Journey Girl's Pink Top and White Jeans

Giovanna Tries Out a New Outfit

One of the new outfits released in September was this beautiful pink top with white jeans, gold sandals, and a floral purse.  Like most of the Japan line, this outfit is very unique.

Of all the pieces, the bright pink top is the most unique.  The gathered neckline is almost an off the shoulder design with a little bit of gathering at the neckline. 

Each sleeve is gathered at the end with a tiny bow on the outside. 

On the bottom of the outfit is a flower lace flair.

It's simple and cute, with great design.

As unique as the top is, the pants are just as plain.  Don't get me wrong, they work really well with top, they just aren't anything special.   The plain white jeans have a cuff on each leg, halfway up the calf.

They are like many jeans as far as design, the white makes them unique and a great edition to the Journey Girls line.

Shoes are interesting with Journey Girls.  Toys R Us has come a long way from the all plastic, small healed shoes that came with almost every outfit.  Still, there isn't a huge amount of variety in the shoes.   These gold shoes are based off of tall sandals that we have seen before. 

As most of the newer shoes have, these ones have the flat plastic bottoms.   A strap across the toes has a green "flower" on it.  At the heal of the shoes are straps that go around the ankles and two that go up the calf with Velcro in the back.

A pretty shoe, that is close in design to some of the other ones already out.

Another piece that is unique is the purse.    It has a gold braided handle that is long enough to slide the purse on Giovanna's shoulder.

Designed like a sack, the white fabric has painted watercolor roses printed on it.   The pinks of the flowers tie in nicely to the top.   It's definitely not fancy, but it is very pretty, and it goes great with this outfit.

All ratings are out of 10

Value 8 – With more pieces to this outfit than the blue dress, but the same quality, this outfit scores a little higher.   I still wish there were some other little accessories, like Our Generation outfits, but the quality of the outfits released this round have been really good!

Fit 8 – The top is a little loose and the jeans can be a little stubborn when trying to pull them on.  Overall thought, everything fits well.

Versatility 9 – All of the pieces of this outfit can be used with other outfits.  The top will look great with a skirt, jeans, or shorts.   The white jeans have a ton of versatility, going with virtually any type of top.  Because of the flower on the shoes, there may be some colors that don't go with them, but most things should.

Cuteness 9 – What a cute outfit! The top has a really unique design with the beautiful lace bottom.  The white jeans go perfectly with the top.  And even though the sandals are just a redesign, they are still cute.  I would have loved a different design for the purse too, but I love the fabric it is made of.

Overall 8 – Another well made, cute outfit from the Japan line.  As with the others, there are just a few little things that could be improved to make it a really good outfit.  Out of the three outfits I have reviewed for this release, this one has the most versatility.  It is worth the $14.99 that Amazon is charging.

Giovanna In a New York Outfit

Journey Girls Giovanna Tries on a New Outfit

With the release of the New York Journey Girls comes new outfits.  Today's review is on the beautiful black dress with white strips.

Like many of the Journey Girl outfits this one has a dress, shoes, a headband, and a purse. The top is a simple black cotton with gold “necklaces” embroidered into the jewel style neckline. 

The three gold necklaces hang around the front of the dress, but end at the shoulders.  It would be nice to actually have real necklaces on the dress rather than embroidered ones but it's still a nice addition and really makes the dress looks very sophisticated.

The skirt of the dress is attached and has two layers. The bottom layer is black cotton and goes just below Giovanni's knees. 

The top layer is the sheer layer of fabric that has white stripes that make a crisscross pattern on the dress. If you look closely you will see a similar pattern of intersection black lines.  Fairly simple but still very elegant. This dress really reminds me of a business attire dress; something you might find in an Ann Taylor store. 

The sandals on with this outfit are very similar to all the other scandals that come with journey girls outfits. The big difference is that they are gold rather than the normal colors. 

Very pretty, but nothing really that different than we've seen before.  zThe have a pair of crossed straps at the toes and a single strap around the ankle.   

