The Glitter Girls by Battat

I can't believe January is almost over.  Wow.  It doesn't feel much like January, though, because right now I'm in California with my youngest son, doing more college stuff.  We're about as geographically far away from Maine as a person can get in the United States.  I'm trying not to take it personally that this is one of the places my kid wants to live next year.  I have to admit that the weather is unreal.

I have a few moments here at the hotel while he's running around doing things, so I figured I'd try to sneak in some time to share Battat's new Glitter Girl dolls with you!

I haven't actually seen these dolls on the shelves yet, although I've heard that they've been spotted in Target stores elsewhere in the country.  Battat is the company that makes Our Generation dolls, which are offered as an inexpensive alternative to American Girl.  The Glitter Girls are not part of the Our Generation line, but they're Battat's answer to the American Girl WellieWishers.  Like the WellieWishers, the Glitter Girls are 14-inch, all-vinyl play dolls that come with whimsical mix-and-match clothing.  One of the most appealing things about the Glitter Girls is that they cost $19.99 each, so it's possible to purchase three of them for the price of a single WellieWisher.  That's exactly what I did.

Glitter Girls Poppy, by Battat ($19.99).

Before we get started, I feel the need to bring up an issue Nonna mentioned back in November when I reviewed the Glitter Series L.O.L. dolls.  Microplastics, like glitter, are accumulating in the ocean and are bad for many animals–from copepods to fish.  I don't think the magnitude of this problem is clear yet (other things are surely worse, like plastic bags, plastic bottles...plastic dolls??), but let's face it; glitter would be an easy thing to give up.  It's totally unnecessary, and it can get stuck in your eye or in your small dog's nose.  Plenty of dolls have glitter on them, sure, but this line stands out to me because Battat cultivates an environmentally friendly image. The Our Generation line, in particular, frequently promotes conservation and sustainability issues in their marketing.

I've encountered a lot of glitter during the five years I've been reviewing dolls.  Perhaps more in the last year than ever before.  It's always a little annoying to deal with glitter, but I guess now I'm thinking about its broader impact more than I used to.  Better late than never.

There's glitter stuck in my teeth.

With that in the back of our minds, let's move on.

There are six different Glitter Girl characters to choose from right now: Poppy (orange hair, blue eyes), Fifer (blonde hair, green eyes), Keltie (black hair, brown eyes), Elula (platinum hair, blue eyes), Bluebell (brown hair, blue eyes) and Sarinia (brown hair, brown eyes).  They all have interesting, likable names.

The first doll I chose is Poppy.  She's a strawberry blonde who is similar to Willa–one of the WellieWishers I reviewed last year.

Poppy came in a simple, open-front pink cardboard box:

The box does not have much text on the front, but it does boast that the dolls "fit most 14-inch dolls." I don't know how a doll can fit another doll, so I'll assume that this is in reference to the clothing...and is basically code for "yes, the clothes will fit your WellieWisher."

The back of the box has a huge picture of Poppy and a bit more text:

I wish that the box had a group photo of all six Glitter Girl dolls.

Here's a closer look at the text from the top of the box (in English and in French):

There's no backstory or personality profile for these girls, which I think is fine.  The minimal packaging probably keeps the price down, and kids come up with the best backstories anyway.

One side of the box has a colorful flower pattern, and the other side advertises that the packaging is made from recycled materials and is printed with soy-based ink (just like the Our Generation boxes):

Biodegradable glitter does exist, but I don't see any mention of that being used on these dolls.

The side of the box also mentions the Glitter Girls website.  The cover page of that site has a wonderful, clear photograph of all six dolls.  The website also has a bit of information about each character, but the only detail for Poppy's personality is that her favorite thing in the whole world is stars.  I don't know if that includes actual stars in the sky, or just star shapes on her clothing. 

Poppy was held in the box with four large cable ties and two rubber bands around her hair.  Getting her out of the box was simple.

Fresh out of the box, Poppy's tunic was a little wrinkled and her hair was still parted in back from the rubber bands, but otherwise she looked good:

I don't own my WellieWisher Willa anymore, but here's an old picture of her right out of the box, alongside the photo of Poppy from above:

These two don't actually have much in common other than their approximate hair color and their size...well, and they both have hair accessories that stick up.  My grey backdrop can play color tricks, but Poppy does, in fact, have a darker, more yellow-tinged complexion than Willa.

