Barbie Basics 2025 Review, 1 wave ♡ DollsHobby.club

DollsHobby Reviews

Make yourself a delicious coffee with goodies and sit back, because today we have a long-read review dedicated to the first five dolls of the revived and updated series from Mattel “Barbie Basics” 🤩
The first wave of 2025 consists of five girls with different physiques in stylish modern black dresses of different styles, each of them also has a pair of shoes and a pair of interesting earrings. There are no other accessories in the package.
All dolls in the series belong to the Black Label.

The "highlight" of the series is that our super-mobile made to move bodies, which have been loved for years, have undergone a modification of the neck attachment in this series, which now allows you to remove and put the doll heads on the body with less effort. Whether it's cool or not - more about it later, so read carefully, because there will be a lot of information 😉
Let's go!😎

Model 01, Kit, MTM Standard, JBH72

Our hit parade of reviews opens with a fragile Asian girl on the Kit mold and on the standard MTM body.
We must say a few words about the packaging of the dolls of this series, because the boxes look no less stylish than the charming girls inside☺️

Also on the packaging we see information about the modified neck mount:

Each doll in the series comes with a certificate of authenticity and a standard transparent stand with a black podium.

Also, each doll is securely attached to a separate white insert, so stock up on patience and sharp scissors to carefully cut the girls from the packaging without damaging their hair and clothes😅

The beautiful Cat has a very ambitious stylish hairstyle, so the producers additionally secured the girl's hair with plastic wrap. Whether this saved the hairstyle or not - we'll see now🙃

The cat looks very fragile and elegant, although, personally for our team, there is a certain stereotype for this mold - the cat should be petite, we are used to it since the first acquaintance with this mold in the Looks series, but on the standard body she has a different charm.

The hair, as was clear, is varnished just like a stone and, despite the protection with a film, “out of the box” it looks far from the same as in the promo.
The hair has several shades, a pretty good firmware, but you shouldn’t count on the perfectly cut hairstyle that we were so waiting for after the promo. In any case, you will have to tinker and put it in order yourself. The hair is cut unevenly, in places even in pieces, on both sides of the head it can have different lengths, which does not contribute to the appearance of a perfect elongated bob.
Looking ahead a little, we can say that Kit’s firmware is very decent and neat.

From different angles, Kit's face in this skintone looks ambiguous, on the one hand she is incredibly cute, and on the other hand she looks as if she just woke up not so long ago and is a little puffy after sleeping☺️ This doll doesn't really like close-up portraits.
The eye makeup and Kit's eyes themselves are especially delightful: the incredible color of the iris, combined with a warm, semi-glossy shade of the shadows - you want to admire them for hours. The only question is the drawing of the "arrow" on the eyes above the eyelashes, which seems to interrupt them 😳
The lipstick on the doll's lips has a beautiful shade, but is applied in a very dense layer that can crack in the corners.

If you strain a little, under the mane of hair you can find stylish gold plastic earrings that have a protective film and are incredibly difficult to remove from your ears the first time, despite the fact that they don't have stoppers.

Let's take a closer look at the beauty's outfit, which consists of an oversized T-shirt dress and black soft high-heeled ankle boots.
It should be noted that the dresses of all the girls in the series are made of thin elastic material, which allows you to put any of the dresses on any doll body shape, which is very convenient for lovers of mixing clothes. The tailoring is simple but neat, there are no tags that would add wrinkles and excess volume to the dresses.
The Kit dress can be ideal for Mattel boys as a T-shirt, because it has a wide neck and a convenient Velcro fastener on the back.
Short dresses are fixed on the girls' hips with sticky tapes so that they do not jump up.

Kitty's stylish pointed-toe ankle boots are made of soft plastic, the heels cannot support the doll's weight, so they don't always look even.

Regarding skintone - Kit is similar to the MTM beam FTG82 and to bodies with other builds of similar skintone.

Finally, we got to the tasty part - getting to know the modification of the neck mount.
Yes, it is true that the doll's head can now be removed without additional heating, but you still have to make a little effort. That is, the head itself will not fall off at an inconvenient moment, this is 100% and this is important. There were some reviews that the head does not hold the given poses, but dangles from side to side at its discretion - perhaps there are some isolated "factory" cases, but on the example of seven different dolls in the series we can assure you that everything is OK with the heads holding poses.
So, what was modified? In total, the diameter of the mounting "tablet" has been reduced. The photo shows a clear difference between the old anchor and the new one. The long "blade" of the new anchor rests against the crown of the head from the inside and does not allow it to "sit" on the neck. So, any unauthorized modifications of the new anchor, such as shortening the shoulder blade, etc., you do at your own peril and risk. If you are unlucky and you have a doll with a head that does not hold a pose - you can slightly increase the diameter of the tablet, for example, by winding a couple of layers of paper tape, and the head will behave as it should.
By the way, no modifications were made to the holes in the heads, in the photo below for example, the hole of the Cat is compared with the hole of the head of a regular Fashionistas - they are identical.
This information regarding the anchors applies to all dolls in the series, so in a further review we will not return to this.

And this is what Kit looks like with her hair washed free of hairspray. We can see that the path to the perfect elongated bob is still long, but the hair is soft and very pleasant to the touch.

Model 02, Karl, MTM Standart, JBH71

The second girl in the series is the platinum blonde Karl, also presented on the standard Made to Move body.

Incredibly cute girl, but we all know that this mold is fascinated by the evenness of make-up. Our team spent more than a week studying various leading dollblogs that received this series earlier and presented the first photos "live", and we can confidently say that if you have come across an even Karlusha - you are among the rare 5% of lucky ones. Yes, evenness exists and it inspires the search, but the vast majority of these blondes arrive with various distortions, unfortunately.

