Looking at photos of 15-year-old Venus Palermo, you'd be forgiven if you thought they were photos of a life-sized figurine.
Truth is, Venus is a living, breathing teenage girl who chooses to style herself like a "living doll", reported the Daily Mail.
According to online reports, the only child of a single mother has been dressing this way since she was 11.
With her porcelain pale skin, enormous blue eyes, rosebud lips and flaxen hair, she has garnered a huge YouTube following with her online tutorials.
Venus, or Venus Angelic, as she is known online, uploads footage of herself on the website, where she shares makeup and hairstyling tips.
Her tutorials have so far garnered more than 10 million views.
And there are others like her.
American teenager Dakota Rose has also been hailed a real-life Barbie.
To fans, she is known as Kota Koti, and like Venus, has a global fanbase with her YouTube videos.
Not much is known about her personal life, but she is estimated to be between 16 to 18 years old and lives on the West Coast.
Although some commentators warn this phenomenon could encourage the sexualisation of children, their parents do not seem to be perturbed.
Venus' mother, Margaret Palermo, 37, is supportive of her daughter's hobby.
In an interview with a UK morning talkshow, the single mother says she would rather her daughter dress up as a doll, than come home drunk or pick up smoking.
She even dutifully lightens her daughter's naturally dark hair every month.
In Asia however, the "doll-face" phenomenon is not new.
Last year, Wang Jiayun became an online celebrity overnight in Korea and elsewhere when her "picture-perfect" photos were widely circulated on the Internet.
Wang's unrealistically large eyes, pale face, perfectly structured nose and extremely slim figure resemble a human-sized doll.
But with growing controversy on whether she had digitally altered her images, Wang shut down her personal blog.
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See also:
» Photos: Girls who love to dress up as dolls
» Doll-faced Chinese girl reveals her unaltered photos