The yellow purse is made out of a leather type of material, it's very simple but goes well with the outfit and really stands out. An open style bag, the purse has no clasp.  

There are gold fabric squares around the handles connection points with the purse.  Made to be a hand held purse, it can go on Giovanna's shoulder, but it is difficult especially to get it to stay, especially if the outfit has sleeves.

The last thing in this set is the headband. It is made out of the same type of leather material as the purse. The gold material wraps most of the way around Giovanna's head, with a 4 inch elastic strap stretching the rest of the way.   

In the top middle of the leather there is a leather flower, again made out of the same gold material. It's very pretty but it doesn't necessarily go really really well with this outfit.  More of a plain band would work better, one that is maybe thinner and without the flower. 

Rating
All ratings are out of 10

Value 8 – Great dress.  Very nice quality.  Could have had real necklaces, rather than embroidered ones.  The headband is cute, but looks a little out of place with it's flower.  Still, you get a good amount for the cost of the outfit.

Fitment 10 – Everything fits great.  Even the sandals are a perfect fit.  Wish the handles on the purse were a bitt larger to accommodate placing the purse on Giovanna's shoulders, but it works great as a hand purse.

Versatility 8 – The dress itself is such a versatile dress.  It is elegant enough to be a semi-formal dress, but not so fancy that it can't be an out on the town outfit.  There are no "parts" to the dress, being that it is all in one, but it still can be used in different situations.  The sandals, purse and headband all have great potential to be used with other outfits.  That yellow purse will add some pizzaz to any outfit!

Cuteness 9 – Giovanna, or any of the other Journey Girls look great in this dress.  Great design!  Love it!  Again, wish the necklaces weren't just embroidery.

Overall 9 – This outfit is great; it's very, very pretty, it's made well and has some pretty good accessories.  The business style of it fits what I think of as chic New York style.  It would be nice to see the outfit with a real necklace accessory and a different headband.  Still very cute.  Out of all of the outfits that were released with the New York line this is one of my favorites. Partly because it really shows the elegance and the style of New York. I would definitely suggest getting this outfit as it's very nice. As with most Journey Girl outfits I would also suggest making sure you soak this outfit. I know that Toys R Us and Journey Girls has worked hard at making better quality outfits, but I'm not quite sure that they have reduced all of the issues with the dye transfer onto the vinyl.  So I would suggest soaking this outfit before you put it on your doll.  

AG Note - Like many of the Journey Girl outfits this one doesn't fit extremely well on American Girl dolls.  

It is tight, barley closing in the back with the Velcro.  The straps are also tight, squeezing the underarms and making it challenging to move Serafina's arms.  

The skirt part of the dress is a great length, fitting well.  The headband fits perfectly, of course why wouldn't it be. 

The sandals do not fit at all.  The Journey Girls feet are much skinnier than the American Girl dolls feet, making it impossible for the shoes to fit well one both of the dolls.  

This is a beautiful outfit for the Journey Girls, but not great for American Girl dolls.   If you are thinking of buying the outfit for your American Girl doll, this is not the best outfit to buy.

Giovanna Looks as "Bright as the Sun"

A New Our Generation Outfit

Today we’re reviewing an Our Generation outfit called “Bright as the Sun”. It is a nice summer dress with a jean jacket, a plastic rubber purse, some cute sandals, and a pair of sunglasses. It is a deluxe outfit, which means it retails for about $17.99 at target.

The dress is very cute. It's an off white with two layers. The top layer is a thin see-through layer that has pink hearts on it. The bottom layer is a thicker cotton layer made so that the dress is not see-through. It has a high waist, similar to an empire waist. A big pink bow, offset to the left side, adorns the high waistline.

The high neckline curves down a little bit and creates thick shoulder straps on either side. The straps are thick enough to hide the dolls shoulder joints. The neckline looks really pretty on the Journey Girls since they have the breastplate.

