[Sponsored] Lens review: Kimchi Flora Green

Hello there ~

Today it's time for another circle lens review and it's gonna be about the Kimchi Flora Green lenses! This pair was sponsored by LensVillage, which is one of my favorite online circle lens stores – you can check out their store here and yes, I really recommend them! ^u^

This review is all 100% my genuine opinion and that's because I value being honest to all my readers.

Discount code "SAMURAI15" slices 15% OFF on your purchase from LensVillage!

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 16 mm

Water content: 55%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

Just like their name implies these lenses have a very obvious flower design going on! It's pretty and unique. ^.^ It's worth to note though that a majority of the lens is black so yeah, they do appear more black than green when worn and especially so in your average indoors light – the green mostly comes out in clear natural lights. But these lenses are lovely, nonetheless.

One lens in. Notice how big they look!

When I first put these lenses in I thought that they felt a bit thinner than average, but not to the point that it would be a bother to get them into the eyes. I actually had no problems with getting them in and they felt comfortable right off the bat – except that I could feel slightly that I had contacts on and that feeling never went away. It wasn't uncomfortable or anything but yeah, I prefer those lenses that you completely forget that you're even wearing because I don't like feeling the whole "plastic in your eye" thingy when I blink, move the gaze etc. These lenses don't hinder or blur my vision or anything and that's always a plus; circle lenses with a slightly wider pupil hole never block off my vision – it's only lenses with small pupil holes, like the EOS Dolly Eye series, that give me notable colored corners in my vision field.
But if anything these lenses seem to fall into the "dries out fast" category for me. Already at the 1,5 hour mark I started feeling the first signs of dryness and 3 hours in I caught myself blinking more often and keeping my eyes closed for longer times.
I could wear them around 4 hours so yeah, pretty okay but I've had better. ^^ Note though that on all my lens reviews I only ever judge/grade on how the lenses feel on my eyes and yeah, what is comfy for me might not be comfy for you and vice versa. Everyone's eyes are different!

I also want to mention, for those curious, that my natural eye color is a light blue-gray with a greenish tint – I also sport a golden ring next to the pupil. On the photo above my eyes appear more green than usual but that's because of the sunset-like natural light coming from the window.

Lens photos incoming!
All photos taken by me during a November morning (around 10:30 so yeah, not so far from afternoon) with a semi-clear sky and a very orange sun going down in the horizon! Yes, down – it's all because of polar night. ._. R.I.P sunlight.
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 in my apartment, lamps off.

Bathroom light.

Flash photo.

Facing window in the corridor. (not sun side)

Yellow light in the corridor.

Yellow light in the staircase.

Facing the sun directly from the window. (sun side)

Outdoors, facing the light, sun is hidden by clouds.

Outdoors, back against light. (cloudy)

One weird thing I noticed was that when I put in and took off these lenses my eyes felt "warm" for like 10 seconds. :S It was hella weird but it didn't hurt or anything so... I don't know. *shrug*
Oh and these lenses are big as heck! :O They seem bigger than my I.Fairy Hanabi lenses and up to par with the GEO Mimi Cafe Cappuccino Grays. Then again, it might just be that the blackness and design of the Kimchi Flora series (and the Cappuccino Grays too) gives the illusion that they're bigger when they might, in reality, be the exact same size with the I.Fairy lenses. But whatever the case this flowery pair is definitely meant for those going for the big-eyed dolly looks!

Lastly I have the distance photos.

I'm sorry I look like a wreck on those photos. ._. I've been painfully tired the last couple weeks and I've had a lot of days when I've felt nauseous and about to faint etc...

But yeah, I think that these lenses are more fitting for fashion wear (lolita, j-fashion etc) than for cosplay. Then again, that's just my personal thoughts since I tend to prefer less artistic lens designs for cosplays and eey, by 'artistic' I mean lenses with easily visible motifs of stuff like hearts, lace, flowers and other designs like that which just don't resemble human irises at all. ^^ These fancier lenses scream alternative fashion to be before anything else does, haha!
Though I would consider using the Kimchi Flora Greens if I ever run across a character with like really big and veeery dark green eyes. So yeah, I never rule out anything (always have your eyes open~) but I do tend to have specific types of lenses in mind for cosplay and then others for those days when I want to be fabulous in my daily life! -3-

Remember to use my discount code "SAMURAI15" to get 15% OFF on your purchase from LensVillage!