Here's a closer look at Poppy's face:

And Willa's face:

Both faces are nice, but I think Willa looks much younger.  She has the face of a five-year-old, while Poppy looks like she could be closer to ten or twelve.  That might be one of the more important distinctions for anyone trying to decide between these two brands.

Poppy comes with some of her hair pulled back from her face and tied into a small ponytail at the back.  She has an enormous blue bow perched on the top of her head.  The bow isn't holding the hair back at all–it's clipped on a few inches above a clear rubber band:

I wanted to get rid of the gap in the back of the hair, so I gave it a quick brushing.  

The hair brushed out with almost no effort, and the gap immediately disappeared.  The color of this hair is bright and not very realistic, but it's beautifully silky and smooth to the touch, with gentle curls at the ends:

The color has some subtle blonde highlights, too:

Poppy's hair.

Willa's hair has a similar mix of colors, but the overall effect is not as bright:

Willa's hair.

The texture of Willa's hair is a bit coarser, too–more like real hair.  Poppy's hair feels smoother and silkier than real hair.

Here's Poppy's bow by itself:

It's made out of a thin, shiny blue fabric with little metallic dots:

It fastens to the hair with a toothed pinch clip:

The clip's teeth snagged onto the hair as I tried to pull it free, messing up the smooth top of the ponytail.  In addition, the clip left behind some indentations in the hair:

Here's Poppy with the clip removed (I prefer this look):

I took the ponytail down so that I could try to brush the kinks out of the hair.

Poppy's hair is rooted with a side part that runs all of the way down the back of her head.  She also has a section of hair along her hairline that is rooted straight up and down so that it can be swept smoothly into a ponytail: 

The rooting density along the hairline is good, but it gets a little thin in other areas:

The unconventional rooting pattern along the hairline makes it a little tricky to style Poppy's hair, but I think she looks good with the front part of her hair swept to the side like this:

She also looks good in a simple full ponytail:

This style gives a good view of Poppy's profile and ear mold.  Her long, straight nose is quite distinct from the button noses of the WellieWishers:

Here's a closer look at Poppy's face:

She has thick lips and a soft smile.  I like her serene expression.  

Her light blue eyes are inset, but they're fixed in place and do not open and close.  The decals have a fair amount of realistic detail.  She has applied plastic lashes along the top of her eye and no painted lashes.  Her eyebrows are thin and just slightly darker than her hair:

Glitter Girl Poppy's eye.

In contrast, the WellieWishers have only painted lashes (on top and bottom) around their fixed eyes.  I also think that some of the WellieWishers' iris decals are more realistic.  Here's Willa's beautiful eye:

WellieWisher Willa's eye.

I think Poppy's eyes are pretty, but the proportions are off.  Both her irises and her pupils are too large for her eye sockets.  Notice how little white is showing around the edges of the irises–especially on the inner side of each eye (she almost looks crosseyed):

The WellieWishers have very large eyes, but they do not have this problem.

Poppy is wearing a fringe-sleeve blue tunic over a pair of shiny, star-covered leggings:

I don't like the coral-colored fringe on this outfit. For starters, it came with a long strand of fringe sticking out on one side:

But it's also just not my taste in fashion.  I think a fringe should drape and swoosh around dramatically, not stick up like a zebra's mane.

The tunic itself is decorated with glittery golden stars:

The bottom of the tunic has a silver plastic Glitter Girls tag: 

The tunic opens most of the way down the back with velcro:

The white thread you see in the picture, above, is attaching the leggings to the tunic.  I don't see the point of this.

The back closure actually has two smaller strips of velcro inside:

The tunic is made out of a baby blue knit fabric, but inside it looks like a terry cloth towel:

Underneath the tunic, Poppy is wearing white, elastic-waisted leggings with star decorations:

All of the stars are painted onto the leggings, most of them are made out of gold glitter, some of them are black:

Poppy's shoes comes with plastic covers that seem designed to either hold the shoes on the feet or hold the glitter on the shoes.  They don't do a very good job of either.  

