Lens review: Vassen Dolly Plus Violet

Hello in the house!

I'm continuing with my seemingly neverending backlog of circle lens reviews lol. I will be reviewing the Vassen Dolly Plus Violet today, sometimes also spelled as Vassen Dolly+ Violet.

Now let's do this!

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.5 mm

Water content: 42% 

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

This is a pretty big lens that looks as dolly as the name implies. The violet color is on the lighter side of the spectrum and in fact quite pastel in style. The design itself is versatile while still having a clear 'anime' inspiration – it looks cartoony and youthful. 

There's a black limbal ring to add to the dolly look and the pupil hole has these black streaks surrounding it for added effect. The design is rather simple and not the most original style out there but hey, that's what makes these so easy to just out on and go as they match pretty much whatever look you're going for. This is a great cosplay and j-fashion lens too.

One lens in.

As you can see on the photo above this lens is actually really pretty! I was surprised by how distinctly the color shows up, it looks a lot better on my eyes than the blue and green pairs did, despite violet being the unnatural shade. I definitely like these, they don't seem to have the same level of transparency as the other two? Seems a bit weird to me but I don't complain as the way the violet pair looks is honestly pretty much what I was expecting from the other two at first. The color coverage holds its own and the color itself seems solid enough to not create a 'halo effect' either.

Lens photos ahead!

All photos taken by me during a noon with a semi-cloudy 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.

In a corridor, distant poor natural light only.

Flash photo.

Facing a window. (not sun side)

Outdoors, back against the sun. (facing the wall)

Outdoors, facing the sun while standing under a slight shadow.

Outdoors, facing the sun. (hidden behind a thin veil of clouds)

This is such an adorably cute lens, it's so vivid and fresh with that light violet shade! This one definitely ups my hopes for the upcoming Dolly Plus lenses that I have yet to review, hehe...

Again, you've  heard it before but I'll say it again as a disclaimer – these lenses were part of that cardboard box I had yeeted away some years back, forgotten completely about and only recently found it again. Of course it came with the harsh realization that over half of the lenses in the box had expired and the Vassen Dolly Plus Violets were one of them. So needless to say I did not play much Russian roulette with these, I only took the photos needed and then immediately discarded these lenses. Just don't wear expired lenses even if they feel perfectly okay, which these did. 

I thus can't grade comfort very accurately at all but what I can say from my first (and only) impression of wearing these lenses was that they felt thin, overall comfortable and I barely felt that I was wearing lenses. They seemed perfectly good but I always discard expired lenses regardless of comfort. I am guessing that if these had been fresh I could likely have worn them between 3-5 hours, which is great on my dryass eyes.

All in all I would actually recommend these, even more if you like violet lenses. It's not the most common color but violet has started to become available a lot more lately, which is a treat for us who like unnaturally colored lenses. It's not quite as mainstream as brown, blue and green lenses are so a violet option is not always available on all lens series – but when it is I like to try it. xD This is overall a good choice for j-fashion and most likely a decent choice for cosplay as well, depending a bit on what intensity and style you're after. 

Distance photo ~

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

Short summary:

Color: 7/10
A nice, pastel-ish light violet shade. Innocent and positively magical.
Design: 8/10 
Simple cutesy style lens that works for most looks. It's quite 'manga' inspired.
Opacity: 7/10 

Color coverage does its job. Makes my eyes clearly violet.
Enlargement: 8/10
Very much dolly just like the name already tells you, lol.

Comfort: 7/10 

Thin and comfortable, I can barely tell that I'm wearing lenses.
Naturalness: 2/10

Many sizes too big and on top of that they're violet. That's a nope.

Thanks for reading, stay tuned for more!

Shiro Samurai out.