August 31, 2020

Lens review: Bella Lunar Yellow

Hi there!

I'm back with a new circle lens review again, woop! This time I'm bringing another completely new experience as I'm trying out the Bella brand – it's time to review the Bella Lunar Yellow! I bought these from a limited flash sale at Momoko Lens some few years back, I am not affiliated with their site but thought I'd mention where I got these lenses in case anyone wonders. Sadly I've been utterly unable to find this pair on their site since then so yeah, it's possible that this lens is unavailable now. :(

But I will still review them so let's go~



Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.5 mm
Water content: 40% 
Life span: 1 year




Another lens brand that comes in blisters! I'm new to this type of packaging but just like the other lenses I bought from the same store these also came in blisters. I have two more blister lenses yet to review and yes, it's a pain to get them to photograph when compared to normal glass vials.

I had a feeling that these lenses would be hella intense and I was not wrong! I popped one into my eye and all I could hear in my head was Samuel L Jackson saying "motherfucker".

One lens in.
Mother of god, now we're talking! I was expecting these to be bright but holy momma's spaghetti I'm floored! Already when you view these bad boys in the blisters you can see how bright they are but I did not expect them to retain all that insane coverage. Heck, if anything it feels like they got even brighter?! My eyes are radioactive lmao, this is some whack shit right here!

I flippin' love these okay, like no joke. That yellow color is unapologetically all over your face and it's so bright I'd be surprised if it doesn't show up in virtually any light conditions. Imagine these in rave parties, Halloween nights and anything you can cook up! The possibilities for bold statements and funky fashion looks are there!!
The design itself is quite unique and eyecatching with those triangles bordering the edges, the yellow itself has a streaky, speed-burstish style on the colored part and it adds a lot of intensity to your gaze. There's a thin black rim to spice things up but thankfully, in this case, it's slim enough to not create a dolly effect as that would kinda ruin the look I feel like these lenses inhabit? These are monster eyes, hands down.

Lens photos ahead!
All photos taken by me during an August 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.
Flash photo.
Unlit corridor, weak natural light in the distance.
Facing the window, not sun side. (backyard view)
Outdoors, back against sun. (facing wall)
Outdoors, facing the sun while standing under a shadow.
Outdoors, facing the sun.
The best part? Comfort is great! I literally don't even notice that I'm wearing lenses for the first couple hours, which is rare as my eyes are extremely dry and sensitive naturally. These lenses are thin, invisible to wear and all in all a treat. It should be noted though that the pupil hole is slightly smaller than average, which means that there's occasionally some minor yellow blur in the corners of my vision but as I said this is super slight and honestly I barely notice it. I managed to easily wear these lenses for 3 hours on a day on which my eyes were already dry before I put them in, which is quite a feat. I am quite confident that I could wear these for 5, maybe 6 hours on a good eye day. 

There is honestly nothing I dislike with these yellow beasts. Comfort is great, color payoff is insane, they have all the attitude in the world and this is the perfect lens for all of us who loves a tinge of the scary and unnatural stuff in our everyday lives. Whether you are into cyberpunk, cosplay or dressing up as vampires or werewolves this is a lens that I'd wholly recommend if you can find them.

Distance photo~


Check out this other Bella Luna review I did: Red
 
Short summary:

Color: 10/10
Hell to the yes, hyper vibrant yellow that shows up amazingly!

Design: 8/10 

Quite original design with triangles at the edges, gives a sense of speed and power.
Opacity: 10/10 
This is crazy lens levels of coverage on a fashion lens. Shit is lit!
Enlargement: 5/10
Rather average enlargement. Perfect in this case.
Comfort: 9/10 
Amazing. I literally don't feel them for the first few hours despite having naturally very dry eyes. Can easily wear them for 3 hours on a bad day. Estimated 5-6 hours on a good day. So comfy I forget I'm wearing lenses!
Naturalness: 0/10
Nononononono.

Thanks for reading this review, more will come!

August 24, 2020

Lens review: Vassen Dolly Plus Blue

Hello everyone!

It's time for another circle lens review today! I will be reviewing the Vassen Dolly Plus Blue, sometimes also spelled as Vassen Dolly+ Blue. I was cautiously hopeful with these as the green pair was such a disappointment earlier.

