Beach Barbie 2021 and 2018

Barbie Deluxe Style Wave 2 Christie

The latest frenzied, gotta-have-it buzz from Barbie collectors is to purchase the Barbie Deluxe Style Wave 2 Christie shown above. The doll is described as "rare" by Mattel, who partnered with Target to sell it only in select stores (not online). The Target boycott for me is still ongoing. No corporate ploy to get me back inside their stores will work, and I'm definitely not paying the 100+ dollars that secondary market scalpers are asking for a 20-something dollar doll.

Additionally, I am only impressed with the deluxe doll's more subtly screened 1987 Christie face sculpt and the complexion and hair color combination. The metallic pink dress made of low-quality synthetic materials is very unappealing. But the lovely face sculpt reminds me of a Beach Barbie that I had seen when I tried to identify a different Beach Barbie someone gave me a couple of years ago. So, I conducted an Internet search for "Beach Barbie" and found the 2021 Beach Barbie that uses the same 1987 Christie face sculpt as Deluxe Style Wave 2 Christie. The beach doll's cost was $7 and some odd cents and would serve my purpose.

©2021 Beach Barbie

©2021 Beach Barbie close-up

©2021 and ©2018 Beach Barbies use the 1987 Christie head sculpt (left) and the 2014 "Cassandra or Crystal" head sculpt (right). The Cassadra/Crystal sculpt was first used on the 2015-released Fashionista dressed in a tribal-print romper.

The two lovely beach ladies posed for this close-up.

I've never been a fan of painted-on doll clothes. I had already dressed the 2018 doll after it was given to me, but I wanted to redress her and find something for the newer doll to wear. First, I needed to gather shoes for their flat feet.

These were the only available shoe options.

Next, I gathered clothing to match the shoes.

These were the clothing choices.

Each doll tried on an outfit as illustrated next. 

The dress and shoe combination on the left was a possibility. The turquoise dress was not. I didn't like the shoes with it, and there wasn't another suitable shoe option available.

Neither of these outfits called our names. The dress on the right is made for a petite Barbie.

The swimsuit pattern is seen through the yellow dress. So, it was out. We liked the style, fit, and shoe combinations of the dress on the right.

These were the last two choices. We liked the dress and shoe combination on the new doll, but did not like the fit of the jeans and the exposure of the swimsuit pattern underneath the vest on the right.

These two Sparkle Girlz fashions were selected. Note that the dress and shoes the new girl wears are what the 2018-released doll wore when I dressed her a couple of years ago.

Here is a final close-up of the two dressed Beach Barbies.

I decided to use my 4K digital camera to take the following comparison photos. Just as I suspected, my old camera takes much better photos.

Full-length photo taken with a 4K digital camera.

Close-up photo taken with a 4K digital camera.

Old and New Christie Comparison Photos

I concluded this "doll play" session by taking comparison photos of 1980s-released Christies with the 2021-released Beach Barbie that uses the same head sculpt. 

This photo was taken with my older camera. Mattel used less makeup on the new Christie (in the center), which gives her a more youthful appearance than the 1980s, heavily eye-shaped dolls.

This photo was taken with my 4K camera.

Photos taken with my old camera required minimal editing and produced more natural-looking pictures. The 4K photos required more editing to lighten and sharpen.

Do you agree that the newer Christie looks younger than the original 1980s Christie?

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All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

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Redressed 30 cm BJDs

A cute dress made for 30 cm or 12-inch dolls

I purchased two dresses like the one shown in the leading picture to redress two of my 12-inch BJD dolls. 

Elan and Elin arrived in October 2015.

Elan and Elin have worn coordinated navy-blue and white fashions since their arrival in October 2015. They are now redressed in matching dresses and photographed with two different cameras as illustrated below.

Camera 1

With camera 1, I took two full-length photos of the girls. They were far apart in the first picture, so I moved them closer and took the second photo with camera 1.

