It's really nerve racking when you've ordered a doll that comes from a different country and it's a lot of money and you have a long wait time. It's almost like tossing money down a well and hope a wish comes out. So I had never purchased a Supia doll, but I had fell in love with one online and was determined to have one. I ordered her just after Christmas to take advantage of a sale they were having, but she still wasn't cheap and I think final price was around $600 plus shipping. Note that this doll is offered with a baseline price and then you have to pick all the options to get to the final price. She can be purchased here: LOVE, SUPIADOLL I opted for the company face-up because it was used in the picture I fell in love with and I wanted no deviation from it. She came in first week of April, so roughly a 3 month wait for her. I was a patient customer and knowing the wait time, I only checked in the week before she was supposed to ship just to make sure she was leaving on time. She was running a tad late and I have to admit I was getting a bit scared, this being my first order with them. They told me she would ship on a Thursday but it came and went and I heard nothing so I sent another email asking for tracking. I kept following up and then finally got a response with the tracking number. When I tracked her it showed the package delivered and it was actually sitting on my porch, so I thought that was funny.

Note that I ordered her as is from the photo above except I didn't do the double jointed body. In person her skin color is still brown but it is more of an orangy brown rather than the shade above. Everything else is identical, so I give props to Supia for being able to stay consistent with their marketing material.

I wanted to share my initial thoughts because I think it's important to share initial reactions when you've never purchased one, rather than someone who has bought more than once and is used to how things go. She came in a silver box with some raised scroll work on the outside that said "Supia" and "I'll be yours" at the bottom. It's tied with a pink and purple ribbon (which was wrapped in bubble wrap. I thought that was a nice presentation out of the box and happily removed the bubble wrap and the two ribbons. It was a two part box, meaning there was a lid and then the rest was the bottom normal cardboard look, so once you got the ribbons untied you just had to lift the lid. You first see a small card with your name on it and then an order number. It's almost like it was supposed to be a certificate of authenticity but it's not really because there is no serial number for the doll. Below that card is what looks like a cotton mattress made from muslin which you lift off and then the doll is bubble wrapped inside with her accessories. This is different from other BJD dolls I've received where the doll sits in a custom foam cut out and just has a plastic face mask to protect the make-up. I unwrapped her and this is what I found:

1 Nude doll with no eyes (I opted for no eyes as I have an eyes collection)

1 Set High Heel Feet

1 Set Elf Ears (which I opted for when I ordered)

1 Wig

So the first thing I did was take a look at the nude doll. She was definitely heavy so full resin here which means that she's not prone to staining with black wigs or clothes. I especially love resin for that because I don't like limits on what the doll can wear, but ok moving on. She has especially long fingers, one has the hand spread apart slightly and the other hand was more cupped. You can see incredible detail on the sculpting and even where the nails are, it's a lot of tiny detail. Hands and feet were not painted as I didn't request them to be, so I might revisit that later on. I noticed that the feet toes don't lay completely flat, in that they look more human because the toes aren't perfectly shaped and they bend a little as they are next to each other. The flat feet have an arch but she stood absolutely perfect without a stand on her own so she's strung really tight and nice. This is a strung doll from neck to foot which I need to disclose because from the head up you have magnetic features. This is the first doll I have had where you can change out the entire ear. I particularly liked that especially when substituting the elf ears on. The whole ear magnetically comes off and then the elf ear has the same magnets and attaches on. I must say I have 3 dolls with elf ears and they are all different. On the Smart Doll, the elf ear attaches over the human ear almost like a cover. On the Minifee, the ear is completely built into the sculpt and is not removable so it's elf is permanent. So I rather like that you can transform this doll back and forth to her human and elf self with ease. Those little ears are tiny though so have a bag or a storage case ready when switching out the parts. They can drop and disappear quite easily. She has nipples on her breasts and and joints on her shoulders, under the ribcage, at the elbows, at the hands, at the bottom of her torso, at the tops of her legs, at the knees, and then at the feet. She's got some great detail on her back spinal, she is really done remarkably well.

And now for the head. The head has full movement and a magnetic cap for which to insert the eyes. I have a number of sizes, but I found the 14mm to be the right proportion. I found it easiest to remove the head from the body by twisting the hook inside her head, insert the eyes with tack and then put her head back on. Although, she was strung so tight, I did find it a bit hard to pull enough slack to turn the hook back into position once I got the head through it. I used a pair of scissors (I know I know) to lift the hook for the slack and twist it as my hands were not doing the trick. Miriam's eye shape is truly beautiful, it's a wide eye and she's got both painted lashes and real lashes already applied. She's got all the fine details an artist painted doll needs, with fine brushstrokes on her lips a slightly open mouth with a bit of gloss and two front teeth showing. She was given blushing on her nose, or rather highlight and then highlights around her eyes and in her eyebrows. This is probably the first and only time I have actually liked a stock face-up really EVER. On 18" and 23" dolls there is just no detail there and it's all color blocked and unrealistic looking. American Girl is the same way, the painting is very cartoony on the face. The rest of the BJD dolls I've seen stock looks that have very orangy or pink coloring and it's just better that a real doll artist does those. Supia nails it for the face-up, realistic and artistic and the coloring is on point. However the wig did not nail it for me. In the sales photos she's wearing a black straight wig with no bang and a simple part. The wig you receive is random, and this is partly why I opted not to purchase the eyes add on, because #1 I have tons of eyes and #2 they disclose that the eyes are chosen at random so you don't know what you are going to get. The wig I got had a curled under bang that was really long so that when I put it on Mirium it basically covered her whole eyes. This is something I definitely test when I design my wigs is the amount of forehead space you have on a doll for bangs. There's no way to make this not look goofy without cutting it as sitting it further back on her head makes her look bald on her left and right side so this wig is going bye bye don't waste your money. I measured her head and she is exactly an 8" head which means she falls in between on 7-8" wigs and 8-9" wigs. I tried a 7-8" on her first and it kept sliding back at first and then I got it to stay (this is without a wig cap. But if you look at where the cap sits, it is far away from her ears and natural hair line. The 8-9" was a better fit but a tad loose so it's best if she wears a silicon cap under.

Once I played with eyes and standing and wigs, and mobility it was time to dress her. The good news for me was that she fit into all my Smart Doll Clothing, so I have a good size stash of Smart Doll original clothing and then handmade clothing that I could put on her. There is a joint though right at her panty line though and I found that the leggings had a tendency to fall into that crack so I think sewing for this doll she needs a tiny bit higher pant line because of that. I would say because she is similarly sized to Smart Doll that all our 1/3 shoes and sneakers will also work for her. I might even have to dig out my heels since she came with high heeled feet!

My overall review of her? She is excellent and I'm pleased with my purchase.