Decora Girlz review

It's rare when I'll throw together a review so soon after buying a doll, but in this case it was kinda easy to do.  I'd been hearing whispers and seeing videos on YouTube about Decora Girlz (there go the cutesy consonants again), and since I love decora fashion I grabbed a doll.  

In a nutshell, decora is a Japanese street fashion (remember how I like that?) that relies on bright colors, cutesy motifs, and a ton of accessories.  Hair may or may not be colored unnaturally, makeup is usually over-the-top, and stickers are used liberally.  Decora has quite a few similarities to kidcore, which is also childish and colorful (and which I'll admit to dabbling in).  As to the dolls themselves, they're done up in the blind box manner.  There are nineteen to collect, all in the decora style, but with different themes.

Obviously that's nine and not nineteen, but y'all get the drift.  The one obscured by the flash looks like this.

Some of 'em have cute names, stuff like Luna, Heather, Celestia, Sweetie...SWEETIE???  That's a nickname, not a name.  Celestia and Buzzy are my favorites (Buzzy has a bee theme), but they're all cute.

Alrighty, this is a blind box toy, and every piddlin' little item this doll has is wrapped up, like so...

...but I'll spare y'all the excruciating descriptions of everything and show pictures instead.  I could've done without that dumb comb, though. 

Second pair had the shoes and three puffy, bow-shaped stickers.  I guess they are the advertised hair ornament.  

A stand and flat stickers came in one bag.  The stand threw me for a loop at first, because I only had the upright bit and the base.  I eventually did find the clippy bit, though.  It had fallen out of the baggie and slipped into the couch cushions. 

Finally I found the dress, along with another sheet of puffy stickers. 

The doll comes sheathed in two layers of opaque, thin plastic that I neglected to photograph.  I popped this open, removed the plastic band from the bangs, and this is her!

Hmmm...she reminds me of Hairdorables, of Blume, and of Kawaii Crush all in one.  A few Redditors also compare these dolls to Shopkins Shoppies, and I see that parallel too.  Judging from that hair, I appear to have gotten the little gal on the package...

...but I don't know her name!  Some of the dolls had their names revealed on the package, but not this one!  And get this:  all of the blind bag toys I've bought have collector's guides, but not Decora Girlz!  I turned to Google and Reddit for help...

...apparently my doll's name is...Decora.  I am not amused.  Okay, so Decora is a small doll, at four inches.  She's of comparable size to the Hairdorables and to Strawberry Shortcake, but I don't have either of those with me at the moment.  Regarding dolls I DO have with me, Decora is shorter than Susie Sad-Eyes and Checkerboard Shannon, and on a wildly different scale from the two.

My little porcelain doll Jessica is smaller than Decora, and in the process of face-planting.

Decora's hair makes my rainbow-loving heart sing.  There are six colors at play here:  hot pink and orange on the far right, yellow, lime green, and blue at the center, and purple on the left.

The hair is floor-length, stick-straight, and slippery-smooth, to the point that it feels a little greasy.  The bangs are blunt-cut and are unfortunately uneven on the right.  

Frankly, I think Decora would've been just fine without bangs.  The bangs hide her cute pink eyebrows and make her eyes look that much more crazed.

Decora has neon green eyes with enormous pupils, black mascara, and sky blue eyeshadow.  This is actually pretty tame eye makeup for the decora look, but it's painted evenly.  The same is true for Decora's goofy mouth.

Some of these dolls have teeth showing in their goofy little mouths.  I'm kinda on the fence about the teeth and am glad that Decora doesn't have them.  Overall though this isn't my favorite doll face.  The black eyeliner is too harsh.  To be fair, my Blume doll and my smallest Liddle Kiddle also took a heavy hand with their eyeliner, and admittedly I find their eyes off-putting too.  So Decora isn't alone in this boat.

As always, let's look at ears.  Decora's ears stick out, and I'm kinda bummed that they aren't pierced.

However, I can use some of Decora's stickers as earrings.  I did the same thing many years ago, when my What's Her Face doll was new.

Decora came out of her pod undressed, which turned out to be a good thing (we'll discuss why in a bit).  Here's what she looks like.

She's got a teeny-weeny body to go with her huge noggin, and her decency is preserved by purple undergarments.  To my surprise, Decora's tiny little arms are ball-jointed at the shoulder, enabling them to move all the way out.

Here's a better look at these hands.  They're tiny and delicate, and VERY bendy.  Keep that in mind for later too.

In contrast, Decora's legs are thicker and do not bend.  They're bent slightly at the knees and the toes are turned in, the way people in decora or lolita dress sometimes like to stand.

Decora's hips aren't as flexible as her shoulders.  She can sit, but that's about it. 

She's got cute feet.  There isn't a ton of detail, but she does have ten toes visible, unlike some of my dolls.

Now...I did have Decora dressed before I remembered to review her body, and I am NOT under any circumstances taking that dress off again.  Why?  Because that dress is ridiculously hard to put on.  It's made out of soft vinyl...

...but the vinyl isn't anywhere near as soft as the vinyl clothes that L.O.L. Surprises wear.  There's a slit in the back, but getting Decora dressed was still a chore.  I will admit that I like the little puffed sleeves though, and the overall color scheme. 

The shoes weren't the easiest things either, but they went on with less of a fuss.  I think it's funny how the mismatched socks stand up, by the way.  Vinyl socks DO that sort of thing, but it gives off sort of a Fox in Socks vibe.