The jean jacket is very cute. It's obviously an accessory though. It has no way of closing; no zipper, no buttons, no Velcro, it just stays open. It is made of a lighter blue jean material and is fairly lightweight. On both sides up near the neckline, there are embroidered white flowers. Makes the jean jacket a little bit different than the other ones that have come with Our Generation outfits. The jean jacket doesn't really bring anything to the outfit. However, it can be used with another outfit and would be a great addition to a very plain outfit.

Our generation usually has some very neat purses. Which makes this purse very interesting. Instead of being made out of cloth, it's made out of the rubber or plastic that is usually used for the shoes. It is a little bit more flexible then the shoe material, but is still very rigid. It could be that the design of it the purse, with the high walls and more of a rigid look, was more difficult to do with the fabric and so they opted for the plastic. Don't necessarily mind the plastic, but it is quite different from everything else that Our Generation has out. It also makes it so that the purse doesn't clasp shut. And it opens almost like an old coin purse that you squeeze at the sides. The bright yellow brings a lot to the outfit and ties into the sandals really well.

The sandals that this outfit comes with are very similar to many of the sandals that Our Generation has with other outfits. They have three straps; one by the toes, a silver braided strap a little further up in the middle, and then a yellow strap around the ankle.

On the heel there is a blue piece of fabric that matches the first strap. The yellow strap wraps around the ankle and Velcro's to this heel. Our Generation mostly makes their sandals with all fabric. This is the case with this outfit also. It would be wonderful to have more of a rigid bottom rather than the flabby fabric bottoms, but they do look nice. Like most Our Generation shoes, they are too wide for Giovanna’s feet. And the fabric on the heel is not ridged, making it easy for the sandals to slide off.

The last thing that this outfit comes with is pink heart sunglasses. They're similar to many of the other sunglasses that Our Generation has with their outfit set. These are cute especially with the heart design. They fit well on the dolls although they do slide up quite a bit and are hard to get back on the nose and face. It does depend on the doll for instance on Giovanna it was hard to get them to stay back, but it was easier on Kelsey. Must have to do with the shape of their faces.

Ratings
All ratings are out of 10

Value 7 – This set retails for $17.99, which with everything that comes with is an okay deal. It would be great to have some sandals with actual soles. Even though not necessary it is nice to have the jean jacket and it is made well in the embroidery makes it distinctive. The purse, although a little strange is nice and the added yellow is very pretty with the outfit. The dress is very solid and well made all around.

Fitment 7 – Like many other Our Generation outfits this outfit is large on the Journey Girls. It's difficult to tell that though, even with just the dress because of the design of the dress. You're looking for something that is formfitting, this is not the outfit. The jean jacket seems to fit very well which is kind of surprising. Usually the jackets are big on the Journey Girls, but it fits Giovanna well. The sunglasses, as I mentioned before seem to fit well on some of the Journey Girls but not as well on other ones. And the sandals for like most of Our Generation shoes; they’re wide.

Versatility 7 –The dress is a dress that can look fancy or easy going. The jean jacket will make a great addition to many outfits. And a purse can go with many things. The sandals will also be easy to pair with other outfits. And what outfit doesn’t need heart sunglasses!

Cuteness 9 – The dress itself is extremely cute with the little hearts all over the place and the big bow at the waist. The dress could probably do without the big pink bow but it is kind of cute and when you don't have the jean jacket on it does add to the dress. The jean jacket itself is very nice with the embroidered flowers and is cute on its own. It would be great with a white T-shirt and some nice pants or a different skirt. And those heart sunglasses are stinking cute.

Overall 8 – This is a wonderful outfit if you need a summer outfit for your collection. It's cute and playful, not real fancy, but is a bit more than a spring dress. It's got great accessories like the purse, the jean jacket and the glasses. As with most things that Our Generation sells the quality is good but not necessarily great. There are a few stray strings throughout the outfit. However that's not enough to make this outfit not worth the money. Make sure to soak the Jean jacket so that none of the blue dye comes off on your doll. And as always if you see this in the store make sure you pick it up and decide later if you want to keep it since Our Generation outfits do not stick around for very long.

