Pullip My Melody HEN-NAKO was the first Pullip release in 2016. She came out in January as a new Creator’s Label doll and a collaboration with Sanrio, who is mostly known for characters like Hello Kitty, My Melody, Cinnamoroll, etc. In 2007 there even was a Pullip Hello Kitty and in 2008 the original Pullip My Melody released, but this time Groove asked well-known creator mitsubachi@BabyBee (who also worked on Pullips Seila, Galene, Kühn, Laura and Alura) to reinterpret My Melody’s character in her own way in 2016. This My Melody also wears the name HEN-NAKO, which is Japanese for “strange child”. HEN-NAKO is a character that mitsubachi@BabyBee created herself and in an awesome interview with The Dolly Insider, she mentions that she was inspired by HEN-NAKO’s and My Melody’s similarities to design My Melody HEN-NAKO Ver., who despite her quite unusual features has gotten hard to find as of the writing of this post.
My Melody HEN-NAKO has such an unique and outstanding face-up that the stock-pictures do not do her justice at all. There is a playful sweetness about her that will bring a smile onto your face! Then there is the obvious: Turquoise in all its facets is my favourite color. It goes without saying that My Melody HEN-NAKO’s soft turquoise eyechips were made for me. Her black eyeliner is something I have never encountered before on a stock Pullip: On her upper lid it does not end in a classic kitten flick, but curls up. Also there are no drawn-on lashes on her upper lid, but her lashes on the lower lid resemble five dark brown spikes that seem to grow out her black eyeliner. The inner corners of her yes are red, which can also be found in her crease under a more prominent white line. There also is some dark brown shading around her black eyeliner and soft turquoise shading over her crease, under her eyebrows. My Melody HEN-NAKO has white eyelashes, which fit into her stock-outfit and concept, and teeny tiny eyebrows that also have red shading at the ends. While her lashes and eyebrows are not everybody’s cup of tea, I especially adore the brows. Brows are one of the most interesting features on a Pullip’s face-up and I love it, when they differ in a big way to other dolls, while still staying in character. My Melody HEN-NAKO has very extravagant features and her unusual brows are an awesome addition.
Speaking of unusual: She has ombré-colored eyelids that fade from a reddish strawberry-pink into a soft brown. The same reddish strawberry-pink serves as blush on her cheeks. Her lips are very full and red. It looks, as if she first used dark red lipstick on her lips and then overdrew them with a red gloss in a lighter shade. Very lovely!
What can I say about her wig?! First of all: It is very pretty and consists out of two colors. My Melody HEN-NAKO’s uneven-cut bangs and outer layer of her long straight hair in the back is a light whitish mint-color, while the inner layer of her long hair is a soft turquoise. Overall her hair is very soft to the touch and not easy to mess up. It is not as full as I like my Pullip-wigs normally, but considering her big hat it was probably a better decision to give her this amount of hair. You can see the wig cap at the crown of her head, but her hat will cover that up nicely.
In my reviews I normally like to start with the dress/main piece of clothing first and go on to headbands, etc. later, BUT in this case My Melody HEN-NAKO’s hat is the amazing, name-giving star of the show that deserves a main spot. Its material is a very soft plush. On the outside it is a bright red, on the inside it is a light pink out of a fluffier plush-fabric. When My Melody HEN-NAKO actually wears it, a small stripe of pink plush is supposed to stick out between her bangs and the red top part of her hat. Due to the fact that her hat is supposed to be fusion between the characters My Melody and HEN-NAKO, there are two long, stuffed ears on top that have wire in them, so you can bend them to your liking. Under each ear, there is a flower out of glittery sequins with a rhinestone in the center that sits inside a flower out of metal. Around this metal flower, there are see-through sequins that are kept in place by see-through beads. Everything is unbelievably well-made and there is a long expansion on each side that goes all the way down to her hemline or that you can tie up as an extra scarf.
Out of the same material is her cape: It is red on the outside and pink and fluffy on the inside. It closes around her neck with a hook and has a big bow out of red plush at the front. The pink plush is sticking out around the edges, when My Melody HEN-NAKO wears it.
Under her warm and fuzzy accessories, she wears an extremely delicate white sleeveless dress out of cotton. What makes it so delicate are the embellishments, consisting of tiny beads that are a mix out of clear and different types of blue; mint- and yellow-colored bows and star-shaped sequins in different sizes. What I am most concerned of, is ruining the bigger star-sequins. So I do not necessarily like to move My Melody HEN-NAKO around much. The hemline of her dress consists out of white plush and between her hemline and the rest of her dress you can find subtle beige lace. Her dress closes in the back with velcro, where there is only one mint and yellow bow sewn on her dress. Under her dress she wears bloomers that are longer than her skirt. They are white and have white lace at the bottom.
My Melody HEN-NAKO naturally also comes with some stylish accessories. Starting from her wristlets that are out of the same white plush as her skirt’s hemline, they also have tiny red bows on them. They are an especially great addititon to make her red-painted nails pop. Matching her bloomers and wristlets, are her white socks that have the same kind of lace as her bloomers on top and also tiny red ribbons. Their red matches her red Mary-Janes that are wider in the front and have molded ribbons on each side. They are made out of plastic.
Finally, our girl carries a purse that could also work as a plushy. At the front it has a Pullip-sized My Melody and at the back it has a tiny functional pouch out of the soft pink plush-fabric we already now from the inside of My Melody HEN-NAKO’s hat and cape. I find that the best way for Pullip to carry this handbag is crossbody. It goes around her body with a golden chain that you can attach on the opposite side of the bag.
My Melody HEN-NAKO is a super creative Pullip that is so worth the money. She has a lot of character and is a very sweet doll. She really fits the name of Strange Child, but in the nicest and kindest way. If you are into dolly-photography, I can also only recommend her. She is super photogenic and fits perfectly into dreamy or candy-themed pictures. I hope that retailers will be re-stocking her soon because she is a beautiful doll that deserves to be in many homes (even though I would say this about all of my dolls ><)!
Thank you so much for reading!
Theri