The Barbie Look Review

The initial photos of my boxed dolls with cellophane or see-through fronts, are always taken in their unopened boxes, (the states they arrive in from the manufacturer).  No exception to this rule was made with The Barbie Look Barbie; she remains in the NRFB-state in this photo.  

I was so excited about this doll that I ordered two. Both arrived this past Friday. The plan was to debox one and to keep the other in the box indefinitely. Unfortunately, I am returning the one I deboxed first because she has a dark smudge on the side of her face. I did not see this imperfection until I had taken several photographs, which are the first ones shown below.   Please examine your dolls for unsightly imperfections.

First Photos of First Doll

The doll has been removed from the box but is still attached to the box liner.

The back of the box contains The Barbie Look description and illustrates the doll's accessories and a brunette from the collection.

Back of box description of The Barbie Look doll

Accessories include a compact with faux makeup, faux lipstick, gold tone metal purse, cell phone, and the gold strappy heels she arrived wearing. A doll stand and certificate of authenticity were also included.

Actual accessories

Illustration from the box of her big-bold gold ring

Close-up of her lovely face illustrates her light brown eyes and lip color that matches her complexion and her honey blonde hair. 

This is a close-up of the brocade pattern of the dress.

First pose after complete release from box (she still has hairnet in place).

Upon manipulating her knees, I immediately noticed joint discolorations (both dolls received have these white areas where the joint pegs are located at the inner knees).

Forward pose, with hairnet still on lower back of hair

Hairnet protects what I was hoping would be lovely curls.

Hope for lustrous curls was destroyed when I saw the poor condition of her hair; the ends of which look quite frizzy.

The dress has three snaps in back.  I removed it to examine her articulation, but first had to remove stitches between the second and third snap.  I suppose the stitching is one of Mattel's anti-theft measures, even though the doll  itself was secured to the box liner with several plastic fasteners.

Beyond the usual five points of articulation, the extra articulation extends to her elbows, wrists, and knees only.  She is not articulated under the breasts, at the waist, or ankles.

She sits nicely in a chair with her ankles almost crossed.  She cannot cross her legs fully at the knees (no photo captured of this attempt).

Photographing her curves from a side view is when I noticed the dark smudge on this side of the face.  My camera was unable to capture the smudge, but it is visible with the naked eye (or in my case, with my glasses on; she and everything else in sight would be a huge blur without wearing them).  This first doll was redressed, boxed up, and prepared for return to Mattel.  Deciding that one is enough, I do not want a replacement.

Complexion Comparisons
I continued using the imperfect doll to photograph with other dolls from my collection to compare complexions.  The Barbie Look Barbie is not a perfect match as a body donor for any of my dolls, but is a closer match to one than the others.  For the comparison Doll #1 put on temporary clothing.

City Chic Suit and Barbie Fashionista #32 lock arms with the new girl to compare their complexions.  I assumed The Barbie Look doll would be a perfect match for City Chic Suit; however, her dark caramel complexion is slightly darker than City Chic's and is even darker than Fashionista #32's with #32 being the lighter of these three dolls.

The complexion differences between City Chic, The Barbie Look Barbie, and Fashionista #32 are better outlined in the above photograph of their legs.

The final complexion comparison was done with Tropi-Cutie Barbie (also known here as Pam).  As seen in the above and next two photographs, their complexions are more compatible than the dolls illustrated above.

The Barbie Look doll's right arm (the one with the ringed finger) caught the camera's flash in this photo.  She is only slightly lighter than Pam (Tropi-Cutie). 

This photo of Pam and The Barbie Look's legs illustrates their true complexions, which are just slightly different.  If anyone wants to rebody their Tropi-Cutie onto a curvy articulated body, The Barbie Look Barbie will be a good body donor.

Doll #2
I examined Doll #2's face closely and was pleased to find there were no dark smudges or other imperfections.

I remained hopeful that the second doll's curls would be better than the first.

No such luck here.  While the ends are not as fried looking as the first doll's, they look quite deconditioned.

To remedy the deconditioned appearance, I wet the back of the hair, applied a generous amount of conditioner, and combed it through.  After rinsing out the conditioner, I twisted several small sections of hair and allowed it to dry until the next afternoon.

The twists were gently removed and nothing else done to the hair. The undone twists created soft curls. 

The Barbie Look Barbie strikes one final pose as she holds her golden clutch and stands on the doll stand that was included.  

At the time of publication, the doll remains available with free shipping at BarbieCollection.com.

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