Ever get off-setted by a doll's face up?

I tend to have the opposite problem, where a faceup makes a doll look so attractive, then I discover that the 'default' faceup is rarely the faceup you get. I'd say I've had about a 50/50 shot at getting what I thought I would. Fairyland's default Roke looked just as pictured, same style, shapes, colors, etc. My Dollmore model was only slightly different because I'd actually asked them to change the colors of the makeup, which they did perfectly, just as I'd wanted. ^^ But I paid for default faceups from Soom, Dragondoll, and IpleHouse and had them come out drastically different, and so have some of my wife's dolls from other companies. So then after the fact I'm definitely off-put because of faceups. My Soom and Dragondoll dolls are still beautiful, but I seriously hated my IpleHouse boy at first. I had him wiped and repainted and now he's much more attractive to me, but I'm never getting another IH 'default' faceup again!

 

Not really. For one, I usually don't keep the default face-up anyway, so if I have that option, I'm buying my dolls blank. And during the course of the years, I've become pretty good at seeing through the paint to see the mold behind it. Even when I can't, there are still owner pictures I can see to get an idea of the doll.

I would be great if all companies showed pictures of a blank headsculpt though.

 

Company face ups only bother me when they are too heavily edited and/or the company doesn't have pictures of a blank head. I'm not like most people in this thread, in the sense that I'm unable to really identify a doll's features when they have their face-ups on, and I admit that bothers me... Because, most likely, I will have that face-up changed. So when they have a doll without pictures of the blank head, and only with one face-up (which will often be a "heavier" one), that really bothers me.
So I will have to spend a big amount of time comparing owner pictures with the doll companies' face-up (and many times there are no owner pictures, or very few), and searching for blank head pictures before buying a doll. However, if I feel I truly like the doll, I will buy it even if I can't find owner pictures or blank head pictures.

 

I've had it happen to me before. I really disliked every Volks doll that I saw because of the company face-ups. I wasn't even looking for owner pictures for them. I stumbled across one accidentally and I liked the look of her so much that I went looking for more owner pictures. Now the Four Sisters sculpt is on my list for first human doll.

I have gotten better at seeing through the face up just because I have looked at a ton of pictures looking for a doll I loved. But I would prefer to see a sculpt both blank and with a face up. That way it helps me see the potential for the dolls and helps me identify the features that I really love in dolls.

 

This happens to me all the time. For my first doll, I got the company faceup, but now I prefer to create my own. The company pictures with faceups always distract from the mold itself. Though, I do love to see how different the face can look with different style faceups.

 

Some company face-ups are absolutely horrendous. I agree with the person who said Resinsoul company face-ups are awful, because they really are. As the proud owner of 10 Resinsoul dolls, however, it goes without saying that horrible company face-ups don't put me off sculpts that I like. The company face-up can always be removed, or you can order it without a face-up. I've done a few of my dolls' face-ups myself and I've sent some out to artists who are far more talented than me. Beautiful things can be done with many sculpts, including those from RS, despite the nasty company paint jobs.

I like to look at owner photos of sculpts that I'm interested in. Owner photos give a better idea of the range of looks that can be achieved. I also like to see owner photos of blank heads.


Here is my beautiful boy Tyler (Resinsoul Mai) - face-up by Lynessa.
Here's Mai from the Resinsoul website

I can see how the 'company look' might put people off. The company photo is just plain bad and so is the default face-up. For me, though, I try to see the potential in every face, in spite of how the company artists have painted it.

 

I recently bought a Soul Doll janne is a custom company face up. I never bothered to look up the doll on the souldoll site. When I finally did, I couldn't believe it was the same doll, I NEVER would have been attracted to the doll from the soul doll photos - and I'm still not!

my Janne (previous owner's photo) - she's still on her way here, so I can't take my own photos yet
Jane on the soul doll site

 

I'm really good at just not seeing the faceup so I can evaluate the sculpt for what it is, so no, they don't bother me unless they're so bad they hurt your eyes and then it's a "ugh, my poor eyes reaction" I have.

I have specific ideas of what I want for my dolls, so default faceups don't affect me as they're never what I am looking for.

