Tan skin worries..... color changing?

Also curious about this. I have bought a tan doll that is on its way to me and would like to know how it looks if it ''yellows''. I heard you cannot really mod some company tan skins? Is this true?

 

It depends on the company, really. Modern resin technology can give you a nice tan that's resistant to fading and the same color all the way through. Older resins, and the companies that still use them, can be subject to problems, but they're usually minor. I think the disclaimers on the company sites are just a CYA kind of thing. When tan resin changes color, it's usually the red tones that fade first. So it doesn't exactly "yellow", just get "less red" if that makes sense.

 

Tan skin has a lot of reasons why it would be different. The company would have to use more dye to make the resin darker and that would cause uneven coloring, bubbles or swirls. Also the companies usually avoid sanding the resin because it cause the resin to have some lighter patches.
Like alewife said, red tones are used more in tan skin and red tones are what breaks up first and disappears. Older tan skin dolls turn green as it mellows (think, red+green= brown, thus, red-brown=green). However, lately, many companies has improved the formula and reduced this issue. Also with this, many companies improved the technique of removing the resin from the mold that they don't have to really sand the doll so much to make it look good.
They're honestly beautiful tone and don't fret about your doll having some oddities, it's normal and it's what gives it a character. ^_^

 

I've owned 4 tan dolls in the last 10 years. And unfortunately all of them for less than a year. But that has more to do with my finances and my changing taste in dolls. (sizes mostly)

The four dolls I've had were beautiful. Since I haven't had a tan doll for long enough to notice any fading/yellowing/discoloring, I can't help there. But my dolls have all been beautifully made, no bubbles, no uneven coloring, no rough surfaces. I can't really tell you about seam lines as they've never bothered me, raised or otherwise.

Three out of the four were all from the same company, Limhwa. My first was an MSD sized girl that I purchased back in 2009. She was maybe a little dusty looking, but not bad and mostly in the joints. She was still pretty smooth. Not as smooth as the other two from Limhwa though. The other two Limhwa's don't look dusty. Here's some pics of the girls so you can see the resin:
2009 Limhwa
2016 Limhwa

You can see in the 2016 Limhwa picture that the girls are different colors. I purchased them from JunkySpot and I'm not sure how long they've been there. So maybe the resin color difference is the "yellowing" or they were from different resin batches. I'm not sure.

And the other tan doll I have is from Ringdoll and I LOVE him. He is so beautiful. His resin is smooth and perfect! Haha.
Ringdoll

 

Tan resin is absolutely gorgeous, but it requires a bit more care. You should not be worried about buying tan resin, but just be aware of the following:

The oxidation process of a tan doll is called "greening" instead of "yellowing" because once the red pigment starts fading, the resin will gain a green hue. To reduce the oxidation process don't leave your doll in sunny places for prolonged periods of time. Always avoid direct heat (such as light bulbs, or heaters), and you can coat them with a bit of Mr. Super Clear UV cut if you become paranoid enough.

Another thing to remember about tan resin is that it changes color if you try to sand off the resin. All dolls have some seam lines due to the manufacturing process, and they might even come with slight imperfections. Some lines/imperfections are more apparent than others, but on tan resin you can't sand them off because the tan resin will gain a white or smokey grey color.

Finally, most companies will offer replacement parts if they come damaged during shipment, but most often, you may have to order replacement parts that have been damaged using their COA number.

Personally, I own a handful of tan dolls because I love their color. A couple of my dolls actually have some oxidation. My Iplehouse Aurora in real skin resin has an even discoloration, but you can see a light green tint that does not appear at all in photographs. On the other hand, my light brown Iplehouse Storm has severe oxidation on his neck and his left forearm and the color is definitely green. Both are in the old resin, so unless glow skin matches the old, I can't get replacement parts >_<.

 

Do you have any photos to show the green tint it becomes? Will they turn green even if they are out of light most of the time or will it still happen over time?

Does anyone know if RSdolls has the new kind?

 

I was going to post about it now. I'm going to buy my first doll, it's going to be a minifee chloe and i would love her to be tan, but i don't know if she's gonna be good for my first doll. Anyone has any recommendations? *Sorry about my bad english*

 

I don't have a clear picture of Storm's greening because He is currently not on display, but if you focus on his neck area, you can more or less see the discoloration on his neck. If you are curious, I can take pictures of him this weekend.
https://flic.kr/p/JS9V8C

Sadly, Aurora's color does not show up in the pictures I have taken, but the green tint can be seen with the naked eye.

 

I can see it sliiiiightly but it doesn't look so bad as I thought to be honest. ^^ does make me feel relieved! I love tan dolls so much it's sad the light and age effect dolls in general some dolls turn out a very nice color when they yellow though.

