March 7, 2017

[Sponsored] Lens review: GEO Animation CP-A4

Good evening peeps!

Today I want to show you guys a really intense blue circle lens – the GEO Animation CP-A4! This pair is made with cosplayers in mind and thus it's incredibly vibrant and has amazing color coverage too! It's a blue lens with white 'anime eye' sparkles and a black rim; it's great for fans of Japanese popular culture, costumers, fantasy enthusiasts etc. ^_^ This pair was sponsored by my long-time favorite circle lens shop, LensVillage. They are based in Malaysia and ship all over the world! If you need to buy colored contact lenses (with prescription or not) I highly recommend to check them out!

Enjoy 15% OFF storewide with the discount code "SAMURAI15" at LensVillage! Free shipping on any order!

This review contains 100% my genuine opinion. These lenses were sponsored for review purposes but it does not affect my honesty.



Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.2 mm
Water content: 40±2
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)



These lenses are part of GEO's Crazy Lens series, aka Animation lenses. The series features super opaque designs that cater especially to costumers and cosplay fans! GEO is also the most well-known circle lens brand out there and real GEO lenses come with green anti-fake stickers that you can check up online, to prove that your received pair is genuine and safe to wear. LensVillage sells authentic lenses, so you need not worry about fake lenses if you buy from them. ^^ Any lenses can still be defective though (although the risk is minimal) so yeah, if you ever end up with a pair that continuosly hurts your eyes –no matter where you bought it from– then don't wear it and contact customer service!

Once I had taken the lenses out of their glass vials I put them to soak overnight, before wearing them for the first time. I recommend doing this simply because the solution that the lenses are stored in (in the bottles) is not the same as ordinary lens solution – it might irritate your eyes etc. I don't like taking any risks because I have dry and sensitive eyes.

One lens in. Notice size difference.
As you can see the color is a super bright, intense and vibrant shade of blue! Animation lenses in all their flashy glory, in other words. It also completely blocks out my real eye color (a light blue-gray) so you'll be sure that it will show up even from a distance. I don't think I even need to mention how amazing these would be for cosplay purposes – I mean seriously, no matter where you are, nor how shitty the light conditons are these ~will~ be undeniably blue. These lenses would be really good for a lot of anime and manga characters: Naruto, Sailor Moon (Tsukino Usagi) and Bulma from DragonBall, to name a few popular ones.

The enlargement effect is moderate, a bit on the smaller side – which means that for cosplayers these will be good for both male and female characters. The thin black limbal ring helps these lenses stand out more and also makes them look even more animated. The white sparkles (highlights) add depth to the lenses, which would otherwise just be a single solid color.
Oh and yeah, these do spin in my eyes but luckily it's not as noticeable as it is on some other crazy lenses, for example on the cat eyes and some other GEO Animation lenses – in other words, you won't end up looking too stupid. :'D

A lot of close-up lens photos ahead!
All photos are taken by me during an afternoon with a clear sky. There's no color filters or such on these photos and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible.

Apartment room light, only natural (window) light.
Bathroom light.
Flash photo.
Facing a window in the corridor. (not sun side)
White light in the corridor.
Yellow light in the corridor.
A dull yellow light in the staircase.
A (flickering) weak yellow light in the lower staircase.
An orange-ish yellow light in the staircase.
Staircase, no lights. (only natural light from a distance)
Indoors storage room.
Basement floor, only natural light.
Facing the outer door (back entrance), small window in front.
Outdoors, back against sun. Facing the wall.
Outdoors, facing sun.
The comfort is pretty average – I can wear these for about 3 hours before they start to feel uncomfortably dry on my seemingly sensitive/dry eyes. I haven't had any problems inserting these lenses and I barely feel them in my eyes (the lenses seem quite thin), except for that they do notably blur my vision in poorer indoor lights etc. These lenses do obstruct my vision slightly, but it's nothing that you can't get used to.
I did experience some random bouts of dryness (first one occurred after 10 minutes) but those come and go in sudden waves; I remember that the second time I wore these lenses I wanted to take them off after 1 hour because of the unpredictability –aka uncomfortable/dry one moment and then perfectly fine for the next hour– but I persisted. So yeah, the comfort is mostly fine but sudden dry bouts do happen. I could have worn them longer than 3 hours if needed – perhaps something around 3-5 hours would be the estimated wearing time for me. They're not bad by any means but I've had more comfy lenses.

