September 13, 2018

Lens review: Vassen Sweet Bliss Gray

Hello there!

Whoops. I was supposed to keep up the fast posting schedule but then I... got lazy. Or more like, PS4 gaming spree happened. xD I still have a lot of lenses left to review before winter comes and I really need to hurry up because polar night has already started approaching. Lucky are the people who don't have to account for it when planning to take photos. Obviously I have to since I live so far up so yeah, that's the main reason I'm throwing out so many lens reviews this year as I have a lot of pairs that expire at the end of 2018. Tbh I should have done more reviews during the previous years but I didn't and now I have to rush and spam you guys so... rip. Or something.

Today's review is about the Vassen Sweet Bliss Gray, also commonly known as Vassen Cloud Nine Gray. This is a cosplay and j-fashion lens to me as the design is pretty cartoony and anime! It's a big and cute lens with a lot of color!


Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.5 mm
Water content: 42% 
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)



As you can see these lenses have this really bold, striking black rim and what sets it apart is that the rim is bordered with these black lines running around it. I guess it's supposed to give a more intense impact or perhaps be some kind of effort to "blend" but it gives a really distinct look to these peepers whatever the case.
It seems like the coloration is done in this kind of, err, blocks with different transparency levels which makes it so that it's not a solid, fake-looking gray. The lenses end up having these in-between-the-blocks streaks where your real eye color slightly shines through a bit. It's a neat effect and combined with the uneven pupil hole we have an interesting and unique design at hand.

One lens in.
The design is lovely. I don't know how to describe it but I feel like it does some kind of "teary eye" effect in a way; it's really cute and delicate despite the intensity of the color which isn't shy at all. There's a notable enlargement boost and yes, that totally means dolly eyes if that's your thing, but even if it isn't I don't feel like these are too big. I can say though that at least on my eyes they do look weird without eye makeup.

In terms of design Vassen is one of my favorite brands at the moment, they have so many different designs and the color opacity is always to be reckoned with. Their lenses tend to have vivid colors that are often cosplay-friendly and as I'm a fan of really colorful lenses then I'm of course drawn to them.

Lens photos below!
All photos taken by me during a September morning 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.

Indoors natural room light.
Indoors yellow room light, with sunlight coming in from the side.
Bathroom light.
Flash photo.
Indoors unlit corridor. (poor natural light)
Facing window. (shadow side)
Outdoors, back against sun. (facing wall)
Outdoors, facing sun while being under a harsh shadow.
Outdoors, facing sun.
Comfort is okay. I don't know why but always when I insert these lenses they feel scratchy at first, not in the unwearable kind of way but in the "I can stand this but oh come on" way. Luckily once the first 10 or so minutes have passed it seems to stop and after that the lenses are so comfortable that I hardly feel them in my eyes! There's still of course the slight feeling of "I have something in my eye" (especially when I move my gaze since the lenses are big) but it's nothing that you really pay attention to. 
I could wear these for a little short of 3 hours before the first signs of dryness kicked in, which is pretty good in my standards as my eyes are ultra dry and that sucks. I went outside with these when it was really dark and noticed no difference in my vision field so they don't seem to generate colored corners in poor light conditions at least. I did experience some slight blur every now and then but that has been common for me lately, to the point I'm not even sure anymore if it's the lenses or my eyes derping around.

Final words to say is that this is an awesome lens if you like bright and fresh colors that really show up well. It's a solid choice for cosplaying and despite its anime-ish appearance it's surprisingly versatile, at least in the fields of j-fashion and alternative styles. These lenses makes my eyes look bubbly and alive and I think these would be great for cosplayers doing younger characters or sweet ones.

Distance photo!


Want to see Sweet Bliss lenses in other colors?
Check these out: Brown, Green, Pink, Red, Violet, Blue
 
Short summary:

Color: 8/10
Beautiful fresh and cute light gray with some potential blue undertones? Really nice either way.

Design: 9/10
Unique "teary eye" look combined with a black rim for maximum impact.
Opacity: 8/10 

The design has some more transparent parts but overall the color coverage is great.
Enlargement: 8/10
Really dolly. Will probably look weird without any kind of eye makeup.

