2015 W Club Holds First Lottery of the Season

The W Club has opened their new doll selling season with an offering of six ITBE (Integrity Basic Edition) dolls. The lottery is for the right to buy and ends on March 11. It is only open to club members. Each doll will cost $99. plus shipping, handling and tax. Members can enter a ticket for each doll. Multiple memberships give multiple opportunities to win with a separate ticket for each entry.
 On to the dolls. Reminder - you can click on pictures to see them full-sized.

Entice - Kesenia Sculpt

Love Roulette - Vanessa 2.0 Sculpt

Dark Side - Anja Sculpt

Audacious - Finley Price (New Sculpt)

My Desire - Isha Sculpt

Buxom - Veronique 1.0 Sculpt

My favorites are the Vanessa and the Isha with Anja a close third. I think if Vanessa and Isha had FR2 bodies, I'd really want them. As it is, I entered for only the Vanessa because even though she has the 2.0 sculpt, she looks very pretty.  

I find Buxom, the Veronique sculpt, doesn't look like the Veronique I know. It could be the appearance of a smile or the dark skin tone. Something about her is not Vero.

Kesenia is still  total vampire to me with all those teeth showing. But I do like the design of her lingerie more than all the rest.

The new Finley Price sculpt will appeal to those who like smiley dolls. She can be the arch enemy of Agnes. Her skin tone is listed as FR Black.  The other dolls' skin tones are: Vanessa - Light Honey, Anja - Porcelain ,  Isha,  Kesenia and Veronique - A-Tone.

So what do you all think of these ITBE dolls? Is there value here? Will you be entering the lotteries?

A French Name Does Not Always a Great Doll Make

Ombres Poétique = Poetic Shadows

Poésie Enchantée = Enchanted Poetry

Poésie Sans Couleur = Poetry without Color

Do we see a connection here?

Integrity Toys put lots of effort into "Ombres Poétique" Mademoiselle Jolie, the last 2014 W Club exclusive doll, but missed the mark.  The gown, which could have been drop dead gorgeous, is a boring, boring beige with forgettable trim.

It consists of layer upon layer of tulle, all the same color. They had an opportunity to actually create an ombre (shaded, nuanced) effect by using graduated colors and eliminating the trim.

I would have rather have the gown in all black but Tulle is so fragile,  I'm wondering if I dare dye it.
Maybe some other brave soul will attempt it first. 

How to:
http://www.ehow.com/how_8044925_dye-tulle.html
http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/dye-tulle-27626.html

The accessories are the clutch purse which has a nice embroidered design, a lovely necklace and matching earrings. Getting the necklace required using jewelers' pliers to open the hook a bit.  I like that the clutch opens so the doll can insert a finger to actually hold it.
The ribbon ties on the shoes are a fiddly annoyance. I found that the arch of the shoe did not conform to the doll's feet but they stayed on anyway.

In addition, the mini giftset comes with some lingerie which I haven't put on a doll yet.

IT Photo

 As far as the doll herself, her hair is the same color as the other Poetic dolls - platinum. Even though I'm not a fan of the hair bump, I must say that her hair is beautifully done. I have seen it taken down and apparently there are no bald spots. That's a good thing for those intending to restyle.
If I were going to keep mine, I'd repaint her lips as I don't think the parted mouth does anything for this particular sculpt.

IT Photo

The Isha sculpt appeared for the first time in 2005 as Riveting Premier and as Age of Opulence.

In 2007, the same sculpt was used for two IFDC dolls as Luchia Z. Photos below are IT promo.

After that it was anyone's guess who was who as Isha lost her ethnic edge in all the incarnations except in "Purple Pose."

Another doll named Imogen used the sculpt as well, not too successfully I might add.**
**Ed. NOTE: I have been corrected. Imogen is not the same as Isha/Luchia. (1/22)

There may be more.  Only the Shadow knows.