Thank you so much! and I would love to see more photos once you have the time!~☆

 

Oh, how I love tan dolls! I have owned so many. The only ones I ever noticed having any green tint at all were my Mirodoll girl in burnt sugar, who was quite visibly more green than my other tan dolls, and she arrived to me that way, and my Luts Senior Delf body in brown skin, but I think it only looks that way because I paired it with a Little Rebel brown head that is slightly more red toned than the body. The body doesn't look green to me on its own, and I've had it for a year.

I have a chocolate skin Jie Doll Michel, who is a very dark brown environmental resin. I've had him for almost five years, and he is still a gorgeous color and not a single hint of green at all. He also has no marbling, no uneven color, no sanding marks, and no seams. I feel that he has aged better than most of my WS or NS dolls!

The worst seams I've seen on a tan doll were DikaDoll, and that was in early 2013. They were very rough. Fairyland, Iplehouse, Luts, and Soom all have seams, but they weren't bad enough to bother me, and I haven't noticed any greening. The Mirodoll had horrible sanding lines, so badly that she couldn't wear anything that didn't completely cover her body. However, that was in early 2014, and a friend of mine has ordered several dark skinned Mirodolls this year who look a hundred times better than mine did! I've owned a dark tan ResinSoul/Bobobie hybrid who didn't exactly have seams or sanding marks, but did have marbling in the resin. My sister owned one in the light tan skin, and I don't recall it being uneven at all. We've owned tan Dollzone, Angel of Dream, IslandDoll, Elfdoll, and Impldoll and I don't recall uneven colors, seams or sanding marks on them, or any greening. I briefly owned a Minifee Celine in tan skin, and while Fairyland tan dolls are notorious for messy seams and snowflaking, I didn't see any flaws on her.

Soooo....as you can see, it really varies by company, year the doll was made, and resin batch. I feel like most newer dolls, especially from well known companies, are probably not going to turn pea green or have seams so rough they'll cut you. If you want a tan doll, don't let fear stop you. Research the specific company. Find out if they are known to have any particular problems. If they have had problems, find out if they have been fixed. (Having trouble with tan skin in 2008 doesn't mean current batches are bad.) Look for owner photos of tan dolls from the company you are considering. Go to the discussion thread, ask questions of people who do own them. Start photo requests in the Reference>Photo Reference section. If you do your research, I think it'll help you feel more comfortable about your purchase.

 

If you love the tan resin colors there's generally no reason to avoid buying one as your first doll. I recommend that any time you are considering buying a new (or used) doll, you do your research to learn more about the company and the experiences others have had with them. If you have questions about the tan resin of a particular company you can visit the company discussion threads on Den of Angels and see what other members have to say about the tan resin.

It's usually a good idea not to use sandpaper on a tan doll as you could reveal a different resin color underneath. Some companies will always sand seams, other companies won't ever sand seams, and sometimes a company will sand normal skin dolls but not tan skin dolls.

While tan resins can experience severe greening it's not common enough to lose sleep over. Really strange discolorations (including lightening of the resin or uneven color aging) are more common in older resin dolls. Tan dolls aren't the only dolls that can begin to turn a bit green anyway. White skin dolls can definitely develop an unsettling green cast over time and normal skin dolls can become extremely yellow or olive over time. I see no reason not to pick the color you like most from the beginning!

 

Newer tan resins often have a UV resistant component mixed in, which also helps protect them from changing colour too quickly over time.

I have owned quite a few tan dolls, the longest my Dollshe Saint who I haven't noticed much change in his colour over the last few years. His joints are quite dusty, with obvious sanded areas where he was rough from coming out of the mold. Whereas my Supia girl was smooth all over, with no differently coloured sanded areas at all. It really does depend a lot on the specific company.

 

I haven't heard of many problems in recent years. The earlier tan resins didn't use any UV protection and the companies were just trying formulas out, so sometimes there were problems. Iplehouse's Real Skin originally had a bad greening problem, but they offered discounts on replacements for people who didn't like it, and came out with Special Real Skin and UV protection about 6 or 7 years ago and I don't think I've heard of people having any problems after that. SOME companies will try and fix major problems when they occur, but usually the problems are more minor and mostly just the nature of resin and the pigments and dyes put in it to make the colors.

I've had tanned dolls for 6 or more years and I haven't noticed any color changes. All resin will change a bit over time. Some have more obvious issues-- Long ago there wasn't UV protection and some companies used French Resin, which is more translucent, but which sometimes turned very yellow... but this was more of a problem over 10 years ago.

As others have said, definitely do research on the specific dolls you are thinking about. People here will know about any problems and will often talk about them in the Discussion threads, and elsewhere. And you still need to keep all things out of direct sunlight or continuous florescent light.

