Blog Posts by Lylah M. Alphonse, Senior Editor, Yahoo! Shine

There are more than 200 Barbies in Mattel's Dolls of the World collection, all dressed in costumes that pay homage to different countries. The collection debuted in 1980 with Parisian, British, and Italian dolls, but the more-modern versions are causing controversy now: The 2013 Mexico Barbie, in particular, has been called out by critics for being offensive rather than educational. "Our goal with the Dolls of the World Mexico Barbie, as well as the entire Dolls of the World Collection, is to celebrate cultural differences and tradition, introducing girls to the world through play," a Mattel spokesperson told Yahoo! Shine. Take a look at some of their newest offerings and decide for yourself: Are these ethnic Barbie dolls stunning, or simply stereotypical? -- By Lylah M. Alphonse, Senior Editor, Yahoo! Shine.

Dear Target: Orina does not mean what you think it means. (Photo: Target.com)

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While the store initially believed the word "Orina" to mean "peace" or "peaceful" in Russian, about a week ago they found out that it actually means "urine" in Spanish. The company is now in the process of relabeling all of the $19-$22.99 shoes that are still on their shelves. (The sandals had been available at Target stores and at Target.com since February, though they're no longer online. Perhaps they should consider themselves lucky that the name refers to the style and not the color!)

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While the name isn't that offensive in and of itself, it does point to a certain amount of cultural ignorance on the

Did that gorgeous dress in your favorite movie or TV show seem awfully familiar? You're not imagining things: costume designers recycle outfits all the time. "About a third of the costumes are made from scratch," Susannah ­Buxton, who dresses the cast of "Downton Abbey," said in 2011. "We couldn't have done all of them -- it would have cost a fortune, way over our budget -- and some of the fabrics just don't exist any more." Who wore it best? Take a look at some costume comparisons, shake off the deja vu, and decide for yourself. -- By Lylah M. Alphonse, Senior Editor, Yahoo! Shine

The mail order bride business is back -- and its booming. Why? (Photo: Getty Images)It wasn't so long ago that the term "mail order bride" made people cringe. The women, everyone assumed, had to be horribly desperate to sell themselves to the highest bidder. The men, people thought, must be unappealing but rich, possibly searching for someone who was willing to have sex and do housework timid enough not to question their husbands. The industry faded as its respectability floundered but now, re-branded as "premium international dating," the mail-order bride industry is back -- and it's booming.

A decade ago, it seemed like a seedy way to find a mate. "The night I met my husband, in the port city of Odessa, Ukraine, in late 2000, I stood against the wall in a restaurant at the Black Sea Hotel along with 200 other young women," wrote one mail-order bride about her own experience. "The two dozen men seated before us -- all from America, mostly in their 50s or 60s -- had come to find wives."

Now, though? It's all online chatrooms and chaperoned outings, and some say it's

Mariam tells ITV that she's learned to love the way she looks, facial hair and all. (Photo: ITV/This Morning)Many women spend a fortune—and put up with a lot of pain—plucking, threading, and waxing away unwanted facial hair. Not Mariam.

The German-born mom, who goes only by her first name, is making headlines for embracing her significant goatee.

Mariam's thick beard is all natural. "It really grows as a goatee, as you can see," she said during an interview with the UK's ITV Network. Instead of shaving, she simply "shortens" the ends to keep herself looking well-groomed, because "If it gets too long, it's a bit frizzy."

Mariam—who is of German and Iranian decent—didn't immediately embrace her facial hair. She says that it began growing in soon after the birth of her son, when she was about 21 years old. Ten years later, it was so thick that she would have a full beard if she didn't tweeze each hair out every morning. It would take her hours to get ready to leave the house, she was so obsessed with pulling out every hair.

"My chin got really red and inflamed from all the plucking, and some

Ethan Clos, 5, was suspended from kindergarten after he showed up with this hairstyle last week. (Photo: WHIO-TV)When 5-year-old Ethan Clos showed up at school with a short, spiky mohawk last week, his fellow kindergarteners thought it was cool. But administrators at Reid Primary and Middle School in Springfield, Ohio, deemed the edgy cut too disruptive, and ordered him home until he adopted a tamer style.

His mom, Keshia Castle, said that school officials suspended her son on Wednesday. After he begged her for the hairstyle, she finally let him get it over spring break.

"They seen his hair like it was," she told WHIO-TV on Friday. "All the little kids were going over and feeling on it and everything."

Superintendent Gregg Morris says that's exactly why they had to send little Ethan home.

"Our dress and grooming policies are designed to ensure that clothing and hairstyles do not cause a distraction to the learning environment," Morris said in a statement.

The school's handbook states that "Hair shall be worn above the eyebrows and must be kept clean, neat and trimmed" and specifies that boys

Norweigan artist Ida Skivenes takes playing with food to a whole new level. The 29-year-old artist has never attended art or culinary school, but was inspired by her love of food, art, and photography to start recreating famous paintings on her breakfast toast. "It was a great chance to exercise my creative side while also engaging people in eating healthy fun food," she says. She posts pictures of her Art Toast Project, as well as snapshots of other art she makes from food, on Instagram, where she has more than 94,000 followers. Then she eats her creations. "This isn't a art project as such," she explained to Yahoo! Shine. "I make actual breakfasts and am very carefully when it comes to reducing unnecessary waste." Here's a look at some of her most popular pieces of edible art. -- By Lylah M. Alphonse, Senior Editor, Yahoo! Shine

Yes, that's a bacon-and-egg sandwich on a glazed donut. Hashbrowns are optional. (Photo: Dunkin' Donuts)Dunkin' Donuts is testing out a new breakfast offering, and it sounds too good—or maybe too bad—to be true: A bacon-and-egg breakfast sandwich, with a glazed donut as the bread.

"A few select Dunkin' Donuts restaurants in eastern Massachusetts are currently carrying a Glazed Donut Breakfast Sandwich," Lindsay Harrington, public relations manager for Dunkin' Brands, confirmed to Yahoo! Shine in an email. "The sandwich features bacon and a pepper fried egg on a glazed yeast ring donut."

As die-hard donut fans, we couldn't help but wonder whether the sandwich was any good. Would the peppery egg compliment or interfere with the squishy sweetness of the donut? Would we even be able to eat the thing easily, given that the outside is completely coated with sugary glaze? Who comes up with stuff like this, anyway?

We went to four Boston-area Dunkin' Donuts outlets, but had no luck finding the elusive offering. One employee laughed when asked if he would custom-make a donut sandwich for