Now let's roll!



Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.5 mm
Water content: 42% 
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)


Just as the green pair these look super nice in the vials, I absolutely love that blue shade. It's so pleasant and beautiful. I didn't want to hope too much but thankfully these actually look pretty good on my eyes so I'm somewhat satisfied. Of course the cosplay dude inside me is yelling "NOT GOOD ENOUGH" but hey, this is an improvement from the swamp troll poo...

I've worn a lot of blue lenses over the years and the competition is fierce. The Vassen Dolly Plus series used to be popular back in the days but I honestly don't know how relevant they are nowadays? I remember cosplayers recommending them on forums (holy shit, forums? Remember that? :D) and now I just feel like that grumpy oldie who whispers "there's so much better out there", lmao.

One lens in.
Okay so, err, these babies are big. Big as in kawaii size, pretty much. xD There's a notable 'halo effect' where the lens exceeds my iris and it's gorgeous when it shows. The color on these blue ones is an improvement from the green pair and looks more flattering on my blue-gray eyes it actually blends in a somewhat cool way too when you look closer. Sure, it could still be a lot more vibrant (it's a bit on the dark side due to lack of coverage) but at least these lenses deliver and the color is likable enough for me to give a halfhearted thumbs up. I'm not sure why but the color reminds me of that one bird with the long thick beak... the... *googles* ... common kingfisher?

Overall this is an 'anime' style of lens, if you may. There's a distinct black rim to create the illusion of bigger and more impactful eyes and the design is somewhat cutesy and cartoony in style. The design itself isn't the most unique in the world but it has enough going on to be easy to enjoy. Yes, it is dolly in style and thus also suitable for j-fashion.

Lens photos ahead!
All photos taken by me during an August 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.
Flash photo.
Unlit corridor, poor distant natural light only.
Facing a window. (backyard view, aka not sun side)
Outdoors, back against the sun. Facing the wall.
Outdoors, facing the sun while under a shadow.
Outdoors, facing the sun.
I like these enough to not feel like I just got smacked with a wet fish in the face but I still feel like they could have been so much more. Although I will admit that these lenses are one of those kinds that actually look nicer in real life than on camera. I actually stopped in front of a mirror to look closer at the blending effect and it was almost like a little galaxy in there; the center of the lens transitions, in a quite delicate way, into my natural eye color. Those black dots and streaks might help it somewhat.

Regarding comfort it's the same story as with the other pairs I've reviewed lately in other words these had expired before I found where the heck I had put the box I stored them in. That means I can't grade comfort more than what my first (and only) impressions were and well, that's not very fair to the lens so please do not take my comfort grading as the ultimate truth or something. But yeah, I only wore these for the review photos but they seemed decent? They were thin but I felt them slightly in my eyes. Also, they were a bit itchy upon insertion but that went away rather quickly. Possibly dryish although I can't really tell because my eyes are naturally super dry and yeah, might just as well have been my eyes having a bad day. My guess for wearing time is anything between 2-4 hours on dry/sensitive eyes, which is decent.

I'm not sure how much I'd recommend these lenses but they are definitely not bad. It's just that there's a lot of blue lenses to choose from and I prefer better color coverage in general. I guess that's one of the things that comes with being a cosplayer, I'm always judging lenses based on how cosplay-friendly they are and for that you need lenses that really show up and dramatically change your eye color. These are fine for fashion but maybe not a first pick for costuming. Of course your mileage may vary but yeah, I will say in their defense that these lenses look their best in outdoor lights.

Distance photo!


  Looking for reviews of Dolly Plus lenses in other colors?
I got you covered: Green, Violet, Brown, Gray, Red

Short summary:

Color: 5/10
It's a decent shade of blue, quite pretty but turns a bit too dark on my eyes to really leave an impact.

Design: 7/10 

Simple kawaii style lens. Big black limbal ring creates 'manga' look.
Opacity: 5/10 
It makes my eyes blue but I lowkey wish the coverage was better. At least they blend nicely..
Enlargement: 8/10
Very much dolly.
Comfort: 5/10 
They are thin but potentially dryish and both lenses were itchy upon insertion. I slightly feel them.
Naturalness: 4/10
Way too big to be passable but I mean, if you're young and cute why not?

