LAZY REVIEW: Crystalina

I grabbed two of the new Crystalina dolls in my last Target order. These run $12.99 each. 

Obviously, they're super gimmicky, but I think they look neat just as dolls, too. 

Turquoise.

Aventurine.

So this is it for pics. These are dolls that will be best reviewed in video, because their entire point is light effects. They flash 10 different patterns, some unique to each character. If you shake them up, they flash a special pattern that's just theirs. If you put them by each other, they flash a pattern shared only by those particular two characters. 

Each doll comes with a really neat-looking crescent moon-shaped stand, but sadly, they're not very stable. The moon part falls off the base and there's a clip meant to hold the crystal necklace, but it makes the stand too heavy unless the doll is on it. 

Each one also has a tiny hairclip that the doll or owner can wear. I have Turquoise's in, but not Aventurine's. 

Turquoise's hair was really messy out of the box. I carefully pulled a lot of her curls apart to make them fluff out more, but she's rooted pretty thinly. Shame because she's the best of the four. Though Aventurine is lovely, too. I always love a bright green. 

They're a cute idea and I think the target market will have fun with them. I bought them because they're pretty and their faces remind me of Sugar Planet a bit. 

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

REVIEW: Royal Enchantimals Queen Daviana & Grassy

 

Ah, yes, the obligatory blurry boxed photo. 

I pre-ordered a bunch of Enchantimals stuff on Amazon over the summer and none of it came out except the Secret Besties Pawbry set. I recently got charged for the Royals multipack so I believe that will come soonish, but there's been no sign of anything else. 

I'm not going to import everything I'm missing because I'm being patient, but when I saw some of the queen dolls for around $27 including shipping, I bought them. Daviana arrived from the Netherlands today and Unity just got into customs in NYC. 

Here's the art. Same style, nothing extra regal or anything. 

Daviana is basically just a giant Enchantimal with slightly more details. Her dress is one piece and it does have a fabric top unlike the small ones with their painted tops. 

Her hair is decent, but not spectacular. 

I think she's very pretty. She's a big Enchantimal, but she doesn't look exactly like them. There is something a tad more mature about her. 

Here's Grassy, who is oddly small compared to some of the deer that come with other deer Enchantimals. Still really cute though. 

Here's the size comparison shot. 

So she's much bigger than a regular Enchantimal, but still petite as other doll lines go.

Unlike the basic smaller ones, but similar to the deluxe smaller ones, Daviana's knees are jointed. She can turn them sideways. 

And she can sit, though it's on the awkward side. 

I'm looking forward to Unity's arrival and I'll likely order Paradise soon. I'm hoping she comes in stock from the same seller for a lower price than the couple on Amazon right now. Shipping from Europe is pretty fast right now, which is nice. 

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

Don't Waste Your Time, Kids.

I'll laugh as I delete any nonsense hate comments, so don't even waste your time trying to leave them. 

I'm not here for your petty, unfounded, childish drama. 

NEWS: Hairdorables Hairmazing

https://www.bjs.com/product/hairdorables-hairmazing-kaleidoscope-series---rayne/3000000000003011747

In their worst move ever, Just Play has decided to release their new Kaleidoscope line for Hairdorables missing Emily. 

While we never knew the exact details, we knew Emily, Brit, Sallee and Rayne were slated for appearance in an upcoming Hairmazing line. 

Thanks to this item listing from BJ's, we now can see the line is apparently only Noah, Sallee and Rayne. 

I'm fine with Sallee and Rayne being there, as they were two of the four teased. But Noah? AGAIN?! She didn't need to take a spot from Brit or Emily. I would have been much happier if Brit had been there, even if it still would have been wrong. 

Emily is one of the only characters I can think of in these modern days of big head big eye dolls that is unarguably East Asian. A lot of the others have the same eye shape as the default or one that's also used by white characters, so there's never a clear distinction. I have been looking forward to her joining the Hairmazing line to add much-needed representation to it, but Just Play has failed me and it just plain looks racist to remove her from the line. Not happy about this at all. 

NEWS: Rainbow High Rockstar trio

So big news from the RH world that I can actually post about, because for once, the pictures aren't leaked. 

