The Zelfs Angelala and Mermalade Review

Hello everybody! I wanted to review a new toy I got a couple weeks ago... the Zelfs! I went to Toys R Us, and found these cuties in the back! I picked up the two cutest, Angelala and Mermalade. Here's what they look like in the package:

Angelala...

and Mermalade

I really like the packaging, except when I got home and took Angelala out of the bag, I discovered this:

Strangely, her box was halfway open, but everything was still secure in the packaging. I'm not sure if someone opened her then put her back on the shelf or if it really wasn't glued well.

Once I took the insert with Angelala inside, I just had to take off the clear plastic rubber bands that held her in place, and then I just slid her out.

Ta-da!

Here she is out of the box! She's super cute. She has cute designs of a harp and a music staff on her belly and right leg.

A bit closer

How cute am I?

She also has glittery wings and a "Z" on her tush.

Look at my wings!

The Zelfs also come with charms, combs, and hair elastics.
 

Angelala's charm

The comb that comes with all Zelfs

And the elastics that come with all Zelfs

Mermalade's charm

Hello everybody!

As with Angelala, I think Mermalade is adorable. I also really like how Mermalade's designs go all the way around her body.

The Zelfs heads, legs, and arms move around, however at first they can be very tight.

And now on to the hair. The Zelfs' hair is very soft, but there's a bump about halfway down, which doesn't make it easy to style. When I got these, I hoped I would be able to do some real styling on them, but I've found that I can't really do anything besides sweep the hair to the side (which is what I do with Mermalade).

Angelala's Leaflet

The Zelfs all come with little collector's leaflets. They have pictures of the animated Zelfs and a little bio of the one you bought.

And Mermalade's

Overall, I think that the Zelfs are really cute and fun. What do you think?

Re-Root:Before and After

So if you've been following my posts, you know that I got a doll from the dollar store to experiment with re-rooting. Here's what she looked like before:

And here's what she looked like afterwards:

I think she's pretty cute, but.... 

since she's from the dollar store, she's sparsely rooted. If I keep her hair in the ponytail, I think she'll look fine. 

I think that my first re-root went well. I'm pretty pleased with the results. What do you think? Hit the comments and share!

P.S. To reflect her origins, I named her Dollar Store Sally :)

Re-Root Update

So... I have finished the re-root! It took a while, but I finished it. I will post before and after pictures tomorrow.

~Lea

Updates!

     Alright everyone, I know I said that I would post a photo shoot of Lauryce, but the first part of the week I was sick, and the last part it's been raining. Hopefully the rain will let up soon and I can photograph Lauryce and post next week. 
     Also, next week I hope to have a post about my first attempt at re-rooting. Today I went to the dollar store and picked up a cheap little fashion doll and hair extensions. We'll see how this goes! 
     Have a great weekend everyone!

~Lea

Dolly Dessert Find

Before I Begin: I used the schedule post function for this post and accidentally set it for Tuesday (today) rather than Wednesday (tomorrow). So please ignore the "hump day" joke until tomorrow. :D

Hello everybody. Happy "hump day" :). Today I wanted to post about some cool little dolly desserts I found on Saturday. I was at Party City and when I was at the register, I saw some little erasers shaped like desserts and I knew that they would be the perfect size for American Girl dolls. These are the TY Beanie Puzzle Erasers. There were a few different desserts in various colors, such as parfaits, cupcakes, and ice cream. I chose a pink and blue ice cream and a cupcake with pink frosting. They cost a dollar each.

Here's what they look like from the front...

and the back.

This is what the ice cream looks like out of the package.

And this is what the cupcake looks like. Sorry it's a bit blurry, my camera only wanted to focus on the porch for whatever reason.

All the parts are glued together, which I like. They feel pretty sturdy.

Both the cupcake and the ice cream fit nicely in Leigh's hand. They seem pretty in-scale, but then again I'm not much of a spacial thinker, so I'm not the best judge. But whatever, I'm pretty sure it's close enough.

Just for comparison, I wanted to show them in Lauryce's hand. I think it works if you're going for a super sized dessert. All in all, I think these are nice little pieces to add to my little collection, and the best part is that they're only a dollar (one of my favorite prices, besides free of course :D).

That's it for today folks, check back later in the week for another post, most likely a photo shoot with Lauryce.

