Santoro London's Gorjuss Dolls by Paola Reina

This time of year is all about being with family and friends...and exchanging gifts, of course!  In the spirit of the season, I wanted to take a moment to showcase a beautiful gift that I received last summer.

It's very rare for me to get a doll as a gift.  That may sound strange since everyone knows I love dolls and all of my family and friends are supportive of that fact.  But, let's face it, it's pretty intimidating to buy a doll for somebody like me.  First of all, not even my husband would be able to guess what kind of doll I might want at any given moment.  But more obviously, I spend all of my time critiquing dolls!  I mean, I love most of them, but I also look at them with a critical eye.  And nobody wants to have their gift choice criticized, for goodness sake.  

But the friend who sent this doll to me not only knows the doll world really well, but also somehow knows what dolls I'm coveting!  So there will be no criticisms today.  Just a celebration of this wonderful friend (you know who you are), her incredible generosity, and the Gorjuss doll that she gave to me:

Gorjuss doll, "I Love You Little Rabbit."

Nancy Dolls by Famosa

I am still having a bit of a hard time getting around, and so my "field research" has taken a hit.  The nice thing is, I always seem to have a stash of dolls sitting around that I purchased ages ago but haven't reviewed for one reason or another.  This week, I decided to raid that stash of forgotten dolls and I rediscovered the two Nancy dolls I bought back in 2013.  Nancy is a 16-inch plastic play doll produced by the Spanish company, Famosa.  Famosa makes a wide range of dolls and toys and has partnerships with some popular brands like Furby, Hello Kitty and My Little Pony.  Currently, Famosa might be best known in the United States for their Pinypon line of small dolls and accessories--toys I'd really like to review some day!

I first learned about Nancy dolls in 2012 from Moni, through a comment she left on an old review.  I was reminded of this doll again in 2013 when I started to explore the many different options in the 18-inch play doll market.  Nancy stands out from this crowd because she's smaller and shorter than dolls like American Girl, and also because of her price point.  Nancy dolls tend to retail for between $20 and $25--unless they are discontinued and difficult to find.

Nancy dolls come with a few different hair and eye color options (there's a lovely-looking redhead, but she's hard to find here in the States).  There are also two skin tones that I am aware of.  Most (all?) of the dolls sold in this country have a tan-looking yellowish skin tone, but there are also dark-skinned Nancy dolls available--like the gorgeous Nancy gracing the product page of the Famosa website.  Another variation in the Nancy line is that some of the dolls have articulated knees and others do not.  In this review, I will look at one of each style: the unarticulated Nancy "Pink Sports Ballerina" ($19.99, Amazon) and the articulated Nancy "Little Red Riding Hood" ($24.99, Amazon):

Famosa's "Little Red Riding Hood" Nancy.