These listings appeared on Target.com with a release date of September 20th! 

Presenting: Target's overpriced Rockstar RH line. 

I'm not thrilled with this. I was very vocally against Target overpricing Kia and getting away with it, because I knew this crap was just going to keep happening. And now instead of paying around $40 for these, which is about what they're worth, we're stuck paying $50 apiece, thanks to Kia. And thanks to people's bizarre addiction to these dolls and willingness to pay literally anything for them whether it makes sense or not. And thanks to Target's greed. Don't get me wrong, I love Target, but there's no denying this is pretty greedy when Walmart keeps their prices low. 

Anyway, let's meet Vanessa Tempo...again.

https://www.target.com/p/rainbow-high-rockstar-vanessa-tempo-doll/-/A-82545228

Yep, it's rainbow braids girl. 

I'll just say it right here: I'm not impressed with these in the least. Vanessa is the only doll with anything new in terms of hair. The other two just have the usual RH styles of "vaguely wavy" and "straight." The clothing is okay. Nice details but just okay. There's nothing innovative here. Nothing pushing any boundaries. Nothing related to any of the several genres of music that actually have subcultures that accompany them and would have been far more interesting. This is Generock. It's playing it safe, which is sadly what RH is best at since OMG seems to have all the guts in the MGAE family.   

I hate the outfit she comes with. It looks cheap and ugly. Putting giant holes over the knees only serve to highlight RH's ugly knee joints. Knee joints are never pretty, but your eyes just go right there and bleh. I don't hate the boots or the olive green jacket. Those are kinda neat. The dress is cool. I'd probably pair the dress with the jacket and boots, throw in some fishnets, and she really needed some sort of hat. That might work. The jewelry is incredible basic as are the second shoes. The drums are okay. Nothing special. 

Moving on.

https://www.target.com/p/rainbow-high-rockstar-carmen-major-doll/-/A-82545218

It should be apparently already that the dolls are the highlight of this line. Everything else could have been better, but I do love all three dolls, even though I think they need to stop being so repetitive with the hair. They did come through with great color choices for said hair though. Carmen here is absolutely stunning. Love those hair colors! 

Outfit-wise, the one she's wearing isn't great. Love the boots. The rest is either meh or I can't see it well enough. But her second outfit I love. The studded skirt, fishnet top and mock MTV tee are fabulous. The short boots are nice, too. The guitar is simple but the highlight is that it comes with a case. Love that. 

https://www.target.com/p/rainbow-high-rockstar-lyric-lucas-doll/-/A-82545220

Could we get this girl some dark lipstick, please? Why are they so afraid of it? I don't get it. Maybe because they felt it would overpower her eyeshadow, which is actually pretty spectacular. Something about Lyric reminds me of Roxxi from Bratz Rock Angels. I'm looking forward to seeing what colors her hair actually is, because I can't tell, but it looks promising. I don't like most of her clothing pieces, but THOSE LEATHER PANTS. Gods, they probably will not stand the test of time, but they are stunning. Best single piece in the line. The black skirt isn't bad either. 

So overall: These are overpriced, but the dolls are pretty enough that I will likely cave and get all three. I hate supporting Target's overpricing, but the RH clique is so hungry for anything that there's no way one person refusing to overpay is going to change the world, so why bother to try? At least I get 5% off. I'm not wowed by the concept or execution. They need to borrow some guts from LOL OMG. Badly need to. Stop playing it safe, RH. It's getting old. Although again, I'm in the vast minority here, so I'm sure we're in for several more years of vaguely wavy hair and locked inside the box lipstick. Beautiful dolls done too safely, but I'll get them anyway.

REVIEW: Glo-Up Girls

I received my Glo-Up Girls from Target.com today. As I've mentioned before, these run $19.99. 

Only Erin and Kenzie are currently available from the site. Apparently, Sadie and Tiffany were the ones that sold out. (Sigh. Seriously, people, buy more dolls that aren't just the white girls. The only reason I didn't get Kenzie was because I hate her outfit, but now that I know they fit RH clothes, I may get her when I have more fun money.) 

