Cécile Rey - 1853
- wingedmermaid
- Feb 12, 2017
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 14, 2024
EEEEEE! I am SO EXCITED to make this post! XD
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, after selling Isabelle, I’d finally saved up enough money to buy Cécile! She arrived a few days ago and is absolutely GORGEOUS!!
Her arrival has been a little more exciting than I expected!
She was scheduled to arrive right in the middle of a huge rainstorm! The day of, I kept checking the tracking non-stop. At one point, it changed from “out for delivery” to “pending,” with no other explanation – which definitely had me a little worried. She finally came at night, right before the rain was set to pick up again.
The first thing I noticed about Cécile was just how absolutely beautiful she was in person! I was thankful mine had such a pretty face – straight eyes, good paint color, perfect hair line… but then I saw it – her eyebrows weren’t aligned. It was a bit more pronounced in person, but you can kind of see it in the photo above. It’s easier to tell if you imagine a straight line connecting the inner edges of her eyebrows to the inner edges of her eyes. The right eyebrow lines up with the right eye, but her left eyebrow is slightly above and to the left.
Most people probably wouldn’t mind – and I really tried not to mind, too – but 80% of what I do for a living involves graphic design, and a lot of that involves making sure things are aligned correctly, so her uneven eyebrows really stood out for me.
I had two choices – I could either send her in for a new head and take care of her eyebrows and her dry wig (and maybe get her limbs tightened) at the same time, or I could try to fix her eyebrows myself with paint. The rest of her face was so pretty, I didn’t want to chance it, so I decided to try repainting her eyebrows myself.
OMG. I always, ALWAYS forget how nerve-wracking painting a doll is for me. I removed the left end of her left eyebrow (internally screaming the whole time), repainted it lower, then added some additional hairs to the right side of her left brow. Then I added some hairs to the right brow to balance the two out. The result isn’t perfect, but I’m happy with it.
I redid Cécile’s hair, too. I like her original hairstyle, but I really like how she looks with both sides pulled back. I also wanted something a little more modern since I plan to make Cécile modern like the rest of my dolls.
And since it’s almost Valentine’s Day, I decided she needed something for the occasion. The Merry Magenta Dress looks amazing on Cécile – and it’s currently on sale for $14!
Cécile really is such a beautiful doll – I don’t know what American Girl was thinking retiring her! Definitely not one of their best decisions IMHO.
Then again, American Girl hasn’t really been making very good decisions in general lately. I haven’t liked how they’ve handled a lot of things – from Gabby’s thrown-together release to “Pantygate.” American Girl isn’t starting off 2017 very well. I hope they’ll remember that good customer service is an important part of business, too. Their callous responses and even banning of some of their most ardent fans is really disheartening. It’s made a lot of people – myself included – decide to be a little more thoughtful with spending money at American Girl.