AG note - How does this outfit work on American Girl dolls?  Compared to the fit for the Journey Girls, this outfit fits wonderfully on the American Girl dolls.  Where things are large or loose on Giovanna, it is form fitting on Grace.  The only thing that doesn't fit well are the sandals, mostly because they are all cloth.  The dress shows off Grace's neck seam and the shoulder seams more than on Giovanna. This is a good outfit that fits both your American Girl doll and your Journey Girls dolls.

Top 5 Journey Girls Picks for Christmas

2015's Journey Girl Must Haves

5 Journey Girls Scooter

Released at the end of last year/earlier this year, the scooter is a great accessory for the Journey Girls as they travel through Europe. Turn it on and it makes “real” scooter sounds. It also turns on the front and rear lights. The turn signals light up when you push the appropriate button, accompanied by a “click, click, click” sound. It would be nice if it was a little bit taller, but overall it’s a great little vehicle. The scooter comes with a helmet to keep your Journey Girl safe as she is on the road!

http://www.journeygirladventures.blogspot.com/2015/01/which-scooter.html


4 Journey Girls Outdoor Table Set

Although I personally had an issue with the table set, it is an awesome set.  The table is super sturdy and is a great size.  The girls can actually sit at the table and not be super crowded.  The chairs are very casual, with low backs.  Almost like a bench, rather than a chair.  The Journey Girls sit really well in them though.  The placemats, cups and cushions are nice little extras for this set.  A great, functional furniture set.

http://www.journeygirladventures.blogspot.com/2015/03/journey-girls-outside-table-review.html

3 Journey Girls Accessory Packs

Toys R Us released two waves of accessory packs this year.  The first set has 4 different sets, mostly with shoes, scarves, sunglasses, and jewelry.  The second wave that hit stores in July, had 4 sets with clothing accessories and 4 with sports equipment, school supplies, and an umbrella.  It is wonderful to get some much needed food in these sets.  Hope that there will be more of these.

2 Journey Girls Outfits

In a normal year Toys R Us releases 12 to 16 outfits for the Journey Girls.  This year was amazing in that there were 22 outfits released just in July!!!  Not only were there a good amount of outfits released, but there was a wide range of styles.  The "Celebration" outfits are beautiful, elegant dresses.  There is a ballet outfit, a gymnast set, as well as a cheerleading outfit.  Three sleepers sets were released, that have wonderful, cute slippers.  Two of my favorite outfits are the beige sweater set and the blue plaid top.  Both of these sets are awesome!

http://www.journeygirladventures.blogspot.com/2015/09/giovanna-in-new-journey-girl-outfit.html
http://www.journeygirladventures.blogspot.com/2015/09/new-journey-girl-outfits.html

1 Special Edition Journey Girls Giovanna

This years special edition doll hits the mark and is much more similar to Jordanna than Mikaella.  Giovanna dress is gorgeous with three layers and a chocker neckline. The crimson color offsets Giovanna's light blonde hair.   Giovanna comes with a faux fur shrug, a beautiful pearl and diamond bracelet, a silver clutch, and a masquerade mask.  She is also the first Journey Girl to come with pierced ears!  A wonderful doll for the 2015 special edition!

http://www.journeygirladventures.blogspot.com/2015/08/new-journey-girl-giovanna.html

What is on your top 5 list for the Journey Girls?  What would you like to see next year?

Giovanna in a New Journey Girl Outfit

How Does Plaid Look on Giovanna?

Does your Journey Girl live an active life?  Does she like to hike, bike, and play outside, but still wants to look nice when she is being active?   Then Toys R Us has released a wonderful outfit for you.  This plaid, long sleeve, ruffled shirt, with a scarf, hat, leggings and boots is an awesome outfit for the active Journey Girl.

