REVIEW: Enchantimals Dorinda Dolphin

Got my Dorinda Dolphin family set from Amazon UK today! Took about 11 days, which is pretty good. 

Cute art. 

Here we can see the accessory shop mermaid's name is Milagra. So pretty! I may need her. 

Deboxed. I love all her blues. 

Her tail does come off and she has legs. 

Her tail, like other Enchantimals mermaids, widens out into a base at the fluke so she can stand easily. You can see her standing on her own in the pic above.

Happy is purple. Tipper is pink. Splasher is blue. 

 

One more look at Dorinda. She's really lovely. I'm glad I got her, even if she did cost more. 

I want the seahorse set now and the accessory shop, too, but they'll have to wait a little bit. 

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine. 

Quick Thoughts on Mermaze

I went to Target after work and finally saw the Mermaze in person. They had all the basic ones except Kishiko. No deluxe one either, though there was a shelf tag. 

Just wanted to share some quick thoughts. 

I liked Riviera's face a lot in person and of the 6 I looked at, only 1 had eye wonk. 

Harmonique looked better quality than the ones I got from my Walmart orders. I'm glad if they're fixing the eyes on these or maybe I just had really bad luck. 

I didn't pick up Shellnelle. Her tail disturbs me. She was on the very top shelf, too, so I didn't even have to look at her. That zipper is so gross. 

I did pick up Jordie because I was shocked how light she is! She looked so much darker before. I like her freckles and hair, but her eyes are super dark compared to her skintone. Like I could barely see her pupils dark. And she's another one with a creepy tail. She's overall very strange-looking in person. 

So if I do ever get any of them, it will be Riviera. She had the best makeup and overall look, though I'm still mad they added like six inches of extra hair to her. However, I absolutely stand by my opinion of them being terribly overpriced and not even close to worth $32. 

REVIEW: American Girl Truly Me Street Chic #92

 

When I saw the newest AG Truly Me doll, I knew she'd be coming home. The only Classic mold dolls I have are historical, so I was actually glad she wasn't another Josefina mold, even though I obviously think that mold is gorgeous. 

I was surprised to see she was lighter than I expected. I'm not a good judge of AG skintones. "Tan Skin with Warm Neutral Undertones" doesn't mean anything to me. But she definitely looked a couple shades darker in the pics. 

Actually, looking at the skintone chart on the AG site, now I'm really confused. This doll is supposed to be skintone #25, while Illary (Truly Me #89) is skintone #20. So Illary's supposed to be lighter than this girl, but she is definitely not. This girl has the warm undertones I see in the chart for #25. Maybe #20 is supposed to be darker than #25? Odd numbering system if it is. I would have made #25 into a #15, which isn't there so it's not like they couldn't use the number. 

  

Anyway. Confusing skintone aside, she is GORGEOUS. 

I love the hair with the brown eyes and the Classic mold. Even if I wanted her a smidge darker, she's still fabulous. 

This is one of the very few AG outfits that is perfect the way it is. Maybe I'll get her a necklace eventually. 

Her hair is spectacular! The blue looked way more dominant in the item listing photos, but there are actually two shades of blue plus the very vivid neon pinky-purple. It photographs more pink than it looks in regular light. 

So yes, this is Eydis. She hangs out with Illary, Mazarine, Luciana and, of course, Roslin. 

I love that AG has embraced the unnatural hair colors. Now I wait impatiently for them to do that pixie cut from CYO on a regular doll that won't cost me an arm and a leg. 

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

REVIEW: Creatures of Cottonwood Art Plush

Something a little bit different for tonight. I occasionally buy art plush on etsy or from the artists' storefronts. I had my eye on one of this artist's creations before, but ultimately decided he was too big. I follow them on Facebook and when they posted their newest pieces, I fell for this guy's cute little face. 

He is a slothkey, so sloth + monkey obviously. 

He's about 9" tall seated, as described on his item page. 

He's poseable! I'm not crafty enough to know exactly how this was done. When I read poseable in the listing, I figured wires, but he feels so sturdy, I think he must be some sort of armature with plush over it? The combination is perfect because he's wonderfully poseable but doesn't lose any of his cuddliness. Obviously, you have to watch out for the nails, but the poseability of the body doesn't affect the cuddly level.

Super cuuuuuuuuuuute! 

I would definitely buy from this shop again. 

I've named him Eis (German for "ice"). He looks like he'd be good friends with Abbey Bominable. 

I'm so happy I splurged on him!

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

If you're interested in adopting a slothkey like Eis or another wonderful, whimsical creature, please visit: 

https://creaturesofcottonwood.com/

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SassafrassCreatures?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=1140652843

The storefront is newer and has lower prices than the etsy shop. (The artist recently changed their name from Sassafrass Creatures to Creatures of Cottonwood.)

