Sweet Sisters and Cotti Motti by Orange Toys

It was a tough winter, wasn't it?  I'm struck by that as I sit here in the sun, with signs of spring finally bursting out all around.  It's easier to be optimistic in the spring, I think, and there's a lot that I'm grateful for, despite all of the chaos and evil in the world right now.  Most notably, I forgot to tell you that one of my kids got married last month!  So now we have a wonderful new daughter-in-law.  And we have a new dog in the mix, too: a twelve-year-old deaf Maltese named Norman.  I also dodged a possible cancer diagnosis, so I'm feeling thankful for my health.  On the doll front, I have a very special baby doll that I ordered five months ago who's finally on her way to me...and a whole project series that I have in mind to complement that doll.  So that's all pretty exciting.

I'm excited about the dolls that I have to share with you today, too, although there were some disappointments that I didn't anticipate.  You might remember back during my Lucky Doggy review, I was browsing the Orange Toys website and fell in love with their Sweet Sisters line of cloth dolls.  I ordered way too many of those dolls, and in the process discovered the Cotti Motti plush animals, also from Orange Toys, who can share clothing with the Sweet Sisters!  So I had to buy a few Cotti Motti characters, too.  Obviously.

In today's review, I'll focus mostly on the Sweet Sisters dolls, but I'll also take a peek at two Cotti Motti animals:

Sweet Sisters Sunny (left) and Cotti Motti Daphne (right) by Orange Toys.

I was drawn to the Sweet Sisters because of their wholesome, handmade look, and also by the fact that I'd never heard of them before.  I feel like so many of the dolls that I feature on this site have been reviewed many times, via social media, YouTube, or even another by blogger--rare as we may be these days!

But there's very little information online about the Sweet Sisters.  I found a few reviews for this Sweet Sisters set by New Adventures, but it's completely unrelated to the Orange Toys dolls:

Apparently they talk to each other?

With the Orange Toys Sweet Sisters, there are six different characters, all of them girls.  There's Sunny, who I showed you during the Lucky Doggy review:

The one who started it all.

Her red hair and freckles made her my instant favorite.  But it's funny, when I showed this exact promotional picture to my husband, he had a strange reaction.  It was something like, "Eeeh--um..." with a cringy face.  So maybe the aesthetic of these dolls isn't something that will appeal to everyone?

The other characters are Sophie, who has blue eyes and brown hair with bangs:

Tina, with brown eyes and black hair:

Mia, with blue eyes and blonde hair:

Lilu, who has brown eyes and black hair with bangs:

Love her dress.

And Billie, with her blue eyes and pink hair:

Each character is available in a variety of different outfits, and the prices vary depending on the complexity of the outfit.  While the dolls typically sell for €44-51 (~$50-60), many of them were on sale for significantly less (~€18, or around $21) when I was shopping.  I spent ages trying to figure out which characters I wanted, and then which outfits I wanted them in.  And parsing that with things that were on sale.  It was a whole process.

In the end, this review will feature Sunny, who was my first pick, and also Lilu and Tina.  I bought a few others, but these three are the most interesting.

The dolls come in open-faced cardboard boxes with a sleeve that covers all sides of the box.  The front part of the sleeve has an irregularly-shaped plastic window:

The window has "Sweet Sisters" printed in white, and a sticker at the bottom that advertises the doll's handmade features and flexible body:

Or "flexible carcass."

The cardboard sleeve also says Sweet Sisters on the sides:

What is the design on top of that second "e?"

On the back, there's some text at the top and cartoon snapshots of each character at the bottom:

Here's a closer look at the text:

It says: Hi, little sister!  Now you and I are Sweet Sisters--best friends forever!  Even though we are very different, we'll have fun together.  Incredible adventures await us because we don't like to be bored, do we?  Let's start playing!

It says the same thing underneath in Russian.  Orange Toys is a Latvian company.

The drawings of the different characters are really cute, and they're all set against different backgrounds that might be hinting at something about each girl's personality:

Lilu looks like my kind of person, standing in front of a carousel!  I've always wanted a carousel horse in my house for some reason.  I'd love to just sit on it and pretend I'm riding a real horse.

