First, she's wearing the TM #61 wig:
Playing with Evette and all these red wigs have been a lot of fun. I was de-wigging a doll for someone today, and it turned out to be a TM #61 (which has a long red wig) -- making a perfect opportunity to compare that wig with the long red wig from Girl of the Year Blaire Wilson. I thought that #61 was slightly longer, but it's actually not. In fact, these wigs look to be the exact same. Allowing for having been made for different dolls, they really look the same! In these two photos (taken with camera flash, which is why the color is a bit funky), Blaire's wig is on the left and #61's wig is on the right. And to show how similar they are on a doll, here is Evette modelling both of them. First, she's wearing the TM #61 wig: And now some photos of Evette wearing the Blaire wig: I know that my Blaire wig has never been brushed (just released from the original hair style), and I'm pretty sure that this #61 wig has never been brushed either! I would recommend either wig.
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It seems that a lot of people are wondering what the World By Us girls would look like without the lower painted on eye makeup and lashes. While we haven't decided to remove it from our dolls yet, I did remove it digitally from the pictures below to give a feel for the effect. If you do want to remove some/all of the eye makeup, micromesh should work well. I've taken eye makeup like this off a number of Nanea dolls with micromesh, always with great results. First up is Makena without the bottom painted lashes: Next is Maritza with the bottom painted lashes digitally removed: And last-but-not-least, here's Evette without her lower lashes: Bonus image: Here's a request showing Evette wearing a Girl of the Year Lea wig and lower lashes removed.
As it seems that everyone's favorite has been the red-haired wigs on Evette, I thought I'd try a few more on her. She just really lends herself to the red hair! CYO Red Short and Curly Wig CYO Red Natural/Tight Short Curly Wig CYO Red Medium Straight with Bangs Wig
Next up in the continuing fun with the new World By Us doll trio are some photos showing Evette modelling a variety of wigs. She's the classic/normal medium vinyl skin tone (#20 in CYO generator), so she can really wear a variety of hair colors -- especially since this medium tone seems to have changed a bit in the last couple of years (more on that later). We've been dealing with a broken lawn mower, so it's taken a lot more time to get these photos done than I thought. However, Evette is finally getting a chance to show off her cuteness (and a lot more photos were also added to Maritza's wig slideshow)! This is one amazing doll! I totally did not expect to be so crazy about her -- complete with original wig. In fact, the cutie above is staying here just as she is. We decided to keep a second Evette for customizing, and she did a great job modelling for all the wig photos below. This doll looks amazing in everything! A few photos and thoughts on Evette's original wig before moving on to other options -- This is a very nice wig. Unlike the AG wigs from TM #44 or #26, or Gabriela or the CYO "medium tight/natural curly" option, this is a soft wig. It does not feel coated or hard in any way. While it photographs to look curly, it's really more like a perm. They're not ringlets at all. I haven't done anything to the original wig yet, so I'm not sure on the level of care needed. The color is the golden dark blonde two-tone of GOTY Lea's hair (with Evette having just a few more highlights). AG listed this as Caramel, which matches the wig of TM #81. Yes, that dark blonde/caramel color is the base, but this has the more highlighted two-tone look of Lea. Here are some photos in this slideshow that (hopefully) show the highlights and style of this wig. There are comparisons of Evette's wig to Lea's wig -- taken with and without flash, since it's hard to capture the amazingly beautiful color. (If the doll is wearing a grey/black striped sleeveless shirt, it's an Evette doll. If it's wearing Lea's dress, then it's a custom #82 with Lea's eyes and wig.) Something that I noticed about Evette while trying wigs on was the difference in her skin tone. She's sold and listed by AG as having the #20-tone classic/normal medium tone that has been used on dolls like Josefina, TM #26, Lea, Luciana, etc. What has surprised me since opening these three World By Us dolls, though, is that it's very hard to photograph her appearing with that tone. Well, when I tried on the red wigs, I realized that something was different. She