Personally, I have no hesitation in buying tanned dolls or any color dolls these days! As Alewife said, a lot of the warnings on company sites are mostly in case of legal issues--making sure buyers know the dolls are hand-made and may have some minor flaws or could have color changes if you sand, etc., mostly as a CYA--I have never seen bubbles and very rarely seen marbling over dozen years I've been into bjds. But it's good to be aware of possible problems--so good question. But it's not a big issue these days.

 

I own a light tan skin from Resinsoul, I've had her almost a year now and haven't seen any change and she's always been very even and beautiful. I've also seen plenty of older secondhand tan dolls that look good as new to me so as of yet I haven't seen the issue with owning tan dolls. The one I will say I've seen have bad issues is I believe Mirodoll and they're burnt sugar skintone..I've seen a lot of unfortunate box openings where the resin is blotchy and uneven heavily in color. And that in a sense is why companies must include the warning on the off chance something does happen to come out that way. The warnings come off more scary than they really tend to be from what I've seen. I will also say that I've seen great success with blushing and such to correct any inconsistencies in the tan resins. So in all don't be afraid to dive in after what you want!

 

Ahh, I'm glad to have seen this thread! I've been wanting a tan doll but I've been a bit nervous due to the horror stories and warnings I've seen. I'm glad to hear a lot of those are not the norm, and the greening really doesn't sound or look as bad as I was expecting! Thanks to everyone that posted here, and Jessdj88 for starting this topic!

Think I'll start looking more up about the different companies I'm most interested in getting a tan doll from! : D

 

Here are some of my tanned dolls... No problems with marbling or sanding marks or greening!

Iplehouse Theo (lt. brown) 4 years old, Iplehouse Tedros (sp Real Skin) 4 years old, and on far right Iplehouse Rex (lt. brown) 1 year in this photo--

 

I have 3 tan dolls. 2 are from AoD and 1 from RS. My AoD boys are 8 years old and I can honestly say I don't see any greening of them. One of them, Moswen (AoD) is my favourite doll of my entire collection and he's been all over the place with me doing outdoor shoots/meets and even on vacation with me several times. Tohan (AoD) was a free head I was sent in the wrong resin colour (tan instead of NY) and his head lived in a box for 8 years before I figured out who he was recently. When I put them side-by-side, I can't see any difference in the colour of their resin (they were most likely of the same resin batch since they were sent to me together). There is no marbling or sanding marks on them. The body I recently bought for Tohan is an AoD but they year of its make is unknown as I'm the 3rd or 4th owner of it. The shade of tan is slightly different than my original boys, but it's also most likely a different resin batch and I've no idea how the body was stored/displayed before I got it.

My RS boy, Aischylos, is in their dark tan and he's about 4 years old. I haven't noticed any colour change in him and his colour is completely even with no marbling or seam lines/sanding marks. He is the same colour as the alternate hands I got for him at the same time that I got him and the hands have been in a box for most of the 4 years I've had Aischylos.

Slightly unrelated, I also have an RS boy, Jolen, in their old blue (which is very pale) who is 6 years old. Despite living most of his life in his box (I have zero display space and Idiot Cat *sigh*), his pale blue resin has changed to a lovely, utterly even light turquoise (which totally works for his character, so I'm fine with it). When I noticed he'd changed so much despite not being exposed to light/heat, I assumed that I'd gotten an unstable batch as far as colour goes. It happens *shrugs*.

 

Interesting to know about your Resinsoul (?) BLUE boy going a bit yellow. If he's a very light blue, I can see it, though. The white resin can yellow a bit and the blue can be more fugitive than some other colors, so the combination just adds up to a shift to green. That happened in a really bad way with the Bambicrony Light blue Kumi, made in 2007--it was a known issue, since they used French Resin. They went pea green very quickly (within a year!). BUT---I have had several other blue resin dolls since that one and they have stayed blue! And I haven't heard of other issues as bad as that.

I really do think most companies have got some pretty good resin recipes these days. --There are always some new colors and mixes being tested out, though, so sometimes there is a risk that color changes (worse than typical resin aging) could happen... but they aren't common. (thank goodness!)

=====
Resin does age and naturally yellow. I'm still a bit hesitant to buy transparent resins (after the bambicrony French Resin problem!). And I worry slightly about reds and some blues fading a bit... So for tan dolls, I usually prefer the tans that are slightly more red than yellow, just in case! But I already have some tans that are more greeny/yellow out of the box... Sometimes, I'll just take the risk and see! So far, so good, though! The Iplehouse Tedros I have in the photo above is now 6 years old and is doing OK, and the Special (revised, after the problems Iplehouse had with the original color) Real Skin color is on the green/yellow side of tan colors. And I'm currently in layaway for a Granado in Tan, which is a similar tan to IH Real Skin... But I haven't heard of any problems so far, so it should be OK.

