Fleur de Minuit Deja Vu

Yup.  Another Deja Vu.  This is 2014's "Fleur de Minuit" Deja Vu by the Tonner Doll Company, and she's so perfect I can't bring myself to take down her hair or undress her.  Just wanted to show off a few pictures.

Her hair is black, not just merely a dark brown.  Her eyes are a vivid, bright green.  The more modern "Spicy Night" Deja Vu also has green eyes, but her eyes are a different shade of green ... more olive-toned.   

Fleur's dress is made from a high-quality brocade, and she has a full petticoat on underneath the skirt.  The dress fastens in back with snaps.  Underneath, she doesn't have separate panties, but instead has that type of pantyhose that has attached white panties at the top. 

She comes with a black choker with a snap in back so you can take it off, but no jewelry (doesn't need any, in my opinion).  The roses and pearls in her hair are sewn on, but they could be carefully removed if you wanted to with a gentle use of a seam ripper or embroidery scissors. One you took them off, though, there'd be no getting them back on again.

 

The hair is an elaborate 'do with braided buns in the back and long sausage-curl tendrils.

I posed her with "Spicy Night" for comparison.  They seem to have the same face screening, but their looks are so different!  I'll end with a direct face comparison.  Click on the pictures to see them larger.

Thanks!

"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.

Trying Nu Mood hands on my Deja Vu

Her new look.

I told you I was going to do it, and I did it.  LOL!  I transformed my Deja Vu Emma Basic into a punk chick.  I painted her lips darker and more Gothy, and repainted her fingernails to match.  She already had some bold black eyeliner, so I left her wonderful eye paint alone.  The lips were done with the darkest metallic red acrylic I could find mixed with a touch of black.  

I like her in this white wig.  It's the Monique Gold Collection "Jojo" wig that was in her Christmas picture.   Monique wigs drive me crazy because they have a million flyaway hairs that are nearly impossible to tame for photo shoots.  People attempt to cure these flyaway hairs in various ways.  Sometimes rubbing a dryer sheet over the hair works; other people wet the hair slightly, or even use gel on it.  I'd rather just buy a different brand of wig.  Ha!

The polka-dotted dress is from an old Gene Marshall outfit.  It fits the Deja Vu body perfectly.

Held in the box with string.  A couple of snips, and they're out.

I'd heard Tonner's Nu Mood hands would work on his Deja Vu dolls, so I waited 'til there was a good sale and got a set.  These hands were made for his Tyler Wentworth Nu Mood doll series.  Each set comes with three types of hands:  relaxed hands, curved "holding" hands and a set of fists.  The hands are interchangeable.  I thought this would be a whole lot of fun!  These are the Nu Mood Hands "C" (for Caucasian, I assume).

Original hands.

Original hands.

The Deja Vu dolls have hands that you can pull out. (Gently!)   The Nu Mood hands fit quite well in the arm socket.  Not too loose and not too tight.  The fit was pretty perfect; they fit snugly and won't fall out.  In the photos, the hands that have painted fingernails are her original hands.  The Nu Mood hands don't have painted nails.  I mixed-and-matched the Nu Mood parts a bit so you can see what they look like.  I quite like the curved "holding" hands.  The fists were interesting, but not quite as nice. 

Nu Mood "holding" hand.

Nu Mood holding and fist hands.

Nu Mood holding and relaxed hands.

The only issue I saw was that the Nu Mood hands' skintone was slightly less pink than my Deja Vu Emma.  This was apparent in low light conditions, but in the sunlight, the skintones looked like they matched just fine.  You can probably see the skintone difference in these photos.  The camera always seems to pick up things like this better than the naked eye. 

Nu Mood relaxed hand.

In any case, the hands are still a lot of fun, especially considering how much I love doll photography. 

And here are a couple more pictures, just because I felt like photographing her.  :)

 

Deja Vu's new wig

New wig!  It's a Monique Gold Collection "Jojo" wig in size 5-6.  My Deja Vu Basic is also wearing an old Gene Marshall outfit called "The Perfect Gift."  It's a nearly perfect fit.  The skirt fits exactly around the waist, and although the top is a little loose in the bust, it still looks nice, I think.  Good enough for a Christmas photo, in any case.  LOL! 

In this getup, she looks like she's playing the role of The Ghost of Christmas Present from "A Christmas Carol."

Deja Vu Emma

This girlie's hair looks EXACTLY like my hair did back in college! 

This is the 2013 Emma Jean McGowen Basic Black, from the Deja Vu line of dolls by Tonner.  She was supposed to be 1920s-themed, but I felt she was more at home in modern, casual clothes.  Cute hair?  Heck, yes!  Since she has my college hair, I thought she should put on some comfy college student gear.  This City Girls outfit suits her nicely.  The top is a perfect fit; the leggings are a little tight, but almost perfect.

I want to make her more of a punk-style outfit some day when I have time.  She'd be smashing in black leather pants and a rock concert tee!  I definitely want to punk her out a bit.  She exudes a bit of a cool vibe to me, and I'm not sure she's the gown type.  She seems more like she should be sitting cross-legged on a beanbag in an oversized shirt, reading poetry.  At least in my world, this is how I envision her.

Her face sculpt reminds me a bit of one of Tonner's other dolls, Evangeline Ghastly.  I think it's the cheekbones and nose more than anything.  She's 16" tall, but thinner than most other 16" girls.  She's a little cartoonish in a way I like, and has a slightly large head and hands like an animated character.  She's like a wonderful 3D cartoon lady who has stepped out of my TV set to sit on my desk.  LOL.   

The hands pull out to make it easier to redress her in tight sleeves, AND you can also use alternate Tyler Nu Mood hands with the body, as well, according to the Tonner Doll Company web site.  I haven't gotten extra hands for her yet, but this is one thing I'd be really interested in trying out.  Next time Tonner has a free shipping offer, I'm going to get the extra hands.  They're sold in a set of three.  That is, the Nu Mood set comes with three different pairs of hands, all in different positions (one pair of "holding" hands, one "relaxed" set, and one set of fists ... all mix and match). 

Oh, and I should mention this is a wigged doll.  The hair is held on by velcro tabs.  I'll have to put her in a couple other wigs and take more pictures.  She wears a size 5-6" wig.  I think most of the Deja Vu dolls are rooted, but there are a few that are wigged, including the Emma Jean Basics (both red and black). 

I'll have to do another photo shoot with this girl some time. 

The shading on the eyes is wonderful.

I think she looks cute in profile.