[Sponsored] CosplaySky review: Resident Evil 4 Leon Kennedy cosplay jacket!

Good day everyone!

As I said in the Leon costest previously I would review his jacket and here it now is! You see, I got contacted by CosplaySky last year and they asked if I wanted to do a little collaboration with them – my answer was of course positive as I know people who have dealt with them before and been happy with the products and besides, their store is one of the better known online cosplay stores out there anyway. I love to review stuff and help the cosplay community out and that's what I'll do today!

For those unaware of CosplaySky it's a big and well-known online cosplay shop that has been around for years. They mainly sell cosplay costumes but also accessories, wigs and the like. Prices are generally affordable and the costumes tend to be accurate to what is shown on the site's stock images.

My reviews are always 100% my genuine opinion, no matter if the items were sponsored or bought with my own money. I never compromise my honesty and true thoughts to my readers. 

With all of that said I want to welcome you to a detailed, full and honest review of a product by CosplaySky! I hope you will find this review helpful and hey, feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions after you're done reading. :)

~ "Forewords" ~ 

It should be mentioned that I am quite picky when I browse online cosplay costume stores; I have a habit of always scrutinizing even the smallest details (I'm a perfectionist) and comparing them with official reference photos to see how accurate they really are. I do often try to find the most accurately made costume possible but I also keep realistic expectations in mind – you can't get something that's 100% accurate, well-made and with high-end quality fabrics for cheap. "You get what you pay for" is something that I always keep in mind when I shop around.

Most cosplayers do agree on that quality generally goes before price, meaning that they are willing to pay more for a nicer costume – I roll by that too. I do believe though that CosplaySky has a fair price versus quality standard, meaning that considering the price you pay you do get a decent costume. There might be a few small flaws but it's normally nothing that detracts from the cosplay as a whole. 

~ Contact, packaging and shipping ~

CosplaySky contacted me somewhere during the later half of last year. I'm sorry but I can't remember the details exactly as this was during a really stressful period of my life. ^^" As I've mentioned above I ended up choosing Leon Kennedy's jacket from the game series Resident Evil. There were two different versions of his jacket available and, after a lot of thinking I picked the darker version. 

The processing of the jacket (or costume, if you may) took anywhere between 1-3 weeks I think, I'm not sure as I don't have exact dates mentioned in my contact emails to go by. Shipping took a little over a month, which is pretty normal considering it came from China. I have no complaints as I wasn't in a hurry.

The costume arrived in this green plastic bag. Nothing fancy but it did what it was supposed to do, namely get the product safe to my door. I guess that if the costume had any breakable parts it would have been protected better but yeah, since in my case it's just a pleather jacket it can't really get ruined easily. Inside the plastic bag was the costume bag itself, which is this convenient bag with a plastic zipper for secure closing. With the costume also came a costume information paper sheet (in Chinese) that had a stock photo of the chosen costume and your measurements on it. I got mine custom-sized as I don't fit into any generic sizes.

Green shipping bag.

Costume bag.

I'm sorry for the poor light conditions but all photos were taken during the winter and thus we who live so high in the north have this wonderful (not) natural phenomenon called polar night, which means severely limited sunlight hours for many months. In other words the sun barely rises above the horizon line and a majority of the day is spent in complete darkness. It makes it really hard to photograph.

~ Costume thoughts, fabrics and sewing quality ~

I remember my first impression being positive. I took the jacket out of the bag and it is indeed pleather – a light to mid-weight type I think. I'm not too experienced with leather/pleather and so I can't say so much about the quality of the fabric itself (because I can't really compare it with much), but it has some weight to it and seems pretty good. It's of a really dark brown shade and is a tiny bit stiff to move in, which is pretty usual with (p)leather jackets.

It fits me and I can even close the zipper without a problem. It's actually pretty nice to wear, although it feels a bit "boxy" and I must admit that this is a summer or autumn costume – I wore it out on a winter day and the cold goes right through it in no time! 

