Mikaella Goes Boogie Boarding
Winter in Minnesota makes taking photos and reviewing summer swim outfits rather difficult. Well photographing swimwear in a natural setting is difficult to do in the winter. So this review is timely in the sense that it is now coming into bathing suit season, but not so timely in the sense that this outfit came out closer to Christmas time. Simply called “Boogie Board”, this outfit includes a wetsuit, sunglasses, water shoes, and, of course, a boogie board. For $12.99 it seems like a pretty good deal.
There are two large pieces to this set, the boogie board and the wetsuit. Since the wetsuit is the outfit, let’s look at that first. Made of a stretchy polyester fabric, the mostly pink and blue wet suit has long sleeves, but only board shorts length legs. Pale pink covers the arms, while a patch of white runs down the sides, a bright blue makes up the middle of the suit, and bright pink accents the sides of the shorts.
A rather unproportionally large zipper runs up the front of the suit, ending at the high, matching bright pink collar. The size of the zipper makes it very easy to get up and down, which is probably why this size was picked rather than a more proportionally accurate small zipper.
The suit is big on Mikaella, but fits well due to the materials innate stretchiness. You can really see the bagginess in the sleeves and around the waist.
A positive about the fit is that the looseness does make it much easier to get on.
The underside of the board is all yellow. In the middle of the board at the top there is a black plastic loop. An elastic cord is connected to this loop with a Velcro strap at the end to go around your dolls wrist or in Mikaella’s case, her ankle.
So when she wipes out the board doesn’t get too far away from her. Mikaella can kind of lay on the board and hold it, but to support herself on the board I had to use a hair binder. And just in case you were wondering, the board floats on its’ own, but not with Mikaella on it…for that I had to use some rocks underneath.
The color scheme of this set is carried over into the sunglasses too, with blue and pink fading into each other on the frames.
The big lenses have a bit of a blue tinge to them and are not very dark. Although they fit well around Mikaella’s ears and sit correctly on her nose, the glasses still fall off pretty easily.
Made of clear pink plastic the shoes have a slit up the back to make them easy to get on and off. There are rows of little bumps, like gripper strips, but all over the shoes rather than just on the bottom.
Still wider than most Journey Girls shoes, these are one of the best fitting pair of Our Generation shoes I’ve seen. They fit especially well around the ankles, which is surprising since OG dolls have thicker ankles. Cute little water shoes.
Rating
All ratings are out of 10
Value 9 – At $12.99 this is a great outfit with a really cool accessory. There is nothing much to it other than the wetsuit, but that is well made. The boogie board is colorful and fun, as are the shoes and sunglasses. There really is nothing to fault in this set.
Fitment 8 – Even though the suit is loose, it still fits Mikaella well and does not look bad on her. Unlike so many OG shoes, these ones fit Mikaella well. As do the glasses. My one fitment complaint is…I would love to see something on the side of the board to hold her hands to it. Not a necessity, but it would be awesome!
Versatility 4 – I don’t know anyone that would buy a bathing suit or a wetsuit and think they were going to get some other use out of it other than using it for swimming. It’s no surprise then that this outfit doesn’t have much versatility. The accessories can be used with other outfits. The shoes would be great with other beach type of outfits. The glasses can go with almost any outfit. And any doll in a swimsuit can use the boogie board. So even though the outfit itself is not versatile, the set has some versatility.
Cuteness 6 – Again, I don’t know that many people think of a wetsuit as cute…but this one is cuter than most with its multiple colors. Personally, I think one of the cutest parts of this set are the shoes. They aren’t the fanciest shoes or the most beautiful, they just look like fun, running around at the beach shoes!
Overall 8 – This number isn’t really an average of the points, because this outfit is so specific to one use. So why 8? Well, the suit is made well with a great zipper up the front. The shoes fit great as do the sunglasses. Finally, the boogie board is a great accessory, whether you are using it for pretend play, or you are brave (or not so smart…like me) and use it in the water. And for this price, it is an awesome deal! Pick it up when you see it!
AG Notes
Swimsuits are great because they have a little bit of give in the fabric. This means that the swimsuits can fit the Journey Girls and the American Girl dolls equally well.
This suit fits perfectly on Saraphina, pulling up with no issues of sticking. The one place it is interesting is on her legs, where the suit sits right above the cut in her vinyl thigh. It in no way hinders the outfit or Saraphina, but Mikaella looks better with her straight leg.
The glasses have the same issue that they did with Mikaela. They fit, but fall off easily. The shoes are tight on Saraphina's feet, barely fitting. The back part of the shoe does not close all of the way as it does on Mikaella's foot.
And of course the boogie board works great for Saraphina. Her arms come in towards the center of her chest just a little bit more, making it easier for her to hold the board. Another great set for both Journey Girls and American Girls!
