Doing it - Barbie Style

I was allowed an early Christmas present from my husband yesterday. I went into one of our local Department stores not expecting to get anything (was looking for clothes for Miss 4 who was with me) and spied two interesting looking boxes. When I opened the flap, I was excited to see the Barbie Style doll that I had wanted but didn't expect to get here in Australia - especially where I live! 

My husband told me to get it and it would be part of my Christmas present.

Introducing Barbie Style Doll #1 (Gold Label) which was designed by Barbie Style on Instagram.

Super impressed with the box design for this one.

Another BMR Comes Home

My final BMR doll arrived much sooner than expected. She was only shipped on Monday and arrived today. She is the blond girl with curly hair. I've already decided that her name will be Ivy.

Box Opening: BMR1959

My two BMR dolls that I ordered recently arrived to me this week, about two days apart! I've been looking forward to seeing these dolls in person and they do not disappoint! The gorgeous tissue paper wrap (if you have collected the Silkstone dolls you will know what I mean) makes these dolls feel like a luxury purchase but still at a really affordable price.

I honestly haven't even come up with a name for them yet so in this post, I will call them 'Man Bun' and 'Yellow Glasses'.

Level of Suspense Lukas Maverick

So earlier this year when I joined up with W Club again, we had three options for upgrade dolls if we wanted to purchase one along with our membership. The dolls are sold at a much lower price tag than the usual dolls in those particular lines.

This year, they had two female dolls and for the first time (at least since I've been a member), they offered a male doll as an upgrade. And it also happens to be one of my favourite of the male face sculpts so of course I had to get him.

He arrived during the week and this is his first blog introduction.

Introducing Lukas Maverick, Level of Suspense edition.

Akagidoll Shi Xia - Ruben Finally Makes An Appearance

...and he's here! My boy has arrived after what seems like a world trip! It's taken a few weeks but he arrived to me safe and sound and stealing my heart with his smouldering look.

The lady who got my parcel received the parcel I got (meant for her) safely so all's well that ends well. The mixed order saga has concluded. I can't say enough about how great the customer service and support was from Alice Collection during this situation. I'm thoroughly impressed. I won't hesitate to order from them again even after the mix up as it really wasn't their fault but the courier who collected the parcels and mixed up the custom forms (despite our names, the customer names being written on the underside of the box. It isn't hard to double check right?)

Moving on ...

Let me introduce Ruben Morgan. He doesn't know it but he actually died when he was ten years old. He was out for 7 seconds but it was enough. Something came back with him, something that has attached itself to Ruben, whether good or ill remains to be seen.

Box Opening: Beyond This Planet Violaine Perrin

The original version of this gorgeous lady had platinum blonde hair, black lipstick wearing the same outfit. That version was available last year through IT dealers, however when it comes to dolls through dealers, I never bother to try for them as they either sell out super quickly or they are usually charged more than the retail price.

So when IT made this alternate version of her available through the W Club through a lottery, I didn't hesitate to enter. Given that a lot of people got the original version, chances were good that I could actually win this for a change.

I did. And she arrived today (well yesterday technically but I picked her up from the post office today after work.)

60 Years of Barbie Silkstone Anniversary Doll - Box Opening

Yesterday, hubby and I decided to drop into a local toy store as we had heard they were having a relocation sale. Sadly, all the Signature Barbie line weren't discounted but I was so surprised they even carried this doll and at a reasonable price that I snatched her up straight away. (Wasn't I glad about the extra shifts I've been doing at work the past two weeks!)

I had been wanting this doll but it was quite pricey after conversion to AUD if I bought it from the US stores so I was going to have to pass on her. I'm glad I didn't have to.

She would have fit in quite well with Xanadu's Pink Fridays!

Without further ado ...

Doll Haul Day

I've had a few dolls on pre-orders recently, not expecting they'd all be released and shipped at the same time and arriving at the same time. Needless to say, I'm a little broke for the next two months but the dolls were worth it.

The first lot are the W Club exclusive dolls from the 2018 year. 

Isn't she a beauty? I adore this face screening on her.

