REVIEW: Hatchimals Pixies Riders

Got my first Pixies Riders today! I'm not the biggest Hatchimals fan, though I do have a good-sized handful of the smaller animal figures, but these incredibly detailed fantasy pixies and their creatures made my wanted list.

I love that you know who you're getting, because $14.99 is a little pricey for a blind set. 

This is my favorite of the line: Lilac Luna and her Swanling. 

So first I removed the heart from the top. The colors of that heart are how you tell who's who. 

Then I opened the bottom part of the box. Is there a good way to do this? I just kind of went for it. 

The creature is on the righthand side and then two little treasure chests are on the right. In Hairdorables tradition, you punch out the cardboard and there's a plastic packet inside. 

So we've got the heart, the creature, two packets, and the checklist. 

Inside the packets are the stand for the pixie, plus jewelry for both her and her critter.

This part made me a little sad. You have to break the pretty top of the heart to "hatch" your pixie! Then you break off all the delicate material, flip it over, put the wings on what used to be the bottom, and you've got a display stand. 

Swanling is wearing her tiara and necklace, and so is Lilac Luna.

I'm so glad I got this set first. I actually have two more ordered, but this was my favorite. I always love the girls with darker lipstick and there's something about this one's whole aesthetic that I really love.

Yes, I know it's weird that the swan is my favorite when there are dragon-unicorns and six-legged beasties. In other colors, this would not have been my fave, but they chose well. 

I'm going to end up with most if not all of these!

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine. 

REVIEW: Rainbow High Ruby Anderson

Ruby arrived last night. Our UPS deliveries are pretty late. But I was able to get most of the review done, then she hit the salon. I didn't want to post a review without an after-salon photo though, so I waited until this morning when her hair was dry. 

Ruby's style is odd to me. It's casual with a bit of sporty, but then you've got a lot of very revealing pieces, too. Unfortunately, my favorite pieces don't match up that well together, so I'm not satisfied with how I'm leaving her dressed, but oh, well. 

Hey, this time I put the stand together correctly and it's more stable. Go, me. 

Here's the second outfit. That tube top is my favorite of her pieces, but it is way problematic, as you will see.

And her stock all broken down. So glad that red vinyl top isn't permastuck to that boring tee.

The flannel shirt is not actually a shirt. That would have been a nice touch if it was. 

Here she is in her stock. I'm not sure if anyone in the real world would wear a red vinyl bustier over a t-shirt. Do you know how clingy vinyl is? Very. Speaking as someone who used to wear it a lot, there is no way this is practical. It might not even be possible. T-shirts are so much lumpier in real life that wearing a tight piece over them...just no. And Ruby may be into fire, but this would be a hot look and we're talking sweating your butt off level hot. 

I do think this looks cute without the bustier, which I managed to not take a picture of. That's a more practical casual outfit. 

Ruby's hat is held on with a post that goes into a hole in her head. 

This is really weird-looking without the hat on, but thankfully once you wash the gel out of her hair, her hair covers it up.

Just the t-shirt. 

And just the red vinyl. These pieces work nicely together, but don't quite fit the style I had in mind for her.

The heels are rather boring, too. They're okay, but they're not really interesting.  

Of course it's hard to look interesting when the other pair of footwear is boots with flames molded on them. 

I adore this tube top, but once again, we're seeing the issue of MGAE wanted clothes so tight that they forgot they need to...oh, I dunno...STAY FASTENED. 

This is close to the final look I chose for her. I like the tube top with the pants, because they ride lower. The skirt sits too high in my opinion. These pants are also super tight like Sunny's but not quite as tight. Still not fun getting them over her heels though. 

Love the Pride flag jacket. Yeah, I don't care what anyone says. PRIDE. 

And this is her final look post-salon. Her hair is amazing once it's free of that stupid gel. 

Ruby is a mix of pros and cons for me. 

I like that the hat stays on so well, but the red gaping hole in her head is kinda weird, so it's lucky it's covered up by her hair. 

