Zombie Shake Line - May 2014

 
Say 'Hello' to Venus number seven! I have longed for the Zombie Shake line since it was first announced at the beginning of this year. I love anything zombie so I was so excited to get this doll <3
 

 
 
Zombie Shake Venus comes as a two-pack with Rochelle! For AGES I umm-ed and aah-ed about whether I was going to start a Venus collection or a Rochelle collection so you understand how happy I am that they are paired together (for the second time! They were also together in the Ghoul's Night Out four-pack!) :D
 
I got mine from One Stop Monster High Shop, they're also on Facebook and are amazing for UK and Europe fans as we don't usually get our dolls on the same release date as the American fans.
 
Appearance:
 

 
I love the OTT makeup on these dolls! There has been a few arguments online between those like me who LOVE how over the top it is as it adds to the effect, and those who think it's a little too much. Zombie Shake certainly shows a darker, scarier side of Monster High, but it's all in good fun!
 
Venus's makeup consists of hot pink eyeliner and eye-shadow in various shades of green that reaches right up to her eyebrows and down tot he tops of her cheeks. An asymmetrical vine pattern has been drawn around her eyes and cheeks on both sides, which is very special in my opinion :) I hope to see more stuff like this in future designs. This is also the first time Venus hasn't had red or pink lips - They are a lovely dark green which suits her very well.
 

 
Venus's hair is drawn into a high, fluffy ponytail. Her hair is her usual colours, green and pink, but like the I <3 Fashion line she has black streaks here and there, which I adore.
 

 
(Terrible photo, sorry!)
Her shaved side is back on the right side of her head (it switched to the left for the I <3 Fashion line) and there is an adorable brain pattern painted on there! I LOVE IT. She only wears one earring in this line, and that's the huge vine that you can see on the picture above :)
 

 
Venus's hair is tied up in these gorgeous vines. I love them because they curl here and there and add to the messy look of her ponytail.
 

 
Not sure if you can see this but this is the first time Venus doesn't have a green shine in her eyes. It's not white (which makes more sense in a design sense because she has enough extra green on her face with all the makeup).
 

 
More vines appear around Venus's neck, wrists and legs, it gives her an overgrown plant-monster look ;)
 
She wears a black dress which is striped with thick, shiny, green stripes and thin white stripes. The edge of a dress is tattered (again adding to the zombie effect). There is a pink tulle part of the dress that overlaps this and makes up the straps and flares out at the hips. This is speckles with pink glitter <3 This girl loves a good belt! We've got a new belt for this doll, it is green and has a fang-like design to it.
 

 
I LOVE these shoes! Bright pink shoes seem to be Venus's favourites, they have a Lady Gaga heel and fangs all over, they're gorgeous <3

Accessories:
 

 
Venus takes a simple, but cute, little green clutch with her to the dance. Little silver details are highlighted which include the zip (love it), a couple of buckles and a few studs. Venus wears a spikey black bracelet on her right wrist.
 
Can I also point out how CLAWSOME her hands are? Proper zombiefied. URRRGGHHHHH.
 
The also come with a stand each and a diary.
 

 
 The art work on the box is lovely, I really like it. I think Rochelle looks a bit scary (she's usually so cute!) but other than that I love it. You can also go on to the Monster High Website to learn the Zombie Shake dance moves (and yes, I WILL learn it!) which is also really cool :)

I like:
The makeup
The dress
Her dance partner!
Her hands
Her hair colour
The shoes

I dislike:
The bag is a bit too simple for me
Her hair is a bit too messy (I'd like it to look sleek and curly like the promo pics)
 


 
Most photos are mine (the crappy ones) but you are free to use them if you link back :)
I got the other pictures from these guys:
http://shadowbinders.com/new-monster-high-at-toyfair-2014/
http://mismonsterhighcoleccion.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/custom-de-venus-music-festival.html
Thanks for sharing! <3

My Favourite OOAK Venus McFlytrap Dolls.

There's not much Venus news going on at the mo, so I thought I'd just share some of my favourite one of a kind (OOAK) Venus dolls :)

http://kamarza.deviantart.com/art/Hi-There-384381329

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fern-OOAK-Monster-High-Venus-McFlytrap-Repaint-Doll-by-Bordello-/221354661299

 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/111970050/custom-repaint-monster-high-venus

 

http://forum.dollplanet.ru/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=29010&sid=11dbf14c4996c0ff62813a591494d0c9&start=2670

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bratzboi/8506925715/in/photostream

 

http://gta5wallpaper.com/tag/monster-high-venus-mcflytrap-doll-for-sale-features

 

 

I Heart Fashion Line - April 2014

Venus makes her sixth appearance this month with the I <3 Fashion line, I got mine from Toys R Us. This line features a new Venus doll with three outfits (that can be mix-and-matched to create even more outfits!), three pairs of shoes and two accessories.

Appearance:

First of all I'm going to comment on the actual look of Venus in this line. In my opinion she's looking very grown up and this might become a 'thing' in future releases as she has a very grown up look to her in the upcoming Coffin Bean release!