MYOU Ailsa and Snow Queen Progress

I've ordered bjds via EMS from China before but this has got to be the most ridiculously fast parcel I've ever received. Alice Collection posted her out on Sunday, she arrived in Sydney on Monday, was transferred to Brisbane on Tuesday and arrived to me Wednesday (that's a 2 1/2 hour trip by plane!!) Usually it takes by EMS at least a week and a half, maybe two. Either customs is really really fast right now or parcels are speeding through because it's not peak parcel season. Whatever the case, hubby's birthday present arrived to me today, even if it is two months late.

I have to admit, either I'm getting more impatient the older I get or I've been so spoiled by my fashion dolls that I've forgotten the long wait times for bjds. I ordered this girl on the 21 December 2018 and she arrived to me today, 21 March 2019 - so that's 3 months. Thank goodness she was worth every minute of that wait!!

Dark Tyler

A second Tyler Wentworth from Tonner Doll has joined the ranks. I'm not sure which one she is as she didn't come with her original outfit. I got her for a really good price from an Australian seller and she arrived lightening fast for being on the opposite side of Australia from me!!

I believe the outfit she is wearing is from a cosmetic campaign. I love it though. Plus not pictured, she comes with a small black well detailed handbag that has a small blush set and lipstick inside and gorgeous heeled black boots and a red leather jacket which is so well made, I was stunned it was for a doll!!

Tyler Wentworth Box Opening

I've had this doll for a few weeks and am just now getting around to posting it up here. She was a second-hand purchase  and is the Tyler Wentworth Signature Style BA doll from 2001. She arrived to me on the 24th January 2019 so technically she is the first doll to arrive this year and an unplanned purchase.

From what I managed to find out, not all Tyler Wentworth dolls had the bendable arms, the original didn't but they released her later with this feature. I'm guessing that's what the BA stands for. There is another Signature Style series of her without the bending arms. Obviously I wanted to make sure the one I was buying did have the BA feature. Sadly, she does not have articulated wrists or feet but that's not a huge deal breaker for me.

I really find her face quite sweet and I wouldn't mind a few more but recent issues make me hesitate quite a great deal. If you remember from previous posts, I have two other Tonner dolls, Galadriel and a Precarious. Whilst rearranging my doll cabinets a week ago, I noticed that both Galadriel and Precarious heads had a slight green look to them that wasn't there when they first arrived. Now, I don't know if this was because they were previously kept in boxes (although Galadriel was kept in a doll cabinet much like mine) and now they are exposed to the air, there might some sort of reaction like resin, except happening at a much faster rate. I am careful with my more expensive dolls to keep them stored in a cabinet on the darkest shelf so they don't get a lot of light shining on them. Heck, my BJD cabinet only houses BJDs as I cover the cabinet with a big white sheet to protect it from light.

I asked about the issue on a Tonner Group I joined but no one else had experienced this issue with their dolls so ...either, the light when it's on downstairs has reacted with the vinyl (although the same light has been there since I started collecting BJDs and my resin dolls are fine, save for the natural yellowing that occurs with resin (but at a much much slower rate - we're talking over years) or they both happened to be a bad batch when it was first made several years ago. Obviously I can always fix the colour in photos in my editing program but ... it has made me a bit hesitate to get further Tonner dolls at this stage.

Anyway, on to the photos ...

Box Opening: Resinsoul Mi

I had a surprise today. Despite the tracking saying my parcel was still in Sydney customs, the mailman turned up at my house with a big long parcel that had Resinsoul on it. I haven't been so excited to receive a doll in a while.

WARNING: Doll nudity ahead although I blanked out the offending bits just in case.

Dollmore Glamour Eve Kori White

This was an impulse buy. I happened to be browsing and I saw this head come up for auction. I managed to get her for a great price. I don't know what it was about her that really grabbed my attention but I knew I really wanted her.

This girl is my first Dollmore doll, even though she's only just a head. I put her on my Souldoll body as her original body seemed to be similar in height and she fits quite nicely on it plus the resin match is almost perfect. Her head does kind of just sit on top of the neck and you can see the neck if you tilt her head to the side and if she wasn't wearing a wig (lucky then that she is!). But it's not a deal breaker. You can get away with it if you watch your angles. But that's just half the fun of hybriding to me.

Impldoll Box Opening

Wow, it's been a long time since I've done a box opening like this. As the regular readers of this blog will already be aware, my bjd collecting rate has decreased quite a bit in recent years. I've bought the random body and head here and there but not a full doll from a company in a while.

