Seen on Prego Today

Just one fabulous example of the Fourth of July themed photos that are being posted this week on the doll boards. This one is from Ann in Florida.

My Uncle Sam didn't look like that!

More later.

An Amazing Wig by Anthony in Hawaii

My good dolly friend ParadiseBlue-Jay sent me some pictures of his new wig.
This wig is from Anthony's "Extreme Couture Collection: Shaolin Collection" and is inspired by John Galliano's 2010 Haute Couture.
The doll is Aphrodisiac Avantguard. She is wearing an early Gene Marshall (Ashton-Drake) costume called Bird of Paradise.
Spectacular!

 

Pretty Doll Pictures

I've been crazy busy these last few weeks with new dolls and doll clothes. I finally photographed the Misaki I purchased during the convention in Pittsburgh more than 2 months ago. She is Red Rabbit and I wanted her from the first time I saw her. I sold my entire Misaki collection about three years ago. She is the only one living here.

She is sitting on a little shelf with one of my computer speakers. I am happy to finally have her.

The Evangeline Ghastly stuff keeps flowing in. As of today I have acquired three dressed dolls, nine complete fashions, several separates and accessories such as hats and shoes, wigs and Bella. I have never gone so gaga over a doll. I am quite sure that part of this is my desire to go in a different direction with my collecting. 

A Tangled Web in A Windy Evening coat.

Waiting for Mortimer with Bella.

Everlasting Evangeline in her own outfit with Joe Tai jewelry.

Aren't they gorgeous? The first and third EG's are wigged. I wish they were all wigged dolls. It's so much more fun to be able to change their appearance.

I have been buying clothing for my 16" dolls and filling in here and there. The big girls are getting lots of attention and they look fabulous. I stare at Devon a lot. She is so gorgeous. I'm a little afraid to touch her. I've got lots of stuff for her to try. Right now she is in one of the Tonner Death by Fashion dresses and I just stare at her. I will take a picture....after I finish staring. I haven't even posted a picture of her in this blog yet.  Here she is in Bijou's gown and necklace. The wig is AG Eclectic's (I think.)
These pictures of Devon were taken with a point and shoot camera.
(That's an excuse. Haha)

The next two were taken in the studio.

Original Wig by Pattart

I am having problems with my camera and lighting. My pictures are coming out off color and it may be due to my older strobes. I readjusted the settings inside the camera but I'm not satisfied. I have to do way too much post-processing color adjustment.

W Club Registration for 2011 is Open

Registration opened for the 2011 W Club yesterday.  A beautifully put together brochure is available.
It is a PDF download. Check it out.

The Fashion Royalty upgrade doll is a tanned Kyori in resort wear. Images in this post are the property of Integrity Toys, Inc.

Rising Sun Kyori $90. Plus Shipping (Plus $50 W Club Membership)

Hopefully, the designers will have the factory improve the fit of the jacket which looks awkward and ill-fitting in the prototype. I like big jewelry but this piece does not lay properly on the doll. The shoes look wonderful! Why no fabulous handbag?


The other optional upgrade doll is a rooted Avantguard with a new sculpt.

Spring Kissed $160. Plus Shipping (Plus $50. W Club Membership)

 

 It was a jaw-dropping moment to see this doll's face. Was she a giant Poppy or a super tall Dynamite Girl? Are the Avantguards to join the enormous ranks of cutesy teenage dolls?

Avantguard Compared to DG Neve

The rooted hair was a surprise. The fashion is very attractive; I want it for other dolls.  It seems out of character in this sophisticated line. I wonder what the top and shorts look like without the jacket on. Following in the wake of Bijou, this doll pales (literally) by comparison.
Collectors have been asking for a new AG sculpt. Is this what they had in mind?


I won't be buying the Kyori but I'm undecided about the AG only for the fashion. It's a good thing that I have until January 21, 2011 to make up my mind.

On a different topic that's sort of related, those of us who joined the 2010 Gene W Club for a year got only 6 months. We definitely should be compensated in some manner.