The pupil hole on these is smaller than on your average circle lenses, which means that less of your real eye color will show through in the center (closest to your pupil) but it also means that, especially in some poorer lights, these might blur your vision and/or make you see blue in the corners.
I must admit that I'm loving these lenses – they are really rad and extremely fun to wear out! So full of impact and the color is nothing short of awesome either. I love this kind of crazy and intense costuming lenses! I really recommend to get your hands on these if you dig this kind of over-the-top lenses, you won't be disappointed!

Distance photo, eyy ~


Remember, use my discount code "SAMURAI15" to enjoy 15% OFF at LensVillage – take your costuming to the next level!

Short summary:

Color: 10/10 
A really eye-turning, extreme blue shade. Beautiful and powerful at the same time.
Design: 9/10 
Solid color with a black rim and white highlights. Provides a cool 'anime eye' effect!
Opacity: 10/10
If these don't block out your real eye color then nothing will.
Enlargement: 5/10 
Perhaps on the smaller side of average. Modest enlargement.
Comfort: 5/10 
Average. Comfortable to wear (no itchiness, teary eyes etc) but starts to feel dry after about 3 hours. Blurs and obstructs my vision in poorer lights. Estimated maximum wearing time around 3-5 hours.
Naturalness: 0/10 
Nnnnnnope.

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions then leave a comment! ^.^
Thank you LensVillage for making this review possible! ♡
~ Shiro Samurai out.

February 25, 2017

[Sponsored] Lens review: GEO Animation CP-A6

Yo people!

Today I'll review a pair of circle lenses that are well suited for costuming purposes – it's the GEO Animation CP-A6, a pink and black animation lens! It's a really cool pair that gives your eyes a true 'anime eye' look – it's perfect for shoujo heroines and other cute manga and anime characters! This pair was sponsored by the well-known, Malaysia-based circle lens shop called LensVillage. They ship all over the world and carry a wide range of both crazy and circle lenses as well as cosmetics etc. ♡ I usually get my lenses within 2 weeks from them. I highly recommend their store and, unlike PinkyParadise as of recently, they still ship to America! ;)

Use my discount code "SAMURAI15" to get 15% OFF storewide at LensVillage! Free shipping!

This review contains 100% my genuine opinion. These lenses were sponsored for review purposes but it does not affect my honesty.



Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.2 mm
Water content: 40±2%
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)



These lenses are part of GEO's Crazy Lens series, aka Animation lenses. This series is especially made with costumers and cosplayers in mind and have super opaque designs that fit into the fictional world. GEO is also the most well-known circle lens brand out there and GEO lenses should always come with green anti-fake stickers that you can check up online, to prove that your received pair is genuine and thus safe to wear. LensVillage sells authentic lenses, of course.

As with any pair of contact lenses I highly recommend that you put the lenses to soak the night before wearing them. I always do this as a precaution because yeah, the solution that the unopened lenses are in is different than your ordinary lens solution – it might irritate your eyes. Everyone's eyes are different but because I seem to have dry and/or sensitive eyes myself I don't want to be taking any unnecessary risks.

One lens in. Notice enlargement effect.
These lenses have a distinct pink anime/manga eye design, approximately half black and half pink with some white sparkle effects (dots and streaks). It's really cute, has a small to modest enlargement effect and reminds me of the big sparkly eyes of magical girls like the Sailor Moon scouts and such. ^o^ The color and the unique design definitely show up well, even from a distance! This is definitely meant to be a costume and special effects lens. It's also completely opaque, which means that your real eye color won't be shining through anywhere.
The pupil hole is smaller than on your typical circle lenses and thus, in most indoor lights, there won't be much of a ring with your real eye color showing through in the center; this does come at a price though – the lenses do occasionally blur the corners of my vision in poorer lights. It's really nothing big nor anything that really bothers me but it's still noticeable and I thought I'd mention it but, then again, it's to be expected since it happens with any circle lens that has a smaller pupil hole.

