Barbie Fashionistas #88 "Unicorn Magic" review

I don't usually review Barbie Fashionistas since they're largely "you've-seen-one-you've-seen-'em-all" in terms of quality and construction, but I was in a lousy mood last evening and needed to "find a way to forget reality," as Project Zomboid would put it. I forgot to take my anxiety meds, never a smart thing to do, and a number of small but annoying things happened, and that all pulled together to form a day that was about as pleasant as having a kidney stone. Add to that the fact that Grandma's funeral is today, and that a lot of family and friends will be travelling (even though we told them NOT to), and that's pushed my anxiety level up even more. Jeez, I'm such a drama queen! I've done a lot of talking to God lately, even though I feel so...far...away from Him. They say that when you feel far away from God that's usually when He's the closest, and I desperately hope that's true.

Anyway, I need something to perk myself up, keep myself busy, pull my head out of my rear, so today y'all get a brief glimpse of one of the new Fashionistas. She's #88 "Unicorn Magic," and Jewel is her name, in honor of C. S. Lewis and a character in one of his books. Jewel is a boy in the books, but...oh well.

I really need to read The Chronicles of Narnia. My sister did read them and says they were good, and I like fantasy so those books might be right up my alley. Anywho, I've been excited about this wave of dolls for quite some time, as Mattel is kicking it up with colors and hairstyles. I've already got these two, whom I call Duckie and Sam...

...and I'm still looking for this one, whom I may jokingly name "Dandelion."

"Dandelion" appears to be this wave's It Girl, by the way. Every Fashionista wave has an It Girl, one that everyone either loves and wants to own or hates and wants to boycott, and this one appears to be the one. She's very, VERY pale and has that huge white-blonde Afro that won my heart, and she appears to have an all-new head as well. I've yet to see "Dandelion" anywhere, but she's definitely very high on my wish list. Since everyone appears to want "Dandelion" I may have to wait awhile, and patience is not a virtue I've been blessed with (LOL).

Regarding Jewel now, I initially thought that she had a tall body, which would've been interesting since she's got high-heeled feet. Most of my tall dolls have either completely flat feet or feet with a slight heel, like Francine here does.

However, when I paired Jewel with Gertrude and Francine I realized that Jewel is not tall at all.

She's got an original body. I was duped by those short shorts that make her legs look longer than they are.

Now this hair...this hair was the determining factor in my picking this doll up.  It's beautiful.  Pictures don't do it justice.

The style is as simple as pie and as timeless as a pair of blue jeans, just a side part with no bangs, but this dye job is amazing.  Jewel's hair is a lovely combination of indigo and azure, with strands of tinsel incorporated into the style.

It's smooth tinsel too, not the old kind that some early Monster High dolls have.  I'll love my old Cleo de Nile doll until the day comes that we part ways (hopefully that day will never come), but her tinsel was/is bad about catching in hairbrush bristles and becoming snagged.

Oh, brief aside:  see Cleo's new clothes???

That cute little dress managed to survive half an hour in my puppies' jaws.  Two other dresses that came with it did not.  LOL, anyway, from a distance Jewel's hair looks lavender or blue (dilly, dilly) depending on the light.  Thus I absolutely love this hair, but I also am more than a little confused.  Why is Mattel pulling out all the stops to make Barbie look more and more original but at the same time cutting corners with cheap bodies and cheap clothes???  I mean, this hair is fabulous.  So is the face.

This head should be on an articulated body!!!  And if I get a wild hair, I may do just that and put this head on a Made to Move body.  But for now let's look at this paint.  Jewel has medium brown eyebrows (meaning that she'd normally be a mouse-brown brunette like me) and periwinkle eyes with long lashes and no shadow.  Her eyes are on straight, unlike the eyes of my poor little Blorange girl, Suika.

Jewel has a very wide mouth, about as wide as Norelle's.  Her lip paint is very matte and...oh, I'll say that color is mauve.  Not a great lip color as it makes one look a little short on oxygen, but it's better than bubblegum lips.

Here's Jewel with Norelle.  See how their mouths compare?

Katti's Dolls doesn't have a cutesy nickname for Norelle's head, but she compared it to Duck Lips (oops, did I say that out loud???) Julia Roberts, so I may just nickname this head the "Julia" head.  For the record, Norelle is prettier than Julia Roberts is by a long shot, but as usual I digress.  I'm about eighty percent sure that Norelle and Jewel share a head mold, but being a bear of very little brain I'll have to see confirmation online.  LOL, Winnie the Pooh reference!!!

Since Jewel's body is the same as the majority of Barbie bodies I'm going to move on to clothes now.