Short summary:

Color: 7/10
These lenses have a black-based design so on a quick glance they look much more black than green. The green mainly shows up in well-lit places –and when fairly close to the wearer– but it's a pretty shade nonetheless.

Design: 8/10

Unique cute flower patterned lens that gives off a fairytale-esque touch!

Opacity: 9/10

I'd say that these are really opaque. The black totally changes my eye color and then there's the green "outlines" that do look green indeed. If anything then these lenses fade/blend slightly towards the center.

Enlargement: 9/10

These appear huge and give a really dark-eyed dolly look.

Comfort: 6/10

Comfortable to wear but they dry out rather fast for me – after about 2 hours I start considering to take them off or use eyedrops. I also always feel that I have them on, even though it's not uncomfortable. I'm torn between grading 6 or 7 for comfort so yeah, consider it an unofficial 6.5 ~ ;)

Naturalness: 1/10

Super big and dark with flowers on? Not natural I'd say. xD At least not on light eyes, that is.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this review! o/

Thank you, LensVillage! ♡

[Sponsored] Lens review: I.Fairy Ruby Brown

How's it going peeps? :)

I have a lens review in store today! I'm gonna be reviewing the I.Fairy Ruby Brown (sometimes known as Vassen Ruby Brown) circle lenses, sponsored by the lovely LensVillage. C: They have a wide array of authentic lenses to choose from, fast shipping and efficient customer service – there's really nothing to complain about! I'd warmly recommend them for circle lens shopping. ^o^ I used to buy from them a lot even before I got sponsored so yeah, I'm just being honest here about how good they have always been to me!

This review contains 100% my honest opinion ~

Discount code "SAMURAI15" cuts 15% OFF on your purchase from LensVillage!

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 16.2 mm

Water content: 55%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

Indoors, holding the lenses up next to the window. (sunlight)

Indoors, natural room light.

Bright sunlight outdoors.

These lenses have a kinda simple design featuring a dark thick-ish limbal ring with some longer and shorter lines reaching towards the pupil. The design of the I.Fairy Ruby series looks to me like a middleground between anime/fantasy and some more semi-natural lenses – they could work just as well for cosplayers as for ulzzang fashionistas! I must say though that these lenses are especially amazing for cosplay purposes since the color is very noticeable from a distance and it photographs well.

When I first wore the lenses I had some small problems with getting them in, mainly the right lens because it kept coming off my eye once I put it in and tried to blink it in place. I don't know why but a lot of circle lenses have been doing this to me lately; I just can't seem to insert them on the first try like I used to before. I dunno why this keeps happening but I guess I either have bad luck or I'm doing it wrong lol. But yeah, I don't think it's the lenses, unless maybe they are thinner than average or something..? I didn't really react to this pair being exceptionally thin or anything so, yeah, must be me just derping around. *shrugs* Nevermind that, lol.

One lens in. Notice enlargement effect.

The right lens at first felt very slightly scratchy the two first times I put it in so yeah, I took it out, cleaned it every time before re-inserting it and then it instantly felt better on the third try! The left lens had no problems at all.

The first time I ever wore these lenses they were comfy for me – I could wear them for 5 hours before I felt the first signs of dryness appear. I biked to town (in cold weather) with the lenses in my eyes, played some video games with a friend and went to eat in a restaurant. Most of the time I didn't really feel that I had contacts on! I'm sure I could easily have worn these lenses longer if I had wanted/needed to, but I decided to take them off since I was about to start a serious gaming session. x) For me my lenses always dry out faster if I'm staring at a screen (computer screen, television screen etc) so yeah, I'd say that comfort on these lenses is definitely above average!

