Beyond Thrilled: Samantha's Home! (Review and General Completely Biased Fawning)

Well, for some reason I thought AR stood for Arizona (which is weird since I've lived in Arizona and know it's AZ) so Sam came home much sooner than expected! I'd called the post office, and this being a teeny tiny town, the lady knew without checking that I had packaged and how many. So as fast as was legal, I zipped there and back and her condition is by far better than I had expected.

I'd had many worries of course! What if she's fake? What if her condition is worse than described? What if there was a confusion in the packing and I got a plastic lizard instead? What if she's lost in transit? What if something happens along the way and she's crushed like you see happen in those exaggerated movie scenes?

As you can tell I am a worrier. Turns out I didn't have to worry, though, as she came to me secure in a box and in far better condition than expected. Her legs are loose but she can still stand, a small section of her eyelashes on her left eye have broken off, and there are easy to remove marks on her though not many at all.  Her bangs are nice and shiny but I may have to do just a little bit of work to get the rest of it looking good. (Even then, it's not in bad condition at all, considering her suspected age.) Really, these minor things don't bother me. She will be loved and loved well.

Okay, so I've taken her hair out of the pony tail it was in (it was this elasticy thing that some of it tangled around) and had to brush her hair. It's still wavy, but I will have to work on getting those loose curls back. The hair really isn't in that bad shape, and in no way needs a Downy dunk, but I'll be looking for ways to get her back into good working order.

Interesting to note that she has no body tag. Nothing has been cut off either, and I did do a panic check and this is apparently okay. So huzzah! (And I have now seen that water mark I've heard so much about! I honestly don't remember if my Sam had one, but if she did I would have thought it was an imperfection xD)

Her meet dress actually came with the doll (as well as the dress shown in the picture below and the matching pinafore). The middle dress was just too cute and included the hat. The dress on the right was more an impulse buy for the coin purse, but the stains clearly stated in the listing aren't nearly as bad as I thought and Mama feels they could be removed easily. (She also says she does have that white dress somewhere, so if we do get it cleaned well and we find the other one I may eBay it. I can list it as pet free, though. My cat found that dress comfy.)

I'd had to remove her hair from the pony tail as stated above. Since taking this picture, Mama sprayed it lightly down with WEN spray, and it feels a bit better now! 

She just has the absolutely sweetest face.

Here you can see the eyelash thing I mentioned above. But really, it wasn't altogether noticeable, especially with her eyes open. Were I a collector, I would have been irritated. (Then again were I a collector, I would have shelled out more and wouldn't be doing as handsy a review!) It's also important to note that the way the skin tone matches up on my monitor in this picture is close to her skin tone in real life. The pictures of her had shown her as being a bit different, but I'm thinking it was how warm the settings were set to on the seller's camera. I'm happy she has this gorgeous skin tone! And my gosh, are the modern AG dolls this soft? And I don't mean velvet or satin, she just has this creamy texture, if that makes sense.

Gah! Her eyes! I really do need to get a better shot of her eyes. I don't recall ever seeing ayes as detailed as this without them having been painted. Is this the decal brown eyes people talk about?

I really shouldn't photograph brown hair and black boots inside a black book shelf. Heh. But I'd started buying items before she even arrived. I bought the boots because they're ones I'd like to own, and the outfit was purchased on a whim at Joanne's. (I couldn't find the exact outfit, so I hopefully sent you to a search for Springfield.) You also can't really tell, but she's wearing her hat in the first picture above. All in all, the outfit is adorable and totally unplanned.

Okay, so I paid for her around what I would get for a new doll from AG, but she came with her meet outfit (minus the pin if that is included and the ribbon) and her blue dress and pinafore. Considering she's not only retired but also in great condition for a doll her age, I don't regret spending that much at all. Add to that I usually only see nekkid Samanthas up for auction? Very awesome.

Welcome home, Sam!