Doll review: Barbie Looks model 2 (curvy)

Hello and welcome to the first doll review of 2022. I haven't done a doll review in over a year, when I reviewed the BMR redhead guy, back in February 2021, so it was really about time. I used to do reviews back to back, but now I very rarely do so, due to the fact that I barely buy any dolls. This is due to the fact that I don't have much money to spend on dolls anymore, but also there hasn't been anything in the market that has really caught my eye recently. However, a few months back, Mattel put out this Barbie Looks line, and this particular doll was a standout for me. 

For those of you who aren't really into Barbie dolls, the Looks line is a collectors line consisting of 6 dolls that launched in summer 2021 (see them here). The line seems to pay homage to the Barbie Basics line from 2009, but with the addition of the made to move body and new face sculpts. Later that year, 3 new dolls have cme out.

These dolls original retail price is 20USD, which is a fair price, considering the first made to move dolls used to cost around 15-17$. In Spain, however, this dolls retail for 30€, that is roughly 33$. It is not uncommon that the prices of the dolls increase significantly once they get to the European stores (and other parts of the world too, but I can only speak from my experience here), often up to twice as much. However, when the BMR 1959 came to Spain, they kept them at the same price tag here than in the US, selling them for 30€, when they cost 30$. When this happened, I was hoping we kept this trend and future releases from Mattel had a similar price tag. It can be done, since they already did it with the BMR dolls. Confused by these pricing decisions, I made this meme. (Edit: I would like to point out that I didn't make this meme about this doll in specifically, but about Mattel's pricing in general over here. For example, the Star Wars Barbie dolls went from 100$ in the US to 180$ here.)

Despite what I just said, I must say I felt some relief when I saw they were retailing for 30€ on Amazon, as the first European retailer that I found had them for 40€, twice as much as their original price. I also did not pay for this doll myself, as it was a gift from Mr. Monster, and I'm not sure how much he paid for this one. However, these don't seem to go down on sale for less than 25€, so I will assume he paid something close to her original retail price.

But enough rambling about pricing, and let's start with the actual review. These new Looks dolls come in these white boxes with a clear front. It's pretty simple yet slick, and I actually really like it. Packaging doesn't always need to be over the top, specially for this price point. 

On the back of the box, we can see the rest of the dolls on this line. The one I got is number 2 and is the only one in a curvy body. Please, excuse the terrible photo. I didn't notice how bad some of these photos were until I started working on this post. Also, I took the photos on different days, so you might notice some inconsistencies in quality, so my apologies in advance.

First look at this beautiful lady out of the box.

She uses a new sculpt called Elle that was created for this line. When I first saw this doll, I thought she used the Selma sculpt, but turns out it is a new one. Since I don't own any doll with the Selma sculpt, I can't take a comparison photo to see if they do look similar.

Her makeup is quite neutral, but has some metallic, mostly golden accents. For some reason, her makeup reminds me of Dolli, one of my favorite contestants of season 3 of Glow Up. Her signature look was a black smoky eye with a golden inner corner, which you can often see her wearing on her Instagram.  Dolli's is more dramatic, though, but the golden accents just reminded me of her. In case you aren't familiar with the show, it's a makeup competition that airs on the BBC in the UK, but in other countries you can watch it on Netflix. Each week, contestants are given a makeup challenge, like doing editorial makeup for a magazine photoshoot, or special effects for a TV show, and each week a contestant gets eliminated. 

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Una publicación compartida de DOLLI🌜🖤 (@dolli.glam)

But this post is not about Glow up, it's a doll review, so let's go back to the doll. She wears a simple black jumpsuit that ties on the back and silver ankle boots. This is the best photo that I got where you can see her full outfit. It is simple, but I feel like, with the right styling, it can look really nice. I specially like the upper part of it, and I think I could use it as a guide to make a bikini top or a flowy dress in the future.

Here's a close up of the ankle boots. I don't recall seeing these before, so maybe it's a new design.

As I mentioned, she uses the made to move body, which offers a wider range of poses. The first day I took photos of her, I had trouble getting photos I was happy with. Also, her articulations felt stiff, which didn't help. But when I decided to give it another go a few days ago, it went much smoother.

Bottom line, I'm really happy with this doll. I think she's a great addition to my collection, as she's quite different to other dolls I have. I do think this line has a great concept, I love the idea of taking the concept of Barbie Basics and adding the made to move body. Their original retail price (20$) is really good for a fully articulated doll that comes with a stand. However, 30€ is a bit pricey for what they are, not outrageously expensive, but a bit up priced. This one was the only one from the line I was willing to pay full price for, and also the blond one from the second wave (that, coincidentally, is the only one that isn't available in Spain). The rest of the line is cute, but I personally wouldn't pay full price for any of them. I'm not saying that you're in the wrong if you would, it's just that, for my personal taste and my current budget, it's not a priority. 

I really hope Mattel keeps releasing dolls in this line. I know I'm not personally going to be able to buy all of them, but it's nice to see more made to move dolls in different body types and skin tones available. I don't think they need to keep adding new sculpts, which is also great, but I will also like to see sculpts that haven't been used in a while, like the Ana/Lara sculpt. I just hope they don't drop the ball with this line, like they usually do with some of their best lines. 

Let's end up the post on a little personal note. I don't think I've really spoken about this, but for a while I've had recurring migraines. They were quite under control but for the past few months (year, I would say), they've started getting worse and more frequent. I've been seeing a new doctor, and he's given me a preventive medication to see if I can go back to a somewhat normal life. It has a few side effects, but one of the biggest ones is that it really messes up with your attention span and your ability to focus. I already get distracted easily and don't have the best time-management skills, so I'm afraid this medication will leave me with the efficiency of a carrot. My biggest concern is that this medication will affect my ability to put content out there, specially on the blog, since English isn't my first language, but this is already being affected by the fact that I'm having migraines so often. It's nothing super concerning, and it's supposed to be temporary for just a few months. Just so you know that I might not be able to post so regularly for a few months.

And that pretty much concludes my review on this doll. Let me know what do you think of this doll and line in general. Did you get any of these? Let me know. 

I don't have anything planned out for my next post. Currently, I'm trying to finish a sewing project that I hope I can share very soon with a fully dedicated post. I've also wanted to make some miniature paintings for the dollhouse and film the process for my Youtube channel, and I've been thinking I could write a dedicated post with the finished product here. But, with everything I mentioned above, I don't want to promise anything or get too ambitious until I see how things turn out.

I hope you're all doing well, and I'll see you as soon as possible.

Monster Crafts

Check out other Barbie Looks reviews:

Doll review: Barbie Looks model 12 (curvy)