1. It has come to the attention of forum staff that Dollshe Craft has ceased communications with dealers and customers, has failed to provide promised refunds for the excessive waits, and now has wait times surpassing 5 years in some cases. Forum staff are also concerned as there are claims being put forth that Dollshe plans to close down their doll making company. Due to the instability of the company, the lack of communication, the lack of promised refunds, and the wait times now surpassing 5 years, we strongly urge members to research the current state of this company very carefully and thoroughly before deciding to place an order. For more information please see the Dollshe waiting room. Do not assume this cannot happen to you or that your order will be different.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Dollshe Craft and all dolls created by Dollshe, including any dolls created under his new or future companies, including Club Coco BJD are now banned from Den of Angels. Dollshe and the sculptor may not advertise his products on this forum. Sales may not be discussed, no news threads may be posted regarding new releases. This ban does not impact any dolls by Dollshe ordered by November 8, 2023. Any dolls ordered after November 8, 2023, regardless of the date the sculpt was released, are banned from this forum as are any dolls released under his new or future companies including but not limited to Club Coco BJD. This ban does not apply to other company dolls cast by Dollshe as part of a casting agreement between him and the actual sculpt or company and those dolls may still be discussed on the forum. Please come to Ask the Moderators if you have any questions.
    Dismiss Notice

First doll w/ or w/o a face-up?

Feb 11, 2011

    1. I've never bought a doll with a default face-up. Not even my first. Oh she wasn't very pretty the first time I tried to give her a face-up, but wow was she different than the default! No way would she have wound up as the same character if I had ordered that sweet default face-up. Her spunky personality just jumped right out, even with my sloppy face-up skills at the time.

      There just aren't a lot of default faceups that grab me. They're usually pretty generic to me. Though I do like Fairyland default make-up and how shimmery it is. :)
       
    2. I bought my first doll (and most of my dolls) without the faceup. It feels so much more like my doll when I've done the face myself and it's different from all the defaults out there. That said, doing faceups is time consuming and takes tons of practice...and lately I just haven't had a lot of time. My more recent dolls are all being ordered with company faceups until I can get caught up on the projects I already have underway!
       
    3. I bought my doll without a faceup and if I buy more I think I will do the same since I dont like most of the default faceups. And I agreed with Alewife, one of the most exciting things of BJD is that you can customize them to fit you tastes and make them like you want.
       
    4. I ordered my first with a faceup! I'd also recommend buying a pair of clothes too, so right out of the box, you have a full doll, personality and all, ready to be posed and ''played with''. If you have a blank doll, it would seem kind of discouraging for a first timer, after seeing all these beautiful dolls online (not saying blank is bad, just different). Also, blank dolls aren't as much fun to show off I'd imagine ;.;
       
    5. I am defiantly going to get my first doll with a face-up. The thought of doing it my self terrifies me. D: Maybe someday after that I will get up the courage to try it myself. I hope that if I do it will come out pretty good!
       
    6. Doing my dolls' faceups is a very important bonding process for me. I know that doing it yourself isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I really enjoy it. I've only gotten one doll with a faceup and that was because she was a full set. Otherwise I wouldn't have gotten her that way.

      It's just very special to me to take all that time on a doll. Do their face, do their nails. It gives me a lot of time to think about the doll and it's character and personality. Most people have music or a movie on while working but I don't. It's actually a very quiet moment for just me and the doll. It feel a lot more attached if I can do the face myself.
       
    7. My first came with the company faceup, but I was surprised (and pleased!) to find that his body was completely blushed, too. I am not artistic, so I thought, "Lucky!", and have kept him that way ever since. But I had to build the character around the doll, instead of the other way around.

      For my second, I have a character in mind first, and no company's face is going to match that, so I'll try it myself. Some people may be ready to try it right away; for me, it took a while! No two people go at the same pace.
       
    8. I was going to buy my first doll without the faceup and do that myself, but the only option for the doll was with a faceup (Junkyspot) I bought it anyways! I was so glad that I had done so! I am confident that my other doll who will be blank will have a better faceup because I could study the factory faceup!
       
