Tutorial for "Second Life" Newbies: How shake off that newbie look

Welcome to my quick tutorial for giving your new avatar a makeover.

Second Life is sort of a game but not really. It's really more of a social network meets chat room meets Barbie dress-up meets adventure 360 type of user experience. Or in other words, a virtual world.

This tutorial is designed for those who are new to Second Life (SL) who have chosen a non-mesh female avatar (working with mesh avatars will be covered at another time). Also note that products mentioned are not endorsements - they are just used as examples. Do find the ones that express you the best and truly make your avatar yours. =)

First a little warning: This won't be completely cheap but if you are willing to spend anything in SL, your avatar is as good an investment as anything. Many items mentioned can be found on SL's Marketplace (MP) at https://marketplace.secondlife.com/

 Okay, let's get started! Click photos to enlarge.

This is your starting point. Eek. (Female student non-mesh avatar)

1. Remove that hair

2. Now let's add a new shape, skin, and system eyes (if you wish). There are many good ones on MP but this is what I'm using here 
Skin: Curio's Veronica skin. Dune tone, makeup #9 blonde from the megapack
Eyebrows (icon looks like hair): Home made. Find one that's mod and make it yours or grab one on MP.
Shape: Also home made and like the hairbase, there are plenty on MP.
System eyes: IKON's Sunrise - Deep Blue (medium)

3. Hairbase: .:EMO-tions:. Hairbase 19 windows peak lightblonde (I edited it to compliment the hair I chose - ask a friend how to edit tattoo layer colors)

3. Hair: I'm using Wasabi Pills - Jamie Mesh Hair (Tip: Wasabi Pills is great because you can tweak the color a bit. Pick white or a super light color and edit the color to suit - ask a friend how to edit object colors).

4. Makeup, moles, etc.
Moles: [:T:] Beauty marks & Lusty Moles (both can be found on MP)
Eyes: [:T:] Inner Eyelid Customization :: tintable (I tint it to a flesh color to add more realism)
Nose: [:T:] Rosy nose (This adds some natural color to your face and makes you look more alive and healthy. For my coloring, I use #3)
Lips: Atia's Autumn Lip Tattoos (Atia has several lipstick combos but this one goes nicely with the Veronica Dune skin). I'm wearing Sienna.

5a. Eyebrow Removal - if you want to tweak yours. First I used something to hide my skin's default eyebrows: 
beauty by alaskametro<3 - eyebrow coverup tattoo layer FREE (Yep, it's a freebie!)

5b. New Eyebrows. Once you hid your default brows you can add your new ones:
Soiree Brows - Sloane (#Dark Blonde)

6. Eyelashes: MP is replete with eyelashes, some free, some not. Some nice, some interesting. What I'm wearing:
Atia's Classic Lashes (These are texture-changable, so you can make them go with whatever hair type you have)

7. Mesh eyes (if you wish). Mesh eyes bring another degree of realism to your avatar. Tip: To avoid looking like an eyeless monster to everyone until you rez, don't wear the alpha that comes with your mesh eyes. System eyes are a lot less scary to see until your mesh eyes rez.;) What I'm wearing:
Customeyes (these let you choose the colors of just about every part of your eye as well as other features)

8. Facelight. Okay, this one is the source of much debate. I choose a very, very dim facelight - just enough to very slightly illuminate my face. I do this because SL default lighting is too harsh. In real life, you are illuminated not only by the sun but the ground and other objects the sun's light bounces off of. Since SL doesn't do this, you need to compensate to soften your features. What I use:
IR Facelight (Tip: Set it to low then remove the visible HUD from your outfit to cut down on scripts). Your face should stay illuminated.

BONUS: 9a. Hands (if you wish). SL's default system hands, believe it or not, are actually better than they were in 2013. That said, they're still a little sketchy.

9b. There are several mesh hands on MP but the most popular are made by SLink. What I'm wearing: 
Hands: Slink's AvEnhance Hands Female - Elegant 1
Polish: Hello Dave's Slink AvEnhance Christmas Dresser Set (I'm wearing gold).


I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and more imprortantly that you found it useful. Welcome to Second Life and may you enjoy many exciting days ahead. =)

- Maddy