 

I wish I could take a decent shot of Jolen's colour change and compare it to older pics of him but my camera hates to photograph the "weird" colours and always tries to autocorrect the colours.

I think the reason my AoD boys are more or less stable is that the old tan they used to do was sort of a butterscotch kind of colour, so was already into the more yellow end of the spectrum than the red/orange end. I love the colour of it.

 

@LillyLullaby

As promised, here are some pictures of my Iplehouse Storm.

https://flic.kr/p/PiHrZA
https://flic.kr/p/PiHqCY
https://flic.kr/p/PPb4rN

Admittedly, the greening is not as noticeable in pictures due to difference in lighting, the limitations of my cellphone camera, and such, but in person the green hue is a bit more noticeable. You can also type the keyword Iplehouse greening and you will be able to see their colors for greening/yellowing.

Still, Iplehouse's tan resin is certainly and increadibly beautiful and the greening of their tan resin tends not to be too noticeable in pictures which is always welcome a welcome sight.

 

Storm was made in their old light brown resin from 2012 which is a richer and more natural looking color than their newer resin from 2014. You are absolutely right about the color turning a lovely olive green color. Sadly, I don't own a tan Fairyland doll to compare their possible greening.

But like many members have mentioned on this thread, most companies have UV protection resin now, and a resin's natural oxidation process is also pretty slow, so you won't have to worry about it for years.

 

My light brown Iplehouse (Noctarcana Circus) Theo from 2010 doesn't have any noticeable greening... but it's sometimes hard to tell. I'll need to try and take a photo of him totally undress in strong light, I think! I think it can vary by the batch. I should go check out the greening thread myself...

Here's a recent photo--

 

Don't worry about greening, April. If you can't see it, your doll may not have any greening, and that's the best type of news any owner can get.

 

... but... they might be greening and I just haven't checked them out thoroughly??!!! Eh, well... not much I can do about it, if they are, I guess. I should try and check the next time I change them, though! (But I'm usually in a huge hurry and don't really take the time to get them in the light and look them over!).

I guess, as long I haven't noticed anything greening, I shouldn't worry too much! --But weird about how batches can differ like that.

 

Your dolls are lovely. I heard that the darker the tan the less likely for it to fade? Does any one have issues with the tanned dolls getting uneven with age?

Thank you

 

I have a tan Peakswoods Brianna from 2010. I purchased her second-hand and the seller was completely honest in the ad about her tan being faded and greening. But she was so gorgeous and such a good price I adopted her anyway, figuring I could adjust any coloring issues with some judicious blushing. When the doll arrived, I fell in love with her just as she is and never changed a thing! That fading and greening was negligible to me and if anything, only added to her unique beauty. Throughout the late 20-teens I added more tan dolls to my collection, and none of them have faded or changed color.

 

She is beautiful, yeah I dont see any issues either. If you dont mention I would think she is good as new

 

I have an Iplehouse Kamau from probably about 2010, in their darkest tan shade, Ebony, and I’ve noticed no discolouration on him at all! Even better, I’ve been sanding him for mods and I haven’t seen colour chance between newly exposed resin from the modding, and his colour on the surface. (please note: a lot of companies do not recommend this. It’s something you do kind of at your own risk, as some companies used to make tan by having a layer of tan over a paler resin colour—it’s not common anymore, but this could be the case with my older Iplehouse man)

 

I have eight tan dolls from different companies dating from 2013 forward, and I've seen very few problems. The only one with an air bubble has it between his toes, and its a millimeter wide and not noticeable unless I look for it. One of them has some faint marbling, but its subtle enough that I don't remember which doll it is. I have a Fairyland doll in tan from early 2014 and my NS DIM doll from less than 6 months has yellowed more noticeably than she has. She doesn't seem to have changed color at all. The only one I've had noticeably fade to green is my Soom tan doll from 2013. Her face, hands, lower arms and feet have all faded to a greenish hue from being poorly protected from the sun for several months. She was my first, and I didn't realize how evil direct sunlight is when it comes to tan resin.

My other tan Soom doll ("bronze" and nearly 6 now) doesn't appear to have change color at all. Nor have the tan dolls from Granado or Dikadoll. My others might be too new to tell, but I now keep all my BJDs out of direct sunlight except for the occasional photo.

 

Talking about Tan resin problems, I got my DFH tan and they came in super shiny unlike the other doll bodies I've previously had. I've read that you can use MSC to make it matte but it can leave a discoloration. How do I prevent that?

