Happy Holidays!

Attempted to take some Christmasy-themed pictures for the blog.  They all stink.  This one stinks slightly less than the others, so I guess it's the winner.   Merry Christmas everybody!  And happy Hanukkah to all our Jewish friends.  Love you all!

"Spicy Night" Deja Vu by the Tonner Doll Company

Spicy Night was one of the more under-rated Deja Vu dolls to come out this year.  I think she was overshadowed by the flood of amazing historical costumes in this line.  I got Spicy Night because 1) she went on sale (best reason ever) and 2) I've never seen a bad picture of this particular doll.  There is something about the colors they used for her face that is so perfect, and I love green eyes.  (Plus, her hair is the same color as my daughter's, so there's that.)

I love her outfit.  I'm sure it's not to everybody's tastes, but something about it makes me think of Spain.  (The bolero?  The bold-colored, oversized lace?  Don't know.)  I want to go shopping in Madrid when I look at it, which is pretty pretentious of me, since I've never been to Spain in my life.  LOL!  I really have no idea if this outfit looks Spanish-inspired, or if it's just my ignorant view of what a Spanish-inspired fashion should look like.  In any case, it works for me.

I was a little let-down by the choice of fabric for the dress, though.  The yellow fabric is merely an inexpensive cotton knit.  The cranberry-colored lace, however, is meticulously sewn to the dress.  It's machine-sewn along the edges of the dress and bolero, with each of the roses being individually sewn on by hand.  The overall effect is stunning, though, and I love the design.  The bolero is a separate piece, by the way, so you can take it off and just have the doll wear the strapless dress on its own.  (The black part of the bodice is attached to the skirt.)

I tried this outfit on a couple of my other dolls.   On my 16" Poppy Parker Fashion Teen, the dress fit in the waist, but was too small in the bust.  I couldn't get the top snap closed.  On an Antoinette, it fit even worse:  it fit in the waist, but I couldn't get the top TWO snaps closed.  It absolutely wouldn't fit a Tyler doll. 

The shoes are cute and different, and work perfectly with the outfit.  *Loves*

The jewelry is pretty nice, too.  I took a close-up of the bracelet so you can see it.  It goes with the earrings, and has a real clasp so it won't fall off your girl, not one of those annoying hooks.  I love Integrity Toys' doll jewelry, but they like to use hooks on doll bracelets, and they're absolutely terrible.  When a bracelet uses a hook and no clasp, it falls off the doll every two seconds.  I think overall, Integrity makes better doll jewelry than Tonner, but boy, it'd be nice if they stopped using hooks on jewelry.  So, Tonner definitely did it right with this bracelet.

I have to warn you about the headband:  It's sewn to the doll's head in five places, and the only way to get it off is with a seam ripper or scissors.  It does NOT have an elastic band, so once you snip it off, it's just a simple strip of fabric.  In order to get it on the doll again, you'd have to hand-sew snaps or bit of elastic to the ends, and tailor it yourself to turn it into a usable headband again. 

And a couple more random pictures.  Click on the pictures to see them larger.

Adios.

Fr16 Afterhours Hanne

Today is FR16 day!

... Mainly because I entered the W Club lottery for this lovely After Hours Hanne, and managed to get her.  She was an Integrity Toys convention doll this year, but they had some left over after the convention, and offered her (and the other left-over dolls) to W Club members in a special lottery.  Yay!  I was so happy to get her.  She looks amazing next to Obsidian Culture Hanne, her fiery red-headed cousin. 

I'm so in love with this new, side-glancing eye screening.  I SO HOPE they use it again next year.  We now need a Hanne with black hair and green eyes, with After Hours' face screening.  Are you listening, Integrity?  Hee hee.

Integrity writes her name on the box as "Afterhours" (one word).  Seeing as I'm a journalist who used to work for a newspaper, this FREAKS ME OUT.  That should not be squished together as one word.  It just shouldn't.  Yes, I'm a Grammar Nazi (or, in this case, spelling).  It's like if they'd squooshed her cousin's name together as "Obsidianculture Hanne."  Nope.  Just nope.

The dress is fabulous.

The whole dress is lined, with perfectly-scaled mini-sequins.  Her bracelet is lovely, and seems to be identical to the bracelet they gave "Ma Cherie" Poppy Parker Fashion Teen.  She comes with black strappy-type shoes (sorry, didn't get a picture). 

Her coloring makes me think she's a South American beauty who's dyed her hair blonde.  Is she a model or a movie star?  We don't know.

Later,