nickle4apickle | Cleo Has Arrived!

After a couple months of jealously watching various doll YouTubers find Monster High G3 dolls in their local stores or buying them from people who found them early, I FINALLY HAVE ONE OF MY OWN!!

Cleo DeNile in her package. She's wearing a gold headband with 1 wing on it, triangle-shaped earrings, a gold collar, a blue dress with Egyptian patterns on the body and wrap-like sleeves, a gold belt with a couple "chains" attached, and tall cream-colored boots with a mummy wrap texture to them and gold, orange, and blue accents.

Cleo comes with a phone (iCoffin), a pyramid-shaped backpack decorated with blue scarabs, yellow sun glasses, a canopic jar cup with lid, a wrap-style sandwich, a diamond-shaped eye shadow palette, a jacket with fringe hanging off the sleeves, and her puppy Tut.

To be honest, I'm legit surprised my very first Monster High doll is Cleo. Over the last few months I watched all of the G1 show and movies, and Cleo was consistantly one of my least favorite characters. I personally am put off by the personality they gave her. I'm glad she had a little bit of character growth over the series, but she still irked me. ^^; (As of writing this, I have not seen the new G3 show nor live-action movie, so I have no idea what she's like now. Also, I'm not trying to insult anyone who loves her! She's just not the kind of character I like.)

But this doll - oh my goodness is she gorgeous! I just absolutely love what they've done with the faces and bodies this gen! I can't get over her face sculpt and eyes~

3 close-ups of Cleo's face: one looking to the left, one center, and one to the right.

I'm very lucky - she was the only Cleo at my local Target, and her face paint/screening is so good! The only "flaw" I've noticed is that the gold stripe on her bottom lip isn't super crisp, and honestly, I can live with that!

Getting her out of the box wasn't too bad, but the hardest part by far was cutting the 3 plastic ties on the back of her head. But as soon as she was free...

Pic 1: Cleo has one hand on her hip, and other is holding her iCoffin. She's ignoring me.

Pic 2: I finally got her attention! "What?" she demands.

Pic 3: All the attitude, all the sass. "I've been stuck in that Ra-forsaken box for far too long. I simply must check my notifications!"

Cleo holding a minty-green, diamond-shaped eye shadow palette. It's my headcanon that she's a fellow Shawol (fan of KPop boy band SHINee), and her bias (favorite) is Key.

She doesn't stand well on her own. Here's a side view of how far I had to bend her forward for her to be balanced. ^^; Quite a difference to that vertical white line!

Cleo sitting and holding her canopic cup in one hand, and her wrap in the other. "Ya ghoul's gotta eat!"

Both of these pics feature Cleo holding her adorable puppy, Tut. In the left pic she's looking at the camera, and in the right pic she's gazing at Tut lovingly~

Height comparison to Skyler from Rainbow High! Cleo's just a little bit taller!

Sadly, those are all the pics that I took today. When I took them, I actually hadn't planned on making a blog post. ^^; I just had so much fun and took more than I thought I was gonna!

After I took these pics, I tried to fix up her hair a bit. I trimmed the scraggly ends and gently brushed with my metal-tooth comb, but I'm fairly certain I'm gonna have to boil wash her. (Can tinsel be safely boil washed?) Some sections of her hair have kinks from the packaging.

Oh, and also with her hair - I know people tend to hate tinsel and I've seen people pluck hers out, but I personally love it on her! It really makes her hair look like Lapis Lazuli, a marble-like stone that was used in ancient Egyptian jewelry, and most famously, King Tutankhamun's burial mask!

So far, I'm very happy with Monster High G3! All the dolls I've seen so far look so good! I look forward to getting some more~