what are your favorite type/company of Eyes?

I love Zoukeimura eyes, they're incredibly easy to set, even for someone like me. >>;; I only wish they actually came in 14 mm.

I adore Hitomiya and Silver. Most of my dolls that don't have zouks currently have Hitomiya or Silver eyes.

I have one pair of Enchanted Doll Eyes and 2 pairs of Gum Drops. I love that Gum Drops have smaller pupils, come in a large array of colors and allowed me to easily get two identical pairs in 14 mms. My Enchanted have a clarity that reminds me of glass which I love, though Gum Drops have some colors I just prefer. On the negative, I managed to scratch off some of finish on my gum drops while trying to remove some eye putty. ~.~

I've also tried Gina's eyes (pretty colors and reflect light nicely, but the pupils are a little on the large side IMHO) and HG glass (nice but just sort of average, and the color selection is not always what I would like) I'm not so fond of acrylics, they never seem to photograph well for me ^^;

 

I own a random pair of glass, a simple cheap pair of acrylic, a less-expensive/fancy pair of glass, volks metallic acrylic, and a soom silicone. I am not 100% pleased with my soom eye...maybe because it's so big, I don't know. I have seen dollmore acrylics, and I definately do not like them. I, like many others, prefer glass eyes. I looove enchanted eyes (my friend has owned 2 pairs of them). The volks metallics are pretty standard acrylic quality.

 

I like the glass eyes that Luts sells the best. The colors are so rich, they look very warm and beautiful.

My favorite colors are Brown, Cobalt and Green. I really want to try the Black and Dark Violet too.

 

I absolutely HATE acrylic eyes, I can't stand them without a mean... I can't know why, but I simply can't.
I always try giving glass eyes to my dolls since those are the ones I like. Specially Enchanted Doll's ones.

 

Hurray! This thread is great! I have printed off the responses for my reference book so I can check out all of the types of eyes mentioned.

I bought some antique glass eyes that are beautiful, but have tiny scratches on the surface. I am going to take them to a glass shop and see if they can be polished.
Thank you for the info!
Elljaye, I am in Albq. also...you are the first BJD owner that I know of here, other than myself. Greetings!

 

My favourite brand is definitely Masterpiece. Their colours are so vivid and they are easy to position, because they are so flexible. Only problem is the long waiting period (when purchased directly from Masterpiece). :/ I try to buy my MP eyes from the Ebay stores (Safrindolls, for example) but usually they don't have the colours I want... (I need those Copenhagen eyes!)

SOOM comes as a good second. They are not as realistic and vivid as MP, but good quality nevertheless. They have all kinds of interesting colours as well. (For some reason my Purple Nebula eyes look good on every single doll I have!)

 

I love souldoll eyes, they're so pretty and turn up great in pics... but I have to say I love VeryBerry glass eyes the most. So vibrant, and they turn up so well in photos

 

I tend to prefer acrylics do to the range of colors and the detail in the iris. My favorites are Masterpiece and SoulDoll, though the Soom softglass eyes are nice too. I like to have a range of eyes on hand that I can try in a new doll--sometimes it takes a bit to find the right pair. I don't think one type is really better than the other, it all comes down to personal preference and what looks good in an individual doll.

 

I've got glass and acrylic, I've got ugly acrylics and lovely acrylics
(ugly being that some of the defaults I've gotten haven't been great)
and most of my glass ones are nice enough...I'm not totally picky
on material overall--if I like the look and can afford the price I'll get them.

Of what I currently own, I like my eyes from Souldoll and Orderhouse,
and the Special Eyes (that ginarolo distributes right here on DOA) best.

 

I actually like my Dollmore acrylics. I've got nothing but compliments on my girl Eleret's eyes and everyone looks so surprised when I tell them what kind they are. I do like the Soom eyes my Eira came with even if they are totally the wrong color. I actually just jumped on a group order for some in the right color. I haven't had any real problems with dust sticking and I live in a basement. In a forest. If ever there was a situation created to be dusty its my bedroom

 

I prefer glass because they are easy to clean, and they capture light so nicely. Silicone eyes come in a wide range of colors, but I stay away from them because they attract dust, and they sometimes give my dolls a "fish eye" effect that isn't very attractive.

 

I love love love urethanes. They are comparable to high quality glass (such as Zouks), without the price!

Enchanted Doll and Ethereal Angels are both beautiful, but I prefer DropRops. They are about half the price. You don't have to wait an insane amount of time to get them either. I'm sure expensive glass eyes are nice, and if I ever want anyone to have a really natural color, I might go that route. But for now, everyone in my crew wears Urethanes and most of those are DropRops.

