liebster blogger award tag!

I just got tagged by my friend Musume from My Dolly Adventures! Basically I have to answer a bunch of questions, come up with a bunch more questions, and tag people to answer them =3=

Questions for me:
1. Do you have stories for your dolls? If so, do you keep one or more?
Well... one of them is a character adapted from an avatar I've reincarnated in many, many MMO's so I'm currently trying to place her in a modern setting instead of trying to figure out a backstory compiled from Aion, Vindictus, TERA, and Blade & Soul lore. That just gives me a headache. I haven't finalized it yet, but I'm trying to put Porii and Lenny in the same setting.

2. If your dolls could read... which will be their faved books? 
For Lenny, probably a collection of Grimm's fairytales, maybe some Beatrix Potter. She's not really big on literature aside from whatever she has to read for school, so she'd probably stick to some childhood favorites.
For Porii... probably something like Machiavelli's The Prince. Or Art of War. Being in a business calls for some interesting tactics and possibly extreme measures. She also reads a lot of fashion magazines and self-help books for reference.

3. Do your dolls like a particular fashion style?
I styled Lenny after the mori girl fashion style from Japan - while she doesn't have super loose lacey long skirts and a lot of flowery pieces, she does have a lot of cute fashion that you could probably see in stores like MUJI, wonder rocket, and franchee lipee. I intend to craft her some nice mori clothes when I'm better at sewing ^_^
Porii is more of a chic fashion sort of girl, meaning a lot more fitted dresses and some street fashion. I've been shopping primarily from Nine9 Style for her and looking at THE WHITEPEPPER and Korean online stores like stylenanda for inspiration. I'm also looking into big jackets and cute lacey lingerie...

4. Have you ever went out with your dolls in public?
Yup. Took Porii on the plane with me for spring break, and heading back with her to school! The first time I made the mistake of not wrapping her up properly, and she ended up getting scuffs and scratches. This time I've put on a ton of bubble wrap where it counts.

5. What do you enjoy the most in this hobby?
Probably just the idea of owning dolls. This is going to sound really weird and narcissistic but for me, the main appeal of this hobby is having my taste in aesthetics realized in a physical form. The amount of customization and personalization that goes into creating each doll/character is practically limitless, and when you have control over what you want your doll to look like (faceup, fashion, hair), it's really wonderful.

6. Do you have any fear regarding your dolls?
I have had my fair share of nightmares where their faces melt off from acetone, or I wake up and find bite-like dents in the resin ;_; Basically any kind of irreparable damage that would cause me extreme distress.

7. Which is your fave artist or company?
Little Monica, Peakswoods, and SWITCH

8. Use 5 words to describe each of your dolls :3
Lenny: caramel, cotton, deer, sunflowers, autumn
Porii: starlight, lace, pumpkins, metropolis, rain

9. Where are you more active (DoA, blogs, Tumblrs, Flickr) and why?
Most active on Tumblr, but that's just because I'm based primarily on Tumblr and happen to own dolls. I check DoA daily for new clothes on the marketplace.

10. Do you dislike a type of doll? (regarding joints, aesthethics, and not owned dolls).
I'm not really big on Lati Yellows and DDdys, the first because I just don't like the head proportions in comparison to the body, and I'm really uncomfortable with the scale of the chest size for DDdy. Large busted dolls don't really bother me when they're sculpted to look relatively natural (e.g. Fairyland F65 girls), but the ones that are sculpted to mimic EXTREME push-up bras or ones that have boobs that look like they were bolted on (*coughs*Loongsoul)...

11. If you are given 500$ and can spend it only in dolls... what will you use it for?
For my next doll, probably. I'm shelling Darjeeling into a SWITCH HD57 Shiho and I'm definitely going to need the cash ;_;

And my questions for you!
1. What was your very first BJD and what attracted you to them?
2. Are there any particular activities you enjoy doing with your dolls?
3. Do you prefer commissioning someone to customize your doll, or doing everything yourself?
4. What inspires you in this hobby?
5. If your dolls were 'alive,' how do you think they think of you?
6. Your favorite sculpt?
7. What's the worst experience you've had in this hobby?
8. What do you see yourself doing with your doll collection in the future (i.e. any plans? goals?)
9. If you had to pick one doll to go on vacation with you, which one would it be?
10. Have you been to any doll conventions? If yes, how was your experience?
11. What do you love most about your dolls?

