Pullip Kaela: A Critical Review with Photos

A little introduction:

When I first discovered Pullips I spent about a week reading and looking at everything I could get my hands on concerning them. Then, suddenly I lost my head and ordered several Pullips all at once from all across the globe, all within a 24 hour time period! Consequently, I had no idea which one I was going to receive first, but I had some predictions. To my surprise, it was Kaela who beat them all and arrived lightning fast, didn't get held up in customs, OR accrue any fees whatsoever on arrival! Thereby not only proving herself to be quite lucky but she also won the title of "First Pullip I Ever Own" 8)

So in her honor I am submitting this Review in order to let other potential Kaela owners learn a little bit more about this precious girl ^_^

First of all, some photos of her NRFB (Never Removed From Box to any newbies out there :) )

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And some of her deboxed but still in her "chains".

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See the back of the box? It looks all neat and tidy now but even if you try to keep everything as pristine as possible while removing her, after the first quarter of an hour passes by and your Pullip is still far from being removed those sticky circles will start being torn off and those twist thingies yanked out fast!

Ok now for the nitty-gritty!

1)Her Face and Body:

-Her body came with her lower legs and fore-arms wrapped in plastic (you can see this in the last picture).

-Kaela arrived with two scratches on her face; one on her chin and the other below and to the side of her mouth. They were not deep but they were obvious against the powdery matte veneer of her face because they looked shinier by comparison.

-Immediately upon removing her from the packaging, her right hand fell off, and did so several times as I started to undress her. The same thing happened with her left arm at the shoulder socket. Since she was my first Pullip these things alarmed me at first but I have come to understand that she is designed that way in order to make it easier to dress and undress her. So don't worry if this happens to you!

-Her hands, as you can see in the following picture, come in two different positions. Her LEFT one is with the fingers straight out, her RIGHT one with the fingers curled slightly.

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This might make it look like one is smaller than the other, but the curled hand is fun for posing where you can have her use that hand to hold the brim of her hat :wink: . Also, whereas the LEFT hand rotates/swivels as well as bends, the RIGHT hand on my Pullip rotates/swivels only, and will not bend backwards and forwards under normal pressure. I am afraid to put extra pressure for fear of breaking her wrists. (To understand what I mean by rotate/swivel imagine the Queen of England as she waves to the commoners... or if you're gesturing that something is "just so-so", whereas the bending movement is what you would do if you were fanning your mouth after eating something extra spicy :P )

2) Her Eye-lids, Make-up (sometimes also called face-up) and Wig

-Kaela has soft gray eye-shadow. On my Kaela it seems sometimes like the eyeshadow over her left eye is a little more intense than her eye-shadow over her right eye.

-Her lipstick is a peachy-beige color with the wispiest line of darker lip-liner outlining her lips. On my Kaela this lip-liner isn't as even all around her lips. The lip-liner on one side of her cupid's bow is fainter than the other. Her lips are drawn in a pouty/goldfishy shape compared to other, more wider-mouthed lipstick styles I've seen <3

-Her face is a lovely matte peaches & cream color and her blush is a soft rosy peach.

-When Kaela closes her eyes you can see that the color of her eye-lids matches her eye-shadow and are a matching dove-gray with a thick black stripe of eye-liner.

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-Now for Kaela's hair! Her wig is one of Kaela's best features in my opinion, although very soon after de-packaging her I noticed it was shedding some hairs. The good news is that soon after first handling her it seems to stop shedding further. One of the nice thing about Kaela's hair is that it's silky soft, light and hassle-free. Oh and it's colors are glorious! Her hair consists of wine colored hairs (a deep cranberry hue), purple highlights (doesn't show up very clearly in my photos, but they're there!), and, if you look closely you will also notice some chocolaty brown low-lights. This makes her wig a very fun one as it seems to keep changing moods and looking different depending on the light source she's in. Cool!

-Style-wise her wig though short is cut into layers. She has a short strand on her forehead, medium length tresses frame her face, and longer locks of hair that taper down to a point down her back, giving it a little extra length to play with and possibly tie into pigtails. Though she is a tomboy Kaela can have her girly side too! ^_^

3) Kaela's Stock

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-pinstripe hat with faux leather detailing on the sides
-white oxford shirt
-plaid tie
-pinstripe jacket with faux leather lapels, front pockets, and crystal-inset buttons
-pinstripe short trousers with faux leather back pockets and cuffs
-faux leather removable belt with ridged oval buckle
-shin length socks
-platform chunky-heeled lace-up boots
-faux leather bag with hinged opening

I for one consider a Pullip's stock as one of the main factors in winning me over therefore you should know that I love everything about it but for the sake of objective disclosure here are some notes on her stock:

-At first there were a lot of loose threads here and there that made her stock look messy but nothing a quick trim with a sharp little pair of scissors can't handle!

-The hat, the jacket and the short trousers were a great fit and the material seemed really good quality to me. Oh and without the twisty things wrapped around her arm when she was packaged, the sleeves of the jacket can seem a little too long when her arms are hanging straight down, as they cover most of her hands.

-My first impression of the white shirt was that it was made from a cheap quality coarse material but I then changed my mind thinking that my expectations were probably too high for a doll! Another note about the shirt is I would have liked it more if its velcro fastener extended all the way down her front because as it is now, only the area over her chest can be fastened and this can sometimes leave her tummy exposed.

-The neck-tie that came with my Kaela was worn and faded on one side but it didn't really bother me because that part is covered by the lapel of her white shirt. Another nice touch about the tie is that you don't need to worry about unfastening it and needing to know how to tie it back on because it is actually fastened at the back with a bit of velcro.

-I was pleased to not that her belt really worked as a belt and could be opened just like a real belt.

-Her socks are ok. A little loose but it suits her style.

-Her shoes are AWESOME. The only problem with them is that their fit is quite loose. Make sure to flex Kaela's feet when inside them to give the boots something to hold on to, cuz even when you do that they tend to slip down her feet. A plus about these boots is that when wearing them Kaela can stand unaided! And altogether I just adore their design- they were one of the reasons I had to have Kaela. I mean you gotta love the scuffed detailing on the toe-box. That little touch gives it so much personality and really suits Kaela's tomboyish air- this is no Sfoglia afraid to step in a little dirt!

-Now, a tomboy she may be, but that doesn't mean Kaela can't match her shoes to her bag like the best of 'em! And her bag is really substantial and pleasant to handle and opens like a real hinged-opening bag. It's spacious too! You could fit both Kaela's boots with socks in there if you ever wanted to redress her and wanted to store her stuff away :)

And here's a close-up!

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In conclusion: Kaela rocks! She is unassuming yet full of personality and very, very unique! And don't you just love her idiosyncratic eyes? Half gray and half brown, it's like they are telling you there's so much more beneath the surface of this girl ;)

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Showing Some Attitude/and In the Nude***
( <3 have you noticed how sometimes her hair looks purple, sometimes red, sometimes burgundy?? <3 )

Well, thanks for reading! I know this post is a bit long but I tried to be comprehensive cuz I know when I become obsessed about something it's like I can't read enough about it :lol:

Please let me know if you'd like me to write up more of these kinds of reviews and if you have any further questions for me, I'd love to hear from you :)



***The awesome photo of Kaela on my computer screen is taken by member SuperQT and is available in the forum's Pictionary. Please check out her other cool photos!