I managed to get the shoes off without removing the covers, and I shed a ton of glitter all over myself in the process.  Here are the shoes with the plastic covers still attached:

I cut the plastic away, which caused even more glitter to fall everywhere.  You can see that the glitter application is not very precise.  There are areas with no glitter and other areas where there's glitter but probably shouldn't be:

And how much glitter was wasted to create this sloppy shoe, I wonder?

The sneakers have molded laces down the front, but the glitter obscures that detail:

The shoes have a nice tread on the bottom:

I don't like the glitter on these shoes.  It's very messy and doesn't look good.  

I'd always prefer a fun print to a glitter-caked item of clothing, but if glitter has to be the theme of this doll line, loose glitter caked onto shoes is not a thoughtful or creative use of that theme.

Poppy does not wear any socks underneath her shoes:

I was eager to get a good look at Poppy's body construction, to see how much she has in common with other dolls this size.

Poppy has a vinyl and plastic body with five simple points of articulation:

Her torso is hard plastic and her limbs are a heavier vinyl.  There's a small difference between the color of her torso and the color of her limbs.

She has a belly button but no molded (or fabric) underwear:

The back of her body is quite plain:

But she has the Glitter Girls mark molded across her hips:

Poppy's head moves from side to side, but she can't look up or down:

Her arms also have simple rotation...

...although she can move them away from her body a tiny little bit.  Below, the picture shows her right arm moved away from her body as far as it will go and her left arm as close to her body as it will go:

I can't pull the arms away from the body enough to see what style of joint they contain.

I am able to pull the legs out enough to see that the hips are strung with elastic.  This was a surprise to me:

The hip joints allow Poppy to do side-to-side splits this far:

Although when her hip joints are rotated so that she sits all of the way on the ground, her legs splay so far apart it looks like she's doing side-to-side splits:

She can also do full front-to-back splits:

Poppy balances best when she's standing flat on her feet, but she can also stay upright in a mild walking pose:

The Glitter Girls are almost exactly the same height as the WellieWishers, and only the tiniest bit taller than the Hearts 4 Hearts girls.  Here's Poppy with Kendall and Consuelo:

WellieWisher, Glitter Girl, Hearts 4 Hearts.

Poppy has a larger torso than Consuelo (especially through the chest) and her limbs are a bit less shapely.

Glitter Girl Poppy and Hearts 4 Hearts Consuelo.

Poppy and Consuelo have exactly the same hand mold, though:

Glitter Girl Poppy and Hearts 4 Hearts Consuelo.

Here are a few more comparison shots, with Poppy on the left and Consuelo on the right:

Glitter Girl Poppy (left) and Hearts 4 Hearts Consuelo (right).

Glitter Girl Poppy (left) and Hearts 4 Hearts Consuelo (right).

Because Consuelo is a bit smaller than Poppy, she can wear Poppy's outfit (including shoes)...

Hearts 4 Hearts Consuelo wearing Glitter Girls outfit.

...but Poppy can't fit into Consuelo's shirt:

Glitter Girls Poppy trying to wear Hearts 4 Hearts outfit.

Console's shoes are tight on Poppy, too.

I'm guessing that some Hearts 4 Hearts tops and dresses will fit the Glitter Girls, depending on the cut of the garment, but it's not something you can count on.

Kendall and Poppy have different limbs, but they have almost identical torsos:

Glitter Girl Poppy and WellieWisher Kendall.

The difference is that Poppy has less molded detail in her torso.  She has no molded underpants, no bottom definition, and no contours around her neck:

Glitter Girl Poppy and WellieWisher Kendall.

The dolls appear to have identical feet, too:

Because they share a torso and foot mold, these two can easily share clothing and shoes:

Glitter Girl Poppy and WellieWisher Kendall trading outfits.

I actually think Poppy's outfit looks better on Kendall than it does on her (especially that bow):

WellieWisher Kendall wearing Glitter Girls outfit.

The fun colors of Kendall's outfit look good on almost everyone:

Glitter Girl Poppy wearing WellieWisher outfit.