So the packaging on these combines aspects of Fail Fix, LOL OMG and Hairdorables. 

They obviously got the makeover aspect and wearing PJs in the box idea from Fail Fix, though Fail Fix didn't have actual PJs. The stacking of accessories off to one side reminds me of Hairdorables and their old window packaging. And the accessories coming in tissue paper in bags and shoeboxes reminds me of LOL OMG. 

These are pretty easy to open. The tray of accessories slides out of its compartment, while the doll is a few snips with the scissors and she's free. 

In the accessories tray, we have the face masks (threw them out), the bath bomb that reveals the makeup brush to "glo-up" her face (unfizzed one and threw the rest out), a makeup bag, a shopping bag with the outfit pieces, a purple pouch with a sheet of stickers and any jewelry the character comes with, and a shoebox. Attached to the other side of the tray is a tissue paper-wrapped parcel that contains the doll's purse or backpack and a belt if she has one. 

So here's all of Erin's stuff. 

I love the makeup bags. Each one opens to reveal a hidden makeup accessory. The backpack also is open so you can put stuff in it (but not seal it). 

Out of the box. 

She's attached at the head with the usual plastic tabs, but they're closer to the top of her head, which is different. 

You can see the white sheen on her face. That's the layer you remove with water to reveal the "glo-up." 

(Spoiler: It's not much of a glo-up.)

The bodies are interesting. The arms have the typical elbow and wrist joints and the hands are removable for redressing. The thigh joint is really unattractive. Big gaps there. And while the ankles are jointed, the knees are not. I tried seeing if they were click knees, but I can't get them to click at all. It's an odd choice, because I think most people would rather have knee joints than ankle. 

This is after I removed the face mask. It basically only revealed that she's wearing blush. That's it. No real glo-up here. 

The hair on these girls is not great. It's dry and it's got to be nylon. On the cheaper end of nylon, too. I'm really disappointed in it. 

 

I stuck her in the freezer for a few seconds and it revealed her dark blue nail polish. 

I wish they'd skipped the gimmicks on this line and just made fashion dolls. Take the money wasted on the footbath and makeup brush, the facemasks and the bath bomb and put it toward high quality hair, knee joints, permanent nail polish, and better quality control (we'll get there). 

Here is Erin hours later, post-salon treatment and air-drying her hair. It got HUGE. 

Her outfit is really cute on. She's the best dressed of the three I have, that's for sure. 

She's really adorable and I like her a lot. Enough that she claimed a spot next to Jett in my bedroom while the other two are elsewhere. I just wish they were better quality!

 

With her backpack and her makeup bag. The backpack looks so cute on! I love it. 

I have to say, these girls do have one thing I've never seen before. Their earring holes go all the way through their ear. I don't recommend changing the earrings a lot. I have a feeling those lobes will not hold up. 

I opened Sadie next. I'm not the biggest pastel fan (duh), but there was something cute about her. 

Oh, the art on this line. GORGEOUS. I saved all the front of the box art and made it into bookmarks. 

All the stuff. 

Forgot to mention the footbath thing before. It's to dissolve the bath bomb that the makeup brush is in. That sucker took forever to dissolve, by the way. 

Her stuff. 

This was my first disappointment. One of the belt loops on her dress isn't attached on one side. 

Here's the doll. 

The second oddity is that my Sadie has her pink nail polish already showing. It's brightest on her toes, but all of it is permanently visible. It's just my luck that it's the one of the three I would want this least for! I love Erin's dark blue and Tiffany's crazy green polish much better. 

And now behold, my Sadie's messed up left eye. SIIIIIIIIIGH. This is why I hate not being able to see a doll in the box. 

I do not normally advocate this, but with this line, I do. There's a piece of tape over the top of the plastic strip that closes the box over the side where the doll is. Peel that tape back carefully and pull up the plastic tab. Then you can slide the tray with the doll out and peek at her eyes. If she's messed up, you can easily slide the tray back in, reseal everything and return her. You're not stuck with a wonky doll like I am. 

Here she is with her hair gel washed out and her facemask washed off. 

