Signature Looks

 For Christmas I was able to acquire the last couple of girls to get me caught up with the Mattel Signature Looks collection (until the 2023 dolls start shipping that  is). My oldest son got Tamika from Round 2 for me. She is a new sculpt I believe on the petite body. The petite body is my least favorite made to move body for some reason, but I do think Tamika's sculpt is very pretty, and I love her hair color.

She has very bold turquoise eye makeup, which along with her magenta hair might make her a bit less versatile than the other girls. She also has the baby hair painted on at her hair line, which I'm not a fan of. I think it detracts from the sculpt and I wish Mattel and Integrity would stop doing it. I suppose there are those out there that like it though, and I realize what they were trying to accomplish. The look just doesn't work for my personal preference.

The second holiday doll I received in the Looks like was the final girl I was missing from the original release, #6, Victoria. I have to say I really like her out of the box. She's on the tall body. Here she is in her original outfit. I really like the basic black and white that the dolls came in for their debut collection. All the pieces are very versatile and look good on a wide variety of dolls.

A closer shot of Victoria's face.

I then had a little bit of fun redressing her in a Yoisrus outfit made for the integrity NuFace body. Since the tall girls are taller than the regular Barbie's, the length of the jumpsuit works for her. The Mattel tall body is a little bit thicker in the waist than Integrity girls though, so not all clothing is interchangeable. This jumpsuit however worked well on Victoria.

It looks like the tall redhead in the upcoming 2023 release uses Victoria's sculpt. I'm anxious to see owner pics of her when she starts shipping, as I do like the sculpt.

A Pop of Spring in Winter

 I've started going through my outfit stash from Jamieshow's Bonjour Paris collection, and trying them on the dolls. One of my favorite female outfits was Look 2. I love the cut of this dress and the beautiful rose pattern. Last week when collector's started posting comments and photos of the pieces they chose from this new collection, there was some discussion about Look 2 and the placement of the roses on the fabric. It seems some collectors received outfits that didn't have any of the roses showing prominently on the front of the dress. After reading those comments I was a little concerned with what I might get. Luckily, as I opened my box, I was quite pleased that my dress had several roses front and center.

I chose Eileen to model. The wig she chose to wear with the dress is Wig 4, the long low ponytail from the Dangerous Love collection in the hazelnut color. I think it compliments this dress and Eileen makes quite a beautiful redhead.

The earrings and bracelet with this set are quite detailed and beautiful and follow the flower theme. I love that they are very different than anything we have seen previously in the Muses line.

Eileen is very fresh faced and has a younger look than many of the other sculpts within the collection. One of the things I really like about her.

I look forward to seeing more versions of her in upcoming collections as well.

Bonjour Paris

 My haul from the Jamieshow Bonjour Paris collection arrived this past Friday, and I got a chance to play a bit over the weekend. One of the dolls I was looking most forward to in this collection was Sabina. I had admired her when Jamieshow did a 16" version of this sculpt, but never picked one up. She was the first one into the cart when BP collection went up for preorder. The Bonjour Paris collection consisted of six brand new sculpts, 3 male and 3 female. Here is a promo shot of all the dolls offered in the collection.

I ordered 4 of the 6.  As I said above, Sabina, second from the right, was the first in my cart and Aiden was the first in my cart from the male side.  Sabina and Michael were both new resin colors (Sabina is in Mocha resin and Michael in Cappuccino) as well, so Michael made his way into my cart very quickly too. Eileen was a last minute add, as I kept looking at her and was afraid I would regret not picking her up later if I passed. I'm glad I added her. In hand I think I like her better than Sabina. I love Sabina too, but there is something really special about Eileen. On to pictures of the dolls. I chose to first photograph the girls in different wigs than what they came with ,as I'm not a huge fan of the long straight wigs they came with. The wigs they arrived with were not as short as in the promo shots, nor pulled back from their faces as in the promo shots. They were the long straight wigs already seen with the Summer Kisses dolls, and added as a separate wig purchase with the Dangerous Love line. Sabina's box was on top, so she was the first sprung from her packaging. I chose to put her in silver version of Wig Style 2 from the new line.