looked very good in the red wigs, which is unusual for most AG dolls (it can be hard to get the tones matched well for the dark red wigs). That prompted me to pull out another #20-tone medium doll to compare. Photos here show Evette with my Bethany (a 2016 TM #62 head on a Lea body). In order for the camera to pick up the tonal difference, I have them both wearing dark red CYO wigs. Note how much redder and darker in tone Bethany (right) is from Evette. And these two dolls are sold as the same skin tone. I pulled out the Nanea doll that we purchased in May 2021 to compare, and it does seem as if the #20-tone medium skin vinyl has changed in tone this year. It's definitely lighter than previous dolls and with less red in it. This means that these dolls actually wear the lighter wig colors very well -- but in the same way, they look much paler in the dark wigs than I'm used to when modelling on a medium-tone doll. Okay, now it's on to the fun stuff -- wig photos! (If you've never changed wigs on a doll, now is a great time to start. It's addictive, and you'll never look at a doll the same way again.) I've got a LOT of photos showing Evette modelling various wigs, now uploaded into a slideshow album on the Customizing with Wigs page here (scroll about 3/4 of the way down the page, she's the 17th slideshow). But here are a few samples of the different wigs included on the wig page . . . TM #27 Wig Knock-off Nellie Wig CYO Dark Red "Medium Tight/Natural Curly" Wig Girl of the Year Grace Wig AG Ruthie Wig TM #82 Wig I hope these photos are helpful, and be sure to check out the Wig Photos page to more. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to send them via the contact form or leave a comment on this entry.
Stay tuned for more fun with the World By Us dolls! Photos coming showing some fun customizing options using the three World By Us wigs. Next up in the continuing fun with the new World By Us doll trio are some photos showing Maritza modelling a variety of wigs. She's the new medium vinyl skin tone (#25 in CYO generator), so she can really wear a variety of hair colors. We're in the middle of dealing with a broken lawn mower, so I haven't gotten to model as many wigs on her as we'd like to -- but there will be a lot more wig photos coming! A few photos and thoughts on Maritza's original wig before moving on to other options -- This is a very nice wig. In a lot of photos, it can appear a little plain, but in real life it's quite beautiful. While it's a bit long for my tastes, it's not so heavy that the doll falls over -- while still being nice and full for styling. The highlights are a copper/mahogany color with two tones of hair in them. They are so well mixed into the wig that you really see them in any angle or style. Here are some photos in this slideshow that (hopefully) show the highlights and style of this wig. The color of her wig is a very dark brown, though it's a bit of a different tone than other AG wigs. Here's a photo that shows her between two cute boy dolls . . . the one on the left is #76 wearing a #75 wig (which is two-tone black), and the boy on the right is #76 with his original dark brown wig. One of the big questions about Maritza has been whether or not she can wear Joss' hearing aid. Answer: Absolutely, yes she can! While her original wig is seated very near her ear (which can make it hard or impossible to put the hearing aid in), here she is modelling a Joss wig and the hearing aid. Having looked at her next to our two Joss dolls (purchased at AGP on Joss' release day), there is really no change at all to the face mold used on Maritza. Her ears are the same, her eye sockets measure the same exact size, her mouth paint is even the same (just a slightly darker color). Okay, now it's on to the fun stuff -- wig photos! (If you've never changed wigs on a doll, now is a great time to start. It's addictive, and you'll never look at a doll the same way again.) I've got a lot of photos showing Maritza modelling various wigs, now uploaded into a slideshow album on the Customizing with Wigs page here (scroll half-way down the page, she's the 14th slideshow). Lots more photos coming in the next few days as Sis and I have time to add them. But here are a few samples of the different wigs included on the wig page . . . Luciana Wig Ruthie Wig JLY #30 Wig CYO "Dark Brown Medium Straight with Bangs" Wig AG Girl of the Year McKenna Wig I hope these photos are helpful, and be sure to check out the Wig Photos page to more. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to send them via the contact form or leave a comment on this entry.
