Jem Collection - Twilight in Paris Jem/Jerrica Benton Set

She visited Montmartre, but got lost in a dream, and Rio's the one she's dreaming of. Oh, she's definitely in love! A game plan set in place to send Jem and the Holograms soaring to France on business soon morphed into one colossal nightmare! The drama began the night the band met Lin-Z Pierce and Anthony Julian at Countess Danielle du Voisin's boat party. Unfortunately, the celebration ended with a hostile takeover executed by the Misfits, whose lead singer destroyed the control unit to the yacht, almost killing everyone aboard! Deeply irritated by their rivals, Jem and Kimber both agreed that their band would get the last laugh when they win the Battle of the Bands contest, but Jem insisted that they would need something extra spectacular to defeat the vamps of Rock 'n' Roll. Anthony Julian was eager to sign on as the official director for their video. Danielle immediately expressed her desire to cover the band's expenses, no matter the cost! And Howard Sands, caught up in the spirit of generosity, didn't think twice about providing his private jet for transportation. Then Danielle came up with a brilliant idea for location—Paris! The reality of that moment was too much for Jem and the Holograms to take in all at once, for each member felt eternally grateful for the love and assistance from their newest friends! Jem suggested that the band finish their album, first, and then set off on their adventure. Two days passed and the moment had finally come for the girls to depart for Howard Sands' private jet with their designer luggage in hand and instruments in tow. The concept was simple: Spend a few lovely days in the capital of France to shoot the music video for their latest hit, “Twilight in Paris”, with a little sightseeing in between, and then return home. After a few hours of flying through the bright sky, Jem and the Holograms finally touched down in Paris and immediately began working while still whirling from the opportunity bestowed upon them. However, unbeknown to them, Eric Raymond had embezzled enough money to send Zipper on a mini vacation to clock their every move and sabotage their video by any means! Meanwhile, on the streets of Paree, Anthony enjoyed showing off his directorial expertise while rehearsing a long elaborate scene with Jem and Shana. Off to the side of the shoot, a rivalry began to develop as Kimber grew more and more annoyed at Jem and showed less interest in shooting the video. Aja noticed Kimber's apparent state of discomfort and made a point that they're all apart of the same group. Several feet away, leering from behind the corner stood Zipper, armed and ready to engage in risky business by leading Jem and the Holograms into a deadfall! Emotionally scorned and bored, Kimber made a break from the group and decided to take a long walk. Rio noticed her in the distance and ran over to make sure that everything was ok, but the two began to argue over the amount of attention given to Jem. Rio mentioned that Kimber was acting like a spoiled child and that Jem was not trying to steal the spotlight. All bets were off at that moment as Kimber became livid to the point where she almost exposed Jem's true identity! A malfunctioning meltdown was averted, thanks to some swift footwork from Shana and Aja who both rushed over to collect Kimber and insisted that Jem would explain her secret to Rio when she felt the time was right! Meanwhile, listening and watching high above on the ledge sat Zipper, psyched up and prepared to execute his diabolical plan to flip a large gargoyle over on top of Jem and the Holograms who were performing just below! After the second take, the entire crew looked up for one second to see the gargoyle careening to the ground, and Rio, reacting on his instincts, flew through the air and pushed Jem and her girls out of harm's way! Anthony held Shana in shock and wondered where the oversized boulder appeared from, while Rio pulled Jem into his arms and held her close. Unhinged from reality, the group looked around for answers. Then, with another swift glance upward to the ledge, they soon discovered their worst nightmare...Zipper who was hopping like Batman from one rooftop to the next in a frantic attempt to escape! A few days later, Jem and her girls arrived