Showing posts with label faux fur. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faux fur. Show all posts

3/14/2019

My Beautiful Kingdom Doll, Envy

Here are two new photos of this beautiful doll.
She is wearing a wig made by Chewin.
Her red velvet gown is Sybarite Fidele's. The faux fur stole is by Integrity Toys.
The necklaces are by Kingdom Doll and the earrings may be Franklin Mint.
The background is a Tonner Evangeline or Ellowyne mirror.


I really like the black and white version because it shows the highlights and they seem to glow. I love being able to see the back of her wig as well. 


1/02/2009

2008 - My Favorite 12" Dolls from Integrity Toys

I have pulled a few pictures of my favorite 2008 dolls from Integrity Toys.
Up first are the two Australian Agnes Convention Dolls: High Gloss and Firefly. HG is wearing a lovely OOAK dress made by Jan Good (Canada). She calls it "South Seas Adventure." Necklace is a Tonner item. Firefly is wearing her original outfit.




The Eugenias were drop dead gorgeous! The first below is the W Club doll Going Public. She is wearing a dress from the Kyori Atelier giftset. Second is Most Desired Eugenia. She came in a big blue gown. She is wearing a dress by Ovaz. And in the red dress is Fine Jewel Eugenia who was one of the table dolls at the convention. I have heard that she is selling for more than $500. She is an amazing-looking doll.







Three Vanessas were available this year, Color Therapy, Metal Maven and Shirred Not Shaken. The latter, not dressed in her original dress,  did not make the cut although I have restyled her odd hairdo and she is somewhat attractive.
Color Therapy below is wearing a lingerie outfit from the 2005 Toronto convention called My Precious. The shoes, bag and jewelry are from other outfits. She is not a very popular doll probably due to her huge, thick head of red hair and squinty-looking eyes. I think she's dramatic. Metal Maven is wearing one of Natalia's dresses.






There was one Isha release this year and it was a spectacular dressed doll called Purple Pose. In this picture she is seen looking at one of my tiny red poodle figurines.



From the Hollywood Royalty Line I have chosen this Basic Lana doll known as Iconic as my favorite. It was a little hard to get used to her because she does not have an aggressive palette and over the top features like the Fashion Royalty dolls. She is lovely. She is shown wearing an Ovaz gown.



The Muse Adele, available at this past convention, is one of the most beautiful Adeles of all. Her hair is flocked and her screening is perfection. She is wearing Concerto in M Agnes' black gown from the Baltimore convention (with a different belt) and the faux fur shrug, red gloves and earrings from her own outfit. Necklace is from another outfit.



Erin and Colette, the new Nu-Face dolls are just so perfect that I haven't even redressed them. I adore them!

The delicate-looking blonde below is Eden. She is a new character who was introduced as part of a two- doll set along with a character called Lillith. The set was called Elements of Surprise.  I'd love to see more of this pretty doll.



Last, but in no way least, is Kumi. This gift set blows me away every time I look at it. The clothes she came with and her face are amazing.




It's a good thing to love your dolls! Here's to a new year filled with more spectacular little faces and wonderful outfits. Happy New Year to all my readers.

12/24/2008

Bad Mood Alert



The verdict is in. Crusty, thick, dried and flaky hair goop with net marks is out. Both Moods dolls, Body Double and Blonde Ambition Veronique, have dismayed collectors with the amount of dried gel on their hair and residue on their faces. Body Double's curls are literally pasted to the sides of her face with the stuff. It doesn't wash out easily. Apparently when the factory workers 'set' the hair they use a hair net to hold it in place. Unfortunately the marks from the net remain as little lines of goop dry in a criss-cross pattern. The same thing happened on Josephine Baker and the convention doll, Tatyana. Josephine was so bad that there was lint stuck to her hair and everywhere else on her face. In the picture of Tatyana below, there are still some lines of goop remaining after I tried to flick them away with a fine needle.




There is a Thai woman on eBay, (parawatee2008), who creates intricate hairstyles in this mode. She uses something that leaves the hair shiny and beautiful. If she can do it, why can't Integrity?

Moving on to the clothing packs...
The Starry Night Moods Wardrobe which consists of a gown, hat, fur, shoes, gloves and jewelry has one major defect. The stitching on the front of the gown puckered the fabric. It shows up on all pictures of the gown I've seen. I think it was an unfortunate choice of fabric because the styling of the gown is lovely. The back with it's draped neckline and strands of rhinestones is just fabulous. The fur is sumptuous and in classic Wu fashion, the tails are attached with strands of beads. I love it. The hat is very nice and the rest of the fashion is fine. It's interesting how the fabric doesn't pucker on the back of the gown. One wonders if two different people made the gowns.