    9. Well, he came with "free makeup", so I went ahead and got the factory faceup. (It would have cost the same for me to get him blank as it did for me to get him with his factory faceup...)
       
    10. I have 2 dolls now, both I came with a faceup.

      I'm an artist, but it's not that I'm too lazy to do the faceup, it's because I don't have the proper tools to do it.
      Also, my first was Luts KDF Caju, and I REALLY liked the default faceup he comes with, so I got it.
      Second was Doll-Love YoYo, which was a gift from my parents for my bday.
       
    11. I only just got my first doll with a company faceup last week - my tenth doll. So needless to say, I got my first doll without a faceup. To be honest, doing the faceup was one of the big draw cards to this hobby for me, so of course I wanted to do it for my first doll. Also I'm an artist, so I wasn't scared of it turning out badly. xP
       
    12. I would say, get a face up, you have to be really good in painting to make the face as nice as
      the proff's can.
      The eyelashes is really hard to make perfect, I tryed many times.
       
    13. Normally I'm a do it yourselve person, and way into my own art, but for my first doll, never having handeld one further than holding and taking a few pics, I decided it would be safer to get him with faceup. It rubbed off in very little time, so he has one of my own now, and ebery other doll I got after wards, I have done the faceup myself, but for starters, at least for me, it was woth it.
       
    14. I ordered mine without a faceup and regretted it. I had planned to do it myself but when she arrived I was far to scared and ended up sending her away for a custom faceup.

      I think it would have been nicer if she'd had a faceup straight away though, being my first :)
       
    15. I think I'll be ordering my first doll with face-up. Most of my customization is going to involve handmade clothing, and I'm not so great at painting. I think I'll have to learn from someone I know before I attempt to do face-up by myself. I think knowing how it's supposed to look and starting by fixing up a doll's face-up is a good way for me to learn, rather than jumping right in from scratch.

      My second doll? Who knows - I might go a little nuts and order it without and see what happens once I've practiced.
       
    16. The first doll I received had a face up and ever since I've gotten dolls without face ups whenever possible and wiped them when not. The first, Aisling, still has her factory face up because I am so used to it I can't think of anything better, but I decided that even if my skills were horrible, at least they were unique when I did them. That doesn't mean that factory face ups are bad, but everyone who orders one gets the exact same face, which just lacks something to me. It's all personal taste.
       
    17. My first doll came without a faceup, and I didn't pay for faceups for the ones that followed. (One came with, but I wiped it shortly after to do my own.) For most of the dolls I want to shell into characters, I'll be getting them sans faceup, because usually they need something different done with their faces (or mods done), but for the ones that I want because I like the sculpt and have no set character in mind for? I'll likely get them with the company faceup if I think it's nice!
      My grail doll will be coming with a factory faceup and I will (hopefully) regret nothing!

      Personally I think it's up to the individual. Some won't be very comfortable jumping right in with doing their own faceups, and some like the company faceups. Some will want to send them off to another faceup artist. If they feel like they can try faceupping their first doll, go for it. If not, nothing shameful in getting a factory face or sending the head off to get painted.
       
    18. Igot mine with a faceup... I intend to change it but I want to make sure I wont screw up
       
    19. I got my first doll with a faceup for several reasons. The first being that the dealer I ordered her from only had dolls with faceups in stock and I didnt want to wait. The second being that I wanted to see what a faceup looks like in person before I attempted it myself. I did end up wiping off the factory face up the day after I got her. The faceup she came with was very plain. I did my own face up and body blushing and I am very happy with the results.
       
    20. My first doll came with a factory face-up. I preferred this because I didn't want her to arrive at home looking "soulless." If that happened, I may have become discouraged and she could have gotten stuffed away in her box for months while I found the courage to paint her myself. That would have been sad.

      In the future, I think I'll order dolls with face-ups again. I may try my hand at a face-up one day, but so far, I've seen lots of company paint jobs that I'd be very satisfied with.

      Also, there are so many amazing artists available to commission, I bet I'd go with one of their services before I settled on my own work.

      That's just me. I may change my opinion as I get more comfortable with BJDs. :D