I don't have too many other play dolls in this 14-inch size, but here's Poppy alongside Melissa & Doug's ~13-inch princess, Celeste ($20):

Glitter Girl Poppy and Melissa & Doug Celeste.

These two are very different through the waist and Celeste has much larger hands.  The two dolls cannot share clothes.

Here's Poppy with one of my (very orange and strange-looking) Nancy dolls:

Glitter Girl Poppy and Famosa Nancy.

They can't reliably share clothes, either.

The Glitter Girls don't really need to share clothing with other lines, though, since they have their own affordable outfit sets.  

I bought this Shimmer Glimmer skirt and top set for $9.95:

The box has a perky paragraph on the back:

And a picture of Poppy modeling the outfit:

The set includes a tank top, a skirt, a cropped jacket and a pair of glitter-laden shoes (not pictured):

The tank top is lime green and has a very basic shape:

But the knit fabric incorporates some fine, glittery gold thread:

The skirt is pink with a rainbow tulle overlay and a sparkling ribbon waistband:

The jacket is made out of a soft knit and is covered with a colorful print:

I especially like the little birds in this design!

The shoes are teal green and completely coated with glitter.  I tried to handle them as little as possible:

Here's Poppy wearing the tank top, the skirt, and the shoes:

The shoes seems very out of place here.

I like the look of the tank top and the skirt, although the tank has a few loose threads here and there.

I like this pairing even better when the tank top is tucked in and the shoes are gone:

The bolero jacket is a nice addition:  

The print has little blue details that match the color of the shoes fairly well, and this ties the whole outfit together:

Many of the Glitter Girl outfits are separates that can be mixed and matched with one another...or with the colorful WellieWisher clothing:

Poppy wearing a Glitter Girl top and WellieWisher skirt.

Poppy wearing a Glitter Girl top and WellieWisher skirt.

It was only at this point in the review that it occurred to me to compare Poppy to my Maru and Friends Mini Pals!  When dolls have dramatically different head sizes, it tends to throw me off.  

As it turns out, these two have bodies that are roughly the same size:

Glitter Girl Poppy and Maru and Friends Mini Pal Maru.

Poor Maru has been sitting around naked lately because Raven stole her red dress, so I asked Raven to step in and help me out.

The girls were eager to trade clothing:

Glitter Girl Poppy and Maru and Friends Mini Pal Raven.

I had to stop Poppy before her large arms ripped the sleeves of Raven's gorgeous red dress, but Raven slid into Poppy's outfit with no trouble:

Maru and Friends Mini Pal Raven wearing Glitter Girls outfit.

Poppy settled for trying out Raven's Our Generation piano:

Glitter Girl Poppy playing Our Generation keyboard.

I never like to judge a new line on one doll alone, so I decided to purchase a second Glitter Girl.  This is Keltie, who (according to the website) has a keen fashion sense and enjoys friendship:

Keltie has dark skin, long black hair, and brown eyes.  She comes in a three piece outfit with a tee shirt, skirt, and leggings.

I thought it would be interesting to compare Keltie and Kendall, since I still have Kendall in the house:

I wonder if it's a coincidence that both of these girls have usual names beginning with "K?"  The Glitter Girls certainly seem to have followed the WellieWisher's lead by having uncommon names.  Incidentally, I like all of the Glitter Girl names except for maybe Elula...and that's just because I can't say it very well.  I especially like the name Keltie.  It's Gaelic and is the name of a river in Scotland.

Anyway, here's a look at Keltie right out of the box:

And, for comparison, here's Kendall as she was right out of the box:

Kendall's vinyl is a bit lighter, and I think her coloring is more realistic.  Her lips aren't too pastel and the blush on her cheeks blends well with her complexion.  In contrast, Keltie's coloring is exaggerated...except for her eyebrows, which are barely visible.  Keltie also has the same enormous iris syndrome that Poppy has, and I think it's even more obvious with dark brown eyes:

Glitter Girls Keltie and WellieWishers Kendall.