Stay tuned for more fun with the World By Us dolls! Next up in the continuing fun with the new World By Us doll trio are a lot of photos showing Makena modelling a variety of wigs. Being a new face mold, she seemed like a good choice for the first one to model! She's the darkest vinyl skin tone (available on an American Girl doll), so she really needs dark brown or black hair. If you're into changing wigs on your dolls, here are a few notes about this new head mold before showing off some of the wigs. This new mold is definitely a modification of the basic Nanea mold (photos below show comparisons of the heads without wigs on), particularly from the top half of the nose up, which seems to be about the same. The Nanea doll modelling below was purchased in May of this year, so this is the current version. As far as the faces go, the major differences between Nanea and Makena is in the nose and cheek area. Nanea has very flat cheeks compared to Makena's rounded ones. Their chins are also a bit different from the side (where Makena has a small indentation in her chin sculpt versus Nanea's straight/flat one). The top of the ear is pretty similar, though the bottom half of Makena's ear is longer and thinner. From a wig-changing perspective, Makena has a great mold! While the size of her face is on the small side like Nanea (which means a very full wig or long bangs can overpower the face), the crown of her head is rounded out more and a bit larger. This makes putting wigs on Makena much easier, because Nanea's head (like Marie-Grace and Sonali) is very small and tends to float in many wigs -- making it hard to use larger wigs or any that have been removed from the larger molds like Josefina, Jess and Addy. Makena's head fit into every wig I tried, whether it was brand-new-never-glued or removed from a doll. On the same note, I was able to put Makena's removed wig onto an Addy-mold without the least trouble -- which is something you cannot do easily with a wig removed from a Nanea mold. Okay, now it's on to the fun stuff -- wig photos! (If you've never changed wigs on a doll, now is a great time to start. It's addictive, and you'll never look at a doll the same way again.) More than forty photos of Makena modelling wigs are now uploaded into a slideshow album on the Customizing with Wigs page here (scroll to the very bottom, as she's the last one). But here are a few samples of the different wigs included on the wig page . . . Luciana Wig Melody Wig JLY #30 Wig CYO "Dark Brown Medium Straight with Bangs" Wig Ruthie Wig TM #82 Wig CYO "Black Medium Wavy with Bangs" Wig I hope these photos are helpful, and be sure to check out the Wig Photos page to see a lot more. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to send them via the contact form or leave a comment on this entry.
Stay tuned for more fun with the World By Us dolls! Finally, here's the last installment of the skin-tone comparisons! This follows the previous Dark Vinyl Tone Comparison and the Light Vinyl Tone Comparison blog entries. Until three years ago, AG offered five skin tones -- light, medium, dark and two unique "dark" tones only available on Kaya and Beforever Addy dolls. Then, three more tones were released in Summer 2018. There is now a very light (available on a variety of dolls, including Blaire, #81, #83 and #88), a new medium (TM #79 and #82) and the new dark of (TM #80, #85 and #91). World By Us Dolls: Maritza - 25 Tone (new medium) Evette - 20 Tone (old medium) Makena - 35 Tone (new very dark) Six of the tones (not including Kaya and Beforever Addy) are available as options in the AG CYO Create Your Own doll generator, and sorting out which is which can be very tricky. Here's a chart to show which option is which. When deciding on a doll it can be hard to pick between all the options, so let's compare the medium skin tones available on AG dolls. Being vinyl, the tone has changed over the years due to factory and manufacturing differences -- not to mention aging differently and changing hues in the process. This can vary from doll to doll and conditions the doll has endured. The image below shows a line of dolls representing all the different medium tones (either intentionally different or tones which have now aged to their own hue). I've also included a Kaya doll for comparison in the line. While Kaya is considered a dark tone, it's really in between the medium and dark tones -- so, this illustrates where that falls. First image was taken with a flash: And this second image was taken without a flash: Left to Right (name of doll shown in parentheses):
