Barbie & the 12 Dancing Princesses - Vanity Playset

I came to give you the full product review-without opening the box. I am giving this to my little sister for christmas. She got the movie for her birthday and almost all my relatives are getting her assorted sisters, so i decided to get her a playset-after all, a princess needs somewhere to get ready, right?

The armoire is one of the most creative pieces in the playset. Orriginally crafted, this armoire comes with two opening doors. One is detached already in the box (most likely a packaging thing so it can fit) and you see on the inside of the doors, holders for shoes that look like the toe-part a ballet shoe. These holders are dark pink, almost a magenta, with matching bows. How cute is that!? In the armoire, there are 12 pairs of dancing shoes, artisticly arranged. Some are in the door hangers and others are on the two shoe-shelves given to hold shoes. There are 5 pairs of lavendar shoes and 7 pairs of light pink shoes. Now, about the shelves. The shelves are scalloped, or indented, so in each scallop there is room for one shoe. Each shelf holds 3 pairs of shoes (holding 6 pairs total) and each door holds 3 pairs of shoes (holding 6 pairs total). That totals all the shoes. There are 9 pairs of shoes that look like they would fit regular barbies (so the older sisters) and 3 pairs that look like they would fit regular kellies (so the younger sisters). Nearer to the top of the armoire, there is a bar to hang clothes with three ornate hangers. The bar is a lavendar and the three hangers are a lovely magenta. The armoire itself is lavendar with an ornate top with a design that is a light-pink flower and two toe-shoes surrounded by two lavendar flowers, some lavendar leaves, and some lavendar dots. Moving On...

The vanity is a beautiful piece with lovely creativity. The piece has a light-pink base with four legs and a piece of ballerina tulle going around the front. The tulle is a light white netting with multi-colored glitter. On top of the tulle is a lovely flower design in gold. The top of the vanity is lavendar. Arranged artisticly on the vanity are an assortment of primping products. There are 3 perfume bottles in lavendar, three sparkly powder puffs in white, and 3 hairbrushes in gold. There are three heart-shaped mirrors on top of this vanity. One is larger and it is in the middle. This mirror has a large lavendar-and-gold flower and two toe shoes hanging from it. The other two mirrors are smaller and each have a medium-sized lavendar-and-gold flower. That's that.

The vanity bench has a gold base with 4 legs. Near the top of the base on the back is an ornate flower design in gold. The seat itself is purple, but not cushioned. It looks to be hard plastic.

The crown-storage unit is another unique piece. The piece itself is a lovely lavendar with lavendar toe-shoes on the sides and a magenta flower design on the front. There is no door to close this but when you turn the top, the middle spins, revealing storage space for 12 crowns, which come with the set. Each crown is a beautiful gold and is ornately carved (or whatever they do to plastic). Now, remember how I said, spin the top? Well, the top has a ballerina that is in pirouette position. She is on a stand and I assume, when you spin her, she spins around. Over the top is a pink bar to act like a closure to the piece, so the ballerina isn't just randomly there. Magenta is "wrapped" around the light pink, giving it a ribbon effect and "tied" in a bow at the top.

The last piece in the set is a backdrop so the vanity isn't just randomly there. The backdrop is more of a yellow-beige than gold with pillars and lavendar rhinestones on the right and left. In the middle is a gold stone. There is ornate magenta flower design in the middle and ornate lavendar ones on each side.

This concludes my review. It looks like a wonderful playset so I gave it 5 stars. I'll be back on Christmas (or the day after) to tell you what it really is like!

My five year old got this for Christmas today and it really is very nice. The princesses can sit on the vanity seat while they do their hair and make up in the mirror. The backdrop scene is beautiful, and although it is framed with plastic, the actual scene is made of cardboard. I would have wished it was made of plastic as well.

My primary complaint is that although this comes with 12 pairs of shoes (9 for Barbie, 3 for Kelly) it only comes with 3 crowns which I found odd. It also includes 3 bottles of perfume, 3 powder puffs, and 3 hairbrushes. The vanity seat really seats around 3-4 barbies. The spinning accessory holder can get stuck when a crown or other accessory inside gets stuck between the shelf and the wall. Watch out for that, as ours is stuck at the moment and I can't seem to unstick it.

I found this to be an excellent buy for the price!

My 5 year old granddaughter loved this gift so much she tore into it as soon as it was opened. She loved all the extras that came with it, the shoes were her favorite of all. She got Princess Fallon as well and as soon as the gifts were all opened she settled in a quiet corner with her cousin and played with it for hours. Now, I'd call that a good gift.