Thanks for reading, stay safe out there!

August 8, 2020

Lens review: Cupid Flame Red

Hi there!

I'm back with a new circle lens review! This time I'm bringing quite a different one to the table as this is a brand I have not tried before – it's time to review the Cupid Flame Red! I bought these from a limited sale at Momoko Lens a couple years back, I am not affiliated with this particular site but thought I'd mention where I got these lenses. I have not been able to find this pair on the site since then (that, or I'm bad at navigating the site) so it might just have been a flash sale styled limited run.

Let's go~



Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.5 mm
Water content: 40% 



You might notice that I'm not writing out life span on these and that's because I can not find that information anywhere (I did not think of taking a screenshot back then when the lenses were in stock on the site) and if it's on the blisters then I'm sorry but I can't read Chinese. I would guess it's the usual 365 days but as I can't be sure I'd prefer to not say anything in case I'm wrong.

Also, blisters! I have never had circle lenses in blisters before so this felt wild. I don't know if it's because I'm so used to glass vials but I had some serious trouble opening these lol! And getting them to photograph was hard too but I hope you get the gist of what the design looks like at least.

One lens in.
The design itself is nothing hyper unique but it does seem to create a sort of, err, blotched and wild look to your eyes? Like it's unstable and burning or something. There is some yellow mixed in with the primarily red color so it's actually quite lively and in some lights it even takes on an orange shade, which is pretty cool! Flame Red really fits the impression I get of these.

The red color itself is bright, shows up well and has great coverage. There's a thin limbal ring and the lenses are notably on the bigger side. The pupil opening is a bit irregular and that actually helps with not making my light eyes 'clash' horribly in the center where lens meets iris. I think the transition is not half bad, in fact.

Lens photos ahead ~
All photos taken by me during an August noon 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 indoors.
Yellow room light indoors.
Flash photo.
Unlit corridor with only poor distant natural light.
Facing a window, not sun side.
Outdoors, back against the sun. Facing the wall.
Outdoors, facing the sun while standing under a shadow.
Outdoors, facing the sun.
Sadly these were not comfortable at all. I could feel the edges of the lens very clearly on both eyes at all times, it was uncomfortable and scratchy. They blurred my vision somewhat and were not good in any aspect, except maybe for that they were thin enough to be floppy. But floppiness makes lenses harder to insert so it's kinda annoying too lol. In fact I struggled to wear these for the 15 something odd minutes I needed to get the photos; I wanted to immediately throw them where the sun doesn't shine but had to get the photos done first. Like okay I've worn even worse lenses but these are on the bottom of the list. I would not be able to wear these for more than 30 minutes even if I tried, they were that bad. I don't know, maybe I just got a defective Monday example? I have another Cupid lens that I will review later so let's hope that one is good. In terms of comfort these were a huge letdown, I'm sorry.
Also, these lenses were horrible when I first opened them last month too. They were just as unwearable back when I was doing my Kashuu Kiyomitsu cosplay. I initally first tried to wear these for the photoshoot but they were so goddamn awful I had to swap them for another red lens that I will review later, stay tuned for that.

In terms of color and design these are likable and cool but the comfort drags all of those merits into the mud. I can't recommend these at all, based on my experiences, even though I liked the orange-ish red shade. It doesn't always go as expected and sometimes you end up being disappointed. No can do but move on and remember folks, don't force yourself to wear lenses that feel wrong to wear for longer periods of time. If it hurts it probably hurts for a reason I yeeted these straight into the trash as soon as I was done with snapping photos.

Distance photo.


Short summary:

Color: 9/10
It's a red with orange undertones, quite rare color. There's yellow spots to give a flaming, wild look
.
Design: 6/10 

It's a fairly ordinary design but it still has some lowkey chaotic vibes.
Opacity: 8/10 
Great coverage and goes surprisingly well with light eyes.
Enlargement: 7/10
On the bigger side but nothing insane. Black rim is tiny when compared to more dolly lenses.
Comfort: 1/10 
Unwearable. I feel the edges of both lenses "hugging" my eyes and it's really scratchy and uncomfortable. Blurs my vision somewhat and is overall just not good in any way.
Naturalness: 2/10
It's a freaking red lens, it's not meant to be natural.

