My Twinn 18" Kim is the final rescue doll of the My Twinn rescue project. 

I can't say how happy I am to have made it to this point after three challenging rescues over the last couple of months (and several years planning). 18" Twinns Berkeley, Cai, and Pearl are all the better for it too, and Kim has been patiently waiting in the wings to join them. So here we go.

I set aside Kim for the last because she seemed to be the one Twinn with the least amount of issues, other than she needed a new pair of eyes.
 

But her joints were good, her cloth body was whole, and her wig was in decent shape--all at the same time. Those are three things none of the other Twinns could claim going into this.
 

So saving Kim for the last would seem like easy street if I managed to successfully make it through the other, more challenging Twinns.

But maybe not so much. . .

For starters, getting Kim's head off to replace her eyes was its own unexpected challenge. Her neck tie was tunneled deep into the cloth and tightened like a vice! It took extra time and effort to remove it, and it was a miracle I managed it without damaging the cloth. This is one area in which I had more trouble with Kim than the other Twinns.

I was relieved to move on to better things, like choosing Kim's new eyes. I already had it narrowed down to these three shades: "golden hazel" by Real-Eyes, "golden brown" by Kemper, and "dark brown" by Mimi.
 

I decided that the golden hazel on the left was already a bit overused by me and chose to go for something different. I also realized the dark brown eyes on the right looked too much like My Twinn Cai's eyes, so I passed those up too. I settled on the golden brown eyes in the center.

They were also a very similar shade to Kim's golden brown skin. I felt they might look unique for that reason.
 

Preparing for the switch-off. Kim's head looks happy to finally get some new eyes.
 

Almost. . .
 

Kim sees the world through her new eyes for the first time.

I have to admit I really love this eye color on her.

When I put the head back on the body I probably pulled the neck tie too tight. What goes around comes around, but Kim looks great!


At this point I decided to wash Kim's hair; it felt like it had some kind of reside on it which might have been dust or dirt or oil. This is the way she was when I got her, used.

Then Kim got the full spa treatment and her vinyl got a deep cleaning/ buffing.
 

Here's Kim with her newly washed hair. I was really surprised by how soft it was after it was washed. It was almost like a whole different wig. I also flat-ironed the slightly dry parts at the ends
 

Next, I noticed there were a few dings and shiny spots on Kim's face. I hoped they would smooth out while I Magic Erasered her old factory blush away.



Here's Kim buffed clean and ready for some new blush.

I started with a light layer of pink over her cheeks, nose, and chin. This is the same style and color I used on the other Twinns. I was actually worried the color might be too pale on Kim, as she has a slightly darker skin color than the others do, but it looked pretty good.

Actually all the Twinns have varying shades of vinyl. I'm not at all adept at identifying the exact names or numbers I'm sorry to say, but Kim's vinyl has a more tan quality to it.



I also added a little bit of color/ shadow around the eyes. I like this warm red-brown shade as it brings out the eyes in a subtle way. I used it on all the Twinns.
 

Then I painted in some texture on her lips.
 

So this might have just been me, but while I liked the more pronounced lip color up close, I felt it made Kim's lips look a little pinched from further away, like she was duck-facing the camera. :)
 

So I widened her lower lip a little bit; I thought it made her look more natural.
 

Some doll artists can expertly repaint a doll's lips to look much fuller. I don't feel I quite have the skill for that, so I just widened the outer corners a small amount and that worked for me.

Next, I outlined her eyes. I felt this was especially important for Kim because her eye color was so close to her vinyl color. I wanted to draw her eyes out from the rest of her face this way. Technically, while most of the eyeliner won't show under the eyelashes, I think it will make a difference overall.
 

Then I "erased" a little bit of the inner corners of Kim's eyebrows. Like with the other Twinns, I felt the brows ended too sharply over the bridge of the nose and I wanted a softer edge to them.
 

Then I proceeded to repaint her existing eyebrows, keeping the basic shape, as I feel they suit her face very well.
 

However I did want Kim's eyebrows to be a little thicker.
 

I really do like the way these eyebrows look on Kim!

Next, as I figured I was approaching the end of Kim's transformation, I added her upper eyelashes, getting ready to celebrate her completion. It's been so interesting watching these girls slowly come to life.
 

Finally, I added her lower lashes.

Then I gave Kim glossy lips and called her done.

And while I really thought the lower eyelashes looked pretty on Kim's beautiful eyes, I felt they kind of overwhelmed the upper eyelashes.
 

So I tried trimming them a bit, but oops, I ended up trimming too much.
 

Sigh. So I pulled them off and started again. So much for calling things done. This time I carefully pre-trimmed the new lower lashes a little shorter than the original ones. Here's the first one going on.
 

Much better I think.

And with that, My Twinn Kim, the last of the four 18" My Twin rescues, is done. I think she turned out beautiful.
 

So the My Twinn Project is now unofficially officially complete.

The girls have come a long way.
 

Actually the project won't be officially officially complete until the girls each get their new cultural clothing, which I'll be spending a few days thinking about and deciding on next.

Asian Cultural Clothing: Dressing my 18" Twinns Part I