AG Spotlight: Justine-Marie Beauregard

How do you do?  I'm actually not American, but I don't guess that matters...<sniffle>...got any Kleenex?

FULL NAME:  Justine-Marie Beauregard

NICKNAME:  Ugh...my friends call me "Sneezy."

WHERE I GOT MY NAME:  The House of Hayward again, LOL.  Doremi is named after the child, and I'm named after Justin and Marie themselves.  

CUSTOMIZED FROM:  I used to be a Marie-Grace Gardner doll.  Why someone wanted to rip off my wig and give me new eyes and paint before throwing me on eBay, I'll never know.  My current eyes belonged to a Caroline Abbott doll.

*Side note from the Moon Girl:  I wonder who got Marie-Grace's eyes?  I wonder what happened to the eyeless Caroline?

HOMETOWN:  Bournemouth, Hampshire, England

HEAD MOLD:  Marie-Grace

HAIR COLOR:  Light brown with blonde highlights

EYE COLOR:  Blue-green

OTHER DISTINGUISHING FEATURES:  A lot of freckles and enhanced lips

FAVORITE COLORS:  Mint green, yellow, and periwinkle

THINGS I LIKE:  Fancy clothes, cheerleading, Disney anything, ice cream, skiing and winter sports in general, traveling and exploring, horseback riding, hair bows (a must-have for anyone with a side part), Minnie Mouse ears,

THINGS I DISLIKE:  My allergies are my main peeve.  

MY CHOICE OF MUSIC:  INXS and the Black Keys are my favorite bands.  "What You Need" and "Gold on the Ceiling" are my favorite songs.

PETS:  Piglet, a blue French bulldog, Argos, my old Bouvier des Flandres, and Domino, a horse.  Right now I only have a decent picture of me with Domino. 

BEST FRIENDS:  Doremi, Zoe, and Sadie.  I'm on the cheerleading team with Zoe and the Dodo (and Rita Cheryl), and I enjoy playing dress-up with Zoe and Sadie.  Even I will admit that Doremi is incredibly difficult at times, but for some reason she'll listen to me if I tell her to relax.  Kailey and I have agreed to swap boogie boarding and skiing lessons, so we've gotten quite thick.  I also enjoy posing for pictures with Luciana and listening to Astro-Luci talk, though I can't tell the First Doctor from the Fiftieth.  Lastly, I sometimes hang out with Courtney, partly because she and Luciana are together a lot and partly because Courtney likes Argos.

*Side note from the Moon Girl:  We're not quite to fifty Doctors yet, Justine-Marie!  We're far from it, in fact.

If you say so, Moon Girl.  Where was I?

SOMEONE I'D RATHER AVOID:  I know Rita Cheryl feels bad for her past mistakes, and I know she'd like to make it right, but when I reach out to her she just freezes up and ignores me.  It makes me sad, but I figure if I'm just patient she'll thaw out.  Rilla Louise is the same way, but for some reason she wants me to be the buffer between her and Rita Cheryl.  I don't believe that will work, Rill.  Not yet, anyway.

HOW I GOT HERE:  eBay again!  Don't we all come from eBay!  In my case the Moon Girl wanted a bald doll so she could play with wigs, but when she fitted my current wig on it proved to be perfect.  I haven't worn another wig since...except for that time when Robyn and Leah and I all swapped wigs.  Robyn's hair color looked good on me, I thought.  I hope maybe the Moon Girl will look into a red bob for me in the future.

*Side note from the Moon Girl:  I'm on it, dolly child!

ABOUT ME:  I'm the gang's little rich girl; indeed, whenever I'm around Z she sings Hall and Oates's "Rich Girl."  I do NOT rely on the old man's money, thank you too much!  LOL, Z loves to tease, but I know she doesn't mean anything by it.  Though I try not to make a big deal of being wealthy, sometimes telling the truth makes people jealous...kinda like Molly's classmate Alison Hargate.  I try to compensate for this by being warm, friendly, and accepting to the friends I've made, and as a result I think I've made quite a few friends.  Doremi is my best friend; we have sort of a Cleo De Nile/Ghoulia Yelps dynamic.  She's the dominant one (or so she thinks), but I know how to rein her in.

Doremi has her flaws; indeed, most of the dolls in Casa del Luna don't like her because she's so unkind to her brother Justin.  I don't like that either, but instead of shunning Doremi I try to see her good side.  She does have a good side, as a great many of us do, but for some reason she...hides it.  I don't know what she's afraid of.  I just try to be patient with her, as I do with Rita Cheryl.  Rita Cheryl's main vendetta was directed against me myself, as she and Doremi were once very close.  When I came to Casa del Luna Doremi welcomed me and Rita Cheryl panicked, fearing she'd lose her only close friend.  Unfortunately her resulting hostility towards me ended up alienating Doremi instead.  I've long since forgiven Rita Cheryl, and I can tell that she wants to smoothen things over but is afraid.  When she's ready to talk things over with me I'm willing to listen.