Anyway, the bottom of the box has a ton of text, including lots of copyrights and a sticker with Sunny's name on it:

The copyrights suggests that this version of Sunny was made in 2021.  So these dolls have been around for at least five years.

I pulled the cardboard sleeve off the box to reveal Sunny...who didn't make a great first impression:

Not making eye contact.

Or her hair didn't make a great first impression, at least.  But I'd rather deal with messy hair than overly-packaged hair.

The packaging was extremely easy to deal with.  Sunny was held in place by a plastic neck rest and a single clear band:

She can easily be put back into her box for storage or if I ever want to sell her or give her away.

I almost missed this, but underneath the sleeve, the cardboard box is decorated on all three sides.  There are large cartoon versions of Billie and Tina on the back:

And Lilu and Sunny grace the other two sides:

For some reason Sophie and Mia are left out completely.

The picture of Sunny is especially beautiful.  I love all of her freckles, and the cute bunny clip in her bright red hair:

Box art is a tricky thing.  You want the pictures to look appealing so that people will buy the doll, but you don't want the box art to look better than the doll.  That might be the case here.  

I have a hard time going from looking at the cartoon version of Sunny to looking at the actual doll:

She stands on her own, which is awesome, but there's something funny about her face.  And her hair and headband were both really messy right out of the box.

Here she is from the side:

And from the back:

The headband was held in place with plastic ties, but the fabric was all twisted up:

I snipped the ties holding the headband, and then brushed Sunny's hair with my wire brush:

Oh, dear.

It's messy, sure, but the hair fiber feels great.  It's silky smooth and very fun to brush and pet.  I also love the color.

The wefts of hair are sewn directly to Sunny's head, so it's a bit like wigged hair, but not strictly a wig:

The hair isn't sewn very carefully, though, so there are gaps in between some rows of hair, and the strands aren't distributed evenly.  I found it very difficult to make the hair look nice or go in the right direction.

The headband is made out of pink satin fabric.  It has a knot at the back and some elastic on one side:

It confuses me.

I put the headband back on Sunny's head, to see if I could tame her hair:

I guess that's tamed?

But the wefts right at the front of her hairline are spaced really far apart, and the headband exposes this:

Oof.

The headband keeps the hair out of Sunny's face, at least, so I was able to get a decent look at her:

She has a fabric face with three dimensional ears, but all of her other facial features are painted:

I think her emerald eyes are beautiful, and I love that she has so many freckles. However, from a distance, the shading in her freckled areas looks odd--almost like she has a rash.  Also, her eyes are spaced very far apart, her forehead is massive, and there's something funny about her mouth.  I think the mouth is too big, and the upper and lower lips are very full.  Perhaps too full for a smiling expression?

Her eyebrows have nice detail, but their flame orange color doesn't match the beautiful strawberry blonde hair:

It might help if she had a three dimensional nose?  But then again, that could easily have added strange contours or wrinkles to the rest of her face.

That's a lot of criticism.  I'm not fully in my husband's dismissive "Eeeh--um..." cringy-face zone, but Sunny isn't as appealing as I'd hoped she would be.  And her messy hair doesn't help.

Her outfit is really fun, though.  I tried to choose a variety of outfits with the dolls I bought, and Sunny got the glittery pink princess dress:

The dress is made out of pink satin with a tulle overlay.  The tulle skirt hangs lower than the satin skirt, which is a nice effect.  I also like that the sleeves are made entirely out of tulle.  They're very pretty.

The dress closes in back with two metal snaps:

I love doll clothing with snap closure, especially when the doll bodies are made out of fabric.  Velcro tends to snag cloth bodies over time.

The dress has a nice weight to it, in part because the tulle skirt is adorned with numerous heavy pink beads:

The beads are anchored to the tulle with some kind of metal attachment system:

It looks very secure.