Having said that, this particular doll (or dolls) is actually a combined Christmas and Birthday present from my very supportive husband. I ordered them on the 30th November 2017 and they arrived today. Of course by the time I finished work, picked them up from the post office and got home, I was losing light fast. But I just had to take box opening photos on the actual day they got here.

When I ordered the dolls, Impldoll were having an event and because I qualified for one of the event gifts (a free 'baby' doll) I ended up with two dolls in this box.

A Christmas Surprise

A big thank you goes out to Fantasywoods for the lovely surprise gift I received recently.

The pink haired Curvy Barbie that I've been looking for. She's very adorable. I really love that shade of pink too. I also love the shade of pink on her lips which is the same as her hair. I haven't posted about it but I did manage to find the first Made to Move Curvy body. She also has pink hair but hers was more electric pink!!

Popster Poppy

I decided to post up the box opening for my Popster Poppy as Misty Hollow Poppy is a very special girl (she's on the new improved body) and really deserves her own post when she gets here. She's in Australia!

Back to the topic at hand ... I actually got Popster Poppy a few weeks ago but I've had to work extra days at work so haven't had as much time as I would like so I'm posting this a bit later.

As I've mentioned before, she was one of the upgrade dolls on offer for the 2017 membership of the W Club. I was really drawn to her whole appearance. Plus green just works on her.

Box Opening Silkstone FMC: Mad Men - Joan Holloway

A new lady arrived today, one that I could never have imagined being able to get my hands on. She is the Silkstone FMC Joan Holloway from Mad Men. She was released in 2010 and as with most dolls I come to late, I don't hold out much hope in ever being able to acquire them. If she does pop up on the second hand market, she's usually quite pricey and she sells lightening fast.

I found her on ebay from a seller in Australia (added bonus!). She was being sold without her outfit and accessories although she did come with her corset, stand, box and COA. And she was a really reasonable price. In perfect condition (she had been removed from her box but only displayed in a closed cabinet by her previous owner). 

She is my one and only Silkstone grail which I am so happy to have. I had always wondered what the attraction with these dolls were but having one in my collection, I can see the appeal. She has a good weight to her, like my other Silkstone girl. And of course, red hair and blue eyes, my favourite colour combination, how could I resist?

DC Comics Diana Prince Doll & New Resin in the House

 This will be a rather big and photo intense post.

A couple of new dolls in the house this week. We'll start with the gorgeous resin that came in a lovely parcel from my Tassie friend yesterday. I actually discovered this sculpt a bit late and always seemed to miss the sales when she came in stock. So I was delighted when my friend asked if I would like this sculpt. She is Bimong Dandelion.

Even blank, she has such beautiful features. Her lips are incredibly detailed and I love her rather wistful expression. I had been planning to paint her myself but after seeing her in person, I'm not sure I have the skills to do this face justice. I may have to send her out for a face up but ... I really don't like having to send dolls out these days. I will have to procrastinate further.

Box Opening: Barbie Reproduction 35th Anniversary - 1993

The final mystery doll arrived (although this one wasn't a planned purchase, she just happened to be going at a great price on e-bay and I decided it'd be neat to have her as well).

She is another black and white swimsuit Barbie Reproduction doll. This one was made in 1993 (before the blonde one I have already) and is a brunette. She was made to celebrate Barbie's 35th Anniversary.

Her first owner really took care of her. The box was in great condition and she had never been removed. The box was still sealed with all its original packaging. I really debated on whether to keep her like this ... but ... of course, I just had to remove her from her box coffin.

Box Opening: BFMC Classic Black Dress - Brunette - 2016

Second mystery doll arrived today ... and she was worth the wait!

She is my very first Silkstone Barbie. I've been curious about these dolls for a while but what always stopped me was their lack of posing ability (although that's not going to stop me from getting an original body Silkstone at some point!). So when an articulated Silkstone was first rumoured, I followed the news quite closely. Sadly, I procrastinated too long and missed out on getting the very first articulated Silkstone, the blonde version of Classic Black Dress. I hope to get her eventually (if the price is right, she tends to go for double and sometimes triple her retail these days).