Close-up lens photos ahead!
All photos are taken by me during a February afternoon with a clear sky. There's no color filters or such on these photos and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible.

Apartment room light, only natural (window) light.
Bathroom light.
Flash photo.
Facing the window in the corridor. (not sun side)
White light in the corridor.
Yellow light in the corridor.
Yellow staircase light.
Staircase, no light.
Indoors storage room. Only natural light.
Outdoors, back against sun. (aka facing the wall)
Outdoors, facing the sun.
As you can see these lenses are clearly pink, no matter where you go. It's a really nice pink shade too, makes me think strawberry milkshake, haha. The pink is not a solid pink – there's some highlights in white around the edges, which help make it look more lively and less... err, fake and dull, I guess. Not like it's a realistic lens by any stretch but yeah, the colors look better when there's some depth to them. :)

Regarding comfort they are pretty okay. These lenses were really comfortable upon insertion and I barely feel them in my eyes, which is always a good thing! They are thin and it's also really easy to tell apart which side is which because the print is white on the back. But yeah, these lenses are really comfy to wear but seem to dry a bit early for me – I felt the first signs of the lenses being dry after the 2 hour mark. I could still comfortably wear them for a bit past 3 hours before I felt the dryness starting to bother me. I did get a sudden headache around the same time (not sure if related to wearing lenses or not) so that affected why I decided to take them off after three hours had passed, although I'm certain that I could, on a good eye day, wear these much longer – probably anything around 3-6 hours. My eyes were dry and a bit red afterwards, nothing bad.

I'll also address the question that probably a lot of people are wondering but few mention during reviews: do these lenses spin in your eyes? My answer is that yes, yes they do. They spin slowly though and I didn't notice it until around 20 minutes had passed. I've never had to worry about lenses spinning before (this is my first time reviewing a pair with a design on which it's highly noticeable) so I'm not sure how often/quickly it tends to happen normally. I noticed though that the way the lens is facing when you insert it will be the way it is once in your eye so yeah, if you put it "upside down" it won't correct itself automatically. Make sure you put them facing the right way from the start and enjoy your symmetrical eyes while they last; of course you can always go and turn them right when it starts to look retarded. Trust me, it does.  

If you're a fan of Japanese popular culture then get these pink peepers, it's a really fun lens to have! These will surely turn heads in town and make your costume stand out, if you're into cosplaying.

Distance photoooo ~ 


Remember, use my discount code "SAMURAI15" to enjoy 15% OFF at LensVillage – take your costuming to the next level!

Short summary:

Color: 10/10 
Super cute pink and black lens with great color payoff! Lovely highlights.
Design: 9/10 
Replicates the popular 'anime eye' look beautifully. Great for cosplay!
Opacity: 10/10
Perfect coverage.
Enlargement: 4/10 
Modest enlargement effect.
Comfort: 5/10 
Okay. Really comfortable (I barely feel them, no itchiness etc) but may start to feel dry after 2-3 hours on my sensitive eyes. Estimated wearing time around 3-6 hours.
Naturalness: 0/10 
No real human being is born with pink kawaii anime eyes.

Thanks for viewing! If you have any questions then leave a comment! ^.^
Thank you LensVillage for making this review possible! ♡
~ Shiro Samurai out.

February 17, 2017

Lens review: Super Pinky Green

Hello marshmallows!

This is gonna be a lens review with a touch of nostalgy – you see, when I first started wearing colored contact lenses for cosplay in 2013 I started out with the Super Pinky lenses, namely the violet pair and then the red. In a way it feels like it was sooooo long ago and still, strangely enough, it feels like it could have been last week, haha. Time flies by so fast!
But hey, today I will review the Super Pinky Green lenses!


Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.8 mm
Water content: 45%
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)



Okay so, the Super Pinky lenses are a fairly opaque lens with a good color coverage. It's not super heavy on the color front by any means, but it blends nicely with my real eye color (light gray-blue), making my eyes notably big and green but not with the same type of intense coverage as some other lenses I've worn; in a way I'd almost say that they are semi-realistic.