I think the main reason she looks so grown up is her lovely haircut! This Venus has a lovely shoulder length cut that looks fabulous on her! She's also supporting some black underneath all the pink and green - A change that is also going to be present on the 'Zombie Shake' Venus.

Aside from her grown-up chop, the shaved side of her head has FLIPPED and is now on the right side of her head! Her shaved side is still pink but has a black chequered pattern on it :) I like the black, it really breaks up that bold pink.

The promo picture of Venus (above) shows a well-trimmed side fringe, but this is not the case with the actual doll...

The actual doll's fringe is styled in more of a cartoon-y, spikey cut, which I initially didn't like but it has now grown on me :) The photos above are from my boxed doll, so I apologise for the quality of them.

The fringe on the actual doll more closely matches the official artwork for the doll, however, as on the 'Music Festival' line, the hair isn't as volumous on the actual doll.

I'm happy to say that the makeup for the actual doll looks VERY close to the makeup on the promo doll, that was very satisfying for me. Venus has gone for a dark gray eye shadow (which on the actual doll is shaped just as nicely as the promo doll) and a nice hot pink eye liner.

The promo doll's lips look a nice red, but the actual doll's are in fact a dark pink. Then again, I think the filter they used on the promo photoshoot was set to make pinks look more red if you look at her hair, this also appears more red than pink.

Venus also wears a safety pin earring which looks a lot better on the promo doll, a pink spikey bracelet and a white spikey bracelet. The spikey belt has also made a comeback, this time in white :)

 

 On this doll, Venus's vines are black on both her arms and legs! I liked this idea :) I suppose one could dye their vines just as we could dye our hair ;)

 There are a lot of clothing items to talk about! I'll start with the clothes, then move on to the shoes.

Unfortunately for collectors like me who don't remove their dolls from the box, the outfit Venus wears in the box is my least favourite. This is a long-armed dress with the standard Venus pink and green vines on black look. One of the arms and part of the chest is actually made up of a black lace fabric that adds a nice touch. She wears this over pretty pink leggings that have black and white detailing on them.

This is my very favourite dress in the collection, the promo doll pairs this dress up with the denim sleeveless jacket that comes with the doll and I think it looks amazing as an outfit.
 
This is a black and white chequered dress that fits to the body until it gets to the hips, then it flares out into a pretty skirt. There are two net underskirts, one pink and one black. Along with the checks, the dress is dotted with Venus Flytraps! I think it's amazing <3 A lovely feature of the dress is the choker style neck that leads down the front of the dress, it looks like a denim material with white spots. I love this dress and would wear it myself if it were big enough!

The final outfit is a pink sleeveless top with fishnet detailing. You can't see on this photo but it has bright green ribbon around the arm holes and across the chest. This is worn over a white miniskirt with pink splodges on it, the detail on the skirt is adorable! In the box this is paired with the denim sleeveless that I was talking about before, which is decorated with a green and black vine pattern.

Onto the shoes...

 

Venus comes with three pairs of shoes. The first pair are black heels, recognise them? Yep, Venus wore the same shoes in green in the Ghoul's Night Out set! Recognise the second pair? Venus wore the same pair in pink and black in the Music Festival line! Recognise the last pair? Well you shouldn't, I don't think they've been used before. At least we get ONE pair of new shoes with this doll ;)

Accessories:

Venus comes with a lovely new bag, it is a pink, trapezium shaped bag with green vines all over the sides and at the top to make handles. I love the detailing on this bag, look at the white fang design on the front, and how cute is that little zipper?

Venus also comes with two accessories, a standard, black, Monster High hairbrush and a pair of sunglasses... recognise them? Swim line! Venus had a green pair before :) Same design, different colour, I still love the triangular shape and the fang design :)

There are also a couple more pairs of earrings and two extra bracelets included in the pack.


I like:
The new hair
2/3 Outfits
The Bag
How nice the makeup is on the actual doll

I Dislike:
The first outfit :'(
The re-used shoes and accessories.








I got my pictures from these guys:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/onestopmonsterhighshop?fref=ts
Thanks for sharing <3
The boxed photos are my own and you are welcome to use them as long as you link back :)

Swim 'Make a Splash' Line - July 2013 - RARE VARIANT!!

I found her!!

The Swim Line, pink eye shadow variant.
 
She actually wasn't that hard to find :) Or maybe it was just a stroke of good luck! I found her on eBay from some lovely person in America who was only too happy to send her to me here in the UK :) And I got her for a really good price :)
 

 
Apparently, Mattel sent Swim Venus out with the wrong makeup; they used the makeup that the original Venus has - pink eye shadow, red lips and dark brown eyebrows. They then stopped production and proceeded to send Venus out with the right head - Green eye shadow, pink lips and light brown eyebrows.
 

 
The boxes are slightly different. The variant has her name written in white and 'Daughter of the Plant Monster' written underneath while the standard Venus has black writing and no description.

