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).
Maritza - 25 Tone (new medium)
Evette - 20 Tone (old medium)
Makena - 35 Tone (new very dark)
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:
- Pleasant Company American Girl of Today Medium Skin (1995 AGOT #11)
- Normal/Original Medium Skin Tone from mid-2000s (rewigged JLY #28)
- Normal/Original Medium Skin Tone from later-2000s (rewigged JLY #26)
- Normal/Original Medium Skin Tone from 2016 (customized TM #62)
- Normal/Original Medium Skin Tone from 2018 (rewigged Nanea)
- New Medium Skin Tone (customized TM #82)
- Kaya (customized Kaya doll)
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.
- First two photos are always taken with flash. Third and fourth photos are always taken without flash.
- Despite appearances, every doll in these photos (except Nanea) has the good-quality eyes.