Oh and yeah, regarding the zipper I should mention that it's your usual plastic zipper. If I'm honest I would have wished for a more sturdy zipper (metallic) as a plastic zipper feels a bit flimsy and out of place on a leather jacket, even if it's a cosplay jacket. But I can't really complain about it since on the stock photos it indeed showed a white plastic zipper and that's exactly what I got – the little difference though is that on my received jacket the zipper is much more visible than what it is on the stock images, as on those it's sewn on so that only the "teeth" of the zipper are showing, while as on mine almost the whole zipper is visible. But hey, it's a minor thing and I can live with it. I guess I'm just nitpicking at this point, lol. It would also have looked better if the zipper matched the color of the jacket because yeah, white really stands out and makes it look costume-y.

Sewing quality is good and consistent. Every seam is straight and professional-looking and there were only a few loose threads that I had to cut off (mainly from the lining). The jacket's inside is lined with this shiny brown fabric that feels really smooth to the touch and it's pleasant to have against your body. 

The pockets are fully functional (always a big plus!) and all the belt strap thingy details are there. The details are pretty accurate to the character and thus makes the jacket recognizable. Also, as I mentioned earlier there were two different versions of this same jacket available and I picked the single-color darker one in the end, mainly because I felt like on the other version the colors were perhaps a bit too bright – although it boils down to personal preference. I remember thinking though that, if I wanted, I could just paint the details (pocket openings etc) with a lighter brown to make them stand out more against the dark main color and thus the darker jacket would be more easily customized.

If there's anything that doesn't quite match the stock photos it's the fur. Don't get me wrong here, the fur I got is not bad but I was really hoping to get that creamy, almost luxury-looking smooth fur that was pictured on the site – it was actually the main reason that made me lean over and pick this darker jacket, haha. I'm not sure how to describe the actual fur that I got, except that it reminds me of cartoon sheep fur. It still works for the look but it's notably whiter than the pictured cream-colored fur with a completely different texture. I was neutral to it at first but now I have already started to grown to like it – it's not the end of the world, in other words. :D

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Detail photos ahead!
All photos taken by Frozen Angel.

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Upper back details.

The pockets are fully functional!

One of many belt strap thingy decorations.

Shoulder close-up.

Lining. The inside of the collar is furred.

Sleeve close-up.

This particular costume is about 85% accurate to the stock photos on the site, which is pretty good. Make sure to study the stock photos closely as you are likely to get something really similar to it if you buy from CosplaySky. I can recommend them as an online costume store.

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Please note that this review is for the JACKET ONLY.
Photos taken by Frozen Angel.
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Front view.

Side view.

Back view.

Want to get your own Leon Kennedy cosplay jacket? Check links below!

Link to CosplaySky main page: CosplaySky Online Cosplay Store

Jacket link: CosplaySky Resident Evil 4 Leon Kennedy Cosplay Jacket

Jacket link (alternative version): CosplaySky Resident Evil 4 Leon Kennedy Cosplay Jacket (Version B)

CosplaySky store & Leon Kennedy jacket rundown – Pros and cons:

+ Decent pleather fabric
 + Custom size actually fits me
+ Mostly accurate to store's stock photos
+ Attention to detail
+ Sewing quality
+ Fully functional pockets
+ The costume came in a convenient clothing bag

- The fur fabric is different from what was shown on the photos
- The zipper is more visible and not as "hidden" as on the photos

~ Sizing ~

I got my jacket custom sized and thus I can't speak for the pre-made sizes as I never fit into any of those, lmao. But the custom size fits me and it's easy to move around in. Of course it's a bit "boxy" and stiff as (p)leather behaves differently than, say cotton, but it's still comfortable to wear. It doesn't pull at any weird places and the sleeves look long when my arms are relaxed at my sides, but as soon as I move around they are the perfect length! 

If you are willing to pay extra to have it custom made I would recommend it, that's what I always do and so far I haven't gotten anything that didn't fit me.

Leon S. Kennedy reference image.

~ Conclusion and final thoughts ~

Okay, so to wrap up this review I want to make it clear that, contrary to what it perhaps might sound like, I am indeed overall greatly pleased with the costume jacket that I received and with CosplaySky's service. ♡ I'm truly sorry that this review is so so late but I really enjoyed this collaboration with them and I'd look at their store for cosplay shopping in the future.

Overall I'd feel safe recommending CosplaySky to all cosplayers –both beginners and more seasoned peeps– who are looking for a reputable online costume store with a huge costume selection and decent quality. They are also pretty fast with the turn-around times, but as with any online purchases from overseas you should plan in advance and order at least a couple months prior to the event you need the costume for; it's always better to be too early than too late!

