After months of searching and waiting, Lauryce is finally here!
All I can say is WOW! She was so, so, so worth all the waiting and the searching. I have been checking every Target store every time I went for months. It has become part of my Target routine to always take any H4H doll they had on the shelf over to the scanner to check for stock in the back (which there never was). I even found both of the newest dolls, Mosi and Shola, in Target recently, but passed on them to wait for Lauryce. I had been looking for her on Amazon too, but only saw her available from third party sellers for four times her retail price. After finding Target restocked with the other H4H girls, and still being disappointed that there was no Lauryce, I finally found her available on Amazon for $24.99 with free shipping. I ordered her from Amazon, and I'm so glad that I did. I still haven't seen her in a store yet. I guess the old routine of looking for her every time I go there might be a hard habit to break. :)
On with the review... Lauryce is a Hearts 4 Hearts Girl from Playmates Toys. She comes in a covered window box. There is a large picture of her on the front flap of the box, which opens like a door, so you can see the actual doll through the clear plastic window. The front of the box stays closed with Velcro dots on the right side at the top and bottom. The "larger than actual size" picture on the cover just does not do Lauryce justice.
The left side of the box has more information about Lauryce.
A donation is made to charity when you buy a Hearts 4 Hearts doll. The donation concept is similar to that of the Karito Kids dolls. A portion of the purchase price of every H4H doll goes to World
Vision, a humanitarian organization that helps girls like Lauryce. World Vision is dedicated to building a better world for children and
their families and communities in the US and around the world. World
Vision does this through education, water and hygiene, micro enterprise,
community development, and disaster relief.
The back of the box has pictures of all of the Hearts 4 Hearts Girls dolls except for Shola, the newest doll.
When you open the flap on the front of the box, you can see Lauryce through the clear plastic window.
The inside of the flap looks like a scrapbook or bulletin board with pictures and notes about Lauryce.
Straight out of the box, Lauryce is adorable!
She has the most beautiful inset gold-green eyes. I just love the look of inset eyes, and hers are striking. I believe that Lauryce and Shola have the same color eyes. She has tanned skin and rose colored lips
Included in the box is a mini storybook made of heavy cardstock, a blue comb with a purple hairband, and a friendship bracelet for girls.
I put the friendship bracelet on Lauryce to wear as a necklace. It has two plastic heart charms. The pink heart charm has the logo silhouette of two girls on one side and has the word GIRLS on the other side. The purple heart charm has the Hearts 4 Hearts slogan, "Changing the World one heart at a time!"
The first page of the mini storybook is the title page which says Lauryce's home is in New Orleans. The book is written as if Lauryce is telling her story in her own words.
The next page is about Lauryce's family and pets. Her popa (dad in Creole) is a high school history teacher and her moman (mom) runs an art shop nearby in Carrollton. She has a rabbit named Pearl, a dog called Rowley, and a cat named Sookie. The facing page is about Hurricane Katrina which happened when she was four years old. Her family had to go stay with her aunt in Baton Rouge. A tree fell across their porch, there were lots of broken windows, and everything inside was ruined. I can really relate to this story, being a Hurricane Katrina survivor myself. I don't live very far from New Orleans, and some of our relatives from New Orleans came to stay with us. We were without power for a week at my house, and there was a lot of damage everywhere you went. Most people needed a new roof or had some kind of damage. Businesses here were either closed or only open for very limited hours each day. You couldn't even get McDonalds or any other food after 6 pm. It was a very strange and terrible time. It was months before life returned to normal. This is part of the reason why I was so drawn to Lauryce.
The next page is about helping others. Lauryce started the LiL Hearts Club (Living in Louisiana Hearts Club) to help animals because of the stories of all the pets lost and left behind during and after the storm. She and her friend help out the animal shelter and also walk dogs for people who are busy. They take their pets to visit nursing homes, to help the people there feel better. Lauryce's parents also sponsor two children from Haiti.
The last page is about Haiti, which has both hurricanes and earthquakes. Lauryce tells about the two children in Haiti that they sponsor. The book was short, interesting, and fun to read. It encourages everyone, even children, to find a way to help others.
Lauryce comes wearing a sleeveless dress with a ruffled grey bodice and a satiny skirt in a pastel watercolor print. She has white underwear, a wide purple and white polka dot hair band, and pink slip-on plastic shoes. She has shiny silver colored heart shaped earrings and a matching silver bangle bracelet. The silver bracelet and earrings appear to be made of a soft plastic, painted to look like real silver jewelry. This is probably for the best, as you won't have to worry about the jewelry staining her vinyl, like you would with a real metal jewelry. On the other arm, she is wearing 4 rubbery bangle bracelets in pink, green, purple, and blue.
She has rooted honey blond hair that is long and wavy with a crimped texture to it. It is silky and hangs in place beautifully. So far, I have been really impressed with the quality of Hearts 4 Hearts dolls hair.
Lauryce stands 14" tall, and she is made completely of vinyl. She doesn't have a stuffed torso like American Girl dolls, her little body is made of vinyl too. She is also shorter and slimmer than AG dolls, but H4H girls make great younger sisters for American Girls. Here is Lauryce with Kit for size comparison
We also have Dell, so I had to add a few pictures of Lauryce and Dell together.
Lauryce & Dell's nature walk adventure.
As you can see, Lauryce is much more tan than Dell. Dell is like my middle girl, she doesn't tan, she gets freckles.
I would highly recommend Lauryce, and I'm pretty sure any of the Hearts 4 Hearts Girls, based on our experience with Dell and now Lauryce. Their quality is excellent and their price is affordable. A portion of the price goes to charity, and they are instilling in children the desire and goal of helping others. They have the same posability as American Girl dolls. I like that they can stand easily on their own. Her face mold is beautiful and her inset eyes are so incredibly lovely.
What do you think of Lauryce and the other Hearts 4 Hearts Girls? Leave your thoughts, questions, and comments below.
