OVERVIEW: Peppermint Rose

Mattel released the Peppermint Rose line in 1992. This small line consisted of four dolls, three plush bunnies, and three rubber bunnies that sprayed perfume. The line had far more ephemera than actual toys. There were cards, invitations and other party accessories, wrapping paper, books, stickers, puzzles, and even a necklace of Peppermint Rose seated on a swing. There was also a VHS available of the single episode.

The dolls themselves are very familiar. Their heads are from the Lady Lovely Locks line and their bodies were typical Skipper bodies from that time.

Lemon Kiss Lily, Vanilla Daisy, Peppermint Rose and Merry Mint Violet

The dolls have soft wavy hair. Peppermint Rose is blonde with blue eyes. Merry Mint Violet is the black character with black hair and purple/pink eyes. Vanilla Daisy has auburn hair and brown eyes. Lemon Kiss Lily is a strawberry blonde with purple eyes.


Each doll comes with an outfit that consists of a bodysuit, one shorter skirt that goes over another longer skirt, a pair of bloomers, a flower belt, a pair of slippers, a pair of earrings, and a giant hat with a fabric flower attached.

Peppermint Rose's main color is hot pink. She has a hot pink bodysuit with a white collar and puffy, rose-printed white sleeves. Her shorter skirt is white with pink stripes, while the same rose-printed fabric as her sleeves is used for her longer skirt. Her bloomers are a delicate, sheer white material. Both her pink plastic hat and her ribbon belt have a pink rose attached, and she has hot pink shoes and round hot pink earrings.

Merry Mint Violet shares a headmold with Peppermint Rose, but also has basically the same outfit only in different colors and prints. Her bodysuit is in the same style, except it's lavender with violet-printed white sleeves. Her shorter skirt matches the sleeve material and her longer skirt is a pretty mint green with darker green stripes. The stripes are the same pattern as Rose's shorter skirt, only in the different colors. Merry Mint has the same bloomers as Rose and she also wears round earrings, although they're mint green. She slippers are also mint. Her hat is an off-white shade (not sun-damaged, it's supposed to be that color) with a fabric violet, which matches the one on her belt.

Lemon Kiss Lily also wears a lavender bodysuit, but it's more of a pinky tone and has long sheer sleeves. Her short skirt is sheer white with yellow lemon drop polka dots and her longer skirt has a lily and lemon drop print on a white background. Her bloomers are a pinky-lavender and the longest of the four pairs of bloomers. She is not pictured wearing her correct shoes, which are actually a darker shade of pinky-lavender. Lemon Kiss is the only doll in the line to have perpetually fragile shoes. I have bought two of her mint in box and with both dolls, the shoes disintegrated. I have never seen plastic shoes fall apart like these did. Lemon Kiss also wears a lavender hat with a fabric lily that matches the one on her belt, and she has yellow lemon drop earrings. She's the only one of the four to wear a bit bolder makeup. She has mint green eyeshadow. Lemon Kiss and Vanilla Daisy share a headmold.

Vanilla Daisy wears a white bodysuit with a short ruffle at the top in a flower-printed sheer material that's the same as her short skirt. Her longer skirt is white with candy hearts. Her bloomers are sheer white with white polka dots and her slippers are also white. Her white hat has a fabric daisy that matches her belt. Vanilla Daisy's earrings are pink hearts and she's the only doll to have a necklace, which is also pink hearts.

I used to have all the rubber perfume bunnies with their cute fabric ears, all three of the plush bunnies and all four dolls, but I sold almost my entire collection years ago. I only kept the pink and purple plush bunnies. I decided a few months ago to recollect the dolls and have managed to get all four more quickly than I thought. Peppermint Rose is unfortunately not an easy line to collect. Rose herself is fairly easy to find boxed. I paid $19.99 for mine, but Lemon Kiss and Vanilla Daisy show up less frequently. My mom bought me Lemon Kiss and spent quite a lot, and then I ended up getting a great deal on a second one, trying to get one with shoes that didn't fall apart (and ultimately failing at that!). Vanilla Daisy cost me $45, I think. Merry Mint is decidedly the hardest to find and most expensive one, but I lucked into a fabulous deal and paid only $50 for mine. If you're patient, the deals will come, and it's definitely best to buy them mint in box to make sure you get all the outfit pieces.

I love this line. The layered outfits in their pretty colors and patterns work really nicely with the soft hair and pretty headmolds. I wish there were more characters!

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

RECOMMENDED SITES:
http://www.ghostofthedoll.co.uk/peppermintrose.php