Noelle (Our Generation) review

I've added quite a few dolls this year.

From left to right: Perdita (#26), Guenevere (CYO), and good ol' #58 - who I am keeping as a boy, and looking to name. One name I keep coming back to is Jude. We shall see.

So I thought I do not need any more dolls. Time to put a brake on.

But then I started seeing pictures of the new Our Generation face mold. I have never been a huge fan of the OG faces, which has protected me from going doll shopping and restricted me to accessories. But I am kind of in love with the new face. And then I saw pictures of Noelle.

I actually went into the store and looked at the box and left without buying it, but she still stuck with me. I loved the blonde and brown-eyed combination. I have no dolls with that hair color right now; it's kind of an ash-blonde, and my only blond doll is Karol, whose hair is much lighter. And she is one of the deluxe dolls with posable limbs. I hoped this might open up some new avenues for photos.

So back I went.

I love her calm smile. The older OG face mold always looks thin and kind of pinch-mouthy to me. But this is adorable.

Her hair is rooted and fairly thick. It is so soft and silky right now; not sure yet how it will age. It was rubber-banded into ponytails, and it's actually supposed to be loose but I like the pigtail look so much I haven't taken it out yet.

The poseable limbs do look weird when they bend; they're soft plastic and they basically fold with a crease. I was aware of this before I bought her, so I was prepared for that. She also does not stand well. Her shoes are high-heeled and possibly not the best perches, but also the soles of her feet are slightly rounded.

Anyway. She comes with light purple underpants...

And two outfits: a party dress and pajamas.  The dress material feels cheap. The shoes are all hard plastic.

Here's Noelle in the pajamas, which are adorable with their snowflake pattern.

She comes with two gift boxes (paper, with the cutest little ribbons), a glass of chocolate milk, a gingerbread man and sparkly snowflake cookie, a plate, and a blank letter. The reversible letter is bilingual, addressed on one side to Santa and on the other to Pere Noel. Each side has a different illustration.

Now for the real test: seeing how she sat. You can observe the results here.

So far, I'm a big fan of Noelle. I love her coloring. Here she is alongside Larkin, from the front and in profile.

OG may have finally converted me with that face mold. 

My Life As Get Well Play Set and Art Supply Play Set

Today at Wal-Mart I picked up a couple of sets. I knew as soon as I saw pictures of the Get Well Play Set that I wanted it, and I've learned that when I really love a set, it's better to snag it while it's available. I've seen sets go away while I waffled over whether to buy them or not.

At first I didn't think the set was there. There were a lot of very cute new sets and in the middle of all that it took a few minutes of searching. I also ran into the Art Supply Play Set, and picked that one up.

First: the Art Supply Play Set, my impulse buy. It comes in this adorable little plastic tote and includes all sorts of things.

A plastic "canvas" with a painting on it, some tiny sketches, and a sketchpad. That sketchpad was my deciding factor. It is filled with blak pages.
There's also an artist's palette, paint tubes, three paint brushes (with different brush sizes and shapes!), glue, glitter, colored pencils, markers, and scissors.

The scissors open and close, and THE MARKER CAPS ARE REMOVABLE. I actually squealed when I realized.
Those are going to be very easy for youngsters to lose. Lots of small parts in this set. I love that it all comes with its own convenient tote, so I can keep them all together easily.

The drawing implements have loops, so the dolls can hold them. All in all, a gorgeous little set. Wal-Mart is stepping up their game - and has been for a while now. I was just in awe going through the aisle seeing the new sets and new twists on old sets (like a new vending machine with different packages inside).

Now: the Get Well set. First, there's a little dining tray. The legs fold out.

There's a tissue box, a bowl of soup with a plate and spoon, an ice pack, a thermometer, a hot water bottle, and TEA. The mug of tea, two lemon slices, two little teabags labeled green tea and herbal tea, and a bottle of honey.

The soup didn't really impress me (and to be honest I thought the plate was a piecrust at first, it just looks odd).

The tissue box is plastic. It actually opens and has one cloth tissue inside. The icepack can also be opened up and you can put things in if you like; if you have some pretend ice, you could insert it.

The hot water bottle is a single piece of solid hard red plastic. Here it is compared to Molly's water bottle.

The mug of tea is the same as the hot chocolate mug from one of the My Life As winter playsets. However, the drink is translucent.

The tea packets were one part that really impressed me. I'm used to seeing Wal-Mart sets where the paper pieces are just a flat piece of cardboard printed on one side only. But when I opened it up, I found that they were actual envelopes!

