meet tamako!

Through an unexpected turn of events I've managed to secure a body for one of my floating heads, so I'm rolling out the doll plans a little bit earlier than I expected. A huge thanks to my friend sabotendoll for doing this ridiculous FM60 Celine split with me, because now I can finally bring my dream girl Tamako to life!

She's currently borrowing clothes and wearing a temporary wig/eyes but I'm excited to have her completed soon. It just seems that with every new character I make it gets harder to find the clothes I want for them. Essie was already difficult to tackle, but Tamako has to have practically everything custom-made. I'd better learn how to handle a sewing machine!

Here's just a few of the items I'd be trying to make in miniature size:

They're really cute but there's no way I'd be able to get them without the help of a seamstress custom-making them for me, sadly. At the very least she'll be getting her wig and skates pretty soon so I hope to have her basic look ready for an update within the next month or so.

❤ Kai

new arrival!

I'm officially at doll #5 here! I'd planned to slow down my doll plans for this year but this was an opportunity too good to pass up. My best doll friend helped me find a Celine on the DoA marketplace for only $575 including default faceup, sleeping head, heel feet, and black resin heels. Shipping was an unbelievable $15! There was absolutely no way I could've found this deal by buying direct from the company or even a dealer. Here's what she looked like before I gave her a makeover:

I never intended to keep the Fairyland default faceup, but after seeing it in person I knew for sure it had to go. The airbrushed pink blush clashed so strongly with her orangey-red lips! Her new look is far fiercer with ombre lips and strong eyebrows. I also decided to double-layer her lashes for a fuller look.

And here she is from today! I gave her a couple small finger tattoos: a heart and ribbon on the right hand, and the word "love" and a honeycomb on the left in addition to rings and a triangle on both. Someday when I finally have matte varnish and the tools to restring her I'll be giving her a large bee and some floral tats on her body, too.

I also did a quick comparison shot with Polaire, the other girl I brought with me for this quarter. Essie is a lot shorter even with her heels on! I think she's even shorter than DJ with flat feet...

I'm so excited to finally be able to share Estelle with all of you! Now to wait for her clothes and real wigs to come in... :)

❤ Kai

belated bee news

I can't believe I'm posting twice in the same month! This is pretty novel for me. To be honest, this "news" is actually older than my recent post about Yagi, but I figured since I'm already on this blog finally being active again, I may as well post it.

I received his head about 2 weeks ago from my wonderful friend in Michigan, who managed to nab one for sale from one of the people in her local community. Here's what his first faceup looks like:

It's only his first so it's likely not staying. The eyelashes definitely feel much too long/dense for my taste, and the only reason why they look like that is because my sealant's been getting very gritty on me recently. What ends up happening is me going over my lines over and over again to make them look even, instead of doing light wispy eyelash strokes like I am usually able to. He definitely has the "look" down though! I'll probably do another faceup in the same vein once I'm able to get him a body (I'm aiming for an AprilStory Senior boy body as of now).

Here's another picture comparing him with Polaire, my Little Monica Sophia. Do you like her better with him? Or with Celine? ;) Let me know in the comments!

Disclaimer: that Celine doesn't belong to me, my friend just let me try the faceup I wanted to do on her doll before doing what she actually commissioned me for. Fear not, I have my own Celine coming sometime in September!

❤ Kai

yagi is home!

What do I mean "home"? I guess I didn't mention it on this blog but I actually sent Yagi off to my wonderful friend Kayke for a little bit of tattoo work! Since she's based off a white ermine moth we thought it would be apt for her to have a moth tattoo. She now has one under her (rather sizeable) bust and I am so enamored with it I've been staring at it and taking pictures of Yagi all day.

I suppose I should probably put a "mature content" warning somewhere on this blog but it's dolls... whether it's box openings or photoshoots there's probably bound to be some nudity somewhere, right?

I also added a tiny bit of extra body blush in addition to the boob blushing Kayke did for me, I just felt like the torso was a little stark in contrast with the tattoo. And now I face the really troubling problem of wanting to keep her naked (or at least topless) to show off that lovely work. :')

P.S. I bought a F60 Celine in tan on layaway so you will probably see some news on Estelle soon!

❤ Kai

bee news

I posted awhile back about some "far-off" doll plans that I wasn't going to attempt for awhile, but it looks like they're not going to be that far-off anymore! This is one of my recent drawings and he probably doesn't look too familiar because I've never posted a completed illustration of this guy before.

His name is Julien Feng aka "bee king" - I'd originally planned for him to be a LM Luke but after re-evaluating my plans I might have him be a Luts SDF Winter '14 head instead. As much as I love Luke's face, I really couldn't get over how close together his eyes were in the end. Luckily for me, my friend has managed to find a secondhand Luts head for me at a pretty decent price :) Here he is next to an F60 Celine I painted:

I can't wait to see him in person so I can try some faceups on him! He's going to be getting a wig (in black) and probably a hanfu like the one pictured in my next Taobao order. The only question remaining is should I get him a Luts SDF65 body or go with the Switch HD65? Suggestions and resin matches welcome!

