[Sponsored] Lens review: I.Fairy Hanabi Blue

Hello chuu ~

It's time for a lens review again! ^_^

This time it's the I.Fairy Hanabi Blue circle lenses that I will tell you all about! You can also occasionally find them under the name Vassen Hanabi Blue – it's the same lenses!

This pair of lenses was actually kindly sponsored to me by LensVillage! ♡

But don't worry, dear readers, this review is all 100% my honest opinion, just as always before! ~

Psst, you can use my discount code "10SHIRO" to get 10% OFF on your purchase from LensVillage! o/ 

I.Fairy Hanabi Blue in their cute little vial bottles!

Notice the authenticity stickers!

Before I start with the review I just want to say some words about LensVillage! :D

They were actually the one who contacted me first, asking if I was interested in a sponsorship offer. Of course I said YES – I love reviewing circle lenses and LensVillage is honestly my first go-to online circle lens store when I'm looking to buy new lenses anyway; so I knew already from my previous shopping experiences with them that they were definitely trustable and safe! By safe I mean that they sell authentic quality lenses and that it's not a scam site. ;)

Actually, if I let you in on a little secret... I had been wishing to get a sponsorship one day, because I genuinely love to help out others looking for what lenses to buy and on the same go getting to try out many different lenses myself! ♡ I just hadn't counted on it happening already, so it was quite the unreal feeling at first, ahaha! ;u; I was really taken by this offer, it felt like a dream come true – and what made it even better was that the offer came from one of my favorite colored contact lens stores! I couldn't have been any happier, I swear! ;w;

So, they actually let me choose freely a pair of lenses, from their store, which I would then get to review. Some of my first choices happened to be out of stock in my prescription (yes, I actually have a prescription but it's so minor that, most of the time, lenses don't even come in the power I need! ;n; hurrdurr) but I eventually settled on the I.Fairy Hanabi series because they looked really interesting and I had been wanting to try them out for a while. :) Actually at first I asked for the Hanabi Green but I guess it was out of stock or something because I got sent the Hanabi Blue instead! Honestly, I don't mind at all – blue would have been my second choice anyway and now that I've tried these lenses on I'm so in love with them that I'm actually happy that I got these instead, ha ha ha. 

Oh, and I should maybe mention that the first shipment they sent to me either got stuck in the customs or missing, but when I contacted LensVillage they were really prompt to reply and kindly sent a second package my way, making sure that I wouldn't have to wait any more!

 All along they were really helpful, quick to answer and a pleasure to deal with.

If you ever order from their store and have any problems, don't be scared to contact them – they will do their best to help you out!

I also want to mention that the lenses came safely packaged – they were wrapped in this kind of dense sponge-y foam in a plastic bubble wrap envelope. I also of course got a lens case with; you get them with for free from most lens stores nowadays. It was this kind of normal lens case though, not the cute animal ones that some other lens stores will give you and honestly, I personally think that that's for the better. I've had several instances with the animal lens cases leaking (even when upright!) so I don't use them anymore, but these that LensVillage sent –they have different colors and a footprint design on the lids– I've never had issues with, even when traveling and having them moving around in my shoulder bag.

Okay so, I'll get back to reviewing the actual lenses now! ;)

Have some photos of them in the bottles!

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 16.2 mm

Water content: 55%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

I must admit that when I first looked at the lenses I was gushing a few minutes over how cool and vivid they were! :'D The design looks a bit costume-y and it has this kind of swirl going on that really grabs your attention! There is also a fairly thick black limbal ring which makes the enlargement effect more pronounced.
The diameter is 16.2 mm, according to the I.Fairy vials.

As per usual I put the lenses to soak the evening before I would actually wear them. You aren't supposed to put them into your eyes right after you open the bottles!
I popped them in no problem on the following morning, except that my eyes got a bit watery for the first two minutes or so. But it's nothing uncommon, it happens to me every now and then, no matter what lenses I'm wearing.

Oh, and of course are all the photos (of me wearing the lenses) without any color filters or edits that would affect how the lenses appear! This is to show you how the lenses really look.