It's interesting to see how different some of the tones have aged, making a difference in production date a big deal if you're looking at customizing. The rewigged #28 and #26 dolls above are both on bodies with the #2008 body tags and were only purchased a year or two apart. However, the #26 has lost a lot of her red tones and now has a very "Care au Lait" complexion. The amount of fading certainly depends on each doll, so when you're customizing be sure to pay attention to the age of the doll you're using and your preference in tone. Different tones will look more stunning with different shades of eye color and hair color. The new medium is #25-tone in the CYO generator. While this implies that it's darker than the classic medium (#20-tone), it's actually visually lighter. After comparing it to so many different dolls, it is definitely a unique tone and not like any of the others we've had. Personally, I don't care for it. It gives a real "tanning bed" feel when seen with other dolls and is a bit too "in between" the classic light and medium tones. If you're looking for a "sun tanned" look, then this is good. I'm including comparison photos at the bottom of this entry showing the #82 with a Ruthie doll and a new 10-tone light skin CYO doll. You can see that this new medium looks rather like the 10-tone with a sun tan. I used a Luciana wig on the #82 doll for these photos, because the dark hair helps the camera capture the skin tone. I'll be working on adding pictures of her in the "Customizing with Wigs" section to show her with various hair colors. Her skin tone is very reddish, which makes for an odd like (in my opinion) when combined with the olive under-tones of AG's brown-haired wigs. Different hair tones definitely affect this vinyl tone. To help compare certain dolls, here are some photos showing the new medium tone of TM #82 with other dolls close-up. For the purpose of illustrating how very difficult it is to judge the tone of a doll from photos, I'm including each photo twice -- taken once with a flash and once without. Notice what a huge difference it has in some cases!
AGOT #11 and TM #82 (customized)Click on images to enlarge. Comparing these images on my monitor to the dolls, the red tones in the vinyl are truer in the photos taken with flash (top two). However, the differences seen in the photos without flash are more of what your eye sees in the natural light. JLY #28 (rewigged) and TM #82 (customized)Click on images to enlarge. Comparing these photos on my monitor to the real dolls, it's hard to pick the best. The medium tones definitely vary from room to room, depending on the type of lighting, etc. Color tones are probably truest with the flash. JLY #26 (rewigged) and TM #82 (customized)Click on images to enlarge. This was a tough one. The photos with flash are truer to the color tones, and practically perfect for #82 -- however, the "Cafe au Lait" tone of the #26 doesn't show as washed out as it appears to the eye. But the tonal difference between the two dolls shows pretty well. TM #62 (customized) and TM #82 (customized)Click on images to enlarge. Comparing the photos to the real dolls, the tone in the full-body shot is truer without flash, though the close-up on the arms is better with flash. I'm including the following face shot which is very true, just showing the #82 slightly darker than she appears in real life. Nanea (rewigged) and TM #82 (customized)Click on images to enlarge. This was definitely a hard one to get the color tones to show up on. (It probably didn't help that Nanea is wearing such an orange outfit, since that makes her appear rosier than normal.) The color is very true in the photo showing the dolls' arms taken with a flash. Kaya (rewigged) and TM #82 (customized)Click on images to enlarge. While the red under tones are truer in the flash photos here, the general feeling and look seems better in the photos without flash. Ruthie and TM #82 (customized)Click on images to enlarge. This compares the new medium tone to the older Mattel classic light skin tone. I would say that the photos taken without flash are generally truer in this case. As a bonus, here's a close-up that really shows both dolls quite well. It's interesting to note that the new medium tone seems to cause the #10-tone light skin to appear a bit greenish. Obviously a visual thing, because this is a very rosy doll. CYO (10-tone Light Skin) and TM #82 (customized)Click on images to enlarge. And these images show the new medium tone with a normal light (10-tone) skin CYO doll. The color differences really show up better on this pair in the photos without flash. And here's a face shot that is very true to their looks in real life. I hope this helps when choosing your doll, whether you're customizing an older doll or picking out a CYO doll. Feel free to post any questions as a comment here.
