Kayla's experiments with Phicen/TBLeague: coloring body, hands and feet

I find myself regretting I didn't purchase more tbleague bodies several years ago. They are indeed becoming too expensive for me these days. And I still have so many projects I am hoping to do. Sometimes it seems like they will never happen, sigh.

Hopefully all is not lost on this colouring method. I'm definitely still curious to try the soft pastels and pigments, since being able to slightly tint a body to a more realistic colour would indeed be very useful.

Experiments don't always turn out as we hope, but if we didn't try, we'd get nowhere. I haven't tried this method yet, but so far oil pastel has worked fine for me even on what are relatively recent products (older models, but probably new batches that would have the present material used). By the way, the body is not (despite the advertisements) silicone but TPE. It may seem obvious, but I hope you washed it very thoroughly before beginning the coloring process.

When do you think did the 'new material/batch' start? With a certain year/model?

I decently toned one of those new bodies recently with regular pastels and it worked fine.

Another older one I experimented on with chalk pastels and pigments turned orange too after I wiped it.

Many thanks for your comments. So I don't feel so alone with the problem.

I won't give up coloring just yet. I still have some older Phicen Bodies in reserve (fortunately with lower previous prices).

And yes, I wash the bodies very, very thoroughly before coloring. I might also try recoloring the failure body. The body has now been thoroughly washed several times. Coloring can't get any worse.

I think the new material starts last year when the pale bodies got the bolder shade. (Here with me it is the comparison of old and new S16.)

I used this technique to change a body and it worked; I did three layers of the makeup recommended (I used N3 Almond) to do this. While it did change the skin tone, some of it did seem to wash off after I cleaned it with soap. Here's a couple shots after I put the baking powder back on. (I wanted to see if it would work with the HT Leia HS -- no, this is not the body I'm going to use for her; and with the head sculpt I do plan to use this body for.) You can see how much the skin tone changed color by the color of the feet, of course.





The last picture was taken with a new front light I just got in: the Ulanzi VL120 RGB (that was recommended in one of the lighting tutorials; I actually bought 3 of them, but only used the one).

I think I may end up washing off the powder and adding another layer of the makeup. The last of the 3 layers I put on I let sit overnight; I'm debating if leaving it for 24 hours would allow it to soak in more...

Looks very promising, Mark.

That does look good, Stryker. Anything to warm up that grey skintone!

The body looks very good, Mark.
Better to leave the color (make up) on, either overnight or even a few days if you can wait.

Yes, N3 Almond is a good shade to turn the gray suntan into a beautiful, natural tanned skin tone.


Was it an older body? (Still with original airbrush accents?) Or already a new body, e.g. from last year?

I will definitely try again - I still have some older bodies that I would like to change the skin tone on.

I purchased it within the last year or so. I might add another layer and let it sit on there a few more days.

This is a really helpful thread, Kayla. I actually made an account so I could comment!

Regarding the body that was stained orange by the C8 chocolate -- did you successfully colour an older body with the same powder?

I also wonder if the issue stems from the new material or something else, like the dark powder oxidising over time or something.

Also, coming in from the resin/vinyl doll communities, where we're told to never use human makeup for colouring our collections, I'm a little shocked that makeup is being used so successfully here! I think the idea is that the oils (even natural oils) in makeup "eat away" at resin/vinyl and destroys it/warps the shape.

I've heard people saying the same thing about silicone, but judging by the length of time you've had the coloured bodies for, that might be overblown? Has anyone else who's tried this noticed any impacts?

It’s only been about 1.5 months for me, but I haven’t seen any changes in the TPE “skin” of my figure. (Now I just need to get off my lazy ass and make her outfit).

gj581g wrote:Regarding the body that was stained orange by the C8 chocolate -- did you successfully colour an older body with the same powder?

No, I haven't tried that yet. But I will eventually. I still have some plans.

gj581g wrote:... where we're told to never use human makeup for colouring our collections...
I've heard people saying the same thing about silicone, but judging by the length of time you've had the coloured bodies for, that might be overblown? Has anyone else who's tried this noticed any impacts?

My dyed bodies are now well over a year old and everything is fine. The silicone even feels very cared for, more so than with baby powder. Probably due to the high-quality vegetable oils in the make-up.

But I also only use natural cosmetics, i.e. with mild, vegetable oils. I would imagine that conventional cosmetics based on petroleum and many chemical ingredients could harm the silicone. But I don't know, it's just a guess.



By the way, I was able to buy some older Phicen / TBLeague bodies in France and will continue with my experiments ...