Doll Review: Minikane Les Bambinis Doll

This is Augustine, from the Minikane Les Bambinis doll range. Minikane is a French company, but their dolls are manufactured for them by Paola Reina in Spain. I don't know if Augustine was manufactured by Paola Reina though as there are no markings on her to say that she is. There are no markings to say that she's a Minikane doll either. The markings on the back of her neck say "Magic Baby" and that she was manufactured in Spain. The fabric for her clothing was manufactured in Portugal and sewn in Minikane's workshop in France. This doll is available at The Kid Collective for £56.95. She comes wrapped in a plastic bag that was originally tied with a ribbon, making her look like a lovely gift. I seem to have lost the ribbon, so I can't tie it back up.

One issue I had was that her feet are really chunky and they don't fit any dolls shoes that I own or any of the bootees that I've made. Luckily she comes with her own pair of socks. I think she might be able to fit real baby socks and soft shoes in a tiny baby size.

Augustine is 47cm tall. For reference, the popular Baby Born dolls are 43cm tall but as you can see in the photo, Baby Born actually looks as if she is larger. She has a longer body and a significantly larger head than Augustine. Her body is also more rounded.

Augustine is manufactured from eco-friendly, non toxic, BPA free vinyl. Like the other Minikane dolls, the vinyl is vanilla scented. This is supposed to make her smell sweet and like a real baby but to be honest, it smells absolutely awful! The smell transfers on to clothing or blankets that the doll touches. I noticed that she smells less over time, but it might just be that you get used to the smell.

The more popular 34cm Minikane dolls are made from a relatively solid vinyl, but Augustine is made from a much softer and squishier vinyl. I actually found it a bit disconcerting at first, just how much squishier she was than I was expecting. Her arms and legs also have quite a lot of play in their joints. I find dolls heads are usually quite solid, even if their bodies have some squish to them, but Augustine's head is also quite squishy.

Although the website where I bought her said she was a toddler doll, I don't think there is anything toddler-ish about her. Her feet slope downwards, in a more natural position for lying down (this is similar to the Miniland doll's feet), so you can't make her stand up and pretend that she is toddling. She looks very much like a baby rather than a toddler.

Her face is quite nice and she has eyelashes. Her eyes are fixed, so don't close when you lie her back. Her mouth is closed so you can't use a dummy or bottle with her.

I don't really like the position of her head as it makes her look as if she is staring down at the floor when she is in a sitting position. It's not so bad if you turn her head to the side.

She comes dressed in an outfit, headband and a pair of socks. I liked the thick socks she came with, but the quality of the outfit wasn't that great. The crinkle fabric was nice quality. It looks to be cotton or possibly a cotton and linen blend, but the construction wasn't very good. There is a thread loop in the middle of the top stitching right on the front of the top and the gathers weren't very well distributed. You can see in the picture that the neckline is trying to flip to the outside because it has just been folded over and stitched down.

The matching pants are kind of ridiculous. They really don't fit at all. There's so much extra fabric in them. I get that they're supposed to be loose fitting but they're loose in the wrong way. I feel like this beige crinkle fabric is more the aesthetic for mothers who like natural or organic things rather than for children themselves. I'm sure children would have preferred the doll to come in something brightly coloured or patterned rather than a sad beige. It does look nice, and I'm sure there are doll collectors who will like it but the doll is supposed to be for children.

I actually found it quite difficult to get the top on and off the doll. It felt like I had to stretch it more than it wanted to stretch to get her arms into it. Since it's made from a woven fabric, there isn't really any stretch in the fabric anyway. I also noticed the velcro at the back hadn't been done very well. One side should lap over the other so there shouldn't be a big lump where the to edges meet. I'm not sure if it had been accidentally sewn wrong or if it was supposed to be like that. I have seen other dolls clothes where the edges don't lap over each other nicely. It's not hard to do but I suppose it is an extra step a company might not want to take if they were mass manufacturing something.

I feel like I've said a lot of negative things about this doll. £56.95 is a very high price tag to pay for a children's doll, but she is made in Spain rather than in China, so I assume that she will be ethically made as companies in France and Spain will adhere to EU laws and regulations for pay and working conditions. She's also made of non toxic materials. I actually got mine half price and she was kind of an impulse buy. In the photos on the website she didn't look particularly nice, but I found she is much cuter in real life. She has a lovely face with quite realistic features, a nice skin tone and her proportions are good. It's nice to have a slightly larger doll. I think it can be easier for very young children to dress larger dolls than smaller ones. It can be a nice gift for a child with a new sibling to have a baby doll almost the same size as their new sibling. I would think that the doll might fit tiny baby/newborn nappies and some items of clothing too. I also like that she doesn't need batteries and doesn't come with a bunch of preset features which will dictate how a child plays with the doll. Children are free to use their imagination with this doll, which I really like. If you are sensitive to smells then this probably isn't the doll for you. Maybe if you left her outside in a garage or outbuilding for some time and washed her clothes, the smell might fade a bit. Overall, I personally really like this doll and would recommend her if you are looking for doll this size.

In terms of what sort of clothing the doll fits, surprisingly she fits in many of my outfits for Baby Born, despite being 5cm taller. If anything, my pink Baby Born dungaree set is almost too large for her. You can see in the earlier photo that Baby Born has a much rounder body, so she fills out clothing better. Augustine's body is quite flat. Sharing dresses with Baby Born shouldn't be a problem though. The dress in the photo below is actually for 15-16 inch dolls,

This jacket is also slightly too big for her, especially the hood because her head is much smaller.