Barbie - made to move curvy

When I first saw this promo picture of the new curvy Barbie made to move doll, I was very exited. Like many other Barbie collectors, I was hoping for a curvy made to move doll to get released. I like the curvy Barbie body, and I think alot of the curvy fashionistas are beatiful. But I have to be selctive in my collection, and for me dolls with alot of joints (only excluding my Paola Reinas) have the most play value. Therefore I only collect Barbie dolls, that have the made to move body. 
This doll is awsome, she has striking pink hair, a beautiful warm skin color, and a wonderfull dance ready outfit. Yet I was not sure I would want her, since she has an open mouth smile, which is something I dont like my dolls to have.

Today I found some pictures of her unboxed here, on a Portuguese blog called Ken doll, that is really good at sharing Barbie news, from different sources.
I started to plan how she might fit into my Barbie world, but I struggled with several issues, both involving her role in my world, and her appearance. I told my boyfriend about these issues, as it often helps me to work through it. He said to me that it sounded like I did not want her at all. At first I denied it, explaining that it is a wonderful doll, but he said I could think so, without wanting it. I studied her face closer, and realised that he was right.
While her hair is wonderfully interesting because it is pink, I don't actually like that color, and it would be a bit too much for me to look at a doll with pink hair every day - maybe if it was curly I would like it a bit better. Another issue is that i don't really like annything about her face, I didn't understand it at first, but her mouth is not my only issue, it turns out that I don't even like her eyes. I like brown eyes, but hers seem to be a bit too greish brown for my liking, maybe becuse they seem dull compared to how fun she otherwise is. I am not totally sure about this, but I allso think it looks like her eyes are set too far apart, but it might be the shape of them. 

So.. I don't want her, I wish I did, but I seriously only want her for her body, and that is not reason enough for me to get her. I quess I could buy her, and find a fashionistas with the same skin tone, and a head/face I actually like - and then do a headswap. But I don't really have the money, to buy two dolls for the sake of having one, and I have never even headswapped any Barbie dolls before. 

When I do find the money to buy two dolls, and the curage to do a headswap, I would like to do it with the blonde made to move soccer player, and the curvy fashionistas called "so sporty" - but that is a talk for another time. I did wish I liked the dark skinned soccer player, but I have the same issue with her, as I have with the curvy, I dont like her hair (I find it boring), I dont like her eyes (they make her look a bit apced out) and she have that open mouth smile, I am not fond of. 

For now it is not in my plans to get the curvy made to move doll, but I am hopefull that more curvy made to move dolls will be made in the future, and if not, I might consider headswapping one day. 

Barbie - made to move skateboarder

I bought this doll back in june, but I never got around to write about her here on the blog. I think I kind of got some of my doll passion back, and then I finally took some pictures of her, so I can show her off and talk a bit about her. 

I really wanted this doll, because she has a face full of personality, beautifully two toned hair brown hair, deep brown eyes and least of all, a beatuful light brown complexion. Something else that drew her to me, was that she is setup as a skater, with a skateboard, a helmet and kneepads, those are some great accesories, and unlike my other Barbie made to move dolls, this gal actually have a great everyday outfit with shoes and everything. 

I lov e how she is posed upside down in the package. 

As she looked right out of the package

I love that her helmet is red, while her skateboard is purple, and the kneepads are black, I apreciate that not everything is pink, that makes the whole ensamble more interesting. I think red and purple go well together but the pink in her shirt and top, really helps bringing everything  together. Besdes the colors I allso apreciate the fokus on safety there is, no the helmet is not flattering for her hair, but it is important that it is there, same goes for tghe kneepads. While I love her skateboarding equipment, I am not sure I will get much use of it, since I plan for this gal to be a dancer, but I might keep skateboarding as one of her hobbies. 