One lens in, to show enlargement effect.
My natural eye color is a blue-gray with a greenish tint and a golden ring next to the pupil.

As you can see these lenses are really big! The color is really a bright beautiful shade of blue too, I really like it! It's this kind of blue that I personally really gravitate towards, it's just super pretty and vivid and ahkfgksk;dkhs! >w< and I just want to paint my whole apartment in the same color... xD

The following photos are all taken indoors, by me, in my apartment, during a sunny winter morning yes, April is still winter and we have plenty of snow. There are no room lights on, all the light is natural (sun)light coming from the window.

Indoors, facing window.

The Hanabi Blue lenses are super opaque on my eyes, the color really shows up and it does so even at a fair distance. They make my eyes look really cool!

The only thing that some people might not appreciate so much is that the pupil hole is big, so it might look a bit weird on light eyes sometimes, I guess. Personally I'm not bothered by it, especially if you compare to how it used to bother me when I first started with circle lenses, haha. I actually even prefer a slightly wider pupil hole nowadays, just so that the lenses won't restrict my vision in places with insufficient light. These lenses don't restrict my vision, by the way. :)

Now more photos, still taken during the same time of day but in different light conditions indoors!

Bathroom light, standing very close to the lamp.

Bathroom light, standing a bit farther away from the lamp.

Flash photo, indoors.

In the corridor, facing the window.

Yellow light.

Lamp light at the end of the staircase, indoors.
(next to me is the back door leading outside)

In terms of comfort these are surprisingly comfy for being big lenses. I could wear them for about 5 hours with little to no problems – I even played video games for one hour and it didn't feel bad! Normally when I stare at a screen (watch television, play video games etc) while wearing circle lenses it tends to start feeling bad pretty fast, as if the lens is drying on my eyes.

Now for outdoor photos of the lenses!

Outside, facing the direction of the sun but being under the roof's shadow,
so that light doesn't hit directly on my eyes.

Facing the sun directly.
Sorry about my other eye falling in the camera's shadow.

Back against the sun.

All in all I'm really satisfied with this pair and with LensVillage's service. I would warmly recommend their store to anyone looking for circle lenses to buy! They carry a lot of different circle lens brands –both well-known brands like GEO and more unknown ones like ICK and Fynale– and they have a wide variety of lenses to choose from; you're sure to find something that you like! They also have good sales every now and then so be sure to check them out! ;)

Oh oh, don't go yet! I still have the distance photos to show!

This time I was going for a school-boy look. ♡

All the photos are taken by me.

Psst, if you wanna see reviews of other colors of the Hanabi series I have you covered! ;) Reviews here: Green, Gold

Short summary:

Color: 9/10
Absolutely amazing blue color. It's a strong, vivid and definitely beautiful shade. Great for cosplay as well as alternate fashion styles like lolita and Visual Kei etc!
Design: 8/10
Cool swirl design that draws your gaze in. It's almost a bit mesmerizing.
Opacity: 9/10
Very opaque on light eyes at least. It hides my real eye color well.
Enlargement: 8/10
Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig eyes. Period.
Comfort: 8/10
Surprisingly comfortable for having such a big diameter. I was pleasantly surprised.
Naturalness: 1/10
It's hard to call these natural-looking, haha. They are bright blue, huge and fabulous – you make fashion statements with these on, not office work rounds!

Remember, use coupon code "10SHIRO" to get 10% OFF on your purchase from LensVillage! ;) Valid even on 30th May 2015!

Thank you for reading, I hope this was helpful! :')
Thank you LensVillage! ♡

RuroKen Souji Okita solo photos!

 Hello hello!