This outfit reminds me of the reason why I wanted to be a cheerleader when I was a toddler.  When Daddy asked me why I told him "Because they wear little clothes and have big bumps on their chests!"  Kids really do say the darnedest things, don't they?  Anywho, Jewel is a bit more scantily clad than I'm used to with Barbie, though it's not quite as bad as some of the goofy styles the Bratz wore (and keep in mind that I'm a Bratz fan).  Her style consists of Daisy Duke shorts and a white top with a unicorn on it, plus some accessories.  Going from the top down, this top is the reason why Jewel's official name is "Unicorn Magic," as it has a unicorn printed on.  The unicorn is white and...wait a minute, that's not just a unicorn.  That's a pegacorn, also referred to as an alicorn by My Little Pony.  The ALICORN is white with a rainbow mane and tail, and the rest of the material is speckled with tiny blue and pink polka dots.

To my delight, the tiny specks appear on the back of the top as well as the front.

The bottom hem is reinforced with this plasticky stuff, which I'm very thankful for.  This fabric is pretty loosely woven, and it would probably ravel like mad even with the hem sewn the way it is.

The neck is embelished with lavender stitching, which I find odd since none of the other hems have this.  Too bad, because it's a lovely shade.

Ooops, I lie.  The armholes are also trimmed in this purple stuff.

Lastly, the bottom of this top is sewn into a faux tie, not unlike the kite blouses that I wore when I was a little girl.

The shorts are your typical Daisy Duke shorts (an article of clothing that y'all wouldn't catch me dead in), with fringed hems and a faux fly and pockets.

It has a nice uneven fade pattern all over, which I do like.

Jewel's accessories are few, just boots and a bracelet.  The boots are glorified cowboy boots with molded fringe and molded studs.  The heel is insanely high, like the heels of so many Barbie shoes.

These shoes fit Jewel's feet closely and thus would be a pain in the posterior to pull off, but they have nice big slits in the back.

As for the bracelet, it's fairly nondescript with a big unpainted gem and a wide band.  It's cast in a pretty translucent plastic that would make a nice pair of shoes...or earrings.

Yeah, earrings.  This plastic would've made a great set of earrings, but Jewel has none.  Few of my Fashionistas do.

I think it's unnecessary to play Dolly Dress Shuffle with Jewel since she's got the original body and thus will be easy to dress.  So now we've come to the end of this somewhat cursory review.

BAD
*Has the same old stiff body that all Barbie Fashionistas have
*Clothes are pretty cheaply made, though they lack some of the frustrating shortcuts that Barbie clothes can have
*Clothes are also fairly scanty, though I've definitely seen worse in the doll world.
*Few accessories

GOOD
*Sturdy
*Clothes, while fairly cheap, are hemmed in all the places they should be, and the hems are reinforced in places.  The top is also printed on both sides, which we don't often get to see with Barbie clothes nowadays.
*I LOVE THAT HAIR!!!
*I love the face too.  I always enjoy seeing relatively new molds get used, if this is indeed the head mold that I think it is.
*Few accessories.  That's both a good thing and a bad thing, as it's fewer things to play with, but also fewer things to get lost or swallowed or choked on.

I wasn't expecting to buy too many of the dolls from this wave, just Duckie and "Dandelion" (if I can ever find "Dandelion"), but...looks like I'm having to eat my words!  Jewel is not perfect (few of my dolls are), but the problems she has are common to the majority of Barbie dolls these days and can be overlooked.  She's certainly eye-catching, enough so that she could probably hold her own against the brightly clad Rainbow Bright (Duckie) and the big-haired Varsity Plaiditude ("Dandelion) if the three were on a shelf together.  If any of y'all are up for a violet-haired doll with a Daisy-Duke-meets-the-Shibajuku-Girls vibe then Jewel would be perfect for you.  She'd look great in the Sanrio-themed fashions that are still popping up in stores.

Probably by the time this post goes out my puppies will be at the vet's preparing for surgery and I'll be trying to get my hair straightened for Grandma's funeral.  In accordance with her wishes we'll be doing a graveside service, but I'm still dreading it.  A, it's hot outside today, B, the location is next to an active rail line and a crossing where engineers HAVE to sound the whistle, and C, I'm just not a huge fan of funerals for people I know.  I learned from what little mortuary training I got that if it's someone you don't know, it's easy to detach yourself and just do what needs to be done.  If you know the person, it's NOT easy.  Anywho, y'all keep my family and me in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow, as we close out the final chapter of our loved one's life.

Tenderest love to all,
RagingMoon1987