YEAR IN REVIEW 2025

In my Insta, I did a top 20 post, but here I'm going to be a bit more thorough, though with fewer pics. 

JANUARY HIGHLIGHTS: Unicorn Academy Valentina, Barbie Harley and Ivy

FEBRUARY HIGHLIGHTS: Defa Lucy Lunar Model! 

I was in my vintage MLP phase during this month. And this is when TLS Jem hit stores. 

MARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Pretty Pixies Dazzle! And some new Sashays items. 

Still in my vintage phase, though now I bought up every piece of Sashays I could find for sale. Except the super overpriced one on eBay. 

  

APRIL HIGHLIGHTS: Passport Friends Paris mint in box! Passport Friends Manhattan with more complete outfit. Buried Secrets MH Series 2.  

MAY HIGHLIGHTS: She-Ra cartoon style figures! MH Scary Sweet Birthday Frankie. Wild Manes Halley. 

JUNE HIGHLIGHTS: Finally getting ragdoll Brittany! So many years of waiting for this girl. Boss Fight Sour Grapes. Yum Yums Party Cotton Dandy Poodle. Dream Besties Zia. Bratz Scorchin'! Love that whole line. Welcome Committee Frankie finally making it out. Paola Reina Elisabeth. 

June was my favorite month, as I got to see and meet Bloodywood twice. I had been saving up quite a bit for my trips, so it was odd that this month I actually bought the most before the trips and not after! 

JULY HIGHLIGHTS: Yummiland Sour Sweeties! I chose them for the photo, as they weren't in my Insta top 20, which I reserved for dolls only. Roxy Dolls Surfer. Shadow High returns with their basic line. Disney ILY Hocus Pocus, NBC and Maleficent. Nefera! Fearbook Venus. American Girl Wednesday! 

AUGUST HIGHLIGHTS: American Girl soft dolls! After so many years of wanting these. But where is Lissie? Bratz Fashion Pixiez. RH Shimmers Skyler. 

  

SEPTEMBER HIGHLIGHTS: Reel Drama Laura would have made it into my top 20, but she's technically a rerelease so I left her off the list. But here she is, along with Kuromi, who almost but not quite made the list. Dia de Los Muertos Skelita! Reel Drama Cleo. Shadow High Collector Heather and Shani! Decora Girlz Batty. WINX! So exciting having Winx back on the shelves. It's only Flora for September, but the others are...

OCTOBER HIGHLIGHTS: The other Winx! Tropical Barbie! Defa Lucy green and blue! Cleo V3! Cleo is my fave MH G3 release of the year. The oasis MH trio, especially Lagoona, but Laura and Jin are awesome, too. Laura almost made the top 20. Buried Secrets dance line. XENOMORPH! 

NOVEMBER HIGHLIGHTS: Benetton Shopping Marina is one of my top purchases for the year. Stunning! Also, Sailor Mars and Jupiter Style Dolls. 

I started my Barbie collection blog this month to help keep track of all my vintage pieces, as that's mostly what I was buying in the fall. 

DECEMBER HIGHLIGHTS: Edward was #21 on the list. Like I debated taking another off and putting her there, but I just couldn't. Misty is my big highlight for December. One of my top purchases for the year. Leilani. The Olympia Dolls! Vivienne and the other Be Dazzlings. SH Girls' Night Natasha and Heather. I do have Heather. I just haven't taken her pics yet. 

So that wraps up another year! I'll likely be reviewing Heather tomorrow.  

REVIEW: Monster High Skullector Edward Scissorhands

I'd like to thank everyone who didn't like this doll for whatever reason. Money was tight this month, but I ended up having some good sales and I was able to order her after the general window opened. I can't remember how long after, but I was happy there was one left for me. 

I'm not a huge fan of the movie, but when the reception was lukewarm, I opted to get one because I love her design. (If it's a movie I don't care much about, I tend to leave the dolls for the bigger fans, even if I do like the dolls themselves.)

I hate the headband, so that came right off. 

The outfit is fantastic. I love all the details and materials. 

Look at those huge, creepy cute eyes. She's so damn cute!

I remember seeing a fan edit of her with brown makeup instead of purple and I agree that did look better, but I don't mind this. Her face is definitely the reason I wanted her. 

She's very much got that trad goth teased giant hair that works so well with the makeup. 

Cute profile. 