 

I've never heard of msc causing discoloration as such. A thick layer or one that's been sprayed in less than optimal weather conditions might be visible but that's not a bigger problem than removing the msc and trying again. I coated my tan Myou Gina completely and her color looks fine. Msc UV cut also has the bonus of slowing the yellowing/greening process which is a huge plus for me

 

Ooo thank you for the tip. I'll try it on his body once rainy season is over

 

Glad to help
If you don't already have an established msc spraying routine I recommend reading the bit about msc on here: /threads/all-about-sealants.605416/
and the thread on respiratory protection: /threads/what-you-need-to-know-about-respiratory-protection.399096/

 

I don't have many photos that I would be able to share, but I have quite a few tan people here. the one thing I can say about my 3 Iplehouse guys is that they went green. I honestly don't mind as I happen to be a woman of color and we come in so many shades. The green is actually more like olive tone, so it isn't that different to me. But that being said, my tan Limwha half elf is still terracotta tan and my tan Lishe from 15 years ago is still the same beautiful girl as then. No I don't keep them in a dark room, I have them out in a huge grouping in my bedroom on a long table.

 

There's already a lot of responses to this, but I noticed another question:

My oldest tan doll is from 2013 and I got him in a dark resin from Luts called "real skin brown". I check him often, and he doesn't seem to have faded, gone uneven, greened, or yellowed, at least not his brown parts. (He's a centaur, so the human half is "normal", and it's definitely yellowed with age.) Meanwhile, a random Mirodoll torso I happen to own (bought it to practice mods) has absolutely greened, and it's a somewhat lighter color. It's about as old as my centaur is, give or take a year.

So there might be something to the idea that darker resins age better. I wish I had more comparisons to make, but my other tans are new or dyed.

 

I have three tan (medium brown, lovely color) dolls who will turn 13 this year and as far as I can tell their resin hasn't changed a bit. I am careful to keep them out of direct sunlight, but the same can be said of my white skin doll who was produced the same year and has quite noticeably gone from a delicate pinky-white to sallow yellow.

 

I bought Miro Doll dark chocolate Mika waaay back when I was new to the hobby. She came with very blotchy color and prominant seam lines, but I chalked that up to her being an inexpensive doll.

Currently I have a light tan/coffee Bobobie Dai and her tan is beautiful.



Bobobie Dai

 

Reviving this thread for some advice...
I had grand doll plans of different sized 'Alice' dolls all from the same company, so that I could do Alice in Wonderland shoots where they had the same outfits, for shrink/grow fun.

I bought a Withdoll Adriana in Real UV resin in August 2015. She arrived Jan 2016.

In 2021 I was gifted some money from my Nana and splurged, buying 3 more Withdoll dolls at the same time, thinking that way they'd age the same. There didn't seem to be the UV option this time, but I picked Real resin colour as I thought this was the same thing and they now just included the sun protection by default.

There was a mention down the bottom of the pages for dolls about colours changing, but also a note saying that
'All product will be made with the highest quality sunscreen regardless of skin type.'
I wasn't aware of any complaints with Withdoll resin and since my Adriana has aged beautifully, now over 6 years old and only slightly less red toned in areas most exposed, I wasn't worried.

The new trio (JWD, KWD and BWD) arrived June 2021. They were kept out on my work desk, I was living with my parents until recently while we built a new house. Our temporary 'home' was a single room with very little natural light as there were only windows and a screen door at one end. However, it did have big fluroescent lights, which I had on daily when working. I was concerned when I packed them away for us to move that the new dolls all appeared to have yellowed noticably, even in the short time we were there.

We've now been living in our new home 6 months. The new dolls have just turned 1 year old and the yellowing is now even more noticable. These dolls have been out, exposed to light, but not direct sunlight shining on them. I went to change their clothes today, getting out their other feet and hands and cried at the difference. They're only a year old and at this rate will be green in another.

Doing research now, I didn't realise that Withdoll's 'UV' resin wasn't a coating, but a completely different resin type. So my dream of having dolls that matched, just because they're from the same company is looking less and less possible.

I'm now panicking because my years of planning and literally over a thousand dollars is looking like it is blowing up. I was thinking I'd have these dolls for years to come, they'd make me smile and think of my Nana, and if I took care of them, they'd age together.

From discussions here, I thought nowdays tan resin wasn't as prone to greening as it used to be, as companies continued to improve their formulas etc. To the point where I couldn't believe I was having such a colour difference after only a year. Was this a mistake? Bad batch?

Anyone else have experience with Withdoll Real colour resin aging and the rate of yellowing/greening?
I'll post photos later, I'm writing this at midnight because I can't sleep and just need to do something with my anxiety.

