Gloom and Bloom Cleo DeNile

As I'm sure you've heard, Target is leaving Canada and closing all of its stores. This makes me very sad for a lot of reasons (loss of jobs, etc) but of course, one of those reasons is that it was one more place to look for dolls! And obviously, they have exclusives as well, that will now be considerably harder to get my hands on. I'm actually not sure if this doll is actually a Target exclusive...some are sure she is and some are sure she isn't, but regardless, when I heard Target's were closing, I went out to grab her, because they were the only place I'd seen her.

The doll I'm talking about is, of course, Cleo DeNile from the Gloom and Bloom line. Lots of Cleo over here lately, huh? The Jinafire from this line is also gorgeous, but unfortunately, I missed out on her at my local Target, so I'll have to get my hands on her another way. This entire line is beautiful, actually. I love the Venus, and I think I'll get her, and probably the Catrine as well. Jane Boolittle is really nice too, so who knows, maybe I'll get them all! The only one I'm not really wowed by is the new character, Amanita Nightshade, but I may change my mind when I see her in person, who knows!

But! This review is about the lovely Cleo up there, so let's get on with it, shall we? 

(Also, I've started linking my latest YouTube videos in the sidebar of the blog instead of in my posts, so you can check that out to see what's new!)

I'm really so in love with this new packaging! Mattel is really stepping it up, because this is gorgeous. It's tempting to leave things in the box when they're this gorgeous....but not so tempting that I couldn't overcome it!

And here's Cleo, and all her accessories. She comes with a stand and a brush, of course, and also a diary, a purse, gardening tools and a plant in an urn. Lots of stuff, actually!

The purse is probably one of my favourites actually, because I just really love the hieroglyphics and the general design of it. It's pretty big, and both tools can fit inside of it, in case Cleo needs to garden on the go.

The tools themselves are blue with scarabs on the handles, and she can hold them!

The plant kind of reminds me of water lilies, with the flowers sprouting up from lily pads. And, if you lift up the plant, there's a coiled cobra underneath! This is a cute detail. The urn itself is really nicely detailed, with a lot of engraving around the sides. It's a really cute accessory, and I think if you had all the Gloom and Bloom dolls you could really set up a neat little display with their plants!

What I really love about this Cleo though, is her outfit. It has a lot of details, and it really feels "deluxe". It's beautiful! She's wearing a gold and black striped kaftan-inspired jacket, belted with a blue, gold and black belt over a floral patterned dress, but we'll take a closer look at her outfit in a minute...

Because we're going to start with her face! Cleo always has a gorgeous face, though she does tend to be prone to wonky eyes. There was an entire case of Cleo's on the shelf when I got mine, so six to choose from, and the majority of them had definitely wonky eyes. So that's something to be aware of when you're buying your Cleo, just take a good look at her eyes! For some reason I really love the lip colour on this Cleo. It's kind of a nude-pink, and it doesn't seem very "Cleo" to me, but I think it looks lovely on her!

We're going to have a look at Cleo's accessories too, while we're working down from the top. Her earrings are bright blue, and are dangling flowers. Remember this motif, because we're going to see it again!

In her hair, Cleo is wearing a blue headband with a large flower on the top.

Maybe the best thing about this Cleo is her hair. When I first took her out of the box (as you can see in the video I took, linked in the sidebar!), her hair was super crunchy at the ends and I thought I was going to have to wash it. Well, I was wrong! All it took was a quick brush out, and it turned into these lovely soft waves with a gorgeous texture, and it's just beautiful. I don't even mind the black tinsel, even though it does tend to get a little unruly, as tinsel does. This is a great head of hair!

On her wrists, Cleo is wearing a few different bracelets. On her left wrist, she's wearing a black snake bracelet, and on her right, she's wearing a gold pyramid bracelet stacked with a blue cuff, featuring the same flower seen on her earrings.

When you take off the jacket, Cleo is wearing this  simple, floral dress. It's a strapless A-line dress, with an all-over bold floral pattern and gold trim. It's a simple dress, but I think it's really pretty all of its own! She's also wearing a gold necklace which I'm realizing now that I neglected to photograph on its own. It's large, and kind of like a bib necklace, and looks like it's made of large beads strung together.

The jacket is kind of amazing, and super glam. It's made of a sheer black and gold striped material, with an additional piece of black tulle overlaid with gold mesh attached to the back. It's loose and flowy, but cinched around Cleo's waist with an attached fabric belt that just ties in the front. Finally, the whole look is set off with a large, flat blue flower made of a pleather material at the waist. I really love this jacket, and I would totally wear something like it myself, if I had a fancy party to go to!

As per usual, Cleo has some pretty great shoes. The shoes themselves are gold with blue flowers on the front...

And coiled cobras for the heels! I love these a lot, the heels are too much. Cleo is also wearing large accessories on her ankles. I hesitate to call them anklets because I think that kind of undersells it...maybe cuffs? Regardless, they're mainly deep blue with those same flowers that are on her earrings, with a large, lighter blue flower that matches her headband. I'm not 100% sure which direction they're supposed to face, but either way, they look very cool!

All ready to head to the fanciest garden party there ever was!

You'd think that maybe Cleo wouldn't want to get dirty, but it looks like she's got quite the green thumb!

Serving you nothing but fierce!

So that's Gloom and Bloom Cleo DeNile! I think this entire line is gorgeous, and definitely worth picking up. Actually, I didn't talk about it, but Cleo is worth picking up just to read her diary. It provides some serious back story that really made me think about Cleo in a different way, and I love that after all these years, Mattel can still give us new information on characters we thought we had all figured out. I'd show you the diary, but of course, the Canadian version doesn't have the whole story, but if you're curious, it's up on the Monster High Wiki, and I totally recommend giving it a read! Makes me wish there was a Nefera in this line too actually, though I am glad there's finally a new one coming out with Boo York, Boo York!

Anyways, what do you think of this gorgeous Cleo? I hardly feel like myself, loving two Cleo dolls in a row, but I think I'm a changed woman when it comes to her! It took nearly 5 years, but Cleo finally worked her magic on me!