Exciting New Doll Line - Barbie Looks Dolls

 Well, Mattel has done it again! Surprised us with a new doll line. One would have hoped that we would have heard about it from Mattel, but they dropped the ball on announcing it to us as online sleuths found out about it and reported the dolls on their sites. They very quickly became available on Amazon for pre-order if you were lucky enough to grab them and eBay opportunist are already offering them at inflated prices. The line is called Barbie Signature Looks.

This new series has debuted with 6 brand new dolls. All new face sculpts, MTM articulation and in Original, Tall, Petite and Curvy for the ladies and 2 guys with the Original MTM Ken body. Here is a photo of the group of dolls from the back of the box:

I have managed to order numbers 4-6 and I am still trying to snag number 1 & 2. My number 6 doll arrived yesterday. She is listed on Amazon as Barbie Signature Looks Doll (Tall, Blonde). 

I did not waste any time opening her, so without further adieu, I will share the box opening with you!

This is the back of the box which explains a little about the dolls. The photo of the dolls is not great taken from the back of the box, but you can see that they are all new face sculpts and are dressed very stylishly in a black and white theme.

Side of the box with the simple LOOKS logo.

Other side of the box identifying the doll number.

The front of the box has a simple clear cover with the logo of the line enabling you to see the beautiful doll!

But she looks so much better after getting that cover off.

As you can see, she stands tall and has a well made white open shoulder dress with white ankle boots. I don't think I have seen these before so they seem to making everything new for this line. Now getting her out of the box was a little bit challenging.

Getting her out of the box itself took only a snip of the plastic around her boots and releasing the plastic base from the inner liner of the box. But that plastic base that anchors her to the box was not fun. See the threads in her hair and the plastic thingies anchoring her head to the base? I wish they would stop doing that! I hate those! Put after snipping the plastic ties, pulling the thingies out with my needle nose pliers and getting the thread out of her hair, she was finally free!

Here she is, head to toe! She is dressed in a white knit dress with open shoulders. The fabric is a nice weight, not a thin cheap feel to it. It velcros in the back and has a sewn hem at the sleeves and bottom. Simple, yet elegant. 

She has a Made to Move body. Yessss! So glad they gave this line all MTM bodies. Mattel is listening! She also comes with a stand. She will end up on a Kaiser stand though. I like to use the Kaiser stand as it keeps them all at ground level.

Here is a closeup of her lovely face. Her eyes are NOT pixelated! she has simple make up. I for one, like the simple elegance of the understated makeup. Fitting for this line I think. Well done!

She has long, snow white hair with slight waves. The hair is soft to the touch. I may decide to boil wash it to straighten it though. We will see. 

Here is a closeup of her ankle boots. These are a new design I think. I haven't seen them before to my recollection. The have faux stitching on both the inner and outer sides and a thick heel. They have a slit in the back. I think I would have liked them better if they didn't have such an obvious slit at the back, but I can live with it.

Her skin is quite pale. Even paler than the MTM Purple top doll. 

Here is a closeup of her hand on top of Purple top's. You can see the slight difference in the skin color. 

One other little detail I want to mention. Each doll in this line is priced at $19.99! I love that pricing and think these dolls are very well done so I was surprised at this price. Beware of the seller's on eBay. As I mentioned, these dolls are being scooped up at a very fast rate. I have seen prices on eBay ranging from $50 to $80 USD. Plus shipping. I would discourage you from paying these inflated prices from opportunistic sellers. I know they may be more than $20 in other parts of the world, but I know that they cannot be too much more and certainly not $50 or $80 -- plus shipping! 

I hope you liked this review. I should be getting the other 3 I was able to order within the next week. I will be happy to review them for you too! 

So what do you think? Will you add any of these to your doll collection?

The New Barbie Bodies

By now, you have probably seen or at least heard of the introduction of the new body types Barbie is offering in its Fashionista line of dolls. They are offering a Curvy body, a Petite body and a Tall body. Probably the most talked about is the "Curvy" body. Many believe that this is a direct response by Mattel in answer to the Lammily doll. If it is, then thank you Lammily! Now, I do own more that one Lammily doll, but I do not like their ad campaign bashing Barbie. I think there is a place in this world for dolls of all sizes and shapes. Bravo Mattel!

Now if you know me at all, I did have to order some in each of the new body styles. Mine arrived Friday and they did not disappoint (except for the fact that they don't have articulation :-( ].  I took some pictures and did some comparisons to other dolls. I will share these with you all and, of course, voice my opinion.

We will start with a photo of all of the new dolls I received.

From L to R: Petite Blue Brocade, Curvy Chambray Chic, Tall White and Pink Pizzazz, Curvy Sweetheart Stripes

I really love the Curvy dolls! Maybe because I am a bit curvy myself! So I compared the Curvy girls to Lammily.

They are all very close to the same height. Chambray Chic has flat feet and Sweetheart Stripes has high heeled feet, but they are not as high as the original Barbie. Lammily, is wearing black mid-heel pumps. Oh, BTW, I put my mini me head on a Lammily body!

