1994 Mattel Barbie Cut & Style Doll - Perfect for Collectors & Play

THE FACTS: I was able to get this Cut and Style Barbie doll (1994 / 1995) for a fairly reasonable price; she arrived in a reasonable amount of time, and her box was clean and bright!NOTE: The particular doll that I received DID NOT arrive in the multi-lingual box that is pictured on Amazon's sales page, so if you want THAT EXACT DOLL, please contact the seller, because, unless they specify that their particular doll arrives in a multi-lingual box, she'll PROBABLY arrive in an English-language box.The red-haired version of Cut and Style Barbie IS INTENDED FOR CHILDREN AGED 5 AND UP, and she arrives with an Instructions Guide, a Cool Cuts and Styles Guide, a velcro-backed brunette hairpiece, A SUPER COOL "Barbie for Girls!" POSTER (As far as I know, ONLY the red-haired version of Cut and Style Barbie arrives with this poster), a pair of green child-sized scissors, a green brush, four rubber bands, a neon orange fabric headband, a neon pink fabric headband, a ruffled (neon yellow) headband, and a wide headband (neon pink, adorned with neon yellow tulle and a green curlicue ribbon)BARBIE'S BODY, FACE, AND HAIR: Red-haired Cut and Style Barbie sports the typical, tan Twist N' Turn Barbie body of the mid-1990s (permanently bent arms, bendable legs, and molded-on, pink, "B" logo underwear)Her face may have darkened slightly, due to her age (She's about 20 years old), but she looks rather interesting, with her reddish-brown eyebrows, her striking blue eyes, her avocado green eye shadow, her rosy pink blush, and her bright red lips!Her hair reaches about the middle of her calves, and it's a medium, attractive shade of spice-like red! If I flatten her bangs against her forehead, they reach her eyes, but they tend to have a lot of body, and so they have a shape of their own, you might say.BARBIE'S HEAD, AND THE HAIRPIECE: The very back of Barbie's head features a small, horizontal area that's not rooted, and, directly below THAT is a fuzzy, deep red area, to which the hairpiece can be attached.To attach Barbie's hairpiece to her head, simply peel the attached, protective layer of fabric back from the velcro, flip Barbie over, flip her hair out of the way, position the velcro strip on top of the top of the fuzzy area, smooth the protective fabric down over the hairpiece, and flip Barbie's hair back over the hairpiece. Said hairpiece is AMAZINGLY STRONG, as it CAN BE BRUSHED WITHOUT falling off! I was SURPRISED...BARBIE'S OUTFIT: Red-haired Cut and Style Barbie wears a TWO-PIECE, neon green outfit of smart, flirty proportions! Her embossed-looking, shiny, sleeveless green top (which features three very smart-looking, gold buttons) fits snugly over a flared, solid green skirt, underneath which are attached a matching tulle slip and a pair of sewn-in underwear. Barbie's shoes are neon green, Minnie Mouse-type pumps, and she completes her fashion look with a gold ring (on her RIGHT hand, of course), gold and black dangle earrings, AND an ultra-elegant black and gold choker necklace! She looks sooo ELEGANT!BARBIE'S ACCESSORIES, ETC.: Barbie's accessories consist of a red hairpiece, a green brush, a green pair of child-sized scissors, a pink cloth ribbon, an orange cloth ribbon, a ruffly yellow headband, and a well-adorned pink headband.NOTE: I don't think that I will ever cut the hair of ANY Cut and Style Barbie, so I cannot comment about how well the scissors work, OR about how good or bad Barbie's hair looks once it's been cut.THE GOOD: The "style" aspect of Cut and Style Barbie actually WORKS! When Barbie wears her hairpiece, it's STRONG ENOUGH that I can STILL BRUSH IT, and it DOESN'T fall off, like some cheap piece of trash. Even though the hairpiece IS a little tough to pull off, it at LEAST WORKS REALLY WELL, AND you can "close" it, too, but covering the velcro strip with the attached, protective cloth strip whenever you want to put the hairpiece away for later.That having been said, ALL of the Cut and Style Barbie dolls are just ATTRACTIVE OVERALL. I love their big, heavily-lined eyes, their unusual, flirty, two-piece outfits, the elegant look of their earrings, AND ESPECIALLY their cool, old-fashioned-looking chokers, which I've read were popular during the early-to-mid 1990s!I really love the red-haired Cut and Style Barbie doll's unusual, striking beauty. She's a TURQUOISE-EYED REDHEAD, which makes her rare in the Barbie world, and I think that her red lips make her even more beautiful!THE BAD: Barbie's hairpiece tends to come undone if it's brushed when it's flipped forward...over the top of Barbie's head, and Barbie's hair can lose its curl after it's brushed.This Barbie is a mid-1990s Barbie doll, so her face, and ESPECIALLY her LEGS, may become ever so slightly tacky-feeling (That is the case with my particular Barbie). Sometimes, NRFB dolls CAN be in worse condition than long-ago-de-boxed dolls.Some of her hair will probably fall out when it's first brushed, so be careful when you're brushing her hair. All of that hair