Paola Reina Las Amigas Abigail review

Happy Halloween, ladies and germs!  One of my favorite holidays is here, complete with candy, kids in costume, and spooky decorations!  Seriously, it seems like the decorations get better every year, from this big hairy spider in one of the downtown storefronts...

...to this display in front of a house.

This home on the outskirts of Malden always goes all out for holidays, but I daresay Halloween is their favorite.  This year they've got a few new decorations up, like the wooden faces and the two skeletons carrying the body bag.

Here's a closer look at the mortician skeletons.  I think these are a riot.

Here's their fence, complete with jack o'lanterns and dancing skeletons.  The jack o'lanterns have tea lights inside that allow them to glow in the dark.

The same house also has an old favorite, back for its third straight year:  this giant spider, made of strands of orange lights.

This house near the park has some cute stuff too, but some of it was glowing too brightly for my camera to catch it.

The glowing ghost in the center looks like this when he's not lit up.  It's not a great picture, but it's still possible to see his smug little face.

Some of the houses in Campbell are decked out as well, like this one.  They've got a DRAGON!!!

In the back yard of the dragon house is this cat.  His head turns, though I unfortunately didn't get a picture of that.  I love his smug face though.

Different house, same street.  I love the fleur-de-lis ghost that lives here; he's easily the most original decoration that I've seen this year.

Bottom line, the local homeowners and businesses have been having a lot of fun with their decorations.  It reminds me of my own childhood, when we decorated our own house for Halloween, inside and out.  The inside had jack o'lanterns (fake, of course), funny-looking candles, and an obnoxious little haunted house with a ghost that made noise every time someone moved or turned off a light.  The outside had real jack o'lanterns (carved by Daddy) and wind socks in the form of a witch, a vampire, and a ghost.  The ghost was white as ghosts usually are, and one year Mama was outraged to discover that a bird had messed on the ghost.  I'll never forget hearing her yell "The nerve of that damn bird, crapping on my cute little ghost!!!"  The bird crap left a stain that never came out, and every year I got to laugh all over again at Mama's animosity towards a long-dead bird.

Now...this year Halloween has fallen on a very rainy Wednesday, and the last Wednesday of the month usually means Story Hour for us here at Malden Library.  My boss decided to push Story Hour back a week so that she could participate in a church function on Halloween, but the children were encouraged to wear their costumes anyway.  We had a surprisingly good turnout, with six little girls dressed as two witches, a sock hopper, a cat, a cowgirl, and a princess.  They all acted like they had the time of their lives, and I had quite a bit of fun myself.  I don't have a costume, so I decided to bring my newest little witch instead.  Meet Abigail, my first (and possibly only) Paola Reina doll. 

Woooohoooo, Witchy Woman, see how high she flies!!!  LOL, I can only assume that Abigail is named after the little broad who helped start the Salem witch trials.  If so then she's very appropriately and creatively named...and strangely, of the four witches Paola Reina produced, she's the ONLY one with a proper name.  The other three are referred to simply as "Witch" in their online descriptions.  Anyway, as I said above Abigail is made by Paola Reina, a company based in...SPAIN???  I know I reviewed a doll that was produced in Europe not too long ago (Hattie), and I'll be reviewing another one around the middle of December, but nowadays finding a company that's solely based in a place like France or Germany or Spain is special.  Paola Reina dolls have featured in Miss Emily's blog more than once, with my favorites being Marta and Maia (Maia has BONES!!!), but until now I've never owned one of my own.  I browsed, but I never bought.  As it turned out, when I did finally choose I chose wisely; Mama has declared Abigail a favorite, the children at Story Hour found her adorable, and a Facebook friend noted that she bears a striking resemblance to her baby daughter.  I won't link a picture of this child for security and privacy reasons, but take my word for it:  Abigail does favor the little girl.

Paola Reina makes dolls in a number of sizes, ranging from the 26-inch Las Reinas de Paola series to the eight-inch Paolitos y Paolitas line.  Four of these sizes feature a doll dressed as a witch, with Abigail being the second-smallest.  She is part of the Las Amigas collection and is thirteen inches tall, thus putting her on the same scale as Hearts for Hearts Girls and Little Apple Dolls. 