I wish she had earring holes. Just because she doesn't come with them doesn't mean she shouldn't be able to wear them. 

I love the tube top, but it needed to be able to stay closed better.

The pants could have been a bit looser, too. 

Her pieces mix oddly together. I would love that jacket and tube top with a black skirt. The boots kind of need a skirt, because they look odd with the pants, but I prefer the tube top with the pants. And the strip that holds her skirt in place also broke, so yeah. It would be nice if they added some black staples in fashion packs. 

As for flaws in the doll herself, her right hand doesn't stay on very well, which is why it's hooked in her belt loop. 

I still love these girls and think they're definitely worth the price, but there are improvements that need to be made.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

REVIEW: Rainbow High Sunny Madison

 

Ugh, horrible dark photo. Eh, you've seen boxed pics of these anyway.

I've been able to order all my Rainbow High from Target and Amazon. They're finally all coming! Man, my Target sucks. 

I'm glad Sunny got here first. She's my favorite. So far. That may change upon seeing them all in person. 

She was not fun to debox. Think back to the old Bratz days. You better get ready for some cuts on your hands. 

The quality of the stand is all right. It's not the most stable thing. 

I love the hangers though. Especially the working pants/skirt hanger!

It actually holds her pants. Ah, love it. 

So yeah, the long box had the outfit. Jacket, pants, bustier.

The smaller box had her shoes, which are gorgeous. I thought these were boring until I saw the stars all over the back. 

Though I do still think they could have put a star or two on the plain clear toe strap.

Those pictures were all I took last night, because these dolls have some serious gel issues. Sunny had bits sticking out sideways and her bangs were terrible.

A bit of salon treatment and she's ready to go, though still not perfect. Her bangs are a smidge uneven and she has one shorter lock sticking out from her two long curled pieces. (I left those gelled.) I'm thinking that shorter piece was meant to be trimmed into her bangs, but eh, I kinda like it. It's random.  

Her hair is this beautiful warm butter yellow. And once you get the gel out, it's so silky soft! 

Her earrings are my favorite fashion piece that she comes with. I just love them. Why? Well, mostly because of their shape, but also because they're actually YELLOW. 

Sunny, while representing yellow, is honestly mostly gold and yellows so light that I'd sooner call them off-white or cream. 

Her dress is cute in theory, but in actuality, mine is cut really poorly. The top part is a mess. Completely uneven horrible mess. 

The rainbow socks are cute and so are the platform sneakers, but they look better with this dress than her second outfit, so it was into the storage box for them. 

She's super photogenic. Like she even looks good in my utterly basic photos.

They are cute though. And I like that the socks cover up the knee joints. While that type of joint is nice for poseability, it's not the most attractive thing ever. 

The body itself is very sturdy and honestly, feels more high quality than the bodies of some $100+ dolls I own. 

Bustier with her main jacket.

The back of said jacket, which is my second favorite fashion thing about her, after the earrings. 

I adore that design. 

Better look at the bustier. 

Her hands do come off for easier outfit changing. I was just lazy and didn't want to take them off again. 

These effin' pants. These things are one of the tightest pieces of doll clothing I've ever seen. Like seriously, do not make your doll pants so tight that they can't even be closed! I had to struggle to make them velcro. 

With the heels on. I always like heels with casual pants. I dunno why. I feel like I have Jem to blame in there somewhere.

Again, love the detail. 

And then I realized I never put her in the matching jacket. 

Sigh. 

This thing is pretty dull. It might look cute with a black skirt or something that doesn't match it. 

You know, she reminds me of the Stingers redesigns for the Jem comic. Like a Raya/Minx combo.

TIGHTEST DOLL PANTS EVER.

I could barely get them to close that well. 

Another point in favor of her wearing her stock outfit jacket. It's longer.

And finally, here she is on her stand! 

