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!