Integrity Toys 2014 "Gloss" Convention

I followed the events of the convention on several social media boards and on the phone with my proxy. The organizers certainly had huge obstacles to overcome but luckily for them and the attendees, the missing dolls arrived. I think this was their largest convention at 500 people. I would have loved the Friday night Halloween event. From photos, it looks like the costumes were fantastic!

In a message from the W Club we were told that due to technical difficulties, photos of the convention dolls can't be posted yet. Whatever.

There are many people posting pictures of their own dolls but the official photos would be nice to have as in past years. You can  find them on eBay. Do a search under "Gloss Convention/dolls & bears" and you will come up with several hundred postings.

That being said, I had to decide to keep only a few dolls so I've been selling the ones that can't stay. Here is what remains.

Sheer Sensuality Vanessa (Magenta) (Centerpiece) $300.

Poppy Dark Moon  (Purple) (Convention collection) $250.

Grandiose Natalia Fatale (Convention collection) $225. (Nude $175) (Outfit $75)

Veronique Nocturnal Glow (Convention collection) $200. (Nude $150) (Outfit $65)

Simonetta Bertorelli  La Ville Lumiere  (Convention collection) $200.
Victoire “Dial V for Victoire” Mini Gift Set (Store exclusive) $200.
Both for $350.

Jolt (ITBE Store exclusive) Blonde in pink dress. $115.

Chrome Noir Erin (NuFace) (Luncheon Gift Doll) $225.

Evening Siren Ayumi  (NuFace)  $250.  (Nude $175.)

Time Served Color Infusion Homme Male Doll (Workshop) $200

Kyori  “Nightshade”  (Convention collection)  Outfit Only $75

A huge shipment from my proxy is due to arrive tomorrow. I got the notice from UPS this morning. The convention collection, coming from Integrity, will take a few days longer.

Prices do not include postage.

Email me if you have an interest. I do have some pictures.


The dolls I am keeping:

-Intrigue Elise - Saturday night centerpiece.
-LE Smoking Adele (Convention Collection)
-After Hours Hanne (She was an optional purchase.)

I'm undecided about Cold Shoulder Eugenia and Adorned Vanessa (Convention collection.) They are gorgeous but I'm holding off deciding until I have them in my hands.
I think I'm done with Vanessa. 

I had to ask myself what dolls I would have been willing to pay secondary market prices for and then decide whether or not it was worth it to have a proxy. It's a lot of work and time to sell the dolls I don't want to keep. I bought three of last year's convention dolls individually (Both Elise and one Monogram) as I did not have a proxy. This year, I got a bit caught up in the extras offered and bought dolls that are beautiful but not for me.

Such problems.

These CI male dolls are interesting. The frenzy for them is unbelievable.

Here's a picture of one I found on eBay.

They're all very different and many are other than Caucasian. They sell out quickly at the event. This is the workshop one.

2012 - It was a very good year.

In this final 2012 post, I look back over the last 12 months to find what I've actually kept out of the hordes of dolls and doll items that I purchased.

My doll collecting has changed dramatically over the course of the last two years. I started adding Sybarites and other 16" resin BJDs to my collection and continued thinning my 12" doll army. I've focused more on adding more clothing for all my dolls and filled in a few Tonner dolls, outfits and props that I've wanted. I scored 7 Cholo Ayuyao gowns and dresses. I've switched many of my favorite 'older' dolls to new FR2 bodies.

The biggest mistake purchases were impulse buys consisting of mostly Mattel products, not including Silkstones, although I was disappointed with many of the 2012 Silkies. The Monster Highs and several dressed vinyl Barbies were momentary goodies which added nothing of substance to my collection. I wasted a little money on outfits made by other collectors which did not live up to my expectations.  Ultimately, I was surprised at how many dolls I purchased and didn't keep or traded for something else.

Moving was time consuming and very disorienting and I'm just now starting to see a tiny crack of light at the end of a long tunnel.

Instead of posting 'normal' photos of my favorites, I have made Instagram pictures of some of them. Why? Because they're cool, it's fun and I'm bored with normal pictures. 

Sybarites and their fashions played a large part in my collection this year.
Vapore:

Domina:

Neurotica: (Redressed/Rewigged) Actually, she's not dressed at all. She is holding the shrug from a gorgeous SybMonde exclusive fashion, Rosa Gloriosa. Wig by Cheryl Wood. I added several of her wigs this year.

Domina modeling Rosa Gloriosa

Fidele's Fashion. No doll :-( just the outfit-for now.

Venetian modeled by Toxica.

Speed modeled by Talc. It's an older fashion but new for me.

JamieShow
JamieShow Alejandro and the Jamieshow outfit from the Prohibition Event in Canandaigua. He is my first and only male resin BJD and definitely a keeper.

Image by George Gonzalez

Tonner
Tonner's new Precarious sculpt and fashions designed for her were big hits IMO. I purchased two of the dolls and several of the outfits.

Swing Time Fashion (This is not Precarious modeling. It is a TDLM doll)

 

Precarious "Party Girl"

Neo Tokyo from the Freedom For Fashion line

Simplicity Antoinette

Ghost of Christmas Past an older Tonner Re-Imagination doll.

Ficon

"Leonie" (Redressed)

That's it for the big dolls. It feels like there should be more because all of my Tonner's were the first dolls to be packed along with my Gene Marshall dolls. They were packed for almost one year by the time I was able to get them back out of their boxes and into showcases. Many seem new to me all over again. I can stare at the dolls and love each and every one of them. Unloved dolls find new homes.