 

My impressions on other eyes:

Glass:
If you are looking for nice glass eyes I highly recommend Kanis Augen, you can buy them from Deputy Dolls. They are amazing quality and much prettier than regular HG glass eyes or other solid eyes you can get from most doll companies. Kanis Augen are definitely worth the price. Ginarolo also sells nice glass eyes from my understanding but I've never seen them in person so I can't vouch for them myself.

Soft:
I've seen Masterpiece, Soom and Eyeco in person and I'm really partial to Eyeco eyes. The colors are really vibrant in person and they photograph wonderfully. I will complain as other have about the way dust particles stick to the eyes. They are somewhat difficult to maintain but totally worth it.

Acrylic:
I've used lots of these and once again I love Eyeco's acrylics, they have a lot of depth and they have a more life-like appearance than SoulDoll in my opinion, plus they are less expensive. Artistique can be okay but they don't cost much so don't expect something amazing. Dollmore are really pretty for a while but they have a weird tendancy to become cloudy.

I can't agree more with this. They are unique eyes but the quality just doesn't match the price. The pair I have reacted badly with white eye putty and the white of the eye got all squishy and soft and won't come apart from the eyeputty, I was not pleased. The $4 Artistique eyes I've have didn't even do that! I feel very ripped off.

 

i like the masterpiece acrylic eyes- they are easy to place, and they are reasonably priced at under $10.

 

I have to say I am enormously fond of Volks metallics. They're acrylics, but I'm very pleased with them. I find the stems to be very useful for positioning, too. My Bernard wears them in gold. My Megi wears baby blue. And at this point I have no intentions of changing them.

I do have a doll that will need a really special pair of clear gray eyes, and I am tentatively thinking I will go urethane for them.

 

I think eyes are some of the most important things for your doll, because they really bring the life in your doll. Sumiya wasn't really Sumiya until I swapped out his acrylic red eyes for his albino eyecandies, he had those and suddenly, there was my doll, exactly how I imagined him. I haven't taken them out ever since and his eyes are so vibrant..I still love staring at them.

So yeah, glass or urethane for me. Vasy's currently wearing KanisAugen, which are very nice, but I want some gumdrops or enchanted doll eyes for him too, and Dilly is wearing Customhouse glass eyes, which are very beautiful and also a bit more pricey(and $60), they catch the light very well. I want some Dollflower eyes for him though when they open for international orders in autumn..I saw some Zouks IRL, and they're truly stunning! So much depth..some acrylic eyes can be nice, but in general I'd say..it's better to shell out the money for one pair that is very nice and you'll love forever, than for 10 so so pair of eyes! Also, the more expensive ones/rarer ones are easier to resell.

 

What about Dollflower eyes? I saw them in my friends doll and... I want ;-;
They are just luminous !

 

I think it depends on your tastes. I have yet to venture into the really expensive ones, but I've sampled a few different companies. Here are my few faves so far and why:

Soom: The way they reflect light is really unique and I love it, but it's a matter of taste. Some people don't like it, because it does photograph funny sometimes. Also, they have a pretty good-sized paperweight-bubble on them, so they don't work as well on dolls with partially-closed eyes.

Souldoll: Many of the Souldoll eyes have very bright or saturated colors (which I love), but the big bonus for me is the larger pupil a lot of the Souldoll eyes have. It makes dolls look sweeter and more real, in my opinion. Their flattened shape (not full or half-round, more of a squashed round) makes them easy to align, but they really only align forward... so it's very hard to get the doll to look left or right.

Eyeco Acrylics: Very beautiful and realistic eyes for a bargain price. Definitely one of my top eye picks.

Konlin: These are actually my fave eyes... but they do have a bit of cloudiness to them, so the pupil is a bit gray. They're Iris's rainbow defaults, and they were much less expensive than many of the other rainbow options, and well worth the price.

I am ordering some Dollmore eyes very soon, too, so we'll see how they work out. ^_^ I've never heard of Dollflower... I'll have to check them out!

Oh, one last note. For sellers, I highly recommend SafrinDoll on Ebay. http://stores.ebay.com/Safrin-Doll That's where I've bought many of my Souldoll and Eyeco eyes. ^_^

 

Glass all the way. They're durable, don't take a long time to arrive (in most cases), and are almost always easily affordable. My favorite is Volks Zoukeimura eyes because of the natural looking threading, but I also love Volks HG glass and use it in a majority of my dolls. Luts glass are nice too, they're similar shades to Volks' standard HG glass selection, but they have more stylized threading which I like less.

 

Glass eyes would have to be my favourite, especially veryberry glass eyes. They have really nice colours!

I also love Souldoll eyes. They photograph really nicely, but their shape makes them kind of hard to get your doll looking to the side. It can be done, just with a bit of work.