And of course, for the tea you have lemons and honey. The honey bear was my entire reason for buying this set. I mean it's all pretty cute but that bear sold me on it.
My bear actually has a black mark on the back of the head.

Size comparison: here's the dolls' honey bear with a honey container from my cabinet, along with a little mini one I saved from a while back.

Here's Molly feeling under the weather. At least she has some good food to help her feel better.

Well, except for the honey. That's in the kitchen with the other condiments. The dolls can start collecting stuff for a spice cabinet!

Aloha, Nanea

So as you may have noticed, I recently brought Nanea home.

When I first saw pictures of Nanea I wasn’t a fan. I thought she looked too much like a Wellie Wisher. However, I actually do like the Wellie Wisher molds. Once I saw pictures of her in different lighting, she started to grow on me.

I have been keeping up with people’s discussions of current AG doll quality and I have to say, they are right. Nanea’s vinyl is soft and squishy. Not like rubber, but when I squeeze it there’s a noticeable give. By comparison, my older AGs have vinyl that’s firm as a rock. 

The whites of her eyes are also very bright and sharp. Her eyes are a little sunken and if I turn her to the side I can see through the socket to the white pegs of the eyes.

But she is a very pretty doll. I bought a couple of her sets - the swimsuit and the birthday set - and her little Brownie camera is probably in my top 10 doll purchases all year. (I was so sad when I realized I had missed Molly's travel set which included a camera - but now I have one!)

A Valentine's Gift

Karol is ready for his date, with some pure white lilies and the biggest box of chocolates he could carry. Seriously, those chocolates are like the size of his hand.

Larkin appears, radiant in a sparkling silver dress and pearls.

The evening goes perfectly. Afterwards, they eat all of the chocolate.

The Review

Larkin's dress is Springfield, I think - I found it at a yard sale. Karol's tux is from the My Life As line, my usual stop for cheaper doll clothing. It was the only one left on the shelf and I couldn't bear to ignore it and regret it later when they all sold out. I have done that before.

Here's the official stock photo of a doll wearing the tux:

"Look at me! Here I am! Love me."

The outfit includes a white shirt, checkered bow tie and pants, and a dark blue jacket.

It's definitely cheap for a reason. The shirt fabric is very thin. I noticed many loose threads clinging to the outfit. On the hanger, everything was anchored together with those little plastic ties, which left small holes in the fabric.

Karol looks pretty dapper. But wait, what's that?

... white Velcro. Both the shirt and the jacket fasten with Velcro. This is a trend for My Life As clothes. You can see it very clearly from most angles, and it's even worse because it's white on a dark jacket. I think they could at least have used matching Velcro.

As it is, it limits the amount you can do with the jacket.

The jacket has faux pockets, with flaps that you can lift. Underneath is white fabric, shown here:

 Here he is sans jacket and tie. The bow tie also fastens with Velcro, but in the back.

Review: Friendly Witch Outfit

When I got Elphaba, I knew one thing: she needed a broom. I think she's spent more time as a space alien than a witch, but she still needed a broom.

Then I found out that American Girl has offered witch costumes in the past!

The Friendly Witch Outfit was available from 2008 through 2009.

The Witch Costume was available 2013 through 2015.

Both outfits come with that same model of broom. I think the boots are the same too. After looking at both of them and comparing the prices on the secondary market, I opted for the first one.

The dress has sleeves puffed at the shoulder and a layered tulle skirt. It comes with pointy-toed boots that velcro at the back, a curved hat, and long striped socks.

The broom is hard plastic and surprisingly heavy. You could use it as a bludgeon.  The details are great - wood grain on the handle, detailed straws even on the bottom. I love this broom.

Due to Elphaba's variations from AG dolls, there are some slight measurement discrepancies. The shoes were very, very tight on her, and the broom handle does not quite fit over her four fingers. 

But still, Elphie finally had her broom!

Here she is in her original outfit - dress, shoes and hat - with the broom.

I actually got this back during the summer. Now that it's fall, I decided to break the dress back out for a cold-weather look. (That's another nice thing about it - it's very versatile. It doesn't have to be a witch costume.)

This time, rather than risk damaging the boots, I paired it with her original Mary Janes. I feel like the collar of the dress seems a little plain, so I added a scarf.

And that brings me to another find: Dunkin Donuts. They offer little lip balms shaped like coffee cups, and they are both adorable and perfectly to scale. Now Elphie can have pumpkin spice.