Keltie also comes with a huge bow clip in her hair, and it sticks up even more than Poppy's hair bow did.  I removed it right away:

Removing the bow pulled a lot of Keltie's hair out of the ponytail, so I let her hair down and brushed it out:

Keltie has lovely long hair with a bit of curl at the ends:

Like Poppy, Keltie's hair is rooted with a side part that runs all of the way down the back of her head.  In theory, this should make it easy to part her hair for pigtails, but I was unable to separate the hair into neat sections.  

The rooting is dense along the part and thin on either side of it:

I put Keltie's hair back into a ponytail so that I could photograph her face:

The variation in lip paint makes Poppy and Keltie look a little different, but they have the same face mold:

Keltie's dark brown eyes have nice detail in the irises, and they have more white showing on the inside edge than Poppy's eyes do.  Her eyebrows are really faint, though:

Glitter Girl Keltie's eye.

Here's a close-up of Kendall's eye for comparison:

WellieWisher Kendall's eye.

It looks like the same eye.  Kendall's eye just fits in her head a little better.

My Keltie came with a big scuff on her forehead.  I guess this is always a risk with open-faced cardboard boxes:

Keltie has peach-colored lips and matching blush on her cheeks.  As I mentioned earlier, I think this color is a bit too light to look totally natural.

Keltie is wearing a pink tee shirt and a jean skirt over leggings:

The pink shirt has a geometric design with a mix of white, spearmint, and gold glitter triangles:

The skirt has a spray of gold glitter dots around the hem, coinciding with an ombré effect in the blue of the background:

The leggings are made out of a white stretch knit and have triangles that match those on the shirt:

Keltie's shoes are strapped flats coated in white glitter:

The straps do not come undone, but there are small slits in the back for easy use.  The glitter sheds everywhere:

Here are Keltie and Kendall side-by-side:

Glitter Girl Keltie and WellieWisher Kendall.

Kendall's hair, eager expression, and bright outfit make her my favorite of the two:

Glitter Girl Keltie and WellieWisher Kendall.

Keltie's drab clothing and slightly blank eyes make her look very plain in comparison.

I think Keltie looks better in Kendall's outfit:

Glitter Girl Keltie wearing WellieWisher outfit.

Glitter Girl Keltie wearing WellieWisher outfit.

The last Glitter Girl doll I chose to buy is Fifer.  I picked her because she has a different eye color from the other two (green) and she has straight hair.  I also love her outfit. In fact, when she first arrived at my house, I felt sure that she would be my favorite of the three:

Like the other Glitter Girls, Fifer comes with a large bow perched on top of her head:

This bow is made out of a stiff, shear silver metallic weave:

It was the hardest bow to remove and left Fifer's hair in a mess:

Fifer has a slightly different rooting pattern than the other two dolls.  Her hair does not have a rooted part, but is more dense near her forehead than it is towards the back:

It's difficult to find a nice hairstyle for Fifer that doesn't involve her hair being pulled straight back.  This was the best I could do:

Her hair looks pretty when it's brushed out, but the cut is uneven:

I pulled Fifer's hair back into a simple ponytail:

She has the same face mold as the other two, and her coloring is nice.  The biggest flaw I notice is that her hair is rooted unevenly, and it's way too low on her forehead:

Here's another view:

I really like the color of Fifer's eyes.  They have great detail and are a lovely, natural green:

The eyes are too big for the sockets, yet again, but at least I can see sclera on either side of the iris.

Fifer's outfit is my favorite of the bunch...with no glitter on it whatsoever:

She's wearing a pastel pink cardigan with a silver metallic "GG" on the left side:

Underneath the cardigan, she has a white tank top with a kitten wearing glasses:

This reminds me of the Create Your Own clothing I made at American Girl!

Fifer is wearing an a-line skirt with a fun geometric overlay:

Under the skirt, she has stretch leggings with a black bow pattern that coordinates with the cat graphic:

Fifer's sandals actually have the glitter molded into the vinyl, so there's no shedding.  Why didn't Battat do this for all of the shoes?

These shoes' straps come unsnapped at the side:

Fifer's coloring is similar to my Hearts 4 Hearts Lauryce.  Here are the two side-by-side:

Glitter Girl Fifer and Hearts 4 Hearts Lauryce.

