Glo Up Girls by Farout toys

 
I always find new dolls lines interesting, especially when they're from toy companies you've never heard of. 

it's interesting to see what fresh new stuff might hit the market. 

Glo Up girls are made by a company named Farout Toys, who prior to this have been mostly known for Love, Diana and Ryan's World blind bag toys and a couple of gimmicky kids board games. 

From what I can establish, they're a pretty new company and tiny. 

So it was a bold move to try a fashion doll when the market is so saturated with those and big hitters like MGA and Mattel are looming large over that whole aisle. 

It was also bold to opt for a higher price point product. At £25 the Glo up girls are NOT a cheap alternative. They're only £5 less than a Rainbow High or LOL OMG doll and more expensive than a LOT of Barbie's offerings. 

so are they worth the price and are they worth the shelf space? 

 

I could only pick from two dolls on amazon (everywhere else is still citing a release date in the future) the pastel themed one (not my thing) or the blondish girl.

I liked the blondish one's outfit more and her hair colour was something I was curious about so I ordered her. 

The box is attractive and shimmery (seems to be a trend with dolls right now to have holo foil boxes) but also oversized like so many doll boxes right now and clearly inspired by the blind box trend with those little boxes and containers at the side there. 

The artwork is GORGEOUS, whoever they got to do this art it's really pretty. 

Of course, the dolls look absolutely nothing like their portraits. 

In the box all you can see of the doll (her name is Tiffany) is her hair, her lower face and part of her PJ outfit. Her eyes are hidden under a sleep mask so if you're worried about eye wonk that packaging decision won't help you. 

Like MGA, Farout have opted for the whole "25 surprise" lie. We know they aren't surprises because it tells you what you get ON THE FUCKING BOX. 

Please, someone educate toy companies on what the word "surprise" actually means. They don't seem to understand. 

 The back of the box is also very shiny and features the most unflattering image of a girl in a face mask i've ever seen. She looks SO unimpressed. That honestly looks more candid than modelled and it cracks me up. 

for some reason the pastel purple girl appears to be the line's "mascot" as she's pictured on the back of the box and in the inner sleeve artwork and instructions. 

Also, can someone please file an injuction against toy companies using the term "fierce"? 

We don't get much info here beyond the implication that Tiffany is the "plant girl". She has a picture of a cactus, flowers in the background and "fashion in full BLOOM" as her tagline. 

this is the only info we get about her as a character. But it's kinda interesting to have the blonde chick being planty. I'm so used to dolls falling into the typical archetypes like "sporty" "arty" "animal lover" "Fashionista" you know? "really likes plants" isn't one you see much. 

Anyway,

Despite the claim there's 6 dolls to collect it seems the dolls are shipping in very random assortments with only a couple available at a time. I don't understand this. 

There's also no images of the other dolls aside from Sadie, who apparently is the series' mascot. 

They're listed in alphabetic? order on the side but you only get to see their illustrated portraits.

I love these portraits though.

It's a real pity Erin didn't keep her platinum blonde in doll form and got an ugly yellow instead and Kenzie's outfit did NOT translate well to doll form at all. It is FUGLY.

The box is in two parts. The main section is held shut with a velcro spot and has instructions printed on the inside as well as giving you a better look at the random "surprise" pieces (again, not a surprise) 

The doll herself is removed by opening the OTHER side of the box and sliding her little plastic coffin out.

Or maybe it's a cryo chamber... or a sensory deprivation pod. 

lol. 

It's a plastic box okay? 

It amuses me that she's packaged with her feet in a tub. 

Getting her out of her plastic prison wasn't too awkward, a lot of plastic tabs but loose ones that were easy enough to get scissors against. 

Once free she's a fairly hefty doll and her outfit is made of lovely soft cotton fabric. 

I really like that these dolls come with pjs, it's something I wished the failfix dolls had done. Even just a little fabric robe you know? 

I think it was a great idea here. So well done Farout toys.

Her face is quite simple. She has quite nicely painted eyebrows and her lips are nice enough but her eyes are very "Budget doll" to me. 

It's a pity because some of the prototypes had substantially more detailed faceups but I suppose that was more expensive and time consuming. 

She's still cute, but alongside a lot of modern dolls she feels a little... flat. 

