Monster High - Skull Shores Abbey

Argos are clearancing their old stock to make way for new, so that means Skull Shores is now half price. Sweet.
I picked up the last one I didn't have, Abbey Bominable because how could I resist for £6:99?
Well, she sat in her box for several days while I got distracted by other things (most notably, Ghoul's Rule Frankie and Clawdeen lol) until last night when I could take it no longer! Abbey demanded I free her from her cardboard prison and I faithfully obliged.

Now, i'm sure I don't have to go through a step by step of what this doll looks like, she's been out long enough i'm pretty sure everyone's seen about a billion photos, so I won't waste time with tedious box shots.
All I will say is this, i've become far too used to the newer MH boxes.

Abbey's box was taped shut, something I haven't had to deal with in a while with Monster High. But this didn't take long to get through. The Skull Shores boxes are very easy to open, just undo one side and slide the inner card out. Fantastic.
Clipping all the plastic tags was a breeze as it always is, i'll say one thing for this line, they really do have very good packaging in terms of ease of removal.
However, now we get to my first annoyance. Abbey has not one, not your standard two, but FOUR, yes, FOUR plastic tags holding her head into place. The first two clip out easy enough, I have to fight with the final two to get any kind of purchase on the stupid things. I HATE plastic tags like this. Unless you cut them on the side where the card is, you risk hacking a huge chunk of hair off the doll. They're sharp once you do get them cut and then you have to go searching in the hair to snip them shorter! I hate them and i wish companies would find a better less likely to gouge my hand way of securing the head damnit.

So with Abbey finally free I could take a look at her.
Her first error leaps out at me.

 

This little "scar" looks like melting, or a big ol' dollop of hot glue. It doesn't come off, believe me I tried.  

Undressing her I notice another of these marks on her belly. Poor girl's been in some sort of hideous acid accident! Thankfully her glitter helps to disguise these blemishes. 

Speaking of glitter.. oh my god the glitter. My original Abbey has a sparkly face but her body is pretty much glitter free. Not so for this girl, She's caked in the stuff and it's unevenly distributed. It makes her body quite rough and makes dressing her a little more of a hassle. Tight clothing snags on the rough glitter, it's annoying. 

Her face is very sparkly but her hair.. oh wow her hair. 

Original Abbey's hair annoyed me because it had these strands of glitter which though pretty, had little blobs along their length which would catch any kind of brush you ran through it. Her hair is impossible to brush without unravelling a few of her glitter strands in the process, which always annoys me. This Abbey still has glitter but it's not got those same nodules. It's smoother and there's a lot less of it. Most of her hair is in fact a slightly darker blonde/white than original Abbey and it's quite good to brush. The only gripe I have is that the tinsel in this doll doesn't always sit with the rest of the hair. It likes to stick out in random directions. Ahh well, can't win them all right?

Poor Sparkly Abbey, her hair's a mess from deboxing and her leg is burned.


I love some of the little details on this girl. Her shoes are very pretty, little purple icicles which I like. Her swim suit has snowflakes but isn't tacky as it could be. Even her little wrap is pretty cute with the fur trim.
What's the deal with the key bracelet though? It's very random and the positioning as it was straight out the box has it being worn half way up her arm not on her wrist. If you put it on her wrist she can't then move her wrist because it gets in the way. Hmmmm. Cute piece but not very practical i'm afraid.

Not that it matters as I have no intention of leaving this girl in her swimsuit. I know it's supposedly summer here in the UK but it's still cold and rainy as always.
Like my other Skull Shores ghouls, Abbey is straight out of that beach wear and straight into something more interesting.

Also her hair got redone. I wasn't feeling the side ponytail, it felt kinda lazy. Like what I do when I can't get a doll's hair to cooperate.

I always feel it's a shame with Abbey's default hair styles that her beautiful coloured streaks are pretty much hidden under all that white. As a result, both of mine have had restyles to bring some of that colour forward.

It's worth mentioning that despite my thoughts that this girl was very similar to the original release of Abbey, there are quite a few differences not only in hair and sparkle but also in their faces.

First wave abbey has larger, rounder eyes and her eyeshadow is all pink. Her eyes also seem to be a brighter shade. Her skin tone is more saturated, the glitter less rough and her brows are thicker. She also oddly looks like her chin and jaw is wider but that must be her lips creating an optical illusion.

Skull Shores has somewhat washed out eyes, not helped by her upper shadow being pretty much the exact same purpley pink shade. The glitter is very thickly applied and gives her face, as well as her body, a very rough texture. After handling this girl I found I was coated in sparkles, so she does shed this stuff but not nearly as badly or as thickly as some glittery dolls i've seen.

The pink in her hair seems more orange toned than first wave and her skin tone is slightly different.

I think she kinda looks like a sister here, rather than the same ghoul. I do like that in my dolls, I can't stand having an army of identical clones.

 

So Skull Shores Abbey gets to stay. She's already made herself at home.