Here's a closer look at the tulle sleeve, with its delicately-gathered cuff:

The construction of this dress is fantastic.  The inside of the bodice is lined, and all of the seams look robust:

To match her dress, Sunny is wearing pink imitation leather flats with glittery bow accents:

These look nice, but they fall off easily.

Underneath all of her clothing, Sunny has a fabric body with a wire armature:

Without shoes, Sunny's feet aren't stable enough to support her weight, so she needs a doll stand.

Her left foot looks like it's smiling at us, though:

Hi, little foot.

In back, Sunny has a large tag that's partially contained by her simple underwear:

She also has a jagged seam that runs from her extremely long neck down to about mid chest level.  I assume this is the seam through which her armature and stuffing were placed:

Sunny's armature gives her nice poseability.  She can't twist her head from side to side very much, but she can tip it:

And she can look way up:

Her neck looks really uncomfortable.

Or way down:

Ouch...

Her arms have a very simple shape, with no delineation at the joints, and no fingers whatsoever.  But she can raise her arms quite high:

And easily touch her face:

She can rest a hand on her hip:

And even cross her arms in front of her:

She can do excellent splits:

In both directions:

And she can sit in a chair:

She can even do some action poses:

And run...with a little balancing assistance:

The wire armature can move in any direction, so she can also achieve all kinds of totally wacky poses!

Go nuts, Sunny!

It's really fun to pose Sunny.  It's especially nice to have a doll that's cuddly and soft, but who can also stand on her own (with shoes) and strike a lot of poses.  The Sweet Sisters are similar to Lucky Doggy in this respect, but I can't think of too many other brands that pull off the same combination.

I put Sunny back into her pink dress for a few more pictures:

After some thought, it's mostly her high forehead that puts me off.  It gives her alien vibes.  If all of her printed features were moved up a few centimeters, she'd look a lot better.

At twelve inches from head to toe, Sunny is just a bit taller than a standard Barbie doll like Petra:

Sweet Sisters doll (left) and Signature Looks Barbie (right).

Her forehead alone is about five times bigger than Petra's.

She's shorter than my Las Amigas Cleo, though:

Sweet Sisters doll (left) and Las Amigas Cleo (right).

With a forehead that's half again as big.

And she's much shorter than her Orange Toys cousin, Lucky Doggy Yoyo:

Sweet Sisters doll (left) and Lucky Doggy (right).  Both by Orange Toys.

I like a lot of things about Sunny, including her wonderfully soft and silky hair, her pretty eyes, her abundant freckles, her fancy dress, and her excellent poseability.

But there are some strange things about her, too.  I can understand her oddly long neck, high forehead, and featureless limbs as stylistic choices, although they do look funny sometimes.  I also think that because her facial features are two dimensional, they can look odd when she'd not directly facing the camera.

So I've photographed her mostly in front-on poses like this one:

Her unconventional face is certainly growing on me, but that hairline, especially the section right at the top of her forehead, is a travesty.

Who are you calling a travesty??

Still, for around $20, this doll is unique enough, with enough charming features, that I'm happy to own her:

Yay!  I'm happy to be here.

I'm also happy to have the chance to look at a few of Sunny's friends, to see if they might deliver on this concept a bit better!

The second doll that I want to unbox is Lilu.  She's an Asian character, which is always nice to see.  I was also attracted to this doll because she wears her hair in bangs.  This isn't a style I normally gravitate towards, but I was hopeful that bangs would eliminate the hairline trouble that plagues Sunny.

Lilu came in a box just like Sunny's:

Sweet Sister Lilu by Orange Toys (2022).

She was made in 2022, though:

I don't know if there were any Sweet Sisters dolls produced after 2022, since all of the ones I bought are from either 2021 or 2022.

Anyway, here's Lilu out of the box:

This version of the character comes in a green sweater with white leggings and a blue hat.  She also comes with a black bag.

Here she is from the back:

That's a velcro seam.  Boo.

