I had planned on doing a review of Vanilla when she arrived, but as I stupidly clicked BIN without checking the listing properly, my Vanilla is naked and I saved a whole $10. Note to self - read the listing before committing to buy, Noob! So at any rate, I can't comment on her stock, which did look quite cute. Especially the shoes, which I am kind of sad about, but oh well, lesson learned!
I was excited when I saw her in the box. Although she was naked, she looked lovely and had such nice straight bangs. So I freed her from her cardboard prison, took off her plastic fringe keeper thingy (her bangs immediately revealed themselves to be crooked - sigh) and popped a dress on her. And was underwhelmed.
Everything they say about her is true. I don't know why I thought I would feel differently. I wanted so much to love her! The thing is, although she does look quite sweet in photographs, she somehow does not feel as good quality as the other Blythes when you see her in person. Her hair is very fine and I can see her scalp through the top, her legs are sticky and super bendy and her face is very shiny - even more so that normal. I compared her to the others and none of them even come close in the shine stakes. I mistakenly thought her eye shadow was grey, but it's blue and her lips and blush are just a bit too bright for her pale skin and hair. Oddly, this doesn't seem to show up as much in photos. Maybe it's just that I am not a fan of the FBL mold. She has a slightly wistful look about her, I think.
So my overall opinion of Vanilla? Great hair colour but very fine hair. If that bothers you pay extra and get Paris. Very shiny face. If you don't want to spray-matte her get Paris. Make up just a touch too dark. If you want subtle, get Paris. So I guess really, I would have been better off getting Paris myself!
On the plus side, she was very cheap and I think she will be a great base to customise. I will be sending her away to have some work done later in the year I think. A bob, boggle, lip carve and face up from a top notch customiser and she'll look a million bucks. But as she is? Not my cup of tea. I would not recommend her for those who like to keep their girls stock in my opinion.
Yeah, when I finally saw pics of this doll I was underwhelmed as well. As always, I get way more excited about the drawings. LOL!!
ReplyDeleteBut she does seem like a great subject for customizing. I like her hair color and I'm sure she'll look great when she's done!
: )
Maybe she'd be a good candidate for some higlights. Help thinken her hair, keep the cute color, and add a little som'n some'n.
ReplyDeleteI always thought Mango and Guava's looked incredibly thin in pictures. I would probably just use them to reroot if I ever got one!
I quite like the platinum hair...maybe I could put in a few extra plugs to thicken it. But then I'd have to trim them and I am the world's worst Blythe hairdresser!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure she'll look great when she's all customised. It might take me a while to get to her though - Holly is going to FrankieDarling very soon and the postage is almost as much as the work she's having done!
To be frank, am not a great fan of the new fbl mould too : ( it's kinda a good thing as I've hardly been spending time with my other dolls. Lately a lack of drive to buy new dolls has lead me to relooking at my older dolls to touch up their past custom work and spending more time with them.
ReplyDeleteAs for the quality issues of the new dolls... WOAHHHHH you are so right! if we compare the Kenner's plastic to the BL's an the than the BL's to the later Ebls... and then with the SBLs!!! the quality deteriote is realllllly bad... pls note that I stopped the quality comparison at SBL, not bothering to even compare further....(yeah its heaps worst now)
I hope u'll find yr Vanilla's personality soon!!!
Happy holidays!!!!