Doll Review: Spring Unsprung Lizzie Hearts

I hope you’ve got some time to spare because this is one looong review!  You might even consider bookmarking it for later.

As you all know, I prefer crafting my own doll rooms, accessories, and whatnots and typically don’t buy doll playsets–well, except for that beautiful castle I’m still working on.  It’s not that I don’t like playsets; I just don’t need them.  Plus, playsets are often more expensive, so I like to avoid the extra cost and focus on just the doll.

However, even I, the playset snob, couldn’t resist Spring Unsprung Lizzie Hearts and her spellbinding, book-shaped dorm room!

Mattel released five versions of Lizzie Hearts between 2014 and 2015:

I love Lizzie’s Signature doll, but her high price tag was more than I wanted to spend.  Way Too Wonderland Lizzie was within my budget, but I wasn’t crazy about her red, black, and purple streaked hair.  TriCastleOn Lizzie comes with some unique accessories, like a gold mallet.  Unfortunately, the only way to get her is to buy the set with Cerise Hood and Hunter Huntsman making her the most expensive Lizzie Hearts so far.  Book Party Lizzie is a budget doll, and I was leaning towards getting her…until I saw Spring Unsprung Lizzie!

Spring Unsprung Lizzie Hearts was perfect!  She was simple but not overly plain, articulated, AND came with a cool looking book-shaped room!

For me, the only thing cooler than doll packaging that looks like a book is a doll room that looks like a book!

Yes, I have a serious fascination with faux books that can hold secret treasures!

To top it off, Spring Unsprung Lizzie was available on Amazon for just $23.  That made her cheaper than every other version except for Book Party Lizzie who was around $18 at the time.

The Box:

I have a little confession to make—I didn’t take any unboxing photos?!  I grabbed a screenshot of the box, though.  Hopefully, it will give you an idea of how Spring Unsprung Lizzie comes packaged.  I know it’s not an in-real-life photo, but it’ll have to do.

Spring Unsprung Lizzie Hearts comes in a large box that is mostly black and white with a few pops of red and gold.  There is a window in the front allowing you to see Lizzie’s face and part of the book.  The right side looks like the spine of a book and has “Spring Unsprung Book” printed on it.  Then on the left side are pictures giving you a sneak peek at what’s inside!

Since I can’t remember what description on the back says (nor can I find any screenshots) let’s go ahead and introduce Lizzie Hearts!

Meet Lizzie Hearts!

As tempting as it is to start with her book-shaped dorm room, I thought it’d be best to let Lizzie have the spotlight first.

Lizzie Hearts is the daughter of the Queen of Hearts from Alice In Wonderland and a royal at Ever After High.

She dreams of following in her mother’s footsteps yet hopes to be a kinder queen.  As seen in the Ever After High webisode, Lizzie Shuffles The Deck, she can be overly zealous in her ambitions and admits to memorizing her mother’s “daily deck of instructions”.  Lizzie’s best friends are mostly fellow Wonderlandians as they are the least offended by her brash personality.

Spring Unsprung Lizzie Hearts is part of a wave of dolls released in 2014.  The wave included:

Shortly after their release, Ever After High aired on TV special (also called Spring Unsprung) featuring the styles seen in this line.

While she is not as ornate as her Signature doll, this version of Lizzie has plenty of character.  She comes wearing a cute floral printed dress, a fancy collar and bracelet, a crown, and a pair of red shoes.

Her makeup seems similar to that of her Signature doll.  The only differences I can spot between the two seem to be the lipstick and maybe the eyebrows.  Spring Unsprung Lizzie definitely has darker lipstick and it looks like her eyebrows are darker.

Lizzie has light blue eyes and, of course, her iconic heart painted over her left eye.

Instead of a heart-shaped bun, Spring Unsprung Lizzie has a slightly wavy hair.  Her bangs are tied back in a ponytail.  She has dark black hair in the back and red and pink streaks highlighting each side.

I was sure her hair would come out matted after being pressed against the back of the book, but, fortunately, it wasn’t too bad!  A bit of finger-combing was all it took to loosen the curls and give her hair a nice shape.

Since she’s from Wonderland, Lizzie Hearts is shorter than most of her fairytale friends.  Here she is with Apple White and Cerise Hood and the height difference is pretty obvious.

It’s especially noticeable when she stands next to Cerise who is the tallest of the bunch.

How Well Does She Pose?

Generally, dolls with playsets are not as good of quality as stand-alone dolls; however, that doesn’t seem to be the case with Spring Unsprung Lizzie Hearts!

She can turn her head from side to side and look up and down.

She can lift her arms out to the side.

As you can see, though, lifting her arms with the large collar on is awkward, so I’m going to remove it before continuing.

Now you can get a better look at Lizzie’s shoulder, elbow, and wrist articulation.  Besides lifting her shoulders, Lizzie can also bend her elbows and tilt and turn her wrists.

Her legs rotate forward at the hip…

As I was saying, Lizzie’s legs rotate forward and backward at the hips, bend at the knee, and (as long as she’s wearing a loose-fitting outfit) she can do a darn good version of the splits!

The Outfit:

Spring Unsprung Lizzie wears a short, sleeveless dress.

The dress is all one piece and velcros closed in the back.  There are red and gold roses printed on the bodice. Attached to the bodice is a red, satiny overskirt that is higher in the front than it is the back, then under the overskirt is a tightly fitted, black and white checked mini skirt which also has a few flowers printed on it.