The bag is made out of shiny black imitation leather and has a soft lined interior:

I'm not sure Lilu's hat is adding anything to the ensemble, but I immediately liked her more than Sunny:

Her bangs are messy, but they make her hairline more attractive than Sunny's.  And they frame her face nicely, too, hiding that alien forehead:

Lilu's hair came tied in two cute pigtails.  I like this style on her, and I also appreciate that the parted hair in back looks fine, with the scalp well-hidden:

I took the pigtails down so that I could brush Lilu's silky hair and tidy up her bangs.

The hair looks good, even from the top of the head.  There are no bald patches, and the hairs mostly fall in a natural direction:

She's really cute!  And I don't get strange vibes form her painted face, either.  It just looks sweet to me.

I tied the hair back to get a better look at the face:

Her ears are high and large, but I think she has nice eyes, and I like that her eyebrows match her hair.  Also, believe it or not, I prefer a freckle-free face!  Did you ever think I'd say something like that??

While Lilu's lips are thick, they look better than Sunny's to me, even with that subtle smile:

Lilu's clothing is not quite as nice as Sunny's, though.  The main problem is that her sweater closes in the back with velcro:

Not a good look for a sweater.

The velcro gets stuck on the fabric body, and also on the fragile cloth of the leggings.

But I like the look of the outfit, and the slip-on black boots are sturdy and easy to use:

The corduroy hat is made really well, but I feel like it perches awkwardly on Lilu's head.  It would be hard to play with her while she's wearing this hat:

It's giving me hat hair.

So I took the hat off and set it aside.  We get to see more of Lilu's pretty hair this way!

Now you're talking!

Lilu is another great example of why I try not to evaluate a new brand by only looking at one doll.  There can be a lot of important differences!  Sunny's outfit is higher quality than Lilu's, but I like everything else about Lilu better:

Tina gets to be the tie breaker in this respect, I suppose.  In terms of quality, will she be more like Sunny, or more like Lilu?

Sweet Sisters Tina by Orange Toys (2022).

Like Lilu, Tina is from 2022.  Let's hope that it was an all-around good year for quality!

Tina looks pretty great right out of the box, with a modern outfit and dramatic hair.  Her hat is a bit silly, though, perched on top of her head like that:

It looks like a sailor hat or something a diner chef might wear, especially from the back:

I quickly figured out, though, that the hat was plastic-tied to Tina's head, and had flipped up and moved out of position.  It's supposed to look like this:

That's better!  Although the plastic ties were still causing little puckered areas here and there:

I took the plastic ties out, and now the whole outfit looks good:

Tina's outfit consists of a dress, jacket, shoes, socks, hat, and a bag.  Her shoes look especially great.

Her face looks nice, too, although there's a little spot on one side of her nose.  I'm not sure if it's a defect or an area of implied shininess?

It's not too distracting, but neither of the other two dolls have anything like this on their faces.

I checked the promotional photos, and it looks like the dot is intentional:

I guess Tina has a shiny li'l nose.

I took her hat off so that I could get a better look at her hair:

The hat has a beanie style, and is made out of a lightweight knit fabric.

Underneath the hat, Tina's hair and hairline look pretty great at first glance:

But that forehead is alien-level high.

And everything looks good up close, too.  There's a tiny bit of space between two of the wefts at the front of Tina's head, but it's nowhere near as bad as what we saw with Sunny's hair:

And there's actually a sewn-in part along the top of the head, which makes the ponytails attractive and easy to manage:

I took Tina's ponytails down to get the full effect of her hair:

I think she looks amazing with her hair down.  The strands at the sides of her face diminish the effect of the large forehead.

I tried clipping the hair back a little, just so that I could fit Tina into a narrower picture frame:

This hairstyle accentuates the forehead, though, which isn't ideal.

Tina's facial features are similar to the other two dolls, with dark brown painted eyes, light brown eyebrows (I wish they were darker...) and full lips:

Overall I'd say that Tina's hair is the best of the bunch, especially with that part on top.  And I like her face about the same as Lilu's--maybe slightly less because of the light eyebrows and exposed forehead.

Let's see how the outfit measures up!

I definitely like Tina's bag better than Lilu's.  Rather than being made out of shiny imitation leather, it's made out of a cozy tan corduroy:

I also like the shape of this bag.  And it's fully lined, just like Lilu's bag.

