Lens review: G&G Tulips Blue

 Hello in the hoods~

Here's the next circle lens review I promised! Today I'll introduce the G&G Tulips Blue, one of those lenses with uneven, patterned edges! I can't remember having reviewed a lens with this kind of stylized edges but I've wanted to give them a try so let's see how it looks! (hopefully not super alien lol)

 

Let's go!

Base curve: 8.8 mm
Diameter: 14.5 mm

Water content: 38%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

 

It should be noted that, based on the research I did years ago, that G&G, Dueba and Barbie are essentially all the same brand. I think Dueba is the manufacturer and the other two are simply rebranding names or something of the sort. No idea why they gotta make things more complicated but oh well, it is what it is. *shrugs*

This is a cute, summery and sorta girly design. It's cheerful, playful and just overall cute. The print looks like nicely arranged black and blue flower petals, it's quite smooth-looking and despite the edges being pointy like that it doesn't look too crazy – I don't think the aliens will come for me tonight...

One lens in.

Heck, it really is quite adorable! I honestly originally bought these just for fun, to try something different because I was curious. I didn't really go in with any kind of expectations but these lenses sure are effectful. They blend extremely well with my natural gray-blue eye color and there's more color output than I initially expected. 

I feel like this design is meant to draw the watcher's gaze in because you can definitely tell already from a distance that there's something going on, specifically those uneven edges and thus the lack of a typical stable black rim like on commonplace circle lenses. 

There is an enlargement boost but due to the lack of a limbal ring these don't actually bring as much attention to the size difference as conventional circle lenses do.

Lens photos ahead! All photos taken by me during a July noon with a semi-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.

Indoors, facing a window (not sun side).

Indoors, unlit corridor with poor distant natural light.

Outdoors, back against sun. (facing wall)

Outdoors, facing the sun while standing under a shadow.

Outdoors, facing sun.

 

I can't grade comfort fairly as these lenses were expired by the time I rediscovered them in a storage box I had forgotten about. I only wore these for around 10-15 minutes, enough to take all the photos for this review and then I immediately discarded them. Do not wear expired lenses, like really. 

Regarding comfort and wear what I can say is that I had trouble inserting these lenses at first – they felt  perky on my fingertip, they kept their shape even as I tried putting them in and it just wouldn't go sploot on my eyeball you know? They just stayed in that basic upturned shape and wouldn't flop on my finger like most lenses do when your fingers are moist. These lenses were just really perky and hard for being soft contact lenses. It was quite a challenge to get them on, even for me whose worn a ton of lenses and normally do it routinely with no issues lol. 

When I got the first lens in it was crazy stingy and I had to remove it immediately as it was unbearable. I cleaned the lens and retried and this time it was fine. It still felt a little bit stingy (especially when I moved my gaze or when I blinked) but it eventually set and after that it felt thin and I stopped feeling it as much. The other lens was fine. I guess I could wear these for 2-3 hours if they were fresh, which is average considering my eyes are very dry naturally and I have periods when I spam eyedrops like no tomorrow (I normally wear glasses daily).

If you want a cutesy, kinda feminine and summer fresh lens then I would recommend giving these a try! They don't look nearly as weird as I feared they would at first. The color transitions nicely into my real iris and it's a pleasant blue shade that shows up just enough to be noticeable yet not too much to look crazy. It's a fun lens, I could recommend these if you can handle a lens that is notably more form-keeping than usual.

Distance photo!

I've reviewed another color of the Tulips series here: Green

Short summary:

Color: 7/10
A fresh medium blue mixed with black petals. Nicely enhances your eyes.
Design: 8/10
Super cute and girly flower petal design that completely lacks the usual round edges.
Opacity: 7/10
Considering the unusual shape and how it seems that high pigmentation isn't the main draw of the lenses, these do have quite solid color coverage.
Enlargement: 5/10
There is definitely a size boost but it's not brought as much to your attention due to the unique edge design.
Comfort: 5/10
 Aside from being perky and hard to insert these lenses are okay in terms of comfort. A bit stingy at first (possibly just dirt) but afterwards felt thin and decent.

Naturalness: 2/10
It's not even shaped like an actual iris so I hope you don't buy these expecting no one to figure out you're wearing lenses lmao.

Shiro Samurai out! Bye bye!