Final Grade (from A-F): B

Recommend to others: Yes

I think that's about all that I had to say. I hope you found this review helpful and hey, do hit that "follower" button if you aren't reading my blog yet, there's a lot more content coming up soon ~

Also, don't forget to check out CosplaySky if you want to buy a costume or know someone else who does. ^_^ They constantly expand their repertoire with new costumes from the current popular shows!

A huge thank you goes out to CosplaySky for making this possible and to you for reading this post! ♡
~  Shiro Samurai says sayonara.

Leon Kennedy cosplay makeup test

Hello folks!

Since the later half of last year I've been silently collecting the gear needed for cosplaying Leon S. Kennedy from Resident Evil 4. I'm not sure if I've mentioned too much about cosplaying him on this blog but he's been in progress for a while.

Leon is not a character I would typically cosplay as I really can't stand to play any kind of horror games myself (I get too easily scared...) but watching my friend Sacchan play through the whole thing was a different deal and, quite honestly, a lot of fun! I ended up liking the storyline, the characters and the overall feel of the game – despite it being just the kind of game that I'd normally have very limited interest in as I'm not a fan of shooting nor horror games in general. ^^" I liked playing all the shooting target minigames though, lol. I must admit that I've been enjoying playing the later Resident Evil installments in the co-op mode with friends though, although I am aware that RE4 is considered one of the best ones and I can totally see why – but the newer ones I played with friends were easier on me as there wasn't that tension of a horror game and instead it was just a mash-buttons-to-kill-as-many-zombies-you-can-before-the-time-runs-out type of thing. xD

But yeah, Leon clicked with me and so I decided that "hey, why not do something different and go out of my comfort zone?". Said and done.

I think I started gathering materials for this cosplay around August something last year. About everything is purchased from various eBay sellers, except for the jacket which I got from CosplaySky (I will review it soon!) and the pants that I already had. At this point in life I didn't have the time nor energy to make the costume myself and, frankly, making all those gun holsters etc would have been really annoying and pointless seeing how cheap I could get them online. I'm lazy sometimes... and out of cash all the time.

I did a makeup test for Leon yesterday and I must say that it was a bit of a different experience. You see, I'm so used to doing the heavier "anime makeup" that when I did Leon I had to do the makeup more subtle and realistic, which proved to be a challenge! I'm so used to the black liquid eyeliners that when I had to do a more natural approach –since Leon is a video game character– it felt weird. I had to avoid covering up "too much" (Leon wouldn't have perfect 2D anime skin) and for the eyes I just went with dark brown pencil eyeliner.

I'm not wearing any contact lenses for Leon on the costest photos above, although I do have gray lenses especially bought for him. I want to save those for a later time as I kind of want to make a rocket launcher prop before I have any kind of proper photoshoot.

Also, I'm still not too sure if I really suit this character but oh well, who cares? :) I want to cosplay him and so I do. Fight me bro. I might still experiment further with the makeup (especially the eyes, as it feels like just pencil eyeliner doesn't stand out enough) and I have some ideas on trying to "grease it down" or what-to-call-it – like doing this kind of look that you've been out blowing zombies up for a while and there's dust and dirt all over...

Regarding the wig it was a bitch to find a suitable one, not gonna lie. The only character wig on eBay didn't look like I wanted mine to look and so I had to resort to searching for generic fashion wigs instead.. and pray for decent quality. Thankfully eBay is full of those but oh fucking boy, how hard it was to find one with a parting that is not a middle-part. >_> I eventually found a base wig that would work, although I had to compromise on color a bit as Leon's hair tends to generally be portrayed as this kind of dark brownish-blonde shade, although it is really inconsistent (I've seen cosplayers doing everything from blonde to brown and even black) and so I deemed that the wig's color wouldn't be that big of a deal. I went with blonde.

Leon's wig before cutting it...

... and after cutting.

Sacchan did the cutting while I had the wig on my head. I have a larger head than average and so it was safer that I wore the wig during the cutting process so that we'd get it to be the right length. It was really important that we didn't end up cutting it too short, as that would have looked really unflattering on me. I might eventually trim it a bit more but yeah, I can't say for sure until I've straightened it and wore the wig to a photoshoot or such, to see how it behaves.