The standout pieces in Tina's outfit are the pink jacket and the brown lace-up hiking boots:

The jacket is beautifully made, from a lightweight denim-like fabric.  I love all of the stitched details, especially the arched darts on each side, and the little tucks in the sleeves near the cuff:

The inside of the jacket isn't lined, but the seams are extremely neat and solidly reinforced:

Underneath the jacket, Tina's dress has a mock turtleneck and no sleeves:

It's very form-fitting, with slits up each side of the skirt.

Unfortunately, the fabric is thin and semi-transparent, so the tag shows through in back:

The construction on this garment is not as nice as what we saw with the jacket.  The seams have small allowances, and none of them are reinforced.  Also, there's a velcro closure in back, which makes the dress hard to get on:

It gets snagged on Tina's body.

I have no complaints about the shoes, though!  They're easily the best shoes I've seen so far:

They're sturdy little hiking boots with thick treads and real laces.  They look great, and they help Tina balance like a champ.

This is my favorite outfit so far:

And I love that the hat matches the dress and the bag matches the shoes.  It's a very cohesive look:

I felt like I had a pretty good assortment of outfit pieces at this stage, so I took a minute to try out different clothing combinations on each doll.

First, here's Tina wearing her dress, but with Lilu's green sweater:

Next, here's Lilu going all black and white, wearing Tina's dress and hat mixed with her own purse and shoes:

She's my favorite doll from this group.  Her hair is so silky, and she looks good in everything!

I was especially interested to see Sunny in the green sweater, since she has green eyes:

Hm.

And I added in the hat, to see if it would help cover that bad hairline:

Better...

I also tried Tina's white hat:

Best!

I think Sunny looks better in this ensemble than she does in her tulle dress, but that forehead and hairline are trouble.

You still like me, though!

Tina had a great time trying on Sunny's pink dress...although she wouldn't take her hiking boots off:

They're my signature shoes!

The dress even coordinates with Tina's pink jacket:

It was fun to play around with these girls.  I wish that all of the outfits had snaps like Sunny's dress, because the velcro made everything harder than it needed to be.  It gets stuck on the bodies, in Tina's hair, and on all of the clothing.  I feel like I'd be willing to trade Lilu and Tina's extra hats and purses for Sunny's metal snaps.

Despite the pesky velcro, I really like these girls.  I especially like Lilu and Tina.  They would make excellent little play (and cuddle!) companions for younger kids.  I worry slightly about the possibility of the wire armature poking out and injuring a child, but the fabric on the bodies feels fairly sturdy, and perhaps there are caps on the wire or something else to help protect against impalement?  It's hard to tell.

Having now voiced that concern, it wouldn't be the true Toy Box Philosopher experience if I didn't destroy a doll to get some answers, would it?  No it wouldn't.

So, I opened up Sunny's back seam to see what was inside.  The first thing I saw was a big plastic piece, surrounded by stuffing.  I had to remove some of of the stuffing to get a good look at it:

Her ribcage, I guess?

The plastic is a hub for the armature wires, which stick out in all directions.  I pulled one of the arm wires out, and look at this!  There's a nice, sturdy, protective cap on the end:

Whew!

The cap is attached really well, too.  I couldn't pull it off.

I pulled the wire out of the head as well, just to see how long it is:

That's a nice long wire.

The long head wire explains why Sunny can bend her head really well, but can't turn it from side to side.

So now I can safely say that these dolls would make nice cuddle companions for kids.

Okay, so this is the part in the review where I should be wrapping things up, but instead I'm going to launch into talking about a whole new thing: the Cotti Motti animals.  My first Orange Toys order contained several Sweet Sisters dolls, and also an adorable Cotti Motti elephant that was on sale at the time:

Isn't she wonderful?

When the order arrived, I noticed that the elephant was wearing the exact same dress as the Mia doll I chose:

She gives me Cinderella vibes.

