REVIEW: Descendants 2 Royal Fashions Mal

I've been waiting ages to see if this doll was ever going to come out. She's been on Target's website for quite some time. I stopped checking her listing weeks ago, so I'm not sure when she first became available, but my store got 4 in and I picked her up a couple nights ago. 

I like this version of blonde Mal better than the one with switcheroo blonde to purple hair, but...that's not really saying much, because I hate the other doll. 

This doll is a Target exclusive. Obviously from the sticker on her box. And she costs $24.99. 

And she's not worth it. 

Now I thought Descendants went consistently up in quality. The other Descendants 2 dolls are pretty great overall, especially the Cotillion Mal and Uma. But one thing that changed instantly after the first set of dolls from the first movie is the hair quality. Evie in particular had some truly nasty hair in that first set. I'd thought we'd seen the last of it.

I was wrong. 

This Mal has that terrible dry nylon hair back again. I didn't take a photo of her back, but you can see even from the front that the purple part hangs longer. I guess that's meant to resemble the purple tips she should have had, but it does not work and instead just looks cheap. 

So her hair both feels and looks bad. 

The makeup is fine and the white dress is nice. The earrings, necklace and particularly the flower bracelet are very nice pieces. Amusing, because I think that's Audrey's signature bracelet and I know those are her shoes. So Mal really looks Auradoned out. 

The blue outfit is nice and Ally models it well. My problem with it is that for $24.99, that skirt shouldn't be held together with only one tiny piece of velcro. It's another thing that looks cheap about this set. 

Those are Ally's shoes, too. I didn't put the gold ones that actually came with Mal (see boxed photo) on her, because I knew the blue would look better. 

I apologize for the lack of pictures, but I just couldn't get excited about this once I opened the package and felt Mal's hair and saw how the skirt was a glorified beach wrap. 

I recommend skipping it unless you are a die-hard Descendants fan who really, really wants these specific pieces for some reason. I would never have bought it if I knew about her hair.

PHOTO CREDITS: Sadly, mine.