I think that's about all I had to say for this round. The review for Leon's jacket will come up soon so stay tuned for that!

Shiro Samurai out.

Year of Cosplay 2017

Good day folks!

Once again we're nearing the end of yet another year and every time it feels just as sudden. I don't know where the days go but I know that time can't be stopped from running its course. I can say already now that in terms of cosplay the year 2017 has been very... underwhelming. I'm just not feeling it and trust me, I'm not happy about it either.

As per blog tradition, I'll start by listing all the conventions that I attended during 2017:

Matsucon - Oulu, Finland

Euran Mangapäivä - Eura, Finland

Mushucon - Rovaniemi, Finland

Närcon - Linköping, Sweden

Chibicon - Oulu, Finland

Skecon - Skellefteå, Sweden

Well, that list is not very impressive. I tick in at 6 cons for this year and I think that's a "personal worst" if we don't count my first cosplay years in like 2010-2011 something (aka before I even had this blog). One might notice as well that out of all these cons Närcon is the only big one – the rest are all what could be considered as local small cons, save for the one in Eura as that's totally not local for me. xD I just haven't been feeling the con hype this whole year and there's been a lot of other shit getting in the way, like school and mental health.

2017 is pretty similar to 2016, except probably even worse. I've literally only had 3 photoshoots during the whole year, of which only 1 can be considered a proper one. Needless to say the lack of new, updated cosplay photos is huuuuuuge. It's like I know I've improved but I have nothing to show for it and it makes me feel shit, lol. I'm not getting my hopes up about 2018 being much better in the cosplay department since I'll probably be very busy with my new school and other real-life matters. Yep, I'm starting new studies in January and I'm finally gonna get myself a profession!

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Aaaaaand what about the... the other traditional thing, you wonder?
...
...

I think this has turned into a meme of its own by now. x) Every year I wear fewer costumes, which of course naturally results in fewer photos and thus nothing to really show the world. This year it's the same curse – out of all four cosplays (wow, what a number) that I wore to cons I only have non-selfie photos of two of them, and that's like two photos of Itachi and one photo of Prussia. Urrrgh. Wake me up inside.

Here's a little list of what I wore at the cons I attended this year:

Matsucon: I wore my kimono!Itachi (Naruto) cosplay on Saturday and went casual on Sunday.
Euran Mangapäivä: Rewore Itachi again.
Mushucon: Because it was really spontaneous I went causal.
Närcon: I borrowed Firith's Teutonic Knight Prussia (Hetalia) cosplay on Thursday and wore swordboy Yasusada (Touken Ranbu) on Friday. On Saturday I wore a Rilakkuma kigurumi and on Sunday I wasn't even at the con.
Chibicon: Filthy casual.
Skecon: No cosplay on Friday, Gin Ichimaru (Bleach) for a few hours on Saturday and no cosplay on Sunday.

Yeah. I haven't done a lot of cosplaying this year, what more can I say?
I guess my favorite con of the year would be Närcon, but even that is with mixed feelings. I got a lot of joy from being with my big sister for the last time before she moved to Germany – I'm happy she came with me to visit Närcon on one day as well! It's gonna feel weird to not be able to sleep at her place during the con weekend anymore but oh well, there's the Närcon camping. It was fun to hang with Firith as well, although I'm still sorry about some of the things that didn't quite go as planned and I hope it didn't screw up the experience too much for my friend. :'( 
Otherwise Mushucon deserves a mention because, despite our trip being super sudden and spontaneous it was surprisingly fun! Although I guess all the derping with friends in the camper accounted for the positive memories of the con. xD

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I'm sorry about this whole post being kinda low in tone but, honestly, that's what this year has been like for me – lowkey shit. Of course it has had its great moments but I feel like for most of the time I've been my own anxiety's victim, combined with stress and whatnot. I just haven't been able to enjoy cosplaying and going to cons the same way as before and I miss the magic, honestly. I'm hoping that the future will reignite the fire that I've been searching for the past couple years. I'm also hoping to get at least one big cosplay project done next year (Monster Hunter anyone?) and that I'll have more time, money and inspiration to go farther to explore new conventions!

But before I end this post I want to thank all my friends, readers and everyone else who stumbles upon this blog of mine – I hope you all will continue to come back to read about my cosplay life and support me! Thank you so much for staying with me, like really.

