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.

Lens review: ColourVue Crazy Lens Blind White

 Yo ho, mateys!

 

 I might have a few more colored contact lens reviews to throw at you all before this year ends and here's one of the cooler ones! You see, I've long been curious about these 'blind eye' special effect lenses because they look so intense and eye-catching. Yet, funnily enough, I've never even tried a mesh type lens first to ease myself into the experience and, well, instead I jumped straight into the deep end by going for the ColourVue Crazy Lens Blind Whites lol. And while this particular brand's sfx lenses are now discontinued from the market there still exists other brands with blind eye lenses so yeah, if you're curious about what the wearing experience is like then continue reading! :D

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

Okay so first let's make one thing abundantly clear – these lenses are an undeniably solid white through and through and it's very visible by just looking at the lenses in their little glass bottles. Yes, this means that there's zero opacity anywhere on the lenses and wearing them will effectively render you blind as a bat to the point you won't see fuckall of anything happening around you and I mean that in all serious seriousness; you won't have any functional vision of your own and if you plan to wear these lenses out to any event you _need_ someone to guide you around at all times or you will have a miserable time. So yeah, if the thought of having zero vision and fumbling around making your way forward by touch is uncomfortable to you then please don't buy these type of lenses and go for the mesh variants instead, which provide a similar look but retains some visibility, so that you can function independently.
This is the most extreme kind of cosmetic lenses along with scleras, it's not for everyone. Make sure that you can handle the loss of vision (also on a mental level) before purchase.

One lens in.

Wearing just one lens is a bit of a trippy feeling because it's equivalent to wearing an eyepatch or blocking out the other eye with your hand. The eye with the lens sees nothing but white and it feels a bit disorienting because you still have your other eye with full vision that's trying to compromise the shortfall of the blind eye. I want to note here that if you choose to only wear one lens to complete your look then you should be prepared for a headache at some point, due to the extra strain and compensation the seeing eye is being put through during the hours of wear. Just as a heads up. It's similar in principe to how people who wear correcting glasses daily get a headache if they don't wear them.

Lens photos below!

All close-up photos below are taken by Firith (for obvious reasons, aka I don't see shit) during noon with mostly sunny weather. 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.

Indoors, yellow room light.

Flash photo.

Facing a window indoors, not sun side.

Outdoors, back against the sun. (facing wall)

Outdoors, facing the sun while standing under a shadow.

Outdoors, facing the sun.

In all honesty the only thing I could see with both lenses on was like a solid milky white color that would slightly shift in shade to a warmer (yellowish) or colder (blueish/grayish) nuance depending on if I was indoors or outdoors, for example. So in essence the only visual information I retained was extremely vague at best, like when I stepped out of my apartment I could tell that I was outdoors because the white I was seeing got brighter. It's a bit hard to explain but trust me when I say that the only thing I could somewhat discern indoors was where a window was located – as in I would see the general outlines, which showed up as a blurry square (because my windows are rectangular) that was brighter than the rest of the white around it. I would also be able to tell if something, like waving my hand in front of my face, or someone passed in front of the window's light because I'd see a very simplified shadow being cast but I wouldn't be able to tell any features or even what it was, just that there was a fleeting shadow that obscured the light briefly. Oh and this shadow only appeared if the object in front was moving from one side to another, if it was stationary in front of the window then I wouldn't be able to tell that there was something there – as in no discernable shadow appears.

When I'm outdoors I'm 100% blind, I don't see anything whatsoever (except for the sun being an extra bright blob of white) and I wouldn't be able to tell if I was walking into someone before colliding or if someone's standing literally right in front of me. I can't stress it enough that you really need someone to act as your eyes because we sighted humans are so accustomed to being able to see, so that when you take that one sense we're taking for granted away, then suddenly it's a whole different world to navigate – and that can be really scary, and hazardous, if you're not prepared.

One thing I should maybe also mention, that is perhaps not so obvious, is that with both lenses on it's really hard for you to even know what direction you're facing. This also applies to what direction your eyes are looking at because, after all, you only see the same shade of white wherever you look so it's really difficult to even know if your eyes are physically looking in the direction you think you're looking at – after all there's no indicators. It's even harder if you have 'lazy eye' or strabismus (cross-eye) because without being able to see anything your eyes might just uncontrollably go wherever they want lol. So yeah, if you're trying to act as a model and get photographed it can be an additional challenge to even have your gaze being where it should be because you don't see anything that you can focus on and so your eyes might just aimlessly be somewhere else and not towards the camera at all – the prompt to "look at the camera!" doesn't work in this situation (you don't see the damn camera nor even the person holding it!) so you have to play it on habit and experience.

