Gene as "Candied Lavender" W Club Doll

The lovely brunette Gene doll, Candied Lavender, arrived this week and she is delightful! Her hair is slick and hard. It doesn't look at all like the promotional — to the dismay of some. Personally, I like hard hair on my Gene dolls.

Her eyeshadow is lavender above the blue/gray of her eyes. All in all, her facial screening is gorgeous.

The dress is a fine example of miniature tailoring with it's lower peplum which ends at the side seams and the upper reverse gathering of fabric over the bust area. The shoes are the same fabric as that of the dress. Her hat is a wonderful little beaded creation with an odd loop of tulle which I have pinned down to create a bow. The jewelry is a very fragile-looking creation of dark-colored rhinestones surrounded by clear beads. I'm not sure of the color of the rhinestones; they might be navy blue or black. The earrings were not engineered properly - the studs are too large for the scale of the doll and stick out too far. An additional piece of jewelry is a large rhinestone pin which I have placed at the center front of the dress.

The long faux leather gloves are useless. I did try to put them on and decided it wasn't worth it. I would have liked a small beaded clutch bag instead. However, the weakest part of the outfit is the cheap-looking stole. It is the worst looking piece of faux fur ever.

Overall the doll is a real keeper.
Her price was $125. plus shipping.

Barbie Dream Sale!

The Barbie Dream Sale started 9/23/09 AM at 12:01 Central Time and will end on 9/29/09 at 11:59 PM Central Time. On the first day, everything in the online shop except club dolls is 25% off - including items that are already on sale. On Thursday and afterward the sales amounts and items change. Good buys are to be had!

Go to Barbiecollector.com to shop.

Picture of the Week Award ~ September 20, 2009

This striking photograph caught my eye several weeks ago. I like the composition, the use of white with one accent color and, of course, the dolls are gorgeous. I asked Gerri Strawinski (aka Gerri in PA) to tell me and my readers something about it. Following is what Gerri wrote:

I love this photo because it consists of 3 very popular dolls: Antoinette, Sabbatha Sybarite, and Daphne, repainted by Vanessa of Star Studio all dressed in white with white/platinum hair and my favorite ruby red lips.  It was a Theme Photo for Prego in which the subject was '3'.  Prego members chose 3 of anything they wanted.  My pick was to show all white because it was summer and the emphasis was on cool and light.
Regarding the lighting and background:  [I] used a white panel background atop a white snack table.  [Photo was taken] in natural light and [I] used a side accent light with a 27 Watt Compact Fluorescent Photo Lamp (5500 K, Daylight) 92 + Color.... with just the ideal afternoon sun coming in and the side light, it happened to come together and provide a nice shadow effect behind the dolls as well. 

Gerri is a very active member of Prego and feels that the best part of doll collecting is the community of collectors that she's met on-line and at events. 

Gerri has two blogs. One deals with all fashion dolls and is called MY PASSION IS DOLLS.
The other is about the Sybarite Dolls. The title is INFIDEL.

Thanks, Gerri, and congratulations on the Picture of the Week Award!

 

Fashion Fuel - A W Club Exclusive AvantGuard Fashion

On 9/14/09 members of the W Club received an announcement of an exclusive Avantguard fashion that is going to be available only to members. It is called Fashion Fuel and the edition size will be according to the number of orders placed.
It comes with a wig, jacket, belt, slip dress, shoes, gloves, fishnet stockings and stud earrings and is priced at $110.
My first impression:
—I like the shoes.
—The mini dress is probably cute but you can be sure that the stand will not fit between the doll's legs in that outfit.
—I'm not a fan of belted jackets but if the jacket were all black, the look might have been less jarring.
—There is too much going on with the jacket: peplum detail, gathered pocket flaps, lace-covered, draped second lapel all squished up with a belt! Perhaps I've been watching too much Project Runway. I don't see this as taking a design risk; I see it as trying to put everything into one piece.
—The wig might be "Old Hollywood" glamorous if it were combed properly.
—The last time an outfit contained faux leather gloves they looked like black potholders. Look at the thumbs and the length of the hands in the picture. The gloves do not fit properly. At least one can be thankful that the doll's hands have not been dipped into black paint.
—The Avantguards, like the Sybarites, do not have attractive joints and the fishnet stockings don't do anything to improve the appearance of the vinyl beneath.

That being said, I'm going to get it anyway.

Fashion Police - FAIL

Picture of the Week Award ~ September 13, 2009

The theme this past week on Prego was "Let's Hear it For the Boys!" The many and varied male dolls posted were hunky and fabulous.
In particular, Dalila's post blew me away. Doll after doll - she posted 16 - was drop dead gorgeous and photographed beautifully. I could not choose a favorite. I picked one. Then I changed my mind. This went on for at least one hour. I just kept looking at the pictures and fell in love with each one. Here's Thor.

Dalila told me that Thor is a former "Cole" ("Super Hero" male body sculpt) that has had an extensive makeover (all done by {her}): re-sculpted cheekbones, full repaint, haircut and style with rooted-in additional hair and "champagne blond" highlights. Loosely inspired by Dolph Lundgren.

Here is the original Aquaman. What a stunning difference.If you would like to see more of Dalila's wonderful dolls and great pictures of them, click here
and here.

Congratulations, Dalilah!