*This* over *That* (Please help me expand this!)

[SoapBubbles]

Thank you everyone for the great contributions so far!

Hmm, what other comparisons should we do? Maybe pros and cons of different types of eyes? Like glass vs acrylic vs silicone vs urethane? Oh, we could also do what materials and brands to use for faceups.

Yup! Those sort of comparisons! Pretty much anything other than the dolls themselves. I think that fits in a different area of the forum. I'll list up a few ideas in the original post to help get it rolling.

[Nella]

Eyes: I've had acrylic, glass and silicone eyes before for my crew. These are my opinions and experiences with those materials. First up is acrylic.The cheap acrylic eyes my Mythdoll came with and the eyes I first bought from PupaParadise were very cheap, less than 5$ new. The white of the eyes were painted on the inside of the eye, where the putty went. I found this out when I was trying to remove the old putty and removed half of the whites. They also didn't reflect light very well for taking photographs, which gave my dolls a hollow look. I would not recommend the very cheap acrylics. I would however recommend Souldoll acrylic eyes, which are very high quality and simply beautiful.

Now on to glass. Glass is my favourite material for doll eyes. They reflect the light beautifully. Glass eyes generally have less detailing than acrylic eyes but 'track' better. Glass eyes range in price from about 10$ to 40$ depending on the level of detailing and country of origin. Some glass eyes have stems, which makes re-positioning eyes easier.

Lastly is silicone. I've been disappointed with how silicone eyes look in my own dolls, though I've liked them in other people's dolls. Silicone eyes are sometimes called soft-glass eyes. They can have very life-like patterns and can fit strange shape eye wells that high-domed eyes just can't. For me, they simply didn't reflect light in a natural way and caused my tiny to have very dark eyes in photographs, making him look less 'alive' than my dolls with glass eyes or Souldoll acrylics. They also attach dust like nobody's business. I've had both Soom and Masterpiece eyes before.

Now for the TL;DR version of all of that. ^-^
Cheap Acrylic
Pros: Detailed eyes with iris pattern
Inexpensive (less than ten dollars)
Wide variety of colours
Maybe be default or random eyes included with new doll
Cons: Maybe poor quality
Reflects light poorly

Souldoll Acrylic Eyes
Pros: Reasonable price (16-22$)
Wide selection of colours and patterns
Fantasy eyes such as butterfly pupils available not just regular eyes
Vibrant colours and bright whites
Amazing detail of patterns
Cons: High-domed, so doesn't fit all eye sockets
Flat-backed, so harder to position eyes

Glass:
Pros: Reflects light very well
Wide selection of companies
Varied price range (10$ to 40$)
May have stems for easier re-positioning of eyes
More expensive ones have threading to add depth
Track well / look like the eyes are following you
Cons:
Those glass stems are sharp
Less detail than acrylic or silicone

Silicone:
Pros: High level of detail
Fit all eye wells, even oddly shaped ones
Many colours, including fantasy and animal eyes, available
Cons:
Not many companies to choose from (Soom and Masterpiece are the main two)
Attracts dust and get dirty quickly
Requires extra care with eye putty; Never use silicone ear plugs as eye putty with silicone eyes, they will fuse together!

[SoapBubbles]

Wow, that is great! Thanks for taking the time to write all that Nella! I actually didn't know half as much about doll eyes until I read that. Looks like I still have a lot of researching to do.