That's when I went back to the Orange Toys site and did some reading.  As it turns out, while some of the Cotti Motti plush animals come with only mermaid tails...

Nicky the mer-pig.

Others are dressed in Sweet Sisters clothing!

Nicky in an outfit you might recognize.

Basically, the Cotti Motti animals are the cutest possible way to buy new clothing for the Sweet Sisters.

With this knowledge, I went back to the Orange Toys store and bought a few more Cotti Motti critters.  My first pick was this delightful unicorn named Daphne:

Cotti Motti Unicorn Daphne, €20.

Daphne came in a lightweight cardboard box with a plastic window cover.  She's marked as being for ages 0+, which I don't think I've ever seen before on this blog!

A newborn baby could cuddle with her.

The Cotti Motti name is at the bottom of the box, showing through a little peep hole in the cover:

The box design is charming, with a stylized outdoor scene decorating the front and sides:

The back of the box has a bunny and a lion playing outdoors, with some small text in the middle:

Here's a better look at the text:

I'll transcribe it for you, since it's hard to read.  The first section says:

Where the gentle breeze wanders in the grass, the droplets of summer rain whisper their secrets, and the glare of the sun on the water tickles the eyes and everywhere cheerful laughter is heard - dreams and magic wake up there.  This is how the warm world of simple and cute Cotti Motti toys, which fit in two small children's hands, begins.

That's poetic and all, with perhaps the longest run-on sentence I've ever encountered.  The second part says:

We love our children more than anything in the world and children love to play with toys.  When you see surprise and delight in the eyes of a baby, how they experience the world with their fingers, your heart is filled with happiness.  And it is very important what kind of toys surround them and what kind of emotions they share.  We have always wanted to create toys that are simple and understandable for a child and the quality of which parents can trust.  Because these toys are the first friends for our little ones.  It seems to us that the Cotti Motti collection is juts about this - trust, love, and friendship.

That's really lovely.  I like how they talk about the Cotti Motti animals as the first friends a child will have.  It's sweet.

Daphne's box opens in an unconventional way.  Part of it slides up, and then the rest lifts off:

Daphne was secured to the backdrop with a single plastic loop that was easy to cut.

She has a floppy body with very narrow legs, so I used a doll stand to keep her upright:

Her body is made out of lightweight canvas, and her mane is strips of soft cotton jersey knit.

Here she is from the back:

Her face is simple, with two embroidered dot eyes, a pink muzzle, and faint nostrils.  She does not have a mouth, so her expression is neutral:

I'm ready for anything.

Her glitter-covered horn is probably the fanciest thing about her!

Daphne's dress has a pink mock turtleneck top with a glittery heart decoration.  The skirt is all tulle and quite transparent:

The construction is excellent, with sturdy, reinforced seams:

Unfortunately, the closure in back is velcro, not snaps.

Underneath her dress, Daphne has a simple, soft, rag doll body with no armature:

She can't stand on her own, and struggles to sit upright on her own--mostly because her body is very light and her head and mane are heavier:

She's adorable to look at and perfect for cuddling, though.  She'd make an excellent baby toy.

And, as advertised, her dress fits the Sweet Sisters perfectly!

I'm a ballerina!

I tried Lilu's outfit on Daphne, too, and the sweater fits well.  It might even be too big at the top.  However, the leggings are really tight and the shoes are way too big:

I don't feel very cuddly anymore...

The difference in fit is because the Cotti Motti body has narrower shoulders and wider hips than the Sweet Sisters body:

Sweet Sisters doll (left) and Cotti Motti (right) body comparison.

The clothes-sharing might not be perfect, but I love Daphne the unicorn.  I would happily gift her to every baby I know.  If only I knew some babies.  I think she looks fine with no clothing, but the option of being able to use Sweet Sisters outfits will likely make her appealing to kids in a broader age range.

The other Cotti Motti character that I purchased is Henry the hedgehog

Cotti Motti Henry the hedgehog, €29.