Thanks for reading this review!

August 5, 2020

Lens review: Vassen Sweet Bliss Violet

Hello!

It is time for the second last review of the Vassen Sweet Bliss series, namely the Vassen Sweet Bliss Violet! These lenses sometimes go under the alternative name Vassen Cloud Nine Violet but it's the same lens. I've said it before but I'll say it again – this is a great lens for anime style eyes and cosplayers!

Without further ado, let's go!



Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.5 mm
Water content: 55% 
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)


This is a lens with a design that grabs your attention. There's this bold, intense black rim with cute tiny black lines running along it that creates a cartoony feel. The color placement is in "teary eye" shaped blocks with varying transparency and these are honestly adorable. It's such an unique way to do the color instead of just taking the usual approach and I really like it a lot. It is true that some spots are more see-through than others with these lenses as the gaps between the blocks, so to say, allows your real eye color to peek a little and this in turn creates a beautiful effect.

One lens in.
How can you not love these?? That's such an amazing violet shade, it's so ethereal and magical! I am absolutely in awe, this is easily one of my favorite shades when it comes to violet lenses. The color is so bright and youthful, perfectly unnatural yet soothing and I could drown in these for days. I'm falling in love with violet lenses all over again, ahaha. ;w;

These are big and cute so there's definitely a dolly effect going on and yeah, the color coverage is great. I really like how unobtrusive my real eye color is with these lenses, despite how it shows a little bit – it's almost like it's meant to be there by design. These are really pleasing and look great on light eyes, it maybe even adds to the whole fairytale feel~

Lens photos ahead ~
All photos taken by me during an August noon 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.
Flash photo.
Facing a window, not sun side. (backyard window)
Outdoors, back against the sun. (facing wall)
Outdoors, facing the sun while standing under a shadow.
Outdoors, facing the sun.
As with the previous lenses I found these too late, they had expired by the time I found the cardboard box I had stored them in (I weep) so sadly I can't grade comfort accurately. I only wore these beauties for about 20 minutes while taking the photos for this review and then I discarded the lenses for safety reasons, even though they felt okay to wear. Just don't wear expired lenses to events, okay? Yes, people seriously do that I once met a person who casually said that they were wearing over 2 years old lenses at an anime convention (as in they had the lenses open and in use for that long) and I think my brain just up and died. God please no.

What I can tell from my first and only impression of wearing these lenses they were thin, I barely felt them in my eyes except for that the left lens was a lil' bit scratchy but nothing too bad. There might have been a slight case of colored corners in my vision but that's to be expected when the pupil hole is a tad smaller than on average circle lenses, especially in poorer light conditions. 
I have naturally very dry and sensitive eyes so I can't wear circle lenses as long as most other people, but I am assuming that if these lenses had been fresh I could possibly have worn them anywhere between 3-5 hours, which is pretty good in my standards. I mean I'm one of those who have to occasionally spam eyedrops in daily life (I wear glasses, not lenses) because my eyes decide to be little shits.

But honestly this is such a gorgeous lens and if you have any inclination to be drawn towards unnatural colors you should definitely try these out. It's such a mesmerizing shade of light violet and combined with the 'anime' eye look its beauty is without words! I would have loved to wear these lenses for longer and I definitely will consider repurchasing them shall the need arise. It's a perfect lens for cosplay, magical looks, cutesy styles and any kind of mystical creatures like elves, fairies and the like. 

Distance photo!


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

Color: 10/10
One of the most beautiful light violet lenses
I've tried! Ethereal and full of magic.
Design: 9/10 

Mesmerizing "teary eye" style lens that has the added bonus of making you look like a manga character.
Opacity: 8/10 
Great coverage and goes well with light eyes.
Enlargement: 8/10
Big and definitely on the dolly scale.
Comfort: 7/10 
Appears to be good. Thin and I barely felt them, except the left lens was a bit scratchy (possibly just dirt I did not get out). Estimated 3-5 hours of wear on dry eyes.
Naturalness: 2/10
This design is not meant to look natural.

Thanks for reading this review, hope you found it useful!