More portraits of my re-rooted Cruz

Well, I found a picture of "Hot Stuff" Cruz with his original hair (last pic, below).  It's the ONLY pic I ever took of him with his spikey, tall hair.  I took a few more pics of him with his new 'do.  He's very photogenic.  It's funny, but I like him in pictures more than I like him in person.  Some dolls are like that. 

I took this photo because I recently learned about "bronies," who are adult male fans of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic cartoon.  LOL!  I thought that was hilarious.  Hey, I'm an adult who likes cartoons, too.  I adore the Toy Story and Shrek movies, for one, and have always been a big fan of Invader Zim.

After I learned what a "brony" was, I figured if there are adults who like that cartoon, then I'd probably like it, too, and I was right.  I found some videos of the show on YouTube and saw them, and I can say it really IS a pretty good show.  (If you can stomach the nauseatingly goofy title.)  Now I watch it with my 4-year-old.  (The pony toys are hers.)   She LOVES it.  So, now we have mommy-and-daughter time watching silly pony cartoons.  LOL!  Word of caution, though ... only the "Friendship is Magic" episodes are good.  Any My Little Pony cartoons previous to this series are drivel and only worth watching if you're four. 

Anyway, I decided Cruz must be a brony.  Heh heh.  He collects ponies, now.

This is his original hair.  I just couldn't warm up to it.  I know some people like it, but the more I looked at it, the sillier it looked to me.  Well, he is a handsome guy anyway.  He just needed a little help getting over his obsession with hairspray.

Rock Wedding dolls in da house!

The dolls I've been wanting the MOST over the past few months just arrived!  They're freakin' gorgeous.  Many pics below.

I have to say, I've never been an Erin fan.  I got Lilith and Romain for both the dolls and the clothing, but I got Erin only for the clothing.  She's nice, but not really my thing.

The last photo is one I HAD to do, because it shows my Rock Wedding Romain with his brother, "Silent Partner" Romain.  They share the same sculpt, so I thought they'd be interesting photographed together.  As always, you can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Fun with doll stands

My 4-year-old found a new use for my doll stands.  I had to take a picture for you. 

That banana looks kind of ripe.  Actually, banana smoothies sound really good right now. ...

Homme re-root!

Just finished a re-root last night!  It took four or five days to do.  He is/was "Hot Stuff" Cruz from Integrity Toys' Dynamite Girls line.  I never could bond with him with his original hair.  It was just too ... HIGH.  I don't have a "before" picture of him, but trust me, he had the TALLEST hair I've ever seen on a male doll.  Situation is under control, now.  He still has his shaved/flocked sides, so now he looks like a rock star from the '80s. LOL.  Didn't you love those shaved-sides hairstyles from the '80s?  I was a teenager back then, so I was all about the shaved-sides craze.  I'm sure my mother hated it.

Cruz is a tan-skinned version of the "Auden" sculpt, if you didn't already know that.  When that sculpt first debuted, it sold out REALLY fast.  I wasn't able to get one.  Then when Cruz came out, I was lucky enough to grab him.  I had a particular liking for Cruz because my brother has a big, gorgeous mole on his face just like Cruz does.  I love that! (I guess you call it a "mole" if it's a guy ... but a woman would call it a "beauty mark." LOL.)

The re-root was done with "mink brown" saran from dollyhair.com.  Posing with Cruz is "Silent Partner" Romain from the Fashion Royalty Homme line. 

This is the first time I've ever re-rooted a male doll.  I got to see lots of movies while doing the re-root, including "Kill Bill" 1 and 2, and "The Lion King."  Re-rooting dolls is a great way to catch up on movie watching!

FR:16 picture spam time!

Well, my FR:16 Anais showed up on my doorstep today.  She is the only FR:16 I bought nude, so there won't be a review of her clothing.  I have to say, I LOVE her face sculpt!  She's totally fierce.  I like her better than Elsa Lin.  Freja is still my favorite from the FR:16 line, though.  So ... some picture spam of my new girls!

As always, you can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Thanks for looking.