Like all of the Journey Girls outfits this one comes in a box with a clear window on the front.   Open the top of the box, slide the cardboard backer that the outfit is on out of the box, and finally clip all of the little I fasteners that are holding the outfit to the cardboard.  Once this is all done, you should be able to take the outfit off the back.

Most of the Journey Girls outfits come with shoes/boots, the outfit, and an accessory.  This outfit comes with two accessories!!!  One that is awesome!  The other is okay.  The okay accessory is the stretchy navy blue cap.  It is made out of the same material as the leggings are.  It stretches really well, but it is also slippery and can be very difficult to get on Giovanna’s head.  Once it is on, it has only one place that it stays on, if you move it, pop, it comes off.  The fit may differ between sets, which is common with Journey Girl outfits.  A knit hat or a hat made out of the same material as the shirt would have been better, or at least easier to keep on her head.

The boots that come with this outfit are mid-calf hiking/snow boots.  There is no slit up the back, like the brown boots from the sweater outfit, because these boots have a wider opening.  They are okay, better than the slit boots, but still just molded plastic.  It would be wonderful to get shoes that are not plastic.  Or at least make a show pack that is not plastic shoes.  These work well and look good with the outfit though.

The scarf is a very simple accent piece to the outfit.  It Velcro’s in the back for easy on and off.  The really neat thing about that is that there is fabric on both sides of the scarf so that you can twist the scarf if you want.  

The scarf can be very loose and flowy, or it can be twisted up and tighter.  Either way it looks great.  It is also big enough to fit on Giovanna’s head as a headband!  Great accessory!!!

Black leggings are always great, because they can go with so many other outfits.  These leggings are made of a soft cotton fabric, rather than the usual shinny, slippery stretch material.  There is a thin white fabric-lining inside the leggings that helps keep the leggings from transferring any color and makes them go on easier.  Fit is perfect.  No issues with being too tight or being short.

Plaid shirts seem like they should be made with flannel.  This one is not; instead it is a printed pattern on a stiff cotton.  Probably easier to make that way and less expensive.  Unlike the sweater outfit, this shirt does not feel like it is made out of as high of a quality material.  It is still very nice, and is not cheap by any means, but just not as high quality.  

The shirt has long sleeves that go all the way to Giovanna’s wrists.  A skirt flair is at the bottom of the long shirt.  It’s not quite long enough to be a dress on it’s own.  It works great with the leggings though.  Running down the front of the shirt are two pleats on each side of the velcroed middle.  The pleat on Giovanna’s left side is turned under, making the pleat wavy, while the pleat on her right is straight and lies flat.  This is probably an anomaly particular to the outfit I purchased.  

The sleeves puff at the shoulder, but don’t look like the 80’s are coming back.  The shirt has a straight loose neckline.  The shirt is a great piece of a wonderful outfit.

Ratings
All ratings are out of 10

Value 9 – Even though the boots are not amazing, they are better than the slit boots that most of the legging style outfits come with.  The shirt is really cute, and is made well, even though it would be better if it was flannel.  It is great to get a couple of accessories with this outfit, even if the cap doesn’t fit perfectly.

Fitment 9– The actual outfit is a perfect fit.  The hat is too tight, but it still fits.  The boots are also big, but that is by design so that they go on easier.

Versatility 10–Every piece of this outfit can be used with other outfits.  It is one of the most versatile outfits Journey Girls makes.  The scarf is especially awesome, since it can really enhance any outfit.  All of the other pieces have lots of different uses with different outfits also.

Cuteness 9 – Journey Girls does a great job making functional outfits that are cute.  This outfit is a perfect example of that.  The colors are great, not the normal pinks and purples.  It looks better without the hat.


Overall 9 – Great outfit that is very versatile, has great accessories, is designed well, and is cute!  The boots could be better and the hat is too tight, but other than those two things, this outfit is perfect.  Another wonderful new outfit from Journey Girls!

Giovanna looks awesome in this plaid outfit.

The scarf can be used as a headband...

…or as a scarf.  Either way, it is super cute!

It was a bit windy when Giovanna was getting her photos taken!