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.

Taking a break?

Last month I did not buy any toys at all. At first It was because I was occupied with school start, then I thought it was nice to save some money so I could buy a new doll next month, but then I realised that I did not want to buy a new doll. 

I am in a place where im pretty happy with my collections, and I feel like they are allmost complete, therefore I am wondering if I got kind of stuck. The issue could allso be that there were things I wanted to do, and it got kind of difficult for me to get it done, then I didn't get anywhere with my ideas or projects, which is pretty demotivating. 

I bought the Barbie made to move skateboarder in may, I really enjoyed her, and I played with her alot. But I never got around to take any pictures of her, and write about her on this blog. I had planned to take some outdoor pictures of her and a few of my other barbies, but things kept getting in the way, and when I got the chance to take outdoor pictures, I felt more like taking pictures of my Paola Reinas. 

I dont think it is because I lost interest in my dolls, I think I might just need a break, to figure out what I want to do next. 

But it is not like this month have been totally void of toys.

My boyfriend bought me this small and cute LEGO creator cameleon. I was super exited to see a small animal in a blister pack, the only other one I have is the tiger, and I really enjoy small LEGO animals since it is difficult for me to display big LEGO sets.

And I think the camelion looks great next to my creator frog, that is from the parrot and frog set. They are standing next to eachother on my desk. 

I allso bought 3 series 2 suprizamals. I was very happy to get the purple elephant, it is actually truly purple!! unlike the purple once I got from series 1. I am pretty happy about the pink bear and the seahorse as well. Amalie got the purple elephant and Sara got the pink bear. The seahorse dosen't belong to anyone at the moment, but the next Paola Reina doll I get might want it.

Outdoor pictures - Paola Reina dolls

My original plan was to take summer pictures of my newest Barbie dolls, when we went annywhere I took the dolls with me, but I never got around to take tghe pictures. 

Last week my boyfriend and I visited my parents because he had to help them move some outlets in their living room. I thought this was a great oppotunity, to take some outdoor pictures in my parents wonderfull garden. It would seem most obvious to bring my Barbie dolls, but I was getting exhausted with those dolls, so I decided to bring my Paola Reina dolls instead. I took the opportunity to take some outdoor pictures of my Paola Reina dolls, in my parents wonderfull garden. 

Lisa wanted to explore right away, she found a beautiful hydragia, that were changing colors

Lias best friend Sara went looking for her, she wanted to make she she had not gotten lost.

Sara took her plushie and went out to explore on her own. 

Amalia looked around to find some flowers that would match her dress.

A portrait of Amalia.

My favorite photo of Amalia, the light was just right. 

Sara liked the vegetable garden, she found a very pretty pea blossom

My favorite photo of Nina, she found some cute white flowers growing in the lawn. 

Nina wanted to spend some time with her best friend Amalie, they found a nice rock to sit on. 

Nina couldent' find any red flowers, but she found this beautiful red berry on a rose bush. 

Lisa was drawn to the smell of the thyme, and she loved the small purple flowers. 

Lisa saw a bee on a very weird looking flower, she was quite facinated. 

Lisa found another flower with a wonderfull smell, Amalia allso really liked the lavender, beacause of its purple color. 

Sara found a pink rose, that she fell completely in love with.

Amalie remembered how her sister really liked this euonymus, last time they visited the garden. 

Nina joined her best friend, for the last photo of the day. 

I am extremely happy with these picture, I enjoyed spending siome much needed quality time with my adorable Paola Reina dolls. 

Surprizamals

Not that long ago I talked about kitty in my pocket, and I recently got a shelf up for my figures, but they are not the only surprise toys I am into lately. Surprizamals are verry small, and super cute plush animals who are hidden away in a round ball. I thought I would continue to enjoy these after the surprise was over, because they are a good size to be plushies for dolls. 

I got my first surprizamals on my birthday in march where I was in a couple of toystores to buy myself some birthday gifts. I found surprizamals in Toys R Us, I was very surprised  and exited to find them, since I thought they were too awsome to make their way to Denmark.

They had both season 1 and 2, thankfully it is easy to see the difference since the balls are different colors, there is allso sticker on them with the plushies you can get and it says which season it is. I decided to get 3 surprizamals from season 1, here is the season 1 checklist. 

Here are the 3 plushies I got. 

The first is Maddie the monkey, who I think look more like a hippo, especially because I have a plushie that is a light purple hippopo. Not that this plushie is actually light purple as seen on the checklist, the color is more like grey with a purple tint to it.

The next one is Tammy the tiger, she could use a few more stripes but otherwise looks great. 