Review of FR:16 Main Feature Elsa Lin

All right, I couldn't stand not getting another FR:16.  I've been carefully stalking eBay, online stores and forums for the past week searching for a good price on an Elsa Lin, and finally got her for a LOT less than retail.  It's been so difficult finding "live" pics of this girl (read: ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE), so I thought I'd spam you for a while with pics.  She seems to be the least popular of the FR:16 girls and I think part of it is her skin tone.  She looks vampire-white in the promo pics, but I confirmed with Integrity that she actually has the "Japan" skin tone like their Fashion Royalty Luchia.  Her skin doesn't look quite so ghostly white in real life. 

I think her sculpt is very pretty, and looks like it will be versatile.  She'll look stunning with longer hair in different colors.  I can't wait to see her as a redhead or blonde.

Her bold yellow-and-black dress is pretty and designed nicely, but I don't think the colors flatter her.  (Yellow next to that pale skin tone?)  I think she'll look better redressed.  That's just my opinion, though.  I'm not a "runway" type of girl, anyway.  I couldn't care less that my dolls are wearing a runway designer look.  I just want them in nice, normal, functional clothing.  I have FR:16 Anais coming, too, in a couple of days. ... I think the yellow-and-black dress might look better on her darker skin.  I'll have to do a re-dress and find out.

Elsa doesn't come with a lot of extras, but at least that keeps her cost down.  She comes with simple stud earrings, two circle bracelets and a really gorgeous ring that looks like it's inlaid with yellow topaz.  The earrings match the ring, and are faux gold with rhinestones that look just like yellow topaz.  She has a well-made metallic gold clutch purse and panties underneath the gown. She has a pair of very attractive black shoes with gold heels.

Her eye paint is lovely.  Her eye color is a unique grey-toned aqua, and her makeup palette is done in smokey blacks and browns. 

My favorite Eugenia

I thought I'd take a break from spamming you with pics of my FR:16 Freja to show you my favorite Eugenia.  She is a "Pencil Me In" Eugenia that I re-rooted in a 50/50 mix of black and dark chocolate brown.  (Yes, the hair simply looks black.  LOL.  You can barely tell there's a mix of color even when you see her in real life.)  I also re-painted her lips.  I didn't touch her wonderful eye paint, though. 

It had just started raining when I took these pictures, so I didn't get very many before I had to go inside again.  At least the rain will water the grapevines I planted a couple months ago.  (Red seedless grapes ... Gosh I hope they live!  I do NOT have a green thumb!)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this dress.  I'm sure you recognize it as the dress "Style Counsel" Adele was wearing as part of the 2011 Integrity Toys convention gift set with Veronique.  It pretty much looks good on everybody.  Even vampire-skinned ladies.  LOL! 

Did I ever tell you I have a love/hate relationship with this skin color?  It's so pale it's difficult to photograph without making the doll look like a vampire.  These pictures were taken outdoors in natural sunlight, and she STILL looks a bit vampire-ish.  (The contrast with the black hair doesn't help.) 

I love her, though. 

Yup ...

Well, I went and did it.  I bought two more FR:16s.  "Main Feature" Elsa Lin and  "Fit to Print" Anais are now on their way to me.  You know I'll spam you with pics when they arrive.  :)  The only one I won't be getting is Saskia.  I usually like open-mouthed sculpts, but I never warmed to this one.  It's the same sculpt that was used in the AvantGuard series for "Aphrodisiac," "Goldmine," "Attention," "On Edge" and "Bijoux."  Out of all of those, "Goldmine" is the only one I really liked.  Never say never, though.  I'm not going to get THIS Saskia, but maybe I'll like some future incarnation of her. 

I am SO GLAD the FR:16s aren't terribly popular yet.  It means I've gotten excellent prices on each one I got.  Well, one of them I got in a trade (Freja), but the other two I got for obscenely low prices by stalking eBay auctions ... I got them WAY below retail.  I think this year is a great time to get them, because I suspect the line will be more popular next year after we see the upcoming W Club exclusive FR:16, and whatever FR:16s they want to grace us with at the Integrity Toys convention.  I think next year they'll be harder to find for discounted prices.  It will be interesting to see if my prediction holds true.