Lens review: Vassen Sweet Bliss Green

Hello folks.

Today's review is about the Vassen Sweet Bliss Green, also often known as Vassen Cloud Nine Green. This is a j-fashion and potential cosplay lens in my books, mainly because of how 'anime' it looks with its teary eye effect.

Let's go!

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.5 mm

Water content: 42% 

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

I've been waiting to get to try these. I bought them ages ago when they were on sale along with a lot of colors from the same series!

These lenses have this cartoony black rim with little lines all over it, making it look different from most other circle lenses you see. The coloration is different too as it seems to be done in this kind of "teary eye" blocks with different transparency levels. Your real eye color will show through at the transparent lines between each colored block but it actually looks really nice.

One lens in.

Vassen lenses are generally big and these stay on that line. The design of the lenses is really cute and it makes your eyes have this animated look. I'm honestly a bit torn about the color though – I love green lenses and I had high hopes for these and, while in most lights they look a lovely fresh and vibrant green, in some lights it feels like the transparency combined with my real eye color dilutes the green into this more muddled shade. :/ A bit more opacity would have been nice but yeah, I think this is a common fate for green lenses on blue-gray eyes.

Lens photos below!

All photos taken by me during an October afternoon with a clear sky. There's no color filters or such on the close-up photos and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible.

Natural room light.

Yellow room light.

Bathroom light.

Unlit corridor.

Flash photo.

Facing window, shadow side. (weirdly blue for some reason...)

Outdoors, back against sun. (facing wall)

Outdoors, facing the sun while standing under a shadow.

Outdoors, facing sun.

Comfort I think is okay. It's nothing extraordinary but definitely wearable. I don't feel them much in my eyes and there's no obvious discomfort but it seems like they might have a tendency to start drying a bit fast, or at least have irregular dry bouts. My eyes are ultra dry so grading comfort based on wear time is really hard for me, but I guess I could place these within the 2-4 hour range – which is average for me. Assuming you don't have dry eyes you can then probably add a couple hours more.

This is a cute and dolly lens with a design that stands out from the masses. It's good for j-fashion and perhaps cosplay, of course depending on your preferences. I personally feel like the color is wonderful in some lights (mainly outdoors) and then looks kinda bland in poorer lights so I personally would just use them for fashion but yeah, how the color appears will likely greatly depend on your natural eye color as there's transparency to take into account. All in all it's a sweet lens worth considering if you like more magical looks.

Distance photo!

Want to see Sweet Bliss lenses in other colors?
Check these out: Gray, Brown, Pink, Red, Violet, Blue

 

Short summary:

Color: 7/10
Fresh and vibrant green in some lights, a bit muddled in others.
Design: 9/10
A really different "teary eye" design that creates a cartoony look.
Opacity: 7/10 

Compared to the other colors the transparency is maybe a bit more obvious with these. Could be because the color wants to blend with my blue-gray eyes.
Enlargement: 8/10
Dolly and big, just like Vassen lenses typically are.

Comfort: 6/10 

Average. No real discomforts but seem a bit random with dryness. Wearing time estimated around 2-4 hours on super dry eyes, which is decent in my standards.
Naturalness: 2/10

The cartoony look is a bit too much.

Thanks for reading my blog!

Shiro Samurai out.

Lens review: MAX Elegance Tri-Tone Red

Hello everyone.

I'm honestly not in the mood to blog right now but I really need to get these reviews out of the way as I have a massive backlog to catch up on that's stressing me out. So yeah, today is for MAX Elegance Tri-Tone Red and I'll admit that I was afraid to try these on as the violet pair was extremely uncomfortable for me. I do suspect it was a defective pair but the previous experience naturally made me wary of trying these red ones. However, I had purchased these together with the violets so I had to give this series a second chance.

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 15.0 mm

Water content: 55%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

I bought these from HoneyColor some years ago, mainly because I wanted to try a new brand and they were on sale. I wasn't particularly drawn to the design, as it's pretty basic, but there were some color options that you don't see too often – red, violet and pink on the same series?!

I don't think that MAX (M.A.X on vials, stands for My Alluring X-factor seemingly) is a known brand of lenses, I honestly can't remember having seen any other lenses from them than these Tri-Tones.

One lens in.

The print gives me the feeling that I've seen it somewhere before. It's really generic in my opinion but it looks good for the most part – the only thing I don't really like is how pixelated they look up close.

The color is clearly red but it tilts towards orange a bit, I think. It's not crazy-looking but the coverage is good and the size increase is medium big. There's a black rim that adds definition and some 'anime' look. Something with the design makes me think of kiwi fruit, lol. 

Lens photos below!

