Create Your Own American Girl

The wait is over!  My Create Your Own American Girl doll, Eliza, arrived two weeks ago (almost exactly on schedule).  I noticed recently that the wait for a similar doll now stretches into May (!) so I guess the concept is faring well in the holiday market.

I had to peek at Eliza before I started this review, and I noticed something unexpected right off the bat.  For those of you who followed along with Eliza's design process, you'll be expecting to see the "D" (Sonali) face.  Well, that's what I was expecting to see, too, but apparently I ended up picking the "B" (Josefina) face instead.  It's certainly my fault (I was going back and forth between faces a lot that day...) and it's actually a happy accident.  Once I realized that my other new American Girl, Melody Ellison, also has the Sonali face, I regretted picking that same mold for Eliza.  Now I have the face I actually wanted!

It's a really cute face, too:

Create Your Own American Girl doll, Eliza, $200.

My Lea Clark also has the Josefina face, but she's recently been voted off the island.  I like my newer American Girl dolls a little better, and I don't need to own more than two of these girls.

Eliza made an impressive entrance into the house.  She came extremely well-packaged in a large brown shipping box with plenty of support and padding.  Inside the packing box, Eliza's red cardboard box was wrapped in protective plastic:

The box is made out of heavy, smooth cardboard and it looks really nice.  The design is simple and the box's side flap is tied closed with a red satin ribbon.

The bottom of the box has a white label with my name on it:

I bet kids will love this detail!

Once the satin ribbon was untied, the box opened right up to reveal Eliza:

She was tied in place with plastic over her hands and a hairnet over her short red hair:

Right away, I was thrilled that I'd chosen mismatched eyes for this girl.  They look better than I expected!

The accessories came in a plain cardboard box tucked neatly under Eliza's feet:

Everything was very easy to get out of the main box:

I was surprised and disappointed that Eliza didn't come with some sort of certificate of authenticity with her name on it--and all of those personality traits I chose.  There's nothing in or on the box that mentions any of these things.  That's a mistake on Mattel's part.  It would have been an easy thing to add, and would help remind kids about the personality of their new friend.

I removed all of the plastic wrappings and the hair net and got my first good look at Eliza:

I liked her immediately.  Her hair is a great length and color, her eyes are awesome, and her outfit is better than I expected for the most part, although she's not wearing any socks and her dress has a lot of wrinkles in the bodice.

As much as I like Eliza in person, I should preface the rest of this review with a disclaimer: she's really hard to photograph--for me, at least.  I see a lot of gorgeous pictures of pale-skinned American Girl dolls on the internet, but my grey background, my camera, my monitor (?), and even the sunny outdoor lighting I tried to use for this review all make her look yellow.  In person she is a little tanned, sure, but nothing like in my pictures.  

As a result, all of the pictures in this review are lightly color-filtered to try and give you a better idea of her actual complexion.  Here's an example of before (left) and after (right) the correction:

Yellow space alien (left) and what Eliza actually looks like (right).

I hope someone else sees what I'm talking about because my family thinks I'm crazy.

On an unrelated topic, here's a strange disconnect: I think many of the American Girl face molds look extremely similar (hence the face mold error I made while ordering Eliza) and yet I think Eliza and Lea (the other Josefina-faced doll I've owned) look quite different.  Here's an old picture of Lea as a reminder:

Girl of the Year Lea Clark.

You could totally convince me that Lea has a different face mold than Eliza.  I find it fascinating how much difference coloring can make on the overall impact of a face.

Anyway, back to Eliza.  Underneath her silky bobbed hair, I could tell that she was wearing earrings and a hearing aid--and the hearing aid is on the correct side:

The hearing aid stays firmly in place.  In fact, it took me a minute to figure out that it's removable.

It's held in place with a plastic peg that inserts right into Eliza's head:

Ouch.

Here's the hearing aid on its own, with the attachment peg sticking up:

It's easy to put back in place, too.

I like this accessory a lot.  Much like the diabetes kit I reviewed back in 2016, it's a nice way of emphasizing that a disability is just another element of a child's complex identity.

