Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Beautiful Free Ballgowns!

I just stumbled across a fabulous fashion freebie for female avatars, and I decided to use it as an excuse to write up an entire blogpost about all the places in Second Life you can pick up a full-length mesh ballgown, for free! Clip and save for when you need something for a formal, black-tie event (or even if you just feel like swanning around SL in a full-blown battleship ballgown; hey, it’s your Second Life, express yourself any way you want!)

The freebie is from the newly-rebranded store, Dead Doll (formerly known as Dead Dollz), which has set up in a brand new location and is offering a gift to celebrate. If you join the SeraphimSL.com group for free and click the panel shown below, you can pick up the simple, elegant Etta strapless gown for free:

The Etta gown comes in a fatpack of sixteen colours as shown. Here, Vanity Fair models it with a black lace bolero from United Colors (not free; I purchased the fatpack of this bolero, waiting for the perfect gown to pair it with). Sheer perfection!

Another place where you can pick up some free gowns is the excellent freebie store at Ajuda SL Brasil. Up on the third floor is a large display by VIPs Creations, where in the top row of panels are three different styles of full-length gowns:

This lovely strapless gown with a subtle pattern is by VIPs Creations, and comes in four colours as shown, and even includes the shoes:

Another place to pick up a simple, classic ballgown is the generous freebie store at Hilly Haalan, where you can find this Nadia gown in fifteen colours (you will need to join the Hilly Haalan store group for free to pick up all the freebies here).

While some gowns are the right length for high heels, the Nadia gown works best with flats. Fortunately, at Hilly Haalan you can also pick up a free set of Amy flats which come in a variety of colours to match this ballgown perfectly!

Another little-known spot where you can pick up ballgowns in orange, red, and blue is !Soul, a store which has set up shop in a skybox high above the newbie orientation centre called New Resident Island (here’s the exact SLURL). If you join the !Soul group for free, you can pick up dozens of free gifts of women’s clothing, hair, footwear, and system/Bakes on Mesh skins. Everything in the store is free!

The apparel at !Soul comes in standard sizes, but ballgowns are the kind of clothing that you can easily alpha out your pelvic area and legs anyway, so they will always fit! (You might have to adjust your bust size slightly, though.)

Here is the blue ballgown from !Soul, with the optional fur stole. Looking elegant for zero Linden dollars!

Of course, you can sometimes pick up free ballgowns at the entrances to many of the finer dance establishments in Second Life, such as this gown from the newly-reopened Frank’s Jazz Club (which appears to have started up again just to try and wrench business away from the upstart Frank’s (more information here):

And, of course, there are several beautiful ballgowns to be had at The Free Dove (remember that you have to join The Free Dove group for free in order to get these freebies). Palomma Casanova, the owner of The Free Dove, has reorganized her venerable freebie store by designer, so you will have to wander around a bit to find all the ballgowns. However, there is still a small women’s formalwear section near the back entrance (SLURL):

Nearby is a display by Lurve, which features two very different gowns:

And close by, the Tiffany Designs display at The Free Dove has a couple of lovely full-length ballgowns, perfect for your next swanky soirée:

In fact, you can also pick up a couple of free ballgowns at Tiffany’s main store location (one is mesh and the other is an applier gown; no group is needed):

Take a look at the shimmering, daringly low-cut Nia ballgown in champagne, one of the free gown gifts at Tiffany Designs!

So there you have it—elegance on (less than) a dime!

Remember that the Etta ballgown fatpack gift at Dead Doll is likely a time-limited offer, and that Palomma Casanova frequently rotates the stock at The Free Dove, so please don’t delay picking up these gowns and stashing them in your inventory for your next major event. Happy freebie shopping!

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: !SOUL

The !SOUL Store

!SOUL was a freebie store which suddenly disappeared from the grid, but lo and behold, I have just today discovered that they have now set up shop in a skybox high above the newbie orientation centre called New Resident Island (here’s the SLURL).

As before, everything in the store—women’s clothing and footwear, hairstyles, even some system skins!—is completely free. Freebie fashionistas rejoice!! You will have to join the !SOUL group for free to pick up these items, and there is a group join panel in the store:

Please keep in mind that all clothing items use standard sizing (XS, S, M, L and XL), and also note that some of the free shoes include the feet (although they do include a HUD to tint the skin to match the rest of your body, it is still a bit of a laborious process).

Below, my avatar is wearing the Lily hairstyle from !SOUL, plus the Delicate Satin Mesh Dress in white (in comes in several other colours and floral patterns) with the included Delicate Flat Ankle Mesh Boots (I just alpha’ed out the feet and they fit perfectly):

The Lily hair comes with 14 different HUDs with twelve colours each, for a total of 168 different shades!

Here my avatar is wearing the Mesh Gown Dress, which comes in seven patterns as shown in the picture below. The hairstyle is also by !SOUL, and is called Bellflowers.

Finally, we have the Mesh Long Pants and matching Mesh Frill Blouse, which comes in four different colours:

(The hair in this picture is Kelsa by Firelight Hair, a former Advent calendar gift, and the shoes are part of the freebie pack of Slink-compatible shoes available from Garbaggio on the SL Marketplace.)

Here’s the SLURL to !SOUL. Happy freebie shopping!

UPDATED! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Pick Up 823 Freebies in Just Seven Stops for Only L$51!

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Time to take another alt from zero to hero(ine)! And time to update this popular blogpost on freebie shopping from last May. And this time, I beat my old record of 789 freebies in 10 stops! Yes, it can be done!!