Overall, you are getting a lot for your $27 with these. Consider that LOL OMGs are the same price. With these dolls, you get inset eyes with lashes, a much higher quality body with better poseability, TWO outfits with TWO pairs of shoes, much better accessories. They're just better in every way pretty much. Except they could have some much darker skintones, but hopefully they will in time. And LOL OMG could also go darker than they have, too. You have to do some fixer upper work on their hair and not every piece is perfect, but eh, they're still great. I look forward to seeing the others! Ruby should be here later tonight.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine. 

REVIEW: Bright Fairy Friends

I got my five Bright Fairy Friends yesterday! I was all set to do a review, but then our internet went out due to a storm earlier in the evening. There was no way I was going to type all this up on my phone, so here I am, doing it today.

Anyway, Bright Fairy Friends just came out. They were $13.59 originally, though I got mine for $13.13. They're currently only $9.99, but not back in stock for 2-4 weeks. (I did end up ordering more at that price.)

These dolls come in a simple jar that looks like an opaque version of what you'd use to catch fireflies. It's actually a nightlight! There's a switch that makes it glow.

I was thrilled to see that these have codes! There's a purple label taped to the bottom, but it's not hard to remove (or peek at). There are two numbers stamped in white and one of them is the code.

I had 5 different codes and got 5 different dolls, so I think this is a definite hack.

I didn't take step by step pictures, but you remove the paper bit near the top, cut the plastic off that holds the pink plastic lid on, and remove the lid.

Inside are the doll (in a plastic bag on her stand), a checklist, and a long pink packet.

Inside the packet in three attached pouches are: a brush, a fairy dust bottle, and a BFF barrette.

I didn't photograph the checklist. It just shows the character art with their names.

This is Sunny. 

The dolls are cute, but definitely not as nicely made as, say, Hairdorables. 

But they're also gimmicky, with that button you push on the front to light them up. It only works if you hold it, so sadly, kids can't fly these around with their lights flashing, which seems like it would have been a better idea. 

They fit decently in the stands, but are quite top heavy, so you're still going to need to lean them against something. 

Here are the wings from the back. 

All of the dolls except one have the same wing mold. 

Sunny's hair is okay. It's not horrible by any means. It's also in a braid, so I can't feel it as easily. 

I don't think she's as cute as her promo. 

The promo's bangs are much more full. I think the face here is a lot cuter and her makeup is more prominent. 

Poor little thing is my least favorite of the five I opened. 

 

Moving on, we have Sophie. 

Same accessories, different colors. 

She's definitely way more Ariel than I expected. 

She also was way cuter in the promo. I liked this really warm skintone that she had. It's a shame because she was one of the ones I liked best. 

Is there one I like, you wonder? Why, yes!

I love Cami.

Her hair isn't the best thing ever. It was in more stuck together sausage curls like the promo has, but I pulled a few apart to thicken it out. It was hanging a bit unevenly. 

In this case, I think the real doll is cuter than the promo.

Lily is the only fairy with different wings! They're hard to see, but she has angel wings. 

I like that she's really pale and they didn't give her darker eyebrows like companies usually do. 

Her hair was in a ponytail like this, but I released it. 

I think both doll and promo are about equally cute. 

At this point, I really figured my last one would be Penny or Harper, because all my other four were pictured on the same side of the checklist! Since those two girls were also there, I thought I'd get one of them, but no! I got NINA! She was my most wanted. 

I love all her purple curls and her darker elements. I was not expecting pink skin though! 

I can see the pink here now though. I just thought she was oddly-lit. 

She seems to have been lightened a little, but she's still really cute. 

The girls all have the same makeup style in different colors and with different cheek symbols. 

A nice detail is that every fairy dust bottle is different! Each one has a distinct shape. 

And here's a quick shot to show their size. 

Finally, here are the codes I collected:

-20285 Dali

-20288 Opal

-20290 Rosie

-20291 Penny

-20292 Dani

-20293 Sunny

-20294 Harper

-20296 Sophie

-20305 Fleur

-20306 Cami

-20308 Lily

-20310 Nina

I like these dolls. Enough that I ordered more. They don't have the quality level of similar dolls, but I think we all know I'm a sucker for fairies. I like to display them "flying" on my walls. 

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.