An Even Complexion

Mae Ella with stained nose and chin

Mae Ella was discovered to have a discolored nose and chin when I included her in a Dolls with Books exhibit at a local library in February. She had been stored for several years in a black canvas rolling luggage bag along with the other dolls and books used in the exhibit.  I am not sure if the bag is the staining culprit or exactly how it occurred.  She was the only doll affected.

As a quick fix, I applied concealer to the darkened areas and allowed Mae Ella to remain in the exhibit with her companion doll, Willie Pearl, and the book about the two. The dolls are now back home. All, including Mae Ella, are again stored in the luggage bag in plastic bags for protection. Before returning Mae Ella to the bag, however, I wanted to address her stained face.

Acne cream that contains 10% benzoyl peroxide has been applied to Mae Ella's stains.

Benzoyl peroxide (BP), the active ingredient in most acne preparations, is known to remove ink and other stains from vinyl.  I purchased a tube of acne cream from Family Dollar that contains 10% BP.  After removing the concealer from Mae Ella's face, I applied the acne cream generously to her nose and chin where it remained for a full week before washing off.

As illustrated in the "after" picture above, Mae Ella now has an even complexion without signs that the areas had ever been stained.


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