New Adventures 14" Style Girls dolls have gotten a bit of recognition over the last half year or so. They're surprisingly cute and very affordable, perfect for anyone who wants one of the popular smaller dolls on a budget.

Interestingly there are two versions of these dolls: the Play Zone version found at Big Lots, and the Style Dreamers version found at Tuesday Morning and other discount retailers. The versions look very similar, but the dolls in each have different names and different fashions. So I decided to do a review/ comparison of the two.

 

Play Zone Style Girls (14") from Big Lots includes Skylar, Piper, and Quinn. Style Dreamers from Tuesday Morning and other retailers includes Armelle, Melanie, Maisie, and Charlie. The majority of the Style Dreamers are alternate versions of the Big Lots Playzone dolls. The photos may not look exact, but the dolls are fairly identical in real life.

The first of the 14" Style Girls that I got was Playzone Skylar from Big Lots. She seems to be one of the most popular. I was definitely drawn to her adorable up-swept curly hair and sweet expression.

Actually, all the dolls share the same face mold, so they have more or less the same expression. But I thought Skylar's big brown eyes and curly girly style made her irresistible!

Just look at those sparkly brown eyes!

Skylar just twinkles all over. She's wearing the cutest glittery bubble dress with puffy sleeves and a kitty graphic. She has shiny pink heart leggings and silver slippers.

I noticed her shoes were attached to her feet with elastic bands. Without the bands the shoes fit a little loosely. The shoes aren't the best quality, but the slipper style is cute. 

Her curly-ribbon headband is tacked to her head in several places. I had to cut the plastic ties to get the headband off, to see how stylable her hair was.

I found that her thick rooted hair is caught up in an elastic band at the top of her head.

When I removed the band, I was surprised to find a part in her hair! This made me super happy because it gives Skylar some versatility in styling. Some dolls with pulled back hair can't change it without creating major bald spots, so I was glad this wasn't the case for Skylar.

Omygosh look at this hair, it's gorgeous!

 

Skylar's hair is very long and soft and bouncy. She can wear it down as easily as up. I can't attest to the ease of maintaining her hair--wow all those curls! But it's incredibly soft and lovely out of the box. Perhaps with a little care it will stay that way.

Her glittery, zippered backpack is really cute and detailed. The backpacks are actually one of my favorite things about these dolls: each has its own color and design, and Skylar's is the sparkly pink one. I love the front pocket detail on them.

The backpacks are also nice because they each carry a special positive message sewn into the inside lining. Skylar's says "Learning never goes out of style."
 

14" Style Girls are very close in size to Wellie Wishers dolls from American Girl. Their measurements are almost identical, with Skylar being just a tiny bit smaller in the hip area, though not by much. I switched clothes between Skylar and Wellie Wisher Ashlyn to check how well they swap. Not bad. Even the shoes fit.
 

It's no secret that after I started my original review for Skylar and her Play Zone friends, I'd heard about the other version of these dolls, Style Dreamers, that could be found at Tuesday Morning and other discount stores. So of course I'd have to include them in the review!
 

But since I can see it's likely to get extra long covering the various dolls, I've decided to break up the review into smaller bites. In Part II of my Style Girls/ Style Dreamers review, I'll take a look at some of the dolls in both collections starting with Piper and Melanie, and see how they compare with one another.  I'm just getting started. . .