Giving Them Life

Paris Williams, the center doll in tan jacket, was part of Onlyalisa's recent thrift store haul (Photo courtesy of Onlyalisa)*

A couple of weeks ago after a fellow collector shared her thrift store haul from an East Cost store that included a Madame Alexander Paris doll (what?) in near mint condition for $9.99, I trotted off to my local thrift store to see if I would be as lucky. Nope. No such luck here, but I did find two So In Style dolls and a Fashion Madness Denise. All were in preloved condition at $1.99 each, with one of the SIS girls qualifying for a 50% discount due to her tag color being the "color of the week." So for a little over $5 (including tax) I received an inexpensive doll fix.

So In Style (SIS) Grace, Trichelle, and Fashion Madness Denise are as they were when found in this and the next two photos.

Grace's hair required the least work to tame.  Denise's took lots of elbow grease to restyle.

I soaked the trio in Pine Sol and gave them a good rinse before washing and conditioning their hair.  I used a dab of Elasta QP Liquid Styling Gel to comb through Denise's matted tresses.

After washing, the hair was allowed to air dry.

What a difference!

After returning the SIS girls to their original hairstyles and giving Denise a faux fishtail braid, the girls were dressed in a combination of Sparkle Girlz and Barbie fashions and shoes  Before Denise posed for the above photo, her pale white lips with painted illusion of teeth were enhanced to enlarge the lips and cover the fake teeth.  See before and after photos next.

Denise's thin lips before the enhancement

I used white dimensional paint to both enlarge the size of the upper and lower lips and to add dimension to the painted-teeth area.  See profile photos next (before final color was added).

I mixed a couple of colors of brown, tan, a touch of red, and white acrylic paint to achieve a neutral lip color, shown below in Denise's final photo.

This is the second lip enhancement I have performed on a Fashion Madness Denise.  The result of the first one, seen here, is not as appealing as this one.

*The other dolls in the first photo found by Onlyalisa are an International Fulani Tribal Doll, Naber Kid, Bratz Dylan, Effanbee doll possibly from the Grandes Dames collection, and an 18-inch Our Generation Girl.

I wasn't as lucky as Onlyalisa but I enjoyed giving these three life and Denise more lips.

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