Interestingly, Henry is marked as being for ages 3+, so not as baby-safe as Daphne for some reason:

The basic box design is the same as Daphne's box, but the decorations are different.  This box has an underwater theme with a mermaid tail on the front:

The edges of the box have underwater pictures as well:

The text on the left side of the box says "100% friendly," which I think means 100% eco-friendly:

Love to see it.

The back of the box has two big sections of text, and these are different from what we saw on Daphne's box:

I'll transcribe again.  Here's the first part:

Listen to the charming tales the sea wave whispers!  About funny friends - mermaids, having fun in the waves and losing their tails all the time.  About noisy seagulls who bring wonderful stories from distant shores.  About quiet bubbles and silk sand under the sea, about adventures and magic, about children's faith in miracles where everyone can be whoever they want.  This is where the incredible world of very simple and fabulous Cotti Motti toys begins.

I like the part about everyone being whoever they want to be.  But why are the mermaids losing their tails?  That sounds bad.

The second section says:

Children are little wizards whose sincere belief in miracles and interest in everything allow them to fantasize without any boundaries.  And if we grow up and keep this "little wizard" inside, we are able to feel the joy of every moment we live.  Children are not afraid to look foolish and this is their strength.  Cotti Motti Mermaids collection is just about that freedom of self expression.

"Keeping the little wizard inside" is basically another way of saying to keep your inner child alive...which is one of my primary life goals.  So I love that paragraph.

Anyway without further ado, here's Henry the hedgehog:

Henry is certainly embracing exactly who he wants to be, rocking a leopard print dress with a puffy beige coat and knitted scarf on top.  And he comes with a sparkly sequined mermaid tail!

The tail is probably why he isn't safe for kids under three.

Henry has the cutest little face, surrounded by fuzzy brown fur:

The knitted scarf was tied in a simple knot.  Untied, it hangs down almost to Henry's toes!

Now we can get a slightly better look at Henry's face.  He has small black embroidered eyes and no mouth--just like Daphne:

Here's the outfit from the back:

The puffy jacket unsnaps down the front to reveal a pale yellow lining:

The construction on the jacket is excellent, and the padding feels nice and soft:

The leopard print dress has a high collar, an empire waistline, and no sleeves:

The dress is made well, but it has a velcro seam in back:

Henry isn't wearing any shoes, but he does have little half socks that are chopped off abruptly at his toes:

Leg warmers, I guess?

I was excited to check out Henry's tail!  It's covered completely in gold sequins:

The sequins can be brushed so that they flip over to a silver side, but not all of the sequins can flip over smoothly, so the pattern is uneven:

Still looks pretty.

The waist of the tail has a silver band and velcro closure:

Here's Henry wearing the tail:

It's a mer-hedge!  Or maybe a mer-hog?

It fits nicely and looks really cool.  I don't think I've ever seen a mer-hog before.

Henry had a fun time swimming around the studio:

And of course Daphne wanted to try out the tail, too:

That's the best thing ever.

The tail doesn't fit the Sweet Sisters as well as I'd hoped, mostly because their feet are larger than Motti Cotti feet:

I want to be a mermaid, too!

Orange Toys seems to have a special fondness for the ocean.  Not only do they have a whole line of Motti Cotti mermaid animals, but they have a collection of marine plush animals, too.  My husband is an ocean-lover, so I bought him this angler fish for his office:

To make everyone feel at home in meetings.

Isn't she magnificent?  I know it's a girl because male angler fish are tiny.  They're basically cute little testes with eyes.  They can actually attach to the female and get absorbed by her body, offering up a lifetime of sperm for her enjoyment.  Fun times.

The unfortunate but useful male angler fish.

Anyway...I had so many fun things to play with at this point, I took a bit of time to try a few more different outfit combinations.

My favorite outfit for Daphne is Sunny's tulle dress:

It matches her mane better than the dress she came with:

I guess Daphne and Lilu will have to fight over Sunny's dress, because I think it looks great on both of them!

I feel like a princess.

I also tested Henry's outfit on Tina:

The leopard print dress suits her particularly well:

And it even pairs nicely with the pink jacket:

Sunny really needs to stick with the green sweater and some kind of hat:

I don't mind.