Her head sculpt is nice enough, she has a cute little button nose and a pointed chin with very minimally sculpted lips.

Her hair is nylon. It's not awful nylon, but it's also not GOOD nylon. Her hair is coarse and plasticky feeling and with too much brushing i'm certain WILL frizz. 

It's a pretty colour, a sort of pink tinted blonde. It photographs pinker than it is, in some lights it looks a dirty kind of blonde and in others it looks more pinkish. It's odd. I've never seen a doll with hair this colour before.

This is as far as her elbows will pose, which is disappointing. 

Her body is interesting. She has wide hips which feel almost a touch too mature for her face. Her arms are jointed at the elbow and wrist while her legs don't have a knee joint but DO have an ankle joint.

A wierd choice.

her legs are a hard plastic so there's no click to them, they're more like fashionistas legs. 

Her hips are on quite ugly sort of ball things which leave a visible gap. She can sort of twist her leg slightly at this joint and she can sit, but that's about the extent of the movement you're gonna get from her legs. 

She can however point her toes. Random. 

And tilt her head quite freely.

She has a bit of a butt too. And molded on panties of modesty. Lol. They're very plain. 

She stands unaided like a champ though.

Her body is closest in height and shape to the Rainbow High dolls and I refuse to believe that's a coincidence. Same broad hip, same small bust and slender arms.

they fit one another's clothes perfectly. 

Tiffany can EVEN wear Rainbow High shoes thanks to her articulated ankle. 

Her collection of... stuff... is a pretty random assortment of things. The instructions tell me that step one is to dissolve the tablet inside the first package to become a mask for me. I have no interest in a cheap shitty face mask so I passed.

step two also involves dissolving something (why?) and lemme tell you, opening that pink sucker up was a PAIN in the arse.

Wierdly, it doens't seem to have any odour. I rather expected it to smell of something, being basically a bath bomb after all. But nope. It's pink, it's crumbly, it doesn't smell of much. 

It didn't tell me if I needed to use warm water or not so I started with just cold out the tap. That made a lot of bubbles and turned the water pink but the tablet wasn't dissolving very quickly.

I switched out for a larger bowl upon realising i'd need to actually get my hands in there. After switching out some warm water and using my fingers to crumble the thing up, I found the makeup brush inside.

the water was very pink but still had no smell. It was kinda soapy greasy and I ended up with pink fingers but it washed off fairly easily.

what did NOT wash off was the horrible taste of chemical, as I learned later when I put my finger in my mouth. Eww. 

So the instructions said to use the brush to "glow up" the doll. 

Now, initially I had assumed when these dolls were annouced that they'd use a hot/cold colour gimmick you know? where their makeup changes colour with the addition of warm or cold water and locks like that till you reset it. Like a bunch of old dolls did back in the like.. 90s.

that is NOT what happens here.

No, instead it seems the Glo Up girls have some sort of foundation shit covering their faces which you're supposed to wash off with the makeup brush.

suffice to say, a soft makeup brush does a pretty shit job of this. 

but also, it smears around leaving a tide mark and there's next to no difference.

in this photo one side of her face has been "glowed up", the other is untouched. Her eyebrow is darker and her bottom lashes are darker but that appears to be literally the ONLY change.

that's so fucking pointless. Like.. if it was a dramatic change like she suddenly got lipstick and eyeshadow or like.. darker blush or something maybe but nope. It's such a minimal change it feels like an absolute waste of time and money even putting that foundation layer on.

also, what the hell is it made of?

So here's Tiffany all "glowed up". Yeah, not much of a change. I took my magic eraser to her face to make sure I got every damn speck of that shit off her face and this was the end result.

she looks... much like she did before I started. 

hmm.

Here's the rest of her stuff.

Wierdly, Tiffany does NOT come with a hairbrush. Which is... really wierd for a doll who's whole gimmick is "glow up" makeup stuff. 

The little packages are quite cute, I like the mini face mask pack, it looks like a teensy pack of wet wipes hehe.

Tiffany has a makeup bag which is made of soft vinyl and has a slit in it that allows it to have things put inside it.

it has what looks like a spray bottle inside.

I'm not sure what this is supposed to be. Lotion? Hand sanitiser? Foundation? 

But the lid pops off (it in fact won't stay ON the bottle, it's a little too loose)

I didn't expect her jewelery to be inside the purple package either, so I suppose they surprised me there. Oooo you crafty bastards. 

