Thursday, June 8, 2017

ZiZi's Re-Repainted Lips

ZiZi's initial repaint was done with fingernail polish.

Recall that I used fingernail polish to repaint ZiZi's lips after removing the Mattel-pink lip color.  She is shown above with fingernail-polished lips.  It was a bit clumpy in one corner because I did not allow time for the polish to dry before applying another layer, but even after drying, it felt sticky.  Whether or not the fingernail polish was negatively interacting with the vinyl, I am uncertain, but I had been planning to remove it and repaint with acrylic paint as soon as I purchased the desired color.  Recently I did that.

After pouring a very small amount of fingernail polish remover into the bottle cap, I moistened the very tip of a Q-tip with fingernail polish remover.  While rubbing this across the lip color to remove, care was taken not to get the fingernail polish remover anywhere except the lips.  I did not want to remove by accident any color or sealant from her face.
Even with bare lips, she still looks good.  "You look girl, girl... Fly diva!"  (Do you know what movie that's from?)
ZiZi holds the thin-bristled detail paint brush that I used to repaint her lips.  (I always wash paint off the brush bristles with liquid soap and water after painting each layer.  This helps preserve the brush for future use.)
I wanted to maintain the same shimmery gold lip color.  Royal Gold metallic finish acrylic paint allowed me to achieve that goal.  I used a thin-bristled brush designed for detailing to first apply one thin layer to ZiZi's lower lip.

One layer of paint has been applied to ZiZi's lower lip.  It was allowed to dry for 30 minutes prior to proceeding.

ZiZi was held upside down while the upper lip was painted.  This aided in applying the paint evenly where desired but particularly in the lip crease and corners.

Two coats of paint were applied, which were allowed to dry in between.

After applying two thin coats of paint to ZiZi's lips with the first allowed to dry before applying the second, this task was complete:  the fingernail polish was removed and the new lip color added.  It was not necessary to apply a matte varnish or other sealant, but that can be applied as an option, if desired.

*****

The line I quoted above was from Waiting to Exhale when, at Gloria's birthday party, Savannah Jackson (played by the late Whitney Houston) shares her age with the other ladies, all of whom have had one too many drinks.  She waits for them to affirm that she looks good for her age. See the clip here.

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10 comments:

  1. ZiZi is looking better and better.:-)
    Those are some great lip painting tips, thank you.
    Do you know what? I saw Waiting to Exhale a long time ago and had completely forgotten that Whitney Houston was in it. So pretty and such a voice. To lose her before her time and then her daughter too. I don't know how her mother goes on.
    Thanks for the memories.

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    1. Awww... you're welcome, Maricha. I read and enjoyed the book first. At the time, Terry McMillan was one of my favorite authors. The movie did not disappoint. It's sort of a women's anthem and another movie I can watch over and over. Lela Rochon's character, Robin, was a doll collector.

      Whitney's death and then her daughter's death that followed were both so tragic. I am not sure how Cissy Houston was able to cope with those back-to-back deaths either.

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  2. She looks so much better with natural lips.

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  3. ZiZi's gold lipcolor looks terrific! I pour nail polish remover into the bottle cap too, and work VERY carefully so as not to remove anything other than what I want to remove. Great tip about holding the doll upside down for even lip coverage as paint dries.

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    1. Thanks, Gini. While working with ZiZi, I had the bright idea to rub some of the fingernail polish on Pam's (Music Barbie's) stomach to try to remove what appeared to be a dot of silver paint that was over her belly button that was there when I removed her from the box. Wrong move! That area turned rough and was actually beginning to break down. It became rough and the top surface seemed to slough. I immediately wiped the fingernail polish remover off with water and applied some Jojoba oil to it. The oil softened it up, but I can still see traces where it was beginning to slough off. So you do have to be very careful using fingernail polish remover and acetone when removing lip color.

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  4. She looks really good with her new lipstick. A truly stylish girl!

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  5. I love her lips, she looks gorgeous and the acrylic paint is definitely the way to...I think you've definitely inspired me. I love 'Waiting to Exhale': Angela Bassett and the cigarette lighting scene alone is worth the price of admission! The soundtrack still remains one of my favourites...Chaka Khan singing 'My Funny Valentine' remains one of my favourite versions of that song...wow that was a throwback! Zizi looks fab!

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    1. Acrylic with the built-in sheen is the way to go, but matte lips using regular acrylic is okay, too.

      While channel surfing last night, I caught the tail end of Waiting to Exhale, beginning with the birthday scene at Gloria's house that the YouTube link I shared captured. I missed the best scene in the movie where Bernadine set her husband's car ablaze. You're right that alone was worth the price of admission. I can still hear other moviegoers' comments as we watched her set the car on fire and strut back to the house with the burning car in the background. The movie sound track was also great!

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