For those with keen eyes: this is not the Lauryce who was featured in my earlier review.  I gave that doll away and then missed her.  This is a new Lauryce who was released only recently–after, I presume, the company fixed their dolls' fading eyes.  I can't tell much difference between the two, save for the pattern in the dress and maybe a subtle change in the texture of the hair.

Again, the Hearts 4 Hearts dolls look quite a bit younger than the Glitter Girls, but I just adore Lauryce's face and her wide eyes:

Glitter Girl Fifer and Hearts 4 Hearts Lauryce.

The Hearts 4 Hearts dolls cost approximately twice as much as the Glitter Girls.  Fifer and Lauryce are a great example of what you get by spending the extra money.  Lauryce's colorful dress, multiple accessories, unique hair, hypnotic eyes and captivating personality make her–at least in my book–easily twice as appealing as Fifer.

As an example of how some Hearts 4 Hearts clothing might work on the Glitter Girls, here's Fifer in Lauryce's dress.  It's really short on her, but it looks cute!

Glitter Girl Fifer wearing Hearts 4 Hearts outfit.

Glitter Girl Fifer wearing Hearts 4 Hearts outfit.

That brings me to the end of my exploration of Battat's new line!  And even though it has taken me weeks to finish this review, I still haven't seen any of the Glitter Girls in stores here in Maine (or in Massachusetts for that matter).

Of the three dolls I bought, Poppy is my easy favorite.  The unusual, vibrant color of her hair brings a vitality and presence to her that the other dolls do not have.  Even though her bright blue eyes are oversized and a bit wonky, she still looks alert and happy to me.  The only bad thing about Poppy is the outfit she comes in.  I much prefer her in the Shimmer Glimmer outfit, or any of the colorful WellieWishers clothing. 

Here are all three of my Girls together, with Poppy wearing Shimmer Glimmer:

Glitter Girls from left: Fifer, Poppy (wearing Shimmer Glimmer), and Keltie.

Bottom line?  I like that Battat is offering a more affordable alternative to the WellieWishers and the Hearts 4 Hearts dolls.  I'm not as happy about the glitter theme, especially in light of the sobering news about glitter in the ocean.  For a company that touts its environmentally friendly packaging, releasing a line of dolls that is named and themed after glitter is a little hypocritical.  Furthermore, the application of glitter on the dolls' shoes is sloppy and impractical.  The shoes shed so much glitter, I had to put Poppy and Keltie's ridiculous shoes into sealed bags.  I will not use them again.

If I ignore the shoes on these dolls, there's actually not very much glitter on them at all, and there are a lot of other things to appreciate.  The dolls are a great size, their hair is silky and easy to brush, the inset eyes are detailed and pretty, the expressions are pleasant, and some of the clothing is fun to mix and match.  On the other hand, the hair on these dolls is a bit thin in back (especially on Fifer), the eyes are too big for the sockets, and many of the clothing pieces are bland and unremarkable, especially when compared to the vibrant WellieWisher wardrobe.  I've also noticed a few incidental defects on my dolls, like the large scuff on Keltie's head, wonky eyes on Poppy, and an uneven, low hairline on Fifer.

To lessen the impact of the weaknesses in this line, I'd recommend selecting a character with wavy hair.  The waves add extra thickness that compensates for the thin rooting.  Also, dolls like Poppy and Keltie have rooted part lines that make their hair thicker and easier to style than the hair on dolls like Fifer.  I have no idea what the rooting pattern is on Elula, Bluebell or Sarinia.  You can also increase your chances of getting a nice doll if you choose her in person.  This will help avoid large scuffs and other obvious eye and hair defects.

Overall, these dolls are a good value.  I prefer the Hearts 4 Hearts and WellieWishers dolls, and would rather have one of those than several Glitter Girls, but if I had to choose one doll and wanted to save money, I'd be quite happy with a Glitter Girl.  Furthermore, I like the Glitter Girls (especially Poppy) more than any of the Our Generation dolls I've ever purchased.  That said, I think some quick rebranding would be wise on the part of Battat.  My advice is to read the news, nix those terrible shoes, de-emphasize the glitter, and put the dolls back on the shelves as Giggle Girls or something like that.  Then you'd have a winner.