Review: Pullip Creator’s Label Seila

Pullip Seila was one of those dolls that I thought I would never own. She has been sold-out for quite some time as of this writing and there are still a ton of collectors, who are looking for her, out there. Nearly two months ago I was refreshing Mandarake and Seila suddenly showed up at the very top of the Pullip listings. I clicked that order button in a complete daze and was fast enough to get her. She was a major find for me and I am still not over the endorphins from this particular Saturday!

Seila was originally released in 2012 as part of Groove Inc.’s Creator’s Label. Her face up was created by mitsubachi@BabyBee, who has worked a lot with Groove since then (I already reviewed Pullip My Melody HEN-NAKO Ver. and Pullip Galene) and HIROKO/Daisy-D was the mastermind behind her clothes. For me Seila is the perfect gothic lolita from head to toe. Everything about her is of such high quality that there is no reason to question anymore, why this doll is so widely loved in the Pullip community.

Her face-up is so, so pretty that it was used to create Pullip Laura and Alura in 2015. Seila is wearing two different eyechips. Her right eyechip is dark blue, while her left one is dark olive green. Her make-up is dominated by a smokey mauve color that is used on her lower waterline and in the inner half of her upper lid, where it gets blended into a brownish grey color. There are no drawn-on lashes on her upperlid, but she is wearing black eyeliner on her upper waterline and on her upper lashline that ends in a curved kitten flick. On her lower lashline, there is also a little bit of black eyeliner, which totally contrasts the thicker white eyeliner. This contrast can also be found in Seila’s crease, which is accentuated by mostly white eyeliner, but also has black eyeliner at the ends. There are drawn-on lashes on the lower lid, very finely drawn in a medium brown that almost fades into the dark eyeshadow at the outer corner of the eye. She has black lashes and her eyebrows are phenomenally unique for a stock Pullip doll. They are the lightest brown that you can imagine and almost fade into her skin. Their shape gives Seila a sad expression, which gets hidden under her thick bangs.

Fitting the whole gothic lolita theme, she has dark painted eyelids. They are a matte black with tiny golden specs and she is also wearing shiny black eyeliner. She is a pretty pale Pullip and only has a little bit of mauve blushing at the very edges of her cheeks. Her lips are super matte and she is only wearing color in the middle of her lips. Again, they are mauve-colored, but you can also detect some grey lilac lines that are more prominent in the center of her lower lip and directly under the left and right of her cupid’s bow on the upper lip.

Being completely honest, when I first saw pictures of Seila, I did not get her wig at all. I could not appreciate the choice of style and color because I was not familiar with the background of her inspiration. Not to mention that I had no idea, how shiny and high quality her wig is in real life. The things I love most about her wig, are its curly uniqueness and colors. It is a super shiny golden blonde with strands of light pink. Especially her straight cut bangs look, as if they are glowing! In the front she also has two straight almost chin-long strands that frame her face in a lovely way. Her long hair in the back is straight and then her famous tight curls start to tumble down her back.

For this hairstyle she comes with a long black hairband that also has a comb attached to it, so it won’t slide right off. It is mainly out of black lace, tulle and a black ribbon that is tied into bows at the ends. You fasten the headband with two wider strings out of black tulle, which also have black lace at the ends, behind her neck. Nail polish is always a nice touch on a Pullip and Seila does not disappoint with her black finger nails!

To change up Seila’s style, she comes with a hair piece that is out of the same wig colors and full of curly glory. You attach it with combs behind her bangs and these curls will tumble down the straight part of her long hair. To cover up, where you have to attach this hair piece, she comes with a black bow that also has combs attached to it. The bow itself is out of black satin with black lace around its edges. I had to try a few times, before I was content with the way it looked, but in the end I prefer this style because she looks like a cute little lion with her mane.

A lot of detail also went into the making of her dress. She came completely covered in plastic to prevent her black outfit from staining her body and I only removed it from her arms and legs. From her arms because It just looks strange to have covered hands sticking out of your Pullip’s dress; from her legs because I could not get her shoes on her feet otherwise. But let’s talk about that later on.

Around her neck, she is wearing a choker out of black lace that closes in the back with velcro. It has a single piece of black ribbon in its middle, which is responsible for its ruffly shape. Additionally Seila also wears a silver necklace with a cross pendant that goes all the way down to her stomach area. The top part of her dress is out of velvet with the tiniest lace on top. The sleeves are long and out of transparent organza. They are wider at the ends, where they also have lace attached to them.

Seila’s skirt is a little more complex. The outer layer, which could count as an apron, can be removed from the outfit, when you cut off the tiny string it is sewn-on with. That being said, I did not want to do that. We are talking about two layers out of black tulle. The first layer has black lace around its edges, while the second layer has no embellishments and adds more volume to the skirt. There is also a black bow on each side and the apron closes in the back with a big floor-long bow out of satin. The main and outer fabric of the skirt is black cotton. There are all kinds of different lace irregularly attached to it, which makes it a complex piece of stock that does not follow any regular rules of design. The different pieces seem absolutely random sewn-on to the skirt, but it works and helps the dress to create volume, which is a nice continuity from Seila’s wig. The dress closes in the back with velcro.

Under her dress, she is wearing an underskirt out of black tulle and black bloomers with black bows that end over her knees. Both have black lace at the end. She also wears black knee socks and the world’s most difficult lace-up platform shoes, which are completely out of plastic. You can pull the laces and detach them from each other for easier usage, but it took me some time to find out. I had already removed the plastic from Seila’s feet and now I have to colorfast her socks because they stain so bad that not even the plastic around her body could help. The style of her shoes is super unique and really complements the whole look, which I always appreciate, when I am not planning on  redressing a doll.

Against the cold, Seila comes with her own fashionable cape that incorporates the same black lace that can also be found on her skirt. It has fake black fur on its top and bottom and closes in the back with two press studs. In its top middle, there is a bow out of velvet, which also has fake fur at the end of its strings. Going down the middle, there are black ruffles out of cotton, which are embellished with two black gems.

Girls and boys, we are not done yet! Seila comes with so much stuff! Her box was full of more accessories that hopefully made the trip to her new home more enjoyable! She also comes with a silver key, a bronze cage, a book and a white doll of creator mitsubashi@BabyBee’s character Hen-Nako, which later inspired another Pullip: My Melody HEN-NAKO Ver.!

In conclusion I can say that I understand, why this girl is so popular! She is beautifully executed in every detail. You get so many accessories, you can change up her look in a few simple steps. It all adds up to a wonderful release and one of the reasons, why I fell in love with Pullips. I also have a lot of respect for her creators, who could envision a stunning doll like her. Seila definitely has a special spot on my shelf!

What do you think about Seila? Are you a fan of the mitsubashi@BabyBee releases? Let me know!

Thank you so much for reading!

Theri