Aaaand here comes finally the remaining photos from the pre-Tracon 2014 photoshoot I had with Anniilaugh, yes! This time the photos are featuring only me as Okita from Rurouni Kenshin's Tsuiokuhen OVA, also known as Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal.
The duo photos can be found in this one earlier post, check it out if you missed it! ;)

I played around with my editing program and added some blood/dirt effects here and there; first time I did it but it was pretty fun!
We didn't mess around with fake blood during the actual photoshoot –save for the 'damage' on the face– because it would have been a bit hard for me to wash my cosplay afterwards, especially seeing how far away from Tampere I live. :'( I just didn't want to risk staining my cosplay for good because there was no washing machine available and well, having a bloody cosplay all day in a crammed suitcase on the train didn't sound like a very good idea...

Cosplayer: Shiro Samurai (Souji Okita)
Photographer: Hasakitsuki
Photo editor: Shiro Samurai

Anniilaugh helped out with the photo editing on this one, thanks!

Aaah, I'm getting all the RuroKen feels...! Now I want to style my wig for my Kenshin cosplay that is to be debuted this summer... and I still haven't watched the live-action movies because of crappy internet, shame on me!

Not so much more to say, hope ya like it! :D

See ya! ~

Kemin mangapäivä 2015 – I was there!

Hiiii ~

Yesterday, on 21st March 2015, I attended Kemi's manga day – the small local 4-hour event that has free entrance. Normally I would have made some kind of cosplay plans post prior to the event, but I thought it useless seeing how I didn't even plan to cosplay there. So eh, this time you'll just get a short summary and that's exactly what I'm gonna write now!

So, on Saturday morning me and Hasakitsuki woke up, dressed and headed for Jäätynyt Enkeli's place, where mom would pick us up and provide us a free ride to Kemi, huehuehue.
When we got to Kemi and saw the Sauvo-talo building from the car it seemed... weirdly dead. The clock was a bit past 10:00 Finnish time and there was not a soul to be seen on the outside. We got out of the car and walked up to the door; some guy with a security vest opened it and told us that there were some problems with the door – it was locked even though the rest of the building was open. So yeah, during the whole duration of the event there had to be someone holding the door open so that people could get in and out.
Inside Sauvo-talo we put away our jackets and noticed that very few were actually there. At first I thought that maybe people decided to come a bit later but then a bit later it hit me – I had remembered the time wrong and the event actually started first at 11:00. Oh well, it wasn't really a problem because the guy did let us in. Some people were putting up the selling tables and such and our trio quickly decided to go out in town, to fetch some snacks and provisions for the day.

...

But before that – we put on our Monster Hunter Tigrex plush hats and turned into the crocodile Tigrex bros!

Yo man, Immah eat your hunter ass!

Yep, none of us three could be bothered to cosplay this time because well, laziness struck – I mean, it kinda feels like a waste to wake up hours earlier to put on a cosplay to a 4-hour event were most people just go to hang out with friends. :-D Very few cosplay at Mangapäivä to begin with; most just go in their geeky casual clothes, do some kind of comfy/easy cosplay or do this kind of thing when you wear a character's wig and makeup but otherwise wear you normal clothes. Cosplaying feels a bit overkill, in other words. Unless you plan to compete I guess. So yeah, we all just rolled with wigs, circle lenses and our fabulous Tiggy plush hats!

Well well, let's move on.
We first headed for Citymarket because it was slightly closer than Lidl but, while there, both Hasakitsuki and Jäätynyt Enkeli had made up their minds and they wanted to go to Lidl anyway. Me and Hasakitsuki did buy My Little Pony chocolate eggs from Citymarket – Hasakitsuki has been trying to get all the three different rings from the surprise eggs to use for kawaii fashion styles. We had already gotten the Twilight Sparkle one twice but none of the other two. So yeah, we took one each and then we headed for Lidl!
At Lidl we bought some of the fresh bread and pastries, something to drink and some new Angry Birds crisps.

Back at the event we noticed that now there were a lot more people and most selling tables were up and running by now. I checked the one and only merchandise table at the second floor and found a small box with fluffy cat ears. Ever since I borrowed Moonbeam's ears at Desucon Frostbite I had been wanting to buy a pair for myself too; the ears they were selling were half price of the ones sold at Frostbite omg cheap and so I bought a pair of white ones with mint green on the inside. These had black satin ribbons and bells hanging too!

