New Dolly: Be With You ~ Mango + Video!!

December 6, 2014 by Reem AlHashmi 1 Comment

I received this girl a couple of days ago but I was only able to edit the video and get everything ready for today. So here she is! :) This time, it’s a box opening video, so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did making it!

She borrowed Nova’s wig here because its the only one I own in this size that suits her. I have a thing for blonde wigs because now all my dolls are blonde…

I still don’t know if I like her or not… I mean her face is so cute and all but I have no character for her, she was kind of an impulse buy xD I don’t know what wig she’ll wear, or what clothes, as I am expecting another girl her size very very soon too, and that one already has everything ready for her. Blegh, the struggles of a doll collector :S

Oh and Leekeworld is releasing a bunch of new wigs and in two new colours.. so help me, God. I swear, every time I order from them I promise myself it would be the last, but then here I am :-) Maybe you can help me decide? I may even get the lucky bag with 4 wigs just for fun and see what I will get *v*

Again, thanks for reading folks! Hope y’all are ready to go back to school now after the National Day break *vomit* New post maybe.. tomorrow?

Good luck :P

– Reem AlHashmi

How I paint my doll’s faces! {Walkthrough}

December 4, 2014 by Reem AlHashmi 2 Comments

Much overdue. Such late. Wow.

Sorry for disappearing for quite some time, was finding it really hard to find motivation to type up something new, but hopefully this will not happen ~~anymore~~. Working on multiple new projects and I’m very excited to document the process with you guys :)

I wanted to share the process of giving my dolls their faces, as my friends have also expressed some interest in it, so I shall deliver. This isn’t technically a “tutorial”, but more like a walkthrough of the steps that go towards painting a face on a blank doll head. Let’s start!

Step #1 – Preparing the workspace

I also use Winsor and Newton Professional grade acrylic paint, Faber-Castell watercolor pencils, my trusty airbrush (although it was broken when I worked on this head) and Liquitex Matte Varnish as a final sealant to set everything in place.

I also bought this palate that comes with small empty cases to store my different mixes of pastel colors, as it is such a hassle to get the correct color (mixing powders is not the same as mixing paint) only to have it wasted once a head is finished. Now it looks like an eye-shadow palate, no? ;)

Step #2 – The Foundation Step

After priming the head (sealing x3) I get a natural skin color pastel that’s a little more saturated hue than the actual head’s color and lay the foundation base, to make the head more ‘alive’ and not one-toned and empty. Under the eyes, temple, lower cheekbones, inside the ears, and sides of the nose. Some people use pink pastel… that is very very wrong.

Step #3 – Eyes

a) Details: Drawing in the eye crease. A crucial step, without it, the head will look off. Even Barbie has it lol.

b) Eyebrows: One of the hardest parts of a faceup. I start with a pastel base first to determine the shape, and then I start layering in the color and adding hair details with a watercolor pencil. If you start with pencil first, it is so much harder to erase any mistakes, and sometimes it doesn’t get removed all the way. Trust me, I learned this the hard way.
Note: Her eyebrows are light because she is blonde ;)

Step #4 – Eyeliner and lashes

My favorite part ^^ For the eyeliner, I start with painting the inner/upper waterline with black acrylic paint. Then after it dries, I draw in the actual eyeliner using a water-colour pencil, and then taper out the ends. It’s almost the same as drawing in your own real eyeliner except it is much easier because you hold this head in your hands xD Look how pretty this cat-eye is *-* <3

Then after that, I lightly draw in some bottom lashes, and in this case, I added some eyeliner on the bottom waterline to redefine the eye shape :-) I do not draw in upper lashes (that would be hell to draw) as I apply real eyelashes and glue them on! ;)

This time, I used super long ones as I was always hesitant about the length previously, and because of that they didn’t photograph or show very well, so now you can seen them from around the block haha! My mom calls them “Mkashat”, which basically means, fly swatters in English :P

At this point I had already painted her lips, blushed her face and contoured it with a bronze/brown colour to give it an edge and make it pop! The final stage is glossing the lips and bottom waterline to make her eyes look ‘teary’, because our eyes are not matte either ;P I also add a puff of pearl shimmer to the face because I love anything and everything that glitters <3 It’s very subtle though.

After the wig, eyes and clothing..

She currently has some silver nail polish on [yes, I can paint her hands too ;) ], and I’m not liking it. I’m going to give her a French Manicure later on, because it never goes out of style! Keep in mind that her nail is like 3 millimetres… so if you thought doing your own manicure was hard.. x_x

Thanks for reading everybody! Hope your enjoyed this post :) Again, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me! Next post will be about my newest doll, and it may be a video, so stay tuned! :D

Love,

~ Reem AlHashmi

Devouring The Big Apple: pt 2 ~ ‘Central Park & FAO Schwarz’

August 15, 2014 by Reem AlHashmi Leave a Comment

So many pictures in this post! Excited for you guys to see them :) After visiting the Statue of Liberty, we woke up the next morning and decided to have breakfast at Sarabeth’s, a little cute restaurant beside Central Park.

It was a nice little change from hotel restaurants, the environment was lively. They had old vintage-looking photographs of Audrey Hepburn (Of course!) and who I think is Marilyn Monroe and other old black and white pictures.