REVIEW: Little Witch Rune "Evil Eye"

A friend posted pics of his new Rune dolls and I fell in love with her. I could only afford one, so I picked this one with the outfit I liked better, even though I preferred the hair on the other. 

Rune is limited to 200 pieces of each design and costs $115. I'd love to get the second one, but I can't just yet. 

Back (of the box) story. 

I only have one criticism of this doll and that is how she was packaged. Her hair has a permanent crease in it because she had a twist tie around her neck (and another at her ankles). I hate when packaging damages dolls. I'm used to it with playline, but this is a designer art doll and I feel like she should be packaged with more care. Maybe put her hair in a little hairnet and use the waist for her second tie-down spot instead of her neck?

Here she is fresh from the box. 

She's about the same height as the Monster High younger body.

The hair crease isn't the worst but I still think it could have been avoided. 

I love her outfit! 

I don't have a body pic, because I didn't want to untie her shoes. She's got basic articulation (neck, shoulders, hips). 

I love her face so much! That's the entire reason I caved and bought one. 

I hate the partially pulled back tiny bit of hair style so I yanked the plastic band out. Her hair fluffs out nicely, though it's definitely rooted to be brushed back away from her face. 

We'll see what we can do about those creases, Rune. (She's in the salon right now, but I'm scared to boil treat her.)

And one last shot. She's a cute addition to my collection. I wish I had more money to support artist dolls like her! 

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

REVIEW: Rainbow High Lily Cheng

Finally time for Lily! I ordered her when the numbered ones were available, but when I got mine, I didn't like her lipstick. It wasn't awful but definitely slightly off. I thought I might try to sell her in case anyone wanted a numbered one, but prices on them turned out to not be great. I would have lost money selling her after the fees came out. So she went back to Amazon and I used my Target coupon and 5% discount to get her for a great price. 

 

She arrived and I'm grateful to have gotten one with good paint. 

I remember thinking she was overpriced, but honestly she's a truly stunning doll and every piece is high quality and detailed. 

Lily comes with the usual RH fare of a stand, comb and two hangers. 

Her second outfit is a short red dress and a jacket. The sandals have ribbon ties. 

Her fan is a lovely accessory. 

It's actually functional and the knotwork detail is pretty. 

Her earrings. A bit oversized for my liking but they suit her. 

Her first pair of shoes have gold ties. These seem like I'll be able to retie them fairly easily. I think I'm going to try the other ones on her though, which I don't usually do with the ribbon ties. These are cool, but I love the detailing on the second pair. 

Lily even has a gold band on her panties. 

This is the only pic of her I took before washing her hair. It is absolutely loaded with gel. Definitely my main criticism of her. It took a long time for me to wash all that gel out. 

Her first outfit. The edges on the top are black faux leather while the gold frog clip is plastic. The skirt is the only piece that's a single material. The waist corset is multiple materials, including dangling studded straps. 

I tried hard to get a clear photo of her bracelets. She was six different ones, each is separate and each has painted detail. 

Three have tigers. The gold one here even has green eyes! The jade one is my favorite. I love jade. I think it has a character on it, but my blind self can't see it clearly. Not that I'd know what it meant anyway, but maybe it matches one of the earrings? I can't tell. 

I'm finally getting back to this review. It's actually been like 10 days since I did the first part. I've been super busy and when I've been home, I've been too tired to dress her. But now I have the energy because I just took a ridiculous nap that's going to mess up my sleep schedule for a few days. Ugh. 

Anyway, here's the second outfit dress.

I love this when it's not on her. RH's body design is simply not great for one-piece dresses. They always look like sacks because they never nip in at the waist enough. 

This is marginally better with the corset, but not really. Her main outfit looks better with it. 

This jacket was a minor struggle to get on because the cuffs are so stiff. It also barely closes in the back when worn over the dress. 

This looks cute with the first pair of shoes. 

I like this look, but not nearly as much as her main outfit. 

I think this jacket would fit better and also be cute with the skirt, although I do like the gold detail on the bottom of the dress and how it goes with the jacket. 

Stripped down version of her main outfit. 

And my final look. Full main outfit back on, including all the jewelry, but I switched the shoes to her second pair. 

Ribbon ties are one of my doll nemeses but they weren't too awful. 

Lily is an absolutely stunning doll. 

Love these shoes. 

The painted detail is worth the struggle. 

I love this pic. I take review pics to show details, but every now and then, I love the angle I manage to get. 

Yeah, worth the trouble. 

So pretty. 

And now sass. 

In sum, I love this doll. She was well worth the $80 original price and definitely worth the sale price I got her for. Her level of detail is beyond fabulous and her face is gorgeous. I hope to see this mold on future dolls. 

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.