Lens review: Beaucon Vibrant Match Green

Hello my friends!

Today I will review the Beaucon Vibrant Match Green circle lenses and, well, if I'm honest I'm kinda disappointed with these. I was expecting the color to 'pop' out more and be greener but these are much more like a blueish-green lens than a true green. So yeah, if you really want a vibrant green (as the name implies!) then these do not fit the bill... unless my lenses somehow changed color during the years of storage, but more about that at the end of this post.

Let's do the review now!

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.0 mm

Water content: 45%
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

As you can see these lenses look pale in the bottles and sorta... blue? You know, greenish-blue, kinda ocean-like. I don't know but I hoped these would be one of those "surprise muthafucka!" lenses that look boring in their vials but are in reality super vibrant once worn – but sadly that was not the case. I really really hoped for these to be a highly vibrant bright green but they are in reality a blue-green lens and, while still a pretty color, it's not what I expected out of these.

One lens in.

My real eye color is a blue-gray with a greenish tint and you might notice that these look a bit similar to my own eyes and blend really well with them, which means that these would be amazing if I wanted to use them as a daily lens to enhance my own eyes. Once in my eyes they look like some dark turquoise. They are also small in size, thus barely enlarging my eyes at all.

Regarding comfort these are not the best; at first I didn't feel them at all but already after 1 hour they felt dry and after 2,5 hours I decided to take them off. Please note though that I have dry and sensitive eyes so it might just be that my eyes are not very combatible with these lenses, nor any other Beaucon lenses that I've tried so far; it just seems like this brand is not very comfortable for me, which is a shame because I really like how their lenses always have a smaller diameter and nice colors. :/ 

Lens photos!

All photos taken by me during a July afternoon with a clear sky.
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.

Facing window.

Bathroom light.

Flash photo.

White corridor light.

Yellow staircase light.

Standing in the staircase, turned away from the window.

Indoors storage room. Natural light coming from the side.

Outdoors, sitting under the roof/shadow. Facing sun.

Outdoors, back against sun.

Outdoors, facing sun.

These lenses have a thin limbal ring so they do still look like contacts but yeah, they really don't end up making your eyes all dolly-like since they're so small and all. They do blend rather nicely with my eyes –so if your eye color is anything like mine– then these would be a good candidate for an everyday lens since they look rather natural, despite the color.

The color coverage is decent and it covers up my real eye color well. The design is pretty simple and kinda mimics a real iris, but in a slightly more semi-cartoony way (or that's what I think), so these do look pretty dang natural. The color do make these suitable for cosplay though, especially if you happen to need a dark turquoise lens since said color is not the easiest to find – just don't buy these if you want a grass green lens or anything of the sort. 

I also want to mention that because of the size and the simple design the Vibrant Match series are a good choice for cosplaying male or adult characters.

Distance photo!

I must mention though that I bought these lenses several years ago and I have a vague memory that the color was different back then and now I'm wondering if, somehow, colored contact lenses can have their color fading over time? I have stored these lenses (in their unopened bottles, of course) in both a cupboard and inside a plastic box in front of the window, which always sees the sun rising. I wonder if prolonged exposure to the sun might have done something...? I can say that the exposure to the sun definitely has changed the color on the labels and stickers of some other lenses but that it would actually change the color of the lens itself seems a bit farfetched. *shrugs* Oh well, if I ever repurchase these lenses I'll compare them and then do another new review, if necessary.

Psst, you interested in seeing other colors of the Vibrant Match series? 

Check out these reviews: Blue, Violet, Brown

Short summary:

Color: 6/10 

Color is like a dark turquoise on my eyes, a blue-green. It's not what I expected but it's a nice color.

Design: 7/10 

Design is simple and seems to aim for a semi-realistic iris look.

Opacity: 8/10

Coverage is really good.

Enlargement: 2/10 

These lenses have a really small enlargement effect.

Comfort: 5/10 

Okay for short-time wear but start to dry my eyes already after 1 hour.

Naturalness: 8/10 

The color is not ultra natural but otherwise these work! Surprisingly realistic on my eyes.

Thank you for reading my circle lens reviews!

Shiro Samurai out ~

Närcon 2016 carpool available! One seat free!

Hello geeks!