All photos taken by me during an October afternoon with a clear sky. There's no color filters or such on the close-up photos and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible.

Indoors, natural room light.

Indoors, yellow room light.

Bathroom light.

Indoors, unlit corridor. (poor natural light)

Flash photo.

Facing window. (shadow side, weirdly blue for some reason...)

Outdoors, back against sun. (facing wall)

Outdoors, facing sun while being under a shadow.

Outdoors, facing sun.

Comfort had me surprised – I was mentally prepared for hell to unleash... but nothing happened. They felt normal. This makes me really sure that I got a defective pair with the violet ones as these red ones I had no issues with. 
I can't really grade comfort as these had sadly expired before I got around to review them so I just took the photos and then put them away. But from my quick run they seemed all fine and I noticed no real issues with them.  I would guess I could wear these for 2-4 hours or something like that but yeah, I have super dry eyes so it's hard to give estimates.

I'd say it's a nice cosplay lens (as red lenses are not ultra common) depending on the look you're going for. I don't have anything bad to say about these so yeah, if red lenses are your thing you might want to check out the MAX Elegance Tri-Tone Reds.

Distance photo!

Want to see other colors?

Check out this: Violet, Blue

Short summary:

Color: 7/10
A softer red color that is overall real nice and seems to have orange tones to it.

Design: 6/10

Quite generic but nothing wrong with that. Just wish it didn't look so pixelated up close.

Opacity: 8/10

Red lenses tend to be opaque and these are no exception.

Enlargement: 6/10

Sorta big but manageable.

Comfort: 6/10

No noticeable discomfort but I can't grade wearing time fairly as they had expired before I got around to wearing them, sadly. Estimated to be about 2-4 hours on super dry eyes.

Naturalness: 2/10

A bit too big and yeah, red eyes. But in their defense the shade of red is natural-ish when compared to other reds...

Thanks for checking out my reviews!

Shiro Samurai out.

[Sponsored] Lens review: ICK Diamond Blue

Hello peeps!

I have somehow completely missed to post this review because of all the things that have been happening lately, but better late than never, right? Today's review is gonna feature another nice blue pair – the ICK Diamond Blue lens is what I'm talking about!
LensVillage sent me this surprise pair for review purposes and I'd like to mention too that I've also done a review for their new false eyelashes that you can find here and it also has additional photos of the ICK Diamond Blues. :) LensVillage is one of my favorite lens shops so it's a pleasure to work with them. ♥

This review, although sponsored, consists of 100% my own, genuine opinion. I value honesty very highly when reviewing and won't compromise it. Ever.

Psst, I have a new discount code! Using 15SHIRO at checkout takes a cut off the price!

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 15.0 mm

Water content: 42%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

Newly opened lenses I always put to soak at least the night before wearing them for the first time. The solution that the lenses come in is different from normal lens solution so yeah, I'd recommend not wearing the lenses straight out of the vials as the stronger solution might hurt your eyes.

I got this pair as a surprise so I did not personally choose these. I'll admit that I like them and might eventually have picked them myself, especially if I needed semi-natural but still bright blue lenses for cosplay. x) With that said the color stands out and it's very obviously blue, no matter how you look at it. 

I don't know why but for some reason these lenses photographed lighter than what they are in the vials but yeah, when worn they are darker than that. Not super dark but a medium darkish blue that packs a punch and has a decent amount of depth. It blackens towards the edges as there's a subtle limbal ring going on and it gives a really nice effect. I think that the softness of the black rim adds to the impression of these being a bit natural-looking!

One lens in.

It's a cute lens and actually, it's not nearly as big as one might expect from a 15 mm diameter – I find them to be on the smaller side of circle lenses and easily wearable even without eye makeup. Not saying it's a bad thing as you don't always want huge plates for eyes either, lmao.

My natural eye color is a light blue-gray (gray-blue? whatever) and I don't have to worry about these looking weird on me as they go really well with my real eye color – it's pretty much a smooth transition that won't give anyone an eyesore. Great for those who like color but still want to keep a realistic look!

Lens photos below!

All photos taken by me during a clear morning. There's no color filters or such on the close-up photos and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible.

Indoors, natural room light.

Indoors, yellow room light.

Bathroom light.

Flash photo.

Facing window. (shadow side)

Unlit corridor. (poor distant natural light)

Outdoors, back against sun. (facing wall)

Outdoors, facing sun while standing under a shadow.

Outdoors, facing sun.

