SL for Nowt

Alliteration aside, this is a fantastic group gift. Search for Gala and Rita Design Announcements (I used the new search: the first tab on the left, and it was the only result). Join the group (free to join) and check the past notices. Inside you’ll find Free Skin for you all ??? and Hair :D

The skin is a full pack of Gala Phoenix’s ‘Nightshade’ skins, in ten skintones, and including three eyebrow options. The hair is a full pack of Rita Groshomme’s ‘Hipster’ hair, in 33 colours and with a colour-changeable headband.

These group freebies come ahead of the opening of their new sim, Curio, at noon SLT tomorrow (although group members get a sneak preview at noon today). Hurry, because they won’t be in group notices for long!

I took Mar to La Reve for this photo session. She’s wearing the Nightshade skin in ‘opaline’ and the Hipster hair in ‘vamp purple’. Her outfit is the Silent Sparrow group gift, ‘Sylvan’, which I blogged about in my previous post.

Hop behind the cut for more.

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As well as the three gorgeous free outfits she has at The Gnubie Store, Hyasynth Tiramisu of Silent Sparrow has put out in her own store a freebie for new avatars less than 30 days old. This was an older group gift, and I can tell you that it’s stunning. I can also tell you to RUN over there and grab it! Silent Sparrow outfits are some of the most beautiful hand-drawn clothing in Second Life, and you want this!

(Screenshot taken at Discord North. Jeans are free from Evocative Free Designs.)

Hop behind the cut!

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Here we go, off on another Sim Freebie Walkaround. This time we’re getting Steamy, Edwardian, and Whovian in the rather bogglingly brilliant Wollstonecraft Place area of Maske sim. There is steampunky, urchiny, Dr Whovian goodness galore here, plenty of great freebies and some very clever twists to the build.

Hop behind the cut. Sensitive gentlemen of the age may wish to avert their eyes. Intelligent women lurk within, and they demand suffrage…

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I think I just hit the motherlode of freebie urban items and textures. Head on over to Urban Spirit in Camazotz. The entire build is available for free. Yes, every single grubby mattress, garbage truck, cardboard box, trashcan, skip, dumpster, etc is set to ‘free to copy’. Not only that, but the build has a freebie textures store, too. You’ll find that by the TP point (it’s the place with a giant clown’s head above the door). There’s also dumpster diving to be had just inside the shop doorway. Look for the trashcan on the left, with the sign poking out of it, right-click the can and select ‘harvest’. You never know what delights you might come up with…

If you can, drop a few L$ into the tipjar there, because owner Astin Miles has created a treasure trove for urban junkies at Urban Spirit :)

Mar’s just been over to Maitreya to grab their freebie fatpack of ‘Aimee’ hair. Alas, the slinky stiletto shoes that Maitreya had out for the longest time are now gone, but in their place is this great hair pack. Aimee comes in 21 colours, and also contains a useful notecard with Windlight Environment Editor settings for lighting so you can always look your best *g*

I’ve paired the hair with Desert Moon Clothiers (DMC) smoked low-rise jeans for women (tucked version) (free), PushButton Industries’ ‘The Bricolage’ shirt (1L$), Katat0nik’s ‘Axis Mundi’ sculpted boots (1L$), and Yak & Yeti’s Tibetan Dzi stone necklace (free). Details and SLurls below.

Maitreya - Aimee hair (free)

DMC - Smoked low-rise jeans (free)

Katat0nik - Axis Mundi sculpted boots (1L$)

PushButton Industries - The Bricolage shirt (1L$) [No longer available at this price]

Yak & Yeti - Tibetan Dzi stone necklace (free)

Hop behind the cut for close-ups of the hair, plus more of the freebies available at The Block, where the DMC jeans come from!

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Lads, I’m sorry it’s taken me so long. For a while I thought I might have to wind this blog down, but I have managed to put together this second part of the non-newbieness for boys guide.

Hop behind the cut.

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You have some new freebies in your inventory that were delivered by stealth. You didn’t know they arrived, and you’re about to be pleasantly surprised.

Open up your inventory library folder. Yep, the one you probably never touch. The one with all the Linden-created stuff in it. Now open the clothing folder inside that one.

Yes, new library avatars. Note the creator’s names: some of the biggest designer names in Second Life. And what’s more… those avatars have PRIM HAIR. PRIM SHOES! GOOD SKINS! All of which can be mixed and matched with other library items and store-bought items in-world.

Nope, I can’t believe it too, but it’s a great move from Linden Lab. They’ve teamed up with some big-name designers in-world, from Renegade Clothing, Adam & Eve, Nylon Pinkney, Wraith Unsung, and Grendel’s Children, to bring everyone 16 new avatars that every resident will have in their library folder from scratch.

I’m so pleased about this! Hop behind the cut for screenshots.

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OK, it took a long time to put together, but here - at last! - is the boy’s version of my fast-track guide to non-newbieness.

In this first post, as with the girls’ series, we’re going on a whistlestop tour of the Second Life Grid, only this time it’s purely for the lads.

So, boys. You’ve finished wandering around Orientation Island. You have learned how to walk, fly, and squash medium-sized rodents under the wheels of a car or motorbike. And now you’ve found out how to get into Second Life proper; away from all that newbie learning stuff and into where all the other people are.

All the other beautiful people, that is. How come those guys have a slow, meandering walk when you’re stuttering forward like a toddler that’s only just found its feet? Where did the bloke in front of you get that awesome haircut? Hey, I want a pair of jeans like that, not these horrible newbie things. And argh! Get these flipflops off my feet!

Guys? Breathe. Go make a coffee or grab a beer, then hop behind the cut. In this post we’re going to grab some of the basic stuff you need in order to stop looking so newbish.

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In the first post of this series (here) I sent you whizzing around the grid to gather everything you needed to get rid of those newbie looks as quickly as you can. No doubt your inventory is absolutely heaving right now, because I’ll bet you didn’t limit yourself to just what I told you to grab, eh?

*grins* Thought not. You can sort through all that lot later. For now, I’m going to show you how I took Roxie from rough to rawr in less than an hour.

This way, if you please…

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OK, I’ve been away for a while, but I return with a humdinger of a posting series: the fast-track guide to non-newbieness. The first three of these posts will be for the girls, but guys you just have to hang on a couple of days and there’ll be posts for you, too.

So, girls. You’ve completed Orientation Island. You’ve done all the tutorials, you know how to fly and walk and buy stuff (even if you don’t have any money yet) and you finally teleport onto the mainland.

Oh. My. God. Everyone looks gorgeous! Why don’t you look like that? Slowly, you realise that eek! you look like a newbie! You really look like a newbie! Your hair’s AWFUL! Your shoes are crap! You wanna stop looking like that as fast as you can! So you frantically start searching for free stuff, only to find yourself in a load of horrible freebie malls filled with horrible clothes. Maybe you even get griefed at a telehub.

Never fear, Mar is here. Behind the cut is part one of my three-part ‘look good fast’ guide, and it will cost you not one single penny. Or Linden. Whatever. *g*

Follow me, girls. I’ll have you looking great in less than an hour.

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