I wish I could photograph how nice this doll smells!  All of Paola Reina's dolls smell like vanilla when they're new in the box.  Anyway, once upon a time the Las Amigas had a monster-themed line, very much like the Monster High dolls, but as far as I can tell Abigail is the only character left in the series...and I don't even know if she was supposed to be one of that series.  She does have two of the same attributes to the monster-themed Amigas, though:  kid-friendly spookiness and trippy hair.  I think I count three hair colors in Abigail's hair...no, take that back.  There are four colors:  lavender, lime green, and red-orange highlights over a black base.

The fibers are nylon, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the size of the doll and the quality of the nylon.  These Paola Reina dolls have glorious hair while Meygana Broomstix, as we all may know by now, has HORRID HAIR!!!  I've owned Meygana six years now, and yet I still refer back to her when I want to talk about bad hair.  Her hair is the absolute worst I've ever seen.  Abigail's hair is mercifully straight, and it looks a little coarse but is very smooth and soft.  The fibers DO have minds of their own though, and I need to smooth them down every now and then so that Abigail won't get tangles or look disheveled.  The colors shift shades a little as the light changes, so it's possible for Abigail's appearance to vary somewhat with shifting lighting.  The lavender streaks can look gray or blue in some lights, for example.

Underneath that gaily striped hair is the rounded face typical of most Paola Reina dolls this size.

Some Paola Reina dolls have sleep eyes and some have fixed eyes, with Abigail falling into the fixed category.  Her eyes are fairly deeply set and are a lovely shade of brown, with long applied lashes and wispy brown eyebrows.  Unfortunately Abigail's right eye has some whitish crap along the top edge, but I suspect that that's eyelash glue and could thus not be avoided.

Once again, these eyes remind me of how Xenia's eyes used to look, and how Mosi's eyes still look.  For a refresher, here's Xenia's eyes before they changed...

...and here's Mosi's eyes.

While all three of these dolls have/had rich brown eyes, Abigail ekes both Xenia and Mosi out in terms of detail.  Her irises look more real and more lively with their flecks of lighter brown and gold mixed in.  These are pretty eyes.

I'd love to see how the sun makes these eyes look, but I'm not big on exposing my dolls to too much sun...and the sun hasn't been out much lately anyway, with it being the middle of fall and all.

Now to lips.  Abigail has pouty, slightly puckered lips in this lovely shade of translucent pink.

Paola Reina dolls always have nicely molded lips with little creases, and Abigail is no exception.  This is a lip color that I'd like to see used on Barbie, by the way.  If they must insist on using bubblegum pink lipstick for their beautiful dolls of color, I wish it could be shimmery like this.  Not a bad face overall.  Not the most witchy face, but then again I'm not sure if this doll is supposed to be fully witch or if she's supposed to be a little girl dressed as a witch.  I think I'm gonna go with that second option, since Abigail isn't tinted green or purple or some tripped out color like witches tend to be.

Good time to visit the clothing department now.  I hate doing this since this outfit has multiple layers, but Abigail must be undressed.  She's got a cute little body, if a mite confusing.  Her face is babyish, suggesting a child of about five or six, but her body suggests an age of about ten or eleven.  I love her little pot belly!

Of course, what would I find but stains?  Abigail has a bruisy-looking band around her waist, which I assume was where her skirt was clinched tight.

Her back is marked with the company name, and for that matter her head is too!  I just got her back mark, though.

Abigail's hands are simply, smoothly molded in a relaxed position, with little nails molded onto the tips.

Her feet are also simply molded, though they do have the individual toes that not every doll has.  She sports nails here too.

From the side it's easy to see that the toes are realistically shaped, and that the ankles have visible bone structure.

Posing is average, not as good as the strung ball joints that Mosi has.  Abigail can turn but not tip her head, and she can move her arms and legs back and forth like so.

Front-back splits look inelegant but are possibility.

Sitting is a piece of cake for Abigail, though I recommend that she be dressed in a wide skirt like the one she came in.

Not a bad little body.  Not great, but far from terrible.  If Abigail had joints like the Las Reinas de Paola dolls or an internal armature like the Every Girl line I'd be more impressed, but that undoubtedly would've made her cost more, and it might have made her less kid-friendly as well.  So I'm happy enough with this body.

Great time to segue into the outfit now...wait a minute, haven't I already said that once?  Anyway, as I said above Abigail's joints are best suited for a wide skirt, and that's what she has...for starters.  Her whole getup screams "witch," from hat to boots.

Y'all may or may not have noticed something odd about the hat.

For reference, take a look at this picture, stolen from a post dating a few weeks back.