Comfort: 6/10 
Okay. Scratchy upon insertion but once past that they are close to invisible. I almost got to 3 hours before the first signs of dryness plopped up. Estimated wearing time on super dry eyes around 3-4 hours.
Naturalness: 2/10

I can't really pretend that these would be natural in any way but they're not freaky either.

Thanks for reading my blog! Be cool out there!

September 4, 2018

[Sponsored] Lens review: EOS Super Neon Gray

Hello pretties!

Today I'm gonna invite you all to a circle lens review and it's the EOS Super Neon Gray on the spotlight! My sponsor LoveShoppingholics sent me these lenses for review purposes so thanks to them for giving me this opportunity to review another pair!

The lenses that I'm reviewing in this blog post were sponsored by LoveShoppingholics, meaning that I did not pay for the product(s) myself. This does, however, not affect my honesty in any way. The words and opinions in this review are mine and mine alone, I don't ever compromise the truth.



Base curve: 8.8 mm
Diameter: 14.8 mm
Water content: 38%
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)


Curious about LoveShoppingholics and their online shop? Take a look at this review where I go through my experiences, impressions of the store and such. :)

Please remember to always take the lenses out of their little glass bottles and put them to soak in lens solution (I use a multi-purpose type) over the night, before wearing them for the first time. This is important because the solution that the lenses are stored in is stronger than ordinary lens solution and thus it might irritate your eyes. Better safe than sorry.

One lens in.
The EOS Super Neon series of lenses feature a dark color, generous size and a big black limbal ring that makes your eyes look really dolly and huge. The design looks like a 'burst' effect going towards the center and that has many different shades of gray in it, to create depth. The lenses don't shy on the pigment department and what I mean by that is that the pixels are dense, which implies that these will cover up my eye color well.

These go pretty well together with my real eye color, which is a light blue-gray. I don't doubt that these would cover dark eyes just as well. It's a really likable, medium to dark gray color and despite me not being a big fan of gray lenses in general, I do enjoy these. The design is mesmerizing and pulls your gaze in, there's something extra-ordinary and deep with it!

Lens photos below!
All photos taken by me during an afternoon with a clear sky. All close-up photos are free from color filters and such and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible.

Natural room light.
Yellow room light.
Bathroom light.
Unlit corridor.
Flash photo.
Facing window. (shadow side)
Outdoors, back against sun. (facing wall)
Outdoors, facing sun while being under a shadow.
Outdoors, facing sun.
I always have a hard time grading comfort fairly as my eyes are so stinking dry that it's not even funny. I do feel that these are pretty okay overall, I don't feel them much in my eyes and they're easy enough to insert, despite the big size. I sometimes experience blurred vision in poorer lights but that's not so weird considering that these lenses have a smallish pupil hole (pupils dilate in poor lights) when compared to other circle lenses of similar size. There's no notable stingyness or anything else uncomfortable but my eyes do feel particularly dry once I take the lenses off and it requires me to use eyedrops afterwards, which not all lenses do.
I'd say wearing time is somewhere between 1-3 hours, possibly 4, but please note that this is based on my eyes only and for someone else the total amount of hours could probably easily be the double. ^^" Comfort is always highly personal and thus subjective, just like most reviews are anyway.

Overall I'd say that if you like big dolly lenses then these might be worth a go. I feel like it's a versatile design that's quite easy to play around with, be it for j-fashion, cosplay or whatnot! It's simple, it's cute and if that ticks your boxes then congratulations, you've got a new moe lens to try out.

Distance photo!


Want to see more of EOS Super Neon lenses?
Check out my other reviews: Blue, Green, Violet, Brown

Short summary: 

Color: 6/10
Medium to darkish gray with many shades. Great depth and decent blending on light eyes.
Design: 8/10
A soft 'burst' pattern that's eye-catching and gives fantasy vibes.
Opacity: 8/10

Solid color coverage thanks to the dense pigmentation.

Enlargement: 6/10
Definitely dolly but still, somehow, not overdoing it.
Comfort: 5/10
Average. Dries fast and sometimes blurs my vision but otherwise all good. Estimated to last 1-3 hours on very dry eyes.
Naturalness: 3/10

Too cutesy and the massive black limbal ring is far from natural.