The French Dressing Deluxe Accessory Pack consists of a coat with a charming faux Persion lamb collar, a straw cloche, black tights, vinyl gloves, jewelry and shoes.
I headed straight for the wonderful wine colored gloves as I thought they were a wonderful looking accessory. Well, I want to know what type of doll these were made for. I could not get them on the doll even after attempting to stretch them. The coat looks great in the promos and terrible on the doll. One side of the collar hangs lower than the other. This was a poor execution of a good idea. I love the hat and after I removed the cheesy attachment and put a pin on it, it looks great.
The black tights are at least 1" too long and do not fit into the black shoes. What a waste.
In the photo below of Fierce Subject Kyori, she is wearing the cloche with the jeweled item from the FAO Tatyana giftset. The rest of her clothes are items from the 2008 convention.

Finally there is the Luxe Finish Accessory Set. Everything in this set is delightful. I love the purse and the fur. In the photo below of Body Double Veronique, she is wearing a Monique wig, the dress from a previous Fashion Royalty doll and the fur and jewelry from this set.



This were the first W Club exclusives of 2008. Why did they arrive mid-December? Something is wrong down in Baltimore. It's unfortunate because Jason is fabulously talented and when his designs aren't executed properly, it reflects on him.

My recommendations:
Get the dolls and change their hair. These are the last Veroniques with this facial mold. I think that's really sad because Vero is gorgeous. She is one of the two original characters and will be getting a new face. Body Double is the only tan Vero produced to date. The NRFB dolls seem to be going for $125. and nude for $100. Their original price was $84.
Most of these items are being sold on eBay for reasonable prices but hang in there because the price will drop on the clothing items.

12/09/2008

Swept By The Moods of Paris: Tatyana Alexandrova


"I left Moscow with one goal in mind: to conquer Paris and break it with my iron will. I was wrong, one does not conquer the City of Lights; Paris conquers the heart at first sight."

Above is the text from the story card that accompanies the Paris J'Adore Tatyana Gift Set. This is only the second Tatyana. The first was the 2008 Wu Convention doll about whom I wrote previously:
terrigoldphoto.blogspot.com/2008/10/tatyana-new-fashion-royalty-character.html


This fabulous set comes with the doll, a long lace gown, a long brocade coat embellished with rhinestones, faux fur and a tiny frog closure, a short brocade dress embellished with beads and a faux fur hem, a head piece, earrings, ring, bracelet, necklace, panties, hosiery, shoes and boots. If you like the sculpt you will like this set. The fabrics are very rich and the clothing is elegant and finely constructed. There are many pieces of great jewelry (I love that) and varied looks can be created from these wardrobe items and the coming Moods W Club collection.


The one defect that has popped up several times this past year is the uneven sole/heel combination of the shoes and boots. The heels are too high and the doll cannot stand with her heel and ball of foot planted on the ground. Apparently they tried to remedy this problem on the shoes by adding an extra piece of sole.


It is not enough. If the doll were to stand in the shoes or boots with the sole and heel touching the ground, she would tilt forward. So...please, Mr. Newsum, tell the factory to get on this and re-engineer the height of the heels. We don't want our dolls falling on their faces, do we?


Jason must love this character to have elevated her so fast - first a convention doll and then an FAO exclusive giftset!
Many collectors were surprised and others dismayed at the length of Tatyana's hair. I think it would serve well used as an extension if one were to cut it off.

The doll modeling the short dress is She Means Business Veronique whose hair was restyled by Parawatee of Thailand. The fur stole is not part of this set.



Still available at FAO Schwarz website for $250. Limited Edition of 300. Item #: 916556.
Right now shipping is free on orders over $120. Last week there was a site wide sale of 20% off which brought the price down to $200. Don't forget that FAO now charges tax in many states than they previously did due to the fact that they have boutiques in Macys stores. As far as giftsets go, this is a decent price for what you get. It's still a lot of money to spend right before the holidays. But if you can swing it and you like Tatyana, I recommend this purchase.

On the CDCMHS (Compulsive Doll Collector Must-Have Scale) this scores a 7—8.