Soom Mini-Gem Uyoo

The box after it arrived at my home from South Korea.

As I unpacked the package, I saw that the doll was in the middle of one long pillow that's tied together with three gold ribbons. I also saw that she came with a long blond curly wig and a yellow lace dress.

I untied the ribbons that held the doll inside the ribbon and saw the doll and a few more goodies.

The package came with a Certificate of Authenticity that was the size of a business card.

The back of Uyoo's head is easily removable. I noticed that the skullcap had a tiny metal rectangle that featured Soom's logo.

The doll came with a set of six tiny magnets with English sayings on them called Emoticon Cards.

At first I had no idea what the Emoticon Cards were used for until I checked various websites and found out that each Emoticon Card could be placed on the metal located inside Uyoo's skullcap before placing the skullcap back on the doll's head. Apparently each Emoticon Card can be used to express a doll's feelings.

Here is the back of the doll before I customized her.

Here is the front of the doll before I customized her.

Here is the front of the doll after I painted and blushed her for the first time.

Close-up of face after first try.

Uyoo wearing her original default wig and outfit that came with the doll.

Uyoo in her default wig and outfit.

A few months later her initial body blushing began to fade, so I re-blushed her body using more bold pastel colors. I hoped this blushing would last longer than my first effort did.

Unfortunately that second body blushing didn't last very long either (although it did last longer than my first attempt, thanks to the use of brighter colors). The paint on her face was also starting to chip off after I shot some beach scenes where she got dunked in sea water for the photostory A Week at the Beach. I had recently obtained a copy of The BJD Orbryarium book and I decided to use a few tutorials to make a third attempt at re-painting her face and applying body blushing with diluted acrylic paint.

Close up of the face after the third face-up.

The back of the doll after the third body blushing attempt.

Here she is modelling a Barbie Fashion Fever outfit after her third face-up and body blushing.

My third attempt at a face-up and body blushing only lasted a few days before I felt dissastisfied with that attempt. So I decided to make a fourth try. Using acetone, I made her lips thinner and I lightened the coloring of her face-up and body blushing. I used acrylic paint to lighten the lips, eyebrows, and nipples.

Close-up after the fourth face-up.

The back of the doll after the fourth body blushing attempt.

Here she is modelling a My Scene Barbie outfit after her fourth face-up and body blushing.

A few months after the fourth attempt, I still wasn't completely satisfied with the results but I was willing to live with them. Over time my feelings about that last attempt still hadn't changed so I purchased new green acrylic eyes. The new eyes definitely helped lightened the face but I still wasn't completely satisfied. It wasn't until I found some very tiny paintbrushes at a local hobby store that I found the guts to make a fifth attempt at a faceup and body blush.

Close-up of face after the fifth attempt.

The back of the doll after the fifth attempt.