Modest is Hottest!
This may be a little off topic, but I just had to share.
A couple years ago while surfing around Pinterest, I saw this idea and though genius! A mother, like myself who was sick of seeing unclad barbies lying around willy nillly, took a sharpie and well… here is the result.
We only had one barbie at the time, and call me a prude if you must, but you better believe I got my sharpie out and drew on that cute little suit. Well, I wasn’t totally happy with the results. Mine had pen marks and when I tried to go over the same spot it lifted off the first layer instead of darkening it. So, while it was better than nothing I still didn’t love it.
Fast forward a year or so. We now have more than one Barbie and I really wanted to fix the problem (which is my girls know how to take the clothes off, but not get them back on)… enter nail polish. That is when it hit me, I could not only cover up these immodest dolls, I could make it SUPER cute and totally colorful!
If you love this idea, please share it!!!
And of course I am going to show you how I did it…. (just in time for Christmas… yes, I just said the “C” word before Halloween, I am a rebel like that!) So I bought some brand new Disney princess dolls to demonstrate how easy this is.
Here they all are fresh out of the box, with their hair all pristine and their dresses still in place. Live it up girls, that is the last time you will look this good!!! (it only takes one tiny 2 year old to change that REALLY quickly!)
And about 3 minutes later…
Goodness, I love this little mini girl!!!
Okay, so the process is really easy. Just lift the doll’s arms out of the way and start with the top line. I usually do a sweetheart neck line in front, and carry the line diagonally down the side and joining it in the back, then just fill the body portion of the doll below. Move the legs as necessary, just watch out, because sometimes when you move the leg it will hit the body. You can do as many coats as you need, and you can re-coat as necessary. Also, if you mess up at all you can remove the spot with some remover on a q-tip.
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Between coats, they can practice a little yoga in the sunlight as they dry out.
Give them a good hour to cure, if you do more than one coat, you don’t want ugly smudges! The best part is all the color choices you have! And this is what you get front and back:
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Hey everyone! It looks like a MODEST pool party on the roof of the Barbie Dream house!
So what do you think? So excited about having modest Barbies around in between outfit changes! If you like this idea please share it! Thanks guys!
EDIT: So apparently people are ticked that I painted nail polish bathing suits on my barbies… so here is my response. I should explain that it is hard for me to express this without being passionate after the lash out that I have received in the last couple days. So forgive me for my somewhat passionate and defensive response.
I hate naked dolls – they are creepy! LOL – Thanks! I already do this – glad to see I’m not the only one 😉
I love this idea! I will be doing this to my daughter’s Barbies very soon.
This is so perfect and easy. Great idea, no more naked Barbies on the stairs for us! Thank you
Wonderful idea!!!! I don’t like to see naked Barbies either…Also, it’s nice because the painted on bathing suits can act as underwear too! People wear underwear under their clothes and so should Barbie…It’s hard to find panties and a bra for Barbie…they do make them,but they get lost easily…Good idea!
I pinned this forever ago, and just hadn’t gotten to it (my daughter’s 9 now, and can dress them quite well). But now, she and her 4 little brothers want to take them all out to the kiddie pool everyday, so swimsuits are happening (who wants to deal with those stupid barbie suits wet, plus I only have a few.) Thanks so much, and ignore the trolls, they can have their own choices to raise their kids.
i love this idea and I’m about to dress a few barbies that belong to my three year old quads in new suits. I’m sorry you got nasty grams over such a cute idea. People easily forget the rule “if you don’t have something nice to say, then don’t say anything” when they are online.