She's a cute doll and I want to like her, but all I can see is that screwy eye. 

If anyone buys Sadie for her clothes, as I know people will do because their clothes fit RH, please let me know if you're selling the nude doll. I reported the eye and the dress to the company, but I don't know if they'll be good enough to send a replacement. I don't even care about the dress. I just want a doll with a good face. 

In her dress. This belt was just a poor idea. 

The boots are cute, but amusing because you can see the exact spot where her foot goes in each one. It's molded inside, even with toes. 

Backpack on and makeup bag in hand. 

So after the Sadie mess, I really thought hard if I wanted to open Tiffany. I wasn't completely sold on her when I bought her, but I was intrigued by her unusual hair color. 

I ended up figuring out how to slide her out of the box and check her over, so I did that and thought she was really pretty. 

In the trays. 

All her stuff. 

These still look like scrubs to me, but they are cuter than I first thought. 

Before facemask removal. 

After facemask removal and salon time. 

She has green polish, which is surprising. I really like it. 

Oh, Tiffany, why did they do you like this? 

While the designs on the jeans are cute, the fit is anything but flattering. Why Mom jeans? Are they in? WHY? And then the boring white sneakers. Not even with pink laces or anything. 

At least her earrings are adorable.

With her purse and makeup bag. 

Rainbow High to the rescue! 

I quite like Tiffany's top, so I wanted to keep it, which meant finding an understated bottom. Not easy to do in RH World. Thankfully, Skylar's skirt works very well. For the shoes, we could go more glitzy, so Bella's worked out just fine. I tried giving her Sadie's belt, but I didn't care for it, so I left it off. (And left it off Sadie. That dress doesn't need a belt.)

Here's a quick size comparison. 

I'm not sure what size I expected for these girls, but not as big as RH, yet they are. Not in head size, of course, but Erin's holding her own against Jett there. 

And here are the three girls. 

I want to like this line. I adore Erin. My only fault with her is I wish her hair was better quality. Well, and I wish the yellow half was blonde like her art. Tiffany is lovely, but needed help from another doll line. Sadie is full of flaws sadly, but I still want a better version of her, instead of rejecting her completely. 

I truly think they should have given up the gimmicks and concentrated on the dolls. Rainbow High has to be one of the most successful doll lines on the shelves and they don't do it with gimmicks. They do it with quality. They're not perfect by any means, but they don't waste money on gimmicks that could be spent on articulation, clothing quality, and quality control.

I will definitely get Alex from this line when she becomes available. I'm not sure about Rose yet. If I get her, I'll probably end up with Kenzie and just have them all, though the hair quality makes me wonder if Kenzie's will be okay or not. Alex though. I wish she was out now!

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

COLLECTION UPDATE: B*Pack

Okay, B*Pack seems to be annoyingly hard to find. I've managed to get 7 of the 10 regular girls (the additional 3 are called exclusives) thanks only to a wonderful seller on Mercari that had a bunch of them. 

So I thought I'd put together a quick photo guide to the line that I can add to as I get more. IF I get more. 

We've met Victoria Sandy Coral Ocean in my review.

  

I'm going to borrow her second outfit photo from said review.

This is E-Bae, my favorite. 

In her second outfit, which sucks. This just doesn't seem to suit her. 

I'd stick my tongue out, too, if I had to wear that. 

GIFanny. 

Ha. Love the names on some of these.

Second outfit. Not great colors. First outfit is way better.

Glitzy Gabrielle is the "super rare" one, but I'm pretty sure my seller had 2, so she's not that rare. 

I far prefer her second outfit. This is what I keep her in. 

Jeweliette was one of my surprise favorites. She's #4 out of these 7. Her outfit is ridiculously cute and I love her hair colors. 

Even this is cute on her. 

RaRa Reagan was even more of a surprise though. She's actually my 2nd fave after E-Bae. She's a sass bomb. 

She even makes this look sassy. 

And finally, here is Skylar Gift. 

Very cute in both outfits. 

So those are my 7. If anyone has one I'm missing, I'd love to buy her from you! I really want Heidi Tidy Shore. 

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.