So many things to review, so little time! (Sashali edition)

I'm thinking I may need to break down my reviews into multiple posts, because June and July have been a month of awesome deals, buys, and raffles!  First up, some lovely outfits from Mary Campa's Sashali designs!

Effie is a custom light skinned Josie mold with MG eyes and Zazou Doll wig.
Dahlia is a Julie AG doll, uncustomized
Blue haired doll is temporarily wearing a Zazou Doll wig and has old Felicity green eyes
Nevaeh and Natalia are Zazou Dolls

Effie immediately pounced on this lovely number, declaring it made for her.  I love this 2 piece outfit, and the face that most of Mary's designs are in 2 pieces, which means more versatility for play and display!

Dahlia and Natalia (I seem to like names that sound like these, huh?  Dahlia, Natalia, Delia June, etc) took turns wearing this outfit, as you will see in the group photo below.  It felt very summery and Julie-esque to me. It's an adorable little set that I can see having a lot of fun with this year.

I bought the dress you see in the photos below, and Mary was so sweet to make a little halter top with the left-over fabric!  She does this quite often, which means surprise goodies in your packages from her.

 Right now, the blue-haired beauty (lovely wig from Zazou Dolls) is a stand-in, and will be customized soon.  For now though, I figured she would work out well)

As you see, Sashali is a favorite among the Sci-Fi and Fairytale dolls.  They all share clothing as they see fit, and everyone looks great in her designs. (Nevaeh is wearing a jean skirt by Elite Doll World)

Nevaeh decided to finish off this photoshoot with American Girl Nanea's Palaka outfit... since she is my gorgeous pin-up girl (who still needs to get a few tattoos applied), she grabbed this outfit, and told me she was so happy I'd bought it for her collection.  Little does she know, it wasn't intended that way.

Up next, I have 2 new dolls to show off, as well as outfits from Dollicious Dolls, Elite Doll world, and some of the other things I've been working on lately.


Links:
Zazou Dolls
Elite Doll World
Sashali

A review of Zazou doll wigs

So, many of you know I love Zazou dolls.  I have bought 3 (have a 4th on the way) as well as buying beautiful, high quality wigs from her.  I have used Beautifully Custom ones before, the essentials line (I cannot justify the price of their deluxe line), as well as a few other brands of wigs, and I can say that Zazou are my favorite.  The wigs are thick and full without being so heavy that the dolls cannot stand on their own.  The hair is easy to brush through, and able to be curled to straightened, and heat-safe.

If you're interested in some of the wigs I'm reviewing, here's a link to their store: Zazou Custom Dolls

Let me show you some of the loveliness that I had the pleasure of photographing a week or two ago...

This beautiful wig is the Raven Merlot.  I love the black with burgundy highlights wig.  The curls were easy to work with, and Eleanora loves her modern colors!  (She is my doll with a love for all things steampunk.)

This is the Sweety wig in Caramel Honey.  I got this on a whim, as their doll was supposed to end up with a Maryellen wig.  However, I tried this on a few weeks ago to take a picture... and fell in love with how it looked on her! (I'm still deciding on a name for her.... having my collection split between 2 houses right now is rather frustrating).  I love this wig, for its simplicity.  I can still do a lot of things with it... but I do love the ease with which it lays, doesn't tangle, and looks like a different shade from every angle.

The Cosmic Storm wig is a combo of my favorite colors, and I had to add it to my collection.  I'm thinking at some point that I may make a mermaid or who knows with it.  A supernatural of some sort.  I had a lot of fun playing with the natural light, showing off the colors and length.  (Had to convince this beauty to let me take off her Caramel Honey wig, since she's claimed that one, so that I wasn't using only one doll for this review)

The lovely Purple Flame wig.  This was another I had to add to my collection.  At some point, I may get brave enough to send off a head and have some flames or phoenix feathers painted that will make this wig pop... but for now, until my entire collection is in one house, I can dream.  What mold do you think will make this wig pop?

After creating Nyomi (Madame Alexander doll with a Beautifully Custom Essentials line wig back in November 2017) and realizing that I loved making Asian dolls with different colored hair, I knew this wig was destined for a Jess mold doll.  This is an Ivy head, and I think this is another beautiful example of a wig that shows different colors from every angle it was snapped.  This is what real hair does, and I love that Zazou dolls has wigs that mimic real hair.  I'm looking forward to gluing this one down and styling it, to see what kind of colors it reveals.

I have 1 more wig that I need to take pictures of, but I'll do that when my next Zazou doll arrives. Hopefully the weather will be nicer, and I'll finally get a chance to take some pics outside, so that I can show natural lighting on all of these pretties.

Thanks for checking on my review, and don't forget to check out the shop for more wig styles, colors, or even full dolls! 

AG Truly Me #76!

So... whenever I visit the AG store... it's next to impossible for me to leave there without getting a doll... (which is why my last visit was Labor Day weekend 2017, lol)

This time was no different! But, I had my eye set on getting either a Logan or a Truly Me #76... the modified Sonali mold won out, once I did a comparison!  I think I went thru 8 or 9 dolls (which were all I could find of him) before I picked out the guy you see here!

The plastic had a dent in it from traveling around in my car for about a month before I brought him inside.

But as you can see, he looks great inside the box...

 As well as out of it!  I love him, he's really cute.

He's all ready for his close-up... and a name!  I'm thinking Isaac, Blake, Joel, or Silas!  What do you think?

I found that I love his hair, it makes him look less childish to me. And his eyes are pretty... though they may get swapped out at a later date. 

