Pullip Galene: Review

Pullip Galene is the newest addition to my Pullip family, and I couldn't be more happy to welcome her to it! I've had my eye on her for a little while now, and to finally have her is like a dream! Galene is a Creator's Label doll that was released in 2012. She's quite a gorgeous doll with an elegant style, and it's a mystery to me as to why she so often gets overlooked! I don't know if people are put off by all the grey she's wearing, but I think that it really is unfortunate, because she's a real beauty, and this is coming from someone who usually gravitates to the more brightly colored dolls with crazy colored hair!

Pullip Galene Comes With:

- Floral headdress that ties around the back of her head

- Lavender coat with silver button detailing

-  Choker neck dress embellished with beads at the front and sheer netted skirt with multiple layers

- Gray ruffled shorts

- Detachable ruffled train skirt that snaps on

- Lace arm warmers

- Beaded bracelet that ties around her wrist with ribbons

- White thigh high stockings with lace lining the tops

- Beaded snap-on ankle cuffs with tasseled bottoms

- Brown heeled Mary Jane shoes

- White chair

- Pullip Galene's Trading Card

- Black doll stand

Pros:

- Her wig is an unusual dark gray color that isn't a common color found on most Pullip dolls and is styled into thick, full ringlets!

- No wig cap showing! (May vary from doll to doll.)

- Pretty faceup! Her eyebrows are straight and fairly light, and are a bit on the thin side. Her eye makeup is simple and not overdone. She has smokey grey and brown eye shadow, and has a bunch of faint, thin lines painted right above her crease line, which is kind of an interesting detail. She also has brown eyeliner around the top of her eyes and lots of thin brown lashes bordering the bottom of her eyes. The inner rims of her eyes are also painted pink! Finishing off her look, she has light pink blush and beautifully painted lips that are nude and coral pink in color and are shaped in a way that make them look very full and pillowy!

- Amazing black eyelids with shiny black eyeliner!

- Her eyechips don't have any sparkle or painted designs in her pupils, but they're a very interesting greenish-gray color and are somewhat transparent looking!

- Her stock outfit is extremely well made and so detailed! There's ribbon, ruffles, and beading everywhere, and it's all so lovely! Her coat is versatile and can be used with other outfits, and the detachable skirt is a fun way to change her look up a bit.

- Her nails are actually painted! It's a really neat touch! There definitely aren't very many Pullip dolls released that have painted nails, and actually Galene is the first out of all my dolls to have that detail!

- The chair she comes with is really nice looking and also very well-made! It is made from plastic but it has been painted to look like wood, and the seat of it is actually somewhat soft and lightly cushioned! It needs to be assembled and the pieces snap together, but it is also still quite sturdy. It really is a fun prop to use in pictures, too!

- Shoes stay well on her feet!

- Type 4 body!

Cons:

- Like most curly haired dolls, her wig is quite frizzy, and the shorter curls near the top of her head are a bit strange looking.

- Her shoes are a really soft plastic, which unfortunately means that the heels of her shoes are prone to bending under her weight. It's a pain to deal with when placing her on her stand, especially.

- Her headdress has a tendency to fall off her head.

- Her stock outfit has a lot of thin, delicate materials on it that can easily tear if you aren't careful.

Neutral:

- She's slightly pricier than some of the other Pullip releases, but it isn't too steep. Pullip Style currently has her for a bit less than normal at $120.

The Verdict:

If you are considering getting Galene but are a bit hesitant about whether or not you should buy her, I will have to encourage you to take the plunge and  do it, because she is worth it! I cannot stress enough how unbelievably stunning she is! She is really one of a kind and definitely not one anyone should pass up on! I understand how some may feel that her stock is too busy, but if you look past that, you will see just how lovely she is and that she can actually look great in different clothing styles and wigs! 

Pictures of Fiore, My Pullip Galene:

Needle Felting: Mokona

With the completion of my custom Yuuko doll, I thought it would be really cute to make some little props for her, too! I decided that the first thing I'd make for her would be something needle felted, as I really wanted to improve my skills at needle felting, and I figured that Mokona would be perfect! I actually ended up making the White Mokona, as I had lots of white wool on hand and I wanted to use it as a test to even see if it was possible for a beginner like me to make something that wasn't from a needle felting kit before going out and buying all the colored wool that I would need to make Black Mokona!

To my surprise, it was actually a very easy project. Mokona's body is essentially egg-shaped, and his hands, feet, tail, jewel, and ears are all very simple shapes to make! I actually feel that the most difficult part was getting the face right, to be honest. Despite that, I feel very confident to start working on Black Mokona now! He's already in the works, and the base of his body is just about done! I'm considering posing him a bit differently from White Mokona just so he doesn't seem like an exact copy. Yuuko will have her little companion with her, soon!

Pullip Youtsuzu: Pullip Makeover - Ichihara Yuuko

Roughly a month ago, I got the idea in my head that I wanted to buy Pullip Youtsuzu for the sole purpose of transforming her into CLAMP's Ichihara Yuuko! I picked Youtsuzu because I thought the accessories and even parts of her outfit would really come in handy, plus, I thought that the way her eye makeup was painted was pretty close to Yuuko's eye shape! I just felt I had to do it no matter what, and so I got started on her right away, and just a couple of days ago, I had completed her! For comparison purposes, here are some pictures of her before I got to work on her!

