Glossed lips, yes or no?

It depends on the doll and stylistic choices for me. The faces I do myself for the most part are very cartoony, so glossed parts take away from the detailing highlights and such I put on the doll.
On a more realistic doll, glossed lips can have lovely depth to them.

 

I love gloss anywhere it makes sense actually, especially lips. I just think it adds a bit of a different texture and look to a doll that can make them look more interesting!

 

I prefer matte. Most of my dolls don't wear makeup, so I prefer a more naturalistic look.

EDIT: Oh yeah, forgot to say that I usually water down gloss for a more satin look when I do use it.

 

Haha, I guess it could look pretty drooly. :'D Personally, I prefer gloss because the contrast of textures is just nice to me, plus the gloss tends to make the colors more vibrant.

 

Lips are my very favorite part of the faceup to do!
I do a variety of gloss amounts based on the aesthetic I am going for with each doll, but in general I love to gloss my dolls' lips. I don't like to put one smooth layer of gloss though, I like to create lip texture with the gloss. I LOVE the way it catches the light. When it's really heavy, it looks like they kissed honey, and I adore it. Hehe.

 

@daftpatience
Thank you! Hehe, I'm glad it helped.

 

I am generally 100% in favor of gloss in my own faceups for the same reason people have mentioned above. It just adds such a nice texture and depth to the paint! That said, there are lots of faceups with matte lips that I find super appealing so really my answer is both, definitely both.

@Lady Ravenswood That picture is PURE EYE CANDY!

 

I prefer to just use one coat of gloss for the lips. So it gives the lips a different texture than the rest of the face (like real lips sometimes are, even when they have no gloss at all) but doesn't look like they're wearing makeup. So my gloss doesn't really show in pictures, but it's noticeable in person.

I go a little too crazy on the eyes, on the other hand... heh

 

Depends on the doll. All of mine get a "gloss" finish, though some are more of a matte gloss (if that makes any sense). I use that for the more natural look, and use a shinier gloss for the ones who would be wearing lipstick or gloss. A faceup doesn't feel finished to me if I haven't put something on the lips--they look too dry and almost powdered without it.

 

I tend towards natural face ups so I equate gloss with lipstick. If a male or female doll has lipstick on I use gloss, but if it's a natural face up I use satin on their lips.

 

I like using gloss on my face ups, and depending on the doll style, aesthetic and character, I might dilute the gloss or use matte medium instead, for a realistic healthy shine. I never thought of "drool," when I look at glossed doll lips before, usually drool drips unevenly and to the side/corner of the mouth...unless there's something wrong with the person. DX I always imagined over use of lip products, like lipstick or lip-gloss.

Keeping up with the topic, for my more realistic male sculpts I like using very watered-down gloss, for my female head sculpts I don't mind using undiluted, full-on-gloss. When I first started painting my own BJD many years ago, I used to like using copious amounts of undiluted gloss on any sculpt regardless of gender or character, just because I liked the extra-shiny look and didn't really thing beyond the "ooh, shiny' aspect of the look. Now I tend to like a more subtle sheen on my more realistic and mature looking males, and full on gloss on my female head sculpts due to the aesthetics of the sculpt and my own personal preferences for them. I've never personally worn any sort of make up in my life, and have no desire to do so ever, but I do enjoy looking at super glossy doll lips when done cleanly (I like shiny things, I'm weird). (:

 

Generally I prefer matte. My guys are more on the realistic side, and a soldier like Captain Rex from Star Wars wearing gloss would look a bit weird IMO.

My Pepper Potts might get some gloss, but I have to look that up first.

 

I prefer semi-glossed.

Matte looks too... dried-out and parched

Glossy looks too fake and made-up

So I use one light layer of gloss to make the lips look a tiny bit more moist than the rest of the face (I do the same around the very edge of the eye-opening and the inner corners of the eyes) and leave it at that instead of putting on multiple layers of gloss for a high-sheen-lipstick look.

Teddy

 

LOL 'baby drool'. xD Thank you for that mental image.

I never even thought of this; but when it makes sense (like in some of the examples above) I'd absolutely do it. I love things to be as ornate as possible, I'm extra I guess. But of my dolls, it'd probably only look right on one of them, haha.

 

GLOSS EVERYTHING!!! LOL! I love love love gloss!!!

 

It depends, I prefer matte when going for a natural look. Glossy for a more glamorous. But it depends on the face-up and how the doll will be styled