In the original picture the brim of Abigail's hat is tipped back and a cute little swag of tulle is sewn in place.  Now...NOW it's come undone!  It found a mountain that was far too high.

I can resew this easy peasy, but it still irks me that it happened at all.  The purple trim around the base is also threatening to come off.  This hat was held to Abigail's head with a plastic tie, and when I cut it to take the hat off the ribbon loosened noticeably.   Only a second plastic tie is holding it in place.

Easy fix again, but SERIOUSLY???  Will these infernal plastic ties be the clothes fasteners of tomorrow?  One would think they are, as often as they are utilized for doll clothes.  I can understand attaching the hat to the head with a plastic tie, but not attaching some of the decorations that way.

Luckily the hat is the only item of clothing that got that treatment, but that doesn't mean our problems are over.  Abigail's blouse is, in truth, this cute little bodysuit, made of black stretchy stuff and trimmed with more purple tulle and sateen.

First and foremost, I'm not a huge fan of the way the tulle fits.  It looks like it should be worn off the shoulder, but it's floppy no matter how I position it.  On the plus side, it's not hanging on by a single stitch like the tulle on the hat is.  No, my biggest beef with this bodysuit is that it closes with Velcro.

Granted, I can see no other way of effectively closing this outfit without driving the cost up, but when a doll's ensemble incorporates a lot of tulle and knitted fabric a strip of Velcro is a snagging disaster waiting to happen.  I have to be extremely careful about taking the bodysuit off and putting it on again, lest it catch Abigail's tights and snag them.

No biggie, just put the tights on over the bodysuit, right?  Well...no.  I'm sorry to say that when I try it that way the tights don't fit as well.  They're clearly meant to be worn UNDER the bodysuit.

These are super-cute tights, by the way.  They cover everything from the waist to the foot and are made of nice, thick knitted material in three colors.

These remind me a little bit of the tights that came on one of the first dolls I reviewed, Cutie Pops Candi.  Lordy, that review is six years old now!!!  Anyway, Candi has stripey tights in a similar color scheme (she has blue bands in her tights that Abigail does not have).  I'd show y'all, but Candi is buried in storage so y'all will just have to refer back to her review.  Ah, the Cutie Pops...so interesting, and so unfortunately short-lived.

Back on topic, I can remember being a teensy bit disappointed that the stripes on Candi's tights weren't lined up, though I'll concede that that's not easy.  But just for giggles let's see if Abigail's stripes line up.

Super-cute tights, tights that I would not be above wearing even now if my legs weren't so thick.  These WILL snag, though; I already have had to detangle the Velcro from them once, so if you've got this doll keep that in mind.

Worn over the bodysuit and the tights is this tie-on skirt.  It's very similar to a ballerina's tutu.

The skirt has three layers of tulle (green on top, then orange, and purple on the bottom).

EDIT:  I miscounted, as I often do.  There are actually FIVE layers in this skirt rather than three.  Green on top, then orange, then hot pink, then purple, and then a barely visible black layer on the bottom.  Can y'all tell I was in a hurry to complete this post last night???  LOL

Regardless of the number of layers, the skirt ties on with a wide purple ribbon.  I can't tell if this is satin or sateen, but it's some sort of material in that category.

It already has snags!!!  Go figure on that, since I kept this skirt far away from the bodysuit's Velcro.  I guess such things should be expected with sheer fabrics like this.  The good thing is that when I tie the skirt on right the snags don't show anyway.

Lastly, these little boots that go with everything.

These are unfortunately made of pleather...oh, how I HATE PLEATHER!!!  Anyway, this is made of pleather and it's holding up for now.  These Velcro along the sides, and thus I once again have to be careful about shoving these on Abigail's feet.

The soles are made of foam and are marked with the company's mark.

These little purple bands are separate pieces.  I really love that; it adds to the versatility of these boots.

Not the most kid-friendly outfit, I must admit, though I'm not really sure what age bracket these Las Amigas dolls are for.  If I were guessing I'd say that if a child is old enough for an American Girl doll, then she should have no trouble dressing and undressing Abigail provided she's careful with that Velcro.  I'm also not thrilled with the stitching on that hat, though I can fix it with very little fuss. 