Let's get straight to business! It recently came to my knowledge that Ronya can't go to Närcon so yeah, now there's one seat to fill in our carpool and that means that if you live somewhere in northern Sweden or Finland –and want to go to Närcon– then HERE IS YOUR CHANCE!! o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o We really need to get one more person to take the free seat because it will make the journey cheaper for everyone! And hey, it also saves the environment to have the car as full as possible... ~

Check the image below for all the necessary details, because I'm too lazy to rewrite them all. But yeah, if you want more information just leave a comment on this post or contact me through email. :)

And for those worried about the con tickets – they are still available here! Please be aware that Närcon is on 28-31 July so act fast. I can also mention that me and Sacchan will be sleeping at the camping and that's what I'd recommend if you want the cheapest possible sleeping solution and hey, con camping is an experience in itself!
Oh and yeah, if you wonder about the Tuesday-Wednesday night at Umeå I can tell you that it's free – we'll stay one night at the apartment of the second driver. :) 

It doesn't matter if you're a cosplayer or not but as long as you're attending the con and are a nice person you're welcome in! I promise at least two of us have horrible jokes. It would be preferred though if you're not a smoker. Also, please try to keep the luggage down to the smaller end of average because there is no place for huge or bulky props (smaller props should be fine, like a katana or such).

So yeah, please spread the word to all your friends and help us fill in the available seat!

~ Shiro Samurai out.

Närcon 2016 cosplans – The Guardian of the Sea and more!

Yo peeps!

My next convention will be no less than Närcon on 28-31 July in Linköping, Sweden. I'm honestly super pumped about attending the con (even though it has its faults) with my friends and yeah, I can't wait! ヽ(＾Д＾)ﾉ As things seem to look right now I will be traveling to Närcon with Sacchan, Ronya and Vicktor. There might still be place in our northern carpool for one more person though, maybe... *hinthint*

You see, for months now I've been fretting over what to cosplay and now, finally, it seems like I have an idea about my cosplay plans that might actually hold for longer than one week. Maybe. 

I've honestly been scrapping my plans and changing them every second day or something and, meanwhile, time is running out and now I don't even have enough left to safely order a new wig etc. D: 

But after a lot of thinking I managed to come up with some costumes but one of the main days still lacked a cosplay – either Friday or Saturday. I thought that I'd be pretty much forced to recycle a cosplay by now, for aforementioned reasons (lack of tiiiiiime), but I felt unsure because most of my cosplays are really hot to wear during summer and yeah, Närcon is not Närcon without its infamous heat wave!! I really don't like overheating at cons –which happens easily– and I want to believe that, by now, I should have learned from my mistakes... or not. Oh and yeah, it's also quite common that it will rain during Närcon, which makes me iffy to wear any cosplays that includes vintage silk kimono, out of fear for water stains – this and the heat wave limits my cosplay recycle choices a lot. (´＿｀。) *sniff*

But now, hopefully this will be my final cosplay plans!

There will be a Fruits Basket cosplay group meet on Thursday, hence why I will bring Kazuma there and then change to Greece once either the meet is "over" or when it gets too warm because it will.

Lugia will be a kimono-style gijinka and for Friday I thought long and hard before I finally decided on recycling Ibuki; I even asked over at my Facebook page for cosplay suggestions and one of my friends said Hakuouki and that's when it hit me – I haven't worn Ibuki much! I've fixed some size issues with the costume earlier (so he's ready to be reworn) and, best of all, it's my least toasty of all my current Hakuouki cosplays!

In a way both Friday and Saturday can be considered main days and thus I thought that I would maybe rather wear Lugia on Saturday because it will be quicker to put on and yeah, Ibuki will take a while and on Friday I'll likely have more energy and hype (or 'pepp', as we say in Sweden) to put time and effort into Ibuki's demanding makeup. Dem Hakuouki eyes. I know myself well enough that during a 4-day con I will be the most energetic and hyped on the first two days and on the third day I'll probably have the "still fun but I've seen everything" syndrome and on the last day I will just want a bubbletea and then go home and take a long shower, lol. So yeah, Ibuki first and Lugia second felt like the best way to roll.

I do have some small stuff to try out before all my cosplays are ready (mainly makeup and circle lens tests) and I might also need to make some accessories for Lugia (depending on what my finalized design will be) and restyle the wig for Greece. I'm just hoping that the gloves I ordered for Lugia will arrive on time, otherwise I will just have to deal without and add them for another time...

But yeah, I might do some pre-Närcon costume previews, makeup tests, circle lens reviews yada yada! Keep an eye out!

See ya later, alligator ~

Lens review: Kimchi Viva Brown

Hiya!

I have a circle lens review in store for today! I will be reviewing the Kimchi Viva Brown lenses. But instead of standing here and jawing around I'll get straight to the review!

Hiya, let's go ~

Lens to the watcher's right is wrong side out.

Lens to the watcher's left is wrong side out.