back in California and noticed the entire city covered with Misfits posters. Angry as hell, Kimber took it upon herself to visit Eric at his office to get answers. Once there, she warned him that the Misfits would not get away with trying to rig the competition in their favor. And right away, Eric began to soft soap the star keyboardist with a promise that if she signed a contract with Misfits Music, then he would make her an overnight success. Not quite sure what to make from his proposal, Kimber stood her ground, spoke her mind, and then walked out the door. Meanwhile, at Starlight Music, Jerrica received a call from Lin-Z Pierce to appear on her wildly popular music television show! Immediately, Jerrica accepted the invite and said that she would inform her bandmates about the news, but Lin-Z insisted that it would have to be only her without the Holograms. Overwhelmed with appreciation, Jerrica agreed. Unaware of the facts, Shana and Aja jumped for joy, but not nearly as quick as Kimber who immediately flipped when she heard the news! Jerrica didn't know what to say other than admit that Lin-Z only wanted Jem for the appearance. No longer able to keep it together, Kimber blew her stack and exclaimed that she was sick of being the invisible woman behind Jem, and announced that she was going solo (hmm, déjà vu). Sadden by the revelation of her sister's decision to leave, Jerrica was moved to tears and decided to call Lin-Z and insisted that the interview would have to include the entire band or no one at all. And the chipper reporter was happy to suit her needs and agreed to have them appear together. Meanwhile, while riding around the city, Kimber tried to forget the incident by blasting some popular beats from her favorite radio station, KMAX. Already well aware of her sister's passion for KMAX, Jerrica brilliantly constructed a plan to visit the radio station with the hope of reaching out to her over the airwaves, and sent an emotional plea for her to return to the band, adding that without her as their keyboardist, there's no Holograms, thus no JEM! While listening to the broadcast, a tearful Kimber made a sharp u-turn and burnt rubber all the way back to Starlight Mansion, and agreed with her sister that, without JEM, there's no band, period! Rio pulled up a second later to warn Jerrica that they all had 15 minutes to airtime, and also had a lot on his mind about their relationship. On the way to the studio, Rio explained that he often finds himself in a confusing battle with trying to relate to Jerrica, and that she's too involved with Jem. He then revealed that he could no longer be Jem's road manager. In a panic, Jerrica begged Rio to stay, citing that they simply could not move forward without him. At Lin-Z's studio, inside the dressing room, Jerrica gave her star earring one slight touch and it was SHOWTIME! After a stellar performance of “I Got My Eye on You”, the girls took a seat to begin their interview. On the opposite side of the stage sat the Misfits who were already angry at Jem for just being there and wanted equal airtime, so they decided to razz the set. At that point, Lin-Z was past the point of reasoning and asked all three hellions to leave! As the Misfits exited the show, Pizzazz made an attempt to sink her claws into Rio by offering the purple prince the position of her very own personal bodyguard, and whispered that if he ever got tired of working for Jem, then he could come work for her instead. Sickened to the core, Rio spurred her offer straightaway! But an irritated Pizzazz took his rejection to heart and rammed him with an elbow to the gut, throwing him backwards and into a heavy duty light stand which fell over while yanking the electrical cords from the ceiling and sending the scaffolds and other equipment crashing down at Jem! Now trapped in a corner of the studio, and almost seconds away from the shock of her life, Jem belted out a guttural scream for help! The entire studio watched in trepidation as Rio jumped on an operating crane and eased his way over to where she stood, swept her up in his arms and whisked her away to safety! There were several lessons to be learned on that fateful day, but Jem and Rio became closer than ever before and developed a secret passion that would carry them through the years ahead.

