January 28, 2023

[Sponsored] Lens review: Chromaview Blackout

Hello everyone! 

Today I will be reviewing another pair of colored contact lenses that Coloured Contacts sent me for review purposes! This is more akin to a special effects lens and yes, it's the Chromaview Blackout. As the name suggests it's very much a black lens and I was curious to try these bad boys out as there's not a lot of black lenses out in the market today.  
 
The lenses that I'm reviewing in this blog post were sponsored by Coloured Contacts, meaning that I did not pay for the product(s) myself. This does, however, not affect my honesty in any way. The words and opinions in this review are my genuine opinion; I don't ever compromise my true thoughts and feelings.
 


Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14 mm
Water content: 53%
Life span: 30 days
 
 

I got these lenses from Coloured Contacts, a cosmetic contact lens store based in Europe (wow!). I have already reviewed their shop over on my previous lens review post here, so please click on that link and have a look if you're curious about whether Coloured Contacts is legit or not (spoiler alert: they are). ;)

Okay so, this is my first time trying Chromaview brand lenses so I went in with no prior experience, except for being familiar with the name. I noticed immediately how tiny the lens blisters are and I was worried if there could even be enough solution in the packaging lol. But once I tried them on they were perfectly fine and moist and there were no issues so yeah, my worries were for naught.

One lens in.

Damn these lenses are black! The color change is immense and convincing and I honestly really enjoy these lenses. Yet surprisingly, despite the name being Blackout, these are not so staggeringly solid black that they'd look 100% fake in a jarring way, get what I mean? It's like there's this ever so slight transparency between the super slight patterning (zoom in and you can just about make it out, it's very very faint) so it helps in keeping the lenses from going straight into uncanny valley. Although they still obviously don't look realistic. There's also some enlargement effect, although it's not that big and at least part of the illusion comes from the lenses being black in the first place.
I personally dig how these lenses are so covering and yet don't look creepy as it makes them somewhat more versatile in use and doesn't high-ball them straight into Halloween, freaks and monsters territory. Heck, these would be great for cosplaying characters with black eyes like say Ikkaku Madarame from Bleach, Sasuke Uchiha from Naruto, Goku and Vegeta from DragonBall or L from Death Note, to name a few.

Lens photos below!
All photos are taken by yours truly during a January noon with a semi-clear sky. All close-ups are free from color filters and the like and that's so that the colors would appear as true to life as possible.
 
Indoors, natural room light.

Bathroom light.

Indoors, flash photo.

Facing window, backyard view. (not sun side)

Unlit corridor with weak natural light in the distance.

Outdoors, back against the sun. (facing wall)

Outdoors, facing the sun.

These lenses were very thin and easy to insert. They are not floppy but didn't keep their shape while held on my finger as well as some other brands I've tried over the years. I don't really feel them in my eyes and surprisingly enough, despite the small pupil hole, I didn't experience any black corners at the edges of my vision nor any blurring. I would rate these lenses as comfortable and would not hesitate to repurchase them. Comfort is always a bit hard to gauge tbh as it's so highly personal for every wearer and depends on a lot of factors like how sensitive and dry your eyes naturally are; I happen to have very dry eyes by default so for me wearing contact lenses for more than 4 hours without eyedrops is already quite a feat, but I definitely believe I could wear these out to an anime convention with little to no problems if I just bring eyedrops with me for the full day.

All in all I've had no problems with these lenses and my collaboration with Coloured Contacts has been smooth sailing – I would wholly recommend them for cosmetic colored lenses and sfx lenses, both for daily looks and for special events and costuming. Once again, click here for a full store review for more information about my experiences. ^_^

Distance photo!
 
Black-eyed like Blåhaj, peak fashion.

Short summary:

Color: 10/10
Black, black, black! It's so very black. Intense and beautiful despite being a sfx lens.
Design: 9/10
It delivers what the name says, "Blackout". Design is as expected but better. It's not too cartoony.
Opacity: 9/10
Very solid coverage but there's that ever so slight transparency which keeps them from looking super fake and unsettling.
Enlargement: 5/10
Moderate enlargement, mostly due to how black in itself creates the illusion of a bigger size.
Comfort: 8/10
More comfortable than I thought they would be, very thin and easy to insert. I barely feel them and there's no tunnel vision or colored corners either, which is surprising considering the narrow pupil hole.
Naturalness: 2/10
Might be passable if you already have dark brown eyes, otherwise I'm not convinced.

Thanks for reading and the third and final review will follow!
Thank you, Coloured Contacts! ♡