*REVIEW* Chad Valley Design-a-Friend Dolls - UK

 Here is a great review from Saoirse in Ireland.

 Hello readers of Living A Doll's Life! I am flattered to be asked by Rhonda to do a guest post on her amazing blog. Some of you may recognize me from a previous "international collectors" post. I live in Co. Kerry Ireland and have 9 AG dolls at present. As in Ireland we have no AG stores, we have a lot of replacement doll lines which are quite cute and less than a fraction of the prices of AG! Today I am going to introduce you to Design-a-Friend dolls.

 Design-a-Friend are pretty much the Irish American girl dolls! Design-a-Friend dolls are sold at a store called Argos here in Ireland and currently they are listed at €26.99. To show you them properly I have split the doll up into categories. Enjoy!

The doll: as you can see Design-a-Friends are quite cute! The doll featured above is named "Sahara". There is currently 8 Design-a-Friend dolls you can choose from, including a boy doll! Each doll comes with a charm bracelet, and as you collect the outfits, you get charms to put on your charm bracelet. Sound a little familiar? (Cough cough My AG cough cough)

Face: The dolls face paint is pretty simple. They have a slight blush to their cheeks and a lighter skin tone then AG. In fact my AG dolls seemed a little sallow in comparison! They have one dark skinned doll named Paris, who is on my wish list! The lips aren't really defined and kind of blend in with the face, but if you were feeling brave you could always fix that with some light paints! Their lips are not in the AG style of a smile and don't show any teeth, their lips are also a lot thicker than AG lips. 

They cannot close their eyes, but they do have real eyelashes which look very pretty and a little more natural than the AG eyelashes. Currently, all the dolls seem to have the light, feathered eyebrows which compliment the eyelashes nicely. 

Body and Limbs: As you can see in this picture, the dolls are A LOT skinnier than AG. This might be a disappointment when it comes to sharing clothes as the AG dolls seem to have a bit of puppy fat compared to DAF dolls. Because of this, the dolls seem to "slouch" a bit. The clothing pieces are listed at €17.49 each. The dolls bodies are cloth like AG dolls and are a lot softer than AG due to lack of stuffing.  The arms and legs are a bit less sturdy then the AG arms and legs. They have a sort of hollow plastic kinda feel, but are still quite good considering the doll above was bought about 2 years ago. 

The dolls do have difficulties standing straight which is why Sahara above is leaning against a head board! The fingers are separated from the thumb, but they do not have the little gap between the index finger and the ring finger as many other dolls do.

Hair:  The hair, I have to say is quite good! It is very soft and silky and easy to style in ponytails and other things.  The first picture is one of a doll with straight non layered hair (which I believe is just Sahara!) and the second pic is of India who has long, layered hair. Both dolls hair have been in a ponytail for a LONG time and is still in quite nice condition!

There is also a BOY doll in this doll line. No, you are not misreading the text. I said a BOY doll.

 This is Hudson! You better get used to seeing his face around, when Rhonda contacted me, I decided that I would send Hudson over to her! I'm sure Rhonda will give you lots pics and updates on Hudson!
The accessories are quite cute and the pets are listed at €13.49, which in my opinion is a bunch bit, but then again I have bought some AG pets! Overall, I think Design-a-Friend dolls are an amazing brand, and if you can ever get your hands on one then consider yourself lucky!

Thanks for reading! - SAOIRSE xx