Restoring an AG Collector Doll

I really like a good project doll.

Sometimes to my own detriment. 

But more on that in a second. 

This whole thing started when I decided to skip school. (I had parental permission and it was the last week, so there was nothing going on.) I really wanted to hang out with my best friend, and she didn't have school either, so we goofed off together. We decided to hit up a flea market in our town because she wanted to look for LPS and Marvel stuff, and I was surprised to find a lot of really good AG items there! It's been a minute since I've had a really good AG find, so you can imagine my joy when I found some newer dolls who were in TLC condition. 

Then I found Anna and Elsa. That got me really excited because they're both newer dolls. However...

They were charging $40 for each of them. Elsa had some kind of David Bowie inspired makeup going on, and Anna was going for first place in a Chappel Roan lookalike contest. 

So naturally, I decided to do what any normal person would do and bought Anna, figuring she'd be at least somewhat salvageable compared to Elsa.

I tried to justify it with the current price of AG dolls. Anna is $145 new, so really, a very TLC doll for $40 isn't that crazy.

I could tell she was in pretty good shape except for the makeover.

The seller labelled her as a "custom" doll. Yeah sure, like I can't tell the difference between a custom doll and an elementary schooler interested in a career in cosmetology. 

I digress. Once I saw what I was working with, I was optimistic. I was just saying I liked the Anna doll, but not enough to get her, so I guess I spoke things into existence. 

Here's a closer look of that makeup.

And her eyelids were painted, too...

I immediately started scrubbing at her face with a magic eraser, and it did very little. The blue did decide to somehow stain her body, though, so that was annoying. 

I started to question myself. There were little details about her that didn't match the Anna doll... pierced ears, a little bit of factory-painted eyeliner visible under the shimmery blue.

It was at that moment I realized this wasn't AG's $145 playline Anna doll.

It was AG's $310 Anna collector doll.

...

I had to take a moment to let that sink in. 

For one, I was excited that I thrifted a collector doll, and I felt a lot better about spending $40.

On the other hand, I really want to know the story of how a $310 collector doll ended up like this. 

I then decided to hit her with some 10% Benzoyl Peroxide acne cream, hoping it wouldn't take off too much face paint along with what I presumed to be Sharpie? 

So then, it was time for her to go outside.

Luckily for me, it was 80 degrees and sunny outside.

This was the part where I started to question my undertaking. Assuming I got her fixed up, I didn't really care about Anna. Would an emotional connection form with this doll through the restoration enough to justify keeping her? I could care less about having a Frozen collector doll. I mean, honestly, I wasn't even that big on Frozen as a kid. 

And after an hour, she looked like this. Her lip paint sadly came off, but she looked... better? The "better" part was to be determined. 

About two more hours in the sun, and I was starting to think maybe she would turn out after all.

You can kind of maybe see the white eyeliner under her fading makeover. That was honestly the only thing that tipped me off that this was the collector version. I think it's so strange to sell a doll for $310 and then turn around and sell an identical but slightly-less-blinged-out doll for half that. But I'm not AG, so what do I know? On the other hand, there were only 5000 of this doll made, so that's cool, I guess. That's the same number as the Barbie AG collector doll I have.

And here's the other eye. I was glad to see that her eyelashes weren't fading, considering I wanted to get this doll back to as close to new as possible.

My inner turmoil over whether or not to keep this doll continued. There were about a dozen other $300 dolls I'd rather have, but I know that thrifters can't be choosers. Still, a Gwen, Sonali, any CYO, Sapphire Splendor collector doll, or a really hard to find Truly Me would be so much more exciting. And maybe it was just a bad time to pick up this doll since AG has been making me sad lately. I mean, the red hair and bangs is a little too reminiscent of a certain redhead with bangs that AG has already announced for GOTY 2027...

*Sigh.*

I have to tell myself: "It's okay, E. Think happy thoughts." Monster High is releasing the Valentine and Spelldon 2-pack soon, and that's what keeps me going through AG's sad life choices. Val and Spell really are everything to me at this point in time. No, that's not dramatic.

And of course, the next day, it was raining buckets. 

When I got home from school, I went straight to her and picked the project right back up. It was cloudy outside, UV is usually stronger during overcast weather, so I figured more treatment might work better.

Back outside. I watched the weather carefully to make sure she didn't get left in the rain.

After about two hours, she looked a little better, but not yet where I wanted her to be.

So, needing to get ready for bed, I decided to play a fun game called "what happens if I scrub her face really hard with a dry magic eraser?" And you know what? It took off all the pink.

And then I took some of her eyelashes off and decided to stop. I wouldn't have cared about her eyelashes so much if she wasn't a collector doll.

On the third day, it was once again rainy, but I repeated the benzoyl peroxide treatment after school, and I could tell the end of her restoration was in sight. 

I used rubbing alcohol to loosen the color on her eyelids. Stains can be really tricky to remove on a doll's eyelids since it's a different kind of material; the benzoyl peroxide wasn't doing anything, but the rubbing alcohol definitely helped.

Then, I decided to start on some of the finishing details. I've always heard mixed opinions on washing doll hair, and I didn't used to think it was necessary, but I've changed my stance in recent years. When I got my white body Kirsten, I actually had an allergic reaction to her, very similar to the reaction I have around animals like cats and rabbits, and that opened my eyes to just how many allergens secondhand dolls can be exposed to. Since I never know the history of my secondhand dolls, and a majority of my dolls were purchased secondhand, I now was the hair of every secondhand doll I get (unless the doll has hair that I don't want to ruin, like my TM 86). I have pretty sensitive sinuses, so I feel a lot more comfortable with secondhand dolls this way.

Anna was no different.

I always start with a rinse...

...and then a mild shampoo, followed with conditioner. Shampoo removes allergens, which is a must for me. Conditioner isn't technically a necessity for doll hair since plastic fibers can't absorb the moisture, but I've found that having the conditioner coat the strands of hair reduces friction and helps with detangling. Anna's hair wasn't really detangling completely on its own, so I felt that conditioner would be beneficial. I usually detangle before I rinse the conditioner.

And I don't know why my hand looks blue in the above picture. I think that's just from my veins.

This is an abysmal photo. The lighting is really not the best in my bathroom. Apologies.

The next day, I put her outside again and kept her out for a few hours. She looked almost completely free of stains, so I scrubbed down the remaining color with acetone pads, being very careful to avoid her intentional eye makeup and her eyes themselves. 

Her eyelids still weren't perfect, and I melted a little spot with the acetone, but I was happy.

Next, I wanted to fix some of the factory paint I had lightened. For the eyelashes, I came in with colored pencils to make them darker. For her lips, I used an alcohol marker.

I used my flash on this photo so I could see the details better. Not too shabby!

And then I was pretty content! 

So here we are! She's pretty cute. I don't know what I'm going to do with her, but I thought, why not take a picture of her? I actually had so much fun fixing her up. She's not perfect, but she's like 80% perfect, which is much better than before. Someone please convince me not to go back to the flea market for more project dolls... 

So that's what I've been up to this week! I'm finally off school, and very glad to be done. Have a great week and remember to eat your veggies! Bye!