Fox.  Socks.  Box.  Knox.  LOL, Decora's purse is a brightly colored hunk of plastic.  It does fit over her wrist, but like the comb it probably could've been left out.

To add to the difficulties in dressing, Decora's bendy fingers hung up in the sleeves, and it took the better part of thirty minutes to get her dressed.  I did it all without saying a naughty word, I was so proud of myself!  But I've NEVER encountered this much difficulty dressing a small doll in vinyl clothes.  It's worth it, though.

However, since Decora is a Decora Girl, something is missing.  That's where the stickers come in.  There are two sheets of puffy stickers and one set of flat ones.

Decora fashion is supposed to be over-the-top, so I wasn't shy about putting these stickers on.  Most of 'em went in Decora's hair, and though I didn't intend this, two of the stickers do indeed look like dangly earrings. 

I'm only now realizing how lopsided Decora's eyes are!  That's unfortunately a risk one takes with blind box dolls.  Anyway, I used the whole sheet of small puffy stickers, and two of the big ones.   It was surprisingly satisfying to gussy this doll up.

And then...well, I guess that's it!  Stickers lose their tack if reused, so all I can do now is put Decora on her shelf.  Her dress all but immobilized her joints, and it's too difficult to redress her.  So much for that mixing and matching advertised on the box.  Overall I think Decora is cute and visually exciting, but there's not a lot to her.  I initially thought she'd be better as a bigger doll...and then I learned that there ARE bigger dolls..

Bigger and with cloth clothes!  Looks like there may be a part two to this review pretty soon.  Anyway, learning that my Decora is a mini doll made me think a little more highly of her, but that dress is still incredibly frustrating to deal with.

Sparkles,

RagingMoon1987 

Two little gifts

My friend Jessica (the same lady who gave me this doll) paid us a visit at the library today, and she brought these young ladies with her.

These little girls are music box dolls, not terribly unlike one of my Walda girls.  I received one similar to these from my grandmother; I was graduating high school then, and she played "Pomp and Circumstance."  The young lady in the flowered dress plays "Edelweiss" from The Sound of Music (which I never liked).  These dolls don't have names that I'm aware of, so the song earned her the name "Maria."

The doll in dark blue plays "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."  Mama and I heard that and simultaneously named her "Dorothy," even though she doesn't look a thing like Judy Garland.

Indeed, Dorothy looks kinda like she's seen something that freaked her out!  LOL, that's par for the course with porcelain dolls, especially the mass-produced ones.  Their eyes can be intense, and thus I can see why some folks would be creeped out by dollies like this.  But...well, I like 'em.  And as always, I send my deepest gratitude to my friend Jessica for these little gifts.  They'll join Diana on her shelf and keep her company.

Love,
RagingMoon1987

Dolly Dress Discussion: Baby Alive

It might come as a surprise to y'all that I own a Baby Alive doll.  I wasn't enamored with Snackin' Sara from years gone by, but my little dolly isn't quite as ridiculous-looking.  Meet Lulu Achoo.

Lulu fills a small gap that I had in my life as a preschooler, one that I'll discuss in detail when Lulu gets her review in November.  And yes, I have two baby dolls named Lulu.

For the record, I'm not a big fan of the name "Lulu."  I don't even know why I named my Magic Nursery baby "Lulu," other than for want of a quick "L" name.  Anyway, Lulu is a get-well doll, one of those who catches a cold and needs a little TLC to get better.  Dolls like this are usually lightly clad, and this is so in Lulu's case.  Her pajamas are thin and look a little like hospital pajamas.

Y'all know me, I love doll clothes and want to give Lulu a new look.  The dresses I got on Etsy didn't really cut the mustard, but luckily for me Baby Alive isn't allergic to making separate little outfits for their dolls.  I found two of 'em on Etsy.

Hmmm...that doll on the backs of these packages looks older than Lulu.  See how long her arms are?

Baby Alive dolls can vary in size, but these packages don't say what size doll the outfits are meant for.  Oh well, if they don't fit Lulu they'll fit someone in my collection.  But I'm gonna try it anyway.  Let's look at these dresses, first and foremost.

I love the colors, first and foremost.  I like the colors and the summery look of these new dresses.  Actually...that cute blue one isn't a dress.  It's a top and some shorts.

Both of these outfits were tacked to their package with those horrid little plastic ties, and one of 'em left quite the hole in the back of the blouse.

The rest of the outfit is made out of thin fabric that's printed on one side and white on the other...just like American Girl's Create Your Own clothes.  Anyway, let's see how this looks on Lulu.

Yeah, it's big on her.  Not ridiculously so, but the shirt gapes around the neckline...

...and the leggings want to cover her feet.

Not a bad little getup, really, but I'm kinda nitpicky about the way clothes fit my dolls.  I usually let it slide with baby dolls since real little babies wear clothes that are too big for them anyway, but...yeah, moving on.  The other outfit is a legit dress, but it's got bloomers underneath, which I think is smart.  With babies, anything over that diaper is a smart idea.

The bodice of the dress stretches, so let's see how this looks on Lulu.

Much better.  This one is also loose around the neck, but it doesn't show as much.  The back is cut low enuff that I can access Lulu's on/off switch if I so choose.

I definitely like the dress better.  I've been tinkering with the idea of getting another slightly taller Baby Alive doll, and if I do she can have the shorts set.  IF I do; Mama had to pay our handyman another thousand bucks for paint this past week, so that IF is extremely doubtful right now.  But no matter, Lulu can wear these with few problems.  I can get over the ill fit of those tights.

Cheers,
RagingMoon1987