Lens photos up next!
All photos are taken by me during a November afternoon with a very dull clouded sky. I haven't seen the sun properly for weeks and that's also why the photo quality is lower than usual – pardon for that. :( Polar night is limiting daylight time as well so yeah, it's really hard to do lens reviews right now and get sharp and clear photos as a result. 
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, as per usual.

In my apartment, facing the window.

Indoor room light (lamps on) in my apartment.

Bathroom light.

Flash photo indoors.

White corridor light.

Yellow corridor light.

Weaker yellow light in the staircase.

Very warm orange-ish light in the staircase. There is a small window next to me
but I'm facing the lamp, not the window.
(by 'light' I always mean lamp light btw, unless I'm outdoors)

Outdoors, facing the direction of the sun. (which is faaar from visible..)

Outdoors while facing a corner of the building, aka back against light.

The color seems to appear as a lovely light brown most of the time, but in some lights they can take on a slight yellow tone that makes the lenses look somewhat magical, haha.

I think that the brown shade these lenses appear as gives my light blue-grayish eyes some kind of innocent touch to them, too; I don't know how to explain but I somehow felt like the light caramell-like brown color combined with the big black limbal ring made my eyes appear softer, as well as more defined, and thus gave my overall appearance a younger boyish look!

Lastly I have a couple distance photos to share ~
This time I tried for a shy boy look – that's what I think that these lenses could work well for! ^.^
 

Want to see these lenses in other colors?
Check out my following reviews: Red

Remember, feel free to use my discount code "SAMURAI15" to get 15% OFF on your purchase from LensVillage!

Short summary:

Color: 9/10
A lovely soft light brown color. :)

Design: 8/10

The design itself is fairly simple but the effect it gives is no less than wonderful!

Opacity: 8/10

These change my eye color nicely. I have no complaints.

Enlargement: 8/10

These lenses are big in size – just like I.Fairy lenses always are. They are not crazily big though.

Comfort: 7/10

Really comfortable. I could wear them for 5 hours while doing various things, both indoors and outdoors, before the first signs of slight dryness showed up. They don't hinder my vision either.

Naturalness: 3/10

The size, noticeable print and the thick limbal ring can't be mistaken for real eyes.

Thank you for reading, I hope y'all enjoyed this review!
Thanks to my sponsor, LensVillage! ♡

My first worbla order!

Hi there! ~

I decided to make a quick post because I'm just too excited about finally buying some worbla for the first time to use for my cosplay making! I needed it for a school project *coughimakecosplaysinschoolcough* so I finally got a reason excuse? to fork out my limited money and buy some of this everyone-swears-to-the-cosplay-gods-by-it material!

In case you don't know what worbla is it's a kind of thermoplastic that is basically the holy grail for all cosplayers when it comes to making armors, weapon props etc. Worbla can be heated with a heat gun, for example, and then shaped into the desired form. The best part with worbla is that it's non-toxic, easy to use and you get almost no waste because it can be reheated and reshaped countless times!

I want to apologize for the horrible yellow lighting and thus crappier-than-usual photo quality. I took these photos on the morning but because of the cloudy weather –and the increasing effects of polar night– there wasn't enough daylight coming in from the window. I had to rely on my really crummy apartment lights... ._.

Newly arrived, unopened XS sized roll of worbla! o/

I placed my order on a German site called mycostumes.de (yes, that's where you can buy worbla, along with more cosplay stuff!) and that's because even though you can nowadays buy worbla directly from Sweden or Finland I thought that the prices were still a bit better on the German site and, well, the shipping price was almost better too – it's worth it if you're at least two people ordering! The shipping was fast and efficient as well. I received my order within one week and it was securely packaged so yeah, I have no complaints. 10/10 would order again!

Worbla is bought in rolled sheets of varying sizes. Worbla is also not just one single product – there's actually a little family of different kinds of worbla! The most well-known is the original "gingerbread-colored" worbla called Worbla's Finest Art (WFA), but there's also a newly released black worbla called Worbla's Black Art (WBA)! A transparent type of worbla known as Worbla's Transpa Art (WTA) is available as well and hey, let's not forget the worbla pellets called Worbla's Deco Art (WDA).