may also become overwhelming for you, because there's so MUCH of it there that you may sometimes feel as though you're dealing with Cousin It, or whatever. LOL! That's the cost of having a Barbie doll with such long, beautiful hair, though. :)Her hair might become stuck to the fuzzy portion of her head at times, but it seems as though that's a fairly easy problem to correct.I can't vouch for the future state of this Barbie's outfit, as some of the fabrics that were used to create it might not age too well, but, for now, the outfit seems to be holding up well.Barbie's bangs tend to "want" to be styled in a certain way, so it may be a wee bit difficult to coax them into the type of style that YOU want them to hold; her choker can also be annoyingly LOOSE around her neck, and her earrings can TOTALLY get in the way of any attempts at styling her hair. I chose to cut her earrings out for that very reason.Her face can be ever so slightly darker than her body, and it can be ever so slightly tough, or almost too easy to rotate (Some of these issues effect my doll)THE UGLY: Barbie's hair, and her face, can be issues. Her hair can be thin, and it can also be choppy at the bottom, due to quality control issues. My particular Barbie has super thin hair up on top, right next to her bangs, and her bangs were ALSO rooted TOO FAR UP on one side, SO THAT THE ROOTING LINE SHOWS! BOOO! Barbie's extra rubber bands will ALSO be unable to be used, due to their age, so PLEASE THROW THEM AWAY if you give them to a child.This particular Barbie (The one that I got, anyway) is having problems with both the back of her head, AND with her hairpiece. The hair is already FALLING OUT OF THE HAIRPIECE, and the fuzzy area is COMING UNGLUED from her head! ARG!Her face can look sort of weird, too, due to the exact same types of issues. My doll has some lip color on her teeth. My Barbie's eyebrows are truly positioned unevenly, and her eyes themselves have issues. They are slightly unevenly-sized, unevenly-painted, and slightly unevenly-positioned.The MOST OFFENSIVE aspect of these dolls is the fact that they do NOT REALLY look like the promotional pictures that grace their boxes, with regards to their eye shadow. The box backs make it seem as though these dolls sport almost NONEXISTENT, LIGHT eye shadow, when, in fact, the color saturation of their eye shadow is ALL OVER THE PLACE! My particular doll is wearing avocado green eye shadow, but it's MUCH HEAVIER on one eye than it is on the other, and it's ALSO UNEVENLY-POSITIONED!In ADDITION to all of these issues, my particular doll was wearing sewn-in underwear that were so badly sewn to the tulle slip that her skirt was fitting weirdly; I chose to remove both the underwear AND the tulle slip! Bad quality control, Mattel! Bad quality control!RECOMMENDATIONS: I think that this Cut and Style doll would be perfect for...1.) CHILDREN 5 AND UP: Little kids LOVE to play with doll hair, and this doll certainly has enough hair to please young stylists! I cannot vouch for the ease with which the included scissors can be used, though, because, at this time, I don't intend to cut my Cut and Style dolls' hair.2.) RED-HAIRED / BLUE-EYED BARBIE FANS: This barbie may be perfect for those who have reddish hair of any shade, and / or for those who just love red-haired Barbie dolls! Remember that a lot of red-haired children secretly WISH that they could have a Barbie doll that had the same hair color that they have. In addition, few actual BARBIE dolls themselves have red hair AND turquoise blue eyes, so this Barbie could be perfect for that red-haired, blue-eyed someone who wants a Barbie doll that shares their coloration, and / OR for that Barbie enthusiast who wants a blue-eyed Barbie doll that's NOT a BLONDE.3.) GIFT-RECIPIENTS: This lovely, red-haired Cut and Style Barbie could be the perfect gift for a Barbie collector, a Barbie enthusiast, or a child! She'd work well as a Birthday gift, and she'd be cool as a Valentine's Day surprise, or as a custom Easter basket gift. She'd also make a great Mother's Day gift for that mom who's also a doll enthusiast, and she'd be a super "treat" for that special someone on Halloween, due to her neon-look outfit! Of course, she'd also work well for a Winter holiday gift. Just prepare yourself for the screams of delighted surprise that you'll hear!4.) A RED-HAIRED BIRTHDAY GIRL: This red-haired Barbie sports a particularly striking, interesting brand of beauty, and so she might make a lovely gift for that red-haired Birthday girl who also loves collecting / displaying Barbie dolls.5.) ANY BIRTHDAY KID: Top your child's Birthday cake with this Barbie doll, and be sure to position her hair so that it DOESN'T touch the cake (LOL!), and listen for the "Ooo"s and the "Aaah"s when your child...and their companions see the cake!IN CONCLUSION: This Cut and Style Barbie doll isn't perfect, but she's elegant, and she's lovely in an unusual, smart-looking way, so if you want to treat yourself to a pretty Barbie doll, she might be the perfect doll for you!