❤ Kai

Moving on...

That's one doll out of the way... so what's next? I currently have 3 more dolls planned, but 2 of them are on the backburner until I can solidify their faceup and wardrobe concepts (plus, they're boy dolls. I'm not good with boy dolls.) I'm going to be continuing with my original plan prior to impulse buying that SQLab Navi - chasing after a good sculpt for Estelle!

Illustration by me procrastinating on studying over the weekend

By the looks of the illustration, I'm probably going to be canceling all plans for a Luts Nina in Real Brown Skin and going for an F60 Celine in tan. I think I want a little more variety in the faces in my collection, even if I'm not completely sold on Fairyland as a company.

Oh! And my wonderful friend who sent me her tan Celine a little while back let me try Essie's faceup on her doll just to help me out with my decision. It's what the illustration's based on, in addition to the purple wig I managed to snag off another friend.

The only real changes I'll be making is switching out the gold snake bites for silver ones and keeping the ears unpierced. Otherwise... color palette, brow shape, etc. is essentially set! I won't be able to afford this girl for awhile since I'm going to be ordering her with extra heel feet and hands (I hate the default hands Moe F60's come with because they barely have any nails to paint on!), all in tan directly from Fairyland :( Wish me luck!

❤ Kai

Mystery moth at 80%

Ta-daaaah! She is done :) Well, not quite. My friend is sending me some stencils to paint her eyebrows on, the little sequins I've glued there for now are only placeholders for her white star eyebrows I'll hopefully be doing later on this week! Her eyes are also photoshopped since I don't have her Oscar Eyes yet - they'll be here sometime in June, and I'm really looking forward to seeing her 100% complete. This is actually the second faceup I've done on her! Her previous one had a different lip style and white eyeliner instead of black. I've just made some very small improvements including some gold accents on the lips and refined white lace designs around her eyes.

And here's her second manicure! The first one was a lot less complicated - I only had mint nails with golden crescents at the nail base, and the star sequin on each of the pointer fingers. This one's a lot more blinged out :) I also duplicated this manicure on another set of hands since she came with 2 extra pairs when I bought her.

For a secondhand doll I think she looks really lovely! I've put in a lot of time and effort perfecting her look and fixing her up even though I'm already her third owner.

❤ Kai

small spring update

I'm a little bit late with this (I'm actually flying back to school today) but I think it would be unfair of me to leave without posting a proper update on my dolls over break! Before coming back I gave Haerang a mini-makeover by just enhancing the faceup I finished in November. She has darker eyelashes and eyelid crease, added blushing, and a couple stars on her face now. I think she looks tons cuter!

Naturally my first order of business coming back was to give the other two girls some faceup refreshers, it wouldn't be fair of me to give only DJ something new. So I decided to redo Lenny's face with something new! She looks a little bit more on the cartoony side, but I'm really happy that the added black finally adds definition to her relatively flat eyes. I also redid the shading on her lips so that they'd photograph better - the previous faceup made her lips look completely orange with no definition at all.

And finally, here's the girl I'm taking back with me to school! I originally wanted to do an enhanced faceup like DJ's, but the way I painted the eyelid crease made it look a little too strong, so I decided to wipe it and redo the entire faceup. I've made a few changes - longer, darker eyebrows and lighter lips, but overall I'm pretty happy with her new look. You'll be seeing her a lot more often from now on!

And what would a break be without a closing shot of all three of them together? ;)

❤ Kai

BJD Interview with Polaire!

Finally getting around to doing this! I wanted to wait until I came home for spring break so I could refaceup/take proper pictures of my girls for this interview :) I was tagged by my wonderful friend Musume! I don't really have anyone in mind to tag, so anyone who reads this blog, feel free to write out an interview for any of your dolls.

+ 2015 doll plans +

Happy 2015 everyone~ I know I'm 10 days late but it's better late than never, right? I suppose you could say I'm pretty happy with my small collection of three for now (that and I'm kinda broke after basically buying two dolls and all their clothes in the same year...) but I do have plans to add to my collection in future. Maybe not within 2015, but I'm probably going to start saving for stuff starting now :')

But first, a height comparison chart! "DJ" (Darjeeling) and Polaire are both dolls in my current collection, and while the stock images on the comparison site look nothing like them they've got the exact same body/measurements for reference. As for everyone else, I'll be introducing them shortly!

