Thursday, March 14, 2019

Paint'n Dazzle Barbie 1993 the Brunette



One evening I was surveying my doll cabinet gleefully when I discovered it suffered from a serious deficiency in terms of brunette superstars. I decided it was high time to look for that one brunette that had been on my mind ever since her redhead sister arrived. The brunette was none other than the beautiful Paint’n Dazzle Barbie 1993. There’s something very much irresistible in the 90s with their charming tackiness and wildness - crimped hair, baggy clothes, crazy colors, huge earrings, flowers and sequins, you name it, the doll has it all!




The Brunette is every bit just as gorgeous as the Redhead but she was a lot more difficult to get. In my country she appears but rarely, not in the right condition and certainly not in her own clothes. Fortunately, I happen to be on friendly terms with eBay where she comes in great abundance, mostly NRFB and, since not many appreciate her as much as I do, she’s affordable! Lucky me.


I’ve already described the Paint’n Dazzle series when I presented the Redhead, but in the meantime I’ve discovered the series had much more to offer than I thought. For one thing, the Blonde came available in two versions – one was the regular doll with her unnecessary accessories and the other with an additional outfit. It’s good that she did, because the standard blonde’s outfit seems to me a missed opportunity. I don’t know, but when I look at the Redhead and the Brunette, I think there’s something missing. Fortunately, Mattel came up with a brilliant idea and released a line of themed fashion packs. That was just in case somebody wasn’t satisfied with the result of their creativity applying the fabric paints and the sequins on the doll’s outfit. What’s more, neither Ken nor Skipper were included in the series, but they got their fashions so that they could hit the town dressed in the clothes all smudged with paint and sprinkled with rhinestones. And if this seems a bit excessive, there’s still more! Mattel released a convertible that you could … customize just like the outfits. You don’t believe me? See for yourself.





The Brunette arrived all stinking of mildew, but I didn’t bother to do anything about it. Many of my dolls had and what they needed was a little time in a neutrally smelling environment to be perfect again. Anyway, I purchased the doll NRFB so I was less than eager to tamper with her gorgeous hair and outfit. And the hair is beautiful and so soft I was sure it was made of saran. It turns out I was wrong, because one collector of Barbie of more than 20 years’ experience claims the entire series had kanekalon implanted. I think she’s right because when you touch the hair it’s a bit too light and too thin to be saran. On the other hand, it’s far too shiny and silky to be kanekalon. It certainly lacks all the cotton pads quality that I got used to with my 90s girls. There’s the bangs too.


Have I mentioned I’m a sucker for a purple gaze? Several times I think. One of the reasons I’m so fond of this doll is her purple eyes. The eyes are of course two toned and two shades of pink eyeshadow bring the color out even further. Her lips are juicy magenta and her cheeks are rosy. Her hair of chocolate hue and her dark eyebrows make the doll’s complexion seem a bit darker than the Redhead’s but that’s just an illusion.


The Brunette’s outfit has been criticized for its tackiness although the doll herself seems to be universally admired for her beauty. But I love the tackiness, it’s great and it’s the reason why I wanted the doll new. The outfit had a very thin chance of surviving all these years in a used condition because in most cases the paint and sequins would have been used with the irreversible effect and that is a pity. The outfit is so bright and colorful and I really like it. The best part of this three- piece ensemble is the baggy jacket. It’s made of the kind of fabric that imitates denim and in a very convincing manner too. The jacket also comes in two versions and the difference is in the pattern that goes across the front part below the line of golden sequins. It can be either colorful flowers where yellow, green, pink and purple dominate or some geometrical sort of patterns in orange and green. The flowers are more to my taste and that’s why I decided to enter bidding rather than choose the buy now option two auctions below. The prices were almost the same. I didn’t post the pictures of the other jacket because I don’t like stealing them, but you can see them on your own.



The doll is also wearing a high top showing her belly and it’s got the same golden sequins as the jacket. The jeans seem to be the most criticized part of the entire outfit and there’s some truth to it, I admit. Though I like the color and the decorative waist part, this kind of pants wouldn’t flatter female’s contours to say the least. The bagginess adds a good pound or two to the hips, legs turn into a pair of carrots and a high waist doesn’t seem to add to one’s gracefulness. Such a pair of jeans would normally bring out all the flaws of a woman’s shape but it’s Barbie and she looks great whatever she wears. The accessories include a pair of wide toe pumps, an oval ring and a pair of ginormous earrings plus a standard Barbie brush. I love those brushes though I never use them. I wish modern Barbie dolls would come with these too.





There’s quite a number of 90s superstar brunettes that I like and I’m happy to own two of my most favorite ones – the queenly Happy Holidays ’97 and now the Paint’n Dazzle the Brunette ’93. There’s still the charming Holiday Treats ’97 that I like very much. Mattel released a very pretty doll just as the mold was slowly and quietly dying out. I might end up buying her as well but in the meantime here’s the sisters – the Redhead and the Brunette. There’s one more thing that I thought I might mention just if anybody was interested in acquiring the doll too. Both the Redhead and the Brunette seem to come with their legs slightly apart due to the way they’d been stored in their boxes for over two decades. It doesn’t bother me one bit because it goes well with their fashion and the overall attitude of the dolls, but it may be problematic if you wish to redress the dolls into something more elegant. Anyway, both girls are very charming and if there were more dolls like this nowadays, my interest would go beyond year ’97.






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