 

There was high-risk action at every turn during her time in Paris, but what I find exceptionally interesting is that, while trying to avoid death, Jem never broke a sweat nor disarranged not one strand of hair on her head lol. And speaking of her beautifully fluffed hair, the end results for this particular version of Jem display more of a distinctively rich pink hue, possibly brighter than any other version in the collection, and nearly identical to Raya's hair. The color actually appears more richer in shade with strands of light pink highlights. I had to double-check, but one close look in the light and I noticed the light pink tint immediately! Can't say I'm feeling her dark eyebrows, but the length of her bangs takes care of that. Her cosmetics are flawless! Jem sat at her magnificent vanity table and pulled out her huge compact of light pink “Ciao Paris” highlighter and brushed a bunch of it on her brow bones, then swiped a great amount under her lash lines where her eyes and cheeks meet. She reached out for her pink “Splendere Luminoso” eyeshadow and added a few strokes above her creases, then came in with blue “Shootin' Star” shadow to the center of her creases, and jazzed it all up with a heap of shimmering aqua blue “Out of This World” dust on her lids and down around the tear ducts of both eyes. Her eyeliner is very important to her, and she's taken her time with constructing her thick, extensively sharp wings with “Midnight Tryst” liquid liner, and then used her “Breakfast in Bed” mascara to intensify her top and bottom lashes! She then opened up her secret drawer to reveal an expensive tube of pink “Frosted Frenzy” lipgloss, poked on two coats of pink “Light Rosé” nail polish, and backed away to check the view—UH-HUH! Let's talk about her outfit for a minute. The style, the colors and fabrics are all too hot for words and resemble pieces that were on loan from the Madonna “Boy Toy” collection lol. Here we have an aqua blue bodysuit, a stretchy, white lace dress with a flared hem, matching white lace gloves, and white ‘80s ruffled ankled socks! And the contents are bountiful! She's stylin' with a double strand of white pearls, a pearl bracelet, her hot pink, shiny leather belt w/ silver buckle and, lastly, her hot pink lacquered heels. Talk about packing it in! Her hot pink wireless microphone concludes her on-stage look. I have confirmed from day one that I'm all about Jem, but it's really Jerrica who happens to be the true star of this duo set! In the seven years of Integrity's Jem collection, the Design Team has taken great care of the JB line, already producing two variations that pale in comparison to each other, on top of killer fashions that are customary to the series. The torch has now made its way to the hands of TIP Jerrica, and she's raised this fiery instrument high above her head to claim victory! My goodness, how her hair shines! The razor cut, platinum blond bob was not only a clever move on their part, but was official confirmation as to how much Integrity honors this franchise! The members of the Design Team are faithful to the authenticity of Jem, the characters and their fashions, and this is why I am a faithful customer! The first thing I noticed a few months ago was her makeup...IT'S IMMACULATE!

 

And now? Makeup! Ms. Benton is in multicolored heaven with her “Passion in Paris” pancake makeup palette! Clearly, she beat the living daylights out of her canvas because there's hints of modern day flare literally marked all over her face, and I just can't pause from examining her creative work! While sitting in front of her vanity mirror, she began with applying pale aqua blue highlighter, in “Tropical Seabreeze”, to her brow bones. Next, she included a shimmery aqua blue shadow, in “Expensive Des Bijoux”, to her eyelids, and combined a layer of aqua blue “Mi International Amour” in an oval-shaped wing just above her creases, and a second, more defined wing of blue “Sky's the Limit” eyeshadow directly along the middle sections of her creases! Her black “La Tragédie” eyeliner coasts onward from the beginning of her eyelids to the outer tips with a jagged, needle-pointed wing that was drawn with the utmost of precision! She's a perfectionist for crying out loud lol. Ms. Benton straightened everything out with violet purple “Grape Parfait” shadow and “Kir Royale” liner across her bottom lash lines, as well as a playful presentation of blue “Smurfette's Revenge” mascara on her lashes! A few swipes of “Hawt, Hawt Heat” blush to her cheeks, and a coat of her “Cool as Fire, Hot as Ice” pink lipgloss and she's ready to go! Jerrica's outfit differs from her counterpart in more ways than one. For example, she's sporting a hot pink nylon hat, a long single strand of pearls, and her long white lace dress has long sleeves and a high slit on the side—cute, cute, cute! The dress is lined with a stretchy aqua blue tulle, as opposed to the see-through fabric used for Jem. Jerrica also wears an aqua blue bodysuit, white ruffled ankle socks, a double-length, hot pink belt w/ silver buckle, and a pair of matching hot pink heels. Both dolls knock me over with joy and elation!

 

My deep-seated love for this set allows me to appreciate every nook and cranny, and I certainly do! In sum, the TIP gift set has a little something for Jem doll collectors everywhere. It's fun, colorful, and at the same time, stylish and contemporary. As you take a long look at this set, you too will notice an air of Paris percolating from every angle! Ooh la la! ✈️

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