Regarding clothes sharing, I have several possibilities in the fourteen-inch category.  Here lately this size of doll has become trendy (thanks in part to American Girl's new Wellie Wishers), and thus Abigail could thus potentially wear clothes that fit the following the following:
*Mattel's Wellie Wishers
*Battat's Glitter Girls
*Little Apple Dolls
*Hearts for Hearts Girls
*Possibly some B.F.C. Ink clothes
*Maybe Ideal Velvet clothes, given Abigail's thin build???  I've tried B.F.C. Ink clothes on my old Crissy with negative results, and Crissy's sleeves are in turn very slim, but maybe some of Velvet's sleeveless garb might work?

I mention B.F.C. Ink clothes since Mosi can wear the sole B.F.C. Ink outfit that I own.  Not perfectly, mind y'all, but good enough that I put her in it when summer rolls around.  Now...of the list above I own the aforementioned B.F.C. Ink outfit, Mosi's stock outfit, a new Wellie Wisher-sized dress from Etsy, and Mirari's stock outfit...but I'm NOT going to undress Mirari again!!!  I went through that little song and dance once and I'm not going to do it again, largely because Mirari's hair continues to fall out.  Her tights are also a little fragile (indeed I've somehow managed to snag them on something), so my sole Little Apple Doll outfit is off the table.  I also have not manged to score a brand-name Wellie Wisher outfit (yet), and I haven't been to Target in forever so I can't try Glitter Girls clothes on Abigail either.  But...if Mosi's outfit proves too big for Abigail then all that may not matter.  Remember that Mosi is a little bigger than Abigail is, and that Hearts 4 Hearts Girls can wear the clothing of Wellie Wishers and Glitter Girls.  It is thus fairly important that I determine whether Abigail can wear Mosi's clothes.

To my great delight Mosi's whole outfit fits Abigail like a dream.  Even Mosi's boots, which are usually a living nightmare to remove, slide on and off with little fuss.  This makes me very optimistic for the B.F.C. Ink outfit.

Now...remember when I said I had one B.F.C. Ink outfit???  Yeah, I lied.  Here's the new one.

I couldn't find the one I've got, so I bought another one.  And I wonder why I'm always broke, LOL.  Anyway, since the B.F.C. Ink dolls are long out of production I took a picture of the back of the box just for grins.  It reveals that there were originally only three characters whose names I've long forgotten, and that the main idea behind these dolls was the oh-so-common theme of friendship and fashion.

I found the back of the box interesting for another reason.  The dolls in the illustrations have sweet faces with relaxed eyes and smiles.  They look a little too realistic, in fact.  The dolls themselves have choppy-looking eyebrows that can make them look like sarcastic little brats, and their inset eyes tend to look buggy.

Yuko was always my favorite B.F.C. Ink doll, as her eyes were less buggy than those of the other dolls.  Digression over, I've got this outfit to try on Abigail, but first let's see how it'll look on Mosi.  Odds are that if it fits Mosi it'll fit Abigail.  I already know I'll have to push up the sleeves, because the B.F.C. crew had loooooong arms.

I'll admit that when I first unboxed this set I had my doubts, because the tank top is a bit roomy.  But with the exception of shoes this whole ensemble fits Mosi like it was made for her.  I knew the shoes wouldn't fit since the B.F.C. dolls also had big feet in addition to their simian-length arms, and I did have to push the sleeves of the jacket up, but otherwise this is safe for Mosi to wear.

I must admit, I was sorely tempted to leave Abigail and Mosi like this.  See how cute they are???

 

Y'know, I'm just now realizing how much these two look alike in the face.  They could pass for sisters or cousins!

I often like to match dolls together and pretend that they're siblings, but in this case I think I'll pass since Mosi is Native American and Abigail is Hispanic.  Won't stop other kids from pretending, though!  Alas, as much as I like Mosi and Abigail in their current duds I must undress them both again so I can test the B.F.C. Ink outfit on Abigail.

Hmmm...looks like B.F.C. Ink clothes aren't going to work for Abigail.  Her body is only a little smaller than Mosi's, but in this case a little smaller proved to be too small.  Oh well, at least Abigail can wear Mosi's outfit, boots and all!  As an aside, I was afraid that Abigail's highlights would make outfit changes a pain in the posterior, as unusual hair colors are sometimes bad about clashing with certain colors.  For example, Billie Jean (one of my Fashionistas) looks horrid in red and pink due to her blue highlights.  She is largely restricted to blue, black, white, or outfits that have blue in them.  To my surprise and delight Abigail's hair is not obtrusive to other outfits...or at least it isn't as obtrusive as Billie Jean's hair is.