Dressed down more casually

This girl is stunningly beautiful. She looks like someone who is both snarky, laid back and fierce. I allso really love that outfits of hers, I love her top that goes from purple to a redish pink color, and while I could do without the graphic design, it looks very good. My only complain about this top, is that it does not open in teh back with welcro, so I have to force it over her head, which can be a struggle. I like her plaid shirt as well, it is not a style I like much myself, but it goes perfectly with her top, and I can allways use more shirts to keep my dolls warm. Her pants looks like distressed denim, which fit her skateboarding theme, but they are actually made out of a very soft stretch material, I kinda think the shoes should have been red to match, but I like them well enough in plain white. 

Her hair is very soft, it is less wavy than I thought, but it falls very nicely beacause of how soft it is. Her hair is a beautiful mid brown color, with wonderfull golden highlights. My only issue with her hair is that one of the strands of hair that make up her bangs, seems to be rooted wrong, so whenever I pulls her bangs forward, that strand of hair sticks out from the rest, as seen in the picture. This is a shame, but if I keep her hair pulled back it is not an issue, and I don't mind that too much, because she would have a hairstyle very similiair to Michelles (blue top) if her bangs was pulled forward. 

Her head is a nice round shape, I think some people have said that it is the new face, that was used for some of the curvy fashionistas. I realy like the shape of her eyebrow, how they are thick coser to her nose, and then get thinner, and how they are slightly arched, they give her some of her personality. Her eyes are such a beautiful deep brown color, and they are perfectly done. I like her closed mouth, with full lips, that has a great neutral color, that looks great with her skintone. 

Since I got her in the summer months, I put together a summer outfit for her, giving her some shorts and sandals to go with her top. It was my plan to take her outside, and take some pictures, but I never got around to it.

I decided to name her Lana, she is 22 years old, and her main subject at school is going to be dance. 

Painting eyebrows

This is something I did more than half a year ago, but I thought this would be as good a time as any to share it. 

I personally prefer if a persons eyebrows are the same color as their hair, or sligtly darker, I think that is the most natural look. Therefore it annoyed me that two of my Barbie dolls had eyebrows in a color significally lighter than their hair. 
Made to move blue top (allso called Teressa) was my second Barbie doll. She have beautiful rich brown hair, but her eyebrows are a lighter more greyish brown tone. I thought it would suit her better with eyebrows in the same wonderful brown color that her hair is, especially since I saw pictures of other peoples dolls, who had those darker brows I wished for. 

Before

Lucky me, I had a bottle of the right shade of brown I wanted to use, so I did not have to mix colors.  Since Barbie dolls have such small features, I did not have a brush small enought to paint the brows, so I used a toothpick instead, which gave me alot of control. I did not remove her eyebrows with nailpolish remover, instead I painted over the eyebrows, since I wanted to keep their shape, and was sure I would make a mess if I drew her eyebrows free hand. When I was done I sealed it with matt varnish. 

After

I am quite happy with the result, I think her eyebrows looks much better now that they are a prettier shade of brown  and match her hair color allmost perfectly. In the picture you can see a bit of shine from the varnish, but it is really only visible when I look at her up close, and if it bothered me I could probably get rid of the varnish around the brows. 

Even before I got my hands on made to move purple top (allso called Lea) I knew I would want to do something about her eyebrows. I have no idea why they are brown instead of black like her hair, if they were dark brown I might be okay with it, but they were a light shade og brown, and that really bothered me. 
I looked at other asian Barbie dolls, and atleast the newest once allmost all have these light brown eyebrows, it really puzzles me, since I am pretty sure most asians have dark eyebrows. 

Before

I painted her eyebrows like before, but I had a bit og trouble with hers, because they are thinner than the other dolls eyebrows. It went fine with her right eyebrow, but I messed up the left one. Lucky for me I was able to fix it a bit, and her hair is parted to the side with the not so perfect eyebrow, so that covers it up a bit.

I took the before picture more than haf a year ago, right before I painted her eyebrows, but I forgot to take the after picture. Recently I changed my photo setup since I have had problems with lighting my background and my camera for a long time. I still think this picture shows the result, compared to the before picture. I really like her eyebrows more than before, despite my mess up.

I am glad that I gave it a try, to customize Barbie dolls a bit, even if it is just a small change, I think it makes a big difference. I hope to do a bit more customization soon.