Hawaiian Barbie

Hawaiian Barbie, a photo by alington on Flickr.

A hard-to-find European exclusive Superstar era doll, Hawaiian Barbie is a gorgeous brown-eyed raven beauty. I found this doll during room sales at the Barbie Convention in New Orleans as well.

FR:Nippon has returned: Promenade collection 2013

After a two-year break, I'm thrilled to see the return of Integrity's gorgeous line of FR:Nippon girls, exclusively sold in Japan.

These dolls will be available for preorder shortly, and you can see a list of dealers on their website. Dealers should be updating their websites soon, as the dolls have a scheduled delivery date of mid to late May 2013.

Both dolls retail for 13,000 Yen (a little over $132 US) and are limited to 300 each. They have beautiful long hair, golden eyeshadow, pink lips, and applied lashes. Both dolls are simply sweet!

First up, it's Promenade Misaki with lovely warm chestnut hair and emerald eyes. She's dressed in a graphic print tee shirt, black slim fit leggings, and bronze high heeled sandals. She's carrying a wonderful FR:Nippon logo canvas tote with zipper closure. 

Our blue-eyed blonde is Promenade Amelie. She's also wearing a screen-print tee with coordinating eggplant leggings and gunmetal heeled sandals. The sandals are wonderfully detailed with buckle closures. She is carrying the same tote as Misaki.

According to the update from Integrity Toys, the packaging has been updated to "new collector friendly window packaging," which is now shoebox-style with circular window cutouts for doll storage that is both convenient and classy. Dolls still include wrist tags and stands.

Note: If you're looking for a dealer, I can recommend Midori at Doll-Collectible.com. She charges retail prices, offers both EMS and non-insured first class (deboxed) shipping services as well, and does not charge credit card or additional Paypal fees. Plus, for novice users like me, her website is in English. She also is a dealer for Momoko (PetWORKs and Sekiguchi), Azone, Obitsu, Groove (that's Pullip), and more.

Photos are property of Integrity Toys.

Steffie of the day: Mystery Cipsa

My latest addition is a 1970s era Cipsa doll (manufactured in Mexico, licensed by Mattel). She's a mystery doll to me, and a wonderful find from eBay.

I ordered this doll, thinking she was Activa (the Mexican version of Free Moving PJ). When she arrived, however, I noticed she has a standard Cipsa body instead of the Free Moving version.

Her face paint is all original--check out her over-the-top eyes! Plus her hair is in great shape--longer than my other Activa Barbie. Perhaps she's been rebodied on a standard body--the bodies do tend to wear out and break pretty easily.

In any case, I think she's just wonderful.

You can see more photos on Flickr.

Steffie of the Day: Valerie Modelo

Valerie, a photo by alington on Flickr.

Created by Cipsa, licensed by Mattel in Mexico, around 1978, this lovely and unique Steffie Barbie is hard to find. I found her in TLC condition on eBay, and she's been restored by the talented Roberta Marino in our doll group.

Here, she's been redressed in one of the wonderful fashions from Think Pink from the Funny Face collection by Integrity Toys. I believe this doll originally wore either a black or red one-shoulder full-length dress.

A few things to note about this doll:

• Her hair is rooted in two colors: ash brown and pale blonde. The blonde is actually rooted longer than the brown, and that's apparently a factory standard.
• Her arms use slightly different sculpts, with one hand bending outward more than the other. It's a little hard to see from the photo above. This is common for Cispa dolls.
• Her legs also use slightly different sculpts. While I'm not sure this was done on purpose, my Activa doll actually has this issue as well.
• Her face yellows quite a bit differently than her pink body, and this is also common in these dolls.
• Her facial screening is unique for a doll of this era--she has lavender eyeshadow, and no painted lashes. For the late 1970s, this is a little unusual.

You can see a few more photos on my Flickr photostream.

Steffie of the Day: Career Whitney

Career Whitney, a photo by alington on Flickr.

Without giving away the entire book, Steffie: Out of the Box Volume II, I'd like to introduce you to my latest addition to my collection, Career Whitney.

She was a Richwell Philippines exclusive from 1988, and basically, she looks a lot like Perfume Pretty (down the the blue bow in her hair), only redressed in 1980s Working Girl attire. She also includes a red hair brush and open toe shoes.

She is pretty rare--I had actually never seen this doll in person and happened across her on eBay. You can see a few more photos of her on Flickr.

Speaking of Volume II of my book, I'd like to invite you to visit my new blog, Out of the Box Publishing. There, I hope to keep track of all the Fashion Doll Review-related publications we have in progress, and it should be an easy way to keep in touch with our readers. If you are a Steffie fan, please check out this post! I really look forward to your input.

Steffie of the Day: Viky Passeio

Viky Passeio, a photo by alington on Flickr.

Welcome home, Miss Viky! One of my grail dolls, Viky Passeio, has finally made it to my collection.

She is a Steffie sculpt made by Estrela, a Brazilian company, manufactured under license by Mattel in 1989. She was created for the 30th Barbie Convention, I believe though she may have also been for sale on the Brazilian market, and she is not as difficult to find as other Estrela dolls.

She has a pink skin tone, like a Canadian Standard Barbie, articulated wrists, green eyes, and red hair with light blonde streaks. Her outfit doesn't exactly scream 1989 to me--but I find it really interesting.

I got mine in a really amazing trade--and she isn't actually NRFB, which is even better for me (so I can take her out of the box without feeling too guilty).

See more photos of her on Flickr.