Bye bye & Happy New Year 2018!

Lens review: GEO Xtra Morning Glory Brown

Hello sweeties!

Here comes my last circle lens review for this year, which is nearing its closure. It feels really weird to think that 2017 is soon over. I've had this pair in my possession for years but only now got around to actually open them, oops. Without further ado I'll say that today's review will be about the GEO Xtra Morning Glory Brown (WFL-A34) lenses, let's a-go!

Base curve: 8.7 mm
Diameter: 15 mm

Water content: 42%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

As with any legitimate GEO lenses these also came with authenticity stickers that could be checked online, to prove that the lenses are genuine of course. It's always worth it to be careful and only buy circle lenses from online shops that are trustable.

The Morning Glory lenses have a beautiful, intricate print and lovely color. Brown lenses are usually not my first pick but these I just felt like I had to try! *_* I am often drawn to lenses with unique artsy prints and these are no exception, hehe.

One lens in. Notice enlargement.

As you can see my natural eye color is a light blue-gray and these lenses turn into this lovely soft brown on my eyes. My real eye color does show through in the middle, because of the large pupil hole, but it doesn't clash with the brown and actually looks pretty nice. I like this kind of caramel-colored brown lenses anyway because they make my eyes look gentle somehow? That probably sounds kind of dumb but light brown eyes I tend to interpret as warm and kind. ^^

I guess the pattern itself is supposed to mimic a flower or something (it's from the Flower series after all) but it's so artistic that I don't instantly see it, lmao. I do like the thick limbal ring as it frames and brings focus to the eyes! The enlargement effect is obviously there too but it's not eating up my eyes, just making them look a bit more doll-like and cute.

All photos taken by me during a December morning with a sun that barely rises above the horizon line so yeah, no can do about the shitty light conditions because we're experiencing a phenomenon called polar night right now.
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.

Facing window. Sun side.

Facing window. Not sun side.

Bathroom light.

Natural apartment room light. (only window light)

Flash photo.

Outdoors, back against sun.

Outdoors, facing sun.

This is a fancy fashion lens for the fabulous earth-walkers but it could just as well serve as a cosplay lens, if wanted. The design is lovely, the size increase is there and the blending into my blue eyes is just right. The fabulous print draws in the watcher's gaze and gives this kind of mesmerizing, almost dreamy look to your eyes. I would recommend this pair if you like brown lenses – especially artsy ones with thick limbal rings.

Comfort is surprisingly good. I rarely find lenses exceedingly comfortable, seeing how dry my eyes are naturally, but these are definitely on the better side of average. These lenses are thin and I don't feel them in my eyes, which is always a plus because no one likes the obvious feel of "plastic in the eye" that some lenses give. I experience no vision blur or stinginess with these lenses and I can easily wear them past 3 hours without any dry bouts or hints of dryness/irritation. I would estimate wearing time on dry eyes for about 3-5 hours, at least for me. Definitely better than average in my books.

Distance photos!

Want to see Morning Glory lenses reviewed in another color? 

Check this out: Blue

Short summary:

Color: 7/10
Soft caramel-like brown color that goes nicely together with my light blue-gray eyes.

Design: 9/10

Gorgeous flower design with black details and a thick limbal ring for definition.

Opacity: 7/10

These do make my eyes appear brown but yeah, the large pupil hole lets through my real eye color in the middle so it doesn't look mega brown from a distance, lol. Still pretty though!

Enlargement: 7/10

Big and doll-like.

Comfort: 7/10

Thin and comfortable. No dry bouts or stinginess. Wearing time anywhere between 3-5 hours on my super-dry eyes. Definitely good!

Naturalness: 3/10

The thick dark rim, artsy design and size give them away. Looks too artificial and dolly to pass.

Thanks for reading and I hope you found this review useful!
Shiro Samurai out ~

My to-this-day undebuted cosplays

Hello folks!

Here it now is – the list of all my yet-to-be-debuted cosplays, as of now. I think every cosplayer is guilty of this one and what I mean is that we all start cosplays and then life happens and we just don't... finish them, for whatever reason. Sometimes we lose interest, sometimes we get other costumes in the way (that we want to finish first) and sometimes we just get lazy. Or something. :D

Regarding my own list I want to say that fear not, all the characters on the image below I still have an intent to finish and wear to a con. I haven't forgotten them! It's just that, for various reasons, all of these guys have ended up on the backburner – finished or not. I will detail below the status of each listed character.