Doll Winners and Losers of 2010 - My Picks

So many dolls have arrived this year it's mind-boggling to look back.
I do keep an accurate database with images so I know exactly who arrived and when. I also know who was voted off or waiting for adoption.
The following are not all newly released dolls but they were new to my collection this year and deserve their honors. 

Favorite Dolls of 2010

'Blue Horizon' Gene - Part of the Gene Marshall Convention: The Girls from Dream City

Avantguard Mini Clone Set 

'Flame Blue' Vanessa

'Dreamy' Trent - Gene Convention

'Fashion Plot' Gene (Ashton Drake)

Dasha FR2

Elise Jolie FR2

'Dark Desire' Madra (Ashton Drake)

Cami Basic Platinum

'Red Rabbit' Misaki - I haven't had the time to photograph her yet!

'Disclosure' Monogram - "

'Bijoux' AvantGuard Doll - See recent post.

Evangeline Ghastly and all of her fashons. -See recent post.

Numina Devon.  See recent post prior to this one.

Favorite Separate Fashions and Accessories of 2010

—DollyStyle - Fashion"Our Eyes Conected"by Lovesound

—Tonner 16" Antoinette HYPNOTIC Fashion Doll Outfit:
This picture was taken inside the Tonner Company Store quite a while ago. The silver outfit is Hypnotic and it took a long time for me to get.

—PukiPuki  Hand-knitted Outfit

—'Testament' Sybarite Fashion. I had to have this even though I have no Sybarite.

—'Venus Rising' Tonner Anne Harper Fashion

—'Chic Explorer' Outfit By Louisham Louos

 —JamieShow Outfit from Angelic Dreamz

—'Look Of Love' Poppy Parker Outfit. Actually I like all of the Poppy Parker outfits. They are well-designed, tasteful, fit correctly and adorable. 

Modeled by Mini-Gene

—Christian Louboutin Barbie® Shoe Collection - Presentation in the box is beautiful. 

—Giselle and Smoldering Convention Fashions

—Randall Craig 'The Girl Can't Help It';  'Feeling Good' and most of his IFDC convention line.

—Tyler Wentworth’s “Red Hot” fashion. An "oldie." Slinky, red sequined gown.

—Tabloach Wigs for Puki which fit the Monogram Dolls.
—Horseman Urban Vita Collection French Chairs and other Horseman furniture

This was a year in which I felt I had way too many dolls and I looked at fashions and accessories more than acquiring dressed dolls. 


The disappointments were:
This was, for me, the biggest disappointment of the year: 
—Tonner Convention 'Unforgettable' 13” Revlon

Unforgettable - pre-ordering sight unseen can be a disaster.

—'Virtually Stunning' Alex - Coarse and cartoony-looking features ruined this doll's appearance and made me appreciate the original Alex even more. Why was this gal turned into an Amazon?

Left: Original Alex Body   Right: New Alex Body

 Today I acetone-removed her lip paint and eyebrows and she looks much better already! I am going to attempt a partial repaint.

—Deneuve - I could not love her face no matter how hard I tried.  Her body was wonderful.

—'Tricks of the Trade' Eugenia Perrin Frost - The fashion was not fashionable.

I think several design possibilities were overlooked. ;-)

—Vaughn Workshop Doll - My straightforward one-word opinion of this doll started a shit storm. The word was ugly.

Image by Petra Elise used by Permission

—Kesenia - Ridiculous looking mouth was created when the vampire fangs weren't painted in.

—Jordan 'Fire Within' - A sad mess in her overly youthful fashion and under-developed facial
screening. I did a partial repaint and sold her so I wouldn't be reminded of how much I paid for her. Loved the earrings and shoes.

 __________

This year we saw Fashion Royalty dolls' prices slashed by Integrity for the first time ever. It began with the discontinued Gene Marshall line and once they crossed that barrier, which had to have been an ego blow, they went forward with everything else that couldn't sell at retail.