One of the changes the girls have undergone with the Bonjour Paris line is wiring in their joints. Upon initial play time, I have to say I'm not a huge fan of the change. The diameter wire they chose to use seems a bit too "thick" to me, and doesn't allow movement to flow as naturally as it should when trying to pose the dolls. Another collector noted that the wires were imbedded within the joint channel, so you could not remove it if you so chose. I will reserve more comments on the wiring once I have more play time, but initially, I'm not a fan. I prefer the older body style with no wires in the joints. I'm glad they haven't made the change on the male bodies, and I hope they don't.

Sabina's face is lovely and I really like her new resin color. I wish she didn't have quite as much glitter as she does under her eyes, but that's a minor complaint. The basic little dresses with the wedge sandals are wonderful! My favorite basic outfit to date. I may have to try to pick up Anya's black outfit in the leftovers sale if there are any available.  Below Sabina is pictured with the Versailles chair and ivory end table, which were optional to order with this collection. They are very well made.

Michael was next out of the box. He is the first African American male sculpt in the line. Very handsome. As I said, his resin color is new, it is called cappuccino and it is really lovely! Here is a shot of Michael with Sabina so you can see both resin color's together. Her's is lighter than his, and they are both lighter shades than Nicole's chocolate resin. I'll do another post comparing her with them at a later date.

Michael also has gorgeous shading on his lips.

I'm really glad I added this handsome guy to my preorder.

Next out of the box was Aiden. I have to admit, I love the men, but one of the drawing points to this guy, for me, was the gray wig! They didn't offer it separately, its only been available with Aiden, and I wanted it! Pair that with the fact that he's a new sculpt, and he was my choice over Sean (who some say is the same sculpt as Aiden, just in a clean shaven version). I haven't seen Owen or George confirm this, but they did look similar, so I passed on Sean and went with Aiden.

Another handsome guy! And I do like the gray wig. I wish we would see more variety of wigs and hair colors with the guys (as I've noted before). Keeping my fingers crossed we do in 2023. I'd like a Scottish inspired Muse man with auburn hair and a kilt! Some pics of Aiden and Michael together.

Doing some wig swapping...............Michael in Aiden's and vice versa.

Aiden taking a load off in the Versailles chair.

Lastly Eileen made it out of her box. I wasn't a fan of the black wig (that she came with ) from the start, as her eyebrows aren't black (and that's a pet peeve of mine, lighter eyebrows with a black wig), so I found some lighter choices for her to try out.

First up was Sasha's Dangerous Love wig. I like her as a blonde.

Next up, we tried some pink on for size. I really like the pink on her too.

Choice number three was bronze, as I wanted to take a picture of her with Sabina and I had put Sabina in the black curly wig, so thought I'd give Eileen curls as well. I really like Sabina with dark hair, and think Eileen pulls off bronze quite well too!

Lastly the girls sitting together, Sabina in the Versailles chair. Look for an upcoming installment where I begin to go through the outfits I picked up from this collection as well. And in closing today's installment I just have to say, another wonderful collection. Bravo Jamieshow and Owensu! Every time I think they can't top a previous collection.............they go and prove me wrong.

     

A Pop of Purple

 I've had this purple wig cap for quite a while now and realized this morning I've never put it on a doll. Nicole was easiest to redress when I looked at my crew this morning, and I thought she might pull off the purple wig cap quite nicely, so she was nominated to model. Oddly enough, I only have this wig style in the fantasy colors offered, purple and pink. Nicole's jumpsuit is from Yoisrus on Etsy and her fur is from DollsFancyWorld, also on Etsy.

I'm really anxious for Micheal and Sabina to arrive from the Bonjouor Paris to compare their darker resin shades with Nicole. I know Nicole is the darkest, but it will be interesting to see all three shades together.

