I have had a few regrets in my dolly-collecting journey. One of the major ones, is not picking up the original Pullip Kiyomi when she was available – because, truth be told, she was the one that made me love Pullips. When I missed out on her, I tried to keep filling the void with other releases – so when Groove announced a Kiyomi remake in a new minty colour scheme, I didn’t even think, I just hit order.
Kiyomi Premium Mint Ice Cream is the first release from this year that I’ve added to my Pullip family (I’ve been good!) (I’m still unsure about adding the Fox, and My Melody though, and I’m worried this will trigger a buying spree, ha!). She’s part of a new line of Pullips in the “Premium” line. According to Groove, this means re-releases of some of their older, more popular designs in new colours and better quality materials. This is different to the old Regeneration line, which had new colours…. and same quality materials? Unfortunately, I don’t have original Kiyomi to compare, but you can see a photo-review of her over at OmochaCrush’s blog. The new Premium Kiyomi also comes with a premium price, clocking in at 19,000 Yen, considerably more than the 12,000 Yen of the original.
Kiyomi was released last week in Japan, and arrived at my doorstep some time last week. I only got off the plane from Singapore this morning, but couldn’t resist opening her box.
The “Pullip Premium” is branded large and upfront on the cover of her pink and marigold box. The box is covered in flowers, leaves, and stars. Kiyomi in her layers of mint and pink peeps out from the box – and this was when I noticed she looked a little bit… less… sweet? then the original. It might be the sparkling pink eyes. They’re piercing.
I’m going to take a moment here to compare the promo photos for the two girls. For some strange reason… might be the minty-white background, new Kiyomi looks a little meaner right? The older one looks like candy and pink and cuddles. There seems to be a little mean streak about the new one in the stock photos, but I digress – she’s a bit different in person.
Another box shot! I do like the design of the box from the side.
When you pull Kiyomi out of her box, the first thing you note is that she must be really uncomfortable stand/sitting/squatting in that position in the box (on account of the giant hat). Her core muscles must be really strong to maintain that pose!
You can see how her face-up leans a little pink in this picture. She has blushing on the corner of her eyes (this reminds me of Eve Sweet), a candy-sweet pink lip colour (that is actually quite subtle), pink-peach blush, strong straight brows, a smattering of blond under-lashes (I love these) and a pink eyeshadow. Her eyechips, unlike the original, are a sparkling pink instead of gold (which makes me sad).
In her box, you can spot a hoody and a scarf as part of her extras in her stock. At this point, I wasn’t sure if I loved – or liked – her yet.
When I freed her from her box, I started to warm up to her a little more. I was still unsure, but slowly, slowly, her new colour scheme was starting to win me over. Her hair came in two rolls that freed themselves with a dramatic whoosh, to reveal a wig (that reminds me of Romantic Alice) that is completely full of volume.
The wig, although a bit uneven at the ends, is a lovely shade of honey blond with highlighted streaks of marigold (darker) and light blond giving her hair plenty of definition. I love the way it catches the light.
At this point I am slowly starting to warm up to her even more. Her stock consists of layers and layers of tulle and pom-poms over a pink little shirt. She also has a lavender tulle top half of her dress. Her release is called mint, and she features minty-ish blues, pink and purple, with a splash of yellow on her hat.
Some face-up shots!
She has these super cute over the knee blue socks with yellow polka-dots.
Her feet feature cute mint and purple slippers with coloured soles, and bright yellow pompoms. The top of the pom-poms have a little mint satin ribbon, with a little pearl in the centre.
Her hat is made of a furry pastel bluey-green with a laced pink ribbon (and pompoms) and yellow bunny ears which have posable wires inside. The ears are covered in blue stars and pink hearts.
Here are her two extras – a pink scarf made of a towel-like material (it features two bunnies on it, and the bunnies have blush. The blush on my bunnies is a terracotta brown, and it looks not very nice haha!). She also has a towel-like lilac hoodie in which the hat would never fit over her giant head, but looks great as a layering piece 😉
The layers of her dress – at the bottom she wears mint blue towel-like undies, a darker purple layer of tulle trimmed with dark mint, and a top layer of floaty lilac and white lace over a pink polka-dot (the spots are yellow!) shirt. The shirt has lace trim around the sleeves – I do love all the attention to detail on the stock! The lace is good quality and my stock is very well put together. Of course, her skirt… (its kind of like a lace apron) also features a pom-pom tie around the centre and is finished with a bow.
Probably at this point I started to love her.
Here she is with all her layers on. She looks snuggly and warm don’t you think? Definitely cuddly! Her hat is lined with this spotted mint fabric, and fastens under her chin with a snap enclosure – and is very well made, it sits snugly on her head! I sometimes wish that the Blythe stock was this lovely as well, the detail is just gorgeous.
Slowly I started to adapt to her pink eyes and thought she looked kind of lovely. And sweet. I still wish her eyechips were golden, as I think that would soften her a lot. The colour reminds me of Pullip Moon’s, but without the foil.
When she’s in the sunlight though… I think I’ve fallen for her. I love the painted little shiny parts in her eyechips, and I think at golden hour she doesn’t look as sickly as she does in her stock photos. She looks warm, pretty (imagine how amazing she would be in golden eyes too!).
Her eyes are nude, which I think suits her well for someone who is about to go to sleep in some of the most elaborate pyjamas ever.
You know, I had my niggles about her when I looked at her press release and photos on the Groove blog. I just wasn’t sure… but an hour with this girl in the sunshine, and I started to get the strangest feeling. Like… maybe… she’s perfect?
Maybe her pink eyes are gorgeous? Perhaps, her minty shades are just… right? How her face-up features little lines above her lids in complex lines of black and white, and the tiniest hint of liner under her eye? How her under lashes are highlighted with white in the centre…maybe, maybe…
Because on camera, she just came to life. She just glowed. She was just stunning – and I think, she will do very well with customisations to her eyechips, and in different outfits as well (I love her stock completely though and am unlikely to change it…)
Just look at her.
I think I might be in love with her.
Yup. What do you guys think?
Kiyomi Mint Ice Cream is currently available on Amiami for 17,190 Yen and for pre-order on Pullipstyle for $130.00USD and JPGroove for $132.95.
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