Ever After High - Duchess Swan Review

I really tried my best to not buy Duchess Swan the day that I did. I told myself "Kiki, she might go on sale so just wait it out", but of course rational me lost over impulsive, doll-crazy me. Now here I am $20 poorer and making promises to myself about how I will not buy another doll until at least July.

Which I've been doing a good job about, I think! I saw Through the Woods Cupid (the only Cupid I ever felt I've wanted) and the Frankie vinyl figure and was so close to buying both of them.

I did almost put Duchess back on the shelf while at Walmart, but every time I pick up one of these dolls (or pretty much any toy) I feel like they're real. I have some sort of Velveteen Rabbit / Toy Story complex I guess, lol. I felt like she would have been sad that I gave her hope when I picked her up only for me to just leave her there again.

Anyway, I've been excited about Duchess' doll ever since I saw her promo pics so I don't regret buying her. Especially now that I have her and she's as beautiful in person as she looked in her pics!

Duchess in box.

Back of box.

Box art.

Box art.

Keyhole.

Through the keyhole you can see there's a stand inside. I haven't decided whether or not I wanted to keep this stand so I left it in the box.

Gorgeous!

Duchess front.

Duchess back.

There were some complaints about Duchess' design not being consistent. Her doll and box art don't match her webisode and book cover design entirely. There's not a major difference in my opinion. It's not as bad as Kitty Cheshire's doll having purple skin for some odd reason when she isn't purple in the webisodes.

Headband.

I really want to try taking Duchess' hair down since it's just a side ponytail and not at all complicated to re-do, but I haven't decided if I'll be taking her headband off. I like it mostly except for that brain-looking poof ball.

It's supposed to look like a feather.

Duchess' hair has three colours: black, white, and light purple. In this photo it looks as if there's also hot pink but there isn't.

Feather earring.

Both her earrings are the same.

Everything about her face is great; Her make-up, her eyebrows, her expression. I love that she has brown eyes. I love brown-eyed dolls!

At first I thought her necklace was some sort of fierce-looking lion creature, but it isn't. It's a bunch of jewels.

Swan ring.

Swan bracelet.

Dress design.

Second layer.

Heel-less ballet shoes.

Swan purse.

I read the whole booklet and it's interesting to me that Duchess could possibly be the Black Swan instead of the White Swan like she thinks she is. It doesn't make sense to me though. How could she not know whether or not she's the Black or White Swan? Wouldn't that be up to whoever her mother or father is? Also, Faybelle Thorn suggests she might be the Black Swan because of her personality, but that also doesn't make sense because Raven didn't inherit her mother's personality and neither did Ginger or any of the other children of villains that want to rebel. The White Swan is traditionally a good-hearted person, but then the Evil Queen is traditionally well... evil, vain, and everything Raven isn't. So couldn't Duchess be the White Swan with a bad personality?

Although she probably is the Black Swan since she turns into one when she transforms. I'm thinking that maybe something is up with her parents. Maybe her parents are the Black and White Swans. That maybe one of them was a man or something and they fell in love and it's a secret. It's not like that isn't possible in the EAH universe.

The answers I'm looking for could be inside this book that I bought a few months back but haven't gotten around to reading yet. I've been holding it off since it's about my two favourite EAH characters.

Cerise and Duchess.

Cerise and Duchess are the same height! It makes sense that Duchess would be tall as well since she's a ballerina.

Cerise and Raven look so bored compared to Duchess!

I love the way EAH is going with the face molds. The thing I disliked most about EAH in the beginning was their sameness. The original four basics: Raven, Apple. Maddie, and Briar all have the same face mold. After I bought them I told myself I wouldn't get any more EAH and I'd stick to Monster High, but then Ashlynn and Hunter came out. From there, EAH started to get better for me.

Duchess is perfection in my eyes. She's the prettiest EAH doll released so far!

I let Duchess' hair down.

I like it better down, but I'm leaving it up for my stop-motion videos.

Everyone should buy this doll. I highly recommend her! Support Duchess so EAH will recognize her popularity and release more versions of her! LOL. Duchess is obsessed with besting Apple, but in my heart she's already won.

Ever After High - Cerise Hood Basic Re-release Review

While at Wal-Mart I came across Ever After High basic dolls in different boxes. I checked them out and found Cerise and was so excited to see she was the "Made in China" version since the one I already have is the "Made in Indonesia" basic doll. I'm not the type of person that usually buys doubles, but I've been wanting the China-made version of Cerise for a long time since her face is quite different. I bought her for exactly $19.97.

Something was off about these basic dolls though. They were missing accessories! I didn't get a good look at all of them, but the easiest to recognize was Dexter missing his scarf.

New Cerise in box.

The new box is a lot different. It seems like both Monster High and Ever After High boxes are getting smaller.

As I was de-boxing I noticed the plastic at the top of the box was supposed to resemble the pages of a book.

This new Cerise has a very pretty face that's closer to Cerise's original promo pics than my old Cerise doll.

New (left) and old (right) standing side-by-side.

New (left) and old (right)

I like that my new Cerise's bangs stay in place better than my old Cerise's. Unfortunately, my new Cerise's face and bangs are the only things I like about her. She's missing a lot of accessories! It's like a game of "Can you spot the difference?".

New Cerise does not come with a bracelet.

New Cerise does not come with a ring.

This one isn't a big deal, but new Cerise's belt is a little different. The buckles are more in the center than my old Cerise's. It's also a little darker.

New Cerise's boots do not have painted buckles and are a darker shade of brown.

It's pretty obvious what the difference here is between these two baskets, lol.

New Cerise's leggings are lighter.

New Cerise's dress looks and feels more cheaply made.

New Cerise's hood.

Old Cerise's hood.

Old Cerise's hood's chains are a bit shinier than New Cerise's. Again this one isn't a big deal.

New Cerise (left) and Old Cerise (right)

EDIT (12 January 2016): I just noticed that my old Cerise has brighter eyes and are more blue than the new Cerise.

New Cerise.

New Cerise does not have the painted gold shine on her lips. Her eye-make-up is a bit different with a touch of red (which is something I like better over my Old Cerise).

Old Cerise.

Old Cerise sort of looks like Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen to me. Her face appears a little more wolf-like in my opinion.

New Cerise with her bangs out of her face.

New Cerise (left) and Old Cerise (right).

New Cerise's hair is thinly rooted compared to Old Cerise who has much fuller, thicker hair. It's also a bit shorter.

While I'm very happy to finally have found a Cerise with the face I wanted and I'll now be using her for my stop-motions (but in Old Cerise's clothes and accessories), I'm upset that she was $19.97! Why in the world should she be nearly the same price as Old Cerise with all those missing details and accessories?! This re-released doll should have been priced at around $15 like the new Monster High Original Favourites. Sure she also included a stand, brush, and bookmark, but the original did too and was not as cheaply made.