Thank you to you for reading this review!
Also thanks to LoveShoppingholics for making this review possible.

September 2, 2018

Lens review: ColourVue Phantasee Winter

Good day folks!

This is the last of the ColourVue crazy lens review batch for now (I have more but those won't be reviewed in a while) and what I have in store is the ColourVue Phantasee Winter! When you think of winter you normally think of colors like blue and white, right? But these lenses are pink! The closest I can think of pink and winter that's related would be setting sun skies so while it's not a typical winter color for me it's not completely weird either, haha.




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



Just like with the Summer lenses that I reviewed earlier I was surprised to find that the lens was just pink and not with those black details like the stock images implied. I'll admit that I'm drawn to this kind of bold fantasy style of lens and although the pale pink might look weird on my light eyes I decided to try these out anyway. Yes, the pink is really really pale and of a cold shade – it's probably the palest pink lens I've ever come across.

One lens in.
So the design looks wacky! It's a pretty intense color and the jagged swirl effect shows up nicely. I suspect these would look better on dark eyes but the look they provide on light eyes is kinda fascinating, to be honest. The size enlargement is barely noticeable, it's there but it's so minor no one's gonna pay attention to it.

The comfort is nice overall. They feel surprisingly thin and there's no nasty itching nor scratching. I don't experience any vision obstruction (blur, colored corners) either as the print of the lens is so far out on the edges. I have really dry eyes naturally and so it's hard for me to give any reliable wearing time estimates as it can vary greatly per day, but I'd say anywhere between 3-5 hours in my case. Please note that these times are for super dry eyes and that actual wearing time on more "normal" eyes would probably be more like 6-8 hours or something. Comfort can vary greatly between different people so comfort grades are always to be taken as just an estimate and not something written in stone. ^^"

Lens photos below!
All photos taken by yours truly during a semi-cloudy afternoon. All close-up photos are free from color filters and such and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible.


Natural room light.
Yellow room light.
Bathroom light.
Unlit corridor.
Flash photo.
Facing window. (shadow side)
Outdoors, back against sun. (facing wall)
Outdoors, facing sun while being under a harsh shadow.
Outdoors, facing sun.
Outdoors, facing sun. (sideway glance)
It seems to me like the print of the lens, when worn, is at the very edges of my irises; this makes it seem like the lens appears darker at the edges but in reality it's just because the print is so close to the outer rim of my eyes. It's hard to explain but I think you'll understand what I mean if you look at the photos closely.

This is a funky and cool lens for those who like lenses out of the ordinary! I can see it being used for fantasy looks of course and visual styles, cyberpunk and such. It's a fun lens and the color really pops and brings this kind of almost ethereal look sometimes, which is pretty cool. These could perhaps be used for cosplay as well but my personal opinion is that there's not enough colored area on these to be really cosplay-friendly and so I'd rather recommend these for fashion instead. In any case it's an unique lens, especially if you crave for a really pale pink!

Distance photo ~


Want to see the "season" series in another color?
Check this out: Summer, Autumn

Short summary:

Color: 9/10 
Ultra pale and vibrant pink. It's definitely something different and it's pretty damn neat.
Design: 9/10 
Jagged swirly print that is both artistic and somehow crude at the same time.
Opacity: 9/10
The colored parts sport really solid coverage. It would be even better if the color reached deeper to the center.
Enlargement: 2/10 
Really minor enlargement.
Comfort: 8/10 
Thin and pleasant to wear overall with no vision obstruction. Estimated wearing time about 3-5 hours on super dry eyes.
Naturalness: 1/10 
No, I don't think so.

Thanks for reading my blog, dear!

August 31, 2018

Lens review: ColourVue Crazy Lens Green Dragon

Rawr!

I'm gonna review my first vertical slit lenses and I'm super excited as I've been wanting to try a pair for ages! This kind of lens goes under different names, often with an animal as a reference like cat eyes, lizard eyes or as in this case dragon eyes. It's often the same base design but with different colors and what I'll show you today is the ColourVue Crazy Lens Green Dragon, let's go!