I don't think this is anything to do with the differences of the doll, I suspect it is because the standard Venus is European (because it was from Amazon UK) while the Variant probably wasn't sent to anywhere further than the USA and Canada.

 

 

I'm so glad I finally have the variant :) I actually prefer her to the standard! :D :D

 

I'll have another new doll up by the end of the week so stay tuned!!

 

 

 

All images are my own but feel free to use and link back :) <3

Back soon!

I know I don't have many followers on here but I do want to apologise for not posting in a while. I'll be back soon! I have two new Venus dolls coming my way and of course you will get the reviews ;)

 



 

I ordered I <3 Fashion Venus last night and Hopefully she will be with me later in the week ;)

And oh em gee, didn't I already have a Swim Venus? Maybe there's something different about this one ;) Should also be with me (hopefully sooner, rather than) later this week :)



I got my pictures from these guys:https://www.facebook.com/onestopmonsterhighshop?fref=ts
(and the Swim Venus is from a listing on EBay that I bought)
Thanks for sharing! <3

Collector Woes - Finding Venus

Venus in question: Pink makeup variant of the swim line doll.

This isn't gonna be an easy doll to find. I have seen TWO on EBay so far, both without boxes - one that won't ship to the UK and the other missing an arm :(

I was actually quite tempted to buy the one that wouldn't ship to the UK though (before I knew that was the case) even though she didn't have any of her clothing or accessories. I thought I could maybe cheat and buy another swim doll, strip her and put pink-eye in her place!

Oh well, I will keep my eyes open :) It would be nice to have her to complete my collection. And it gives me something to do whilst waiting around for the new Venus (and cerise) dolls to come out!






I got my pictures from these guys:http://dollswithinpictures.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/swim-venus-mcflytrap-review.html
Thanks for sharing! <3

Ghoul Spirit Line - December 2013

We got spirit,
LET'S HEAR IT!
We got spirit, yes we do,
We got spirit, how 'bout you?
GOOOOOOO TEAM!

I cannot even describe how excited I was for this line. Being a cheerleader, Venus with a megaphone was close enough for me, although I'm upset that in the 'Scream Spirit' web episode, the new Fearleading squad recruits weren't wearing proper uniforms. That would have been an absolute dream for me!

Appearance:

Instead, each character had their own  Monster High team t-shirt, but we'll get onto that later :P

As always, let's start with the hair! Venus's long hair is back! It reaches almost to her knees!

I loved Ghoul Spirit Venus's hair as soon as I laid eyes on it, that cute side fringe looks so adorable! I've noticed that as Venus's design progresses, the green in her hair gets considerably less. Promo images of the Ghoul Spirit Venus doll (as above) show these lovely, delicately placed green strands there in her fringe and at the front of her head...

The actual doll, however, has a big thick block of green fringe which was somewhat disappointing for me. Although it does look a lot like the web episode version of her.

Web episode Venus actually has a cool vine pattern in her shaved side too, which the doll doesn't have. Hmm...

Compared to the promo pictures, real Venus's makeup isn't nearly as nice. Promo Venus's makeup is lovely, shaped, glittery eye shadow (look back to the picture I used to talk about her hair, or the one below), but in actual fact you get a matte blob of mess, like on the picture above. Because she's face-on in the box (and because mine are NRFB) you don't really notice this all that much though. Her lips are her usual shade of hot pink :)

Venus wears little jewellery as usual, her signature green vine earring in her left ear, but on the right she wears a black vine earring. These would NOT be allowed in a real cheerleading squad ;) WAY too dangerous, but I will let that slide :P

Venus wears her own, personal Monster High team t-shirt, that she has customised with choppy sleeves and middle, a vine print on the chest and a sewn-on pocket on the front. The pocket is the same fabric as her mini skirt, her usual thorny rose print.

Venus wears loooovely pink (as usual) studded, open-toe boots, which I am quite a fan of with this outfit :)

Accessories:

Venus only has one accessory for the pep rally, and that's the blue megaphone :) I love the general pink-ness of her and the blue of the megaphone, it really brings out the school colours and shows real pride :D


I like:
How pretty this doll is
Her outfit
Her boots
Her megaphone

I dislike:
The thick lump of green in her fringe
The messy eye makeup






I got my pictures from these guys: http://blog.zoolert.com/2013/11/19/monster-high-ghoul-spirit-doll-collection/#.UxrwsyCPPIU http://www.flickr.com/photos/scarismonstergirl/10825357584/
http://www.smythstoys.com/monster-high-192sc/monster-high-ghoul-spirit-venus-mcflytrap-doll-133018002itm.aspx http://monsterhigh.wikia.com/wiki/File:Ghoul_Spirit_-_Venus_McFlytrap_2D_screenshot.JPG http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Ghoul-Spirit-Venus-Mc-Flytrap-Skirt-Lot-Monster-High-Doll-Clothes-Fashions-/191022229490
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pei78/11359890166/
http://www.monsterhigh.com/
http://www.monsterhighdolls.com/forum/topics/ghoul-spirit-venus-pics
Thanks for sharing <3