Auction is over...but another is still running

Well Auction #5 is over and I sold lots of stuff, but not enough to cover what I would love to bid on now. Four Leaf Clover(Japanese designer) is auctioning off their Reality clothes on OOAK Momokos. There are 10 dolls, 5 are being auctioned now and I am sorely tempted to bid on one this time. Yes that is her picture. But her bid is $600 already and with 19 hours to go. What a conundrum!!! Do I bid on this gal or wait for my other favourite to come up and hope that all the rich bidders dropped their cash in the first round. I would just love to have a OOAK Momoko and FLC has some really cool clothes going on with these gals.

Red Rabbit

OK I swiped these photos from Toms Toys and Goods, but just had to post this gal, she is stunning.

Back to Dolls..........Misaki or FR Nippon

In 2006 a spinoff line of the Fashion Royalty line began. Originally intended to be W Cosmetics models in Japan, Misaki made her debut in three versions: Puppy Love, Casual Affair, and Harajuku Honey. While cute, Misaki did not apeal to me at first. As I said, she was cute and that's where it ended. There was no appeal to these first girls, for me. To date I still do not have these dolls.

Then came the first exclusives for the Dollystyle Convention. Two Tokyo Here We go dolls debuted. The blonde in the black dress was stunning and is still my Holy Grail of Misaki. The redhead in the white dress for me was so, so, but I wouldn't turn her down if I could get her.

So now I was hooked on Misaki. I eagerly awaited the new line and it was all I dreamed of. In my opinion it still is the best line of Misaki. My first Misaki was from this line, Sassy Stripes. I never managed to get the other two gals from this line, Get Graphic or Patent Please. These Misakis are what she is all about to me. I love their look, makeup, fashion, everything about them. I would still love to find them, reasonably priced somewhere, but they are running way to high right now...even nude would do!!!

Misaki has proved to be a bit of a conundrum for me. She is very difficult to get(as all the Nippon dolls are proving to be) and she is very pricey. So I have been picky about Misaki and only purchased those dolls that were VHTF or just plain appealed to me. Also all these dolls so far were produced in 2006, so many dolls not enough dollars!!!

Next came the Haute Doll Exclusive Metallic Moment, followed by Autumn Champagne, Best in Brocade, and Perfect in Paris. My next purchase of Misaki didn't come until Anti-Social Girl. I didn't purchase Dreadfully Cute, black, blue or pink. I did purchase Ciao Japan which was an exclusive to the DollyStyle Convention.

In 2007, the Misaki line brought out the beach girls, clad in bikini outfits. To me their outfits were a disappointment. I love Misaki's cool, edgy style and this was tantamount to Barbie in the early days. Yes I understand that it is good to have a Misaki that you don't mind taking off her outfit and redressing, but I didn't buy any of these gals. I redress my dressed Misakis already, I wanted clothes, not bathing suits. I must admit that I did find Summer Storm very applealing, but once again, very unattainbale.

My next purchase was Pretty Sweet Misaki and I must say she is pretty sweet. Lovely face and hair and cool outfit. She was followed by the Destination Line: On the go Paris, On the go New York, On the Go Milan, On the Go London and On the Go Tokyo. For me this was not my favourite line. I found the wild hair colours and the even louder colours of the clothing not to my liking at all. I did buy On the Go Tokyo as she was a Japan exclusive. The others just didn't appeal to me.

In 2008, the second Misaki in the "Pretty" line debuted. This was Pretty Party and a very pretty doll she was indeed. I didn't purchase her as she was pricey and I am saving my pennies for those mod gals. Then Misaki blew the lid off of things again and brought out a line that I thought was the second coolest yet...A Girl's Life: Trendy, Posh and Crazy(of course in two version). I surprised even myself when Trendy and Crazy(and NOT the exclusive edition) caught my attention and came to live with their sisters. They are secretly conspiring right now to get Posh back. You see she came to live here too, but was kidnapped by my doll collecting daughter.

Then this fall, Misaki got it right again....darn I hate that, LOL. Another terrific line debuted, the Gothic Dreams line. Wow is all I can say......well maybe a bit more. Five Misakis and a Misaki friend make up the line. Misaki: The Outsider, Witchie, Witch(she's begging for a re-dress, but those boots are incredible), and Pure Evil(my least favourite, too white, too blonde, LOL). Misaki's new friend is called Amelie and what a sweetie she is. I love everything about her. Finally there are two exclusive Misakis: Paranormal Willow, love the face, but not the open mouth so much and leaving the best until last...........RED RABBIT. In my opinion, the very best Misaki of this latest line.

A Wild and Crazy Weekend!!!

Wow after a busy weekend, Doll Club meeting and Tupperware party......it's time to run Auction Fever #5. Well if you are tired of eBay and who isn't these days, then join us at: http://www.dolls4sale.net/index.htm

There are over 100 doll related items for sale on the site this time. Dolls ranging from FR, Momoko, Misaki, Yuri, Kumi, Jenny, Lost Angels and more. There is clothing and accessories as well.