~Lea

Hearts for Hearts Lauryce Review

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope your weekend is going well. My weekend felt like it started Thursday, because I got a new doll. I got Hearts for Hearts Lauryce at my local Target for $24.99. They can also be found at the Playmates website and on Amazon. Besides their obvious cuteness, these dolls are also great because they donate 6.5% to World Visions, according to this review from the Toy Box Philosopher. You should really check her out if you haven't already, she posts wonderful in-depth toy reviews.

Here's her box.

Once I got home from Target, I ate dinner quickly, and then grabbed my camera to start taking photos. I was so excited to get her. 

Lauryce is from New Orleans, Lousiana.

Here's the back of Lauryce's box.

What a sweet face.

Once I opened the front flap of the box, I got even more excited. Lauryce has such a sweet face. I really love her hazel eyes with her tan skin and blond, beach wavy hair. It comes together really nicely.

This is what the inside flap looks like.

On the inside flap of her box, there's a short little bio and some photos to help you envision her world.

Lauryce loves animals.

All of the Hearts for Hearts girls are trying to help their community in some way. Lauryce loves animals, and started a club with her best friend, Amelie, called LIL Hearts (LIL is short for Living in Lousiana). You can read more about this in Lauryce's diary on the Hearts for Hearts website. All the diaries are so cute, and give you a better sense of their world. There are also diaries for the other characters, except for Shola and Mosi, the newest girls.

Starting to open her!

After taking a few quick photos of her box, I finally started to open her. You open her box from the top, then slide out the little box with the doll inside, which looks like this:

Then you undo the cardboard from the plastic insert, and then you just have to untie the strings around her and her accessories, and then you can take her out! It only took me about a minute to untie the strings. 

The cardboard that the plastic insert sits in shows where New Orleans is. I think it's a really cute detail, and ties in with the global theme of the Hearts for Hearts line.

Opening Lauryce only took me about 5 minutes, if you ignore the time I spent taking pictures. Opening a Hearts for Hearts doll is pretty easy, except the accessories are a bit to snug in their boxes and can take a little while to wrestle out.

Free at last!

And now she's free! Isn't she so cute? I will never know how I managed to wait three months before getting another Hearts for Hearts doll. They are great quality for a play doll, have the cutest little expression, and are only $25. I will definitely be buying more. I might just have to collect them all!

Here's a close-up of Lauryce's dress. The upper part is a gray tee shirt fabric, and the bottom is stretch fabric. I find the dress really cute and well-made. The only thing I don't like about it is the strange piece of thread that is sewn into the bottom of the dress. Here's what I'm talking about:

I have no clue why it's there, but it makes it a bit harder to take the dress on and off. I think I'm going to end up cutting it out.

Here's what the dress looks like inside out. The stiches seem pretty nice to me, but I'm not a seamstress so I'm not exactly sure. 

Here are her little bracelets. There are four little stretchy rubber ones on her left hand, and a single silver one with a heart on her right hand. I promptly lost the silver one, and I still haven't found it yet. It's pretty small, so it might be gone forever. Oh well.

Here's her little headband. It's just a purple polka dot print with elastic on the bottom. It's a bit hard to get on and off.

Here's what Lauryce's body looks like. It looks pretty nice, but my Lauryce has a defect- her torso is a different shade than her body. I think this is a common defect with the medium skin dolls. Also, there is a small black dot on her stomach, which you can sort of see in this photo:

It's kind of annoying. Anyways, on to her little undies. They are just plain white briefs, with some elastic in the back. 

These also seem to be pretty well made. However, her shoes aren't that well made, and are my least favorite part of the outfit. They are plastic moccasins, and in my opinion, they cheapen the outfit. I think that it lessens the quality of the outfit, and that it was a poor design choice.

Lauryce also comes with a couple accessories- a comb and a charm bracelet.

The comb is just a standard plastic doll comb, with a hair tie on the handle. I will not be using the comb as it will just make Lauryce's hair frizzy, tangled mess. I use an American Girl hairbrush on all my dolls. I may use the hair tie though, because it matches Lauryce's dress nicely.

The charm bracelet is a nice little touch for young girls, but I will probably take off the charms and find a new use for them.

So that's pretty much it. I hope you enjoyed my review. If you haven't taken a look at the Hearts for Hearts dolls before, I definitely think you should. They are absolutely adorable, and they have a great price tag for their quality.

Before the fun ends though, take a look at some shots I took after I opened her. I will probably take some more photos within the next couple days and post them later this week.

 

Thanks for reading! There will be a new post or two up later this week, if all goes as planned.

~Lea