The merchandise table also had cool Pokéballs!

The clock was around 12:00 or something when we saw that the street fashion display thingy had started and so we went to watch it; it was mostly different lolita styles but also hime-gyaru, visual kei and some boy-style (ouji?) often done by girls. The outfits were really nice – ah, how I wish I had the money, time and dedication to dress in some street fashion style!
The display was over very quickly and most people stayed seated because the cosplay competition was to begin next. My trio wasn't really interested in watching the competition so we went and checked the Artist's Alley, which was placed in the cafeteria.

This shows what Kemin mangapäivä had to offer
and what happened where.

In Artist's Alley there was this one seller who had her table the farthest away from the entrance and she was selling prints and such but also some self-made anime themed decoration scarfs – there was Luna the cat from Sailor Moon and Haku's dragon form from Spirited Away. At first I didn't see that it was a scarf because both of them were folded in nicely, but when you took it up it was kinda obvious. I really liked the Haku dragon one, it was so adorable! I love dragons anyway in general and the movie is great too! I kept looking at it for a while, thinking the "should I buy it or not?" in my head over and over again. I left it there for a while to think over it, but I swear that as soon as I stepped out of Artist's Alley it was all over my mind. Whatever I went to do I kept thinking about it and so I came back some time later to the same seller and went all "I'll have this one" – I couldn't resist anymore. ;_; I'm sure I would have regretted it if I had left it there; it was telling me all along to buy it uguu. The Luna one had been bought by now already, by the way.

Artist's Alley tables in the cafeteria.

We had spotted Olli watching both the street fashion display as well as the cosplay competition but I had decided to wait until it was over before I went to say hello. Soon enough he showed up, we talked the talk oh god his jacket story was glorious! xD and then he wanted a pic of our trio because of the Tiggy hats. I then went outside to photoshoot his improved Bean Bandit cosplay again, while my other company stayed inside.
We decided to go to a different spot than last time and at some point we found a fitting car "prop" in the parking lot. But oh man was the wind freezing cold! D: My hands hurt to the point I couldn't really hold the camera properly and so we went back inside.
Getting back inside into the warmth felt so good. With Olli I went up to the second floor and there I found Hasakitsuki and Jäätynyt Enkeli sitting at a table. We went to sit in the cafeteria and Olli bought something to eat and treated me to a cup of tea.

The cafeteria also had some special bakeries!

There we sat then the remaining hour of the event and talked about a lot of things. But while we were chilling there I started feeling that my left lens was being a bitch; it had started making my eye red and teary and it kept feeling like there was something in the lens that stung my eye. Already when we got back inside after the photoshoot it had started derping but now it was to the point I couldn't stand it anymore and so I went to the bathroom and took it out. I inspected it quickly for damage but didn't see anything – the right lens had felt perfect all along so I don't know why the left one was such a bother. *shrugs*
Oh well, I went back to the others –without cool blue eyes– and then we played some Monster Hunter. Hasakitsuki and I were showing Olli the game and then we went to kill a Khezu with our trio. But before long he had to go eat with his friends and so our Bean Bandit left. :'( Well, at this point there were only maybe 10 minutes left of the event anyway.
Me and Hasakitsuki ate our chocolate eggs and seemingly Kemi is our lucky town – we got both the pony rings that Hasakitsuki was missing! :'D I got the Fluttershy one and she got the Rarity. I happily handed mine over so that her collection would be complete since they are too small for my fingers anyway -kid size- and I wouldn't have use of it. She's a much bigger MLP fan than me, haha; I'm just helping her out and getting my dose of chocolate on the go. xD
After this we slowly went down to the first floor, called mom to pick us up and then Mangapäivä was wrapped in and over for us this time.