Next up are Lizzie’s shoes.

Her shoes are bright red with hearts and swirls at the front and roses sculpted to the outside of each.  The heels are pretty thin so balancing her in these shoes is not easy.

At last, we come to Lizzie’s jewelry which includes: a headband (or crown), a collar, and a bracelet.

Lizzie’s gold headband has three hearts and three red roses at the top.  Around her left wrist is a gold bracelet.

The Elizabethan style collar is solid red and has several “ruffles” sculpted into it.  There are little roses at the end of each ruffle and loops of beads (or maybe pearls?) molded to both sides.

The Book:

Now let’s check out Lizzie’s awesome book/room!  The book itself is not super big.  It’s about 12″ tall by 7 1/2″ wide and 2 1/4 inches deep.

The book has a red, plastic border which holds the front and back covers and inside walls in place.  The front cover is printed with a black and white diamond pattern.  There is a framed window which lets you peek in and see Lizzie.  Under the window is Lizzie’s name.  Then, the last little detail is a decorative gold lock hanging off to the side.

The right side (the “pages”) has Ever After High stamped across it, and on the left side (the spine of the book) is a picture of Lizzie Hearts with Ever After High written below.

The back cover features a picture of the Well Of Wonder.  There are streamers hanging off a tree on the left side and you can even see the Spring Fairest fair in the background.

Look!  There’s Bunny Blanc in her rabbit form!  How cute!

When you first open the set, you’re greeted by Lizzie Hearts who is standing inside the book.

Spring Unsprung Lizzie doesn’t come with a stand.  Instead, there is a clip attached to the back wall that acts as a stand.

I like this because it keeps Lizzie from falling out when you open the book or bouncing around when you move it.

As stated on the front of the box, the walls inside are decorated to look like Lizzie’s dorm room.

On the front cover is a picture of some of Lizzie’s furniture.  There is a dresser, a sewing center (a girl after my own heart!), and a playing card rug.

There are also a couple of hooks (one shaped like a diamond and another like a heart) on the front wall that Lizzie can use to hold things like her purse and collar.

On the opposite side is a vanity with a mirror, a chair, and some shelves for storage.  Most of the shelves are open, but the very top shelf has a card that flips around to show either a picture of Lizzie or the back of a playing card.

The chair fits under the vanity and is red and with swirls and hearts on all sides.  It’s a tad tall though. Lizzie’s shoes don’t quite touch the ground.

Even though the vanity is narrow, there is enough room for Lizzie and an accessory (like a makeup pallet).

Also, if you flip the chair upside down it doubles as a storage bin!

You can use the bin to hold Lizzie’s accessories or extra clothes.

The Accessories:

Besides the book, Spring Unsprung Lizzie comes with several fun knickknacks.

First, there is a deck of playing cards.

This is a very tiny deck with only the Queen Of Hearts showing.  Obviously, the cards are one piece of plastic and not individual cards.  On the back is a loop so Lizzie can hold the cards.

Lizzie’s next accessory is a jewelry box.

The jewelry box has a red bottom and a gold top.  It is nicely detailed and can hold a small object.

Then, because no doll would be complete with a purse, Lizzie has a red and gold handbag.

The purse has deep lines forming a diamond pattern on both sides and a handle that looks like gold chain links.  The sides and top are also gold and at the very top is a diamond-shaped clasp.  Unfortunately, the purse doesn’t open?.

The last trinket included in the playset is a plastic ring.

The ring is a red rose attached to a gold band.  The bottom shelf in the playset looks like a ring cushion, which makes me think it’s for storing the ring.

The ring is my least favorite part of the playset.  I’ve never been the jewelry wearing type.  Even as I kid I enjoyed getting accessories for my doll more than myself.

Final Thoughts:

I’m not sure how much this playset originally retailed for, but it was worth the $23 I spent.  I love Lizzie Hearts’ Spring Unsprung outfit.   It’s simple yet doesn’t look cheap.

She has the same amount of articulation as her Signature doll.  I even prefer this hairstyle over Lizzie’s heart-shaped bun.  I’m afraid the bun might be delicate and hard to work with, but this style is easy to manipulate and looks natural.

The playset is small, but for me small is perfect!  It doesn’t take up a ton of space and fits easily on a shelf.  It also gives extra storage for doll clothes and goodies–something I always need more of?.

Besides being fun to play with, the book is also fun to look at!  I love the faded wallpaper on the vanity side and the picture of Lizzie’s sewing table is too cute.  It makes me want to make a real-life version for her!

So, in summary, I’m very happy with this purchase.  It turned out better than I expected.  Lizzie Hearts is adorable, and her book-shaped dorm room is right up my alley.

Kitty Cheshire is also thrilled since Lizzie Hearts is her best friend forever after!

Well, that’s it for today!  I hope you had fun checking out Spring Unsprung Lizzie Hearts with me and viewing all the pictures.

I admit I get a little carried away with my doll photography!  It’s too much fun (especially with pretty dolls such as these)!

Anyway, I look forward to seeing you next time, and–just to give you a little hint at a few of our next posts?–in the coming weeks we’ll be working on a couple of custom dolls, opening blind bags, and taking a look at the new Marvel Studios: First Ten Years Iron Man figure!  I also plan to throw in a few quick crafts here and there so be sure to keep and eye out for those as well!