I'm not sure who to tag! How about I just leave this open for anyone to answer instead...? ƪ(‾ε‾“)ʃ

❤ mura

march wishlist

Now that I've got another doll in the family it's time to build that closet! I know she's still very new and all but it upsets me a little when I compare Polaire's closet to Lenny's... I'm sure she dreams of having a massive outfit collection to choose from too =3=

So far I'm thinking key pieces will be big fluffy jackets, fit-and-flare dresses/circle skirt, ankle socks, and maybe skinny pants? As for any cute lingerie in the closet, I'll probably have to make it myself because of her unique body type. Not really unique, per se, but I don't have any comparable bodies for LM Harmony small bust :(

Here's the stuff on the list so far:

Fur jacket from Angell-Studio

Summer dress from Angell-Studio

Bouclee knit & leather pants set from Nine9Style

Collar neck dress in navy from Nine9style

Diamond print dress + bolero set in pink from Nine9style

Dot print shirt in pink from Nine9style

I think it's pretty obvious that I can't afford ALL of those, so that means I'll have to pick and choose :( Any suggestions? Tell me your favorite pieces in the comments!

❤ mura

doll profile: meet polaire!

name: Polaire (Porii/Polabear)

age: 23

gender: female
birthday: February 28

hair color: mint green

eye color: brown

skin tone: peach

occupation: department store floor manager (and somewhat of a lingerie enthusiast??)

character info:

Even though her birthday is in the month of February, Polaire is far from being a romantic. She's worked many odd jobs before arriving at her current occupation, and she's not about to stop there - she's got millionaire dreams to fulfill. She often stops by Café Amaretto during her lunch breaks and browses the net for cute lingerie and recipes. Polaire is generally outwardly respectful and tolerant of most people, but she'll definitely give you a hard time if she thinks you deserve it.

likes: designer lingerie and dresses, ferrets, anything with pumpkin in it, piña coladas, $$$

dislikes: summer, obnoxious customers, sloppy style, slapstick comedy

technical info

doll company: Little Monica

doll sculpt: Sophia (small bust)

wig: Leekeworld

faceup: Darjeeling Aesthetics (me!)

❤ mura

welcome home!

I finished my physics lab a little early today and ran off to my college's parcel center to find that my package from Little Monica had been delivered!! Look at this huge box. It's even bigger than Lenny's! Also here's a couple shots of her blank face and an informal skin comparison with Asleep Eidolon normal skintone - LM's dolls are a lot peachier and lighter (in weight) than I expected!

(why are her hands so much bigger??)

She came with a couple sweets, a teddy bear(??), picture cards, and a certificate of authenticity. Needless to say I got to work on her faceup as soon as possible. I took progess shots, too!

 

And here's how she looks semi-finished. I need to run to the store and buy myself some white glue so I can attach the eyelashes I bought. But she's almost done!! I'll be updating with a full profile and photoshoot as soon as I finish her faceup ^_^ 

❤ mura

junk update

Hey guys! Winter quarter is finally drawing to a close, and I've got some news for you guys! My doll from Little Monica is finally shipping out and she should be here soon! Unfortunately I have no idea what's going on right now. That package has been stuck in Guam for nearly 2 days already, and if tracking doesn't update by later today, I'm probably going to have to email EMS to figure out why things are the way they are.

On another note, I've been taking some time to refine my digital painting skills and this is probably the BIGGEST project I've ever attempted! Here's what I have done so far -

 
I have this terrible habit of creating characters on MMOs, getting really attached to them, converting them into OCs, and then shelling them into dolls. You might recognize the first one as Polaire (aka my incoming girl!), but that second one... just refer to this ridiculous mockup I did on a whim ^-^;;

❤ mura