The color scheme of Karl's makeup is surprisingly elegant and delicate - the shadows and eyebrows in shades of blue very advantageously emphasize the blue of the girl's eyes and are in perfect harmony with her platinum hair. And the delicate translucent lipstick emphasizes the sophistication of the image.

Karl has large, plastic, silver hoop earrings without stoppers, which are very difficult to remove the first time (had to use pliers!). The earrings come with a protective film and are located at a slightly strange angle relative to the head.

But when the earrings were removed, it became clear why they held on to the doll's ears so tightly😳 These are the holes left by the earrings on all the dolls in the series 🥺 Thick pins plus paint - and we have something to do in the long evenings - cleaning and reducing the holes in the doll's ears 🤷🏻‍♀️

Karl's hair is soft, not Kanekalon, has a cold platinum shade and is gathered in a wavy side ponytail with an elastic band. There is almost no hairspray on the hair, so it is very pleasant to the touch.
The parting is on the side, the stitching is not very tight, but sufficient, the head does not shine.
In the photo below we can see what the hair looks like in the hairstyle, disassembled and then washed and straightened with boiling water.

Karl is wearing a very interesting figure-hugging, sleeveless dress with a stand-up collar and high gladiator heels.
The dress is one-piece, has cutouts on the sides, which open the fragile waist from the back, and fastens with two Velcro straps - as a top and as a skirt.

Black gladiator heels are made of soft plastic, the heels may be uneven and bend under the weight of the doll.

According to skintone, Karl is a neutral with a yellowish undertone, a fairly rare type that matches, for example, the red-haired yoga DPP74.

Model 03, Claudette, MTM Tall, JBH75

The girl who is one of the favorites of this series according to the survey - the unsurpassed tanned Claudette, is presented on the tall body of MTM.
The girl's bright hair was in a special net, and the movable earrings in her ears have plastic protection.

The incredibly bright and charismatic Lady Claudette is actually one of the "highlights" of the series, primarily because, despite her complex skintone, she is amazingly photogenic!😍📸

Exquisite, high-quality makeup in coral-golden shades perfectly harmonizes with Claudette's hair color and emphasizes the sophistication of her facial features.

Silver plastic earrings without stoppers have a movable design.

Claudette's hair is just an explosion of texture and color! 🍒 Gathered in a lush low ponytail, it is slightly wavy at the head, has a central parting, and is twisted into small pigtails in the tail. The hair is soft, almost not varnished, sewn not very densely, but it is enough so that the head does not shine. In the photo you can see the effect of the miraculous boiling water, which allowed to add length to the gorgeous hair and not lose curls.

The beautiful Claudette is dressed in a short A-line dress with a stand-up collar and high platform boots with heels.
The dress fastens at the back with Velcro.

The boots are very stable and have an imitation strap fastener.

Claudette's skin tone is similar to Elle Looks HJW81.

Model 04, Lea/Kayla, MTM Petite, JBH74

The red-haired little beauty Kyle/Leia on the MTM Petite body is a personal favorite of our team, it was she who we were most looking forward to after the promo presentation. Whether she lived up to our expectations is hard to say, because in real life there are several questions about both the equality of the make-up and the concept of the image in general.

In our opinion, this girl has the most simple, albeit high-quality, makeup, which would be good for a play doll, not a collectible one. But the situation is saved by the incredibly cute freckles on the girl's fair skin☺️

In Kayla/Leia's ears are small silver stud earrings without stoppers, which we have already seen on redhead Tate BMR1959. It's as if the younger sister decided to steal her brother's favorite jewelry🤩 We have exactly this association with this moment.

The doll's hair is truly amazing: two shades of red, large soft curls, thick, sturdy braiding. The strands in front are secured at the back of the head with a transparent elastic band, leaving creases. In the photo below, you can see what the girl's hair looks like after being washed and slightly straightened with boiling water.

The red-haired beauty is dressed in a long black sundress with straps with a high slit on the right side.
The fastener is Velcro on the back.
Under the dress, the girl's knees were fixed with protective film.

On the doll's feet are very stylish and detailed black platform sandals that are comfortable to wear and do not come off the foot.

In terms of skin tone, Kyle/Leia is similar to Andra Looks 20 and dolls with similar skin tones but different builds.

Model 05, Heide, MTM Curvy, JBH73

Another favorite of the doll community that really causes delight is Heidi's sweet bun on MTM's curvy body. Just look at these luxurious shapes and how harmonious the doll's image looks!😍

Heidi has a very sophisticated makeup in terms of color, which, combined with her positively shining eyes and sweet smile, makes the girl's face the one you want to admire and admire😍 The makeup is high-quality, not pixelated.
In addition, the girl is sooo photogenic📸

Heidi's ears are adorned with gold plastic hoop earrings without stoppers, like the ones that blonde Karl has.

Long, gorgeous hair made of two shades of chocolate locust is gathered into a high elastic ponytail. The stitching is good, there is even a stitched center parting, but you will have to tinker to spread it evenly and fix it with boiling water.
In the photo below you can see Heidi's hair undone, washed and straightened.

Heidi is wearing a short sleeveless dress with an interesting cutout on the chest. The fastener is a traditional Velcro on the back.

The look is complemented by absolutely chic textured heeled sandals😍

Heidi's skintone matches Joyce's yoga green top GXF05. Our girl volunteered to diet a bit and get a slim body, so in some photos you can see her wearing this donor.

Well, our girls showed themselves from all angles, and now, after SPA treatments, we will select "home" looks, which will definitely be demonstrated in the next posts😍