Regarding my own "nitty-gritties," as the Moon Girl would call them, I'm allergic to shellfish, dust, pollen, and furry animals.  Shellfish make me deathly ill (I have to carry an epi-pen), and everything else makes me sneeze.  But I love animals, so I put up with it.  I even have a horse to ride.  See?

NEVER wear sandals around horses!!!  I did it just now, but that's because I'm a complete pillock.  In other news, I collect Disney paraphernalia and a few dolls; Finding Nemo is my favorite Disney movie, since Dori reminds me of Doremi...or the good side of Doremi, anyway.  I also love Mulan, and I even have her as a doll.

Mulan's hairstyle looks more like her mother's in this case; in the movie Mulan either wore her hair short and tied up or long and loose...but who's paying that close of attention?  I also have Elsa, who has become fast friends with my Marie-Grace doll.

I used to be a Marie-Grace doll myself, I'm told, but like Denise (an ex-Samantha) I have no memory of that.  Well...maybe I do.  I have some hazy memories of a big city and of an illness, but that's about all.  Oh yes, and Argos.

A good pet is unforgettable, and Argos is a good pet.  I just hope he'll get along with Piglet.  Argos is significantly bigger than Piglet, but he's gentle so there probably won't be too many problems.  Kailey, fetch Sandy and we'll see which of our dogs is the larger one!

Looks like Argos is the bigger one, but it also looks like he and Sandy will get along fine.  If Argos has trouble with any pets around here it'll likely be with Amanda Faraday's cat Jeeves.  Jeeves likes to wrestle with puppy dogs, and sometimes he gets a little too free with his claws!

Let's see, what else, what else?  I'm friends with "the infamous Doremi," as a friend of the Moon Girl's put it, and I also am quite thick with Luciana.  The relationship I have with Luciana is sort of an "opposites attract" thing.  She's the scientist and the sci-fi fan, while I like Disney princesses and girly stuff.  But strangely enough, we get along.  We like to take pictures together, and we've even got hats that coordinate.

We share a love for sparkly things and 1920's fashion, the latter of which got easier after Claudie's introduction last month.  So I guess I'm...kinda shallow compared to some of the other girls.  I just like to enjoy my life to the fullest and help my friends do the same.  It's a good life.

Happy first day of autumn,
Justine-Marie Beauregard

Up to no good, part two

DEFINITELY no Santa Claus for the Moon Girl this year, because she's been SUPER-BAD!!!  Meet Zoe Elise Barber.  She came from Pennsylvania, but I pretend that her character is from modern-day New Orleans.

Sharp-eyed Bailey Maria correctly identified Zoe as a Truly Me #26, one that I have spoken of in the past.  She has the light brown eyes that I wish Luciana had, but we'll get to that in a bit.  Zoe was an impulse buy, one that stemmed from my anger after the hellish week that I spoke of in this post.  I was originally shooting for Truly Me #91, but those are only available on eBay if they've been stripped, the poor things!  I also briefly considered Joss since she has a head mold that I don't own, but I desperately wanted another doll of color.  So Zoe now stands here in front of me, with her curls freshly reset and her eyes sparkling.  She's used, and her body tag was cut off, and she has a few minor scuffs, but her seller took great pains to make sure she's still nice.  Dig these curls!

Since Zoe is secondhand her curls are not as perfect as Courtney's, but her hair is certainly in better shape than poor Julie's is.  The curls are a bit shorter than those in the stock photos, leading the seller to wonder if they were cut at some point.  The ends look pretty even, so if Zoe's curls WERE cut the cutter did a good job.  And even if they were, no biggie.  Zoe looks cute with slightly shorter hair.  Her hairstyle is similar to Courtney's but not exactly the same.

Courtney has bangs and a topknot, but she also has a right-handed side part like Zoe does, and both of them have a lot of curls. 

From hair to eyes now.  Zoe has amber-brown eyes, kind of like I wish Luciana had.  

Her left eye is a little hypotrophic on reclining, thus why I added this pair of glasses.

As I've noted in the past, only #26 and #62 have these amber eyes, and both of them were retired in 2019.  So unless this eye color is being used in the Create Your Own line no current doll is using this particular shade.  I don't like this amber shade quite as much as I like the root beer eyes utilized by Tenney and #86, but I like them better than the dark, featureless brown of Julie's and Luciana's eyes.  They're the same color as my mom's eyes and my best friend's eyes, so that's a plus.