Example image - Warning for doll nudity

Trying out Imgur, please let me know if you can/can't see images.

I tried to colour correct the images to as real life, but they still appear too pink to my eyes on screen. It was hard going after a while as the yellowed areas messed with my eyes compared to the non-yellowed areas and they also blew out.

If you look hard you can see the shorts line on both the KWD and JWD. The feet and hands are by far the worst of it. I found that all 3 had significantly less on the back of their legs vs. the front. I put the heel feet on the JWD to get the best contrast between the yellowed and non-yellowed. Same with putting the BWD hands next to their yellowed hands.

In real life the yellowed parts look lighter than the non-yellowed parts, with a definite olive colour, compared to the warm brown of the tan still in good condition.

I think I wouldn't be so upset if they had yellowed evenly. But it is very much NOT even. With the legs and arms obviously a different colour on one side, and the hands and feet completely different.

I could also see that the colour change on the hands wasn't consistent, as in the web of the fingers and in between there is a slight warmth compared to the discolouration of the back of the hand and top of the fingers.

And the prospect that I did this to them, by having them out for the 6 months I was staying with my parents, which might have been avoided if I'd just had them in box, is gutting. I've now put the non-yellowed parts and one of the headcaps out in my new home, putting the rest back into their boxes, to try purposefully yellow those parts. As an experiment to try find out both
A) Are the parts still yellowing in our new home at an accelerated rate, possibly proving the resin to be the problem.
B) Are the parts able to yellow at a less significant rate, possibly proving the fluorescents in the previous environment to be the problem.

I also now have the problem that we are making doll shelves with some in-built lighting and I don't want to cause aging by choosing the wrong kind of lighting set up for that either! Sigh

Spoiler

Think I've figured it out, images were too big. Hopefully they can be viewed now.

 

@Buzzibee I'm so sorry this happened to you, dear. Yes, you're right, fluorescent lamps emit UV light and they can accelerate yellowig in resin dolls. I'm no technician, I only know this because this was always one of the things besides sunlight I was cautioned against starting out in the hobby. To make it more fact-based, I've looked up some info for you in the wikipedia, so here goes:

... the photosensitive individuals in this case being your dolls, sadly. I know nothing about Withdoll resin and its colour-stabilizing properties, though, I'm sorry.

 

I bet LED would be pretty safe—I’m coming at this from a different angle, because I work with reptiles, which need UV. Fluorescent (previously T8, now T5 high output) is the best source of UV (in specific bulbs built to give off waaaaay more uv than a standard fluorescent. LED has absolutely taken over aquarium lighting in a huge way, but they can’t get it to make any significant amount of UV for reptiles that need it.

I think there are types of LED they use in museums that would be the most safe, but even basic LEDs are a pretty big reduction in UV and heat output from fluorescent tube lighting. That said all my info is adapted over from a totally different hobby, so I can’t be sure!

 

@Mandagore thanks for your contribution.

@Chameleon thats good to know! Very interesting.

 

Hi everyone, this is a post I’ve been meaning to make for quite a while, and only just sat down to get a final draft done (then promptly lost the draft on DoA and had to start over with an older version of the post that I had saved to my computer, lol). I tried to keep it as short as possible, but I’m by nature a blabbermouth and also getting over being sick, so please forgive my rambling. xD

For those of you who don’t follow my Instagram, about a month after I received my Souldoll Kid Ricia in the new neutral tan skin color, I noticed she was changing color. It was mostly in places that hadn’t been covered, but she was definitely turning green (I actually think the fact that it was so uneven made it more glaring). Afterward I think I walked around my house feeling like I’d just had a bad breakup, I was so upset, because my Ricia was my dream doll. Shortly after this I emailed Souldoll about the problem, and they only asked for some photos before they said they were sending me a new one with more UV protection mixed into the resin. She came even faster than the original and looked perfect. I was so relieved and hoped that the problem was over. And it was definitely improved, because instead of greening within one month, like the first one did, it took closer to a year. But the fact remains, she still seems to be turning green.

To give some backstory on why I know this isn’t normal (or really acceptable, because there is no disclaimer for this kind of discoloration on Souldoll’s website), I’ve had tan dolls from both Fairyland and Iplehouse, and despite the fact that I never display my dolls in direct sunlight, the rooms where I displayed them were very bright and full of indirect sun almost everyday. And yet neither my Fairyland or Iplehouse dolls showed any signs of discoloration in all the years I owned them.

