Lens review: Neo Ring Black

Eey ~

I'm gonna be honest, I'm not 100% sure what the name of these lenses is but I'm gonna go by Neo Ring Black as that's what my order confirmation says. Their identification number or whatnot is N019. I bought these from Honeycolor a long time ago and I can't seem to find them anymore, at least not the yearly version. ^^"

Oh well, let's do this review anyway!

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.2 mm

Water content: 45%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

It's really rare that I review a black lens, haha. There's not that many to begin with and I think black lenses in general are meant to be like an "enhancing lens" for dark eyes. With that said they tend to look really, shall we say, intense, on light eyes? :D Like the effect is cool and a bit creepy at the same time. I personally dig it but it's not for everyone.

One lens in.

The color fades nicely towards the center and yeah, it's definitely black. It's really dark and eye-catching and really draws attention to your suddenly super-dark rimmed eyes. In a way I guess it can be called dolly but yeah, I'd say it borders more on the supernatural territory than on the cute one, lol. It's an interesting lens nonetheless and fun to play around with – I can definitely think up some funky outfits to wear these with!

 

The size increase is there but Neo lenses tend to stay within moderate range so it's not particularly big in any way. The colored part of the lens is focused on the area around the edges, which leaves my natural eye color fully visible at the center – it 'clashes' as the contrast is really huge going from very light to full-on black, despite the smooth blending trying to ease it.

Lens photos ahead!
All photos taken by me during an afternoon with a semi-clear sky with the sun super low on the horizon line (fuck you polar night :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.

Natural room light indoors.

Yellow room light indoors.

Facing window. (shadow side)

Flash photo.

Outdoors, back against sun. (facing wall)

Outdoors, facing sun. (last rays of sunset)

Outdoors, facing the sun while it's blocked by a roof.

Outdoors, standing under the shadow of a storage building.

These lenses are thin, invisible to wear and overall quite nice actually. Sometimes they feel a bit dryish but most lenses do that to me nowadays so it's hard to tell when it's the lens and when it's just my eyes being dry and crappy, lmao. I expect to be able to wear these for around 3-5 hours, which is on the better half of good as I have really dry and sensitive peepers. 

All in all black lenses are interesting on light eyes because of the effect they bring in play. Some will love it and others will think it's way too unnatural but I personally am some sort of fascinated. It's a nice lens and especially cool for visual styles, dark styles and why not cosplay too? Goths, emos and the like might get a kick out of these and basically anyone who is curious about rocking eyes with massive black edges. Thankfully the fading effect mitigates the worst 'clash' effect and thus I think these are likable even on non-dark eyes. :)

Distance photo!

Short summary:

Color: 8/10
I wish the color reached a bit further in but it's black and that's about all you can ask for.
Design: 7/10
Streaky fade effect with super-dark edges. Looks pretty cool and keeps the worst 'clash' effect away.
Opacity: 6/10
The further outwards the more opaque. Color gets weaker and fades more towards the pupil hole.
Enlargement: 3/10 

Quite small, although the blackness really fools you into believing otherwise.
Comfort: 7/10 
Invisible to wear, thin and overall pleasant. A bit dryish sometimes but I can still expect to be able to wear these for 3-5 hours on super dry eyes.

Naturalness: 2/10

Highly unnatural on light eyes but it would sound differently if I had brown eyes.

Thanks for reading!

Shiro Samurai out.

Blog 7-year birthday!

*drumrolls*

Happy birthday to blooog, happy birthday to blooooog, happy birthday to---,

...

... nah, fuck this. I'm horrible at singing.

Today is happy birthday day for my cosplay blog, clocking in at 7 years of existence! Yes, I totally forgot to post on the 6th birthday and some previous years too but oh well, shit happens. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
As per usual I'm happy to still be around and be relevant, even though my blog has been really circle lens heavy lately, which might not be to every reader's liking. ^^" It's just that I have a shitlot of lenses that I need to review as I bought a lot back some years ago and didn't do reviews often enough back then so now the pile caught up on me, lol. I can almost say with certainty already now that next year will be circle lens heavy too and after that it will subside and become more cosplay focused again!
To be honest I wish I worked more on cosplays but school is eating up what little energy I have (and honestly I don't want to look at a sewing machine once I get home as that's what my class room is filled with, lmao) and so it's been a kinda unproductive year.

I know that cosplay blogging is past its prime at least in my home countries but screw that, I always loved blogging so I'm not going anywhere! I just really enjoy documenting everything I do carefully and then returning to look back at it years later – bonus points along the way if my ramblings help a fellow cosplayer out or inspire someone to check out a new convention etc! I mainly blog for myself but I of course appreciate every single reader and visitor that I've had over the years, thank you for visiting my blog! ♥ Oh and a thank you to all my sponsors over the years too, it's been a blast to work with you all!

I sadly don't have any giveaway for this birthday post but I think you guys can live without one for this time, right? Riiiight? :D No? ;_;

I don't have so much more to say, I wanted to keep this short and save the wordy treasure chest for the yearly summary instead, on which I'll bring up some things I've had in my mind – if I remember by then, lol. It'll be up before you know it anyway so stay perked for that!

Yo-ho and thanks for all the years together!

~ Shiro Samurai