Integrity Toys' Fashion Royalty, FR2
This is a little more complicated to show as I added very few complete dolls this year from IT's lineups. I kept more fashions than dolls. I even purchased an older Vanessa NRFB so I could have an unaltered version.

Pale Fire Vanessa

I may have mentioned previously that there seems to be a disconnect in the design team. By that I mean that someone in there is a really bad designer and that would be the person that designed most of the recent convention's outfits. That was the worst collection I've ever seen.  However, during the year there were some gorgeous fashions worthy of the name Fashion Royalty. 

I liked both of the convention's FR2 dolls but Dasha's outfit was less than stellar. Elise was totally gorgeous.

Escapism Elise

Infallible Dasha redressed in VJohn

Of the other three FR2 dolls released in 2012, it was mainly the fashions that interested me.
Tatyana's red dress.

Nouveau Regime Tatyana

I finally broke down (like that's difficult) and purchased Opium Ayumi. Her outfit looks better in person than in pictures.

Opium Ayumi

My favorite fashions all year were Main Attitude Adele Makeda's suit

Integrity Toys' Photo

Your Kind of Model Kesenia's outfit

Modeled by re-rooted True  Royalty

Monogram Admiration's suit

Integrity Toys' Photo

 My favorite dressed Monogram was Allure

Integrity Toys' Photo

From the Victoire Roux line, I kept only the outfit from Place Vendome. Vanesssa looks stunning in it.

These outfits are keepers. Now if I could find the perfect male doll to wear them. These four photos are all Integrity Toys' images.

Silkstone "Walking Suit" was my favorite new Silkie.

Favorite new prop is Byers' Choice Caroler Display Accessory.

There is more but you are probably snoring already.

Companies have to stop going backwards with the quality and appearance of their products. When this happens, the perceived value drops and collectors will search out other items.

Photoshoot From Hell

 I'm turning into a lazy photographer. I'd rather take stupid iPhone photos than go into my studio and do the real thing. I'm lazy in the studio, too. I had a handbag to sell so I hung up a contrasting piece of fabric and shot some pictures. Then instead of changing the background to suit the dolls I wanted to photograph, I decided to leave it. Blech. I knew it wasn't working almost immediately but didn't do anything to change it. It's a good thing I'm not doing this for money. On the other hand, if I were getting paid, perhaps I'd be less lazy.

Here you have a lesson in how backgrounds can ruin photographs. Ugh. I don't even want to talk about how much work it was to pull these images out. The last one, of course, has had it's background completely Photoshopped.
In the second picture of Dasha I desaturated the yellow tones. Compare it to the picture that follows and you will see what I mean. Both dresses are the same color IRL.
The dresses on Dasha and Elise are by Cholo. Vanessa is the former Intoxicating Mix rerooted. She is wearing Ayumi's outfit. That is also Ayumi's FR2 body. Ayumi's (ugly) head is on the way to Italy.

Review: Point of Departure Eugenia Giftset, Erin and Ayumi

The Point of Departure Eugenia Giftset has a few fine attributes. First of all it was included in the price of attending the convention. Segments were given to attendees at each meal function to fill the empty box given at registration. The last piece was the doll herself.

This is a beautifully screened Eugenia wearing a well-fitting 2 piece bathing suit in apricot. Matching plastic shoes, cute cats-eye sunglasses and a big straw hat complete her ensemble. I decided to pass this segment on to another collector as I already have several gorgeous Eugenias and I am being "good."
Another segment of the set is this yellow pants outfit. It consists of yellow capri pants with working pockets and tiny buttons at the hem. The sleeveless, cropped top has lovely white embroidery. I am keeping this.

Sadly, the shoes were not made properly and need to be rubber banded to stay on. This is the case with two other pair of the convention's plastic heels, including the blue ones seen in the last part of the giftset.

The white bodysuit fits like a dream; the skirt is a nightmare. First of all I think it would fit my Sybarite's big behind. It is poorly designed and doesn't work with the jacket which is also poorly fitting. There are too many things wrong with these blue pieces. They just could have given us a slim fitted skirt and it would have made a delightful suit but no...it had to have a little bow and balloon hips. Most women do not look good in stuff like this and neither do dolls. If Miami Glow Vanessa can't make it look good, no doll can.

__________________

Erin Salston and Ayumi Nakamura are now part of the Color Infusion line. (Formerly NuFace, formerly Model Behavior.) Erin was the centerpiece doll. Sunset Rave Ayumi was the table gift.

Erin as Psychedelic Splash is dressed in a totally sequin covered mini dress over fishnet tights. She is wearing very nice black suede-like boots which have blue ribbons and tiny zippers. She's got a bunch of bracelets and dangly earrings. The overall look is excellent. Construction is also very good except the problem is that she cannot put her arms down due to the bulk created by sequins and seams under her arms. Hello out there...is anyone listening? This happens often. Change your construction techniques. Would you wear clothes with so much underarm bulk that you could not put your arms down?

Ayumi is absolutely gorgeous as far as color goes. She really fits the description Color Infusion. Her facial screening, her skin tone, her hair color and the color of her garments work beautifully.  She's got wonderful underwear that matches her shoes. A nice touch. Her shoes need to be held on with rubber bands.

I adore her outfit - a minidress with a sequin-covered skirt, a barely there satiny top and a gold fabric belt.  It fits and looks great.

 Both dolls have "Barbie" hair. It comes in a big flattened frizzy-ended mass inside the hairnet. Their hair needs conditioning and possibly trimming and reperming.