The sizes are as follows:
XS Size - 25 cm x 37,5 cm
S Size - 50 cm x 37,5 cm
M Size - 75 cm x 50 cm
L Size - 75 cm x 100 cm
XL Size - 100 cm x 150 cm

I bought two L sized sheets of black worbla as well as XS and M sized sheets of the normal worbla. I also bought a sample pack with test pieces (even smaller than XS size!) of all the different worbla products. The sample pack and the M sized worbla sheet I bought for a friend though, so those I won't be using myself.

I took this photo as a visual size reference and comparison.
Starting from the left: XS size, M size and L size.

This is to show of the thickness.
note: the black worbla is actually two sheets rolled together!

I haven't tried using these yet but as far as I know one of the main differences between the black worbla and the normal worbla is that the black one is smoother – a smoother surface to start with means less sanding and priming to do to get rid of the typical worbla texture! Another advantage that the new black worbla has over the "gingerbread worbla" is that black is a more discreet and multi-use color (it goes with everything! says the goth) so yeah, when the paint on your costume eventually wears off then the black worbla will be more easily forgiven because it will still look cool, hahah.

I was trying to show the surface texture here...

... and here. Just for comparison. :)

I'm really stoked to finally get to make some armored cosplays and take the next step on the cosplay adventure ladder! I hope I can make some good-looking creations with this magic stuff, haha. The main drawback of worbla is that it is expensive so yeah, I don't want to overheat these precious puppies and ruin them. *sobs* I'm gonna be careful!
Thankfully the activation heat is around 90 °C, so it's not anything horribly warm that would need hardcore equipment to achieve. I'm really looking forward to find out what you can make with worbla – it seems like the possibilities could be close to endless!

This is the sample pack. The bag of pellets is the Worbla's Deco Art.

All three different worbla sheets were in it, sample sized!
From left to right: Worbla's Finest Art, Worbla's Transpa Art and Worbla's Black Art.

Size comparison photo of the sample sheet size versus my Nokia cellphone. lol

Before I got to see (and touch) worbla sheets for the first time I had somehow gotten the impression that they would be thinner and less rigid. I don't know why I got this picture in my head because it is a thermoplastic after all and I've worked with polystyrene sheets before so, yeah.

I also want to mention that worbla has a shiny side and said side is the "glue side" which makes it possible for it to stick to itself and other materials because of the natural adhesive, which activates when it's heated. Worbla will stick itself to wood, metal, fabric, foam etc but sometimes additional glue might be needed just to be on the safe side.

Worbla information paper that came with my order.

When I start to actually use my worbla sheets (which will be soon ~) I might make some sort of follow-up post about what I find out – more comparisons between black and normal worbla etc. So yeah, does this sound interesting? x) Drop me a comment if you'd like to hear about my worbla discoveries on this blog because, err, then I'd be one helluvalot more likely to make it happen! o/

Shiro Samurai says baibai!
Thanks for reading!

Kitacon 2015 – When "sosiaalikerho" was born!

Hello doods ~

I attended Kitacon in Kemi, Finland, yesterday on 14th November. Because Kemi is in the north Kitacon's mascot has always been some kind of human with reindeer traits –aka horns– and this year, I must say, the mascot was especially nice! (yes, it changes every year)

Kitacon's schedule leaflet feat. this year's mascot.

So yeah, I attended Kitacon this year with Jäätynyt Enkeli, Sacchan and a good ol' friend of mine called Kiivi. Sacchan was kind enough to offer a ride for all of us and so we didn't have to pay the bus. Thanks a ton! ~ ;u;
I also need to mention that even though I had plans on cosplaying Japan from Hetalia that just didn't happen, sorry. ^^" The main reason is that I was simply just way too fucking tired on the morning, lol. I've seriously had a lot of problems sleeping lately and because of that I'm tired as shit during the days. It's really annoying because I just can't fall asleep, mumble mumble. ._. Another legit reason is that the weather has been pure crap the last weeks (where's the sun??) and the Kitacon day was no different – on the morning it was super wet outside and it was blowing so hard that I was worried that if I had cosplayed Japan I would have sailed away on my haori or something, lol. Or worse – the wind might have blown my contact lenses out of my eyes! Yeah, that can happen.
So yeah, I decided it was a better idea to leave the cosplaying for another event and strut to Kitacon in my casual gear. Haters gonna hate, eiku. Or well, I wasn't ultra casual – I still had my Monster Hunter Tigrex plush hat, a wig, and a face mask, combined with a geeky t-shirt.