Recently, I finally emailed Souldoll to let them know that they’d improved the issue, but not fixed it. I let them know that I was sad about the discoloration but made it clear that I wasn’t asking for another replacement, because I know they’re probably hurting in this economy and I did not want to be that problem customer that causes trouble and makes ridiculous demands, lol. In response, they were very polite and asked me some questions along the lines of looking into a fix for the problem. They also thanked me for reaching out. Overall it was a very positive interaction, and I’m hopeful that they’ll be able to solve this problem so that no one else has to see their dolls turning green.

In the meantime, because I had no use for another Ricia, one of my floating heads has been able to use the extra body. It’s nice that she’s not a floating head anymore, but that doesn't fully negate for how upsetting this was for me. If I could go back and change it, I would probably get my Ricia in normal skin so that I wouldn’t have had to deal with the issue at all (which would be sad in a way, because I almost always bond better with tan dolls). To be honest, part of me wishes that I had asked them to send me a normal skin replacement instead.

In the end, I think because Souldoll worked so hard to fix this for me, I somehow felt like I shouldn't feel disappointed or upset that this is happening (again). I’m really thankful they replaced her, but whenever I look at her, I have to fight sadness and fear of this problem getting even worse, and the possibility that I will have to wipe her faceup (which is pretty special to me) and maybe try to blush her to get her back to a normal human color again. The reason for this post is partly just to admit that this is indeed upsetting for me, in the hopes that I’ll be able to make peace with it, find a solution, and move on.

My other reason is just to bring awareness, because if I had known about this problem in advance, it absolutely would have affected my decision about which skin color to get my girl in. I am not posting this to bash Souldoll or damage their reputation in any way, because as far as I'm concerned they went above and beyond when I brought the problem to them. I still totally recommend them as a company. Their customer service has been great all around and their dolls are beautiful (and lovely posers as well). Heck, I’m even planning on ordering another doll from them before too long (just not in tan skin, haha).

So that’s my experience with greening. If anyone else has had problems with tan resin turning green, with any company, feel free to share your story and what solutions you were able to find!

(PS. As far as solutions go, sorry guys, but turning my Ricia into a fantasy character with green skin isn’t an option, because she is very much rooted in her story as a very human kickboxer, haha).

Spoiler: Photos of the greening

A comparison from when the replacement first arrived in May 2021:


Recent photos of the replacement:

 

That really sucks. I'm so sorry it's happened to you, and definitely important to know about this specific company/ Resin combo. It really looks like a tan version of the eventual color bleaching out effect that I have had on very very few of my ns dolls over a very long period of time. (Where instead of getting more yellow or darker they just get very very pale).
Just want to give you a virtual hug. I would feel really crummy too, especially, I understand wanting to not hold it against them, but it doesn't make it not a problem.

 

Oh no! I'm so sorry the tan isn't stable - surely the greening is understandable in 5+ years, but mere months to a year is definitely heartbreaking to see. I can see how Souldoll didn't know, given that they offer tan rarely, I guess it's a learning experience for all.

My Dollmore Tara is NS, but looking at her closely, she's greened in a similar way - I assume it's the red pigment breaking down that could be dyed back. There's hope that the dye could last longer than Souldoll's tan mix at least if you end up going that way.

I know it's quite a let down but I hope it doesn't diminish your enjoyment of your Ricia by a lot, she's a lovely doll regardless (I'm always happy to see her around at least!)

 

It's interesting how it appears to be happening in the same places both times. I assume you don't have her facing directly into a window in both cases, so it's strange the pattern is so similar.

 

@AlisonVonderland Yes, precisely! From what I've seen and heard from others who've had discolored dolls, it seems like the red pigment fades, so that NS dolls become more yellow and tan dolls become more green. I'm not sure what secret companies like Fairyland has, but there must be a way to minimize the loss of the red pigment, because my MNF girl still looks nice and pink...

Thanks for the kind words though, and the virtual hug. Just being able to share this problem and feel understood is very comforting to me.

@cobaltconduct I agree, I would have understood this happening after a lot of years. Although, if my memory serves me, I've heard that normal mellowing tends to happen very evenly, and it seems like my 6-year-old MNF girl supports this. If she has changed colors, it's been so even and slight enough that I haven't noticed.

Thank you for the kind words, and luckily I am still able to enjoy my Ricia. It's a bit bittersweet, but that doesn't change the fact that she's still my favorite of my collection, and still brings me happiness whenever I look at her.

@RinSetsua That's a good point, I've never displayed her directly facing a window, so it is a bit strange. I've even moved since I got her, and my new place doesn't get nearly as much sun as my old house (which could have contributed to how much slower she's changing color, now that I think about it). All I know is, it's the spots that weren't covered by hair/clothes that are changing the most, but the why still doesn't make sense to me. It must have something to do with the light, but with windows that block UV and displaying her in a relatively dim room, it doesn't quite add up (don't think it's from lamps either, as I don't often display her right next to a lamp and the bulbs are LED anyway).

