City Girls Billy

Finally feeling better after an entire week of being sick ... :)  Yay!  I'll never take being healthy for granted again.

I ended up getting another City Girl when Tonner Direct was having their pre-Christmas sale, and I've finally had a chance to get pics of her.  This is "Taxi" Billy.  I'm so glad I got her!  She came to me perfect ... no skin tone mismatch at all.  She came with black tights, so I was a little worried there might be staining from the tights, but there wasn't any.

I love their eye screening!  (Did I mention that before?  LOL.)  I do hope they continue with the City Girls line of dolls, because I'd love to see some with side-glancing eyes and closed mouths.  It looks like it'd be really easy to paint their mouths so they were closed, without changing the sculpt. 

I also got the sparkly aqua "Networking" fashion, shown here on Basic Houston.  Good thing I grabbed it while I could, because it's now sold out on the Tonner Direct web site.  In fact, I may have gotten the last one, because it was showing as sold out soon after I placed my order. 

All right ... I SWEAR I'll stop talking about the City Girls now.  LOL.  Next time I post, it'll be something unrelated to the City Girls.  I know I've been going on and on about them lately.  Next post, I'll show you what Santa left in my Christmas stocking.  ;)  (No ... It's not coal.)


Click on the photos to make them bigger.

Later,

Merry Christmas!

I've been sick this past week with an unusually bad sinus infection.  Now my whole family is sick just in time for Christmas.  Yup.

I've been too sick to take a new Christmas photo for this year, so I'll have to repeat a photo from the archives.  This is my Ddung doll from South Korea.  She's probably just glad for the airtime, since I haven't photographed her lately.

I hope everyone has a very happy holiday. 

Lots of hugs

The Great Norma Desmond

I saw this girl being sold as just the head on The DollPage Show & Sell and had to snap her up.  She is the Sunset Boulevard "Norma Desmond" doll by Integrity Toys.  She uses the Fashion Royalty Giselle sculpt.  I think she's wonderful.  I LOVE the mole!  I already had a Fashion Royalty body here that had been sitting in my drawer for the past two years unused, so it was nice to put it to use. 

I was looking at old black-and-white stills from the movie, and it looks like Gloria Swanson's hair was shorter and curlier than the doll's.  The doll isn't an exact likeness, but has basically the same face shape and a passing resemblance if you squint.  LOL! She's more of a fashionable, glamorous interpretation of the character rather than a Gloria Swanson clone. 

She's wearing the gown from the new "And Another Thing" Kyori gift set ... a dramatic, vampy creation.  The necklace is from the Rock Wedding collection Erin released early this year. 

Review of the City Girls by Tonner Toys, Part 2

Well, I was able to get in touch with someone at Tonner Direct today about the skin mismatch on the City Girls "Golden Swirl" Astor doll (mentioned in my last post).  The lady was very sweet and helpful, and offered to send me another Astor.  I have to say, the customer service at Tonner Direct is wonderful! Like I said before, I've never gotten a bad doll from Tonner before, so the mismatched skin tones on "Golden Swirl" Astor was a surprise. 

So I'll photograph the new Astor when she arrives in the mail.  In the meantime, here are pictures of my City Girls Basic Houston wearing the "Gray Haze" fashion.

The clothing is pretty nice.  It does use velcro instead of snaps, but it's well-made and looks good.  The coat has finished inside seams and fastens in the front with a small piece of velcro.  The cranberry leggings have an elastic waist, and the gray tunic-style shirt underneath fastens at the back with velcro.  The coat is the ONLY piece that has finished inside seams.

The shoes are a soft plastic, and fit nicely over the leggings. 

I was enjoying photographing Basic Houston in my yard.  She poses quite nicely.  This body's only flaw is that the head turns from side-to-side, but can't look up or down.  I really wish they'd put the heads on a ball joint like their other dolls so they could look in any direction.  The restricted head movement really limits how you can pose them.

Otherwise, the arms and legs have a lot of great movement.  Their arms are articulated at both the elbows and wrists, and the legs have bending knees (but not ankles).  I don't give a flying fig about them having bending ankles, so I'm OK with that.  LOL.  I'd rather have a ball-jointed neck. 

The hair is saran, which is soft and high quality.  Tonner Toys' LittleMissMatched Girls dolls had a different type of hair fiber, and their hair felt rough and dry.  The City Girls have awesome hair. 

You can find the first part of my review here (or just scroll down). 

