I used a piece of very fine sanding sponge to sand the shiny layer off my dolls face.
Gently sanded the whole surface of her face and the back of her head in slow, circular motions.
With this method you will lose the eyeshadow and blush, but can preserve the lipstick by carefully sanding outside the painted areas.
Use smaller pieces or strips of sanding sponge for the more difficult areas, such as her nose, chin and ears.
Replacing eyelashes
I wanted to replace my dolls eyelashes with more natural looking, self-adhesive ones.
The original Takara eyelashes are held together with water-soluble glue, and they were already soaked and removed when I was pulling out the eyechips.
Therefor I used a pair of tweezers to get the wet, messed up lashes out of the small gap in the eyelids.
Then I removed the old glue that was left behind with a pin. There is quite a lot of it, so be sure you get it all out.
I pulled the pullstring a little, wound it around my dolls neck and taped it on her back, so the eyelids showed some more and were easier to approach.
Then I glued the left pair of the new (human size) lashes on a small strip of paper. With this strip I measured the gap in the left eyelid, and marked the paper where to cut.
I cut the lashes - while they were still on the paper - the right size, and glued both leftovers on them, so they had a double layer.
Then I carefully took the lashes from the paper and pushed them gently into the left eyelid gap with a blunt needle. You don't need any more glue to hold them in, for they are already gummed and stay in very well.
With the needle I could easily push every lash a little to and fro until they were nice and even.
Then I did the same with the right pair of lashes and the right eye :)
Make-up: eyeshadow
Both oil-free chalk pastels (see craft stores) and oil-free human eyeshadow can be used. Since I don't like bright coloured eyeshadow, I just wanted to add a soft grey shade.
You can use a sponge tipped eyeshadow applicator to apply the colour in thin layers, a soft brush or q-tip will do fine too. Better don't use your fingers, they can cause greasy stains!
Gently rub the eyeshadow in circles with a clean applicator to make it fade out.
Make-up: blusher
For blusher you can also use the oil-free chalk pastels or oil-free human blusher.
I used an eyeshadow applicator to apply the blush in thin layers, in circular motions.
Then I took a dry cotton ball and rubbed it gently over the cheeks, fading the colour out.
Finishing touch: custom eyechips
And finally I could put some new eyechips in!
I used a toothpick to add just a little transparent glue on the edges of the eyeholes, to prevend the chips from accidentally slipping out and falling in the head when rotating the eyes (that happened to me once, and it was a hell of a job to get the chip out again!)
Then I took the new eyechip and firmly pushed it in place.
Be sure it's well set and equal with the eyeball surface, or the eyelids won't close properly and cause scratches on the eyechip!
Repeat this for all eyeballs and chips :)
Done!
Shown in the picture are the gorgeous golden brown eyechips, "Toffee", that I foiled and rimmed.
Look here to see all my girls eyechips.
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