Eliza's earrings are simple star shapes that are made out of metal.  I've never owned an American Girl with pierced ears before, so these were interesting to see.  They are also removable and have very long posts so that they won't fall out too easily.

I definitely recommend adding these to any custom doll--they're a nice (free!) touch--and they give the doll the option to wear other American Girl earrings.

When I was ordering Eliza, I spent a lot of time peering at tiny online pictures, trying to figure out which accessory set I should pick.  This made me especially eager to see what the items I chose actually look like!

All of the accessories were tumbled together inside of the small cardboard box:

I was pleasantly surprised to find a sign language fingerspelling guide to go with Eliza's hearing aid!

Here's the inside of the pamphlet:

It's very clearly presented and would be fun for kids to learn with their friends.

The box also contained my certificate for a free customized tee shirt...and I've already used it.  The custom tee shirts are the best of the Create Your Own clothing options.

I also got a code for the American Girl magazine subscription...which I have not used.  Feel free to see if it might work for one of you!

Here are the five accessories that came with the Let's Smile set:

There's a notebook and pen:

The notebook is bound with string and has salmon-colored lined paper:

The pen does not work and the lettering on the side is sloppy:

I thought that the set came with a cup of coffee, but it's clearly marked as hot cocoa...which is probably more appropriate for a ten-year-old:

The insulated sleeve has a small picture of a steaming mug and some nice lettering:

I was hoping that the lid on this mug would be removable, and was delighted to find that not only does the lid come off...

...but look at what I found inside!

Wow!

That's a great surprise!  Also, coffee with those swirls of milk is de-licious!  Yum.

The cup also has a clear vinyl handle that allows Eliza to hold it...but only in her right hand:

I couldn't get the handle to work with the fingers of her left hand.

The set also came with a butterfly necklace:

This necklace has a woven pink chain that's very delicate-looking and a golden metal butterfly charm:

The necklace has an unusual metal clasp:

I'm not sure I would trust this style of clasp on my own necklaces, but it's great for a doll.  Very easy to fasten and un-fasten.

Here's the necklace on Eliza--the charm hangs just below the neckline of her (wrinkled) dress:

The set also comes with a pink imitation leather purse:

Here's a peek at the back:

There's a golden metal chain and a silver metal American Girl tag stitched onto the bottom of the flap:

There's a stitched checker pattern all over the surface of the purse, and a gold embroidered bow in the middle of the front flap.  The stitching on my purse is a little messed up in one area, but the bow looks good:

The purse opens with a rectangle of white velcro:

It's nicely lined on the inside and can accommodate the notebook and pen:

The chain strap on the purse fits over Eliza's shoulder and hangs at a good length:

The pink purse matches the background of the dress fabric pretty well, but--being picky--I wish it matched the gorgeous purple shoes!

Eliza came with two headbands--a purple one that is part of her Let's Smile outfit, and a blue one that came with the hairstyle I selected for her:

The purple headband has a hard frame covered in satin ribbon.  It's decorated with a plastic gemstone shape that looks like an angel:

I like how even the underside of the headband is lined with ribbon...

...but I don't like the huge white tag that sticks out on one side:

The headband fits Eliza's head pretty well, and the angel sits just to the left of her side part:

A pink gemstone flower accent might have made the headband match the dress even better, but the whole effect is good...at least from the left side.  The right side has the huge tag, which is impossible to hide:

I had to cut the tag off.

The other headband is a simple elastic band with the tag neatly tucked into the seam:

The weave in the elastic gives this band a nice shimmery texture:

I was hoping that the blue headband would match Eliza's jean jacket, but the shade of blue is slightly different:

It coordinates, I guess.

I still like this headband, though.  It holds Eliza's hair better than the hard purple band.

After confirming that the blue headband doesn't quite match the jacket, I removed the jacket to get a better look at it:

It's made out of a medium-weight denim and is stitched together beautifully.

It has silver plastic buttons down the front and on each of the pockets:

The buttons on the pockets are decorative (the pockets don't open) but the front buttons have opposing button holes and--in theory--can hold the jacket closed.

