New School Uniforms!

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I had been meaning for a while to get matching school uniforms for Sona and Lulu, but I hadn’t until recently found a uniform that fit what I had envisioned for them and was not cheaply made or overpriced. Then I stumbled upon this little site called Promise of the World. They had previously been on etsy and moved to their own website within the past year. They are also on taobao, and what first impressed me first about them is that they don’t inflate their prices for the western market and their stuff is adorable and well made!

I ordered the two sets of uniforms last week on Monday and they just arrived to me today (the next Monday). They had listed on their website that everything was in stock, and apparently it was! The quality of the items I received also was very good and just like the images on the website. The outfits are super cute and very well sewn, though nothing is lined which I know isn’t typical, but the more expensive brands are often lined so I thought I’d mention it. My Sona’s bright pink camisole showed through the white fabric, but what can you expect when it’s bright pink, lol. Either way the problem was easily solved by just removing her cami. A particularly nice touch was the fact that each bow is threaded onto a silken ribbon with a slip knot in the back, so you can easily attach it to your girl’s clothing under the sailor sash. What’s also really nice is you can kind of mix and match your sailor uniform parts to make something a little more unique for you. Aside from the red ribbons, I also purchased two of the pale blue scarves so I could switch out if I wanted.

Overall I am very pleased with my purchase, it shipped fast and is quite lovely. That being said though I didn’t get a shipping notice and I was actually prepared to contact them today about when my order might ship, but then lo and behold I got a text from DHL telling me my package was going to be delivered. So in the end I would recommend them and I would probably buy from them again if they had some things I liked, for the price it can’t be beat!

Doll wigs, SD props and a Customs retention.

So a lot of doll related things have been happening, but I just haven’t had the time to blog since it’s been the holidays and I am trying to get everything together to go on vacation in January. The first thing that happened is the wig and headband I ordered in a For My Doll GO arrived. Here is a shot of Lulu in her new wig and Sona is wearing Lulu’s old wig.

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I have to say that this is the second wig I have ordered from For My Doll and I couldn’t be more pleased with the quality of wigs from that shop. Frankly I consider my FMD wigs to be of better quality than the one Leeke wig I own. Anyhow, I really like this wig on my Lulu, but I’m not sure how I feel about Sona in Lulu’s old wig. It’s cute and looks a bit more mature over her old pigtails, but I think I may still be questing for a wig yet for Sona. I think maybe I also need to try to buy other colors of wigs besides brown, but I just can’t help it!! I love dark brown hair and FMD’s “mild black” is the perfect deep brown.

Aside from the wigs, I’ve begun working on creating an SD sized bed for the first piece of furniture for my room box. I have my plans all drawn out and my wood bought, but I’ve only just begun cutting and painting. I really hope I get a chance to work on it some more before my vacation because I’d love to make a blog posting and share my progress, but I also have to double up on my work so I don’t have anything due over vacation AND I also have to finish hemming my dress among other vaycay prep.

Lastly the Dollstown elf body shipped a couple days ago and I was super excited to follow it’s tracking until suddenly after arriving in Chicago today it was detained by Customs saying “customs retention: other” D: I’ve never had this happen before so I popped on DoA to see if anyone else had this trouble before and sure enough there is a thread dedicated to it in the buying and shipping section. After reading through the thread I feel a little better since another user said that packages are processed through Chicago’s customs very fast. I’m really hoping that it only has that status since it arrived after 6pm on a Saturday and it just waiting for Monday’s work week to come around. I am going to be a bundle of nerves until this body arrives since I will be leaving on the 17th for vacation and it must arrive before then! D: I’m going to keep my fingers crossed that my package clears customs on Monday. The last thing I need is for it to get stuck in customs for a week or more and then ship when I am gone. I’ve heard where EMS packages won’t be kept for any longer than 5 days even in vacation hold mail. Oh man….I just don’t think I can say this.. D: enough…lol. If this has taught me anything it’s to not order things before vacation, even if it is in stock and will ship within a week and you still have a month left before vaycay so it should be “safe”…because apparently everything will go wrong.

I’m selling my AE Yara.