As you can see, she is a very beautiful and elaborate doll! She's absolutely perfect to keep on display. I was actually almost hesitant to start this project when she had arrived, but I'm glad that I decided to go through with it!

There actually weren't too many changes I did on her to achieve Ichihara Yuuko's look, but it was still a time consuming process. What I had to do was change her wig and style it a bit, replace her eyechips, give her thicker and longer lashes to help make her eyes appear more narrow, remove her blush, and of course, re-do her lips! (The lips were actually the most challenging part, as I used acrylic paint on them. It required a lot of going back and forth painting on multiple layers and then sanding it down to create a smooth, clean, and even appearance, and it was so hard to do all this while trying not to ruin the shape I had created for them!) Also, you guys may not be able to tell in her current outfit, but she was also re-bodied with a large bust 27 cm Obitsu body! I felt it was necessary, considering that Yuuko is fairly busty, but still really slender. 

If you are familiar with Yuuko, then you can see how close this body is to her body type! The only thing it's missing are those long, willowy limbs that CLAMP characters are so well-known for!

I'm actually really happy with the outcome! I personally feel that she quite accurately portrays Yuuko's character! She's already become one of my most favorite customized dolls so far!

Pullip Raphia: Pullip Makeover

After all this time, I finally took the plunge and have started to customize my stock dolls! At first I had been worried about customizing my dolls, but after having done a full faceup and putting together a MIO kit, I've become much more confident and brave in my abilities to modify my dolls! The first girl I had attempted to makeover was my Pullip Raphia, whom I had named Evangeline. Evangeline was a Christmas gift, but I found that I could not really connect with her as I had with my other dolls, and I really felt terrible about that, so I thought maybe changing her look would help!

She underwent quite a dramatic change. The first thing I did was sand off her original lip color. (I used 1200 grit sandpaper to ensure it wouldn't leave scratches or damage her.)  I wasn't very fond of the orange and white colored lips she came with, as they seemed to really clash with her whole look, and I wanted to make her lips more natural. I also felt she needed more color on her cheeks and eyes, so I added more blush and a splash of yellow pastels to the inner corners of her eyes! Using a dark brown watercolor pencil, I also drew on a couple of droopy lashes on her eyes, and with a lighter brown pencil, I placed a beauty mark right below her left eye!

Once finished with her faceup, I replaced her eyechips with some new ones from kirakirameanssparkle (in the color Sidhe)! The new eyes really are so vibrant in color and gave Evangeline a more lively look!  

Next, I gave her a curly light blonde wig with pigtails that I had found on ebay!  Her stock wig really needed to go, as it was really frizzy and coarse. It was very poor quality and it didn't do much for her. I think her new wig is much more flattering and its softer and doesn't get tangled like her old one did. Plus, the style of it is just too cute! Lastly, I changed  her out of her stock dress and into a dress that I had bought on ebay!  I found it while looking for dresses for my Dal Heiwa, but since the dress was originally meant to fit a Blythe, it ended up being too baggy on her. Luckily, the dress fit like a glove on Evangeline and actually looks really good on her!

I'm actually really pleased with how she turned out, and I do love her so much more than I had before! I was really amazed with what a difference such small and easy changes have made in her look! I feel like I have bonded with her more through the whole process, and she is now one of my most favorite dolls in my collection, so I declare her makeover to be a huge success!

Pullip Reviews Update

For those who may be curious, I do plan on continuing doing doll reviews! I know I have not posted one in quite some time, and I'm so sorry about that! I've just been really busy with so many things lately, and haven't had the time to write them up, even though I have so many dolls to write about! I ask that you please just be patient with me. I promise that I will start posting reviews again and will try to do them more regularly! Thank you all so much for understanding!

- Desirae

Handmade Doll Props

Ever since I had become a part of the doll hobby, I've been wanting to craft some of my own little props for my dolls. Once New Years had rolled around, I made it one of my dolly New Years resolutions to take action and actually do it! For now, I'm sticking with making food items out of both paper and air dry clay, and shading my pieces with pastels and coloring them with  acrylic paint, but I do plan to start working with polymer clay and resin soon! I'm really excited to see how many different materials I can use and seeing what else I can create!

Here are some of the things I have made so far:

Cupcake

From left to right: pink macaron, maple bar doughnut, chocolate doughnut, fried egg, bear shaped doughnut, pepperoni pizza, and cheese burger

These three little cookies are some of my favorite pieces! Each of them is about a third of an inch!

Plate of spaghetti

Hot dog

Cinnamon roll

Ice cream with whipped cream and cherry on top! <3

Presenting Amethyst, My Very Own Make It Own Pullip!

I've completed my very first Make It Own Pullip doll a few months ago, and I can't believe I forgot to post about it here! I have named her Amethyst, and before I had started working on her, I had already decided that my first custom doll would be a cute pastel goth girl! I wanted her to have a sweet look, but with some edginess mixed in. She actually turned out just how I had envisioned her, so I'm really happy! She's my pride and joy!

Here's a shot of her right after I had finished working on her faceup. I actually have made her eye shadow a darker purple since then, and added more pink to the inner corners of her eyes, but the shape of the eyebrows and the color of the blush and her lips are the same. :3

I chose to do some really bold eyemakeup on her to emphasize her eyes, and made her cheeks and lips a soft pink to add some balance.

I painted her eyelids mint green to help tie in all of the colors together. ^_^

My most recent picture of Amethyst! You can see how much I've darkened her eye makeup in this picture!