It can be hard to tell in my pictures, but Sunny and Lilu have the same skin tone.  Here they are comparing hands:

Which are exactly the same color:

And the same flavor.

One last little thing that I almost forgot to mention is that each of the Sweet Sisters dolls I ordered came with a free accessory pack!  I don't see the accessory packs for sale separately on the Orange Toys website, so this was a great opportunity to get some cool extras.

Here's one of the packs that I got:

The packaging has a plain design, with a bit of text on the back:

It says: Hi, little sister!  In your hands is a set of shoes and accessories for Sweet Sisters dolls.  It is made for real fashionistas.  Shoes and accessories are suitable for all dolls and can be perfectly combined.  Do you want to try yourself as a stylist?  Feel free to create your favourite incredible outfits.  Be stylish with you Sweet Sisters doll.

The tools that we have to be stylish are a pair of sneakers, a hair clip, and some glasses:

The glasses have metal frames and plastic lenses and look great.  They don't fit on Lilu's face very well, though.  I think because her ears are too high:

The glasses look good on Tina, though!  And they coordinate with her new favorite dress:

In that picture Tina is also wearing a silver fanny pack and black sneakers from a different accessory set.

I think my favorite look for Tina is her awesome pink jacket, Henry's dress, and the glasses and hair clip from an accessory set:

I feel stylish!

And to wrap up (finally), here are all three of the girls in the outfits that they like best:

From left: Sweet Sisters Lilu, Sunny, and Tina.

Bottom line?  This review got off to a rocky start, with Sunny's messy hair, gap-ridden hairline, and massive forehead.  I had a sinking feeling that I'd just dropped a bunch of money on a doll brand with poor quality control and questionable aesthetics.  But I was gradually won over by Sunny's better features.  For one, her tulle dress is very pretty, and also beautifully made.  I love its snap closure and meticulously finished seams.  I'm also impressed by Sunny's wire armature.  She moves nicely and can even stand on her own--provided that she's wearing shoes.  Her poseability makes her a wonderful play companion, and yet she's soft (and safe!) enough for a cuddle, too, with hair that feels silky smooth and comforting.

Lilu and Tina share most of Sunny's good qualities, while having more appealing face paint and better hair placement.  I really like how Lilu's silky bangs cover her forehead, and Tina's voluminous hair has a stitched part on top that makes it easy to style...although the shape of her hair doesn't always alleviate the huge forehead syndrome.  Both girls have faces that I find cute and friendly, without too many unnerving qualities.  Lilu and Tina both have interesting, multi-piece outfits as well.  Some of the clothes are better than others, though.  For example, I love Tina's pink jacket.  It's very well made, easy to use, and looks wonderful.  Tina's long white dress is not as good.  It's made out of thin, semi-transparent fabric, and has a velcro closure that gets stuck on everything--including the dolls' bodies.  The shoes are satisfactory for the most part.  Sunny's flats fall off to easily, Lilu's black ankle boots are versatile and serviceable, and Tina's hiking boots are incredible.

I was having a grand old time with Sunny, Lilu, and Tina towards the end of this review, and then the Motti Cotti animals stepped in and kicked everything up a notch.  Not only was it great to get a few more outfit pieces in the mix, but the Motti Cotti characters are really sweet and cuddly.  I love their simple faces and soft, floppy bodies.  And the fact that some of them come with mermaid tails is just delightful.  I never thought I'd have a mermaid-unicorn doll in my collection!  It's like what I've always wanted...without ever knowing I wanted it.  And it's crazy that the Sweet Sisters and Motti Cotti critters can share clothing.  I never would have guessed.  That offers a nice continuity between the two lines of toys, and perhaps a natural, seamless way for kids to gradually shift from playing with simple animals to enjoying more sophisticated, articulated dolls.

Orange Toys is a small company that's on the other side of the world from me, but I've had a wonderful time getting to know three (four if you count the angler fish!) of their main lines of wholesome, handmade, eco-friendly dolls and toys.  And you know what?  The little wizard in me recommends every single one of them.