The thing that makes the Super Pinky lenses good is that they are one of the few colorful circle lenses on the market that, despite their big size, actually has a small pupil hole. This means that less than usual of your real eye color will be glaringly obvious because it won't show through as much in the center than on your average circle lens. This is a trait that some light-eyed circle lens wearers really appreciate and I know that it bothers quite a few too; I'm not horribly concerned about it personally but it's always a plus because the 'color clash' effect that especially light-eyed wearers suffer from isn't always nice, especially when cosplaying – it can ruin the illusion because too much of your real eye color is showing through to be convincing...
So yeah, if big pupil holes bother you and you're a (light-eyed) cosplayer
then look into the Super Pinky series!

One lens in. Notice enlargement.
The design on the Super Pinky lenses is nothing really fancy or otherwordly – it's a semi-natural print that seems to mimic a real iris, except that it's a lot bigger. Seriously, the size of these is nothing to laugh at! These make my peepers huge, no joke. A nice bonus with these lenses is that they might create a nice halo effect!
I already talked a bit about the color earlier but yeah, it's a nice medium green (a true green that doesn't appear bluish in any lights!) and it shows up really well while still maintaining a not-too-obvious look; it goes well with my natural eye color. What I mean is basically that these lenses don't look fake or costume-y, if you know what I mean. :D With that said I'd feel safe to say that the Super Pinky lenses are quite versatile – you could use them for cosplay as well as many different j-fashion styles without a problem.

Lens photos ahead!
All photos are taken by me during a February afternoon with a semi-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.

Apartment room light, natural (window) light.
Bathroom light.
Flash photo.
Facing a window in the corridor.
White light in the corridor.
Yellow light in the staircase.
Indoors storage room.
Indoors storage room.. again. :D Different light thou!
Outdoors, back against sun. (facing wall)
Outdoors, facing sun.
In case someone's missed it the Super Pinky series, at least back in the day, used to be a really popular cosplay lens – that's also the reason why the Super Pinky lenses were the first ones I tried when I started out with circle lenses. I of course wanted the safety of picking a pair that I had heard good things about and, even though back then I thought they were of good comfort (then again, I had nothing to compare with) I've later on come to realize that, in actuality, I've had a lot better lenses since then. I'm not saying that the comfort is bad or anything, it's kinda sub-par or average or what you wanna call it – definitely wearable but not something I'd cheer loudly for since I've had better. Then again, I do have rather dry and sensitive eyes so that does play its part as well. 
But yeah, even after just one hour of wear I can feel how these slowly but surely dry out my eyes. They also felt uncomfortable upon insertion, I could feel them really clearly when I moved my eyes around, blinked or did anything – luckily my eyes get used to them after a couple minutes or so.
These lenses go on and off in comfort, I can sometimes feel how they get random dry bouts that sting my eyes and then, suddenly, they're back to normal again! They also sometimes blur my vision for a few seconds. I'd say that average wearing time would be around 2-4 hours.


Distance photo!


Want to see the Super Pinky lenses in other colors?
Check out these reviews:
Violet, Red, Wine Red, Black
 
Short summary:

Color: 7/10 
A semi-natural medium green that stays green and looks good.
Design: 5/10 
Simple. Seems to mimic a real iris.
Opacity: 7/10
Decent color coverage.
Enlargement: 8/10 
These are big, like seriously.
Comfort: 4/10 
Average-ish for me. Uncomfortable upon insertion and I get random dry bouts that sting my eyes. Comfort goes on and off, really unpredictable. I can wear them approximately 2-4 hours without eyedrops.
Naturalness: 4/10 
Fairly natural but way too big to really pass for real eyes.

Thanks for viewing! Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions ~
Shiro Samurai out. 

February 13, 2017

Lens review: Beaucon Jewels Pink Brown

Yoo!

Today I'll review a pair of circle lenses. ^_^ Up on the plate are the Beaucon Jewels Pink Browns! I know that the name might seem confusing but this is really a pink lens – the brown comes from the fact that these lenses have a brown limbal ring, instead of a black one like the rest of the Beaucon Jewels lenses have. There is a pink lens with an ordinary black limbal ring as well in the series (called simply Beaucon Jewels Pink) but hey, I'm reviewing the brown version!



Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.0 mm
Water content: 45%
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)


As far as I know Beaucon lenses can only be found at HoneyColor so yeah, that's where to get these if you're interested. The Beaucon Jewels series is an option for all those people who love the design of the popular 'Candy' lenses (EOS Sugar Candy and Vassen Sakura Candy etc) yet want a smaller version of them.

The design is actually quite simple and yet it's a good 'anime eye' effect lens. The pink color is the strongest at the edges and gradually blends towards the center, making these impactful yet not bold enough to jump at you; it's a nice middle-ground between unnatural and semi-realistic, in a way.

One lens in. Notice enlargement.
So, as you can see these are not very big which in turn makes them versatile, in my opinion. This means that, at least for me, these work even without eye makeup and can thus be worn both as a cosplay lens and as a casual lens on lazy days.

The color is a nice light pink, it's a soft shade yet the color shows up surprisingly well; I was kinda expecting these to disappear more into my light blue-gray eyes but they didn't! The color fades a bit towards the center and so your real eye color will show through quite much in the middle so yeah, if this bothers you then you might want to find lenses with a wider field of coverage. The thing though is that a big majority of all circle lenses will have your real eye color showing through closest to the pupil circle lenses are primarily made with the Asian market in mind (brown eyes) and thus the larger pupil hole isn't as noticeable on dark eyes as it is on light eyes because of the 'color clash' effect; on dark eyes it's harder to notice where the pupil ends and the iris begins (aka black is closer to brown than blue/gray/green/whatever). I'm sorry if this is confusing, I hope you get what I mean! ^^; What I'm saying is that basically, as a light-eyed circle lens user, I just got used to it so that I don't have to limit my circle lens choices drastically and thus make my cosplay life harder, lol. I can admit that having my real eye color showing through in the center bothered me when I first started using circle lenses but, since then, I've kinda come to actually like the look and hey, at least a wider pupil opening on a lens means that it's sure to not obstruct my view!

Lens photos ahead!
All photos are taken by me during a February morning with a semi-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 a window in my apartment. (sun side)
Apartment room light, only natural (window) light.
Bathroom light.
Flash photo.
White light in the corridor.
Yellow light in the corridor.
Yellow staircase light.
Indoors storage room, natural light.
Outdoors, facing the sun while being in the building's shadow.
Outdoors, back against sun. (facing the wall)
Outdoors, facing sun.
By now I've worn three different colors from the Beaucon Jewels series and I feel like these just won't be comfortable for me – I've never had a super comfy Beaucon lens (yet) and that's such a shame because it's one of the few circle lens brand that focuses on smaller diameter lenses. :'( The comfort is always either bad or sub-par, at best. The Pink Browns would probably fall into the sub-par category; from the first second I insert them I feel them in my eyes, they aren't necessarily thick but when I blink I feel them in my eyelids and it's just not pleasant. Then again, I'm easily bothered if I can clearly feel that I'm wearing lenses so yeah, others with higher tolerance might not find these as bothersome – luckily my eyes do get used to them but it takes about 10 minutes.
Within the first hour of wear I could feel at least a couple times how these lenses suddenly stung my eyes in that dry way, it goes away though.

Distance photo!


Want to check out more reviews of the Beaucon Jewels series?
Look here: Violet, Brown, Green
Short summary:

Color: 7/10
Soft and pleasant pink color. Likable.
Design: 8/10
Simple and likable design that is versatile in its use.
Opacity: 7/10
These do make my eyes appear pink so yeah, the opacity is decent.

Enlargement: 3/10
Small enlargement.
Comfort: 3/10
Makes my eyes tear up upon insertion and I feel them in my eyes. I do get used to them eventually but they feel dry already after 1-2 hours on my sensitive eyes.
 
Naturalness: 4/10
Slightly more natural than its black-ringed cousins, solely because of the lighter limbal ring though. Pink still isn't a natural eye color.

Shiro Samurai says bye bye! Thanks for reading!