Lens review: Neo Dali Extra Blue

Hello chums!

It's time for another circle lens review so let's roll this one out! I will be reviewing the Neo Dali Extra Blue, a lens by the Neo Cosmo brand (often just abbreviated to simply Neo).

Let's go~

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.2 mm

Water content: 45%

Life span: 3 months

Some of my long-time readers might remember how my previous Neo reviews had the lenses in the typical glass vials but yeah, now they seem to come in blisters. I personally prefer the little glass bottles (they're easier to photograph for reviews etc) but whatever the case for the change Neo lenses are still just as good as they used to be, it's just the packaging that has changed.

One thing that's distinct to Neo is that pretty much all their lenses seem to be 14.2 mm diameter and 8.6 base curve, meaning that if you're picky about what lenses work for you and those measures that Neo use are ideal then you might want to stick to them; some people's eyes are very sensitive and can only use their exact base curve, while others have more leeway.

One lens in.

This is a really pretty lens with a deep blue color and a nice blending effect that goes really well with my gray-blue eyes. The shade of blue is somewhere between medium and dark but it has a lot of depth to it and doesn't look flat. I really like how soft the transition to the black rim is as well, it adds intensity and really frames your eyes without being jarring or cartoony.
There is a slight enlargement effect and although a 14.2 diameter is considered on the smaller end (when it comes to circle lenses) I dare say that due to the thickness of the limbal ring the enlargement effect appears bigger than on some of Neo's other lenses. It's all about the illusion really – a simple note to remember is that the thicker and more pronounced the black outer rim is, the more dolly and bigger the lens will appear when worn.

Lens photos below!

All photos are taken by yours truly during an afternoon with a clear sky. All close-ups are free from color-altering filters etc and that's so that the photos would appear as true to life as possible.

Indoors, natural room light.

Indoors, yellow room light.

Bathroom light.

Flash photo.

Facing a window indoors, not sun side.

Outdoors, back against the sun. (facing wall)

Outdoors, facing the sun while under the roof's shadow.

Outdoors, facing the sun directly.

I've worn these lenses out to an anime convention and I had no issues with the comfort. Overall I'd say that the Dali Extra Blue are thin and easy to wear, they're comfortable even for longer wear and I barely even felt that I had lenses on. I should note though that my eyes are naturally sensitive and very dry and I do tend to experience dryness earlier than people with more "normal eyes" but I managed to wear these for roughly 5-6 hours before I felt like I really had to take them off. If you have dry eyes you might want to invest in eyedrops that are suitable for contact lenses to improve your comfort at events etc.

Overall this is a versatile circle lens that can be used for many different purposes ranging from cosplay to street fashion and dress-ups. The blue shade is very pleasant and has a good coverage, I think it would show up even on dark eyes? I can recommend this pair if you're looking for this type of blue color and don't want overly huge lenses; these lenses are a solid option for cosplaying male characters due to their modest size.

Distance photo!

Short summary:

Color: 8/10
A beautiful, darkish blue that has that a lot of depth to it.
Design: 7/10
Quite the standard design but a very succesful and multi-purpose one, it's minimalistic in a way yet full of life.
Opacity: 8/10
Surprisingly strong coverage, it blocks out my real eye color and is densely pigmented.
Enlargement: 4/10 

It's between small and moderate when you factor in the illusion of the rich black rim.
Comfort: 7/10
Thin, comfy and I barely notice that I have lenses on. Definitely on the upper half of the scale.

Naturalness: 5/10

The color and bordering on ethereal appearance gives these away; a bit too dark and impactful to fly under the radar but still within the outskirts of semi-natural.

Do you have a preferred circle lens brand that you gravitate towards?

Shiro Samurai out~

Lens review: Chromaview Blue Manson

Hello friends!

I'll be reviewing a pair of crazy lenses called Chromaview Blue Manson, wiee! I'd wager that most people who are familiar with sfx lenses have at the very least seen photos of this classic long-standing design – yes, the namesake comes from rockstar Marilyn Manson's iconic looks. There's tons of different brands that produce 'Manson' lenses but the ones I'm showing y'all today are from Chromaview, a brand more prominent in the western market.

