Why don't you touch a facup?

Blushing will wear away over time if you touch your doll's face a lot. I used to tip my dolls' heads up a lot with a finger under the chin and after a year or so every single one of those older dolls needed to be sent off to have their blushing patched. And my skin's dry, so it's not a weird me-specific anomaly.

I play with my dolls constantly, but it doesn't take much to learn to move them around with a hand on the back of their head rather than their faces.

 

I just saw this thread... I recently did a face-up on my Planetdoll Roseanne... I used MSC to seal it and slight touches, or gentle touching didn't hurt her face-up. However, after I took her to a doll meet, myself and a friend were trying to pierce her ears and probably not handling her as gently as we should have and now I have to re-do her her left eyebrow and part of the blushing on her cheek.
So I would say making sure your hands are clean and free of lotions and oils would be a smart idea and not over touching the face. Otherwise, MSC is pretty resilient.

 

I'm very careful with my boy's face up. I don't touch the face, I try to instead gently blow the hair out of his face of move it without touching his face. Since he has two heads, if one gets put away, it gets covered with a face mask and I make sure its never on its side or wandering around the box. I do wash my hands before touching him, making sure my fingertips are less oily and even then I try to grab clothing covered body parts ^^;. I figure it'll keep him pretty for longer.

I also do the behind-the-ears pinch although I also have to be careful because of his elf ears xD.

Both of his heads do have the Luts default face up but I think I'd be this careful with my own face up too. (Mainly because if I get it right once, doesn't mean I'll ever get it right again -_-; ). I think its good to be careful, especially if you have Limiteds or dolls you love the face up for. Unless of course you can redo it yourself. Then it's really your call since you can redo it whenever lol.

 

I have a good example. My DZ Shoyo who is my first little baby I got her back in 2007. Now mid-way through 2008 I noticed something about her chin blushing. It was nearly wiped from me constantly touching that spot to fix things. Now with it being almost 2010 I try not to touch the faces as much as I can for that reason. I touch the ears if I can. Eventually paint fades if you touch it enough and that is all face ups are is paint. I know when I fuss at my face after I've put make up on I rub it off pretty good by the end of the day. So it just good judgement not to touch the faces.

Plus like others have said it's about respect to the dolls of others. I have limited dolls that have limited face ups and I want those to last as long as possible. I don't want someone to just touch all over the face. It makes me upset when someone does that. I'll be sending a couple out for comission face ups and I pay good money for that art work and I want it to last. I don't make that much money to be able to pay for new face ups due to being touched all the time.

 

Except for my dolls with custom face-ups, I don't worry too much about touching my dolls' face-ups. If I'm quite concerned, I'll wash my hands really well beforehand to get off the oils & dirt. But really when you're piercing ears or even perfectly adjusting a wig, it's almost impossible to avoid touching the face-up.

If it's well sealed with MSC, there shouldn't be a problem & there definitely shouldn't be any smudging. That would lead me to believe the face isn't properly sealed.

 

Haha totally agreed. When I got my MNM head, it was unpainted and I absolutely could not resist touching it all over. It's the only realistic head I have afterall and I was really enchanted with the detail. Of course, I washed it immediately afterward... but it was like a brief, forbidden candy

Other than that I don't touch my doll's faces. I don't really understand why there would be a reason to do so. To turn the doll's head, I touch only the wig, or behind the ears, or use a cloth. I tend to be really anal about keeping my things in good condition, but I still have plenty of fun/lots of play without touching their faces. I'm less strict though if I did the face-up myself since I don't care if my own paint job gets damaged. None of them are good enough for me to want to keep them permanently so..

 

I am so not careful at all with Teal's faceup. And the posts saying OMG I TOUCHED IT! kind of puzzle me. I'm always touching and smooshing and kissing his little face, and so far, no smudges or running or anything. If there's a mark, magic eraser deals with it. No problem
But then, I did do his faceup myself, so I know if the worse comes to the worse, I'll juust re-do it.

 

um, i have to say this...i've been in the doll hobby for a number of years, and have also done my share of actual make-up.....i've never in my years of collecting, had a face-up just smear like real human make-up. If it's doing that, it's clearly not sealed properly.. But, you still don't want to touch the face-up cuz the MSC can be eaten away by the oils in ur hands

 

I will NOT touch the faces on other people's dolls, because yes, the sealant does chip off and the oils on your hands tend to make it dirty.

However I touch my own doll's face fairly frequently. I usually try to remember to handle it by the back of the head or somesuch thing, but I do my own faceups, they take very little time to complete and are fun to do, so I don't mind if it chips or gets dirty.