Recently Groove started releasing blank Make it Own or MIO kits ideal for customization, JPGroove very graciously sent me some of the MIO items to review here including some of the kits. The kits are starting to become more readily available through Pullipstyle and are selling lightning quick as everyone has been waiting for this as they want custom dolls too. Unfortunately the other side of this is now that kits are readily available customizer’s wait lists have now filled for the next several months, maybe you aren’t that particularly artistically skilled or maybe you have had tried to customizing before only for it to end badly and you don’t think you can do it. I’ve put together a simple How To Guide for customizing Pullip for those of us who aren’t that skilled because hey, everyone has to start somewhere.

And now without further ado here is the second and final part of our How to Customize Pullip: The Guide for the not that particularly artistically skilled/inclined. Obviously reading the previous post Part 1 would be a great idea before trying to skip ahead and read this one.

At the end maybe someone will even introduce themselves.

Step 4: Now it’s time to do the lips. Brush “pastel” on to the lips, I found the easiest way to do it was to brush the pastel on then leave the actual shaping of the lip part for when I used my glossy sealer on them and then get rid of the excess pastel with a magic eraser.

For darker colors, layer! I wouldn’t do more than two layers otherwise it starts to look chunky and becomes easier to chip off. I was pretty happy with my first set of lips but ended up hating the color once I got her home so I decided to redo them like fifteen or sixteen times yesterday (hence why this post was delayed).
Once you have the lips how you like them, seal them with a glossy sealer to give them a little shine.

And then well you can seal her and be done or you can keep going!

Additional steps that can be done- ie. stuff I neglected to get photos of but aren’t entirely necessary anyway^^;
–  Add blush to Pullip’s cheeks by using pastels, use a make up brush and go in an O shape very lightly going over it a few times to make sure it spreads evenly.
– Paint, blush or otherwise decorate the eyelids. You can add things like nail art stickers for extra pop! My girl has eyelids that have been blushed to match her lips.

After you have sealed your Pullip pick out your eyechips, I chose the raspberry colored eyechips from one of the MIO eyechip sets. Then glue them into the eye mechanism using craft glue ie. like Elmer’s glue then follow the instructions here on how to assemble your new MIO Pullip.

Well now you have a freshly assembled custom doll but oh wait, we aren’t done just yet as she is still nude and bald >_<

What should my girl wear? Groove started releasing outfit sets for Pullip again a few years ago, why do I mention this? They fit Pullip quite nicely. Type 4 Pullip bodies are quite thin so finding outfits for them can be tricky at times unless you are handy with sewing that is. I have a review of the Happiness Dress Set here if anyone is curious, I also very recently got the British Nerd Set and absolutely adore it.

Personally, I decided to steal a J-doll’s stock clothing. I’ve always been particularly fond of J-doll La Rue de Rivoli’s stock, it’s really cute and I love the colors.  Sometimes I feel like Groove uses all their creativity on their non-Pullip dolls, as there are a lot of really awesome J-doll/Ai Doll releases that would have made amazing Pullip releases versus some of the more bland/same-y Pullip releases. If Rue de Rivola had been a Pullip release I think she would have been extremely popular.

Now which wig should she wear? Pullips can wear a 8/9 wig from most wig companies.  Ideally I had wanted a pink wig similar to La Rue de Rivoli’s, I had a wig that was a similar color and style in my wig box that I had planned on using for her. I tried to put it on her and realized that it was only a 7/8 and had been bought for one of my msd bjds. Blast, I was foiled! I ordered her a new wig but it hasn’t arrived yet so for now she is using a unused mohair wig.

Now here are the results of this experiment who I have named Miyo (Make it Your Own).

I consider this experiment a success as I wanted to make a simple but pretty custom and  I am reasonably pleased with the result. Of course, I will be more pleased with Miyo once she gets her proper wig.

Special thanks to JPGroove for making this post possible.