The earrings are cute little flowers (daisies?) and she also has a brown bracelet which is ugly and fits way too losely anyway.

she also came with a sticker sheet. The stickers are transparent behind the image which leads me to wonder if they're supposed to be like tattoos or something for the doll. The instructions on the box didn't mention them at all. 

Maybe you can decorate the accessories with them? I dunno. 

I put one on Tiffany as a temporary tat heh. 

Her bag is cute but it's also boring as shit as it's not painted. It's quite detailed as a sculpt but yeah, completely unpainted. I can't help but feel like just a teensy splash of pink on the flowers and some sort of detail on the buckles would have made it really pop.

Her outfit.

The top is fairly nice. It's made of a kinda stiff fabric with a ruffled trim that's a little asymetrically sewn but it's really cute and fits the doll well. 

The jeans fit well and are made of a fabric that feels like fashion denim or something but the printed on pockets, stitching and TEARS are what spoils it for me. Those printed on tears just look ridiculous. Seriously. 

Her shoes are boring as shit. They're the most simple, basic white tennis shoe. There's minimal detail on them, basically they have laces and that's it. And even then the laces are kinda vuage and not well defined. 

they're just really cheap looking shoes. 

I hate them. 

So here's Tiffany all dressed. Her outfit fits her well, her shoes fit her fine and are easy to get on and off but as is common with dolls, her bag keeps falling off her shoulder and her bracelet is too big and keeps falling off too. Also it's ugly and doesn't go with anything else. 

For a £25 this feels... well cheap. Because it is. But we have to consider that Farout Toys are also a teensy tiny company without the benefit of such huge bulk orders and ongoing favourable links with suppliers that MGA and Mattel have. They don't have the same funds to sink into a doll line and their profit margin is narrower. 

even so, consumers will inevitably compare this line to other dolls on the market.

The closest line thematically is the failed Fail Fix line by Moose, which can be found on clearance most everywhere now and seem to have been abandoned. 

The Fail Fix dolls were overpriced at £20 (they're far more like £15 dolls where you're paying more for a gimmick) and while smaller and with far simpler outfits, they had better hair, inset eyes and the ability to bend their damn knees. 

I feel like both lines suffer quite majorly from "gimmick". Neither really needed the gimmick to be attractive dolls and all the gimmick did was add cost to the production process and thus, higher price on shelves. 

which puts people off when they can get an extremely detailed highly articulated Rainbow High doll for just a few quid more. 

Another point is that I noticed a LOT of mums got SUPER pissed about the fail fix line because they thought it was promoting "beauty standards" to kids which they didn't like. Thing is, kids apparently love watching makeup videos, it's big business doing those. So I get why companies are keen to cash in on the trend. But yeah, it's a theme that a fair few parents aren't overly enthused about. (though I wonder how they feel about MGA's obsession with studying fashion lol. How many lines have they now made that feature characters going to a special fashion school?) 

Now Tiffany DOES get technically two outfits. Her pj shirt doubles as a regular tee and is quite cute as such. And both outfits are at least pretty well put together, even if her jeans are ugly as sin. 

But she has no brush, no stand and comes with fizz tablet bath bombs nobody was really asking for. I mean why? What's the point? I get that it was exciting once upon a time to have a thing dissolve and "magically" have clothes or paperwork appear but that was the sort of toy you'd only get ONE of, not a line intended for you to collect all six. Can you imagine how bored you're gonna get of bloody fizz tablets after a couple of these dolls? You just won't bother to do them, I mean you only need one stupid makeup brush. Hell, you don't even need that, all you need is a tea towel and some water. 

I can see a LOT of those bath bomb fizz things going in the trash. And you all know I disapprove of that sort of waste. 

why not just produce a decent doll and leave the gimmicky shit at home?

thankfully Rainbow High clothing fits and I happen to have a stash of Rainbow high clothes. 

Tiffany's hands don't seem to come off (I gave them a tug to check) so some stuff will NOT work as it's designed to be too narrow for a hand to go through (like Poppy's puffer jacket) but other stuff works a treat and she's actually easier to get into some shoes by virtue of her articulated ankles allowing her foot to move and twist.

In the end I elected for this outfit. Which I thought was pretty cute. 

