Nerdcon 2015 cosplay plans – Bring out the oldie!

Whazzuuuup?

I haven't mentioned to many but yes, I am attending Nerdcon in Umeå, Sweden, this year too! And just like last year I will be a volunteer worker there as well! :D I won't be at the cafeteria though, even though that's what I applied for at first – you see, a week or so before the con Nerdcon informed me that they won't have their own cafeteria like last year (aka there will still be one but it's not driven by Nerdcon) so my working area got changed into the "activity helper/checker and assistant" one. I'm really looking forward to getting some new working experience and I'm hoping that it's gonna be just as fun as last year!

Oh, and in case you didn't know – this year Nerdcon is a 2-day con. Last year it was only one day so yes, they're growing!! Nerdcon is held on 14-15th August, aka starting tomorrrow on Friday. I'M SO LATE WITH THIS POST OMG. As you can see Nerdcon is a bit different, since usually the con days are almost always put on Saturday and Sunday, but Nerdcon is Friday and Saturday instead.

But hey! The reason I'm writing my cosplay plans only one meager day away from the con is because I've seriously had the hardest time ever to come up with what to cosplay!! Pinky promise.

I figured quickly that I will want a cosplay that is easy to move around in, comfortable to wear and that preferably doesn't have big-ish props like swords and such that could get in the way. Thing is that a big chunk of all my cosplay do have swords..................

At one point I considered doing one of my Hakuouki SSL cosplays, then I considered Rurouni Kenshin's Okita but without the swords, then I considered throwing together a closet cosplay Pokémon gijinka or just doing an OC. But the more I thought the less I really felt like doing any of these; my ideas just kept changing and it was getting really frustrating because the con was already so close and I still had no idea whatsoever lol. But then on yesterday, while talking with Sacchan (former Sairu-chan, in case you had missed it) at Jäätynyt Enkeli's place, we first threw it as a joke  – "Hey, how about we do some good ol' Bleach cosplays? :D"

At first it was a joke but then we started seriously considering it, especially me and Sacchan. I mean, we hadn't cosplayed from Bleach in some time and, while neither of us has been active in the fandom for long, we still have some fond memories of the series haha. Today I then checked if I could even find all the pieces for the darn cosplay and yes, I did! I informed Sacchan that it's time to get things bleached and the reply was a glorious "5/5 tissimummu ilmoittautuu! XDDDD".

So yeah, I'll bring out an old cosplay of mine (one of my five first cosplays, zomg!) that hasn't seen the light of day since whoppin' 2011!! :O Yeah I even had to check that up.

Are you prepared for thiiiiiiiis??

 

Series: Bleach
Character: Jushiro Ukitake

Yep, it's good ol' captain Ukitake!

This is the sleepwear/casual wear/I'm-being-sick-in-bed/whatnot outfit that he's seen wearing in chapter 116, White Tower Rocks, in the manga. I don't know if it has an official name but oh well. xD

This is the cosplay I will wear on Saturday.

On Friday I won't be cosplaying – I'll just dress up a bit geekier and cooler than usual! I can't really be bothered to think out a second suitable cosplay (because it was so hard to even come up with the first one... OTL) that I could wear while working because yes, I will work on both days. Also, seeing how it might be stressful when we arrive to Nerdcon, it's just gonna be so much easier to not cosplay on the first day.

That's all for now and bye bye!

Lens review: Dueba Volte Gray

Hello hello!

I'm back with another lens review! o/ The eyes of the day are called Dueba Volte Gray, although mine came in the Barbie brand's vials – fear not though, Dueba and Barbie are the same brand, just different names!
Psst, these also seem to go under the name Dueba Twinkle Gray...?

Unluckily though it seems like the Volte series has been discontinued already some time ago and they are almost impossible to find now, nooo! ;O; I really liked the Volte lenses but seeing how the ones I have expire on mid/late 2015 I guess it's the sign that there are no new batches being made... *sniff*
Oh well, in case anyone still wants to try the Volte lenses the gray ones and the brown ones are still available... at the moment I'm writing this post, at least. Just follow the links to get to them directly, if interested.

But now let's put all sad feels to the side and get on with the review!

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.5 mm

Water content: 38%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

Back when I ordered these I kinda expected the lenses to look a bit more lighter in the bottles, but it's really no big deal at all. They have the usual cool-looking swirl pattern that I've already admitted being a fan of. Yes, I definitely like the design of these.
The diameter is stated as 14.5 mm on the vials, but I personally think that the Volte series have only a slight enlargement effect.

One lens in.

The color is a nice medium gray and I personally dig it. The black outer rim does make the color appear darker from a distance though, but the rim also makes it so that the lenses look bigger than what they are.

I've never had comfort issues with any of the Volte lenses, that I've tried so far, and these are no exception – the comfort is on the better side. They aren't quite up there with the ultra comfy green pair but these are definitely not bad either!

Photo batch of the lenses ahead!

All photos taken by me during a late summer afternoon!

There's no color filters or such and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible. 

Indoors facing the window in my apartment. (always sun side)

Indoors apartment room light. (lamps on)

Bathroom light.

Flash photo indoors.

White-ish corridor light.

Yellow corridor light.

Outdoors under the building's roof, still turned towards the light.

Outdoors facing the sun directly. Outch.

Outdoors with my back against the sun. (aka facing the wall)

I really like the Volte series; I think they are a good choice for cosplay as well as other fashion looks. :) They are nice looking without being too "out there", if that makes sense.The Volte lens series has even been advertised for men! Yep, I'm referring to the males who model the lenses on the stock photos. Now that would be a nice thing to do........