He will also be getting an outfit change.... but this is where he is located right now (I'm not sure my man is thrilled... but I figured if he could display his toys in the livingroom... so could I, lol) And since I don't have a craft room set up yet, the livingroom and kitchen have turned into the crafting area... my neat freak man is dealing, lol.  BTW... a Wine bottle is the PERFECT height when you need to work on a wig... (the wig pic below, from Houseful of Dolls and More. I will be reviewing a few wigs later this week or beginning of next week... and this is my first curly... I am not sure I am a fan, though the colors are divine)

The beautiful girl I couldn't resist getting...

I have seen this lovely lady time and again on some of the IG accounts, and every picture of her is stunning.  On a whim, I decided to look on E-bay and see if anyone had her... and to my surprise, someone did, NRFB, at a bit cheaper than a new doll in store, complete with shipping!  I knew I had to add her to my collection, since she was retired in 2016.  She is elegant, and I'm looking forward to getting to know her!

Love that brand-new-doll moment when you haven't unboxed yet... and you know that she's never been opened!!

She's adorable! One look at her, and I knew who she was going to be, even if I didn't know her name!  She would be my steampunk girl, always ready for adventure, and willing to let her weird flag fly, since Steampunk would be dear to her heart.  Everyone, please meet Eleanora Jade Bridges!

So... after I started working with Eleanora, I noticed that her AG wig was kinda thin and stringy. (I could be spoiled by all the secondary market wigs, ESPECIALLY Zazou Doll wigs) But... I figured I could live with it.

I dressed her in her steampunk regalia from Dollicious Clothes (that I had bought ahead before I knew I'd be getting her... knew that I would find the right doll for this outfit), added LittleBittyHearts nose stud, and snapped a few quick pics before I had to leave for home (my doll collection is, for the time being, at my adopted family's house until I decide on one location/get my craft/doll room set up where I am now)

The next week, I stopped over again to add some removable eyeliner from LittleBittyHearts, to punk her up a bit, take more pics, grab more things to bring back to where I am staying, and felt once again that her hair, on the doll that I had to have in my collection was really thin. I was so disappointed.

I really love her, connected to her instantly... and yet she's not perfect.  She has a wonky left eye (right in the pictures), and her hair is thin and stringy.

Solution?  I just bought a replacement wig from ZazouDolls that I feel will fit her, and I'm going to see if I can use a metal nail file tip or tweezers to adjust her eye so that it opens and closes properly. And if it doesn't.... well, you know what, maybe that will be part of her charm!  Maybe it will bring her into our century as well, since it has burgundy streaks... once I get it, you can be the judge!

Fashion photo shoot

So... I haven't done one of these in a long while (maybe never on the blog?)... and my background is... my closet door, lol, but I figured I'd try to do a photo shoot for you guys, and model an outfit from TheGlamDoll, a few from of SashaLi, and one from DreamDollDesignz.
Let's get started...

Dahlia, Acacia, and Natalia are our models today.  I will be updating their profiles soon for you, but Acacia is dance instructor who is best friends with fashion major Dahlia. I'm still learning Natalia's story, but she seemed both shy and ready to break out of her shell and model with the ladies.

They decided to try on dresses from SashaLi first.

The tye dye awesomeness that Dahlia is wearing makes to wish I had a dress in that style, looks bother comfortable AND chic... I would have a closet full of them. She's got that surfer girl/flower child vibe going on here, I feel.

Acacia's eye really pop in anything blue or cool tones, I've discovered.  She looks great in just about anything I put on her! I love this mold, and I'm so glad AG came out with it. She has become one of my top 5 dolls.

I have to say, I am not a fan of magenta... but this dress on Natalia made me rethink my color scheme for her.  It's like this dress was made for her... and she's certainly made it her own.  Do you ever do that, come up with certain colors that you think are the doll's colors to wear?

What lovely ladies!  I've bought from SashaLi before, and all of her stuff is very well made.  I love how the outfits feel to me, very flowing, comfortable elegance.  I like her style, the 70s flair, and I'm loving her addition of flower hair clips!  There will be 2 more pieces from her coming up, but I must say, she is a very detailed designer.

Dahlia, being the fashion student, and used to working as a model as well, decided to let her inner tigress out to play last night in this saucy little number.  She would definitely have turned heads if she'd had gone out clubbing after this shoot... and she is taking notes on all the professional seamstress-ing that went into this dress.

After her photos though, she got into helping style Natalia and Acacia, redoing their hair and helping to fix little things here and there.

Acacia modeled a cute outfit from DreamDollDesignz, which struck me as both summery and islands.  She looked adorable with her hair pulled into a bun.  The quality in this outfit as well was on par!

I wanted to show the difference between Natalia without flash (first picture) and with (second picture).  I have a reflector coming in the next week or so, and I have seen how this can make a difference... but I also want to get a good camera so that I can get better pictures (there will be a photo course taken as well once I get it, lol).  I love Natalia's eyes, they always draw me in.  I've never been a brown eyed girl (I am a sucker for blue and green... and yet my man has hazel that typically fall to brown), but hers are so beautiful!  I may have taken more pictures of her than the other two...

I love this look on both of them, they are so summer ready!

Dahlia told Natalia that she had to try the pose D had done earlier... I think Nat is a bit nervous, but she pulled it off! (Pants were from EliteDollWorld, bandeau top was a gift from SashaLi... and I love it!  It will be seeing a lot of play this summer!!)

And then, since there was there was 1 more SashiLi dress... D and A talked Nat into being the last model for it.

I think I cut a tiny bit off the bottom of the short halter dress with chain, but I think she looks sweet in it, and very much not like a child.

Dahlia declared this photo shoot a success... and proceeded to claim the tye-dye dress as hers.

Thank you to the designers who made these outfits, I look up to you, and hope that one day, when I get my craft room put together and start sewing again, that my work looks as good!