Let's go!

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14 mm

Water content: 42%

Life span: 30 days

This is a really simple design consisting of a solid block of color and a thin black outer rim, nothing else. It's so minimal and yet it has an immense impact because of how unnatural and intense it ends up looking. Yes, the color payoff is crazy vibrant and whatever your real eye color is there will be no traces of it after you put these bad boys on!

One lens in.

As you can see on the photo above I have a light gray-blue eye color and it gets completely blocked out! It's only possible to catch slight glimpses of your natural color through the small pupil opening but it's not distracting at all from the overall effect and besides, one has got to see lol. Yes, the pupil hole is rather small (especially if you're used to wearing circle lenses) and that does mean that in some poorer light conditions you might experience some blurring in your field of vision, especially at the corners. If you're new to wearing special effect lenses then this might feel weird and trippy at first but don't worry, after some time your eyes will adjust!

There is some very minor enlargement effect for me but, honestly, it's not really noticeable once you have both lenses on. Of course the actual size increase will depend on the size of your eyes so yeah, there's some individual variety to factor in. But I doubt anyone would look alien with these on because they are considered small in the realm of colored contacts. Of course with this kind of bright Halloween-style lenses I recommend wearing eye makeup to really frame your eyes and make the lenses pop!

Lens photos below!

All photos are taken by yours truly during an afternoon with a 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.

Flash photo.

Facing window indoors, not sun side. (backyard view)

Unlit corridor, weak natural light in the distance.

Outdoors, back against sun. (facing wall)

Outdoors, facing sun.

You can see on the photos above that these lenses are unquestionably a screaming bright blue regardless of what light conditions I am in. There's no transparency whatsoever and yes, it looks extremely unrealistic but that's exactly the point with this type of lenses – if you want a hyper-pigmented, unapologetic neon blue that turns heads because of how bonkers colorful it is then look no further, you got it here. This is a great lens for costuming, carnival parties, punkrockers and literally anyone who breaks the mold of society and who doesn't give two shits about normalcy. If your vibe is being bold and extra then 'Manson' lenses are likely a good fit for you! This is of course also a solid choice for cosplay, depending on your preferences. :)

When it comes to comfort I'd say that the Blue Manson lenses get a pass, they're thin and generally comfortable to wear. I wore them at an event for about 7 hours before my eyes gassed, which is quite the feat for me because my eyes are very dry naturally. They did start to show signs of drying a couple or so hours in but almost all lenses do this for me because my eyes suck lol, so it isn't really anything out of the norm. I do want to mention though that I think I might have had one of the lenses being of a poorer batch because the right lens was always scratchy when I inserted it, and so I had to reinsert it a few times and clean it thoroughly between each try before it finally was wearable. The left lens was perfectly okay so I dunno, I inspected the right lens many times but I saw no defect on it so maybe just had bad luck with stubborn dirt or something.

Distance photo!

Short summary:

Color: 10/10
Absolutely insane neon bright blue, great for alternative fashion and costume parties.

Design: 7/10

Classic crazy lens design with a single bold color and thin black rim. Greatly visible from a distance!

Opacity: 10/10

100% coverage, no question. 

Enlargement: 3/10

There's a minor size boost but I'd say it's not jarring even if you'd only wear one lens.

Comfort: 6/10

Sufficiently good. Might be a bit more drying than some other lenses due to the low-ish water content (42%) but overall thin and decent to wear. Bring contact lens suitable eyedrops for prolonged wear at events etc, especially if you have naturally dry eyes.

Naturalness: 0/10

Hell nah, these are as crazy as they come and proudly so!

Are you interested in crazy lenses? Tell me about your favorites in the comments!

Shiro Samurai out~

Lens review: Princess Pinky Obsidian Yellow

Hello to everyone~

It's time for another circle lens review and I'm well due showing you guys the Princess Pinky Obsidian Yellow lenses. You might recognize these lenses because I wore them for Hotaru from Samurai Deeper Kyo but honestly it's a really cool lens that could work for a lot of anime characters with yellowish orange eyes. Yes, this is a very 'anime style' lens and thus great for cosplay.