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




You can tell just by looking at them that what we have on hand is a opaque lens with bright color – there's only three colors present and that's green, yellow and black. The main point of this kind of lenses is to provide you with a vertical pupil, slit eyes, typically seen on reptiles and cats. 

I'm gonna answer the question that everyone is probably asking by now do they spin? Yes they do, sadly. It is typical of vertical pupil lenses to spin around (and pretty much all lenses tbh, it's just that it's much more noticeable on this type of lenses) and unless they're weighted by some sort of stabilizator then they will inevitably spin around sooner or later, which means that you'll be poking your eyes a lot during the time and looking in mirrors to make sure that your lenses look like they should. It's a bit of a hassle but the amount of spinning seems to be possible to somewhat control by being mindful of how much you move your eyes around etc – I noticed that because I have strabismus that my other lens spun much more (my weaker eye, in particular because it rolls outward when I'm not focused) and much faster than my better eye, so I experimented with trying to only look straight ahead and not moving my gaze around and it seemed on a quick check to affect how long the lenses stayed in position before starting to move. I might be wrong as this was just a 5-10 minute test but that's some food for thought. 
Also, a fair warning already now that, while I've tried to keep the lenses upright on all photos below, it was impossible to make sure that they were always 100% correctly as sometimes a lens would have shifted by the time I put the camera in position to take the photo.

One lens in.
The yellow color turns more greenish on my eyes and the overall perceived brightness gets very slightly diluted, which is cool in a sense as it gives a slightly more natural flair to the lenses, even though they are pretty much as far from a natural human eye as one could possibly get. xD 
The pupil hole is kept transparent to let you see through easily while the rest of the vertical slit is pitch black, this also means that depending on the light conditions your real eye color might show through a bit in the center because our pupils change size in light and darkness. In poorer lights or during night time you'll most likely see colored corners in your vision or blur.
There's a slight enlargement boost but it's not really all that noticeable since no further attention is drawn to the size, there's no darker rim or such to make the edges stand out. I don't know about you but if I was a dragon I'd rather not have massive cutesy moe eyes, lmao. Dragon eye scleras would of course be a different topic altogether.

Lens photos below!
All photos taken by yours truly during an August afternoon with a semi-cloudy sky. All close-up photos are free from color filters and such and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible.

Natural indoors room light.
Yellow indoors room light.
Flash photo.
Facing window. (shadow side)
Outdoors, back against sun. (facing wall)
Outdoors, facing the sun while being under a harsh shadow.
Outdoors, facing sun.
I noticed nothing wrong with the comfort. They are fine to wear and there's no apparent stinging, scratching, red eyes or whatnot. They feel thin enough to not really be noticeable when worn but, as already mentioned above, beware of colored corners in poorer light conditions. I'd say average wearing time for me is anything around 2-5 hours, which would probably equal about 4-8 hours for someone who does not have ridiculously dry eyes like me. All eyes are different so it's really difficult to give wearing time estimates as comfort is highly subjective and depends on many factors.

I think it's a really fun lens and I'd definitely use them more if I didn't have to constantly worry about if they are positioned correctly while at a con or such as yeah, I get anxious for even the smallest things and derpy eyes would be a part of that list. But if you have no issue with fixing them every now and again then I'd say go for it! I primarily see ColourVue Crazy Lens Green Dragon as a costuming lens for fantasy shootings, live-action roleplay, cosplay and that kind of stuff. You could of course use them for fashion too, assuming you don a style that's... fiery enough, hoho.

Distance photos!



Short summary:

Color: 10/10 
Vibrant, almost poisonous-looking green color. Hard to miss and eye-catching!
Design: 9/10 
Simple two-tone slit pupil lenses that look like advertised. Only minus is that they spin.
Opacity: 9/10
These mask your real eye color completely but aren't 100% exactly as bright when worn.
Enlargement: 3/10 
Smallish, but that's what I want from this kind of lenses.
Comfort: 7/10 
Fine. Nothing major except for colored corners in poorer lights because of natural pupil behavior (dilation). Generally comfortable and pleasant to wear.
Naturalness: 1/10 
Unless dragon eyes are in your books of natural things then no, no no no.

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