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 16 mm

Water content: 55%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

As with any Kimchi or I.Fairy lens these are definitely on the big side but, despite the size, these have a very gentle and natural-ish look, all thanks to the big pupil hole, light color and smooth blending effect. Yes, this means that a lot of your natural eye color will show through the middle and instead of making your eye color change to brown these lenses give you more of a "brown edges" effect, aka a partial color change – or enhancement, if you already have brown eyes. I do think that the look the lenses brings is lovely nevertheless but it you're looking for a bold lens (or if you dislike lenses with big pupil holes) you will likely be disappointed with these.

One lens in.

The color is a soft caramel-like brown and it blends really nicely with my light blue-gray eyes! There's no super obvious line where the color of the lens meets my real eye color and that's always good if you don't want the "clashing effect" that tends to occur with some colored contact lenses. The thick black limbal ring makes the lenses look cute and thus my eyes end up looking sort of innocent – it's a nice effect. They do also give a lovely, almost magical look on my eyes when the light hits because of the contrast between blue and brown. ♥

Regarding comfort I can wear these for approximately 3 to 4 hours before I start to feel the first signs of dryness. They felt stingy upon first insertion and I had to reinsert both lenses to get rid of the uncomfortable feeling but yeah, it still stayed (although not as bad) but luckily it went away after a couple minutes. Once my eyes got used to the lenses I had no further issues with them.

Lens photos!

All photos taken by me during a July afternoon with a clear sky.
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.

Facing window in my apartment.

Bathroom light.

Flash photo.

White corridor light.

Yellow light in the staircase.

In the staircase, with my back against the window. (natural light)

Outdoors, facing the wall. Back against sun.

Outdoors, facing sun.

Indoors storage room, with natural light coming from the side.

I would say that these lenses are best suited for daily fashion, ulzzang, mori etc – those more natural looks, ya know. I don't think these would show up well enough to be really good for cosplay, unless you're looking for a more discreet lens that won't be all that noticeable on photos; the coloring of the lenses is mainly on the outer edges and thus these won't do much if you're looking for a lens that will completely change your eye color.

I still think that these are a cute and quite versatile pair and a great choice if you want to wear lenses to work, school etc that aren't too obvious; the Kimchi Viva Brown are an everyday lens more than a fancy one. ^_^ It's a really soft-looking lens that gives a graceful air to your eyes – just be aware that the colored areas are not that large, nor covering, and that your real eye color will show through in the center, no matter what.

Distance photo!

Short summary:

Color: 7/10  

Lovely soft light brown color, caramel-like.

Design: 6/10

Minimalistic design with black limbal ring. Good if you want a simple and casual lens.

Opacity: 6/10

These lenses have a big pupil hole –which completely lets through your natural color– but the colored outer parts are decently covering.

Enlargement: 8/10

Pretty big, as is to be expected from a Kimchi lens.

Comfort: 6/10

Fairly average. Felt slightly stingy at first but once my eyes got used to them they were fine. Start to feel dry after approximately 3 hours.

Naturalness: 4/10

Because of the smooth blending and small amount of color these look surprisingly natural, despite their size and the black rim.

Thank you for reading my circle lens reviews!

Shiro Samurai says ciao ~

Lens review: GEO Xtra Morning Glory Blue

Hello peeps!

Today is circle lens review day and I will be showing you a pair called GEO Xtra Morning Glory Blue (WFL-A32) and it's a really nice blue pair with a beautiful print and color!

Let's roll out the review!

Base curve: 8.7 mm
Diameter: 15 mm

Water content: 42%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

Okay, so these lenses have a gorgeous flower print with a thick black limbal ring to top it off. The color is a medium light blue and it's a very wonderful blue shade; it shows up well on my light eyes and I am pretty sure these would look look lovely on dark eyes too!

The enlargement effect is noticeable but it's not overwhelming, even though the vials say that the diameter is 15 mm. I can see these being used for many different looks and, despite their size, they don't look too weird without eye makeup.

One lens in.

The design is lovely and it's the main reason I bought these lenses. The blue color also fits really well with my natural eye color (light blue-gray) and it blends nicely in the center, without leaving an obvious "line" where the lens' color starts and my own eye color ends.

Oh and yeah, of course because it's GEO lenses be sure to check for the authenticity stickers! All GEO lenses should come with stickers that have a code you can use to check them up online, to prove that they are genuine.

Lens photos incoming!
All photos taken by me during a June afternoon with a clear sky.
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.

Facing window.

Bathroom light.

Flash photo.

White corridor light.