This weekend, I wanted to see just how many high-quality freebies I could vacuum up in as few stops as possible, for a newbie (unisex) Second Life avatar. My only rule was to ignore any older system (non-mesh) clothing, any applier-based clothing, tattoos, classic avatar skins, shapes, and poses. My total budget was L$51, which was spent on full-body mesh avatars. Everything else was free!

My starting point was Altamura, where I picked up the free group gifts of the Juliet and Romeo mesh bodies, for only the L$50 group join fee for the Altamura Design/Mesh Avatars group! (More information here. You have to pay the vendors L$1 after you join the group, and your Linden dollar is automatically refunded.)

UPDATE Feb. 25th: It would appear that there was a miscommunication from Altamura about when this promotion would end. I was told Feb. 27th and I originally wrote that in this blogpost. However, today I learned from the Altamura Design/Mesh Avatars discussion group that it actually ended at the end of the day yesterday, February 24th. Sorry if you missed this fabulous offer!

However, you still have many free and inexpensive options for mesh heads and bodies for male avatars and for female avatars (follow these links for more details).

SECOND UPDATE Feb. 25th: Due to the number of unhappy customers who believed they had until Feb. 27th and still wanted to pick up the Romeo and Juliet group gifts, Altamura has posted the following notice to their group late this afternoon:

Due to a miscommunication, Romeo & Juliet gift was removed. It WILL be back tomorrow until the 27th as was originally expected. So make SURE to bring yourself and friends along before they’re gone!!

After I visited Altamura, I hit only six more locations in Second Life:

  • Virtue (group is free to join): 46 group gifts (beautiful, modestly-designed women’s dresses, blouses and T-shirts)
  • Coco Designs (group is free to join): 47 group gifts (women’s clothing and shoes; note there are two separate Group Gift walls in the store)
  • !Soul (group is free to join): 114 group gifts (women’s hair, clothing and shoes)
  • Hilly Haalan (group is free to join): 68 group gifts (women’s clothing and shoes)
  • The Free Dove (group is free to join): 198 group gifts (men’s and women’s clothing, shoes, hair and jewelry)
  • The freebie store at Ajuda SL Brasil (no group needed): a whopping 350 gifts (men’s and women’s clothing, shoes, hair and jewelry)

Female Avatar Looks

Here is look number 1 for my female avatar: everything my avatar is wearing, from top to bottom, except the mesh avatar itself, came from the excellent freebie store at Ajuda SL Brasil.

  • Mesh avatar body: Juliet by Altamura
  • Hair: Leslie by Firelight (3rd floor, Ajuda SL Brasil freebie store)
  • Eyes: Bitsy eyes (from the new SL starter avatars)
  • Earrings: Brincos Coraçao earrings (1st floor, Ajuda SL Brasil freebie store)
  • Dress: Irena by Prism (1st floor, Ajuda SL Brasil freebie store)
  • Pumps: Classic nude pumps by Marquesse (3rd floor, Ajuda SL Brasil freebie store)

Look number 2 is very Audrey Hepburn:

  • Mesh avatar body, lipstick and nails: Juliet by Altamura
  • Shoes: Classic black pumps by Marquesse (3rd floor, Ajuda SL Brasil freebie store)
  • Rest of outfit: René black and white outfit by Giulia Design (1st floor, Ajuda SL Brasil freebie store)

Here’s look number 3. all set for a night on the town! Everything is from The Free Dove except the avatar itself:

  • Mesh avatar body, lipstick and nails: Juliet by Altamura
  • Hair: Naomi braids by Firelight (from The Free Dove)
  • Dress: Donna dress by Stars (from The Free Dove)
  • Shoes: Animal Attraction Zebra shoes from Shoe-Ddiction (from The Free Dove)

Male Avatar Looks

Here is the first male avatar look, a casual sporty appearance:

  • Mesh avatar body (including beard applier): Romeo by Altamura
  • Mesh eyes: Realistic eyes by Dossier (comes with a HUD with 6 different eye colours; this fabulous unisex freebie I found tucked away on the 4th floor of the freebie store at Ajuda SL Brasil, at the Dossier display along with some sandals and boots)
  • Hair: Monty hair (from the new SL starter avatars)
  • Shirt: Necklace Mao T-shirt by Kingbal Stores (from The Free Dove)
  • Sweatpants: Grey jogger pants by Gild (4th floor, Ajuda SL Brasil freebie store)
  • Sneakers: Ray shoes by First Choice (4th floor, Ajuda SL Brasil freebie store)

The second male avatar look is dressier and straight out of The Bachelor!

  • Mesh avatar body: Romeo by Altamura
  • Mesh eyes: Realistic eyes by Dossier
  • Hair: Apollo hair by SassyAF (from The Free Dove)
  • Suit: Dryden II suit by Artizana (from The Free Dove)
  • Shoes: Leonard shoes (from the new SL starter avatars)
  • Rose: Leonard rose (from the new SL starter avatars)

When I started, the size of my inventory for this newbie avatar was 3,924 elements. When I finished, it had grown to 8,856 elements!

So, now you see how easy it is to fill your inventory with high-quality Second Life freebies without a lot of running around, or a lot of money! Happy shopping!!

UPDATE Feb. 26th: Scandalize has another one of their periodic free group join periods! You can join their group for free from Feb. 25th to Feb. 28th. If you join their group, you can pick up no less than 88 wonderful group gifts for female avatars:

So, take advantage of this opportunity to add even more high-quality women’s clothing, shoes and jewelry to your inventory!