We ordered some french toast, different types of omelettes and a smoked salmon with eggs dish. Also, the orange juice in the US tastes SO much better than the one back home. It’s nice and sweet and sour, minus the bitter aftertaste ours has :’) Florida Naturals is awesome <3 After eating, we didn’t have much time to wander aimlessly in Central Park lol, so we took a horse-carriage ride as a quick tour. It was lots of fun, who doesn’t love horse rides, right? But it was a little stinky, haha, as with everything that has to do with horses! xD

Oh! What’s this building here? ;)

It’s the Plaza Hotel!

The one from Home Alone 2 if you didn’t know, haha! Remember this entrance? :P Sadly there are no more pictures of the place because when we got inside, the lobby and actual hotel were not open to the public, I’m thinking because of it’s popularity and a lot of people coming to visit? Perhaps it disturbs the hotel’s residents? I dunno, it was a bummer but what can you do. So after that we visited the largest toy store in the US, FAO Schwartz! This is the same toy store the smurfs visited in their first movie, how cute right? Everything was so colorful and cheerful I was wandering the aisles speechless and amazed. I love toy stores <3

I want one ^ :’)

They even have a section exclusively for candy and sweets! :D This is what the inside of a rainbow looks like lol!

Large cereal-box sized nerds? YES PLEASE.

Alphabet gummies *-* That’s a first.

Any fans of the Simpsons? :P

The best part: They sell the Bean Boozled and Harry Potter jelly beans, the ones YouTubers use for the jelly bean challenges! We got some to film our own take on it >:) Don’t know whether I’m excited or scared lol.

Peeps are the cutest marshmallows in my opinion! I have to taste some before we go back home! Now on to the real toys~

A little creepy, but still awesome to look at xD

LOVE these portraits! Would look so great as a decoration to your study or work office <3 Sadly, I came to the doll section hoping to find clothing that would fit on my MNF, but what I found was either too big or too small. Looks like its back to the sewing machine again~

CALICO CRITTERS!!

And my ultimate favourite…

The Miniature Section!! <3

These are sheets of wallpapers and parquet that you can use to line the interior of the house like the picture of the empty house above! So cute :’)

This tiny little cigarette is my favourite lol!

Want a new family? They’re got you covered xD

Personally I just want the brother. I don’t have a brother.

Or perhaps you want a dollhouse FOR your dollhouse? Inception~~~

They even have a Build-a-Bear inside of their store! That’s how big it is!

Now these bears below have a special place in my heart. These were the exact same bears that were featured in a book that belonged to my cousin. Can’t remember it’s name right now, but it was a huge book with delightful pictures of toy bears doing all kinds of activities. It had no particular storyline, but everything was styled and set up perfectly as if it was showing you a whole different “World of Teddy Bears”, how they live, how they dress and even where they go when they’re sick, i.e. torn up to shreds lol. We used to read it all the time when we were kids and inspired us with so many ideas, and I never knew the brand until now. Thank you, Steiff bear. I will own one someday! :)

This little bunny is a cutie! The salesman was like “Make sure you get his ‘good side'” xD I thought that was pretty cute, haha!

In the end, I didn’t buy much, just a Jenga because I’ve always wanted to play it and never had one. We went back home and watched some friends while we play it. I lost incase you want to know :’P

Thanks again for reading guys! Have a lovely vacation yourselves and be safe!

- Reem AlHashmi

Devouring The Big Apple: pt 1 ~ ‘Statue of Liberty’

August 14, 2014 by Reem AlHashmi 1 Comment

Woohoo! You guessed it! I’m on vacation with the family and I have lots and lots of content to go through and talk about! Finally!! After a whole month of nothing interesting to share… I miss writing :’)

So just as an overview, our trip consists of a week in New York city and then another week in Washington D.C.
I will be going over the attractions we went to, and also little reviews of things only found in the US, because I’m a tourist like that. Let’s get started!

So just as the title reads, we finally had the chance to visit Lady Liberty! :D Yay!
Our last trip to NYC was a little after Hurricane Sandy, and as a result, we were unable to visit because of maintenance and such, so that was a bummer, but we got a second chance!

We booked our tickets early through the official website and I was so glad we did because upon arrival there was a huge line waiting to get tickets that same day. We just sped through and got on the ferry to the little island where the statue was. The next pictures basically do all the talking :P

SQUIRREL!!!!!

I love this picture because we were at a similar place in Washington D.C. last year in spring, when the cherry blossoms were in bloom, and now this is a different season with a twist! <3 This is the picture incase you missed it:

We could see it off in the distance by then!

It’s getting closer!!!

And here she is! In all her greatness and glory :P

She’s always ready for a close-up ;)

I’m really glad my camera didn’t act up (much) and the pictures turned out lovely! They look like they came straight out of a postcard :)

And as if the Home Alone soundtrack wasn’t blaring into my head enough, this also reminded me of the movie! xD

And now for some random pictures of the place..

I’m not entirely sure if it’s this one or the one next to it, but supposedly it’s the bridge from the Two Broke Girls opening video, and I love that show so I decided to snap a picture as a ‘souvenir’ :P

Anyway, that will be all for now! Again, like I said there are many photos to go through and it’ll take me a while to sort through them, filter and edit until I can post something again, but stay tuned!

Next stop: Central Park and America’s largest toy store!

Hope you enjoyed the photos as much as I did!

Love always,