Since so many of you have appreciated the blog post from last year which compared the dark vinyl tones of AG dolls, I've had a lot of requests for the same type of entry for the light and medium tones. So . . . here is a comparison of some light vinyl tones. Medium tones can now be seen here. Until three years ago, AG offered five skin tones -- light, medium, dark and two unique "dark" tones only available on Kaya and Beforever Addy dolls. Then, three more tones were released in Summer 2018. There is now a very light (available on a variety of dolls, including Blaire, #81, #83 and #88), a new medium (TM #79 and #82) and the new dark of (TM #80, #85 and #91). Six of the tones (not including Kaya and Beforever Addy) are available as options in the AG CYO doll generator, and sorting out which is which can be very tricky. Here's a chart to show which option is which. When deciding on a doll it can be hard to pick between all the options, so I hope the photos here will help out. I decided not to feature a lot of older dolls, because (being vinyl) the tone has changed over the years due to factory and manufacturing differences -- not to mention aging differently and changing hues in the process. There are a lot of choices out there when it comes to the #10 light skin tone, and the light dolls aged at slightly different tones. This comparison will feature dolls dating from 2014 and forward. There are two acknowledged light skin vinyl tones, but first -- a quick note on that. The first doll to be released as having the "05" light tone was TM #74, one of the boy dolls. He's still listed that way, but his tone definitely does not match the "05" girl dolls available in the Truly Me or character lines -- or the "05" dolls produced in the Create Your Own (aka CYO) line. That said, some of the photos below will compare all three options. The image above shows a line of dolls representing different light tones as follows: Left to right (name of doll shown in parentheses):
In our experience (having handled hundreds of AG dolls), the light skin tone dating before 2014 has aged in a variety of ways, though usually with a loss of the red tones. You can see a bit of that already happening with the customized 2014 Julie doll in the line-up above. While she has a very nice, creamy tone -- compared to the newer dolls, you can already see some of the red disappearing. This is something to keep in mind when you're customizing, because the different tones lend themselves (or not) to certain hair colors. There's also been quite a change in quality/type of vinyl used on these dolls, and that may well have quite a bit to do with the variety in tone. [Random Note: It doesn't appear that the shade of the eyelids change when you purchase either of these light skin tones. Each one that we've compared appears the same. We thought there may have been a slight difference in the eyelids of GOTY Blaire, but the 05-tone CYO dolls have the same lids as the 10-tone CYOs.] To help compare the tones, here are some photos showing closer shots. It's very difficult to get the variances of tone to show correctly in photos, but on my screen these came out pretty close. I did have to use a flash, which makes the dolls' eyes look a bit strange sometimes!
Customized TM #74, CYO (10 tone) and CYO (05 tone)Customized Joss, Customized TM #74 and CYO (05 tone)Customized TM #74 and CYO (05 tone)While both of these dolls are classified as the 05 one by AG, they're definitely different. We have three TM #74 dolls, and we've had five different CYO/TM/Character dolls with the 05 tone -- and all the #74s have their own unique tone when compared to any of the other 05-tone dolls. The #74 has a rosier, "peachier" tone that's not quite so pale. It's also interesting to note that the #74 dolls have a bit of color in their cheeks. Not one of the 05-tone dolls (being Blaire, #81 and CYOs) that we've had over the past couple of years have had enough cheek paint to even mention. They also have a very different lip paint color than any other AG dolls. You can see the tonal different here in their arms. The 05-tone of the CYO doll lacks the rosy undertones of the TM #74. And a few notes here about photographing these tones that may help you in your decision -- When the 05-tone was first released, it seemed like a great thing to me, and I couldn't wait to have a doll with it. Being partial to red haired dolls, this seemed great, because some of the older AG dolls (who have lost the red tones due to age) can look pretty green when you put a red wig on them. N.B. Case in point, I tried to customize a Rebecca (dating from about 2010) with a red CYO wig, and that doll just looked green no matter what we did. So, there I was "needing" a good option for a red-head doll, and the release of GOTY Blaire seemed like the perfect answer. We then added TM #81 to the crew, etc. Over the years there have been