 

Yeah, I have this problem. That's why I typically go look at a TON of owners' pictures with different face ups/clothes/eyes/wigs/etc. so I get a better idea of how the sculpt looks with different styles. Default face ups can be awesome, and sometimes they just make you go "really?"

I wasn't sure about my Cherry Elf because of her default faceup, even in human form too. But I actually just gave her a new face up and she still looks pretty nice! She was nice with her default too, just looked really brown-toned in the picture compared to in person. I'm liking the pinks and purples I gave her better now though. That's why I'm happy BJDs are so versatile.

 

I agree totally about AoD's faceups. They can be really garish!! And Bobobie's company pics of Weylin are so awful, I can't imagine anyone buying him based on those photos. But he is so charming. I would never have bought a Weylin if I hadn't seen one in person first.

And even though I have plenty of default Volks BJDs, there are some Volks default faceups that I absolutely can't bear... but I have seen those same sculpts repainted and they are stunning. I will say that I think Volks are amazingly consistent in their faceups from doll to doll, and they always look just like the website photos.

Gali, be sure to look under "parts" or "option parts" at the company websites, if you haven't looked there before. Many of them have heads and hands available separately, and have blank and closeup pictures on the parts pages.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

I find it SO hard to see the opportunities of a face; with or without a faceup. I need to see examples that I like before I even consider buying a specific head.

It would be perfect if product pages contained (or linked to) owner pictures.

For instance, Elfdoll Yuan looks childish and shallow in her product page, but I saw some other pictures of her that were amazing, so I placed an order for her.

I'm also influenced by the overall styling, including the way a picture is lit.

 

I'd say very much! Usually I would try to find the default face without make up, that would help me in deciding who to get

 

This happens to me occasionally. There have been several dolls where I didn't particularly care for the look of them until I found a picture without the makeup. The makeup on the companies websites are really well done but don't tend to be quite to my taste so then I try to find photos from different angles and preferably of a completely blank head so I can really see what the sculpt looks like

 

As I'm over-obsessed by Iplehouse BJDs, I don't really look at other companies, but when I do, usually the default make-up do not attract me :/

But Iplehouse, I don't know, it's just that I totally love their work, and the realism you can find in their products. However, some molds and some make-up do not attract me at Iplehouse too, so I guess it also depends on what we are looking for

 

I have had this happen to me before. I wish all of the companies have at least one photo of their heads with no face up. A crazy faceup can really throw me off!

 

Yeah. I wasn't a fan of MNF Mirwen until I stumbled across custom faceups. Her default one does her no justice at all - she looks rather moody with it. The same with Shushu - her default faceup is quite plain and I'm not sure I could justify getting it because it's not something I'd choose for her.

Which is sad, because it has put me off getting these sculpts until I am in a better position to order a custom faceup, and Mirwen is pretty much my dream sculpt now. Because right now I can't afford to buy the doll and then ship it out to someone to do a faceup, given where I live and the seeming lack of faceup artists in the country.

 

Yap, that happened to me. I totally set off my Dollmore Zaoll default face up.
But you know waht? I got her head because the sculpt is fab!

 

Company face-ups have definitely put me off from considering a doll. So I end up stalking the doll for a while trying to decide but always end up passing. Conversely the face-up's have helped to sell the doll to me and conceptualize the potential.

So far I haven't bought from a company that doesn't show the blank the sculpt - which is what I use to base my decision. I know first hand that a company face-up can totally look different when the doll arrives. And if I love the sculpt, I can always have it wiped which I've had to do with one of my dolls already.

 

Oh gosh i know how you feel!!! There was a doll i saw for sell i didnt like because her faceup was wrong and the position of the eyes where wrong too i didnt even realize the sculpt because of the custom faceup made her look horrible. Im anxious to see how her new look turns out! its surprising to see how much a faceup can change the personality of a doll.

 

I usually don't get put off by faceups, but there are some dolls that wouldn't have attracted my attention if not for owner's custom faceups etc. While I can see the general features of the sculpt with faceup, I like searching for custom faceup/owner photos, and sometimes blank photos if I can't find owner photos. Blank isn't always the best for me because some sculpts look much much better blank than face-uped. Something about the potential of what can be that doesn't always get fulfilled when doing a faceup.