A peek on possible 2015 cosplays!

*waves and smiles*

I know that it's maybe a bit late now but I thought that it could maybe be a fun thing to show some of the characters that I've planned to cosplay this year! :D I don't have very many plans right now because money problems and lack of space problems :C but at least I have some characters in mind that I at least want to try to make for this year! How much bet that by the end of the year I haven't done half of these?

But without any further chitchat, let's get to the guys in line!

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GO!

Series: Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan
Character: Chikage Kazama (game version)

 I've been wanting to cosplay this demon for a few years now. He's cool in the anime (although his motives for wanting Chizuru in the anime are.. err, simple unique.. *cough* xD) but most of all I freakin' love his design – red, white and black and red eyes to top it off! I maybe have a slight love-hate relationship to Kazama though and that's because he hurt Okita in the Ikedaya affair.. </3 But I just can't help drooling after his design and hey, it's fun to be a bad guy every once in a while too!

Series: Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan
Character: Heisuke Toudou (western outfit, game version)

I admit that Heisuke is not one of my main favorites in Hakuouki but I can't help liking him anyway – he's fun and always cheerful and positive!

I like his western outfit in all its simplicity –at least compared to the other guys– and I kinda want to cosplay all the main shinsengumi guys anyway so here goes for the shota too! x) Also I want to make that pink-gayflower-buttcape-decoration... thing. Thing.

Series: Attack on Titan
Character: Eren Yeager (kimono version)

HNNNG, this version!! ;A; I don't know for sure where it is from.. some online game?? But if I can find the money, dedication and time to make this cosplay this year then, oh lordy lord, I will! Just look at it!! *O*

Series: Black Bullet
Character: Rentarou Satomi

I watched this anime at the end of last year and I found myself enjoying the show surprisingly much! I liked the setting, the mood and the idea of it. Too bad that some things were left unexplained, but I'm crossing my fingers for a second season because it felt like there was a lot more to the story.
I liked the main character, Rentarou, and I really want to do a pair cosplay from Black Bullet with Hasakitsuki this year!

Series: Rurouni Kenshin
Character: Kenshin Himura

Ah, Rurouni Kenshin. <3 Hopefully now that I got the wefts needed to fix my wig I'll get to make the rest of the costume and take this peaceful swordsman out for a con day or two! I really can't wait to get to cosplay the most recognizable version of Kenshin!

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Well, that's actually most of them. There's of course the obvious Team Aqua Grunt who will get his debut this year because duh, the costume is already done! :-DD Then there is also Masamune Date from Sengoku Basara whom I bloody hell should finish – it has been such an eternity project, oops.

Except for those two there is also at least one gijinka cosplay that I have kinda promised to do –because cosplay group– but I want to keep it as a secret a little bit longer, mufufu... ~

Did any of those characters/series awake tingling feelings in you?
Anyone that you especially want to see done?
Tell me! <3

I think that's all I have to say for this round, sayonara ~~ 

Long awaited extra hair and a Naruto headband!

Whazzup bros? ;)

I recently received some wig-y parts from an Arda Wigs order that Jäätynyt Enkeli placed some weeks ago. I hadn't bought a full wig, just a pack of short wefts and two short clip-on bangs. Jäätynyt Enkeli did buy a lacefront wig though.

Colors from left to right: Royal Blue, Cobalt Blue
& Light Copper Red.

I admit that Arda has amazing quality, variety in both styles & colors and their wigs are a godsend if you have a bigger than average head _but_ it's a bit expensive and even more so because the shipping costs (at least to northern Europe) are really high – I think it was around 20 dollars just for our order that consisted of one wig and some small stuff that barely take space or weight anything. Ouch. D;  And on top of that we got stuck into customs and had to pay like 30+ dollars more... the wallet is bleeding. x_x
The reason that Arda's shipping is so high is also the reason why I've been putting off from ordering especially the pack of wefts for like, I don't know, at least one year? :< But now that le bro urgently needed an Arda wig I finally got my chance to jump in on the same order! Not keen on paying shipping twice the item cost for just some wefts and nothing else..

You see, I've been needing to order the wefts to fill out the ponytail on my Kenshin wig (also from Arda and thus the reason I needed wefts from the same company, so that colors would match) and yeah, I mean the non-Battousai usual Kenshin wig that I've had lying around in my closet for a long time now.

This Kenshin that we all know and love. <3

Yeah, I'm happy to finally have gotten a hold of the extra hair that I needed and so I will continue the progress again on our wandering swordsman and, possibly, cosplay him at a con this year!

 ...

But except for the new hairy friends I also got a new ninja accessory friend!

le ninja headband.
(there's still the plastic protection film on the metal)

This one was originally Jäätynyt Enkeli's (dad had bought it for him from Fantasybutiken) but he lost interest in cosplaying from Naruto a long time ago. Lately I've been getting into this popular show what you mean late to the party? and I guess I had mentioned that I had thoughts on cosplaying a few characters –that would have use of the same headband he had lying around– and so he ended up giving it over to me, whoopee! (◕//ヮ//◕)

That's all for this time, cosplay updates might come later this year! Cya!

