Review: Black Label The LOOK Blonde

    (I apologize for the lack of photo quality! I'm in a moving transition stage and still living in a place with terrible lighting and no room for doll photos.)
    This doll has accessories galore! I wasn't too sure about her outfit/hairstyle, but I'm glad that I took the chance. They were actually very well-executed.
    She came with her COA and stand, as well as sunglasses, "leather" jacket, dress, magazine, coffee, handbag, necklace, and shoes!

    Her bangs are very blunt, but not horribly choppy. The jacket is sewn to the sides of her dress. If she is to be used for display, there is no reason to remove it, however...it can be clipped apart and the dress can come off. The delicate lacy top of the dress is so sweet!

Her accessories are very detailed. There is coffee in her cup, her handbag is shiny, with black sides and a wrist strap, and the magazine can "open" (there is nothing inside).

Her articulation makes me very happy! She bends at the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, and knees.

    I am sure that there will be more pictures of this doll in the future!

Review: Barbie Game Developer

    Once upon a time, I actually did work in game development. Sort-of. Another of those weird, convoluted stories that makes up the fabric of my life. I didn't look anything like this Barbie, aside from the jeans, but nevertheless, I wanted her. Something about the red-streaked hair spoke to my teenage self.

Aww, how cute!

    Her packaging was a nightmare. After very carefully freeing her from the cardboard (I wanted to save the background) I discovered that not only was her head plastic-tied to the cardboard, her headset was plastic-tied to her head. That's six plastic-ties to the noggin! It took some extremely careful cutting to leave her with her hair intact.

    Very nerve-wracking!
    In addition to the glasses and headset, she came with a laptop and tablet, both plastic! The laptop opens and shuts, and contains program code for the game that she is working on. The tablet seems to be where she is testing the game.

   The tablet has a little finger notch so that she can hold it.

   The cardboard background of her box is not an ordinary box background, and has been designed to look like a (very pink!) work cubicle!

    I think all of the details are super adorable! The post-it notes and the action figures! And of course, because it's Barbie, it is color-coordinated and very organized. This woman is amazing.

    I was having so much fun with all of her stuff, that I forgot to get detail pictures of the doll, herself, but I really like her! The red-streaked-brown hair is very cool, I am loving the different-colored hair that Barbie has started putting in their "normal people" dolls. She also has golden brown eyes (like me! yay!) and glasses, nude lipstick and minimal/no makeup, and basic articulation. Her outfit is well worth it, with the "Ctrl-Alt-Barbie" top, green drab jacket, and faded jeans.

   She has flat feet and wears sneakers!

   I do think it's odd that her cubicle is pink and she doesn't wear much pink. But maybe because she works for Barbie, pink cubicles are a company policy? I am certainly not complaining! I am more than happy to see less strictly pink stuff in the Barbie aisle!

Review: Fashionistas Love That Lace

    I first saw this gal in stores, and was not overly impressed. In the box, she looked sort of flat. But after alternately putting her in and taking her out of my shopping cart, I finally caught her on sale on Amazon. She is my first Petite body Fashionista!

   There are many other comparisons of the heights, so I didn't bother with a photo, but she is indeed shorter than regular Barbies. The way she is packaged, she doesn't appear to be, as they raise her feet up. Her torso and legs are shorter, and she actually seems more proportional. I really like her overall shape!

   Out of the box, she is less flat-looking and actually has a bit of personality. Her eyes are extremely light golden-brown. She has very minimal makeup, except possibly some dark eyeliner and heavy brows. Her hairstyle is blunt, and I may trim up her bangs a little to fix some of the "choppy" parts. It is stiff, like Va Va Violet's.

I combed it with my fingers, and it fluffed out a little

   Her necklace is feminine in style and can be removed.

Her shirt is a soft, horizontally striped fabric, with blocks of lace. It is secured in the back with velcro.

Her red metallic skirt slips on with an elastic waist.

   And she wears interesting brown buckle boots that I didn't even see!

Her outfit from the back

    Her limited posing and one arm stuck in a bent position drives me crazy, but other than that, I am very happy with this doll!

Jewelry Day!