Review of the City Girls by Tonner Toys, Part 1

I got my City Girls last night.  I like them, but I'm not gushing over them.  Here is why:

They arrived from UPS in the evening, so I ended up opening them under low-light conditions.  When I pulled them out of the box I was really dismayed to see a color mismatch between their heads and bodies.  It was apparent on Houston (the darker-skinned girl) in the dim light of my sewing room.  I went to bed thinking I'd be calling up the Tonner Doll Company today to ask for a refund or exchange on them.  I've never had a problem with a Tonner doll before EVER, so I was quite surprised. 

This morning I got up and looked at them again.  In the daylight the color mismatch was not very apparent, at least not on Houston.  I can't even tell there is a mismatch on Houston at ALL right now.  Her color looks like it's all the same tone in bright lighting.  Oddly enough, in the daylight Astor's (the redhead's) skin looks a bit more mismatched than Houston's.  Weird, huh?  So ... In dim lighting, Houston's skin looks a bit off.  But in the daylight the mismatched skin disappeared, and she looked fine during the day!?!?! 

I swear I'm not going crazy.  LOL.

With "Golden Swirl" Astor, there was a slight skintone mismatch under every type of lighting.  I could still see the slight mismatch inside my house in the afternoon, and in bright sunlight outdoors as well.  With Houston you can only see the mismatch under dim lighting. 

I've never had a skintone mismatch on a Tonner doll before.  I do love their faces, so right now I'm still deciding whether I'm going to return Astor.  I've decided to keep Houston and the two clothing sets I got with them.  Photographing dolls is fun for me, and Houston photographs just fine, so I'll keep her.

The good news is their clothing is wonderful and a nice quality, their face screenings are lovely, and their hair is a great quality. Really, if it weren't for this skintone problem, they'd be perfect. 

More later.

"Golden Swirl" Astor:  A beautiful face with a mismatched neck.  It makes me almost want to cry.

All these photos were taken outdoors in natural sunlight except for the very first pic (of the two together).  Click on the pictures to make them bigger.  :)

By the way, I did try to call the company today (Friday) twice to ask about Astor, but they didn't answer the phone.  (Maybe they leave early on Fridays?  I called the number they'd put on my receipt for returns.)  I was going to ask them if ALL the Astors were like this, or if I just got a bad one.  I'll try to call again on Monday.  In the meantime I won't be deboxing Astor.  I'll debox Houston, though, and take more pictures of her for later.

You can find Part 2 of my review here. 

Poppy wears Tim Gunn!

Right before Thanksgiving I was able to get my sweaty little mitts on a coupon for $5 off Barbie merchandise at Target.  I went there to look, and it turns out their Tim Gunn Collection items were already discounted $5 off.  I used the coupon to get this Tim Gunn Barbie outfit for a full $10 discount.

Smug with my purchase, I went home and tried the outfit on my Poppy Parkers.  It fits perfectly!

A quick review of the outfit:  The inside seams are not finished (typical Mattel) but the outside of the garment is actually pretty detailed and nice-looking.  The shirt and skirt both close with snaps, which is a plus.  Overall, a very nice find, particularly for $10 off.

The outfit came with the eyeglasses shown in the photo (nice!), as well as a cute little cup of coffee scaled to 12" dolls.  I should have taken pics of the coffee. ... Sorry I didn't. 

Here I've modeled the outfit on "I Love How You Love Me" Poppy Parker. 

By the way, I'm not sure the sale is still on at Target.  I got this outfit a week ago and the sale may have been taken down by now.  Not sure, though.  You can always call up your local Target and ask, I suppose.

Update # 2 on the City Girls ...

Since I've been talking about the City Girls dolls ...

I just found an excellent review on another blog of Tonner Toys' City Girls dolls.  The review is extremely thorough and well-written, and very objective and balanced.  It definitely lets you know about both the dolls' good AND bad points.

It's on The Toy Box Philosopher site. 

Here's the link to the review

I'll do my own review when my two arrive, which UPS shipping says will be Friday.  :)


EDIT:  I also found another excellent blog that discusses the City Girls.  It's called "For The Love Of Dolls" and it talks about the City Girls in a couple of different posts.

Here and here.

This doll line is just my current interest of the week, and there is so little information about the line out that I thought I'd share what I could find.  I'm sure my interests will switch over to some other type of doll next week, 'cause that's how it is with me.  LOL. 

Update ...

Just an update to my City Girls post (two posts down).  I mentioned there was supposed to be a blonde City Girls doll released as well, but she wasn't on the Tonner Doll web site and I didn't know what happened to her.  Well, I just found out.  Apparently she is an FAO Schwarz exclusive and therefore won't be coming to the Tonner Doll site.  (Her name is Brook-Lynn.)  I'm not going to be placing a separate order at FAO just to get the blonde, so I guess I'll be passing on her.  Sigh.

Maybe if FAO had a free shipping day or something, I might change my mind.

