The Monster High Skulltimate Secrets Fearidescent line is the second series of the Skulltimate Secrets line. The first series of the Skulltimate Secrets was released earlier this year. It consisted of five dolls: Frankie Stein, Draculaura, Cleo De Nile, Lagoona Blue, and Clawdeen Wolf. Each doll came with a dress-up locker and 19+ surprises. The second series, called Fearidescent, just dropped. As the name implies, each doll features one piece of iridescent clothing. The Skulltimate Secrets Fearidescent line retails for $29.99. The second series features the same five characters as Series One. I bought the Fearidescent Draculaura at Target.
The Skulltimate Secrets line capitalizes on the popularity of surprise dolls such as LOL Surprise and Hairdorables. I bought the Draculaura Skulltimate Secrets because I was drawn to the wintery vibe of her outfit. Even the locker has pastel colors and a snowflake motif, a cooler, softer feel than the locker from Series 1.
Like L.O.L. Surprise dolls, each compartment contains a bag that contains a few surprises. There are four items in each bag.
The first bag contained a skirt, a top, a fur stole, and another key.
The second bag contained ear muffs, earrings, a lacy collar, and a clear pink glittery key.
The third bag contained a skullette key fob, a second pair of shoes, and yet another key.
You can put all the keys on the key fob so you don’t lose them. All the keys are the same, by the way. All the keys fit into all the compartments. If in the unfortunate event you lose all four keys, you can turn the lock with your finger to open it. The silver keys can be dropped in a bowl of water to reveal a color. The color of the key will match the color of a compartment on the coffin.
The fourth bag contained a coffin purse and a black bat soft-serve ice cream cone. But wait, something’s missing. According to the instruction sheet, and the many YouTube unboxing videos of this doll that I watched, the fourth bag should also have contained a black skullette compact and a pink tube of lip gloss. I double-checked the bag to see if I missed them, since they’re so tiny, but they weren’t in there. How disappointing.
The purse actually opens and closes. It can hold the skullette compact and the lip gloss – if I had them. 😡
Draculaura’s makeup is entirely in pink. It features pink glittery eyeshadow and pink glittery lipstick. Even her trademark heart-shaped beauty mark is pink instead of black. Here she’s modeling the earrings from one of the surprise bags. They’re spheres with bat wings on a chain.
Draculaura’s first outfit consists of a black crop-top with pink spiderwebs on it. There’s a heart at the center of each web. The top features long net sleeves that are puffed at the shoulder then become tight down to the wrist. The “fearidescent” pink A-line skirt has a large ruffled hem.
Her light-to-dark-pink-gradient knee-boots are extremely detailed. They feature open-work heart motifs up to the heart-shaped tongue at the top. The zipper down the front has a heart-shaped zipper pull.
The tips of the boots feature spats with studded straps that wind around up to the ankle, ending in a heart-shaped buckle.
The heels are heart-shaped.
Not having quite recovered from the disappointment of the missing compact and lip gloss, I experienced yet another shock. When I removed Draculaura’s top, I had to take her hands out in order to pull the tight sleeves down. Now I’ve removed hands from Monster High dolls countless times in the eleven years that I’ve been collecting them. In all that time, I’ve never had a hand break on me, not even the spindly G1 hands. When I bought my first G3 doll, I was impressed by how much sturdier the hands were. But Draculaura’s hands felt “off” when I pulled them out, and when I tried to put them back in after I changed Draculaura’s top, they broke. Both of them! Both had the same issue. The soft rubber peg inside the hand that allows for articulation at the wrist split. I tried putting the hands back on but they’re not secure, and they fall off sometimes when I’m trying to pose the doll. So if Draculaura’s hands look a little wonky in the rest of the photos in this review, that’s why.
Draculaura’s second outfit consists of a pink sleeveless crop top with a large black heart with corset lacing. Her pink circle miniskirt is printed with a black spiderweb design and has a black ribbon around the waist.
Her jelly platform shoes have pink glittery uppers with double straps featuring hearts and winged hearts.
The black fluted platform heels feature a heart-shaped recess in the center.
After opening all of the surprise bags, I dressed Draculaura in my favorite pieces from the Skulltimate Secrets Fearidescent set. I love the first top with the second skirt. The removable lacy collar looks so good with the first top. I removed the earrings because I felt they were a little busy. And I love the boots with this outfit. In this ensemble, Draculaura is perfection.
What appealed to me most about the Skulltimate Secrets Fearidescent line was its winter-themed accessories. Sure, it’s the end of July and ninety-five degrees out, but I’m ready for some cooler weather. Here Draculaura models the bat-wing earmuffs.
From the side you can see that the earmuffs are heart-shaped.
She’s added her fur stole to keep the chill away.
So what do I think of the Skulltimate Secrets Fearidescent Draculaura? I love her. She’s a beautiful doll. The coffin-shaped locker she comes in reminds me a lot of the Monster High Draculocker but with the element of surprise. However, as much as I love her, this doll is the first Monster High doll to ever let me down. I was disappointed that the hands broke, and that two of Draculaura’s accessories were missing. Did I just have a bit of bad luck, or is this indicative of a decline in the quality of Monster High dolls? Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun with this doll.
Although Series 2 of the Skulltimate Secrets line just came out, details about series three have already been leaked. It’s called Skulltimate Secrets Neon Frights, and it consists of Draculaura, Frankie Stein, Ghoulia Yelps, Toralai Stripes, and Twyla Boogeyman. I’m excited to see another Ghoulia Yelps doll. It looks like Mattel has given Ghoulia her bold-but-brainy personality back. This was a slight issue that I had with the first Generation Three Ghoulia. I felt she looked bland and kind of vacant. I’ll be on the lookout for the Skulltimate Secrets Ghoulia when Series Three comes out.
Dollsville, USA 