several 05-tone dolls here, and it's interesting that this subject has come up so much in messages to me over the past couple of months -- because I decided earlier this year that I just didn't care for the 05-tone, aside from the rosier hue of TM #74. My reason being that the extreme paleness and lack of a rosy hue (not to mention the lack of cheek paint) makes them quite tricky to photograph with other dolls. If you light it so that the 05-tone doll looks beautiful, then the 10-tone dolls look odd. And it works the same the other way. Doing the photos for last year's Wool Week made it very obvious to me that I don't care for the mix. In the photo below, you can see customized TM #81 and Blaire (05-tones) on each side of a Maryellen (10-tone), and the 05-tones end up with a bit of a washed out look, while the Maryellen starts to have a greenish tint about her (only in photos, she's got a gorgeous complexion in real life). And in the following photos, you can see a similar problem. In real life, the difference is not so remarkable, because we're used to seeing differences in colors and shading. But it makes photographing very difficult, and neither doll ends up looking her best. That said, if you're photographing two 05-tone dolls together, without adding other tones in, they can look great -- as evidenced by the following couple of photos: But then again, the lack of any rosy color (as well as cheek paint) can really make these girls hard to get in a good light -- as can be seen by this photo, which really shows the lack of rosy hues. And if you're really wanting the dark red wigs, it's possible to get a good match with the 10-tone vinyl -- just stick away from the much older dolls who have faded. Here are a couple samples of 10-tone dolls wearing CYO dark red wigs . . . Well, I hope that this helps you decide what tone is the perfect choice for the doll you're planning -- whether it's a customizing project or a CYO order. If anyone has questions, don't hesitate to send a message through the contact form or leave a comment on this entry. Thanks!
Trudy here. It's time to welcome two new residents to the Islandshire community. You'll be seeing a lot of them at coming events, because these sisters love to have fun! So, without keeping you waiting, I'd like to introduce Bethany (left) and Olivia (right). The girls are best friends of Jill and Silver -- who seem to have impressed their pals with all the wonders of Islandshire. Bethany and Olivia like art in a BIG way, so you'll probably be seeing them carrying paint brushes and pencils around while sketching things they happen to notice. But don't stop there! They like a lot of other things, too . . . yes, yes, I know . . . Silver wants me to be sure to mention that they also love Baby Yoda . . . oh, I mean "Grogu". You can probably tell from her choice of fashion that Olivia is crazy about all things galaxy and starry skies, not to mention those holographic fashion accessories. Bethany likes to knit, and you'll probably see her running around in a really cute wool hat one of these days that she just might have made herself! Oh, and they're also crazy about cats and dogs. Click photo thumbnails to enlarge. And some real-life photos of the amazing sisters! Sarah's Note: For anyone interested in the customizing aspect of these dolls, here are some of the fun facts!
Bethany is a TM #62 head with dark brown eyes and TM #82's wig. Olivia is a Nanea doll wearing a Monique "Doris" wig in black. Since Jill and Silver are based on Elizabeth and me, we wanted to have our friends as part of the Islandshire group. The real life Bethany and Olivia are truly amazing artists, and you can check out a small portion of their work on their site here: https://www.oliviamoyart.com/little-sisters-home-page Well, I decided to take the AG Rewards certificate this month to pick out another Nanea doll. I'd like it to appear in blog stories as some various "friend" dolls, so it'll wear a couple different wigs depending on who I need it to be in the photo story. But a big bonus here is the idea that I'll have a "spare" one . . . just in case the unthinkable should ever happen to my favorite doll!! It didn't take long to pick out one that looked about as similar as you can get when choosing a doll three years later, etc. Here are pictures of them both in the same exact outfit. I've been working at uploading a bunch more photos on the 'Customizing with Wigs' photo gallery page, so decided to use the new Nanea today for some photos. Here she is trying several different styles. This is the CYO black "medium curly with bangs" that is in the photos above: A Ruthie wig: Anniversary Addy wig: CYO dark brown "medium wavy" wig: CYO dark brown "medium straight with bangs" wig: JLY #30 wig: TM #66 wig: Unknown 12/13" wig that is usually on Mom's Nautilus (custom #77):
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