It's an LOL OMG oversized hoodie, rainbow high jeans and a pair of MC2 shoes.

She fits the MC2 shoes great, so that's another option for you. I've found the heeled mc2 shoes are too high for most of my dolls even if the length fits but articulated ankles to the rescue!

I actually rather like the jointed ankles, it allows a huge range of shoes and a lot of looks. It also adds to her leg posing and makes her static knees a little less well... limiting. 

I still wish she had knee joints though. I hate when a doll can't actually sit the hell down properly.

All in all, she's a cute doll. 

She has a unique hair colour, she can share clothes with a huge and very popular brand, she can wear a lot of different sorts of shoe style and isn't limited to heels and she has some cute accessories (I love those earrings okay?)

however, 

her hair is not very pleasant feeling and WILL frizz if you brush it too much. Her lack of articulated knees is limiting to play as she can't sit at a table, sit in a car, do anything like that. Poor girl can't even sit at a salon despite coming with a pedicure foot bath thing! 

(oh yeah, her nails change colour with cold water. I couldn't be bothered checking this as holding cold things causes me massive pain. Sorry) 

Her clothing is "okay". I like that she comes with two outfits, I think the pj outfit is extremely cute and a nice addition to have for playing. But for a £25 doll they seem a little too simple. 

Her biggest issue is her price point. I think it's going to really screw this brand's ability to succeed. I also feel like her gimmicks do her no favours as they add really nothing to the play. 

I spent an hour dressing her in different outfits. I spent less than 5 minutes washing shit off her face and wondering why I bothered. 

I had far far more fun finding her outfits to wear, I had a blast playing with all my Rainbow High stuff. Her younger, sweeter face makes the outfits look very very different on her compared to the rainbow high dolls and it was pretty cool. 

Her gimmick makes a mess and takes next to no time anyway. I can see it being extremely annoying to parents and wearing off after the first time for kids as well. I mean how many times can you watch a fizz thing turn water a different colour? 

It doesn't even smell nice or do anything cool. 

Were she cheaper I might say "yeah, pick one up" but as it stands, i'm not in any hurry to grab another. 

Which is quite different to Fail Fix which absolutely hooked me in, as under the mess they were extremely pretty characterful little dolls.

and I think that's the problem I have with Glo Up girls. The dolls are okay, but they're just "okay". They're not terrible, they're not awful, but they're nothing particularly special and they're just kinda... generically pretty with soft bland faces devoid of personality or character. 

The quirky character of the face sculpts is what drew me into Failfix and also a lot of what drew me into lines like Monster High. 

Glo Up girls are cute but they're cute in that way Steffi Love is cute, kinda... nothing that really stands out. 

And it's a pity because Farout did really seem to try here. 

Maybe repainted these dolls would look amazing, their base sculpt looks pretty simple and simple sculpts often paint up well. 

but if i'm gonna repaint a doll i'm gonna get it for cheap, not pay £25 for the canvas you know? 

All in all, I don't regret my purchase. I did have a lot of fun dressing Tiffany up. She gave me an evening of entertainment which is more than I can say for a fair few of my doll purchases of late. 

I always develop a bit of a soft spot for the dolls that don't just go straight onto the shelf upon being deboxed. The ones that need a little help or slight tweaks. I know that's a bit weird. 

But you know, the biggest thing I enjoy about dolls is the creative process. Dressing them, styling them. It was how I played with dolls as a kid, it's how I play with dolls now. 

Tiffany let me do that and I had fun. The whole process of deboxing her, cleaning her, dressing her was without annoyance, more just bewilderment at certain decisions.

So for that, it was worth the money. 

but I cannot call her good value as a product. Unless you LOVE every aspect of one of these dolls, i'd say wait till clearance. 

because they will end up on clearance. 

that's the sad truth of it. Sorry Farout toys, I know you tried. But it's a savage market out there and if you're gonna try to compete with MGA right now you have got to bring something absolutely revolutionary to the table. 

I look forward to a company doing just that. Someone's gotta topple MGA from the #1 spot and it's unlikely to be Mattel in their current state. 

All in all, I give Tiffany a decent 6.5 out of 10 inexplicable pinapple tattoos. She got an extra half point because I had a blast dressing her up. But she's a pretty average doll overall.