In reality, I could only get two of the buttons through their holes (with some difficulty).  The top button is too large for its hole and the jacket is too tight at the waist for the bottom button to close:

There's a clear plastic American Girl tag on the bottom left side:

Here's Eliza's dress without the jacket:

It's a mystery to me why the bodice is so wrinkled.  The fabric is very thin and light, which might be a contributing factor.

The dress closes in back with a long strip of velcro. This seam came lopsided on Eliza...

...but that was easily corrected:

The dress, like most American Girl clothing, is nicely made and feels pretty durable.  The thinness of the fabric is the only thing that causes me any concern.

Eliza's purple patent leather shoes are wonderful.  I love the color, the shine, and the simple design:

That rhymes!

They're easy to put on and take off, and they match the ribbon waistband of the dress.  

Tights or cute little socks would have made these shoes look even better, but they're probably my favorite thing about the Let's Smile outfit.

The plastic treads have a small molded pattern:

And an American Girl copyright:

Underneath her outfit, Eliza is wearing pink (removable!) underwear:

Like all of the newer American Girl dolls, she also has a cable tie connecting her neck to her body--not the iconic strings of the earlier dolls:

It was with the Let's Smile outfit in mind that I chose Eliza's final accessory, the raspberry-colored glasses.  I had some notion that the color would coordinate with the pink and purple in the dress.  It looks ok in this picture, right?

The glasses match the "Done" button, anyway.

Let's see how accurate my guess was.  I have to say, I don't have a very good track record with judging color on the computer screen (or maybe I have a bad computer screen?).

The glasses came in their own separate plastic sleeve:

They even include a coordinating fleece glasses case.  That was another nice surprise!

The glasses fit nicely within the soft case.  Who knows, this might help teach good eyewear maintenance to some kids!

(I never put my glasses in their case).

And...here's Eliza wearing the glasses:

They don't really match the dress.  That's unfortunate.  They're still fun color, though!

A bigger problem is that they don't fit very well.  There's no gap between the wig and the top of the ear, so the earpiece of the glasses has nowhere to go:

The glasses fit better on the left than they do on the right, which just makes them look crooked most of the time.

The glasses don't fit my 18-inch My Twinn dolls very well, either, but they do fit the rooted-hair Our Generation girls:

There's a perfect space between the hair and the ear on this doll.

Although the alignment is still a little crooked for some reason:

Our Generation doll wearing American Girl glasses.

That accounts for all of Eliza's accessories.  The thrown-together presentation of the accessories diminished their initial impact, but after looking at each one, I'm satisfied with the overall number and quality of treats that came in that red box.  In particular, I enjoyed the little surprises like the sign language guide, the swirled hot cocoa, and the fuzzy glasses case.

Now, let's take a good look at Eliza's face.  I used the hard purple headband to pull her hair out of the way:

When I first pulled Eliza out of her box, it was her freckles that stood out.  I like the realistic shapes and how the freckles are on both the nose and the cheeks, but the distribution is weird.  

There are no freckles whatsoever down the middle of Eliza's nose:

This bothered me a lot at first, but for some reason it bothers me a little less now.  I feel like there should either be no freckles on Eliza's nose--particularly on her nostrils (I've stopped myself short of taking out the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser...), or there should be freckles all over her nose.  I guess I could add a few freckles in with watercolor pencil as I did with My Twinn Annie.

The eyes are great.  The decal iris patterns match and the colors are complimentary.  I surprise myself by liking the brown eye even better than the hazel eye.  I'm usually a red hair/green eye type of person.  

The only bad thing about the eyes is that they're ever-so-slightly askew:

It's a little easier to appreciate the wonky eyes from this angle:

The left eye points more downwards than the right eye.

Here's a closer look at the iris decal of the light brown eye:

And the hazel eye:

Throughout the review, you'll probably notice that I tend to photograph Eliza from her left side. This is because her side part creates a longer sweep of hair on the left.

However, it's worth pointing out how nice her right side is, too.  That light brown eye goes really well with the red hair!

The hair itself is glossy and smooth, with a gorgeous mix of red colors:

I also love this bobbed length.  It's easy to brush and play with, and it almost always looks good.

Of course Eliza was very eager to try out all of the custom clothing I designed for her.  