The object heels. I'm not a hater of these. I think they're just part of what MH is. However, I would have loved the angel used as both heels instead of the mismatch. I love the angel. 

Love her! She's sitting with black dress Lydia and non-Netflix Wednesday and they all look adorable together. 

PHOTO CREDIT: Mine.  

REVIEW: Rainbow High Shadow High Girls' Night NATASHA

Natashaaaaaaaaaaa! She was a surprise. I wasn't expecting her this early. 

(There is a thread inside the box. There's not something weird on her forehead.)

I'm so happy Shadow High is back! Who cares if they're more basic? They're still gorgeous. 

She's just lovely. I adore her lipstick. 

She did need a gel wash and a little is still in her bangs. 

Cute impractical shoes. 

I love that she's in pants. I don't really think of Natasha as a pants girl, but she works them. 

Quick pic of the cake that I almost forgot about. 

And one last pic. 

I love her a lot. I do wish she'd come with some of the other accessories. The bear in the art and the sleep mask would have been cuter than the cake, though I do actually really like the cake. 

Hopefully, Heather ships soon!

PHOTO CREDIT: Mine. 

REVIEW: Rainbow High Be Dazzling Noémie and Céline

Two more Be Dazzling girls arrived today. 

First up, we have Noémie. 

She was one of my favorites from the promo photos.

She's absolutely lovely, though mine has a minor eye flaw. I've become used to one iris having a thicker outline than the other honestly. 

I adore her coloring. 

She did need a serious gel rinse, though her bangs still have some. I wanted a little help keeping those in place. Her hair is the worst quality of the three girls I have so far. It's very uneven. Not just because part of it is pulled up, but because it's just different lengths. Like the orange streaks are longer than the other colors. Odd. While I wasn't originally a fan of the streaks as opposed to solid hair, she does work these colors very well. I think they enhance her. 

Gorgeous makeup. 

She has by far my favorite outfit design of the three I have. I like the sleeves a lot. 

Her shoes are a nice mold, but I wish the white was basically any other color. 

My other arrival was Céline, who I admit was my least fave from the promos. 

Now my main problem with Miss Turquoise is that this is NOT turquoise. While turquoise is a range of shades, this by itself just isn't that for me. They should have mixed in at least one more blue shade to make her better-named. 

 

She also needed a wash, but her hair came out lovely. Not that it really looks it here, but I took these while it was still a bit wet. 

I like the cut of her dress for the most part. Not a fan of the band across the chest. Also not a fan of the belt. 

Her makeup is very pretty. 

I don't mind the hair streaks on her, but they're nothing special. Would have preferred a turquoise blend. 

I want to love these. I like the design of them. There's just something about them that makes her feet look fat. I dunno. Something is not flattering here. 

I do like Céline more than I expected, and Noémie exactly as much as I expected to. I think Vivienne might still be my fave though, pushing Noémie down to third. 

The other two aren't slated until January. 

PHOTO CREDIT: Mine. 

Rambling Me Update

I thought I'd take a few minutes and catch everyone up on what I've been doing. 

I haven't been doing a ton of buying and work has been so overwhelming once again that I simply haven't had the will to do reviews. I've gotten a few dolls that I just set out on display and didn't bother reviewing. (Nothing major, only stuff that other people covered quite well.)

I'm also looking at moving next year, so I've started doing some packing in my toy room. It's dog-proofing, too. We have an almost 9-month-old puppy and he's the most into objects dog that I've ever owned. So my doll shelves are getting transitioned to not having any toys on the bottom shelves, only books. 

That's the main reason why my reviews have been set on the back of the couch. Ha! I don't have any other good review space really. 

I'm still in my vintage Barbie phase, though I'm not letting myself buy anything for a bit. It's that money is tight time of year, but I also just booked my New York trip for next May. I'm going to see my favorite band again! I have almost paid off my trip from June of this year, but for January, February and March, I'm going to have to pay installments on both trips and that's not going to be cheap. I'd love to get some sales going and get the first trip paid off early, but I had to use last week's batch of sales money to replenish our savings account. You know how sometimes your big bills all fall during the same pay period? Yeah, that happened to both my mom and me this month. 

Anyway, I will have plenty of upcoming reviews, because MGAE just killed it. I ordered all of the Shadow High sleepover dolls, plus the Be Dazzling RH. They'll likely be scattered across later December and early January. I got Pop Jade but missed out on Cloe. I definitely need that Cloe. I'll also have Edward Scissorhands coming up, likely before anyone else arrives, as she's shipped as of today. And eventually, all my TLS Toy preorders should be arriving. (So not happy with that company.) 