I didn't have the faintest idea at all times if I was looking left of right, up or down because all I saw was the same endless white regardless; there' no visual signals going to your brain that your eyes are even looking in the same direction because there's no information to be had so yeah, it can easily start to feel like you have no control and a sense of confusion can spread along with the disorientation. I don't know how many times I asked "are my eyes looking where they should be looking?" because I literally have no way to know.

If we ignore the obvious and intentionally self-imposed issue of not seeing anything, I'd like to say that in terms of comfort these lenses were surprisingly comfortable to wear. I didn't feel them at all and they were thin and went in without any issues. Yes, it can be a bit extra difficult to get them off because you don't see what you're doing until you get at least one lens out first (it helps to have a lot of prior experience with handling contact lenses to make it as hassle-free as possible). I can't really grade comfort properly though because these lenses were also a part of that box I forgot about, which means they had expired in their vials before I got around to do this review. I only wore these lenses for the duration it took to get all necessary photos and then I immediately discarded them regardless of how fine they felt to wear. Don't be reckless out there and please don't wear expired lenses or lenses that feel uncomfortable despite multiple cleansing attempts.

Another thing that I want to bring up is that when I removed both lenses it felt really weird to suddenly have full vision back after about 30 minutes of no vision. It was almost overwhelming in a way and I really mean that. I know it probably sounds a bit silly because I'm a sighted person all day every day normally and I only wore the lenses for a brief moment, but you'd be surprised how big of an impact those minutes of wear has on your psyche; like you suddenly have to go about your life in a completely different way than usual and you can't depend on the most crucial of all human senses to navigate. It puts you in a place of complete dependance on other senses to remain functional and that does things in your mind that are difficult to put into words, one of them being how quickly you adapt and kind of normalize it internally despite knowing that it's temporary, not permanent. It's quite an eye-opening experience (pun intended).
Oh and one little thing, immediately after removing the lenses I got this peculiar headache that stayed for a while and then just disappeared on its own after maybe an hour or two; I'm pretty confident it had something to do with the sudden return of sight and your body readjusting because I've had the same type of headaches before while wearing an eyepatch for a prolonged period of the day.

All in all blind lenses can be a great sfx addition to complete a costume but just make sure that you're aware of what you're getting yourself into before you take the leap. Do your research beforehand (like reading this review :3) and make sure you have a trusty friend at hand who's willing to help you navigate around, you'll need it. There are some characters out there from popular fiction works that would look really cool with blind white lenses to complete the costume – Toph Beifong from Avatar: the Last Airbender and Hinata and Neji Hyuga from the Naruto anime series immediately comes to mind. Of course blind lenses work great for other costuming ideas too like the ever-popular pirates and why not battle-damaged warriors and gladiators or creepier units like ghouls and the mythological Medusa etc. Point is that there's a lot of roleplaying and dress-up options where this kind of blind eye look or even partially blind look would really elevate a costume to its next level, even if you just wear one lens to keep yourself functioning without assistance. ;)

Distance photos!

(photo by Firith)

One-eye example look, pirate style!

Short summary:

Color: 10/10 

It's supposed to be an intense blind white and that's exactly what it delivers. Can't complain.

Design: 10/10 

It's hard to grade design because obviously it's a simple solid white and nothing else, but that's also exactly the only thing it's required and expected to be so it's perfect for what it is.

Opacity: 10/10

It's so opaque that you don't see anything, that's the point and for that full coverage is a must. This can't be anything but full points lol.

Enlargement: 1/10 

It's hardly enlarging, there might be a very tiny tiny increase but that's all.

Comfort: 8/10 

Without factoring in the blindness effect these lenses are a lot more comfortable than one might be inclined to think. I didn't feel them at all and they were surprisingly breathable and thin.

Naturalness: 3/10 

A bit hard to grade because real blind eyes can look quite different from case to case but usually they're not this strong and opaque of a white so yeah, I can't really claim that it's a very natural-looking blind look either but it's more believable than some colorful circle lens or other crazy-patterned lens.

Thanks for reading my blog, hope you found this interesting! If you have any further questions about these lenses you're welcome to leave a comment!

~ Shiro Samurai out.

Lens review: ColourVue Phantasee White Galaxy

 Good morning everyone! 

I'm back with another colored contact lens review and this time we're checking out the ColourVue Phantasee White Galaxy! Yes, these are very similar in style to the Pure Galaxy crazy lenses I reviewed earlier, it's basically just a different color variant. And just like with the previous review the White Galaxy lenses have also seemingly disappeared from the market so this is also a review I'm doing just to remember that these lenses once existed and to be able to compare them to similar designs I might try in the future.

