Fashion Dolls 101

Our recent article about Hello Kitty’s anniversary reminded me that Ty issued a collection of little girl fashion dolls in 2010 called Li’l Ones, along the line of Mattel’s little Kelly Club dolls. One of those dolls was a Hello Kitty Li’l Ones doll dressed in Kitty’s signature pink with the Hello Kitty logo on her pink sweatshirt and a miniature Hello Kitty figure as the doll’s toy. The doll comes with a pink hair brush, and pink tennis shoes to match her outfit.  Related: Hello Kitty on the Cover of Time Hello Kitty Celebrates 50 Years of Cuteness  Sanrio Introduces New Hello Kitty Products at Toy Fair Hello Kitty -- More than Just Dolls for Valentine's Day 

 Put the glitter back into summer with these glamorous plush mermaids from Ty and Publix!  Two recent thrift store find nabbed me a cute pair of glittery mermaids. The first was Lorelei— a glittering sequin mermaid from Ty, similar to the Ty Girls. With reversible sequins, Lorelei’s scales change from pale pink to purple. Lorelei has lilac polyester hair and lavender eyes, and her tail is trimmed with purple tulle.  A couple of weeks later, I found this golden mermaid from Publix. She has blond yarn hair, turquoise eyes and a gold bikini top and gold scales. Her face is slightly more cartoonish than the Ty doll. And the Publix doll has more pronounced ears.  She was originally $10.99 at Publix.  I had noticed the cute Publix mermaids a few years ago when they first came out, but I passed on them at the time. Now I am the proud owner of one! The two plush mermaids display well together with their sparkle and colors and are the same size, so I am quite pleased wi...