So yeah, money's tight but there will be more reviews than the past few months, mostly thanks to MGAE. 

If anyone is interested in vintage Barbie, I did start a blog that's functioning as a collection log for me. It's not pretty photography, just basic stuff so I can keep track of doll details and mostly fashion details. 

https://vvdbarbie.blogspot.com/  

My local toy store isn't currently buying, so my next post is likely going to be me laying out everything I was going to sell there to see if anyone here wants it. I need to go take the pics. 

Oh, and I will get back to my Winx reviews soonish. My big splurge this week was importing the Giochi Preziosi casual outfit Tecna, who I loooooooooove. I'm thinking once she arrives, we'll finish watching the show together. It's my first experience with importing something on eBay where I will have to pay fees once the item arrives. I'm guessing they'll leave a notice and I'll go to the post office to pay the fees and pick up the doll. I'm curious to see how much it will be. I'll report the details in my review for her. I do want the casual Musa and maybe Flora, plus fairy Tecna and Musa, so I need to know how importing is going to go. I have a friend to help me, too, but this is For Science. 

One more thing! Has anyone seen the Shimmer and Shine RH in Target? I'd love to know if Dawn and Whitney are being found. I hate that their listings got taken down. I really need those two in my life. 

Okay, off to take sales pics.

REVIEW: Olympia Dolls

 

I saw these advertised on Insta and immediately went to check them out. I have a perpetual itch for mythological or ancient world dolls that is rarely ever scratched. 

This is a small, women-owned business, so the prices aren't going to be mass-production, big box store cheap. These are expensive dolls. And the articulation snobs should just stop reading right now. Poseability is not these ladies' thing. 

But if you mythology and if you want something unique for your shelf, these might just be for you. 

So far, there are three dolls: Artemis, Athena and Venus. 

I'm not sure why two Greek and one Roman. It feels like an odd choice to me. 

All the dolls have a pretty realistic body shape. I did not undress anyone. I do not want to be smited, thanks. 

The clothing and accessories are very well-done. Artemis has some faux leather detailing. 

All of the shoe sculpts are awesome. 

All of the animal companions are also very well-sculpted. 

The one thing I wish she had is a moon tiara. 

The hairstyles are fabulous. The hair is rough quality, but it's not horrible. It's just not silken Rainbow High hair. 

The goddesses are molded to hold more action-type poses than regular dolls. These ladies are not fashion dolls. 

She can actually hold the arrow in her fingers! I think that's pretty awesome. 

I have the plastic band on there for stability, but she is holding the arrow shaft between her open index and middle fingers.

Moving on to Athena. 

Back of the box.

Athena is the most tan of the three. I like it because it makes her eyes extra-piercing. 

My one nitpick with her is that Athena has gray eyes, not blue. But the blue does remind me of Xena, so...I'll allow it. Heh. 

Her skirt is a suede-like material. 

I LOVE her hair! 

She has the best quality of the three, likely because it's straight. 

Hell yeah. 

My Monster High dolls struggle to hold up their phones sometimes. They'd never be able to do this. Articulation is all well and good, but I also like being able to steadily hold a pose. 

 

Ugh, I love her so much. I love them all. Can't sound like I have a favorite! That did not go well before...

Now on to Venus. 

Aphrodite. 

Back of the box again. 

Oh, I didn't photograph the info cards they come with. They're like a folder with four total pages of info on the goddess. They've got holes punched and come with little rings so you could keep them in a binder. It's a cute idea for kids.  

Venus doesn't have an action pose, but she still conveys motion and majesty. 

I love that swan. All the animals are so detailed. Like the bottom of him isn't just flat. There are little feet carved in. 

I love her dress. 

Again, the work on the outfits is excellent. 

She's a little more simple than the others, even though she has the most fabric. I wish they'd given her her famous girdle. She's still lovely. It's not like Aphrodite is known for her athleticism in the same way as the other two. 

Overall, I think these are wonderfully unique, very detailed dolls that I'm proud to have on my shelves. Little me would have absolutely cherished them. I was into mythology from a very early age and that never went away. 

I really hope they do well enough to make more. There's art of Hera in Venus's info card and she is literally divine. I must have her! 

PHOTO CREDIT: Mine.