Lens review: Vassen Dori Green

Le-le-le-lens review time! o/

Some days ago I did a cosplay test with these lenses on and today I will review them! :D I've been itching to review these for days but the weather hasn't been in a cooperative mood...

These lenses are the Vassen Dori Green, although their color is not a true green but much more of a blue-green. Yes, this is exactly the reason why I wanted them!

Lenses in vials.

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.5 mm

Water content: 42%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

The Vassen Dori Green have a base curve of 8.6 mm and –according to the bottles– a diameter of 14.5 mm. I can assure you that just by looking at the lenses in the vials you can tell that they definitely look bigger than average; the design is also printed very close to the edges, unlike on SeeShell Dizoneye Green.
Oh, and they have a shelf life (aka how long they hold in the vial's original solution if unopened) of 3 years instead of the much more usual 5 years.

Photos of the lenses in the vials, taken in
different room lights without flash.

The first time I put the lenses in the right one went in just fine but the left one stung like hell so I immediately took it off. I cleaned the lens and tried again and this time I could stand it in my eye, although I kept feeling that the contact was there and especially so when I blinked. It took several minutes (10+) before the "something's in the eye" feeling (my eyes kept watering) went away a bit and I was just constantly aware that I was wearing contacts – which wasn't pleasant. I kept poking the inner corners of my eyes and trying to move the lens around under my closed eyelid and such, it's bothersome. They are borderline okay to wear but seem to dry fast on my eyes; at least my vision isn't hindered at all and I don't see in a blur or have colored corners when I move my gaze.

But yeah, the comfort is disappointing because otherwise I really love these lenses. :'( I don't know, maybe it's just that I keep having dry eyes –aka bad eye day– when I wear them.. *shrugs* It's a shame because if they were more comfortable I would definitely wear them out more often...

One lens in.

Enlargement effect is obviously there but it's not overwhelming and it doesn't look freaky either, at least not on my eyes. I do suspect though that you might need to wear eye makeup with these lenses or they might look out of place.

...

......

But now, prepare for a crapton of photos!
You have been warned...

All photos are taken by me.

The first batch was taken outdoors, while standing on a balcony around 11:30, during a winter day when the sun –luckily– was showing. Yes, it's been super cloudy and gray for like the whole week, bleh..

In... 3, 2, 1...

...

Go!

As you can see the color is amazingly pretty!! <3 It looks very good on my light eyes and it doesn't look too unnatural either; they blend and fade nicely towards the center. The color is this blue-green shade that is absolutely gorgeous and I have to admit that based on color alone these would be among my favorite lenses!

Definitely great for cosplaying characters with this kind of rare eye color, like Heisuke from Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan or Eren Yeager from Attack on Titan.

Second batch of photos are still taken on the same spot and approximately same time, except that the sun had time to go hide under a group of clouds... which means that the light is less orange.

Flash photo outdoors.

The design is unique and very flattering – it makes me think of some kind of discreet stylized flower petals, but it's not too girly for us guys to wear either! ;) Personally I really like the design, it kinda draws the watcher's gaze towards your pupil with the small black lines going inwards. Very beautiful, me gusta.
Oh, and these do occasionally give my eyes a pretty halo effect! *w*

The last batch are all taken indoors under various lights; time approximately around 11:50. Still cloudy outside, for your information. Some photos are flash photos.

Flash photo.

 

 

Flash photo.

Flash photo.

Gah, I love these so much! ;w; Too bad I don't wear them often because of the lacking comfort; as I mentioned earlier it's just a shame that they dry pretty fast it feels like freedom every time I take 'em off and I always feel that I have contacts on when I wear my Dori Greens, damn. u_u

Aaah.. but I'd still recommend these for anyone who's curious about them; just make sure that you carry around some eyedrops if you plan to wear them for more than three or so hours!

Lastly, have some selfies I took from a slight distance – I even took more than the usual one only!

This one is taken outdoors, the rest are taken indoors.

Short summary:

Color: 9/10
Super awesome blue-green color that is hard to come by – I love it to bits!
Design: 8/10
Very pretty and unique pattern that seems to look like some kind of flower petals up close.
Opacity: 7/10 
The colored areas are rather opaque, but the lenses have a big-ish pupil hole so the center blends gradually into your eyes – it's a nice effect though!
Enlargement: 8/10
Big lenses, definitely.
Comfort: 3/10
Disappointing. I keep feeling that I have them in my eyes and they seem to dry a bit fast for me. :<
Naturalness: 2/10

Ignore the big size, unnatural color, design and... nevermind.

Thanks for reading! o/
Bye bye ~

Levi's wig – Disasters and miracles!

 Back in line, dudes! Hello hello!