Yellow staircase light.

Indoors storage room. (natural light coming from the side)

Outdoors, back against sun.

Outdoors, facing sun.

The comfort is the only disappointing thing about these. I got them into my eyes super easily and they were comfy right from the start but after like 1 hour they started to feel dry already. Please keep in mind though that I have dry/sensitive eyes and yeah, had I not opened these lenses before August they would have expired in their vials – which also might explain the poor comfort. A little bit before 2 hours ticked in I went to take the lenses off since they felt really dry; once they were out my eyes felt all dry and I had to go several times afterwards to splash my face with cold water to get rid of the discomfort. 

I do hope that I just happened to get a Monday example and that the Morning Glory otherwise is comfortable because I really adore the design and I'd like to try these in more colors in the future...

Distance photo!

Want to see Morning Glory lenses reviewed in another color? 

Check this out: Brown

Short summary:

Color: 8/10
Beautiful true blue shade that shows up well.

Design: 9/10

Gorgeous flower design with black details!

Opacity: 8/10

Nicely opaque.

Enlargement: 7/10

Pretty big yeah.

Comfort: 4/10

Comfy but dry out really fast for me, in around 2 hours. My eyes feel really dry afterwards.

Naturalness: 3/10

The thick limbal ring, size and unnaturally bright blue color won't really fool anyone.

Thanks for reading! I hope you found this review helpful. ^^
Shiro Samurai out ~ 

Kummacon 2016 – Quick one day visit

Hello geeks ~

Kummacon was held in Oulu, Finland, on 17-18 June 2016 for the second time. The reason I posted no cosplay plans before the con is simply because I did not cosplay. I simply couldn't be bothered because we only had a couple hours of con time and the weather was sorta shit anyway, lol.

Originally I had been set on attending for both days since it's a "local con" (approx. 100 km away is considered local for me, lol) but yeah, I got a dog before the con and that made things more... difficult. I also had my school's end ceremony on the same Friday the con started and so I wasn't even out of school until early lunch time. But yeah, at first I had some real issues with getting someone to volunteer to watch over my dog for the time me and my company would be gone; we had no luck on such short notice and yeah, for a while it looked like we'd have to skip Kummacon – until me and Sacchan realized that, even if we left now, we'd only have 2 hours of con time before the convention would close for the day and Kumma (the name of my Japanese akita, funnily enough) is extremely calm and well-behaved indoors already and so we thought that he could stand being alone for approximately 4 hours. I was a bit worried but turned out Kumma had no problems and everything in my house was intact and free from pee and poo when I came back home. He's an angel. ♥ 

The clock was past 15:00 Finnish time before we even started driving to Oulu, whoops. Our con group consisted of me, Sacchan and Frozen Angel and we all just went in our casual clothes. #boringnormies

Honestly, the driving weather was shit. Perkele.

The drive took roughly one hour and, much to our surprise, the rain actually stopped just before we hit Oulu, waddafuck. As soon as you pass by Simo everything's okay. We instantly found a place to park the car at and headed towards Pohjankartano, the con building. It's actually the same building Chibicon was held in several years back and thus it felt a bit nostalgic to be back there, haha.

Pohjankartano's front entrance.

Honestly, because we arrived around 17:00 I was worried that all the shops had already closed for the day and that we'd basically arrive to a con where everybody had already started to leave – luckily that wasn't the case (although it wasn't far away) and the quick visit turned out not to be a waste of time, gasoline and feeling sorry for leaving my doge dog alone.

Kummacon poster indoors.

My first thought, once we got past the entrance, was that it seemed really quiet but, then again, I had not expected anything else since Kummacon is a small con to begin with. What struck me though was that the main hall area was left completely unused, which felt like a waste of potential because back at Chibicon that was where all the merchandise tables were and it was a really good spot for just that.
I heard afterwards though that Saturday would be the busier day but me and my friends had only planned to attend on Friday so I can't tell about that; Saturday wasn't possible for us anyway.

Main hall.

Main hall seen from above.

It felt weird to see the main hall so empty but oh well, I guess Kummacon just didn't have enough vendors to really make use of all the open space. Nevertheless, I want to say that even though we only spent 2 hours at the con I felt like that was enough to see what there was to offer and what the general atmosphere was like. I don't mean this in any bad way, it's just that once you had checked the Dealer's Hall and Artist's Alley (especially when you arrive as late as we did, aka most of the panels were already over etc) there really wasn't all that much more to do to kill time, except hang with your friends and keep track of your StreetPass hits if you were a Nintendo 3DS owner.

Entrance area, view towards the merchandise sellers.

