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Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Holiday Barbie 2016 Auburn Hair Kmart Exclusive


Hey everyone!
In today's post I'll be showing you my lovely 2016 Holiday Barbie that I got for Christmas.  She's a stunner for sure and I hope you enjoy the review.


So for a while, I thought there were only 3 different Holiday Barbies that came out for 2016.  I really didn't think I was going to get one as they didn't catch my eye, to be honest.
Towards mid-December, though I noticed a redhead version of the blonde Barbie on Instagram and found out that Kmart came out with an exclusive auburn haired holiday Barbie as well.

It seems to be that this isn't the first time Kmart has made an "auburn" hair exclusive holiday doll so I will have to keep my eyes open for next year as well!


Her packaging is identical to the other versions of this past Holiday Barbie and she was also priced at $39.99.
The other one I got AFTER Christmas was the beautiful Latina Barbie. I was able to get her on sale for $28, but I'm kicking myself because a few days later, I saw her at Walmart marked down to $9!



She's gorgeous too, but I decided to keep her in her box for now. :) 


I was very excited to open this one, though, as she is my first EVER Holiday Barbie!
Hidden in the packaging was also a stand (thigh-gripper and very cheap), and unfortunately, part of it broke during this review so towards the end, you will notice her leaning to the right pretty nicely.
Ha.


Her dress is an ombre deal with the top gauzy layer covered in sparkles and the bottom layer more of a nylon white fabric.


Here's her snap-on controversial white, snowflake bodice that a lot of people were unhappy about.  Since this is my first Holiday Barbie and I'm fairy new to Barbie collecting in general, I didn't mind this piece.


Closer look at the rainbow sparkles, which are so beautiful in certain lighting. 


Her shoes are very plain white pumps and they fall off very easily without those rubber bands. 



The bodice was originally attached with small threads, but I wanted to remove it to see what the dress looked like underneath.  It easily snaps right back onto the dress.


Pretty cute!  The fabric on the bodice is a bit on the thin side, but I like the simple design. 


The dress itself is held up by thin, clear straps.  She also wears a silver cuff bracelet.  This is the only jewelry she comes with. (Boo).


Her arms are articulated in a ball joint fashion with movement up and down, back and forth and a little bit "inward" if that makes sense. They are only articulated at the shoulders as you can see.


She has a beautiful face and that, along with her gorgeous auburn hair, is what sold me on this doll.
She has bold brown brows and auburn/brown eyes.  I think the combination of red hair and brown eyes is so pretty!
She has gold and brown eye shadow and beautiful coral pinkish lips.  Her skin tone is on the paler side and she has very faint bronzer style blush on her cheeks.


The biggest disappoint for me was her super cheapo body.  I know this is a pretty typical body you would find on a designer Barbie, but I was expecting a tiny bit more articulation or quality, in general.
It's not a big deal though, because I eventually plan on doing a MTM body swap anyway.
I'd guess the purple or light blue top would be the best match.


She only has 5 points of articulation (head can roll around) and her legs can only move back and forth in a scissor-kick motion.


All that aside, we are back to her gorgeous hair!  It has at least 2 different colors, which gives it a highlight/lowlight look.  Her original style consists of two front pieces twisted into a half ponytail.
Her hair wasn't the best right out of the box, so I did a simple boil wash to clean it up a bit.


Luckily, her hair is pretty good and there is NO GLUE, thank goodness! 


Very voluminous. 
I might try to give her proper curls eventually. :) 


After I smoothed her hair out a bit and placed her in front of this little winter back drop, I really started to love this doll!


I like her best with her hair down and I think she looks really cute without the hard, molded bodice. 


As far as creating a character for her, I gave her an Irish background (I just found out through an Ancestry DNA genealogy test that I am 70% Irish, wow!) and have named her the ever popular Siobhan (pronounced Chi-vonne) as that is who she looks like to me!




Overall, I had not realized how much I would love this doll in her Holiday Barbie form.  I had intended to buy her and switch out her body right away, but for now, she is happily perched on my shelf in our den so I can look at her beautiful glittery dress while I am on the computer.

She may have a story line or maybe I'll make her a little diorama apartment some day, but I am so happy to have this gorgeous doll in my collection.  I've never seen a face like this with such beautiful red hair.  Does anyone know if this is the Millie mold or a different one?

I know that Christmas has long since passed, but I still really wanted to review this doll.  She was really fun to photograph.  :}

As usual, I also did a video review for my Youtube Channel which you can see here:



Did any of you all get this year's Holiday Barbie?  I know a lot of people were disappointed with the simple approach they took and the not so great packaging so I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

I think, for me, this is going to be a Barbie kind of year in general and I am excited to see my collection grow. :)

Thanks, as always, for stopping by and have a wonderful rest of your week.