All in all I think this time Kemin mangapäivä was a bit bigger than before – they had both floors of Sauvo-talo in use and it felt like perhaps there were more attendants than before, but I'm not sure. Then again, the main hall on the first floor was blocked. Whatever it was I found myself enjoying the event more than usual – it was comfy and even though Mangapäivä provides very little entertainment I didn't find that I got bored at any point, which normally happens after 30 minutes lol. Then again, having a new friend to talk to and company is a great way to stay entertained. Also, going casual saved me all the worries that comes with cosplay; it was a good decision.

In the end – have a photo of my purchases!
A Haku dragon form decoration scarf from the Artist's Alley and
a pair of white-green cat ears from the merchandise table.

That's all for this time, bye bye!

Lens review: GEO Mimi Cafe Cappuccino Gray

Hullo!

Today I'm writing to you because I just opened a new pair of circle lenses and it's time to scribble together a review of them, yes! This time I shall be reviewing the GEO Mimi Cafe Cappuccino Gray, from GEO's Cafe Mimi series, of course. Funnily enough I dislike coffee haha. They are my first gray lenses that I get to try and I'm curious about how they'll look on my eyes.

 

As you can see on the photos below, these lenses can also be recognized by their code number thingy, which is WMM-500. And of course, because it's GEO Medical lenses, they come with the green authenticity stickers so that you can check them up online to prove that they are genuine and thus safe to wear!

Whaddawi waiting for, let's roll!

 

Base curve: 8.7 mm
Diameter: 15.0 mm

Water content: 42%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

The reason why I haven't reviewed any gray lenses before this is because I'm just not very drawn to the color. Most times I just dismiss the gray lens choice as boring in my mind, without really being aware that I do it. x) I don't know, gray just doesn't scream "wow try me!" to me, ha ha ha. But hey, every once in a blue moon a lens design shows up that actually looks interesting in gray and then I just, sometimes, might end up actually buying it... *cough*

Okay so, these lenses have a base curve of 8.7 mm and a diameter of 15.0 mm – if the vial descriptions are to be trusted. I was a little worried about the base curve because when I had my vision checked up I got told that my base curve was 8.6-ish. Ish. D: Oh well, that's already knowing something lol.

One lens in. Notice enlargement.

 

When I popped the lenses in for the first time the right one went in like a charm; I pretty much immediately stopped feeling it in my eye. But the left one though oh why is it always the left one? did give me some minor problems, or well, not really problems because it never hurt or anything – it's just that it didn't want to stay on my eye! The first two times I put it in it came right off as soon as I blinked. I don't know, it just jumped out with the eyelid movement or something. On the third time it finally settled right on my eyeball. As soon as it was in place I had no discomfort or problems with it, except for one little thing – I do notice that if I blink and keep my eyes down a tiny bit longer then it feels like the left lens kinda "lifts up" a bit on my eye so that it's not properly on it. I really don't know how to explain it but it feels like the lens is about to fall off my eye and my vision blurs for a second. Nothing bad though; I think it might be because of the base curve, if anything, but I'm not sure.

Okay, so when I had both lenses in and looked into the bathroom mirror for the first time my immediate reaction was "man, they're big!" along with "hey, these were supposed to be gray, right? My ass. They should be renamed to black!". Yeah. ._. Well, not like it was a bad surprise – actually, the contrary!

I find these lenses super cool-looking because they are so dark and patterned and, seeing how they appear much more black than gray, I think they give this huge 'oomph' effect – especially on me who has light eyes I think it stands out more because of the obvious contrast! No wonder why I thought that they looked weirdly dark in the bottles haha.

The color is really dark *nods nods* and together with the really unique design it looks hella cool! For some reason the way these lenses appear they remind me of gothic/darker styles and such – I think these would look awesome with this kind of fashion styles! Sure that the lens design is probably supposed to mimic a coffee pattern but hey, these just scream dark alternative fashion extravaganza to me.

I'll cut the review talk for a while and deliver the ordinary batch of photos of the lenses being worn! All these photos taken by me, as per usual, during a sunny winter morning. There's of course no color filters or anything to change how the lenses appear.

Sorry about the lack of sharpness on some of them, my camera just wasn't in a cooperative mood today...

Facing the window in my apartment.

 

Facing the window in the corridor.