Nicole can be a challenge for me to photograph, especially when she's in light colors, but I was pretty pleased with this series of photos. She is quite lovely and I'm so thankful I was able to adopt this Premier version of her, as it was the one I liked the most and I missed out on the entire Premier collection.

Now to rearrange the girls and guys on the shelf in preparation for the new arrivals from Bonjour Paris. I'm REALLY hoping I will get my shipping notice today. To say I'm anxious would be a bit of an understatement!

I also need to work on making my final selections on what I want to order in the Moments of Joy collection.

A Slouchy Beanie

 I love this version of Orlando bald, and since his arrival I have been meaning to get out the crochet hooks and attempt to do some beanies for him. This weekend I dusted them off, watched some Youtube videos to "reacquaint" myself with the crochet hooks and took a stab at doing a beanie for him. It's a little slouchy as I used the same basic pattern I used for the girls and didn't take into account the fact that he doesn't have any hair. 

You can see here it is a bit slouchy, but slouchy works too. I'll tighten up the pattern next time to see if I can get one that fits a little closer to his head. Upside is the girls can wear this one too.

The crocheting will add some versatile knit pieces to the doll's wardrobes, and I do enjoy it once I get in a rhythm. It also will give me something productive to occupy my time this afternoon while waiting on the new Jamieshow Moments of Joy collections unveiling. I'm hoping for lots of cool pieces for the guys since they were absent during the last Go East release.

 

Getting Ready for 2023

Alexis is getting ready to ring in the New Year this weekend in a gown from the Dangerous Love collection, wig also from the Dangerous Love collection. She's also hoping her new friends from Paris (Bonjour Paris collection) will arrive early in 2023.

Jamieshow will also be revealing a new Muse collection this weekend called Moments of Joy on Dec 31 at 4pm EST. I am equal parts excited and afraid for this collection!  I REALLY don't need to buy anything else so soon after the Go East collection, and with the Bonjour Paris collection due to arrive early next week (hopefully). I was hoping I could limit myself to clothing for the new collection...........and from the previews, there is a black suit for the guys that is a MUST have for me. I know myself though, and if there is a new sculpt, or heaven forbid Eshe finally puts in a second appearance..............or Ginnie is in this round, I'm probably NOT going to stick to that plan. 

In the meantime, I'll take a few days to really enjoy the dolls I currently have, and prepare to enjoy the new characters that will be arriving with the Paris collection, and keep my fingers crossed there isn't as much in the Moments of Joy collection that I 'have to have', as there was in the Go East collection.

Holiday Selections Part 2

 Just a couple of dolls to share for today's holiday installment post. I finally de-boxed Home for the Holidays Ginger Gilroy. I love Ginger's sculpt. I think I would like her as much as Poppy if we got as much variety with her as we do with Poppy. I have 3 of her 4 incarnations up until this point, and would love to see some variation in her screening and a hair color. I'd also love to see a sunkissed or light honey skin tone for her, I think she would be stunning as a brunette or raven with one of those skin tones. That being said, I do like this version of her. The hair color is such a pretty shade of red. Almost a cherry shade.

I'd also love to see a bright cherry red lip for her instead of the pink she has sported in all her versions so far. I thought from promos that Home for the Holidays had red lips, but they aren't red, they are a very deep pink.

The other doll that got some holiday photos this morning was Weekender Lukas. I redressed him in one of the Jamieshow suits from last years Enchanted Holiday collection. I love that the Integrity men can share with the Jamieshow guys. Jamieshow has done some fantastic clothing for their men so far, and the shoes are really awesome.

I have a love/hate relationship with Lukas much of the time. I'm not gaga over all the versions of him as a lot of collectors are. I do however love this version of him. The sunkissed skin tone with dark hair suits him well. The fade haircut is done really nicely.

He may overtake Leading Man Lukas as my favorite version of Lukas to date. I like Tantric too, but I wasn't collecting avidly when that version of him came out and I'm not paying secondary market prices for him, so I'm not counting that version of him in the mix. I seem to like the darker skin tones for him.