Here we have the girls stripped naked! As you can see, the Lammily body has a much longer torso than Curvy Barbie. Also Curvy Barbie has a much more defined waistline. Her legs are also more, well curvy, than Lammily's. 

Now from behind. BTW, I should note that Curvy Barbie could stand on her own as long as she had her shoes on! Visually, it appears that Curvy Barbie has wider hips that Lammily. I did move Curvy Barbies legs out a bit to aid in her standing, but with a narrower stance, her thighs almost touch, which is true for most curvy human ladies!

I swapped Lammily's outfit with Curvy Barbie's outfit. As you can see, it appears that they do not have much trouble sharing clothes. However, because of Lammily's long torso, the dress barely covers her bum and it definitely shows more leg.

Now, without the sweater you can see that the Lammily pants are very loose on Curvy Barbie. They sit rather low at the waste too. Also, when putting Curvy Barbie's dress on Lammily, I had some trouble pulling it over Lammily's hips. Much to my surprise, Lammily's hips are wider even though they don't look that way to the naked eye. I think this is because with the more defined waistline and more shapely legs on Curvy Barbie, She has the illusion of looking like she has wider hips.

Next, I tried on some other Lammily clothes on Barbie. All of the skirts from Lammily were too big for Curvy Barbie. However, there are some pieces that work.

Here, each of my Curvy Barbies are wearing Lammily jackets. They look good, right?

Chambray Chic has on a running suit from Ty Girls that I had purchased for Lammily and Sweetheart Stripes has the suit jacket from Lammily's Rockin' London set.

Next up, is the Petite doll comparisons. I compared Petite Blue Brocade to a hybrid articulated Skipper doll, a Skipper doll with a Simba Supermodel body and a Momoko doll.

L to R: Skipper on Simba Supermodel body, older Skipper on a hybrid articulated Skipper body, Petite Blue Brocade, Wake up Momoko. Petite's hair makes her look taller, but these girls are all pretty close in height, with the Simba Supermodel body being slightly shorter than the rest. We should also note that Petite Blue Brocade has high heeled feet. 

Naked Petites! Petite Barbie has a more mature and defined shape than the Simba Supermodel and the Skipper Hybrid bodies. Momoko has a defined shape, but is slimmer that Petite Barbie. (Note: I had put on some Barbie flat footed tennis shoes on Momoko and need to apply heat to remove them, so I just pulled her pants down!)

From behind, it is easier to see that the Simba Supermodel is shorter. Skipper definitely has a more juvenile body than Petite Barbie and Momoko (sorry, I forgot to move her hair aside) is slimmer)

Now for some clothes sharing. Skipper on the Simba Supermodel body wearing the Blue Brocade dress and Petite Barbie wearing a current Skipper outfit. I think both look very nice.

Petite Barbie in Momoko's top (I couldn't get the pants off because of the shoes, but I don't think they would have fit anyway). Hybrid Skipper in Petite Blue Brocade dress.  I do see some clothes swapping opportunities here. 

Finally, because I often have used a Liv body as a rebody choice for Skipper, I decided to compare these 2 as well. This is Generation Girl Mari on a Liv body. Still some possibilities here!

Now for the new Tall Barbies! 

Left to Right: Barbie Look Sweet Tea, Tall Barbie White and Pink Pizzazz, Fashion Royalty Perfectly Suited Giselle

Giselle is obviously the tallest of the 3, however, she does have high heeled feet. Tall Barbie has flat feet and Sweet Tea has high heeled feet, put is still a little shorter than the new Tall Barbie.  Also, note the differences in their bodies. Both Giselle and Sweet Tea have defined waistlines and shorter torsos. Tall Barbie has a basically strait up and down figure and a long torso. I think you would say she has a boyish figure. 

Here they are from the back. Giselle and Sweet Tea both have shapely behinds while Tall Barbie has a flatter looking butt. I do like the uniqueness of Tall Barbies shape. Someone mentioned that her body reminded them of the Mixis doll bodies, with the straight up and down waist and hips.

The big question is - can they swap clothes?

Tall Barbie and Sweet Tea have traded clothes. Doesn't look too bad, right? Well I could not close the skirt on Sweet Tea skirt on the Tall Barbie body. I haven't tried any regular Barbie clothes on the Tall body yet, but they may be a better fit.

Tall Barbie cannot wear Giselle's pants, but she can wear her jacket (Giselle better keep an eye on her stuff!).  Giselle, on the other hand can wear both pieces and look pretty good in them!

In conclusion, I am loving the direction that Barbie is taking with this new group of dolls. However, I so wish these ladies had articulation! I do think my favorite body of these is the new Curvy body because she is such a departure from what we have seen in the past. Will I body swap any of them? Probably. I see some viable alternatives for both the Petite and the Tall bodies. Of course, this will depend on skin tone matches. I hope that Mattel is just waiting to see how they sell before making a more substantial investment in the bodies. I for one, will do my part and purchase more! I already have my eye on some of them!

To see more of Mattel's new Fashionista body types go to ShopMattel.com.

Thanks for stopping by. And don't forget the winner of Blog Giveaway #2 will be announced tomorrow with Blog Giveaway # 3 not being far behind!