Announcing the Third 2014 W Club Exclusive Doll

When I saw the name of the character, Mademoiselle Jolie, I was happy for a brief moment. Then I read further to discover that it is not Elise Jolie, whose sculpt I adore, but Isha, whose sculpt I do not care for in this incarnation. Her lips are parted and her teeth are showing.
This is what Isha used to look like before they rehabbed her to look like everyone else. Pretty gorgeous, right?

Note: You can click on any picture to bring up a larger version.

Here is the new Isha. I think the teeth will be easy to cover.

She is called Ombres Poétique and will cost W Club members $150. plus postage.
I like platinum hair but hair bumps are so over. I think the first thing I saw after the teeth was the sweeping eye makeup. The jury is still out on that.

I like the lingerie.

She certainly looks dramatic but the more I look at the gown, the more the black lace trim looks over-scaled. It's not working. I hope the production doll uses a better trim.

We've seen this gown shape several times on FR dolls. Reinterpretations don't bother me. Three of the gowns pictured below are more or less successful designs. I will have to see the new one in person to be sure.

The only other Mme. Jolie that was produced was a OOAK auction doll at the HiFi convention several years ago. This is a picture by Rob Thompson found on his robsdolls.com website. I would have loved that hairstyle and gown! But then it would not be a OOAK for the person who bought it.

Maybe I can dye the gown.... it could be a quinceanera dress.


What do you think of this new Mme. Jolie?

W Club Lottery Announced

Looks like there will be plenty of lotteries this year in the W Club. That means that all the cheer leaders will definitely get the dolls they want. And that's the way it goes.
The 'discontinued' tall Fashion Royalty body isn't exactly discontinued. It's being used for the ITBE (Integrity Toys Basic Edition) dolls. When these dolls first came out a few years ago they called them "entry level collectibles." We all laughed at that expression. ITBE have grown up to be basic FR dolls without accessories or fancy fashions. This year their price is $75. each.
It's a good business move to keep these editions at only 300 and do lotteries. This way the dealers don't get their cut and the desire to have them rises because it's a lottery.
The last lottery dolls were so popular, possibly because Isha, Adele and Natalia were the offerings and they don't show up often. In addition, many collectors aren't into the high prices of the FR2 dolls so these bodies are just dandy.

 The IT designers are playing mix and match with the vinyl colors of the characters. Isha was ghost-white while Adele faded and Natalia went darker.

The newly offered ITBE - or Wave 2 as they call it - is another four dolls. Vanessa, Kyori, Janay, and Monogram.

Vanessa is now a black woman with Caucasian features. They're calling her vinyl color A-tone.  Kyori is being called black but I'm not quite sure what it really is.  Janay, a play line doll sculpt, is making an appearance. She is one of Jason Wu's oldest character sculpts and I don't believe she has appeared as a Fashion Royalty doll - ever. She is on the Monogram body and her skin tone is called Miami. Her hair reminds me of the first Natalia doll, Cosmetic Takeover.  
The original Natalia's sculpt was perfection. It did not need updating IMO.
Last is a standard Monogram doll with white skin and silver hair. I like her.

There is something here for most but not everyone will get what he or she wants. I want the Vanessa a lot because she has the Vanessa 1.0 (original) sculpt and where that is concerned, I'm a completist.

In keeping with the fact that these are "basic" dolls, the fashions are not "new" or embellished. They are being repeated in various colors as are the shoes. But it's a fun line. The only problem I see is that if you like all your dolls on the same height body such as FR2, you probably won't be able to find matches for these girls.

***If you are a member of the W Club and are not entering for Vanessa, please contact me. If you win the right to buy her and change your mind, please contact me.***

All About the Rudettes

We've been very occupied with house hunting and I haven't had time to play with my dolls or take any pictures. But...this week Prego's theme is dolls with their pets or their children.  I went through a lot of my photo archives and apparently my Rudettes have wormed their way into tons of pictures during the past  years.

Here are a few of them.

They're just like the real Rudy...involved in everything I do.