Project Mc2 Camryn's Tie Dye Doll with Experiment review

If you're looking for a positive role model for a little girl, you would be hard pressed to find a better candidate than Camryn Coyle. She exudes natural grace and beauty, without the need for make up or raunchy clothes. She's not just a total babe with a flair for fashion though - she is one of the super-smart and seriously cool girls in secret organization, NOV8 (that's 'innovate'), who use their love of science and their spy skills on clever missions. 

Even as just a doll, she would be a great buy, especially for fans of the series who would probably recognise the clothes from the show. She is fully articulated so you can move her head, shoulders, knees and ... no, not toes, wrists, elbows and hips ! The head is on a ball socket so it can go up, down, left, right or round. This gives her a wide scope of realistic movements, but it does make her slightly more fragile than the more solid, less articulated dolls. The magic of the Mc2 dolls, however, is that they come with a cool experiment that you can try at home using items from the box and a few household materials - in Camryn's case, using rubbing alcohol for a tie dye effect.

Along with the doll, there are three marker pens, a pipette and a comb for brushing her hair.

You need to add something to decorate made of light-coloured canvas, such as a tote bag or a pair of white plimsolls, and some rubbing alcohol. I had a little play on google to check what the UK equivalent of American rubbing alcohol is - they kindly give the scientific formula on the back of the box, C3H8O -  and it's surgical spirit, which can be used as an antiseptic. It is definitely not white spirit, which is used to clean paint brushes, and can irritate skin - I've seen some confusion over this online and I do think they should add a sticker to the UK boxes to make it easier for sourcing the required materials. Lots of people have apparently been buying "rubbing alcohol" online when they could just pick up a bottle of "surgical spirit" from their local supermarket !

I love the way the blurb on the back of the box explains all of the science behind the experiment. "Permanent ink doesn't dissolve in water, which is why it's hard to get off your hands, but it does dissolve in rubbing alcohol (codename: C3H8O). Using this knowledge, we can colour any piece of fabric, then use alcohol to create a tie-dye effect. As you drip alcohol onto fabric, it is absorbed and starts to spread. As it spreads, it drags the colours with it. Then, the alcohol evaporates, and the colours are left in a new spot, creating a rad new design !"

The name of the experiment on the box is a bit misleading because it doesn't actually involve any tying or dying, but the effect is really pretty and we'll definitely be stocking up on cheap white plimsolls at the supermarket for the kids to have fun with over the summer.

The other dolls' experiments look very cool too, and I love the fact that they are both fun and educational. Juliette desperately wants to try Create your own Gummies with Adrienne Attoms and Create Glitter Tattoos with Ember Evergreen now !

star rating : 4.5/5

Disclosure : We received the product in order to write an honest review.