Just a Pet Peeve

Ah, Friday night........sushi for dinner, Starbucks afterwards and reading my emails for a little relaxation before I start posting the auctions. What's this........grrrrr, why do people have to write their email addresses like they are talking to complete idiots. Email has been around for a while, how stupid do they think we are. This is what I mean: On a list a person writes, if you are interested please contact me at: blahblahblah at hotmail dot com(no spaces and "at" is @ and "dot" is the period). OMG, wouldn't it just be easier to write blahblahblha@hotmail.com
And voila, the email turns that into a clickable link. Hmmmmm do you think I should write to the person and tell them.........some people!!!

Over the Rainbow with Momoko

Lucky can't describe what it means to own these beauties. For Momoko 7 event Petworks and Sekiguchi(again PW head, Seki body) collaborated on this incredible set of rainbow coloured Momokos. I managed to secure myself one of these sets through my fabulously lucky "Man in Tokyo". There are only 10 sets worldwide of these dolls. I'm still taking pics of them to add to my site.

Next to join the collection...FR

http://www.barbigirl.com/fashionroyalty.html









I really discovered the Fashion Royalty dolls when I attended my first IFDC in 2006. I had seen the dolls on eBay, but they looked to me as if they were going into a seizure with those eyes looking like they were rolling back in their heads. Plus they were not as articulated as Momoko and Susie. So I said no to FR.

When I got into the salesroom at IFDC, I saw the new line for 2006. Eyes were much more to my liking and articulations were just like Momoko and Susie. I was smitten and I bought one of each character that I could find. The clothing was fantastic when I actually saw it first hand. Such attention to detail and fabulously couture. Then my friend introduced me to his friend Jason Wu. Very quickly I realized that this young super talented young man was the artistic force driving these dolls. What a super nice person he is too.

Well my FR collection has grown too, but I have put limits on this collection like no other. Due to the fact that there is such a wonderful storyline and so many characters, I decided that one of each character would be the limit. It just didn't seem right to have 4 Veroniques, which one was the real one...would the real Veronique Perrin please stand up. No, just didn't seem right. This quickly became a problem because every year a newer and more beautiful Vero would arrive. So, if I like the newer one, it's out with the old and in with the new, just like a person growing and changing, the dolls in the collection do too. To date the only doll to undergo a change is Isha. I bought the first convention one and then sold her to my daughter to buy the Rare Find Isha. Now I love the Purple Pose Isha, look out Rare Find!!!

So to date the W Cosmetics group includes: Veronique Perrin, her sister Vanessa Perrin, Adele Makeda, Isha Kalpana Narayanan, Agnes von Weiss, Eugenia Perrin Frost, Luchia Z.

Missima Cosmetics: Natalia Fatale, and the new face lifted Natalia Fatale(IFDC Convention doll), Kyori Sato.

Nu Face Agency: Lukas Maverick, Giselle Diefendorf, Erin Salston, Nadja R., Ayumi Nakamura, Colette Duranger.

Then there are the men, who knows where their loyalties lie, but I think Pierre Devries is for Vero; Darius Reid is smitten with Kyori and Francisco Leon...who knows about him!!! Well all three are a part of my collection now.

Finally, the Dollystyle exclusives that Jason Wu collaborated on with Momolita(Yuri) and Love Sound(Kumi). They are the Fantasy exclusives. Yuri is now part of my collection. She is Red Riding Hood. Her twin sister Kumi will be Wild Wolf Kumi. That's Yuri's stock pic at the top of the page.

So the page at the top is the beginnings of the FR section of my site. It needs to rain around here and make me stay inside and work on the site......alas the weather is beautiful and the pool is calling!!!

After a long break..........

Wow, what happened to the summer AND the fall for that matter. You would think I had actually returned to school, I go so bogged down. Well I did return to visit on the first Friday and bring the staff treats. They wanted to know if I was there to visit or gloat!!! It was fun to see everyone and to visit my students from last year in their new Grade 7 classes. Out of that visit spun off requests to have coffee, go to the gym, all of which kept me busy.

They we had the hassle of finding a new barn helper. Wow, that is an education in itself. Well, that left me doing barn work. But we did find one, however she is so fast, I don't think we have enough work to keep her happy. Only problem with this one, is that she is here early and leaves early and won't come back to feed lunch, which pretty well messes up my days as now I am on lunch duty every weekday.

This week I must set up the pages for our new auction on Auction Fever. Wow, whoever said retirement was lying around doing nothing, was NOT retired!!!

An Observation

I was doing my long overdue search for selling prices on eBay and Yahoo Japan this morning in order to update my very in need of an updating, Value Guide for Momoko. Much to my surprise I found many Momokos and very few bids. Out of 11 pages of listings there were only bids on 15 dolls. I hope it is the summer bidding doldrums that are still affecting the bidding market. Nothing seems to be selling. Is it summer or is it the fact that collectors are pricing themselves out of the market by asking such exhorbitant prices for Momokos. Personally I wouldn't pay the prices they are asking for the latest dolls and I'm wondering if everyone else is beginning to feel the "pinch" from these high prices. For example Tin Girl sold for 19000 Japan Yen(about $185.00US), she is on Yahoo Japan for upwards of 30000 Yen. Did these people just buy the dolls to flip them, hmmmm, well if they did, it isn't working out. Right now Dorothy seems to be the only doll in demand. There are three on YJ from 2100 to 30000 Yen, quite a price range.