Brief tangent, but I'm going somewhere with this one.  Promise!  In one of her old posts Beastsbelle shows the height difference between a B.F.C. Ink doll and a Hearts for Hearts Girl.  I'd conveniently forgotten that B.F.C. Ink dolls are the same height as American Girls, which surprises me since Amazon is full of protests from idiots who didn't read the fine print about B.F.C. Ink clothes being too small for American Girls.  Usually when idiots on Amazon get me all riled up I remember why, but in this case I forgot.  Said idiots were mad because all eighteen-inch dolls are not created equal, but I digress.  This means a height difference of four inches between B.F.C. Ink dolls and Hearts for Hearts Girls, thus making it that much more fortuitous that Abigail and Mosi can wear B.F.C. Ink clothes.  The fit is not perfect of course, with pants and sleeves being too long on some outfits, but in this particular case it worked out fine.

Lastly, the Etsy Wellie Wisher dress, which y'all have not yet seen.  Melanie Rose Designs made this.

The Luciana Vega influence is heavy on this dress, y'all!  I've always loved celestial prints like this anyway, so let's see what Abigail will look like in it.  Luckily for both of us the purple in the print matches the purple trim on Abigail's boots and hat...but will it fit?

Imperfectly, yes.  The bodice is a bit too big and a bit too long, and the headband likes to slip down over Abigail's eyes, but she can wear this with few problems and she looks quite good in it.  Notice that her stock boots match the fabric of the dress with the bands AND without.

I think that covers it!  Good stuff/bad stuff time.

BAD
*One of the decorations on the hat came undone, and the other is threatening to.
*Hair requires some maintenance to be kept nice.
*Clothes have the potential to snag and have stained Abigail's waist.  Not badly, but I still find it worth mentioning.
*Will the eyes change color???  Jeez, I hope not.  I haven't heard of Paola Reina eyes changing color, but after what happened to Xenia's eyes I reckon anything is possible.

GOOD
*Who doesn't love a witch doll???  I certainly do, as my past reviews of the Bratzillaz and Emerald the Enchanting Witch will reveal.
*Hair requires some maintenance, but not a lot.  It's also super-colorful but doesn't clash with the extra clothes that she wears.
*Clothes are a little fragile in places, but they're still very cute and make a convincing witch image.
*What a lovely little face this doll has!  She has pink lips but manages to avoid bubblegum-lip syndrome.
*Can be redressed easily in clothes that fit Hearts for Hearts Girls and Wellie Wishers.  Some B.F.C. Ink clothing will also fit.
*Great conversation piece!  My patrons at the library love this little doll.

Were y'all thinking that I'd give Abigail a bad review because I said that she'd probably be my only Paola Reina doll?  NOPE!!!  I just need another collection of large dolls like I need a third leg, and most of the Paola Reina dolls I've seen are indeed large dolls.  Abigail is not terribly large, but a ton of dolls her size is...kinda, sorta the same as a ton of dolls the size of Ana Ming or Denise.  Hey, I haven't trotted out Ana Ming in forever.  Let's see how she looks with Abigail.

I'd forgotten how much I loved Ana Ming; Carpatina dolls are epic.  I'm beginning to wonder if Ana Ming shouldn't have a boyfriend, seeing as Carpatina's boys have vastly improved.  Adam and Carter looked borderline ridiculous with their overly mature faces on children-sized bodies, while James and Stephan are adorable.  But anyway, Ana Ming and Abigail make a decent pair.  Ana Ming is the nicer doll by far, but she also cost twice what Abigail did so there's that out of the way.  They're the perfect size to play older and younger siblings or cousins, which wouldn't be too terrible an idea since Ana Ming has two other cousins that are similar in coloration to Abigail.  Julia would make the best match, I think.  But anywho, Abigail is a must-have for Halloween fans, especially if said Halloween fan also happens to be fond of Hearts for Hearts Girls, or Wellie Wishers, or dolls of that size.  Clothes sharing is not perfect, but it can be done.  Abigail is also good for kids' games with dolls this size, and for dioramas for us adults as well.  Bottom line, I love this doll and while I may not have needed her, I'm not sorry I bought her.  She provides a bright spot on a Halloween that looks to be a complete gully-washer.

Lastly, for those of y'all who fancy a good spine-tingling story or two, check out this post by YouTuber Rob Dyke.  It's an oldie but a goodie.

Happy Halloween,
RagingMoon1987