I so appreciate you and this post. I have a 2 year old daughter who also can take the clothes off but not get them back on. I want to teach her modesty also and that your body is a special gift from God. I’m so happy I found this. New swimsuits will be applied to all Barbies ASAP!! 🙂
This is a marvelous idea of painting the dolls with nail polish. My girls undress the doll to go “swimming”. Now they can have swim suits on to go swimming. 🙂
Such a GREAT idea! I totally get not wanting to see the nakedness, especially the highly fake nakedness. I too was sick of it and actually took those Easter egg cellophane circles and blow dried them to fit on our bathtub Barbies since they are ALWAYS naked and kept with the bath toys. They are like waterproof tube tops and mini skirts and come in fun prints and patterns, but I really love this idea and think I’ll try it since a swimming suit makes more sense for the Barbies wanting to take a dip (and not a “skinny” dip). 🙂
I’m really shocked over why so many are taking offense to not wanting to have naked Barbies around. Seriously? It takes a lot of developed motor skills to dress a Barbie and often by the time a kid develops those motor skills to do it easily, they’ve somewhat outgrown Barbies anyway. Plus, who cares – the painted suits are stinkin’ cute! I for one wouldn’t consider myself a “prude” and like you, allow my daughter to see my nakedness rather than frantically covering up if she walks into the room and I’m dressing/ undressing. I tell her that our bodies do absolutely amazing things, especially women’s bodies, and that for all our bodies do, it’s normal for marks to show up and sagging to happen and that we should feel blessed that our bodies can take so much and still continue to work in such a symbiotic way. I don’t feel like having naked Barbies hanging around is really going to teach our girls (or boys) anything. I’m sure some would argue, why even have Barbies since they’re fake, dressed or undressed? I originally said my daughter would never own a Barbie, but you know what? For her fourth birthday, she unwrapped two Barbies from family friends and I wasn’t about to yank them out of her hand and hide them. We’ve had many conversations since about how Barbie’s body is a toy body and not representative of what real women look like. We’ve since gotten more Barbies and thus far, no harm, no foul, though I still don’t like seeing them laying around naked. 🙂
Hmmmm. My only concern would be with the use of nail polish itself. Some brands tend to mess with the plastic. Some don’t. Also I’d suggest getting a sealant so the paint resists wear and tear and you don’t have to paint them again a few months later. Otherwise, great idea, and sorry about the hate you received.
I have recently taken up doll repainting and fairy doll making and the first thing I do is add undergarments of some sort. I feel like it’s a nice touch.
I usually use acrylic model paints with a matte spray varnish, by the way. So far the paint has held (with the exception of my first effort where I didn’t use the sealant). I’m curious to know how well the nail polish holds up and if it works well, what brand you used.
What a great idea! I also thought your edit was well said. I am a preschool teacher and I can assure you, in mixed company, naked dolls open up a whole lot more than personal body love. I sadly had to remove the dolls from my classroom after one too many times catching children ac out things they shouldn’t even be aware of at 3 and 4 years old. As a teacher there is only so much you can say to a child that isn’t yours. I think this swim suit idea is brilliant and it might just be the solution I’ve been looking for.
Can’t even believe anyone would give you a hard time about this. Modesty is sacred, gotta teach girls young or they’ll wonder why rules suddenly appear as they mature. I also don’t let my little ones run around in belly shirts and mini skirts, or bikinis, so maybe I’m just a prude too.
I totally agree! My granddaughters barbies are always naked! My gosh! They must be cold!!!
Genius! Thanks a bunch! I literally just said to my husband, “I’m so sick of seeing naked Barbies laying around!” While we were continuing to discuss this I started the search and here you are! Genius!
You’re welcome!
Great idea! I refuse to buy Barbies for my daughter. I hate the unrealistic standards of beauty and the trampy clothes. I completely feel that Barbie promotes the objectification of women. I only buy my daughter the Disney Princess dolls that have a smaller bust and clothes painted on (only the skirts are cloth) because I didn’t want naked dolls. Great idea you had to diy the same solution. Anyone else see a huge double standard that the Ken dolls wear underwear??
I absolutely LOVE this idea! They get a free swimsuit and Barbie is never naked when clothes go missing.
Thank you so much for this fantastic idea. Ignore the haters. Morals are so important!! And if anything, it’s teaching girls to respect their bodies instead of flaunting them around.
I intend to use this!
Love it!! Thanks for sharing!
I love it! I’m glad there are other who live it too… sorry for the crazys who didn’t love it.
Thanks, Dawn 🙂
That’s really interesting. Could you use nail polish remover to get it off? Are you able to play with them with nail polish on? Because a long time ago, I used nail paint to paint my mom’s drawer, and it got destroyed, and she was mad at me. 🙁
No problems at all playing with the Barbies, and I suppose you could use nail polish remover — we haven’t tried, though.