"Bee king" (who currently does not have an actual name) started out as a joke during one of my draw streams but I'm starting to really like him? I just drew a guy with really long hair and a hanfu for fun, but the more I look at 古装 for dolls on Taobao the more I want to make this guy a reality. I'm going to have a hard time trying to fit him in with the rest of my collection, but why can't we just have him be someone who spends too much time on the internet researching and cosplaying ancient fantasy China clothes? If I were to choose a sculpt I'd probably go with Little Monica's newly released Grand Harmony Luke. He's on the taller side of things but I might be able to put up with it if it makes him look good in hanfu.

"Bee prince" is based off a drawing I completed some time in October. I did, in fact, continue this as a running bee joke from my experience with "bee king"... except I actually managed to create a definite image for him. His name is Aster Cerana, as in Apis cerana, the Eastern honey bee. Literally a bee. I imagine him to be a snobby little brat, but the same time, I can't see myself having an MSD-sized doll in my collection at all. DIM's Jullis is exactly what I had in mind when I drew that picture, but alas... I'm not sure if 42cm is going to cut it for me. If I DO decide to modernize and size him up, I'll probably go for a LUTS SDF65 Carmine and see if I can do a My Choice to put him on the regular SDF body or Delf body.

And last but not least I've got plans for another girl! I'm so terrible at planning boys because I never intended to have boys in my collection at all, but if it's for the bees I'll do it... Estelle Cerana probably has the highest chance of being bought right now, but the price tag is a pretty hefty one. I'm aiming for a F60 Moe tan Celine from Fairyland and everything including shipping is approximately $670 :') I want a girl who loves pastels, spikes, and skintight clothing and looks nothing like the rest of the bee royal family. I've started an inspiration tag for her, but I have no idea where on earth I'll be able to find actual doll-scale clothes in the style I want, let alone any that fit a 53cm FM60...

...And that's a wrap! There's no way I'll be getting all 3 this year, or even one this year, but I do love plans and I DO love bees. Who do you think I should set as my goal first? Let me know in the comments :)

happy holidays from cafe amaretto!

2014 is drawing to a close and while I've been swamped with commissions and finals (hence me not posting much here), I'm finally able to take a break! I am, in fact, home for the holidays this year - which means all my girls get to be in the same picture for once! This will be Lenny's third and Porii & DJ's first Christmas :)

 

Click the readmore to see additional photos! :)

darjeeling's arrival!

Hello hello everyone! I'm actually kinda sick right now but boy do I have some GREAT news! I mentioned a box opening in my last post and I'm happy to say that yes, I have indeed managed to open a box today. Look who it is!

A sea green box...

CoA & the infamous SWITCH manual! (also heel feet I won't be using)

The bubble wrap mummy...

And the doll herself!

I've also taken a few shots with her brand new Oscar Eyes in. Managed to snag a pair from the San Diego BJD Con I went to over the weekend and I'm so happy with how perfect they are! It's probably not too obvious in the pictures but they have tiny stars in them too :)

I think she's probably going to be my last doll for a very, very long time unless I decide to switch out one of the dolls in my current collection. I'm going to get started on her faceup as soon as I finish making this post so... see you guys when she's all done!

❤ mura

new company finds

I've been browsing around a lot lately and I've found a couple lesser-known dollmakers that deserve more attention, so I've decided to blog about them! First up is a company I've seen partner with OscarDoll a few times. They only have one size of doll so far, but every sculpt and outfit they make is super adorable! Here are some photos from El's Cat:

I don't know if it's possible to order as an international customer since everything is in Korean, but if I ever decide to make space in my doll family for a non-SD girl I would definitely be up for buying an Aoki.

Another company I've recently come across is DollBom, another Korean doll company.  I don't think their English site has been up for too long which is why they're not that well-known, but they're definitely worth checking out! They carry both 60cm and 26cm girls and boys and I absolutely love the face sculpts! The only real drawback I'm seeing is the single-jointed bodies, but if you're not big on posablility, that can be easily overlooked as the bodies are beautifully sculpted as well.

Hope this little discovery post opened your eyes to some new companies out there =3=

❤ mura

lenny's makeover!

After maybe about 3 months of deliberation I decided to wipe Lenny's old faceup and give her a new one with freckles! I still feel a little bad about it because I commissioned Eludys to do her faceup twice since I messed it up the first time and I wasn't confident in my faceup skills at the time, but it's already been a year and I feel like my skills are adequate enough to justify the money that I've... wasted... by wiping off Eludys's hard work... OTL

Without further ado, here's the new Lenny, now complete with freckled cheeks! I've taken to calling her wonderkid/dork extraordinaire so who knows where I'm going to end up going with that. I'm planning on buying some of those round bottlecap/Harry Potter frames for her too.

Both my girls now have faceups by me. When I get home in a few weeks and reunite them, I'll be taking pictures of them together for more promotional images for my faceup shop! I'm excited. I'm also excited to finally afford that SWITCH Shiho I've been eyeing. I really can't wait to do the faceup on that one =3=

❤ 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