A seriously belated thank you!

Many months ago, way back in August, I entered a very generous giveaway by Phyllis of  'A Day in the Life of My Dolls' not thinking for a moment that I'd win...right up until I got an email telling me just that not long after! 😲

I'd won two 2017 Fashionistas - #63 Platinum Pop - my first curvy Barbie - and a #11 Hyped on Stripes - Slim bodied Ken - my first Ken doll too! - in addition to a couple of fashion packs, a hammock and a handmade item by Phyllis herself. After picking my jaw up off the floor, I emailed in to accept and thank her profusely. I wouldn't have any real use for the hammock and I didn't want it to go to waste so I asked for someone else to get that, and she was happy to oblige.

I meant to post about their arrival when they did, but well, story of my life, I didn't. XD

I did photograph them though, so that's something! (but in October, judging by the decor, ahaha)

First up, the curvy Barbie. I absolutely love this body type! I hate the lack of articulation however, so she's likely to be rebodied onto a MTM one when the curvy version finally gets here. (I read today that the red haired curvy dancer is now up as 'out of stock' on the Amazon.de site, so she definitely seems to be making it to Europe after all and isn't going to be an Australian exclusive - hopefully it won't be long until she makes it to the UK)

Same with the Ken, I really love the Slim body and especially how deliberately not muscular it is, (I really like the hands too) but he's even less poseable than the Curvy if it's possible because of his awkwardly posed arms. :(  If he reaches out for something he comes terrifyingly close to a Nazi salute which is absolutely not the kind of thing I want my dolls doing!

 I may rebody him onto something else in the meantime, then back again if MTM Kens eventually come out. He isn't speaking to me yet so for now he'll just be a nameless extra in background scenes.

Barbie clothes in general are a bit hit or miss in terms of fabric quality these days, and the super plasticky jacket and lovely, but garish romper I'll probably use as pattern reference so I can make my own which will be fun. The rest, with the exception of Ken's smilarly plasticky jeans are pretty nice though. 

Slightly obscured underneath is the fantastic handmade rug that Phyllis also sent and I absolutely love it! It matches the decor absolutely perfectly and really makes the place look a lot more comfortable.

As seen below, in a photo from a Halloween photostory that'll eventually get posted (🙄) it looks fantastic in front of the sofa!

 

The best part though are the shoes, more specifically Ken's shoes - just look at the details!

 

Seriously though, could Barbie just get a load of these in a variety of colours? I'm sick to death of everything being either heels, or absolutely tiny flats - I know she has tiny feet to fit in tiny shoes, but you could easily make them mostly solid so they'd fit snugly but she'd appear to have reasonably proportionate feet!

I really didn't care for the print on the dress the girl came with, so she stole one of Ken's fashion packs and a spare pair of the MTM leggings I had in my stash and I much prefer that look for her as I feel it flatters her figure a lot more. Ken also got a change in outfit as Aiden (who I'll finally introduce next) made off with his tank top, so he had to make do with one of Juno's cast off jumpers.

The platinum blonde hair really wasn't doing it for me on the curvy though as it just looked too unnaturally bright and plasticky, so she had half of it lopped off, and then, because a haircut alone would have been too simple, I decided to experiment with curls and dye!

Using a combination of pipe cleaners, boiling water, sharpies, anguish, rubbing alcohol and copic markers, she ended up with faded grey to pink ombre hair which ended up a lot less curly than I'd intended and it keeps fighting all attempts to style it!

I'd tried this colour combo before on Ashleigh, but hers was a little easier as the mohair was already that pinky purple colour to begin with, and I just added the darker roots. I may redo her hair though, as it was awful quality mohair and absolutely horrific to style.

'I travelled internationally for this? Where's my return ticket?!'

I had it up in a tight ponytail for the last few months...

...but as soon as I took it down it turned into this... XD

This wasn't the look I was specifically going for, as I really wanted her to have some nice subtle curls, but never mind. I initially preferred it down but I may put it back up again. I haven't quite settled on a name yet, though Kirsty is coming to mind now for some reason. I also repainted her lips to match, in case you hadn't noticed.

So yeah, a massive thank you to Phyllis for holding such a fantastically generous giveaway and for giving me such awesome prizes! 💗💗💗💗💗💗