Outdoors, facing sun. (extra bright)

I have a hard time grading comfort as my eyes have been acting up lately and I'm spamming eyedrops even without wearing lenses, rip me. ;_; But from what I can tell these are somewhere in the average to good scale. I don't have any notable discomforts with them (scratchiness, blur etc) but I do tend to feel them when I move my gaze around. Comfort doesn't stand out in any way but I think I could probably wear these for about 3-4 hours (4-6 hours about on "normal" eyes, I guess) or something like that, keeping in mind that I have really really dry eyes. As I implied above I currently struggle to wear lenses out to my maximum limit so I'm mostly throwing estimates based on how they feel after the first hour or two.

I am once again pleased with LensVillage's service (to be honest I got this pair as a bonus for them being late with sending me my chosen pair, very kind of them!) and after all my years dealing with them –both as a customer and a collaboration partner– they've never failed me. I have no reason not to recommend their store forward and honestly, they have one of the best shipping deals of all overseas lens stores so that's always a big hook to pull my cheap ass over, lol. I don't like to pay much for shipping as I'd rather use that cost on more lenses. xD

Distance photo!

Using 15SHIRO at checkout when buying from Lensvillage gives a nice discount! It works on most products in their store!

Short summary:

Color: 7/10
Rich medium dark blue that stands out and turns heads. Really nice!

Design: 7/10

Simple and quite realistic. Looks very good on light eyes and most likely on dark eyes too.

Opacity: 7/10

The coverage is what I expected. Nothing to complain about and it does its job.

Enlargement: 5/10

They don't feel big to me. Moderate enlargement I'd say.

Comfort: 6/10

Average to good. I feel them slightly in my eyes but otherwise they're all nice.

Naturalness: 6/10

Perhaps the color's a tad too bright but otherwise these are semi-natural, at least.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to leave a comment if you like these lenses!
Thank you again, LensVillage! ♡
Shiro Samurai out ~ 

Chibicon 2018 – In the name of work I attend programs!

Hello dudes and dudettes!

Omg it's not a lens review!? xD Yep, I went to a con this past weekend and this summary is a tiny bit late but I've been running back and forth into hospital these past days and it's been really hectic. Fucking glorious to wake up into a pool of your own blood so yeah, haven't had time to even think about blogging tbh. And before anyone asks, yes I'm alive and it's nothing dangerous (hopefully).

So yeah, back on track. Chibicon it was, alright. It was held on 6th October in Oulu, which was a Saturday. Pohjankartano once again served as the con building and, as far as I know, it's one of the best places in Oulu to host a con!

Chibicon poster.

It just dawned on me that it was quite a while since I last attended a con, namely Närcon on summer. There was a lot of ifs and hows when it came to my Chibicon journey as the original plan was that I'd hitch a ride with Sacchan, but as luck would have it her car broke down mere days before the con – of course things can't go smoothly for us. :)) So yeah, there I was with no ride and I had applied to be a con worker like a week before the con and got accepted, so now I didn't want to be that one person who bails out last minute as it's kinda douchy once the schedules are set and the others are counting on you to show up. Literal panic. 

I tried to look for busses but for some reason they were expensive as ass and weirdly enough the train was cheaper. I was staring at the adult prices and ripping my hair out before I realized that hey, I am actually studying in Finland right now. So on Thursday before the con I walked into my school's office thingy and got a temporary paper proof that I'm studying (I don't have the student card thingy yet) and boom, cheaper train ticket granted!

My last minute plan was to leave for Oulu on Friday night and sleep over at Karri's place but turned out mom couldn't give me a ride to Kemi so late and so I had to take an early Saturday train instead, which meant no need for sleeping accommodation. I feel a bit sorry for Karri as he was really looking forward to having me there (he even cleaned!) but yeah, I'll take the times that works for mom as my poor ass is so broke that I have to save on everything that I can. ^^"

Chibicon entrance once the doors opened.
There was a massive line.

So I took the morning train to Oulu and I was there around 8 something, which turned out to be really early as once I got to Chibicon I quite literally only saw Urumi putting up their table and the security guys. I headed up to the third floor which was reserved for the staff only. I think I sat there for about an hour before I started hearing noises of other workers arriving and went back down to the first floor. I met up with some other con workers, got my badge and then they put me to work – cutting tickets for the main programs (cosplay competition, AMV competition, cosplay date etc) with a cutter. So I was sitting there cutting a lot of colorful papers until the con's doors officially opened and then I was free to roam around for a short moment before my first working shift started.

Con worker badge.

I was working as an "ohjelmavänkäri" or "salivänkäri" for the ceremony hall ("juhlasali") and the little stage in the main hall, which is a bit hard to translate but basically I was the person who watched so that the main programs (which were held in the ceremony hall) ran smoothly. My work tasks were to pay attention to the stage (if someone trips, needs help etc), make sure that the attendants sit in the right color-marked seats according to their seat tickets, watch so that no one is obnoxiously loud or rude and so on. Pretty basic stuff.

