are one piece, in case you suddenly need to ride off to battle! The detail, as always, is delightful.

Now, I regret that I did not remember to save the SLURL for this last gift, but it is on the Gilded sim. Just look for a small suitcase on a fireplace mantel inside the store, to the right from the entrance.