Freak du Chic Honey Swamp and my 100th post!

So, today's post is pretty cool and exciting for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's my first of four upcoming Freak du Chic reviews, since in the last few weeks I've been able to get my hands on all four of the main ghouls in that line. I hope you're as excited about Freak du Chic as I am, because that's all that's coming your way for the next little while! And secondly, this post marks my 100th post on Christina Articulates! What's even cooler about that is that way back when, when this blog was brand new, my very first review was of Honey's first doll, and here we are 100 posts and almost two years later with my second Honey Swamp review! It feels like a pretty cool coincidence, honestly, and let me tell you, she is a really worthy doll of the honour of getting both my first post AND my 100th.

Want to see what make this Honey so exciting? Click through to find out!

 Honey's box is basically the same as Gooliope's, only obviously a lot smaller! I really love the art in this line. I love how it's dark and a bit mysterious, but also has a lot of bright colours. The more antique or vintage-y circus vibe is great!

Also as on Gooliope's box, Honey has a little silhouette on the back of her box. Honey's is a stylized marionette, which doesn't look at all like Honey, but it's still cute!

And here is the lovely lady herself! Normally I don't use stands in reviews, because Monster High dolls can usually stand well enough on their own, but as we'll see later, Honey needs the support of the stand, even after I recruited help! Thankfully she does come with the stand, as well as...

her own circus poster! I love that the FDC dolls come with these as opposed to diaries, and I can't wait to figure out a way to display all of the posters with the dolls. The art is so cool, and this reminds me of the collector cards that used to come with the earlier dolls, so that's fun too!

Accessory-wise, she comes with this ADORABLE balloon animal purse. At first glance it kind of resembles a dog, but based on the scale pattern and his long, skinny tail, I'm guessing he's supposed to be an alligator. Whatever he is, I love him!

Something that definitely needs to be mentioned about this Honey doll is her articulation. A lot of people seem to be getting their Honey and thinking she's in some way defective, but it's actually a feature. Her wrists and knees are super floppy, so she moves just like an actual marionette, and you can see here that while her hands still come of as per usual, they do so in a very different way. This is also why I needed to use her stand in this review, because even leaning her up against my backdrop AND having Gooliope hold up her strings, it was pretty tricky to get her to stand up.

It's hard to show the floppy legs in a photo, but this gives a pretty good idea...they bend backwards! For a better look at what her legs can do, check out my video review! 

This is where I brought in Gooliope to give me a helping hand in this review. Ever since we saw these dolls, my plan was to have Gooliope hold up Honey's marionette strings on my shelf, and I'm so happy to have that vision realized!

Let's talk about Honey's hair first, because it's definitely the star of the show! It's the same tightly curled texture as her first doll, but it's a gorgeous lavender colour instead of the aqua. There is a hint of aqua in a streak by her left temple, but it's nearly hidden by the sheer amount of hair this ghoul has! Her hair is pulled into two pigtails, and the volume of them nearly swallows her face! This is absolutely NOT a complaint, Honey's hair remains one of my favourite things that has ever happened in the world of Monster High.

Pulling her hair back, we can get a better look at her face. She has full eyebrows that match her hair, and soft makeup, on her eyelids at least! Underneath her eyes she has very pronounced eyelashes with little dots on the ends, over top of pink eye shadow. These dots are a theme that we'll see on each of the dolls in the Freak du Chic line. I love when lines have some kind of tie-in like that, it really makes them look like they belong together on my shelf! I also love her lipstick. Her upper lip and the centre of her lower lip are a deep pink, and the rest of her lower lip is a deep aqua. Based on her skin tone, this could be her natural lip colour, and she's wearing the pink in a way that reminds me of the way women wore their lipstick in the 20's.

Her necklace is bright purple, and is definitely a balloon animal of some kind, like her purse.

However, I have no real idea what it is...Thoughts?

 

Her dress is kind of deceptive, which is another theme throughout this whole line. It's just a one piece dress, which is simple, but it's made of a lot of fabrics with a lot of textures and colours which give sit the impression of being really fancy. I like this as a solution to some of Mattel's budget woes. The dolls certainly don't look cheap, but Mattel saves a few bucks on the outfits. Win-win, I saw! The bodice of her dress is pink and black striped, and her skirt is...well, it's a lot of things! And on top of the (literally!) is a layer of black and white shredded tulle, which is repeated as a high collar around her neck.

Honey's shoes are pretty straightforward from the front...Knee-high white boots with a jagged top and a sort of perforated pattern...

But then they have alligator faces on the toes, and purple balloon animals for heels! These kind of look like the Loch Ness monster to me, and I love them!

 Of course, since Honey is a marionette, she also has strings, as well as something to control them! I'm not sure if this thing has a name, but Honey's is green with a lot of vine detailing, and a hook on top. The hook can be used to attach Honey to the playset that comes with Rochelle, OR it can be hooked around Gooliope's wrist! This is my preferred method for now, but I do plan on getting the playset eventually, so we'll see!

The strings are simple light green ribbons with loops on the end that go around Honey's wrists. They are tight enough not to slip over her hands or all the way up to her elbows, but they're easily removed if you take off her hands.

I did finally get her to stand on her own, with Gooliope's help, sort of. She's not sturdy! Normally I'd complain about a doll being this difficult to pose, but it's kind of the point with Honey so, it works! I do think that the box should say something about her loose joints though, since a lot of people are buying her and thinking theirs is defective.

Most of the time her legs do something like this, though.

 She is super fun to play with though, just tugging on her strings and seeing what I can get her to do!

Plus, she is just incredibly gorgeous! The colours, her makeup, HER HAIR...it's all amazing, and it works so well together, and with the theme.

She even has a hard time sitting down because her lower legs want to flip up and don't really support her, but it kind of works because it makes her sit kind of crooked, like a puppet or a rag doll.

Do you think these two are ready to put on a show?

Honey is always ready for her spotlight!

Ta-daaaaaa!

And that is it for the amazing Honey Swamp, and also for my 100th post! If you've been with me from the beginning, thanks for sticking around, and if you're new, that's awesome too! I haven't been posting as often as I intended, but I'm still plugging along and sharing the things I love with people who get it, and it's just as fun as I'd hoped it would be! So, thanks for reading, and here's to another hundred!