Camera 2, Full-Length Photo

In the above full-length photo taken with camera 2 without the flash, their skin tones appear muted when compared to the color output with camera 1, including the color of Elin's honey blonde wig. This camera also captured some background shadows. When I used the flash with camera 2, the flash bounced off their complexions with visible flash areas. I deleted the flash photos taken with camera 2, but I can probably make some camera adjustments to eliminate the flash interference.

Camera 1, Close-up Photo

This close-up photo with camera 1 illustrates the color correctness of their complexions, hair colors, and clothing colors. There are no shadows in the background.

Camera 2, Close-up Photo

In the close-up photo taken with camera 2 without the flash, their complexions are again muted and there are visible background shadows, but the picture is sharp.

Camera 1, Two More Full-Length Photos

In this photo, Elin's chin juts out. 

Here, both girls have a more natural pose.

Camera 1 is a Canon PowerShot GLPH1090IS that is approximately 5 years old. It takes great inside photos with the flash on. Photos taken with the flash off are usually blurry. I had wanted to upgrade this camera for at least two years because of a lens malfunction that sometimes adds a shadow to a lower right corner photos unless I use the Zoom to zoom in a bit. 
In June 2024, I purchased a 4K vlogging digital camera. The resolution in most photos always seemed off with grainy-looking faded out photos. Last week, I decided to give it another try by making some adjustments to the preprogrammed features in the portrait mode. I'm not completely satisfied with the output using the current settings, but it's much better than the first photos taken last year. I will make additional adjustments to improve the resolution, clarity, colors, and eliminate background shading.
Related Posts 

She was Supposed to be Color E

Elan and Elin, New Name, New Wigs

__________

All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!

My Seven China Girls

Five fashions for supermodel-bodied fashion dolls

Seven is often described as a lucky number. Including my last three supermodel fashion dolls that arrived on July 4th, I have a total of seven. This post features the seven China-made dolls and a couple of Barbies as they are currently dressed. Five of these tried on the recently ordered fashions shown above.

Unbranded supermodel fashion dolls from China are on display.

I ordered five fashions with redressing my last three supermodel dolls (shown above) in mind, but that plan changed after the fashions arrived. Instead, I chose to redress two Barbies and my four Xian Xian Supermodel fashion dolls. I added an additional fashion to the five new fashions to complete this plan.

Barbie Looks Model 10 (Simone) models this fashion with the wrong colored shoes.

I could not find black or green shoes that fit her feet.

So, I painted the blue shoes black.

Simone's dress and shoe colors coordinate now. 

2025 Barbie Basics Model No. 03 is permanently removed from the box now and is redressed in a cherry-print fishtail dress.

My first two Xian Xian supermodel fashion dolls are redressed in fashions that use the same fabric. The doll on the left wears a new fashion. I already had the fashion on the right (which inspired me to order the other one).

The next doll (another Xian Xian supermodel with a different head sculpt from the other two above) was difficult to photograph. One eye kept getting a glare from the camera's flash. So I shared the best four photos because I love the poses.

This Xian Xian fashion doll wears a peppermint-print fashion made of thick polyester knit material.

Because she has an eclectic style, she wears one red earring and one green earring.

Celebrating Christmas in July...

...she wears this well.

Worn with light-blue high-heel shoes, the last of the new fashions is a slinky two-piece blue dress modeled by another Xian Xian doll. This diva uses the same head sculpt as the doll that is celebrating Christmas in July.

While seven has not been a noticeably lucky number for me, I enjoyed contemplating and/or redressing these 7+ dolls and foresee more of that activity in the future.

Side Note: Of the four Xian Xian supermodel fashion dolls that I now own, the following headshots illustrate my favorites in the order of their photos.

These are my favorite Xian Xian supermodel fashion dolls and were the first to arrive.

These two Xian Xian supermodel fashion dolls run a close second to the dolls immediately above.

__________

All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!