I will be way more careful next year with the 12" dolls. Some of the dolls were pre-ordered with a kind of magical thinking that I'd love them. It was painful to see the gorgeous exclusive Nadja go on sale for half price...it's still up there.

My list of wonderful acquisitions is by no means complete. Compared to the amount of items I collected, the list of disappointments is small—but if you collect dolls, you will agree that every disappointment hurts.

During the year I added to my Silkstone, Tiny Kitty and Cissette collections. I'm still hunting for Tiny Kitty's Dress Shoppe.  The Silkies are useful for displaying Fashion Royalty 1st generation articulated body (short) fashions. They fit the Silkies almost perfectly! The Silkie I really wanted was ridiculously expensive so I didn't get her. I do draw the line once in a while.
Cissette has an unexplainable attraction for me. How did they get all the pieces of this fashion onto this little doll? It's so over the top.

Look how cute she is next to Cissy.

Time to wrap up this way-too-long post. I'd love to hear what your favorites and disappointments were in 2010.

Aphrodisiac in Jamieshow and Alex in Stolen Moments

Aphrodisiac Avantguard wears a Jamieshow gown from Angelic Dreamz. I was so happy to get this at the convention from George.

Here's the new Virtually Stunning Alex once more. I've changed her wig and dressed her in "Stolen Moments" an outfit from the Ashton-Drake Gene Marshall line.

Alex is starting to look really good. I need to darken her lips and move away from the red to a plum tone. I was trying out some colors using Photoshop. If only I could transfer those results from the monitor onto the doll.

I like her better this way. I also made her eyes look better by decreasing the size of the pupil.

FR2

So what is FR2?

If only I could stop calling it FR two and start calling it FR Squared. The problem is that the numeral 2 is in the numeric form and not the squared form and I hated algebra anyway.
Fashion Royalty times itself. Hmmm...twice as good? Twice as expensive? Twice as hard to get?

I have played with Dasha the FR2 doll from the convention collection and I am very impressed with her body. First of all it's a very pretty body. She's got a lovely chest and graceful limbs. The range of movement is excellent. I don't like her hands. They're a little rubbery and the fingers are spread out.  That's useful for putting rings on her fingers but the other hands held things better.
My overall impression is that this body rocks! Congratulations to Integrity Toys for introducing a terrific body for 12 inch dolls. Now let's see the same on the Avantguards.

 Dasha's feet are a bit longer which makes many shoes from prior outfits unwearable. What I would do is carve a bit off the back of her heel. If done carefully and sanded smooth, it won't show. Or we could petition IT to tweak the mold and bring the feet back to the prior size. That won't work. On the other hand...all the shoes I have that were too big will now fit. Still, many of our older shoes will fit. The fit of the clothes remains to be seen.

I'm sensing that FR2 is the demarcation between the end of Fashion Royalty as we know it and a reorganization of their lines. And in a way it's an invitation to those of us whose collections are out of hand to back away from continuing to accumulate more and more and just concentrate on the finest dolls (and less of them.) In the last two years since the disappearance of Veronique, we have seen a big change in the FR line besides the introduction of the Monogram dolls. Many of the fashions have been less than what we had come to expect. Jason's absence was palpable in the Fashion Royalty line except in the dolls from the 2009 convention and some exclusives. But the FR2 line seems to be his work. Except for the styling of the centerpiece "Dark Swan" Elyse Jolie FR2 doll, they're all classy and beautifully designed.

These dolls come with an adjustable height stand that supports dolls under their arms. These stands are OK if the fashion is not heavy or doesn't  have a large skirt because the vertical support bar is up against the body and pushes the fashion forward from the rear. I'm glad I have dozens of left over stands from earlier dolls. 

What do you think of the longer eyelashes, larger feet, flat, spread-fingered hands and the new line in general?

They are not available for purchase yet and we were not told the date upon which they would be released.  I don't know how much they will be but I'm quite sure they won't be cheap.