Kitacon advertisement upgrade – fabric banner!

I woke up early in the morning to take my medicine and then I went back to bed. I ended up sleeping a little bit too long (hello, tiredness) and wasn't really out of the bed until 10 Finnish time, which is, honestly, quite late considering that Kitacon opened its doors at 11 – if I'm not mistaken. Oh well, I dressed up and called Jäätynyt Enkeli to ask if they (Sacchan and Kiivi were at his place) were ready to leave. I grabbed my camera bag and headed out into the moist hell outside. Sacchan drove us to Kemi and we listened to some hilarious songs in her car. I'M GONNA SMOKE SOME WEED, ONLY GOT 20 DOLLAS IN MY POCKET ~ ♪

Khrrm. Yeah... hrrhhrr.
Kitacon was held in Sauvotalo in centrum, as per usual. As soon as we got there I got the impression that it felt more crammed than on earlier years...? Then again, they had less space in use on the first floor than on previous years so yeah, that might have been a reason why.

Kitacon's entrance. This was the sight we were met with when
we entered the building.

We first went to check all the selling tables in the "Merchandise Hall", which was on the first floor mainly. It struck me that there were more sellers than previously and some new ones I had never seen at Kitacon before too! That was a really nice and appreciated surprise because, if I'm honest, Kitacon pretty much always has some sellers that are there every year and they always sell the exact same things so, err, it gets boring/uninteresting really fast. No offence but yeah, I'm not gonna spend my hard-earned money on something that I've seen a hundred times before and –to top it all off– is quite obviously bootleg merchandise. Don't get me wrong though, some of the recurring sellers are really awesome (like Fantasiapelit) but yeah, there's that one seller that irks me greatly because of the counterfeit goods. ._.

The Merchandise Hall on the first floor.

There were a lot of people; I sometimes had problems moving around.

Kitacon doesn't offer a lot in terms of activities but there was a kind of crafts room (where you could draw freely or make "kimono ladies" out of patterned paper) along with some scheduled activities like the cosplay date and a quiz game for those with smartphones. There was also the obligatory photo studio that you could use whenever during the con day. I think there was also some kind of AMV-dance too...

Some people drawing in the crafts room, aka "piirustuspiste / työpaja".

The other table in the room, where you could make kimono girls
out of paper.

I mainly went to Kitacon to meet some friends so yeah, I actually don't have much to tell about the con itself. Kitacon is Kitacon – it's a small northern con where people seem to mainly go to hang with friends. Quite few seem to bother cosplaying so I didn't really regret going without a costume on lol. But yeah, I bumped into the ever-so-awesome Karri and we shared some hugs and greetings.
I also found Ronya (or well, she found me) quite early on and I was so excited because we had been talking prior to the con a lot online and hadn't met yet in real life; we had planned to play Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate together as soon as we got bored so yeah, I was stoked to get to play with her! o/ Jäätynyt Enkeli also joined in on the hunting because why the heck not? It's not like we didn't get bored after we had seen everything Kitacon had to offer.
I personally wasn't interested in any of the panels etc, except maybe for that panel about the Russian con called Polarcon – yeah, there was a panel about "the meeting of the northern conventions!" and some Russian guys were invited to talk about their con and the con culture in Russia. I regret a bit for not attending that panel but oh well, I forgot about it and realized way too late what time it was. :'(

Some random merchandise photos coming up!

Some fleece hats with huge cute buttons on etc.

Wannabe's store. I can't recall having seen them at Kitacon before, yay fresh blood!

What seems to be Umbreon and Gengar hoodies. Oh, and Toothless fleece hats.