 

Shitty yellow staircase light.

 

Facing the sun outside.

 

Outside with my back turned against the sun.

 

Standing at the building's corner in the shadow, facing the sunlight.

 

Still in the same corner but facing it. (opposite direction from light)

 

Bathroom light.

 

Indoors apartment room light.

 

Back in my apartment, lying on the bed next to the window.

 

Indoors facing a wall in my apartment.

 

Flash photo indoors.

 

In terms of enlargement I say that these are big – the stated 15.0 mm is definitely on the right track. They are so big on my eyes that not that much of the white of the eye is showing – which looks a bit like the lenses eat up my eyes but it's still not to the point of being downright freaky. I do like the effect they give though, it's swag! But I do think that, at least in my case, I can't wear these without eye makeup or it will look really unnatural and possibly scary.

And for comfort I can say that I'm pleased. They feel thin and are surprisingly comfortable for being this big. As soon as I put them in I don't feel them anymore and I had no problems reading a book, with a fairly small font, for one hour either. I don't feel a need to poke the inner corners of my eyes or anything of the sort – if anything it's my makeup itching and not the lenses lol. Definitely giving a thumbs up for these in comfort; they don't hinder my vision. If anything they make my eyes feel dry after the 4-hour mark, but that might just as well be because I put them on early in the morning after I woke up –and I didn't sleep the recommended hours– and my eyes felt a bit dry to begin with. But yeah, if they do indeed dry after 4 hours when I wear them more I'll just use eyedrops, if necessary. I also noticed that when I took off the lenses my irises had a very slight red halo around the edges, which always worries me a bit because it happens with some lenses and not with others. *shrugs*

Oh hey, of course I still have the distance photo to show!

 

Want to see these lenses in their other color variant?

Check this out: Red

Short summary:

Color: 8/10
Ignoring the fact that these are labeled as 'gray' they have –on my eyes at least– a fairly solid black color.
Design: 7/10
Unique detailed design. It's probably supposed to mimic coffee patterning, but, if you ask me, these would fit really well for any gothic looks or for big black dolly eyes!
Opacity: 8/10
They are more opaque than I thought at first – definitely delivers on this front! The color is less opaque and lightens around the pupil though, which saves you from appearing as if aliens abducted you.
Enlargement: 8/10
These are big, no joke.
Comfort: 8/10
Very comfortable. I don't feel them in my eyes and I can wear them several hours before they start to feel dry.
Naturalness: 1/10
If you're light-eyed like me then these are almost as unnatural as they come. :'D Huge black eyes that stare into your soul...

That'll be it for this time! Sayonara!

Tracon 2014 – Rurouni Kenshin photoshoot!

Hello everyone!

Okay, so I know that this is very late pffrt but I honestly kinda forgot about the photoshoot pictures and they were just lying around in a folder on my desktop, for quite some time, while I was busy with other stuff. Oopsiedaisy...

So ehrm, yeah. These were indeed taken pre-Tracon 2014 on the Friday evening before the con. Me and the amazing Anniilaugh had fun dressing up as samurai enemies from the classic series Rurouni Kenshin and photoshooting at the park area surrounding Tampere-talo. We got quite some looks while walking to the location, because we both looked like we had fought with a few bears along the way, but nothing bad happened... except that obviously during the shoot we were doing some pretend fighting and thus puzzling the 'normies' who were taking their evening strolls in the park, huehuehue...

Cosplayers: Shiro Samurai (Souji Okita) & Anniilaugh (Kenshin Himura)
Photographer: Hasakitsuki
Photo editor: Anniilaugh

Just look at Anniilaugh's magic editing skills! She's the best! ;w;

It was really fun, even though our photoshoot was cut short because the darkness dorkness fell earlier than we had hoped, which was a shame. Oh well, hopefully someday we'll get to do another photoshoot together –all bloody– and make up for how short-lived this one was!

That'll be all for this time!

Another photoshoot batch with solo Okita pictures will come later, stay tuned!

Yeah, even more later, hehe... oops...