Sunday 2 February 2014

Doll Review: Monster High - I Heart Fashion Scarah Screams (Part 1)


Oh the wonders of shopping and hunting for dolls! During a shopping trip out of town I made persuaded my partner to take the long lovely walk out of the town centre to Toys R Us with the intention of searching for the latest Monster High releases: I <3 Fashion Clawdeen Wolf and Scarah Screams. 


After stalking the UK Sightings post on MonsterHighDolls.com (where I am one of the site administrators shameless-self-plug-lol) sightings of the I <3 Fashion dolls were found in the area, so I was very excited. And after being disappointed by not finding any on shelves, I asked a member of staff to check the back stock and BINGO! 

I also found a Moxie Teen fashion pack for £2 (which scanned through at £1, yess~) and a small Bratzillaz fashion pack for around £4 which I'll also be looking at in the second half of this review.




And to the main event dolls, Scarah Screams and Clawdeen Wolf!



The box layout is the same as the previous I <3 Fashion line with Abbey and Frankie, but with Clawdeen and Scarah themed patterns and colours on their respective boxes instead.
It has the same half coffin plastic window on the front which wraps around to the side, and a small portion of the back of the box.


The back of the box shows some updated art work with their outfits. There's the usual Monster High School coat of arms, the name tag and a logo for the individual line. There's a short blub 'written' on lined notebook paper stating how much they love fashion.

Scarah Screams makes her début to the regular doll lines that are available in general stores from her initial release as the highly sought after and very exclusive SDCC doll. Her box has the same features as the other dolls in the I <3 Fashion line with her personal characteristic touches.


Scarah also gets a new Skulette!



Each doll has 2 pairs of shoes displayed upon a card 'table' display. A separate outfit hangs on a mirror above the shoes, and another outfit on a card mannequin stand.


Scarah's background is mainly forest green and black, with very harsh and point zigzags on the walls. The mirror is shattered and the table also features and green cracked pattern. This is probably a reference to Scarah's banshee heritage and their screams and glass shattering wailing. It's a nice touch and makes the whole doll feel complete; everything has been thought of and designed for perfectly.


Here's everything that comes in her box! Everything seems to tie in very well, and her mod style really shows through!


The overall black, white and pink colour scheme works very well with her pale mint green skin.

Her hair is thick, soft and rooted very nicely. The ends feel a little rough but overall I'm pleased with the quality and deep black colour of the hair. The style is loose to the middle of her back with a simple thatched side part. I used one of the clear elastic bands from the packaging to tie her hair into a side ponytail! The hair has a very subtle wave which lends itself nicely to a ponytail style, giving it a cute curl.

Scarah's face sculpt is pleasant, with wide lips, a cute button nose and wide pupil-less eyes. Her face paint is simple but looks neat and bold.


Her eyebrows are thick and solid black pointy arches. She has very defined winged eye liner and eyelashes, with a solid block of metallic silver eyeshadow on her eye lid and below her eye. Scarah's lips are carnation pink with no detailing. The facial screening is of good quality with very neat and crisp edges.

Does my finger look fat in this?

The outfit she's wearing consists of a t-shirt, shorts, boots and a jacket. The white pleather jacket has full length sleeves, stops at mid-thigh and has a small collar. Tied around the waist, through loop holes on the jacket, is green belt made of soft pleather. It's stitched to itself so it stays around her waist in the box.


Once I snipped the small threads, I pulled the belt loose. it's rather long so it securely wraps around the dolls waist. I also noticed that the belt's buckle is a tiny white plastic skull! How cute.



The jacket has a little lining on the front, where the material has been folded over. This tends to snag on the tshirt and wrinkle when the jacket is open at the chest. It's not such a big deal and makes the jacket look tidier once the wrinkles are flattened out.


Her necklace is a reused piece; a black version of Mad Science Lagoona's pink atom-esque necklace. I enjoy seeing recycled pieces, seeing how versatile the sculpts are and how they look in different colours and painted details!


Scarah's tshirt is a pink stretch knit with a black and green Monster High skullette print. The shorts are very simple, made from black stretch knit with an elasticated waist. 


Her hand sculpt is very different from the usual 'splayed out' fingers on other dolls. This is a very elegant look with her two middle fingers together. It gives off a lot more expression and offers more posing possibilities. 


Her accessories include 2 white and 2 green chunky square bracelets. The other bracelet is a simple pink band with a black stripe in the middle, where the sculpt gives the impression there are 3 bangles instead of a connected cuff.

Her hard plastic bag is sculpted to give the effect of quilted fabric. It is painted in a matte myrtle green with a white accented middle panel, studs and buckles. It also features a pink bow on the skullette. This is a reused mold from Frankie Stein's first wave bag.


These glasses are really cool and are heavily inspired by Jackie O's style. They are white plastic with wide rims and black lenses. The sculpt sits on her face well and despite the skinny arms, it says on her ears and nose just fine.


These black lenses are painted onto the plastic and the paint job seems a little rushed or untidy because the black gets onto the white frames in places and generally has a fuzzy and hazy outlines. This is disappointing, given they're a key piece of her outfit. 



Personally, I love these boots. They're made of pliable white plastic with a long slit down the back to get the dolls' foot in and out easily. They use a brand new sculpt (which I hope to see reused again in later lines!) with lots of detail such as the stitching down the sides and front of the shoe, down the seam of the zip and the tiny little zipper. 
The zip, heel and the soles of the toes have been painted silver.


Upon further inspection I discovered skullettes imprinted into the soles of the shoe! This is an unexpected detail.


Scarah's 'B' Outfit consists of a mini dress and a pair of tights. The dress is split into 3 main panels. One side is dark grey with lighter grey smudgy skullette print, the middle panel a simple pink strip to match her lip colour and the other panel is white with black, pink and green safetypin prints arranged in a square pattern. The back is all pink and the sleeves are alternating patterns and prints from the panels. Despite how busy the dress looks, it works really well. 



The dress is finished with bold black stitching and one long strip of velcro to secure the back.


The tights are made from a thick but soft cotton material. The print is of heavily laddered black tights, with green sections to give the impression you can see her skin through the holes and ladders! 


These tights are cleverly designed. It's little details like the skullettes randomly placed around that tie it all together.


The tights also look good with the original outfit.


Scarah's 'C' Outfit is a halter-neck minidress made from a stretchy and shiny emerald fabric. It closes at the back with velcro strips.


And it was at this point that I realised I hadn't taken any pictures of Scarah's other shoes, but they'd already been packed away in storage when I got around to writing this review (hence showing the picture of them in box again..) Whoops!

As for the shoes.. Honestly, they were rather plain and no where near as detailed or cool as her boots!
She came with a pair of myrtle green (Yes, I'm a colour snob!) heelless pumps (which are recoloured Scaris Draculaura shoes and the yellow pair included with I <3 Shoes Draculaura) and a pair of plain silver high heels (recoloured Bee Create-A-Monster and her SDCC doll). They're well made and are versatile to fit many other dolls and styles.



Scarah also comes with another belt. It's a plain white plastic belt with a hole and peg closure at the back. It features a moulded black skullette detail on the front with a smaller skullette hole in the middle.






That concludes part 1 of this review, and part 2 with Clawdeen can be found here!


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