Let's go!

Base curve: 8.8 mm
Diameter: 14.5 mm

Water content: 40%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

Yeah I know, the name says yellow but these are honestly more orange. This is an extremely pigmented lens, on par with those Halloween style crazy lenses so yeah, works great for costuming purposes and less so for daily looks – unless your fashion style is akin to cybergoth, decora or such.
As I mentioned earlier I got these specifically for Hotaru because his eyes range between yellow and orange and I thought these lenses were the perfect compromise!

The design of the lens features a distinct black limbal ring and a fiery orange color that nicely fades towards a sunny yellow on the oppposite side. There's also some added white reflection lights to make the lenses look more lively and animated, aka give off a distinct manga styled look. These lenses are honestly super opaque and by that I mean that my real eye color doesn't show through at all – there's no mottled color or speckles, it's a very bright and impactful lens. It can even be a bit on the unsettling side if you're not used to such bold effect cosmetic lenses. In my opinion these don't look scary and I'd say that those white dots have a lot to do with it because yeah, it makes my eyes look very cartoony and costume-y.

One lens in.

There's a small to moderate enlargement effect but I'd gauge it on the smaller side, personally. I feel like the black rim adds to the illusion but when I compare the size of the lens to my natural iris it's not big. Of course one thing to bear in mind here is that different people do actually have different eye sizes and thus also different iris sizes – so what's a small lens for one person might be medium size for someone else.

Some of your reading this are probably wondering if these lenses spin in your eyes when worn and to that I would say that "yes they do, but not terribly much". I've worn these to anime conventions and I did have to do some minor touch-ups (aka rotate the lenses in my eyes by poking gently with one finger) throughout the day. I feel like they might be weighted to some degree although I can't find any information confirming this on Pinky Paradise's website since they don't spin as much as some other lenses I've worn before where you can tell if they spin. I think most lenses do in actuality spin but it's only noticeable on lenses that have a design that isn't symmetrical and/or identical all around, which means that the only type of lenses where spinning is typically visible is on special effects lenses like cat eyes, sharingan lenses and those that incorporate dots, stars, stripes, half-and-half split colors etc.
But if you're terribly bothered by the fact that you might look cross-eyed on photos if you don't check your lenses with a pocket mirror every now and then, then you might want to choose lenses where spinning isn't detectable. My opinion is to not skip these though because the spinning is manageable (especially if you have a friend who can tell you if it starts to look bad lol) and if like only one lens has a slight tilt it's not that noticeable from a distance, promise. This is one of the best orange costume lenses on the market right now, especially for cosplayers.

Lens photos below!
All photos taken by yours truly during a noon with sunny weather. All close-up photos are free from color filters etc and that's so that the colors would appear as true to real life as possible.

Natural room light, indoors.

Yellow room light, indoors.

Bathroom light.

Flash photo.

Facing window indoors, not sun side.

Outdoors, back against the sun. (facing wall)

Outdoors, facing the sun.

These lenses were pretty okay to wear, just be mindful that because the pupil hole is small you will see colored corners at the edges of your vision in some light conditions, mainly indoors. I gotta admit that I forgot to write down any notes about comfort so I don't really remember much, but I know they were thin and I did wear these lenses at events for roughly 5-7 hours. I have naturally very dry eyes and I do recall feeling that the lenses started to dry a teeny tiny bit a couple hours in but it didn't get uncomfortable until roughly the 4 hour mark.

Overall this is a lens I would highly recommend for cosplayers, especially since there's not terribly many orange lenses out in the market and even less if you don't want any of the classic werewolf designs. This is a fiery, very vivid and high coverage lens that doesn't look flat. It's not an understatement when I say that these are really visible even from a distance! Honestly you can't really go wrong with these, just be aware that they do slowly spin (if you have a lazy eye or other eye conditions it will spin more on the affected eye) so if that's an immediate dealbreaker then you might want to consider other options. Personally I would be very much inclined to repurchase these whenever I need orange lenses again for costuming purposes.

