Out of the Box: Omar (Island Doll Kevin)

Day one: these eyes proved to be a little small.

This little guy was my first standard Yo-sized doll, and was a bit of an impulse buy:  a dealer happened to have the tan version in-stock, and the temptation was just too great (it was 2011, which was my Year of Too Many Dolls.  I like to think I've gained some self-control since then ;).


Being an impulse buy, I hadn't done any research into Island Doll's quality before he arrived, so I was a little worried - but I needn't have been, because he's a lovely doll.  The Island Doll resin has a slight translucence to it, which gives it a nice warm tone in certain lighting - there's a slight redness to the tan that only appears in direct light.  In indirect light the colour is a nice light brown (when the red is disguised by shadow, he's quite close in colour to Iplehouse's Lt Brown).

Current wig and eyes

As is common with Chinese BJD companies, he came with sanded seams, and his resin has a nice even smoothness.  But unlike my dolls from Illusion Spirit, Dollzone and Bobobie, the sanding lines are virtually invisible - they really did a wonderful job of it, at least on this specific doll.  The only area with noticeable colour variation is along his headcap, which is always hidden under a wig.

I was also delighted by the engineering.  He has double-jointed elbows and knees but the joints aren't slippery, so he can hold a variety of poses without issue.  He's also able to stand without support on display, which is a fantastic bonus feature.

His face sculpt has a nice youthful quality that could work for a variety of ages.  Painted differently (and depending on eye size), he could work for any age from toddler right up to an eight-ten year old).  The features are a bit stylized, but not so strikingly so that he's out of place with more realistic dolls.

Overall, I would give this doll top marks for pose-ability, resin quality and overall appeal.

Kneeling (he can actually go deeper than this)

Cross-Company Comparison: Tan Resins

One of the big challenges that I hear about from people who want to hybrid tan dolls is the near-impossibility of finding matching colours without having to resort to custom batches or blushing an entire body to match a head.  With that in mind, here are a couple of references based on my own collection:

1. Illusion Spirit tan (ZhuQing, 2011)
2. Secretdoll tan (Binu, 2008)
3. Dollmore Suntan (Mettaa, 2010)
4. Iplehouse Ebony (Chase, 2009)
5. Iplehouse old Dark tan (Aaron, 2007)
6. Soom Dark Brown (London, 2011)
7. Iplehouse Light Brown (Arvid, 2011)
8. Limhwa tan (Half-Elf, 2011)
9. Dollzone tan (Alpha, 2011)
10. Volks ebony (Irvin, 2008)
11. Island Doll tan (Kevin, 2011)
12. Iplehouse old light tan (Cocori, 2008)
13. ResinSoul coffee/light tan (2010)

Clockwise, starting with the feet:

1. FantasyDoll Dark tan (Charlotte, 2013)
2. Iplehouse ebony (Boris, 2013)
3. Soom dark brown (London, 2011)
4. Dollmore suntan (Mettaa ),
5. Island doll tan (Kevin, 2011)
6. Illusion Spirit tan (ZhuQing, 2011)
7. Souldoll tan (Rouse, 2010), 
8. Iplehouse light brown (Arvid, 2011)
9. Limhwa tan (Half-eld, 2011)
10. Dollzone tan (Alpha, 2011)

Personally, I thought the biggest find was the similarity between Iplehouse's light brown and Island
Doll's tan (although the IS tan does have slightly more red to it).

That's EID Arvid in light brown holding Island doll Kevin in tan on the left.