My favorite look for her (and my favorite pieces of custom clothing) are the pug tee-shirt and the (non-custom) shorts from the sports theme outfit:

The pug shirt is the first custom tee I made:

I made a second custom shirt for Eliza, too.  This one arrived after I wrote my last review.  Here I have it paired with the shiny leggings from the tunic and leggings set:

Here's a closer look at my dog-filled heart design:

Here's Eliza in the full sport outfit:

And in her Boston terrier dress:

Notice the underwear lines under the slinky fabric.

I was hoping that the raspberry glasses might at least match this dress, but they're much more red than purple.  They really don't fit well, either:

With some maneuvering, I finally got them to look pretty straight:

Here's Eliza in her full tunic and leggings outfit, enjoying a nice cup of cocoa!

That white inseam looks pretty bad.

And here she is in the last dress.  I like how the colors of this dress look with her red hair:

Despite her expensive custom wardrobe, Eliza likes her pink and purple floral dress the best.  I think it's definitely her most flattering piece of clothing:

The jean jacket makes her look a little more yellow than usual, but it's really nice, too.

I was eager to compare Eliza to My Twinn Annie--my other custom 18-inch doll.

The difference in their skin tones is striking:

None of the American Girl skin tones are especially pale, so Annie looks ghost-like in comparison!

Create Your Own American Girl and custom 18" My Twinn.

This pose gets their faces a little closer together:

These aren't Annie's original eyes (I removed her original eyes when they clouded over and faded from dark green to pale blue).  She also has some extra freckles added with watercolor pencil.

I really like Annie.  She has a lot of character and realism in her face, and her super-pale skin is very accurate for a redhead.  Her hair has a nice feel and a satisfyingly bright red color.  I like the skin-top wig cap that Annie has, too.  Her haircut didn't look great when I first got her, but it looks cute pulled back like this.

Eliza feels like a higher-quality doll.  Her hair is a more natural, complex color, and it has a gorgeous silky feel that's even better than Annie's hair.  It may not photograph very well, but in person Eliza's skin tone is warm and attractive.  Her face mold has less personality than Annie's, but the plain features have a pleasant, versatile expression and the mismatched eyes and freckles add extra character.

I'm happy to have both of these custom cuties.

Create Your Own American Girl and custom 18" My Twinn.

I took Eliza out to one of my favorite islands in the hopes that some natural lighting would show her coloring off to its best advantage.  

Unfortunately, the bright November sun made her look even more yellow than she does in the studio!

So, once again, I did some mild photo editing to make her look a bit more like she does in real life:

Of course instead of a casual walk on the beach, Eliza wanted to scale some nearby rocks...

In particular, she wanted me to get her picture next to this beautifully-colored boulder that she thought would go well with her fiery hair:

(Or her yellowish skin)

As the day warmed up, she shed her jean jacket and we walked along the rockier parts of the coastline:

The vegetation has all but lost its color here in Maine, but that didn't stop Eliza from admiring this dried, seeding flower:

It wasn't until Eliza was taking a break on this rock that I noticed she has writing on her right foot!  How did I miss that?

That's pretty cool.  She's probably not actually one of a kind, though.  I mean, I guess the odds of someone else picking exactly the same features that I did are slim, but I increased those odds significantly by publishing all of my picks on the internet.  Anyone who wants their own version of Eliza is free to make one!

The water was a little cold for wading that day, but Eliza was definitely captivated by the waves:

There were several huge container ships moving out of Portland harbor that day, too, and Eliza enjoyed sitting and watching their slow progress back out to sea:

The sun was getting really intense as the afternoon wore on, so I decided to take Eliza to the shady side of the island to see if I could get some better pictures.  

Goodbye yellow sun!

As we were hiking around the island, I had Eliza change into her favorite custom clothing, just to show off a different look.  

The shade was a nice break, but it presented its own photography challenge!  Protected from the sun, Eliza and her outfit turned kind-of blue!