Now let's-a-go!

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

As I briefly mentioned above these lenses are almost identical to the Pure Galaxy ones I reviewed just before this one, the only difference is that the swirl design is in black instead of yellow. But for the rest of the specifics it's essentially the same – there's a pure white main color and the lenses lack any kind of limbal ring, which makes them nudge towards the creepy side when compared to more traditional cosmetic contacts. They look quite intense when worn and I would rank them as crazy lenses because they're very unnatural-looking, bold and have full color coverage.

One lens in.

You can see on the photo above that these look quite striking when worn and the white main color is a really bright, pure white – it's so white it's whiter than my scleras, which adds to the intensity (and creepiness, if you'd like). It looks a bit unnerving but not quite as ominous as the Pure Galaxy lenses do, in my opinion. I do personally like both circle lenses and more costume-y lenses meant for Halloween and such, both have their appeals and uses! This type of lenses can fit right in with certain alternative fashion styles that are more bold and unapologetic in their visual expression – like punk, goth and other dark styles.

Lens photos below!
All photos taken by yours truly during an October noon with sunny weather, although the sun was hidden by a veil of clouds at the moment the photos were taken. All close-up photos are free from color filters etc and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible.

Indoors, natural room light.

Indoors, yellow-ish room light.

Bathroom light.

Flash photo.

Indoors, facing a window. (not sun side)

Unlit corridor, only natural light in the distance.

Outdoors, back against the sun. (facing wall)

Outdoors, facing the sun. (obscured by a cloud veil)

Just like with a majority of lenses I've been reviewing lately this pair was also a part of that infamous cardboard box, which I had stashed away so well that I literally forgot about it for years. Oops. By the time I found it all the unused lenses inside had expired and so I began my mission to review them; it was the least I could do to make the purchases not completely wasted. I mean, if I can turn my misfortune into at least something positive I'd gladly do it. Obviously I don't recommend wearing expired lenses and I'm only wearing these lenses for the sake of getting the necessary review photos taken, after that I immediately discard them.
This, unfortunately, means that I can't properly grade comfort and that my comfort grading is based on quite literal first (and only) impressions. But what I can say about these lenses is that, during my brief time wearing them, I didn't notice anything dramatically bad. They were a bit difficult to insert and by that I mean that the lens would not latch onto my eye properly but like "float" on top, which made them pop out when I blinked. I had to redo the insertion once per eye. It might not be their fault because this happens every now and then when putting in contact lenses, especially if your finger holding the lens is more moist than your eyeball and so your lens prefers to stay on the finger lol. But anyways, once I got the lenses in they settled normally and felt quite thin and okay to wear, save for some slight itchiness around the edges (possibly due to either expired status or perhaps got some debris between that didn't completely clean off before reinsertion). My eyes are naturally dry and sensitive so I'm not the best to judge comfort averages but yeah, if these had been non-expired I guess they would have been okay to wear for maybe 2-4 hours or something like that?
Oh, one thing that should maybe be noted is that these lenses, just like many other crazy lenses, have a somewhat narrower central opening than that of your typical circle lens, which means that in poorer light conditions when your pupils dilate to let in more light, you might experience slight blur or colored corners at the far edges of your vision field. In this case the intruding color would be perceived as white-ish due to the main body of the lenses being white. This is something that I'm used to, as a long-time colored lens user, and it's totally normal so it's nothing to freak out over. :)

All in all this is a fun, vibrant lens that could be cool for both alt fashion and costuming. It does draw my thoughts to fantasy and sci-fi realms but not necessarily to the bad guys – maybe more akin to morally gray nomads and rogues with superpowers, that kind of characters? But yeah, sadly these exact lenses have gone 'poof' from the market and we'll just have to wait along for a replacement.

Distance photo!

Short summary:

Color: 8/10 

Pure white lens with a black spin print. Surprisingly fascinating and crisp-looking.

Design: 8/10 

Simple swirl design but powerful effect once worn. Not quite as creepy as one might expect.

Opacity: 10/10

Full coverage, my real eye color is completely blocked out by how opaque the pigmentation is.

Enlargement: 2/10 

Negligible enlargement, it's hardly noticeable on my eyes at least.

Comfort: 5/10 

Appears to be average comfort. Had some slight difficulties with insertion, followed by itchiness around the edges but I can't be sure if that was a one-time occurence or not. Thin and okay otherwise.

Naturalness: 1/10 

No chance, these are far from natural in any sense of the word.

Thanks for your time, there will be more reviews coming in a bit!

~ Shiro Samurai out.