My first work task was to watch over the start of the K-POP Random Dance Game on the little scene. They didn't need any help when I introduced myself before the start and so I just sat in the audience and watched for about 15 minutes until it was clear that everything was running smoothly and then I left to the green room to go get something to eat.

Green room when the con had just opened.

I've been a con worker on most of the cons that I've attended lately and I think I'm getting to the point when it would feel weird to not be able to have access to the green room. xD Like it's so convenient to be able to just drop your stuff there, charge your devices and go grab something to eat whenever you feel like it. 

My next job was to watch over the AMV competition in the ceremony hall, which started at 12:00. I made my way there 15 minutes before start and then I was walking around the seats making sure that all the colored papers were stuck to the seat edges of each row, as they would drop down quite often as the tape didn't stick well to the surface of the seats. I was always sitting near the scene and just... watching. I'll admit I've never attended any AMV competition before as I just didn't have the interest (and I'm a lazy fuck, lmao) and so this was something new to me. I'm not sure if I've ever even watched an AMV before. xD I agree with most of the ones that won but there were some that I was not a fan of. *shrugs* I did notice a growing inspiration to make an AMV myself but I have no damn clue how so yeah, probably not gonna happen lol.

Next up was the cosplay date. Same thing again, make sure that the colored papers have not fallen off and go ask if the program holders need help. They told me that they do not need me at all and so I pissed off and went to check the con and eat as my free time was otherwise really limited. I had more work hours than the 4 that I had been told, why is it always me?

Einesburgeri hell yess! :DD

All con workers were promised one warm dish (either hamburger or vegan/vegetarian options) and while I half expected something cheapo I was not expecting like the cheapest plastic-packaged burger from the store. xD Literally bread and beef only and not even actual beef but chicken-pork mix beef. There was cheese, ketchup and dressing to put on before microing it and I think that's about it? Felt a bit... dry. At least by the time I got to eat, I'll admit I was not among the first ones as I had so many work shifts with no breaks between. It was still okay but even the McDonald's euron juusto would have been better, lmao. And I don't even like McDonald's.

Chibicon main hall.

Chibicon cafeteria area.

Chibicon was a bit lacking in terms of activities. There was no video game room, no karaoke room, no rhythm game room, no drawing room... barely anything else than the programs, some panels and meetups, an anime room, Artist's Alley and some merchandise sellers and other con's booths. As a visitor I would have been bored really fast and probably thought that the 10€ entrance fee (at the door, advance tickets were cheaper) was a bit steep.

Merchandise sellers were pretty much only Urumi (not that I expected much more from a small con in northern Finland). Urumi is always a welcome sight as they sell legit stuff but my ass is so broke right now that I can rarely afford to buy anything and most times I know I can get the same thing for cheaper if I buy it online myself. I do like looking at all the cute and pretty stuff though! Window shopping is always fun, heheh.

No con without the obligatory sweets.

Happy to see Digimon and Monster Hunter getting some love!

There was a lot of Pokémon this time..

... and I mean it.

MonHun figurines!

I think these Kyogre, Groudon and Rayquaza straps were new?

Did I say there was a lot of Pokémon? xD

Don't forget the Ginga doggos!

Omg, Ōkami merch!
Shame it was too expensive for me.. for noodle stoppers at least.

I did not bother to go check out the anime room because honestly, I don't understand why you'd pay to get inside a con just to watch anime that you can do at home for free (and you can watch any show you like)? It never made sense to me, I'd rather use that limited time to explore and hang with friends and basically anything else except watch anime. xD 

I did not cosplay, I was considering it briefly but I've been so exhausted from all the hospital visits that I didn't feel like I had the energy to bother. And most cosplays that I would have wanted to wear needs some altering anyway. I noticed though that it seemed that a majority of the congoers went casual – I didn't see all that many cosplayers from what I can remember and now I'm not counting the "peruukkicossaajat". I did not feel like I missed out on something because I went casual, I'm actually happy I did, lmao.

Lip sync battle. Yes, that cosplayer performed the original
Pokémon opening in Finnish and was the funniest performance
because of a joke that ran through the whole program.

14:00 it was time for the lip sync battle in the ceremony hall. I had no idea what it was before this but as it was my job I had to stay for the duration of the program. It dawned on me quickly that it's like a light-hearted song contest... except that you don't sing. The premise is basically that you have two contestants (often cosplayers) who pick a song, that fits the character somehow, and then perform it and the winner is the one who gets more noise and cheers from the audience. This is the kind of shit on which you need to have excellent stage charisma, creativity and dance/choreography skills to pull off well, otherwise it turns really stale and cringy fast. I'll admit it was entertaining overall but I think it suffered a bit from a lack of participants and cancellations.

