I'm back for Part II of my New Adventures Style Girls/ Style Dreamers dolls review!

Like I mentioned in Part I, it was while doing my original review that I heard about the alternate version of Playzone Style Girls, "Style Dreamers," that could be found at Tuesday Morning--in particular the one that did not have a Playzone lookalike.

Style Dreamers Charlie

I was actually lucky to find Charlie at my local Tuesday Morning (read all about my Charlie quest here) along with Maisie whom I considered also getting. In the end I came home with just Charlie; I figured that was enough for a comparison with Playzone Skylar. Little did I know I was going to regret that decision later. . .

Along the way I ended up with a Play Zone Piper and I chose her instead to compare with Style Dreamers Charlie, mostly because they were dressed alike.

But they don't look alike! it's actually Melanie who looks like Piper. On the other hand, Melanie's outfit is totally different. . . This can get confusing.

Style Dreamers Melanie

Either way I didn't have a Melanie (yet!) so I decided to focus my comparison on Charlie and Piper.
 

Piper and Charlie

Setting up the boxes side by side was interesting, as the packaging is quite different between the Play Zone and Style Dreamers brand. Style Dreamers have more elaborate boxes and the dolls are protectively enclosed within a decorative plastic window. Play Zone dolls are open to the air. I think Style Dreamers boxes have a cute design, even reminiscent of the boxes for Wellie Wishers. Play Zone dolls have a plainer box.

On the other hand, the dolls' names are clearly labeled on the Playzone boxes. With Style Dreamers, you identify the doll by finding her picture on the back of the box.
 

Both Charlie and Piper are wearing "pigtails" but Piper's pigtails were only held in place with the zip ties from the box backing.
 

When she came loose from the box, her hair came loose as well.

Charlie's hair is actually held in place with elastic bands outside of the packaging.

Here they are minus their hats for a better look at their hair. Charlie has a noticeably high forehead /hairline! Piper's bangs are cut very short.

 One side of Charlie's hair is french braided; a little extra detail the other dolls don't have.

For some reason, Piper's hair looks perpetually messy, even after combing it.

I eventually took a flat iron to Piper's hair to see if I could smooth it out. It looked better, but not as good as I hoped. I also smoothed out the braid-frizz from Charlies hair, which ended up looking great.
 

You can see that Charlie's skin is medium while Piper's is light. Charlie is the only doll with medium skin among the 14" Style Girls and the only one with dark brown hair. The others have black, brown, or blonde hair.

Charlie's eyes are brown, like Skylar's are brown. But Charlie's brown eyes are different from Skylar's "sparkly" brown eyes, which I thought was interesting.

I noticed Charlie's lip color is pale compared to the other 14" Style Girls. I'm not sure if this is the case with just my Charlie or Charlie in general; her promotion photo shows her with a deeper lip color.
 

Here are Charlie and Piper with their BFF Skylar. Piper and Skylar are Big Lots Playzone brand while Charlie is Style Dreamers brand.

Charlie and Piper are dressed in a trendy casual top and tie-dyed styled pants. The knit top has a Velcro closure and the pants have an elastic waist. Charlie's pants have a front button; Piper's do not.

They're also wearing a cute beanie with a glittery "crown" design.
 

The beanie is held in place with an elastic band and is also tacked to their heads in three or four places.  It had to be carefully cut away.

Charlie and Piper are both wearing purple metallic slippers. As in the case with Skylar, the shoes aren't too carefully made and don't fit the feet well; without the elastic bands around them they keep slipping off. I do love the metallic fabric and the style, but I wish the shoes fit better and had proper hard soles. . . But for $13-$15 a doll, it's probably as good as we can expect. :)
 

I'm just gonna say again I love the little backpacks, and the eye-catching tribal print on these is awesome.
 

While Skylar's glittery pink backpack emphasized her girly aesthetic, Charlie and Piper have bright, trendy packs that mesh with their unique "street" cool.
 

Their backpacks also have a special hidden message sewn into the seam, like Skylar's. In each case the message reads "Sharing is good because it makes everyone happy."

 
However, one thing I was really surprised to discover about the Style Dreamers backpack is that on the back, the message is written again in Spanish.
 

Piper's backpack, while otherwise identical to Charlie's, does not have the extra message on the back.

Both Charlie and Piper have fairly thick rooted hair, although neither have the greatest coverage. Some 14" Style Girls dolls, like Maisie, have a back part, but neither Charlie nor Piper do. The vinyl can show through their hair with certain hair styles.

Fortunately, Piper's medium brown hair blends in well with the color of her scalp, while Charlie's dark brown hair doesn't blend as well. A darker scalp color would have worked better for her in my opinion.

I was really surprised to find that Charlie's hair is actually very silky compared to Piper's. It may not always be easy to tell from the photos, but Piper's hair was a bit dry and unmanageable compared to Charlie's. I wondered if this was just a thing with my Piper, or all Pipers, or maybe just the Play Zone dolls. The only way to know for sure was to have a closer look at some of the other dolls!

So back to Tuesday Morning I went to get the Maisie I left behind for a closer comparison with Charlie. But dang, no such luck; Maisie was gone! There was no trace of any of the Style Girls dolls for that matter. These dolls can be so elusive!

I did eventually get Style Dreamers Melanie online through Burlington, though it was Maisie I was hoping for. FYI, as of early 2018, you can get any one of the four Style Dreamers from Burlington Stores, but the doll will be random; you can't choose which you'll get.

I got Piper's twin, Melanie.

When Melanie arrived, I found her hair was a bit nicer than Piper's, though not as nice as Charlie's.
 

Piper's hair was longer in the back, but Melanie's fringe/ bangs were longer in the front. I wouldn't say Melanie had great hair, but it was better than Piper's.
 

Melanie (right) has slightly smoother, shinier hair than Piper (left).
 

The dolls are very similar, but not identical. Melanie's skin tone is slightly more beige than Piper's, and her upper eyelashes are slightly darker.

One thing that really stood out for me about both Melanie (as well as Piper) was her beautiful, realistic green eyes!
 

The iris pattern is very natural. Like I noticed with the others dolls, each model not only has a unique eye color, but a unique pattern for the iris.

Melanie wears a very different outfit than Piper does: a cute baby doll dress with stars, clouds, and cats print. She wears a star headband and blue metallic slippers.

And look at her different colored socks! They're so cute, or I'm just having a Punky Brewster moment! I realize I'm dating myself with that statement. . .

In fact all the Style Girls' outfits are very stylish and cute.  For budget dolls, I feel a lot of thought went into their clothing. Even the little details in the prints are awesome.
 

I like Melanie's backpack a bit less than her lookalike's Piper's backpack. It's made from a thin, crinkly, iridescent material which doesn't feel as solid as the other backpacks.

While it's not my favorite, it's still relatively cute. The special message inside says "Kindness is the greatest wisdom."
 

Like Charlie's backpack, the message repeats in Spanish on the back.

At about this time I found myself getting quite addicted to these dolls, and I had managed to convince myself my life wasn't complete without Maisie or Quinn. But these little dolls were getting harder and harder to find! Was it still possible to get one??

In Part III of my 14" Style Girls review, I turn my attention to the final two Style Girls Maisie and Quinn and attempt to find one (or two) of them. I also come to an interesting conclusion as to how the Play Zone and Style Dreamers brands compare.