Unhappy with faceup

Yeah, I never order faceups so I'm not sure if you could talk to the company?
I dont think you have any other choice other than doing a different faceup-- only wiping half of the faceup would make it look off. You could try to paint over the lips, but if you're not an artist/comfortable with that, you've only got one option (Removing it!)

 

Good idea! That's a good solution for now. :3 I hope you find a faceup artist

 

I can definitely see why you're not happy with it, but to me the company photo looks the same line thickness between the lips, taken from a more flattering angle/lens. Not totally identical, but remember that it's done by hand, so you should always expect some difference between what you see and what you get. If there are multiple employees in the studio, the promo pictures may be done by a lead artist, and the dolls that get sent out are done by other artists trying to copy it, who may not be as successful at it.
Almost always there is a disclaimer in most shops saying they won't refund you for this kind of issue. With that said, I doubt they would compensate you. Does not hurt to ask though. The eyebrows do look about twice as thick
Saving up for a face up artist will be a totally worthy investment to get him looking exactly as you want Even better if SD are nice enough to send you some refund to help pay for it. In general if you have any doubts about how a face up will come out, it's best to shop blank and commission it later. Good luck

 

I totally understand where you are coming from, believe me. I am just trying to help set realistic expectations. I do hope that they will agree with you! But based on my experience in the hobby, I think that it's pretty unlikely. Some studios do great with company face ups while others are kind of a crapshoot. Sorry that you aren't happy with him out of the box. I like to order with face ups too as I have the same issue with visualizing. I would be disappointed too.

 

Ah, I see what you mean now. Yeah, I hope they can improve it in the future now that they know it's not up to par for their customers. They would probably never know there was an issue if you didn't tell them, so good thinking.
Here's hoping your someday face up artist will make him ten times more handsome than those promo pics so he won't have to cover up!

 

The lips I agree that they are possibly just painted this way in both the company photo and the doll you received but once you don't light him from above you can see the chunky line for effect (in a repaint of him I would definitely just suggest blushing gradually darker near the parting line of lips there to get a softer effect)
However the eyebrows are incredibly different! Wow! The brows on yours are so much more full!
I can't blame you for being disappointed since he's not really the same. I'm sure it's an unfortunate fluke... But I wonder what will be achieved by complaining to them if anything.
Hope you can still enjoy him for the time being.

 

This, unfortunately, happens with multiple companies. Granado, for example, hires a face-up artist who is on this forum (and if my brain wasn't made of Swiss cheese, I might remember who it is) to do the promotional face-ups, but a different artist does the face-up you pay for. Iplehouse has had a couple rough face-ups too, although mine have always looked like the photos.

I have had the same experience with Impldoll. What I wanted/what the promo pictures looked like (Impldoll Lydia):


What I received:


Company face-ups are generally cheaper than paying a private face-up artist, and I suspect that's part of the problem. A private face-up artist can make more money and pick and choose their clients, whereas someone who works for a company is subject to the whims of the customers - and often stuck doing the same face-up over and over.