I decided it was time to sell my Asleep Eidolon Yara since she has spent many years in a box. ^^;; I feel kinda bad, but I think it’s because I am no longer as much into the larger “anime eyed” style dolls as I used to be when I was younger. She’s still a pretty cute girl though and I hope someone will give her a better home, because she deserves some fun!. (T_T;;) Anyway my sale thread is up on DoA here: http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?606193-Asleep-Eidolon-AE-Asleep-Eidolon-Yara-MSD-%28Normal-Skin%29-150-shipped&p=10497863#post10497863 You must be logged in and have marketplace access to be able to see it.

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She will come with the curly blonde wig, green glass eyes, ecru star dress, spare jeans, and her original default acrylic eyes and her authentication card. I also still have her pink storage box so she will come shipped in that. I’m asking $150 shipped for her.

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EDIT: SHE IS SOLD!

BJDs that look Asian.

Since it’s kind of difficult to search for BJDs that look Asian without most of the search results in google being about ABJDs on a whole and not necessarily ones that look particularly Asian, I decided to start a collection of images of Asian looking dolls on Pinterest. Each pin lists the sculpt, maker and size of the doll so you can easily find them on company websites. I’ve only just started my list with around 19 pins, but I plan to continue adding to it in the future, especially since right now I am of the mind to own a 60-65cm Asian looking male BJD to be a companion to my Mio. So, without further ado, here is the link to my “BJDs that look Asian” pinboard. 🙂

http://www.pinterest.com/tsukiyono/bjds-that-look-asian/

Withdoll Taren’s Box Opening!

So, my Taren arrived somewhat unexpectedly today. I knew from tracking that he had landed in Chicago and I figured that since it was a holiday that I shouldn’t expect him until Monday, but lo and behold he suddenly appeared here today and on Black Friday no less, haha. Anyway I shall now dispense with the photos.

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Well hello there shipping box. 😉

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And the actual doll box. Withdoll has a nice simple box with their logo stamped on top. For some reason a simple brown box is always appealing to me. Maybe it’s because it has a eco feel, or maybe it’s because The Sound of Music taught me that brown paper packages tied up with string are good times. XD

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And inside the box is the funny doll shaped foam cut-out, heehee. He also came with an extra set of hands (in different poses) and a nice pair of acrylic eyes by Glib in a hazel color.

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And removing the foam we get the first view of Taren snugly packed and without eyes lol.

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Here’s a shot of his default face-up…this is the softer type A face-up on realskin UV. Overall it was what I was expecting, though the lower lashes are a bit more subdued, which is perfect actually. The brow is a bit lighter and the lips a bit less pink, but it is ok and really it’s a quality face-up. The eyes are the Glib ones I received with the order since the aqua colored glass eyes I selected for him were too large despite being 12mm. TAT I may experiment with 10mm eyes for him, since I think the 12mm fill up just a bit too much of the eye for me.

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Here he is next to my Lusis. I like the way they look together, I think their scale is perfect. I’d also like to point out that he’s wearing M3 studio jeans that fit him well. Unfortunately I do not have a shirt for him yet. ^^; I intend to make a t-shirt for him soon. I’m not sure what I think of the wig I bought for him. I still have to mess with it some more. I am thinking though that he might look a bit better in black.

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And here’s a group shot of him with both of my MSD sized girls. You can kind of see how the realskin UV compares tone wise with Dollmore resin and Unoa resin, though both my Sona and my Lusis have some yellowing.

I’d also like to mention that I am really pleased with how my Taren poses. He is not strung super tight like some companies so he can hold half bent arm poses without slapping himself in the face. His knee joints too are well constructed as he can stand with one knee half bent in a very natural pose. The upper torso joint is also very smooth working and I like how the hand is magnetized and you can twist it off for an easy changeout with the spare hands. Now I hope that they come out with more option hands to buy like fists and pointing hands because I would have a lot of fun with it!! Overall I have to say that this doll is exceedingly well constructed, especially for the price. I have not had a doll who posed so well out of the box without needing sueding. You will wait a good 3-4 months to get a doll from Withdoll, but when it arrives I think you will be very pleased.