The last is Jinx the cat, who on the checklist looks like she is a eggplant purple color, but in real life she is the same color as Maddie. This was a dissapointment since I love cats and the color purple, so I realy wanted Jinx. I still like her, she is very cute, but she dosen't look as awsome in real life as she does on the checklist.

I wonder if any other of the animals have toned down colors in real life, or if it is just the purple once. And I wonder if there is a jinx out there with the correct purple color. 

I was still happy with these small plushies though, and I really liked how they looked with my Paola Reina dolls, so I recently decided to buy two more from season 1. In the store I discovered that you can see the color of the plushie you are gonna get, if you look though the two holes at the bottom and top of the ball. It is a nice way to avoid doubles or finding the exact one you are looking for, but it allso ruins the surprise, so I dont really know how I feel about it. This time around I asked my boyfriend to pick out two for me, and check that the color he could see were not white or purpleish grey. That way I avoided doubles while maintaining the surprise, but the more plushies I get, the harder will it be. 

When I checked out with my surprizamals, the lady at the counter was so nice to give me a poster with season 1 and 2 on it. In season 2 I really want to get the purple elefant and red crab, but I like all the otehrs as well. 

I opened the first ball a little, and saw a bit of brown and tan, so it is either the lion or the giraff.

It's the giraff yey! giraffes are one of my boyfriends favorite animal. 

He is super cute, and I am very happy with him 

Here is the info sign that was hanging off his ear, I keep all of these, but I wont be calling the plushies by their given names, when theyn move in with my dolls. 

I opened the second ball a bit and saw some light blue, I think it is either the bulldog or the elephant.

It is skip the bulldog! I like that he is a bright color.

I must admit that I was hoping for the elephant, since I am not really a dog person, but my preference does not decide what my dolls enjoy, so he is a welcome addition to their plush family. 

My Paola Reina dolls love their new plushies, they are so cute together. I really think surprizamals are a great size to use as dol plushies, since they are so small. I have some upcomming pictures that wioll show how great the surprizamals look with my paola Reina dolls. 

some of the old plushies.

It is very important to me that things fit together, therefore I decided that my dolls will only use their new plushies (with a few exceptions), since the old once are a bit too big and bulky. Another reason for my decision is that I dont want to drown my dolls in plushies, and I don't want to hold back on buying surprizamals. 

So I am packing the old plushies away, which is quite diffifcult for me to do, since they are great plushies and a few of them is speciel to me. I wish I had somewhere else to put them, but for the moment I dont, and that saddens me a bit. 

It werent really my inetentions to end a post about cute plushies on a sad note, but it is something I really needed to talk about, and I am hopefull I will figure out what to do with the old plushies in the future. 

Barbie Bohemian Fashion pack.

My doll Cassie didn't really have annything to wear when I got her, so I have been wanting to buy some clothe for her for quite a while now.

I did end up finding her an temporary outfit, but I was still looking for something better, since this jumper dosen't have the print on the back, and I dislike that alot.

I allways thought the bohemian fashion pack would be perfect for her, as I imagne her wearing warm colors and I thought the bohemian style would suit her. I was lucky to find the fashion pack in a danish toy store, a couple of weeks ago. 

The dress in this set has warm eathy colors and an interesting pattern that goes all the way around the back. I was positively surprised to find that this dress has a decent lenght and a lose fit around the legs, I thought it was a tight fitting mini dress. The set allso contains a very pretty orange belt with a yellow flower decoration, that is ideal to use with this dress.

But I have seen some people useing the belt as a headband, so i decided to try that, and I like it better as a headband than a belt. The set allso came with brown gladiator sandals, that look good with both outfits.

The second outfit is more casual, with a top, shorts and a shirt. The shirt seems elegant and light, withn its sheen material and pretty flower pattern. The shirt kind of make the outfit, since it would be a little boring without. The shorts are pretty standart and boring, I do like the orange/yellow top, but I wish it was more orange, since I am laking orange clothing for my dolls. 

Overall I am very happy with this fashion pack, I am glad Cassey finally got some nice clothes, and I think the outfits really suits her. 

I allso got a accessory pack, contaning some things that looks good with the bohemian outfits. I choose this pack mostley for the belt, the bracelet and the necklace. The binoculars and the drink is nice accessories as well, but the sunglasses are completely useless. 

I thought the orange bracelet looks nice with both of the new outfits, but the necklace allso looks good with the drerss. 

The dolls can hold the binoculars, and I like that they are blue. Unfortunately for me, the doll In ahve who are most likely to use binoculars, is a liv dolls, and that wouldm look weird with tghe big head and eyes. But I do hope a Barbie dolls might want to use binoculars one day.

And that is all I wanted to share, for now.