Quick review of Hearts-4-Hearts Girls Lauryce

Hearts 4 Hearts Girls from Playmates Toys is a doll line that helps: part of the sales price of each doll is donated toward helping girls in the region that the doll's character is from. In the company's words : "The Hearts For Hearts Girls™ mission is to empower girls to become agents of change in their communities, their countries, and around the world. We want to change the world one heart at a time, and you can be a part of that dream!"

That these dolls are just plain gorgeous and very appealing certainly helps their charitable cause. Another pleasing aspect is the price: the MSRP is $27.99, and are available at Target and Amazon.com. They are also sold at Toys R Us and Wal-Mart, and can be purchased right from the Playmates Toys website as well.

I've had this girl for a month or so, and finally opened her box this past weekend. I've been nuts about these dolls since they debuted, and have all six of the debut dolls, as well as most of their outfits and accessories. I was VERY excited to see new dolls arriving, and for my first of these dolls, I chose Lauryce, a Creole girl from New Orleans, LA, USA. I love the combination of her darker skin with her light eyes and hair, and I especially like that the sales of the doll will help girls in New Orleans, which just had to deal with Hurricane Isaac seven years after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

And here is Lauryce, out of her (very nice and good for storage) box. Isn't she beautiful? Her meet outfit is cute and appropriate for the usual weather in the Gulf, her Welcome Book outlines her life and family and how they were affected by Hurrican Katrina, and what Lauryce is doing to help make life better for girls in the Gulf area. In addition to everything she's wearing and her book, Lauryce also comes with some lovely jewelry, a plastic hairbrush, and a H4H necklace for the owner.

Lauryce is 14" tall, made of really nice smooth touchable high-quality vinyl. I posed her with Martie, my 16" Tonner Rapunzel, Martie, to give an idea of the size of her head. The head is very much out of proportion to the rest of the doll, but not Blythe-like. The head size seems to work for the H4H dolls, and is actually quite appealing, to me and I think to the target customers, little girls.

What a lovely face! The eyes are very lifelike, and an amazing shade of green (they may just be hazel, but to my naked eye, they're rather green). Her face screening is very good, indeed, and I love her nose. Her head band keeps most of her hair off her face, but as you can see, there are flyaways that resist taming. Her little plastic hairbrush works fine, but I always use a wig brush on my dolls' hair and wigs. 

Here she is with her hair loose. I. Love. Her. Hair. It's rooted, quality fiber, and abundant. It feels very soft and almost lifelike. The rooting is well done, with consistent rows, and it doesn't look at all pluggy, especially around her face. The separate plugs of hair have a nice amount of hair, not too much or too little. Notice how well done the part in the hair is: it falls naturally, without the stick-out stiffness that some dolls with parted hair are prone to.

 The back of her head shows the luxuriousness and fullness of the hair.

She sits nicely. Her legs do splay, but when she's sat, she stays put, no frustrating flop-over.

I was very very pleased by the panties. I think it's a mark of how well the clothing is constructed if underwear is included and well made, as these are. Her skin tone is even and matches her face, always a plus.

This is a dress I made for Martie, above, and it fits Lauryce a bit loosely but still well enough that the two of them can share some clothes. Lauryce's dress fits very well on Martie, but is of course short, as they have a 2" height difference. Lauryce can, of course, wear all the H4H Girls outfits, as the dolls all share a standard body.

There is also online doll play that can be accessed with a code in the doll's box. I haven't tried the games and such available, however.

Overall, the doll is excellent quality and is well-made enough to take some loving abuse from a child. If I were a parent of a small girl (mine is grown up now), I'd constrain Lauryce's hair with a loose braid so that it doesn't become a mess too soon. From a collector's POV, this is a beautifully made doll at an irresistible price point, and I could not be happier with her.