 

None of my tan dolls had any issue upon arrival and I can say they age far better than my lighter skintone dolls especially the iplehouse ebony is flauless after a decade , to me snow white and white have the least time resistance one which also displayed some uneven color change through the years was iplehouse Luna tamer in gray but this doll has gone through the hardess times as it was played the most and displayed constantly and was made back in time when iplehouse used half french resin for the colored dolls which is more luxurious to the touch and feel and maybe easier to color but sadly ages faster , they changed this formula fairly early in the eid times. At the end my tan dolls have less issues than the rest of the crew and mind you all my dolls are 10+ years old

 

I love my brown girls. Love, love, love them.

Spoiler: Doll nudity

In the first picture, the head on the far right (11) is a Limhwa half-elf head. It is not the slightest bit green, but a gorgeous, warm honey brown. Limhwa can do a tan resin better than any other company, IMHO. The doll on the far left (1) is an Iplehouse Rexy in light brown from 2013. Not a trace of green on her, either. I think the resin is a gorgeous chocolate brown. The doll in the middle (7) is a Granado Jane. She's new (2022) - that's how the tan resin from Granado looks. I... call it corpse brown. It is desperately in need of some red tint. (She will be getting dyed.)
In the second picture, the deep brown body is a Dollshe fashion maxi 26F body from before 2018 (2016, I think?). The color remains a gorgeous, rich deep brown (no green at all). That's Dollshe's "light tan" resin. Also, on the far right is a Raccoondoll White Emma in sweet mocha resin from 2020. If you look carefully at her face, I sanded down her nose a little, and the resin did change color (lightened a bit). No greening yet on her.

@puppymush - while I don't own any brown Souldolls, unfortunately, yours is not the first I've read with this issue. Not even the second or third. Sadly, it appears that Souldoll pigments apparently continue to be unstable, and their tinted resins discolor astonishingly rapidly. However, my white Souldoll body is absolutely gorgeous (and so are yours!), and even if it discolors, it's not going anywhere.
I would like to offer a suggestion to you and to @Buzzibee: color theory. If you look at the color directly across from green on the color wheel, it's red, which means that the two will "cancel" each other out and mix to create more of a brown color. I have had lots of success with a light dusting of pastel chalk over top of a resin color I wanted to change. Because of the uneven nature of the discoloration, blushing with pastel chalks would be more useful than dyeing in both of your cases.

 

Wow, I had no idea this issue was this common with Souldoll... I did hear from someone on Instagram that even Souldoll's normal skin changes pretty fast, it's just not as much of an issue since they're turning more yellow instead of green. I'm so sad because I love their dolls like crazy, I'm just struggling with the idea of getting another doll with a similar problem.

Thank you so much for this tip! I did think about dyeing her but as you mentioned, the discoloration is so uneven I wasn't sure how dye would take to it. I've also heard that dye loses the red pigment over time as well and I didn't love the idea of having to dye her every few years lol. I had basically decided on the blushing route instead (my sister is a faceup artist and she uses pastels) so I'm really happy to hear you've had good luck with it!

 

I sincerely hope you'll just borrow materials and try it yourself. There's a series of tutorials posted by @Naomicamlux that are absolutely amazing. I've used their techniques and got results so good, even Spouse peeked over my shoulder and told me it looked really good. (Spouse is not into dolls. This is a HUGE compliment.) If you scroll down to the bottom of this post, there's a great explainer on where to blush bodies. And honestly, blushing bodies is dead simple but makes a huge difference. Just put darker pastels in any crevices, and if you want highlights, brush a lighter pastel on places where light hits the doll naturally.

Spoiler: Doll nudity

This was my second attempt at body blushing.

And this was my second attempt at a face-up:

Spoiler: jumpscare face

Sooooooo... yeah. Body blushing is much easier than face-ups, is what I'm saying.

 

@MaleficentMrsofEvil So you do body blushing without restringing the doll? (Yes I know nothing at all about blushing, haha). Anyway, that tutorial looks great! I'm filing all this information away for when the weather gets right for faceups etc, because I'm ready to see what I can do to fix up my poor seasick girl!

This is probably a total long shot, but I'm wondering if it might be possible to put a layer of pink on top of her current faceup instead of wiping it and starting over...I know this might wash out the darker details of the faceup, but maybe those could be touched up afterward? It's just that I love her faceup so much, I would love to be able to preserve it for a while longer!

 

It is! Just take the lashes out first and seal again. You'll also have gloss again though.

 

Ahh okay, yay! I can handle removing some lashes! Luckily this girl doesn't have any gloss anywhere, so that's one less thing for me to worry about, hehe.