Waiting for Vanilla and an awesome competition!

I caved in a few weeks ago and bought myself a Vanilla. There's just something about her that milky white hair and her complexion that I could not resist. For some reason in pics her skin tone looks a little different to the regular fair skinned girls - I wonder if maybe they used a different plastic? I think she will probably get customised though, as she really is very shiny and I find that I don't enjoy photographing the super shiny stock girls nearly as much as those who have been sand matted.

I'm not entirely happy with my purchase, although it is my own stupid fault. A word of warning - before you hit the BIN button be sure to double check the listing to make sure that it's exactly what you wanted. I got a little trigger happy and accidentally ended up buying Vanilla nude instead of new in box. While I did get her marginally cheaper, and her stock isn't super-special, I was a bit sad because the difference in price was a mere $10. If I had decided that I didn't want to keep the stock clothes, I could have sold them for twice that much. At any rate, she ended up costing me a smidge over $100 including shipping to Australia, making her the cheapest Blythe in my collection with the exception of the factory girls. I know she's just a "Simply" and not one of the more pricey and sought after girls, but all the same it's interesting that the prices have dropped so much. Not good for people looking to sell older Blythes though I suppose.

I have been looking at my collection with a critical eye lately and wondering if I will ever manage to bring myself to sell any of them. I never imagined I would say this, but I kind of feel that I have reached the point where I have just about got enough Neos. Instead of madly buying new dolls I will probably gradually send most of the remaining girls off to be customised now and I think that with maybe one or two more fantasy haired girls I will be happy to stop collecting the Neos altogether and maybe begin saving for a Kenner. I would love to have a Miss Sally Rice or even a custom Simply Peppermint but other than that I feel quite content with the dolls I have and could possibly even stand to let one or two less loved ones go. I'm still waiting to hear from Erica about sending Poe off for her new face, and I have reserved a spot with Frankie Darling to have Holly customised (I am so excited about that!). Now it's just a matter of waiting and madly sewing to make up the funds to get the work done!

Speaking of fabulous customisers, I stumbled across this great interview (and competition) with Melly Kay on BlytheLife that I highly recommend reading. I've followed Melly's blog and stalked her flickr pages for a while now ever since seeing her beautiful custom work on a Saffy factory girl (Bubble) and each subsequent doll somehow manages to be even more lovely than the last. Her custom Blythes have a natural life-like beauty and innocence that is incredibly appealing to me - the soft colours and the technique she uses to carve lips and nostrils really brings Blythe to life. I don't normally use other people's photos in my blog as I've never been sure of the etiquette and don't want to stand on anyones toes so let me just say that these are not my pics - they are the work of Melly Kay, so if I am doing something horribly offensive by posting Melly's pics here, someone let me know and I will take them down immediately. The reason I decided to include them is because my descriptions really don't do her work justice - you need to see her Blythes to fully appreciate her skill. These are two of my favourites.

I love this factory Qpot that she worked on.


This mohair girl kills me - she's perfect. The colours used in her face-up and chips complement her red mohair perfectly and her lips and nostrils are so beautifully done. I love the way the lower lashes are so delicate and understated. Not sure which Blythe she started out as, but she sure is stunning now! Whoever owns her is very lucky :)


Who knows, maybe I'll end up sending Vanilla over to her one day to get made over. I would love to have one of her dolls in my collection.

Melly Kay is having a competition right now where she is very generously giving away a beautiful Melly Kay Bohemian Peace custom, Bellatrix. To enter, click the link and read the interview at BlytheLife, and follow the instructions. Good luck to all who enter - Bellatrix is a really lovely girl!