As she moved out from under the cover of the large rocks, I was able to capture her natural coloring a little better:

And finally, we got that lovely walk along the sandy shore:

This review was so frustrating to me because as I looked at Eliza in this gorgeous setting, I got very attached to her.  She's quite well-made and has a uniquely endearing quirkiness in her red bob and mismatched eyes.  Of the four full-sized American Girl dolls I've owned, she is the one who has captivated me the most.  And yet, I was unable to capture how great she in my pictures.

I had such high hopes for the custom clothing, and in the end it's only the $14 custom tee shirts that I feel really add to Eliza's wardrobe and persona.  

This dapper pug, with his pajamas and green bow tie, fit perfectly with my idea of Eliza's off-beat personality.

Whether or not Eliza is one-of-a-kind in the American Girl world doesn't matter much to me.  Her mismatched eyes make her an original among the 18-inch dolls in my house, and that's more than enough.

Bottom line?  Designing and waiting for a custom doll is always fun for me.  This experience was no exception.  I loved designing Eliza and really enjoyed the anticipation of waiting for her arrival.  When she finally appeared on my doorstep, she did not disappoint.  But was the whole process worth the whopping $200 price tag?

I'll start with a tangential statement: ordering the custom clothing is not worth the staggering price.  My recommendation is to get the free custom tee shirt (or even splurge and get an extra shirt for $14--there are some holiday designs available now!) but don't bother with the rest of the Create Your Own clothing line.  It was really fun to plan the outfits online, but the clothing did not live up to my expectations.

As for Eliza herself, I think there are enough compelling extras to make the experience worth the money...especially if you choose your options wisely.  I really like the Let's Smile outfit that I picked for Eliza.  It's no better than the meet outfits of the other American Girl dolls, but it's a well-made ensemble that looks good on my doll.  The matching accessories are also cute, especially the hot cocoa mug, the butterfly necklace, and the imitation leather purse.  The hearing aid is an interesting, well-designed accessory, but it won't be something that every girl wants to order for her doll.  The earrings are also a nice addition, though they're nothing special.  The glasses would be wonderful--especially because of the bonus fleece case--but they don't fit American Girl dolls very well, which is an unfortunate oversight.  Eliza's basic coloring combination (pale skin with a red bob and freckles) is not available in the Truly Me or Historical line, so that's worth something, too.

Here's my financial accounting for Eliza: the Truly Me dolls are pretty amazing right now.  They come with nice outfits and have some desirable accessories (smartphone!) available for an extra $30. That makes them a $145 purchase, plus shipping, which (for me) is about $17.  Total?  $162.  That's about equivalent to Eliza, her outfit, and her Let's Smile accessories, which means that something else must be worth the extra $38.  Let's break it down:

Custom tee shirt: easily worth $14

Hearing aid: American Girl charges something ridiculous, but it's probably worth around $5.

Earrings: again, even accounting for the extra hole-drilling labor, these can't be worth more than $5.

American Girl magazine: well, I don't want it, so it's worth $0 to me.

Fancy cardboard box: this is nice, but I don't need it.  Still...it's really nice, so for me it's worth maybe another $5.  I would never pay more than $5 just for a fancy doll box.

Extra headband: Gosh, it's not worth much.  It's useful, though. Maybe $3?

That gets us to a conservative total of $32.  There's one metric left, though.

Unique combination of traits: this is the kicker.  What is this worth?  If you pick a combination of features that are already in another American Girl doll, it's not worth anything. If you pick something original?  Well, it might easily be worth the extra $6.

For me, Eliza's coloring is surely worth $6, but then her eyes catapult her way over the bar.  I don't own any other dolls in this style who have mismatched eyes.  It was an incredibly clever and creative decision for Mattel to offer this as a customization choice.  I love Eliza's eyes.  I was worried that they'd be strange, but they're just cool.  The eyes, combined with the hearing aid and the unique tee shirts, give Eliza a special personality, and make her a treasured addition to a collection that--frankly--doesn't need any more additions!

So, if you've been eyeing these dolls and are still unsure about the price, I'd say go for it, but make sure you're ordering a combination that isn't available elsewhere in the American Girl catalog.  If the Create Your Own site continues to mix in new options (especially new outfits, new face customizations, and new hair colors/styles...) I can actually see this line sticking around for a while.