Lastly, photos from a distance!

Psst, interested in seeing what the other colors of the Volte series look like? ;) Check out these reviews: Violet, Brown, Green.

Short summary:

Color: 7/10
A nice medium gray.
Design: 8/10
Cool swirl design!
Opacity: 4/10
The outer part of the lens has better color coverage than the inner part. Towards the pupil it blends into my eyes.
Enlargement: 4/10
Not really enlarging but there is still a small boost.
Comfort: 8/10
On the better end of average, definitely. I could wear them for at least 6 hours with little to no issues.
Naturalness: 4/10
Except for the thick black limbal ring these look pretty okay, actually.

Shiro Samurai is done for today! Bye!

Lens review: Princess Pinky Eclipse Pink

Hello everyone!

The Närcon dust has settled and it's time for me to get back on track with posting lens reviews I'm behind schedule on these and other posts! ^o^ Today I have a lens review up in store for you guys and yes, it's a pair of pink lenses – it's the Princess Pinky Eclipse Pink!
The thing is that this review will be a bit different from the rest – I namely only have one single lens, not a pair. The reason for this is because originally Jäätynyt Enkeli placed an order on PinkyParadise, while there was a free sample lens promotion running, and so he got sent this lens as a random freebie. He didn't have use for just one lens (and he dislikes overly big circle lenses anyway because they look outright freaky on his eyes!) so he kindly just passed it on to me instead, thanks bro!
I've been trying some looks with eyepatches lately so I thought that this was a great way to get some use out of a single lens; I could just block off the no-lens eye with the eyepatch and it was done!

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.5 mm

Water content: 38%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

These lenses have a light soft pink shade to them, almost like some sort of dusty pink. It's quite "sophisticated" for an unnatural color as it doesn't jump at you nor is it vibrant enough to look fake. I like that these aren't a super in-your-face type of pink – they work great for everyday fashion looks, despite the big size!
Oh and yeah, these lenses are huge, even though their diameter is only stated as an average 14.5 mm. ;) Even though these lenses are clearly big they also have an especially big pupil hole, which means that a lot of your real eye color will show in the center. This might bother some people but it doesn't bother me, not anymore. Yeah, it was one of these things that I wanted to avoid when I first started with circle lenses but then I grew to actually like the look and well, a big pupil hole guarantees that the lenses won't block your vision in any way.

One lens in. Notice the enlargement!

I'll admit to liking the design of the Princess Pinky's Eclipse series –it's rather simple but it looks great! The pigmentation of the lenses is quite light in shade which makes it so that they are not ultra opaque, which, in turn, makes it so that while you wear the lenses you can clearly see where your natural iris ends and this gives the lenses a constant halo effect! Woah, now that was a long sentence.

The first time I wore these lenses was at an anime convention; I had not had time before the event to try them out and see if they were comfortable enough for a whole con day. I was a bit nervous if the lenses would be okay to wear for 6+ hours because it's kinda common that the bigger the lens the faster it will dry out your eyes. But when I actually put the lenses in (or well.. lens, in my case) they were so goshdarn comfortable that I immediately stopped feeling them in my eyes!

The Eclipse series of lenses are veeery thin (to the point of being a tad bit hard to insert because it folds easily and the lens "weighs down"/flops on your finger instead of staying up by itself) and I think this is a part for why they were, for me, so very comfy to wear. I wore them for the whole con day and I never, at any point, felt that I even had them on – that's how comfortable they were! No discomfort, no stinging, no itching, no redness, nothing. I maybe once or twice had a very short-lived case of blurry vision but that didn't last more than maybe 20 seconds at most. I seriously love these in terms of comfort – 10/10 and a parrot stamp! :D

All photos taken by me during a late summer afternoon! Theres's no color edits or such and this is to show how the lenses truly look. ;) 

Indoors facing the window in my apartment. (window is always sun side)

Flash photo indoors. Sorry about my soulless gaze. XD

White-ish corridor light.

Shitty yellow light in the staircase.

Outdoors facing the sun directly.

Outdoors under a roof, but still turned towards the sun.

Outdoors with back against the sun.

I would definitely recommend the Princess Pinky Eclipse line of lenses for anyone who wants to try them out! The lenses are huge with a halo effect, superb comfort and a light pretty color!

And here's the usual from-a-distance selfie!

Lastly I have a bonus comparison picture that I took because I still had my Dolly Eye Pink lenses lying around! I had actually saved them just for this, even though I normally would have thrown them away by now.

Princess Pinky Eclipse Pink on (watcher's) left, EOS Dolly Eye Pink on right.

Psst, did you notice that I used plural forms when talking about the lenses lens? That's because even though I only had one lens it felt friggin' weird to use singular forms... and well, in most cases you do always have a pair of lenses so I went "fuck this" and talked as if I would have had a complete pair, huehue.

Short summary:

Color: 7/10
A soft light pink that doesn't scream unnatural. It's definitely nice!
Design: 7/10
A simple lens design with a dotted inner circle and then a solid main color. It works!
Opacity: 6/10
Not very opaque; they do show as pink but you can clearly tell where your real iris ends under the lens – then again, this gives a notable halo effect, which is often desired.
Enlargement: 8/10
These give the illusion of big eyes, definitely.

Comfort: 10/10 
Amazing! I could easily wear them for more than 6 hours no problem! I didn't even feel a need to take them off because I just didn't feel them at any time!
Naturalness: 1/10
You maybe won't scare the neighbouring grandma shitless but these definitely won't pass for your real eyes either.

Thanks for viewing and bye bye ~

Shiro Samurai out.