Since I made a hubbub about Luciana's skin tone, let's compare her to Zoe a little closer.  It turns out that Zoe is medium just like Luciana is.  LOL, I thought #26 was darker than this, but her wiki page says "medium" skin!  Five points from Hufflepuff for the Moon Girl not paying attention.

But hold up, there!  Doesn't Zoe look an eensy bit darker than Luciana?  Or is it just my imagination?

#26 was available from 2005 to 2019, meaning that there's a wide range of meet outfits she could be found wearing.  BUT...Zoe is wearing none of these.  She is wearing an outfit called "Recess Ready."

The seller wasn't sure these were the right pants, but no biggie, they look fine.

I love the shoes!  You can't beat metallic sneakers.

The seller thinks this doll was made in 2017 due to her neck originally being held on with a zip tie (she's got cloth ties now), and if that's so then I have a loose meet outfit from that time frame.  I hate playing Dolly Dress Shuffle with Zoe since she looks so cute as she is, but...I'm gonna do it anyway.  Some of y'all may recognize this dress as the dress Miss Emily's first American Girl wore.  It's called the Sweet Spring dress.

I've always wanted this dress, but I didn't think it would look very nice on a fair-skinned doll, and it's not really Luciana's style so Zoe got it.  I greatly appreciate the little barrette that holds her hair out of her eyes.  Such a clip is often required for side part hair.  A clip or a headband, like this cute little outfit came with.

Can't beat Etsy, or my mama!  My mom dresses my doll's better than anyone can!  By now y'all have probably noticed that Zoe sports a charm necklace just like another of my dolls does.  The Sweet Spring dress was manufactured during the charm era, and it subsequently came with this.

Denise has a necklace that accommodates charms like this, but I put my own charms on it.  I considered tossing Zoe's charm in storage, but it's really quite nice so I bought Zoe a necklace that matches Denise's.  I was expecting it to be a flat piece of plastic with a sticker on it, and it is, but the sticker is covered by a bubble of plastic.  Zoe's necklace currently has four charms in total:  the pink round "smart" charm that accompanied her dress, plus three that accompanied the necklace.

Square-shaped "fair," heart-shaped "smart," and rectangle-shaped "loyal."  Huzzah, I got one in each shape!  I'm going to look for a green one to break up all that pink a little, LOL, and maybe another rectangle to see if all rectangles are hard to put on the necklace.  Seriously, I had to bust out the needlenose pliers to get it on there.  I may also add a fleur-de-lis or something Mardi Gras-themed to show Zoe's Louisiana heritage, like I did with Denise (she's got a Missouri charm on her necklace).

I was not planning for my first black American Girl to be #26.  I'd had plans to get Addy or Melody or #91, but as I said above finding #91 complete on eBay simply isn't possible right now.  Strange, since Courtney WAS easy to find on eBay shortly after her release; that's why I have Courtney now, LOL.  In truth #26 isn't an easy find either, but she's here now and I think she's adorable.  Now Silver Bird isn't alone in the Truly Me category.  Yeah, believe it or not Silver Bird was my only Truly Me doll until now.  All of my others were either historical, customized, or Girls of the Year.  Z is my lone oddball now, as she is contemporary, and AG is doing a new contemporary line soon so Z may not stay an oddball.  Anyway, it's interesting to see how much had changed between the release of #4 and the release of #26...or rather, how much the hair changed.  Yeah, I'm gonna talk about hair again, LOL.  When Silver Bird and her #4 sisters were new the only hairstyle available was long with a center part and pie-style bangs (#1 and #15 were the exceptions, as they had no bangs or parts).  By the time #26 rolled around American Girl was playing with different lengths and different styles, and Zoe's curly side part 'do shows this.

Like Denise and Justine-Marie (and eventually Z) I got Zoe a doll.  Since Zoe's name is Creole-flavored, and since she's my first African-American AG doll, I got a mini-doll to match.

Cecile!  Poor thing, her eyes throw back a lot of glare.  I promise she's not that psychotic-looking in real life.  The full-sized doll has hazel eyes as opposed to the brown that dolls of color often have.

Justine-Marie's doll approves of Zoe's choice.  Of course Justine-Marie would have a Marie-Grace doll, since she used to be a Marie-Grace herself.

Sometimes when I buy one of these dolls on impulse I end up regretting it.  I kinda do with Lindsey, for example, though I can probably alleviate that with a good restringing, but Zoe?  No regrets.  Her frizzy curls are only a mild frustration, and a fixable one at that.  Her joints are tight, her eyes are bright, and she's fully clad, though that last one wouldn't have been a huge issue either since I've got plenty of clothes.  Best impulse buy ever, or close to it!

Cheers, 
RagingMoon1987