Farrah
xoxo


26 comments:

  1. Wow, she's lovely. Love that hair color. I had just assumed that the bodice was supposed to represent snowflakes so it didn't bother me that much. If I ever saw them on a super super sale I'd get one.

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    1. Hey, Muff!
      Yeah, next year, I think I'll wait until after Christmas to buy one because they really do dip in price quite a bit! I think the bodice is pretty as well. If they didn't add all the glitter it would be pretty boring though!

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  2. Have they always been around $40? This is my first one, so I'm not sure if that is "normal." The rooting on my seems nice, very thick and full hair. I'd be really upset if mine had a bald spot though, because you're right...it's a lot of money to spend if you pay full price for her! Looking at reviews of past dolls, this one was very scaled down on every level. Her body is so light, it seems like it could snap with any sort of play from a child.

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  3. Hi Farrah Lily! I'm not really into Birthday/Holiday themed dolls, but this one is gorgeous. I wouldn't mind getting the one with the Claudette headmold, but not at the price they were first retailed on the Barbie Collector website, as I only care for their faces.

    I loved the review, and I didn't know that they were store-exclusive Barbie Holiday dolls. Cheers!

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    1. Thanks, MC! Yeah, that Claudette one was so beautiful. She's the other one I saw at Walmart last week for $9. If I see her again for that price, I will grab her. :) This is the first year that I actually paid attention to the Holiday Barbies!

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  4. Your holiday Barbie is pretty. I love her auburn hair. the holiday Barbies always seem to be around 40 dollars.
    Marion

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  5. What lovely Barbies. Enjoy them.
    Marilyn

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  6. AHHHH i really want a holiday barbie now!! omg her hair and eye combination is super gorgeous! I would love to get one and customize the bodice underneath. I'm not a huge of the plastic bodice.. but she is still so pretty anyway :D Also that is so cool that you're 70% Irish!
    -Lydia
    Lydia's Dolls @ http://lydiasdolls.blogspot.co.nz

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    1. Thanks, Lydia! I hope they come out with more Barbies with this hair/face/eye combo..so pretty! Yeah, I knew I was Irish, but didn't know I was so much! I always thought I was a "mutt" of lots of other different things, haha, so it was cool to find out that I had a strong heritage in one nationality. :)

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  7. I'm not wild about the plastic clothing, but if it were me, she wouldn't stay in it long anyhow! That hair is gorgeous. Love both versions you picked up.

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    1. Thanks Flo! :) I haven't tried her in any other outfits yet, and I am tempted to give her a new body, but I am surprisingly still happy to look at her perched on my shelf the way she is! :)

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  8. She's lovely! That's really a fabulous hair colour on her. I'd only seen the other three holiday Barbies around, so I hadn't realized that she existed. I'm glad you were able to get her!

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    1. Thanks, jS! I know, I didn't realize she existed either until right before Christmas. :)

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  9. She's a very pretty Barbie, her hair looks lovely. I'd heard about this plastic bodice but it looks quite nice on the dress. Your other girl is lovely too.
    x

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    1. Thanks Sharon! Now that I have her, I don't mind the bodice at all either. It's so pretty and sparkly under the lights in the den where I have her. :)

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  10. I kept debating if I wanted to purchase them since my favorite Kmart is closing, I have been staying away. Thank for sharing too, because I am going to miss going and I'm still not sure if I want to drive 38 miles to the next one.

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    1. Brini, I hear you...I haven't set foot in a Kmart in over 10 years. I bought mine on the Kmart website! :)

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  11. I am so in love with the auburn haired Holiday Barbie! She is definitely my favorite from this line. Congratulations on getting her! I wish she was available in Europe because I would love to get her too :)

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    1. Me too, Margaret Ann...she looks like you!! :) I hope you can still get her someday..eBay??

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  12. I can see why you kept her as is Farrah, she is very pretty and her dress looks lovely.
    Hugs,
    X

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    1. Thanks, X. Yeah, she is very sparkly and serene looking...I really like her. :)

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  13. I wasn't sure there were even any KMart's left. They've pretty much all closed around here. Nice to see a doll with red hair and brown eyes.That isn't a common combination,and since I and one of my kids have it,I tend to look out for dolls with it too.They are few and far between!She's very pretty.

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    1. Hi Tam!
      I hear you about the Kmarts...I think we have one left in our area, but it seems like the website is still going strong. Last I checked, she was still available. Red hair and brown eyes is such a PRETTY combo...you and your child are so lucky! :)

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  14. Witaj, trafiłam na Twój blog przypadkiem, bo zobaczyłam tę piękną lalkę na zdjęciu w sieci. Dziewczyna jest cudowna, ma wspaniałą twarz i włosy! Jestem nią oczarowana! Fantastycznie ją przedstawiłaś i pokazałaś świetne zdjęcia!
    Pozdrawiam serdecznie z Polski :-)

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