Cupcake Cult t-shirts and others...?

A small part of Fantasiapelit's manga selection.

... and of course no con is complete without Pocky!

On the second floor were the Maid Cafe, some (seemingly) second-hand manga sellers and the Artist's Alley. I need to say that I found the Artist's Alley quite late because it was kinda hidden. It was located in the main hall's (where the stage was) entrance. Sorry for the clumsy explanation but I mean that if you looked into the main hall –without actually entering– you might miss the Artist's Alley tables because they were placed next to the wall and were thus hidden by the wall quite effectively, if you didn't actually walk into the hall room, that is. If you just peeked in (without standing right in front of the door) you'd just see the chairs, the stage and that's about it. That's what happened to me because I didn't go near the entrance door to the main hall until many hours had passed since opening. I'm not saying that it was a bad positioning of the Artist's Alley because it wasn't – it was roomy and well-lit and all but I don't really get it why Kitacon doesn't put the Artist's Alley in the first floor? I'm just thinking that it might be better for the artists' sales if they were on the first floor too, together with all the other merchandise sellers... *shrugs* But I don't know really, it's just a thought I've had.

The sight you were met with once going up the stairs to the second floor.

At some point I got really hungry while we were on the second floor. I asked Sacchan, Kiivi, Ronya and the others (this was before Karri had showed up) if they were hungry too and it turned out that Ronya and her company had planned to go eat at Subway soon and omg, that was what my group had planned to do too! So yeah, we totally bonded our groups into one big group and everyone went to Subway. I treated Ronya to a 15 cm sub because I had a sale coupon and wouldn't manage to eat a full-sized sub in one go myself. I also wanted to at least give her something in return because she gave me some Sengoku Basara and Rurouni Kenshin rubber strap keychains for free. ;u; She seemingly doesn't really care about those series herself but knew that I'm a huge nut for samurai stuff, haha. She's so kind ~

The Maid Cafe. (and omg, there's actually a butler!)

Some yummy-looking bakeries from said cafe.

Once me, Jäätynyt Enkeli and Ronya had seen it all we moved over to a more quiet corner in the crafts room and sat there and played Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate for the rest of the con – MonHun for life! ♥ 
I need to say though that Karri would come over every now and then and talk with us but yeah, he ended up naming our gaming trio the "sosiaalikerho" (lit. social club) because we were/looked so... social. That's what online gaming with friends does to you – you can't pause without getting rekt by a random monster!! xD Oh and yeah, the whole "sosiaalikerho" thing kinda turned into a running joke and it was hilarious, hands down. And it got even better when Karri suddenly went "fuck this shit :D" and power-hugged us while we were in a heated monster battle. I'm surprised no one carted lol.
I do feel bad though for not spending as much time with Karri as I would have wanted but yeah, I had promised Ronya to play with her and it was just way too much fun. I'm so sorry Karri, next time I promise I'm gonna hang more with you too! ;_;

A part of one of the Artist's Alley tables – my favorite one actually!
The Ōkami pins! *u*

Kitacon closed it's doors at 20:30 but our group left some hours earlier because our friends had already left (Karri, Ronya) and yeah, there just wasn't anything to do anymore and, besides, we still had some other business to do in town. It felt like time went by fast but at least I got to see some familiar faces and meet some new ones too!

All in all Kitacon was a very fun experience and I'll of course keep attending it because hey, I live close and it has free entrance, woop! Gotta support the local conventions! :) I also like how Kitacon has a relaxed atmosphere and how it has that "little con charm" to it, haha. I don't feel stressed or get anxiety attacks when I'm there, compared to some of the bigger events.

This is my Kitacon purchases – a Monster Hunter art book from Fantasiapelit
and the super cute Ōkami pin from Artist's Alley.

The art book was expensive (48 €) but I couldn't help myself; I needed it because MonHun is the best shit ever, okay? So much concept arts and cool illustrations in it, hnnngh ~

That about wraps it up I guess. Thanks for reading and yeah, this was the last convention of the year!

Shiro Samurai out.