Toyologist Reviews: Girly Heaven!

Our Toyologist parcel this month had a definite theme. A very, very girly theme. Nearly everything was aimed at little girls so Missy Woo was overjoyed. (We'll skim over the fact that Monkey was somewhat underwhelmed to put it mildly). So Missy Woo and I have been busy having very girly bonding sessions playing with everything. Consequently, she has been in heaven.

Firstly, we have the Melissa & Doug Princess Stamp Set, modelled here by Missy Woo. This is delightful and nostalgic as a craft toy if you are old like me and remember toys like this. Hardly any plastic in sight, it comes in a wooden box with 9 princess themed wooden stamps; 2 ink pads, one pink and one purple; and five coloured pencils. So, it's pretty durable, and it all packs away nicely in the wooden box, which looks somehow prettier and eneater than a cardboard box. The stamps work well and make nice pictures. It kept Missy Woo occupied on a wet weekend afternoon.

Next, there was a Sparkle Jewellery set, another craft activity for a rainy afternoon. In a nutshell, it's beads andsomething to thread them onto. In more detail, it has a thinner stretchy thread for making bracelets and a thicker string for making necklaces. Missy Woo is modelling one of her creations in this pic here which was edited from my Silent Sunday post for last week. There are also stickers to decorate the larger beads, to allow you to customise your handiwork further. It was mostly easy for Missy to thread the beads on - and Monkey, who decided to join in as he was on his best behaviour after having been a horror. The only problem was if they fiddled around for abit, the ends would get frayed and I would need to trim the ends. I had to tie the knots together for her at the end  but this was a good activity to keep them occupied - and quiet. And the mess factor was small - the beads are easy to clear up if they get dropped, so it is a good  activity to get out if you want it cleared away quickly once they have finished. Missy Woo was very pleased with this as she had been going on about getting some beads for a while.

And finally is the Hello Kitty Vanity Case. Initially, I thought this was quite a nice little toy. It's a big pink case with the distinct Hello Kitty logo on the outside, something which pleases Missy Woo very much. Inside, it has:

4 hair clips, 4 hair bobbles,1 comb (ok so far), 5 blushers, 3 eye shadows, 5 lip glosses, 2 glitter gels, 2 nail varnishes, 2 toe separators,1 applicator brush, 1 sponge applicator. And there is a mirror with lights inside the lid.

Missy Woo thinks it's ace. I'll be honest with you, I am not so sure. She's 5. Much as she is girly, I don't really want her to think she needs to put make up on to look pretty. She's gorgeous as it is. I don't mind her playing with the odd bit of make up but this feels - different. I'm really not sure it is all that appropriate for her age in this respect. She was desperate to ensure she had some on before she went to a party and thankfully, the brush doesn't apply it heavily at all. I put some nail varnish on for her twice but both times, it chipped badly quickly (even tho she was very patient and waited for it to dry) and she picked it off rather too easily. And one of the nai varnish colours was black, which seemed an odd choice.

Maybe I'm being churlish and am having the sense of humour failure here, but I just feel that something that encourages young girls to obsess over making themselves prettier is a bad thing. I really don't mind the hair stuff, but the make up - possibly more the amount of it than the fact it's there at all - is a step too far. I feel that putting Hello Kitty on the front ensures it appeals to younger girls than perhaps it it intended for. I realise that Hello Kitty appeals to older girls and adults but the appeal does start quite young and this product is really too old for them. If it's to be aimed at younger girls, I'd like less make up or perhaps less real, as this appears to be. And black glitter nail varnish? Looks so damned odd on a small child.  Wrong, wrong, wrong. Thankfully, she didn't like it either.

So, two winners out of three. Not a bad rate, I guess.

You can now find all the Toyologists' Toys reviews on Toys R Us new Facebook app, called Toy Box.

(I was provided with the above toys to review and have received no other compensation. The opinions stated here are my own, and have not been influenced by the aforementioned compensation.)