Be forewarned: This review is excessively long and will contain rants and personal opinions. Leave now if you don’t want to be bored out of your mind.
Here’s one of my first dolls of the year, Duchess Swan, daughter of Odette the Swan Queen. I’ve been hyping about Duchess since September when her profile was revealed on the official website. Having her right now feels like a dream come true. My EAH Signature collection hasn't had any new additions since August of last year and I seriously hate it when my signature collection’s complete because I literally have nothing to look forward to…
I think it’s safe to say that Duchess is the prettiest Ever After High doll, hands down. Like, oh my Gosh! Need I explain myself? I’m pretty sure every other collector who has Duchess can agree. She’s just EXTREMELY beautiful. I really love her look. The doe eyes, the jet black hair with streaks of mauve and white, the pale olive skin (it’s the same shade of pale as lighter-skinned East Asian dolls have). The makeup is gorgeous! I love the ruby pink lips and eyeshadow. Unlike the previous dolls, she has two-toned lipstick on her lower lip, which to me is absolutely genius because it makes her lips look so luscious and plump (though it’s actually just an illusion). Nice touch, Mattel! Her rouge though is very light, to the point that it looks like she isn’t wearing any. But I kind of like that, because there a lot of people in real life who love to wear all sorts of makeup, but HATE putting on blush.
As some of you may already know, Duchess is on the taller EAH body like Cerise is. That basically means her legs are a tad bit longer, but all her other proportions are still similar to the regular (and even the shorter) EAH girls. I've always liked the taller EAH body...on Duchess it makes her look graceful and poised when I pose her. Also like Cerise, she has the longer fingernails hand sculpt. I don’t know why she has them (Cerise had them to make it look like she has claws) but I like them. They’re a lot daintier and more feminine-looking than the regular hands. Duchess's face mold is the second version of the basic EAH head (trademarked 2013) which was also used on Holly, Poppy and Lizzie.
Her ensemble looks amazing, overall. I really hate it when people just complain about “inaccuracies” on her outfit design and fail to see how great her new design is. Why can’t you people just appreciate the design we have now? The team that creates the dolls and webisodes are separate—they don’t work together, so of course the dolls are going to be a bit different. The main purpose of the Ever After High webisodes is to promote the toys and merch—it does NOT serve as the dolls’ reference material of sorts. Not to mention they’re developed at different periods of time. So a webisode character’s design may come first, even though Mattel hasn’t even started designing how the character’s design would be interpreted to a doll. Seriously is that so hard to understand? Personally, I love the changes overall and they’re actually quite an improvement compared to how she looked in the webisodes.
Sorry I just had to vent that out. Where were we? Ah, the outfit. I love that it’s part-tutu/part-loli dress. The shades of pale purple used on her ensemble are really nice (yes, there’s more than one shade). I see shades ranging from mauve to lavender to thistle to wisteria. The skirt has actually two layers: the outer layer is a sparkly transparent tulle with drawn white feathers and sparkles and the inner layer is a printed fabric with a crisscross design. And I really love the black and silver accessories...they complement the ensemble quite nicely. The necklace, earrings, bracelet and ring are very nicely sculpted and I love it that they’re not too loud or showy (I hate it when jewelry attracts too much attention). My fave accessory is the corset belt. It really gives Duchess that high fashion edge. Duchess is an edgy girl so it suits her quite well.
I kind of don’t get the headband though. I remember back when we only had blurry pictures of her, I actually thought her headband looked like an ice cream cone with tentacles. Of course, now that I have her I can clearly see that it’s not…but sometimes when I look at her from afar, I see the same thing again. But, uh, whatever. I also love her shoes. Seriously these are some of the best pairs I’ve seen so far! I really love heel-less shoes. They look painfully scary since there are no heels to support it, but at the same time they look so elegant and graceful ‘cause it prompts the wearer to look like she’s tiptoeing while wearing them. But of course it suits Duchess since she’s a ballerina and all, so I guess she’s used to it already. The laces are a really nice finishing touch because it makes them look like ballet shoes (even though they’re technically not).
I’ll admit though I kind of wish her stockings were white…but these black fishnets actually make sense. She has black-colored accessories after all, so it would be more than appropriate that her stockings matched that. My only issue though is that they’ve used the same black fishnets for so many characters like Raven and Apple and Cupid and Holly that I actually am already bored of them. I’m determined to replace them. I just need to find the perfect ones.
Overall she’s just absolutely magnificent. There’s no doubt about it. This is Mattel at their finest. Overall I’m just so pleased. I have no major complaints at all. I’m really excited for the Ever After High brand again. I can't wait for MOAR!
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