From top left to bottom right:

Sanosuke Harada (Hakuouki, western outfit): Mostly finished. Looking for the right wig.
Team Aqua Grunt (Pokémon, RSE version): Finished, I might have lost my gloves though. Waiting for the right summer con because this is a very light costume.
Invoker (DOTA 2): In progress. Currently on a break.
Rentarou Satomi (Black Bullet): Need new shoes, otherwise finished. Hoping for a group/pair cosplay as I'm not too interested in doing him alone...
Leon S. Kennedy (Resident Evil 4): In progress. Hoping to get him finished early next year.
Mikazuki Munechika (Touken Ranbu): In progress but on a break. I have the wig and headband.
Tsurumaru Kuninaga (Touken Ranbu): In need of upgrading/repairs. Making the sword. Currently on a break.
Kenshin Himura (Rurouni Kenshin): Need to style the wig and fix the sword, otherwise ready. Currently on a break but plan to get back to him soon.
Hotaru (Samurai Deeper Kyo): Finished. Just need to learn to walk without faceplanting with his tengu geta. Waiting for a summer con.
Cheshire Cat (Yume Oukoku to Nemureru 100 nin no Ouji-sama): Needs some small fixing. Currently on a break.
Hajime Saitou (Hakuouki, rasetsu): Finished, except that I kind of want to find an even better wig for him. The juban needs some repairing before wear and the waraji shoes need to be strengthened.
Masamune Date (Sengoku Basara): My eternity project. ::DD Seeing how I last worked on him in 2014-2015 I might want to remake most of the armor parts by now, seeing how some of them aren't even comfortable/possible to wear. Currently on a break.
Shin Kazama (Area 88): In progress. Working on his flight suit. Hopefully finished for next summer.

There you have it. :) Although I must admit that I did not add all characters in there, mainly because either a lack of reference images of the particular version or because I'm highly considering scrapping them from my cosplay list altogether. Look at the list below to get an idea of what characters I left out and what their fate looks like.

Here's the "invisible list" of the second-grade cosplays:

Eren Yeager (Attack on Titan, casual): I actually started making this costume in January 2015 and got like halfway done before I suddenly lost interest. Don't get me wrong – I still think that the show is good but because of bad experiences I don't think that I want to cosplay from it anymore.
Levi Ackerman (Attack on Titan, suit): I still kinda like the character but I just can't look at this cosplay the same as before. The costume is finished but I doubt I could ever get past the mental barrier to actually wear him out, seeing how this very cosplay worsened my already existing insecurities. I know that my friends would tell me to not let anonymous hate stop me from cosplaying him but honestly, I don't want to risk getting bullied for wearing a cosplay again. Especially one that is not important to me anyway... 
Masamune Date (Brave 10): I did actually do a wig test in like 2012 but haven't started working on this cosplay. I later sold the wig but I still plan to cosplay this guy eventually – especially if I could get a group together.
Rokuro Unno (Brave 10, kimono): I was about to wear him to Desucon 2013 but just did a quick photoshoot outside the hotel and skipped actually debuting him. On hindsight I'm happy about that because the costume needs some updating, aka a better wig and eyewrap. Still plan to cosplay him one day, hopefully.
Yuuto (Original Character): One of my early OCs. I wore him for a home photoshoot in 2010 (holy shit that's old!) but since then I've been wanting to improve this costume and rewear him.
Jushiro Ukitake (Bleach, original suit): Did this for Valentine's Day 2012 and for Desucon Frostbite's "iltabileet" the same year. I kind of want to have a proper photoshoot of this costume one day.
Chikage Kazama (Hakuouki): I think I bought a sayagata patterned collar to use for his haori in 2012 and then just... forgot about it. xD I still want to do him but it's probably gonna take a while.

I might be forgetting someone but I left out a few new (or old-new) cosplays that I will soon start working on and want to keep secret for a lil' while longer. x) Also, I chose to skip adding all the different versions of Hakuouki's Souji Okita and rasetsu versions of other characters that I have more or less started working on because yeah, they would quickly take up a lot of space – I only added Saitou and western Harada on the list because those I actually got far enough to costest, haha. I bought perfect red fabric for Okita's regular version in 2014 and it has been waiting for its day since then. I also have red leather fabric for his gloves etc.