Distance photo!

Short summary:

Color: 10/10 

One of the best orange lenses on the market currently, fiery and super vibrant shades!

Design: 9/10 

A really effectful anime-inspired design, it's clearly tailored for cosplayer needs.

Opacity: 10/10

Perfect and full coverage.

Enlargement: 4/10 

Somewhere between small and moderate I'd say. 

Comfort: 7/10 

Decently comfortable. I have particularly dry eyes naturally and could wear these for roughly 4-5 hours at events before they dried my eyes out, which is very well within average to good.

Naturalness: 0/10 

I can't even in good faith call these natural. But they don't need to be either.

Thanks for reading my blog! Do you have any lenses you'd like to see me review?

Shiro Samurai out.

Lens review: ColourVue Crazy Lens Red Spiral

Hi there!

Here comes the first colored contact lens review for the year and it's the now-discontinued ColourVue Crazy Lens Red Spiral. In fact the whole brand's line of sfx lenses seem to have disappeared of the face of the Earth but nevertheless I wanted to review these for posterity. Sometimes similar-looking lenses exist by another brand and it might be fun to compare them. :)

Let's go~

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.0 mm
Water content: 45%
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

So what we have is a yellow base color with an orange-redish psychedelic ring pattern, kinda. There's only two colors and it should also be noted that, unlike most crazy lenses, these aren't actually fully opaque but rather slightly transparent. This means that the color is somewhat affected by what your natural eye color is, but not much. You can still very easily see that your eyes look unnatural and the wanted effect is still there.

One lens in.

There's not any notable enlargement effect but these don't look as spooky or crazy as one might expect when worn, especially when viewed from a distance – they mostly just look orange and that's because the ring pattern is quite tight (small spaces between each ring) so it blends together the further the viewer is. I still like the effect and it's cool in its simplicity.

Lens photos below!
All photos taken by yours truly during a noon with mostly sunny weather. All close-up photos are free from color filters etc and that's so that the colors would appear 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.

Unlit corridor, weak natural light in the distance only.

Outdoors, back against the sun. (facing wall)

Outdoors, facing the sun.

These lenses are a part of that accidentally forgotten box I've been plowing through lately so yeah, if you've read any of my previous lens reviews you know the deal but if not then the short version is that I found a stashed-away box with lots of unopened expired lenses and I've since then been reviewing them. This means that I don't grade comfort since I toss the lenses the moment I get all necessary photos taken.
But what I can say about these lenses is that I didn't feel them in my eyes, they were thin and surprisingly comfortable. One thing I also noticed was that I didn't notice any colored corners at the edges of my vision, which is very typical of crazy lenses due to their opacity combined with the smaller-than-average pupil hole (especially when compared to circle lenses). The lenses seemed comfy but obviously I wasn't about to try wearing them for an extended amount of time because they were expired. Don't do stupid shit, yo.

I can't really tell anyone to go try these lenses out because they don't exist anymore lmao. But if nothing else this review might give an idea of how a lens out there with a similar print might appear when worn on light eyes. It's a simple but effective design that gives lowkey demonic vibes and is useful for different monster, devil and bad or at least questionable guy looks. Works well for oni, ogre and such creatures as well where you want an ominous eye color but don't necessarily want a straight-up screaming red or yellow.

Distance photo!

Short summary:

Color: 8/10 

There's only two colors but they work to create a creepy orange that works for a lot of monstrous looks.

Design: 6/10 

A lot of rings on a yellow base, blending together to look orange. Decently unique and functioning but simple.

Opacity: 8/10

High level of coverage but it's not 100% opaque; your eye color slightly affects the final shade.

Enlargement: 2/10 

Negligible enlargement, it's very minor but if you compare with just one lens in you can make out a small difference.

Comfort: 7/10 

I can't grade comfort properly but the lenses appeared to be very comfortable. I didn't feel them at all and they were thin.

Naturalness: 1/10 

No, no one has these kind of unsettling unnatural colors naturally. Won't fly bro.

Thanks for reading, there will be another review coming in a bit!

~ Shiro Samurai out.