I was hoping to see some familiar faces but I actually didn't see anyone at the con whom I recognized, which was a bit of a letdown. :( I wanted to meet especially two guys but neither of them were at the con (or maybe they had left for the day, idk) even though they both also live in the north. Oh well.

Second-hand manga table.

Bakeries à la Disney princesses and soda.

When it comes to the merchandise hall it was placed in that little corridor area between the info desk and the cafeteria. There weren't many sellers at all, just the usual well-known ones that you find in like every Finnish con ever, aka Fantasiapelit and Urumi. There were also some sellers I didn't recognize from other cons so they were probably just local ones.

Different anime figurines and a Toothless plush.
Notice the Mikazuki nendoroids!

You could preorder Weed plushies, omg! ;A;

Of course you could also buy the usual ramune and pocky in the snacks shop – expensive, of course. This is Finland. What surprised me though was that there were some DragonBall and One Piece ramune! I was curious about them because I had never seen them before but yeah, I didn't buy any because I was too derp to ask the seller if they were of any special flavor or just the normal ramune. It bothers me that the Piccolo ramune is not green though... xD

DragonBall & One Piece ramune!

I didn't buy anything from the vendors but there were a few things that caught my interest – I'm too poor at the moment. *sobs* I would kinda have wanted the Kenshin Himura cup.................

Fantasiapelit's manga booth.

The Artist's Alley was in a separate room next to the cafeteria. I might remember wrong but there were about 7 sellers and a majority were selling prints and stickers. I was hoping to find some cool keychain but no luck this time. :'( Our company had a nice long and funny chat with two of the sellers though and the topics ranged from crazy cat ladies to boobs. Yeaaaaaaah.

Artist's Alley cards...

... and stickers from the same seller.

Once we had checked the Artist's Alley we were pretty much done... or well, that's when you noticed that most of the visitors had left and the sellers started packing up for the day. 2 hours felt about right to see and experience the con, even though it was a one day quick trip. I can't speak about the Saturday so yeah, this short summary is only about Friday, the first day.

Before leaving the con I decided to try some hohot from the outdoor food stand at the entrance. I had never seen nor heard about the dish before so I was curious to try it out! The prices were expensive considering the cup sizes (amount of food you got) but it was an interesting taste experience so I don't regret it. I guess if I had to describe what hohot is like it's similar to ramen – noodles in a cup with broth (you could choose between spicy or normal) and different ingredients of your choice. I ended up picking seaweed, some Asian mushrooms and fish balls but I must admit that I was disappointed when the guy doing the portions only gave me one fuckin' fish ball... I mean, seriously? ._. More than two thirds of the cup were noodles –which are the cheapest ingredients– and so I felt mildly annoyed since the smallest cup cost 2,50 €. Hrrmph, cheapskates...

Advertisement for hohot food.

On the way back home we stopped by at Kärkkäinen along the way and there we munched on some hamburgers, fed the car and bought some candies and toys for le dog. Fun thing is that both me and Frozen Angel bough some candies because the kilo price was cheaper than average and, well, we didn't notice until we were sitting in the car when Frozen Angel suddenly burst out laughing; me and Sacchan wondered what the heck was so funny and then he just exclaimed between the laughs: "we bought dog biscuits!". I was like wut and he told me to check the label on my candy bag and that's what I did...

It says "koiran keksi", literally dog biscuits!

Fun part is that the poster at the store said to press number 1 on the machine for candy weighing and well, turned out that was actually the number for doggy biscuits... oops. It's not like we tried to cheat on purpose; it was an actual error of the store, lololol. Well, I don't complain because the kilo price was cheaper for the dog biscuits by more than 1 € and yeah, now I'm a dog I guess. I'm surprised though that the cashier didn't notice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay so, Kummacon is still that comfy little con in Oulu with a relaxed atmosphere. There's not all that much to do so it's a good idea to go there with a bunch of friends, unless you love attending all kinds of panels and workshops. Even though I only spent a couple of hours at the con I had a pleasant experience (I didn't really feel like I missed out on anything) and no issues with anything – cons in the north have that cozy feeling that bigger and busier cons tend to lack. Kummacon falls into the hang-with-friends con category but there ain't nothing wrong with that! I'm curious to see how the con will evolve in the future and I hope they stay in Pohjankartano because it's a really roomy, well-lit and comfy building with good air circulation and it's easy to find too; Pohjankartano is also close to centrum and food places.

My purchases: two cute dog stickers from Artist's Alley!

That's all for this time. Thanks for reading!

Shiro Samurai out.