lsoleman1982
Active Member
It can be quite dramatically different.
On the bright side makeup isn't that difficult to get your head around. I look at it more as painting their faces than applying makeup... I actually use oil and water colour brushes along with the makeup brushes to bring them to life.
Taking an example of the 6YE girl who arrived here from Lucid a few months back.
Then once you have a wig on them they come to life:
Take a look at images posted by many members of the site and see how they evolve from when they were first posted on here until now. Some of the transformations are quite dramatic.
And don't think its all camera trickery. personally I use software to change the exposure and focus because the screen on my camera is too small to see the detail but there is no major alterations to the images (unless its for a specific pupose such as making someone disappear in a mirror.
I try to get the pictures to show how I see the girls despite my poor camera skills and a camera thats a little past its prime now. If I could capture how these girls look in real life I would be a very happy man.
So fundamentally. In real life you use makeup to try and make them indisinguishable from a living Elf (yes they do exist, lol) and for photographs you try to capture an image as good as what you can see. Think that I'm getting there with the former but I'm a very long way away with the latter.
What you were hinting at about the more you spend the longer they will last unfortunately doesn't hold true.
A £2k body is just as likely to become flopsy as a £800 one. Also the more that you pose them the faster they lose the ability to maintain a pose. Doesn't mean its end of life or even end of their photography career but it simply means that maintaining a pose has restrictions that you work around. It could actually be argued that a floppy body can be posed more naturally.
On the metal bolts in the feet. With TPE if you want them to stand then you have to accept it. You can get plastic covers for the foot bolts (Algae sells them). My girls all wear socks and most of them wear shoes / boots so the foot bolts are not a concern.
Maybe worth throwing in there that the old hard TPE bodies some of them could be stood on their feet for extended periods... IF... the foot had a foot plate. Some that do not have the ability to stand simply had wires inside the TPE and if you tried to stand those you would break the ankles. I doubt that you would find one of those sort now although there are still some dodgy doll manufacturers out there so never say never.
Lets just say that you won't find one amongst the dolls that we recommend.
Thank you for the pics,
That does make such a difference to the realism, nice work! I could definitely learn a few make up techniques with a bit of practice, hopefully well enough to do a few different looks for whichever girl I end up getting
I would like to think I will get a decent enough camera and do photoshoots too as that sounds fun!
I need to think about feet, as standing would be good, if the foot bolt covers are good I would certainly be interested in them! though I'm happy to sacrifice a standing option if need be.
to the rabbit hole 