The Imogens

Imogen sisters!  I wanted to photograph them together.  I do love this sculpt!  The first incarnation of this sculpt was the original Brides of Dracula Lucy that was produced by Ashton-Drake in collaboration with Integrity Toys.  She's since taken on a life as one of the Fashion Royalty Nuface girls.  These are "London Mist" Imogen and the Workshop Imogen from the 2011 Integrity Toys convention. 

I got the Workshop Imogen as just the head.  She ended up stealing a body from my Rock Wedding Erin, so poor Erin is now in a drawer bodyless.  LOL. Anyone want an Erin head cheap? (EDIT: Erin head is sold now.)

The gown is the dress from "Private Goddess" Natalia.

 Click on the pictures to make them bigger.

City Girls by Tonner Toys

"Golden Swirl" Astor

These girlies caught my attention a few months ago when they were announced by Tonner Toys, the playline division of the Tonner Doll Company.  They are 16" tall.  I think their faces are very charming!  Their eye paint is wonderful.

Tonner is currently having a "Black Friday" sale that will be lasting all weekend ... 30% off most everything in their store plus free shipping.  I jumped on the sale to get two of the City Girls.  I'll be able to tell you a lot more about them when they arrive next week.

They make me think of playline Ellowyne Wildes with their roundish heads and big eyes. 

I've heard the hair is saran (which means soft ...).  The bodies are similar in size to Tonner Toys' LittleMissMatched Girls dolls, so I'm thinking they can probably share clothing (but not shoes).  I'm still learning about them.  Anyway, I'll be able to confirm the details later.

I ended up getting "Golden Swirl" Astor and Basic Houston. :)  I saw a picture on Flickr of Houston with her hair taken down, and she looked really lovely with the new hairdo. There was supposed to be a blonde released as well, but she's not currently up on the Tonner site and I don't know what happened to her.  (You can see her there modeling the "Gray Haze" fashion.)

(L-R) Basic Houston and "Taxi!" Billy

(L-R) "Color Block" Astor and the "Gray Haze" fashion pack

(L-R) The "Cape Town" and "Networking" fashion packs

Photos are posted here with permission from the Tonner Doll Company.

Sweet Smell of Success Veronique

Usually when I get a doll, there is SOMETHING I don't like about it.   Not this time.  The jewelry is exquisitely designed, the shoes are great, the dress is pretty; her hairstyle is intricately braided and attractive, and I adore her makeup and face screening.  There. ... How's that for a review?  LOL.  I genuinely can't find a single thing I don't like about this Vero.  She even comes with a separate black lace petticoat under the dress. 

The jewelry is wonderful.  She also came with a ring and bracelet along with the earrings and necklace, but I didn't bother to put them on her. 

I have to admire the artistry involved in that necklace. ... It's crazy they could make such a tiny necklace so stinkin' detailed.

I won't be taking her hair down.  It's so perfect as-is that I don't think taking it down would be an improvement.  I guess she'll always be the classy lady with an updo. 

By the way, the picture of Vero and Vanessa is the very first time I've ever photographed the two sisters together.  (The characters are sisters in the Fashion Royalty universe.)  The Vanessa is "High Point" Vanessa from the 2012 convention, as you'd know if you read my earlier posts.

I'm going to leave the photographs small so the page will load faster, but you can click on them to make them bigger. 

Some Poppy and Darla

I was away visiting my mother for several days, so I only just now saw the nice comments people left on my last post.  Thanks everybody!  I always appreciate when people take the time to comment. 

Anyway, I thought I'd post these Poppy and Darla pics.  I took these pictures a while ago and just never got around to posting them.  "Baby It's You" Poppy Parker and "Moonlight and Kisses" Darla Daley are dressed in FR: Monogram gowns.  The gowns fit the Poppy Parker body beautifully.

Hugs!

Always on Her Mind Dania

Always on Her Mind Dania becomes a haughty golden diva with her hair down.  Her original, '40s-inspired hairstyle was OK, but not spectacular.  I suspected de-gelling her hair might be an improvement, and I was right.  I just gently washed her hair out with liquid soap to achieve these results; I didn't boil the hair because I wanted to preserve the curl.   

The leopard-print gown is the outfit from Style Counsel Adele.  This dress looks awesome on every single doll I put it on!  Really, you can't go wrong with this gown.

Please click on the pictures to see them larger. 

Her original hairstyle and clothing. I adore the earrings!  The outfit is a separate shell-style pink top with a black skirt. I think the outfit is quite nice, and my Eugenia is wearing it currently. 

Vanessa channels Samantha Stephens

 

High Point Vanessa channels Samantha Stephens from "Bewitched." Happy Halloween!