All of this weather fluctuation we've been having here has kept me off my feet most of the week. In response, I have been very bored, so I brought a bunch of my craft supplies in and started playing around with some beads and things. Eventually, I started making doll outfit accessories. I've never been particularly good at this in the past, as I tend to make them too bulky and complicated, but I think so far, these have turned out pretty cute!

Attempt #1, a colorful metal hoop necklace

I went much simpler with this one.

This one took several tries until I was happy with it!

My first ever DIY doll earrings

Then, I made a set!

This one was tricky, but I'm proud of it.

This can be worn this way

Or this way

My latest project: fun with memory wire in doll scale!

Review: The Twilight Saga Carlisle

   Another from my Christmas doll haul! I haven't had him out of the box for very long, so there aren't very many photos of this guy yet. I can tell you a little bit about him, though. He is very pale, of course, like all of the Twilight dolls that I bought (I suppose because they are vampires? I'm more of a Buffy/Angel person myself). He arrived in a very nice collector box, complete with this Twilight stand.

His clothes are quite nice, though his lab coat was sewn shut. It says "Carlisle Cullen, M.D." on the name tag. He is wearing a ring on his left hand, as well. After clipping the stitches so that he could remove the lab coat, I found that the shirt/tie can also be removed. The tie hides a velcro closure.

    His hair is a bit nasty and sticky from the "hair gel" used to slick it back. In the heat and humidity of my house, it's starting to come up and look really odd, so I think I will probably end up restyling it. The fibers are not all one color, and appear to be a nice mix of different blonde streaks.

    He has golden eyes, with what appears to be eyeliner. Here he is in slightly different lighting.

    He only has basic articulation. I got a very good deal on him, and he has an interesting creepy look to him. I'm not absolutely in love, but I don't dislike him either.

Prize Arrival from Brini!

Today, a mysterious box arrived from Brini's Doll Domain...

Andrea: "I bet there's doll stuff in here! Can I help open?"

   It's my prize from Brini's Christmas Blog Giveaway! The box was much bigger than I expected. Curious! I agreed that Andrea could help me open the package, if she was careful.

Something purple...

 What could it be?

    Andrea thought that the packing material was fun!

        I helped her pull the purple package out, and there was another package underneath! But wait...

"There's a note here, underneath the package!"

    She wanted to read the note, even though it was too big for dolls.

    The note was so sweet, and it had a gift card enclosed! "Shopping spree!" Andrea was excited. I think she was envisioning me finally buying her some filmmaking equipment!

   I picked up the purple package to unwrap it.

"I'll get the ribbon off."

"Okay, now I need to get the ribbon off me!"

    I had to help her! Together, we freed the occupant of the first package. To both our surprise, it was a talented new friend, a bakery owner Barbie!

 

"She makes cakes!"

    I've actually been considering getting this doll for a while now, but I always passed her up because she was too expensive for my doll budget. I'm so thrilled to have her! I think Andrea is, too!

"Yum!"

There were still two more packages in the box. This one didn't feel as solid.

"I wonder if it's clothes. It would be a lot of clothes!"

    We gently opened it and found...two more talented friends! One was a nurse doll, complete with very cute modern scrubs! I spend a lot of time in hospitals and doctor's offices, and lately, nurses have been wearing stretchy and bright colored tops that are more form-fitting (and actually look very comfy!). It's fun to see that the trend has reached the doll world!

"This one looks like trouble"
"You mean, she looks like Melody."
"That's what I said."

 The other was a Pet Vet! I remember when I was a child, I had a Pet Vet Barbie. I begged and begged for that doll until I got her for my birthday when I was 9.Sadly, she and all of her vet equipment have been lost to time. This brings back some good memories!

After we freed the new dolls from the wrapping paper, we turned to the last package. It was smaller than the other two, but roughly the right size to be a doll package.
    "We better hurry, if it is a doll, she will be very anxious to get out of that paper!" Andrea exclaimed.

The last package!

Who could it be?

    I let her unwrap this one, and she tore into it. It was, indeed, another doll! A super cute cupcake chef in a pink outfit!

"Yay, more pastries!"

    Andrea is thrilled to have these two new chefs to indulge her sweet tooth, though hopefully the new nurse won't be kept too busy with stomachaches from dolls overeating sugar!

    I love all of the new ladies! The doll town is growing so fast, many thanks to the amazing and generous Brini! I really cannot express enough how wonderful this prize is.

New friends!