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There ya go. I hope you found this little post of interest, hehe. ^_^

Thanks for reading and see you!

~ Shiro Samurai

Lens review: ColourVue Crazy Lens Emerald

Hello lovelies!

As I promised on the last crazy lens review... here's the next one!
This time around I'll be showing you all the ColourVue Crazy Lens Emerald, which is a pretty interesting lens that gave me a couple surprises.

Now let's roll!

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.0 mm

Water content: 45%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

I have to say that photographing these lenses in their vials was stupendously hard!! They always turned into this weird light fluorescent blue-ish green on camera when they have a richer, darker shade when viewed in real life. The photos above are the closest I could manage but it's still not 100% accurate to show what the color looks like...

One lens in.

My natural eye color is a light blue-gray and these crazy lenses turn a really interesting color on my peepers! They are not completely opaque –and the little amount of transparency that there is– makes a really cool effect and attempt in making the lenses appear slightly more... realistic, I guess? It's a bit hard to explain but the way these go over my eyes makes them look a bit more believable than those 100% opaque single color crazy lenses that are quite popular and have the same base design. I really dig the effect the lenses create – it would be super cool for doing stuff like zombies, virus or possessed humans, supernatural beings and the like. I see the Crazy Lens Emerald as a pretty versatile lens, partly thanks to its transparent effect.

Lens photos incoming!

All photos taken by me during a December morning with a sun that barely rises above the horizon line so yeah, polar night is a bitch. :D
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.

Facing window. Sun side.

Facing window. Not sun side.

Natural apartment room light. (only window light)

Flash photo.

Outdoors, back against sun.

Outdoors, facing sun. (the sun barely rises from the horizon
and a roof was blocking it from my view)

I love how bright these lenses are – the color looks so unrealistic but in a super cool way! Also, because these lenses are slightly larger than my real iris there is this thin colored rim around my eyes that shows the true, unblended color of the lens and it's a nice touch; it's almost like some sort of 'halo effect' but for single color lenses, hehe. I could totally see these work for cosplay and crazier alternative fashion styles!

I was really surprised when I put these lenses on because they felt so thin – I literally didn't feel them in my eyes! Most times crazy lenses tend to feel a bit thicker than your average circle lens but these were super thin (without being flimsy) and invisible to wear, meaning that I don't feel them in my eyes. These lenses don't obstruct my vision in poorer lights by doing the "colored corners" effect either, which was a positive surprise as I was expecting it, considering that these don't have the typical large pupil hole that circle lenses normally have; crazy lenses tend to have smaller pupil holes and thus obstruct the vision. These don't scratch, sting or do anything of the sort – although I must admit that I did experience having my vision blurred during night-time when sitting indoors with poor lights.
Regarding wear time I guess, with my extremely dry eyes, it's not that bad – I would say anything between 1-3 hours, although if your eyes are not dry I would guess that these could easily go past 5 hours. These lenses are generally really pleasant to wear except that, in my case at least, I did experience semi-regular dry bouts every hour that stung my eyes for a couple or so minutes (it felt like I really needed to take them off) but then the irritating feeling went away, as suddenly as it had come, and the lenses were perfectly fine again. After the third hour clocked in they started to feel legit dry and that's when I gave up.

Distance photo!

Short summary:

Color: 10/10 

Single color lens with an awesome but weird green shade that really pops!

Design: 8/10 

Simple single color design but the transparency makes it stand out from other similar lenses.

Opacity: 8/10

These don't have perfect coverage but instead shine through a bit, creating a fluorescent effect that's really intriguing.

Enlargement: 2/10 

Barely noticeable but enough to give a small green rim around my eyes, at least.

Comfort: 4/10 

Really thin and generally invisible and pleasant to wear (save for occasional dry bouts) but, on my super dry eyes, wearing time is around 3 hours at most. Might blur vision slightly in poorer lights.

Naturalness: 1/10 

The color screams fake but I'll give one point for the blending... in crazy lens standards. ;)

Thanks for reading! One more contact lens review coming this month!

~ Shiro Samurai out.