Saturday, February 7, 2015

*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

15 comments:

  1. Wow! Great reporting! :) And Paris looks absolutely stunning, I can see why you want her!

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  2. I'm usually not a fan of other brands of dolls, but this is an absolutely beautiful line! Very unique features and I really like that they have a boy doll. Cannot wait to see Hudson, Rhonda. Have a great day!

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    1. Hello! I'm Saoirse from above I'm just using a different Google account at the moment. They are definitely a beautiful doll line!

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  3. Ahhhhhhhhh! So excited! Thanks o much for posting it Rhonda!!

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  4. *From Julie's doll mom:*

    Thanks for the post Saoirse! Your Design-A-Friend dolls look a lot like Journey Girls here in the US, but that line has no BOY doll. Hudson is pretty handsome. He looks more like a teen-age doll. Pretty cool!

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  5. That doll can use an burger!!!!!!!!8D

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  6. Hi! I own Poppy, a 'retired' Designafriend doll with medium skin and black hair. I would love to send pictures of her and retired Designafriend Violet (now called India). Can you reply please? :-)

    Doll Lover 279

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    1. Please do! Send email: SnickerdoodleStreet@yahoo.com

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  7. By the way, Designafriend sales are really good- outfits go down to £5 ($7.62) and even £2 ($3.05), and dolls can go to £10 ($15.23) in really good sales.

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  8. These dolls do look a lot like Journey Girls--or even like the Newberry dolls here in Canada! Sahara reminds me a lot of my daughter's Newberry "Emma." Thanks for sharing! Love learning about 18" inch doll brands! And while I'm not great at converting pounds to dollars, it looks like these dolls are at a great price point!

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  9. It is great to hear about this line of dolls. Before we went to Ireland last June, I was trying to find out if there was anything comparable to AG there. I did not know about this line then, but next time we go, I will be all set. Thank you. Saoirse, where in Kerry do you live? We stayed in Dingle for a few days in June. Also, I have Kerry roots going way back.

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    1. I actually live in Killarney,which is practically next door to Dingle!

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  10. So cute Saoirse! (I believe you say that, SEER-SHA?) i've heard of these dolls before and i loved their mouth shape! Thanks for sharing!

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  11. I have been shopping around for these dolls, as my 2 daughters love these dolls so be careful. The doll Paris is actually the doll Lucy in different clothes, so you are being conned, so god knows how many people are being duped into thinking that they are buying different dolls. So I'm wondering how many of these dolls are duplicated and dressed differently with a different name. ?????????.

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  12. Be careful what you are buying, all is not what it seems.

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