After the lip sync ended it was time for the main program of pretty much any anime convention – the cosplay competition. It started at 15:00 and this time I noticed two guys sitting on "wrong seats" as I saw that they had green tickets but were sitting on blue seats. I went up and they said that they were photographers and that's why they had sat on seats so far in the front, despite having middle row seat tickets. I didn't feel a need to ask them to move to their right places as, by the time the competition started, there were still many seats empty as the hall was big.

Cosplay competition.

But yeah, the cosplay competition. I haven't attended it in years and a wave of nostalgy hit me. I should probably participate again but I have such crippling stage fear that I always come up with reasons not to. Most bigger cons also require a performance nowadays so I guess I'm stuck to the small cons that still run the "lavajuoksu" style, lol. Basically make a pose on scene and walk away style. Maybe someday...

All cosplay competitors.

The ones who placed.

It was pretty easy to guess who would get a prize while the competition was running and my picks were mostly right in the end, haha. Congratulations to all the winners!

The last program that I worked on was the FFFight in the main hall stage. It was hosted by Team Yli Ysitonnia (Team Over Ninethousand) and they were really funny! This was were laughs were had. Before start I finally got to feel helpful, namely fetch them a computer from somewhere so that they could get the music to the show. It was a bit last-minute as I had to wait for a person to show up but it all worked out after a slight delay. 

I've watched Final Fantasy Fights before and know the deal, it's this kind of silly fighting show in FF style between any congoer who wants to (playfully) beat someone else into a pulp. The main point is to entertain the audience and the winner is once again determined by who gets the most noise from the audience. My favorite fighter was the dabbing "jonne" (suomalaiset tietävät) with the cap, dunno what his name was but he looked like such a typical memelord jonne and I think he knew it. xD

Between my short breaks I had time to explore the con. It's your typical Pohjankartano convention except that Chibicon didn't have a lot to do, as mentioned earlier. There was the Matsucon kirppis, a second-hand booth ran by Matsucon were congoers could leave their stuff for sale. It was mainly manga. 

Second-hand booth.

My favorite thing at the convention was the Artist's Alley. For some reason it was held in a classroom on the second floor and it was a bit... crammed at times. I don't really get it why it had to be on the second floor as there was nothing else there except for the anime room and the lecture/panel/meetup rooms and most people spent time on the first floor. There was a fair amount of empty space on the first floor so I don't see why AA wasn't placed there together with Urumi, the second-hand shop and the con booths? More visitors, more visibility, more space. *shrugs* The classroom worked okay but in my opinion it felt a bit like a wasted opportunity to not have the artists downstairs. :/

View of Artist's Alley.

MCrafts table. A lot of nice stuff!

I bought some Pokémon stuff from the table above for both myself, Frozen Angel and Firith. The seller was really nice and we talked a bit too. All my Chibicon purchases were from AA, I like to support fellow artists. I've considered selling stuff on AA too but I don't know if I'll ever actually do it as I'm so lazy, lmao. Would be cool though!

When the con was on its final minutes I was up in the green room packing my stuff. Karri shows up suddenly and oh boy I haven't seen him in ages! I took my stuff, left my badge and said goodbyes and headed out to town with him. We had a lot of fun, went to a bar to have a drink as we had some time to kill before my train would arrive. We talked about all kinds of things: movies, martial arts etc. Time went by really fast and it was sad to leave him so early, I hope we can go to Skecon together!

~~~~~

Chibicon was okay overall. Nothing special but I had my share of fun and despite traveling alone I actually surprise-bumped into Sacchan once! Seemingly she took the bus. Except for Karri and her I didn't run into any familiar faces – not like I would have had much time to socialize during the con anyway. Chibicon would have been a lot better if it had more activity rooms as I know that some people I spoke to afterwards (who didn't/couldn't attend the con despite being interested) said things like "glad I didn't pay 10€ if there wasn't even a [insert activity] room there" so yeah, says a lot. I can't deny that the price tag seemed hefty for the lack of content. I'm glad I went as a worker as that kept me busy at all times and I got to participate in programs that I would otherwise not have attended, which gave me a lot of renewed interest in participating in stuff in the future!

All in all I'm glad that the north gets these kind of geeky events and Chibicon did well with what they had. It's definitely a "hang with friends" type of con and beginner-friendly. As a one-day con it works with the content it had and I'd continue attending Chibicon in the future as well.

Thanks for reading!

~ Shiro Samurai out.