Fairly recently I decided that it was about time that I tackle my most challenging wig cutting mission so far – cutting my Levi wig. Yes, of course it's captain Levi from Attack on Titan, aka Shingeki no Kyojin. *badamtssh*

Levi levisi jo cossilistaani...

....

Oh god, where do I even start? 

I was so nervous, so scared of messing it up! The base wig was very different from what I was going for and I had never cut a wig this drastically before; it was a daunting task.

This is what the wig looked like before cutting:

It doesn't look anything like Levi's hair...

So, why did I even inflict this upon myself? 

Why didn't I just buy one of the zillions of Levi character wigs that are already out there?

The reason is that none of the Levi wigs were "right" for me – there was always something that bugged me on all of them, for one reason or another. Most times it was the color and if the color was what I wanted then the cut looked wrong or the wig looked obviously way too small (looked too short already on a tiny wig head OTL) etc. Oh and speaking of color – I didn't want a black wig. No no.
That's also the main reason why I settled on this one wig – it had the perfect color that I was looking for, aka a dark mix of brownish gray, almost black but still not black.

Yeah, so I decided to buy a non-Levi wig and make it into a Levi wig, with the help of my amateur wig cutting skills that are far from polished enough for this kind of shit. Yes, it was a brave act but oh so foolish. I was almost asking for disaster to crash down on me...
But with scissors in hand I didn't really have another choice except for giving it my all; it was a bit too late to give in give up my soldier's pride and just buy a character wig and have it arrive in time before Desucon Frostbite, which is already slowly knocking at the door. Yeah, you just got one of my Frostbite cosplays spoiled! :D

Show me your wefts bro!

I started by pinning up the layers that I shouldn't cut just yet so that it would reveal the wefts that were lower down and under. Then I just started cutting away, trimming the fibers short but not so short that the wefting would show. I felt like a wig murderer.

For some reason I completely forgot to take any more progress photos but I just kept cutting it shorter pretty much everywhere and only leaving some long pieces in the back because Levi has this taper cut thing going on.

At first the bangs were a freakin' hair curtain so I kept trying to thin them down and at some point I guess I entered barbarian mode without realizing and then, suddenly, the bangs were way too short. OnO;; AARGH! It's not the first time it happens that I cut something too short! *punches self in face*

At this point I was about to ragequit and just throw the whole thing in the trash bin and pretend that it never existed. It looked so bad.. or more like, the front was ruined but the back was successful – which was very frustrating because the back was much harder to do. OTL
But I didn't give up, even though my wig looked like an overrun squirrel at this point. It was so bad I could barely look at it, I swear. xD The wig had way too much fibers and just looked much poofier/fluffier than I wanted on the sides stupid mop! and this was driving me crazy – since when was a wig too thick anyway!? rofl my luck

I tried watering down the front of my wig and then it suddenly came back to life! ... or more like, it didn't look like a crow's nest anymore. At least.
Yeah, I mean to say that suddenly there was some light shining and the wig was whispering to me "psst, you can maybe still save me!". Oh boy, where are we going...
So I was fiddling with the too-short-and-looked-retarded bangs until I thought that "hey, if I get some wefts from another part of the wig and add them in the front it might look okay again!" and then I decided to give it a try, what did I have to lose anyway? Well, my wig.
Mind you, I had never worked with wefts before and neither had I planned to do it already now – yeah, I'm basically saying that I probably looked like this:

Because that's exactly how I felt when I was trying to undo a seam on a weft, so that I could get it out and reattach it somewhere else. This task proved to be horribly tedious and rage inducing...

Hey.

Something's missing...

(edits by me)

That's better.

Yeah, I entered rage mode very quickly because I couldn't even see where the weft seam was on the wig cap because both had the exact same goddamn color! 8C At some point I tableflipped and just cut out the few centimeters of the weft that I had managed to undo (the end of it was poking out) and rolled with it. I hand-sewed it in place and prayed that this little piece of hair would improve the looks of my wig and –as if by a miracle– it did. Omigosh yesss!!

You see, Levi has his bangs kinda more towards the sides because of the parting and I had been cutting my bangs to hell and back to not have the way-too-much-hair syndrome. As I said earlier I cut them too short at some point, which led me to cut the middle completely out of bangs in desperation and then by adding that one extra tiny weft piece –to the side with the shorter bangs– the front suddenly looked okay and actually sparse enough to work. I wasn't even believing in it anymore.

So, what did the wig look like in the end?
I'll show ya!

le Levi wig!

Despite all the horrors I faced while cutting this sucker I think it turned out kinda okay in the end. :') It looks a bit wonky on the wig head but it looks better when I actually wear it or so I hope. Oh and the back is cut very short on the lower half and the upper half is longer, it doesn't really show on the photos though. Also, I haven't put any styling products in it just yet but I might do that for the soon-to-follow Levi makeup test!

That'll be all for this time!
Shiro Samurai out.