MH4U Eldaora's Taus Hunting Horn cosplay prop [part 7]

Hello blog readers and MonHun fans!

Here comes the seventh and final part of my huge Monster Hunter cosplay build project – I'm making a Hunting Horn called Eldaora's Taus from Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, one of my most played video games to this day. I've been a major fan of the franchise ever since I played Freedom Unite all those years ago and yeah, for the longest time I've dreamt about making a MonHun costume!

I am currently only making the weapon but I will, of course, make a complete armor set later and I think I have it planned which one it will be, hehe.
If you have no idea what I've made before this part you can check all previous progress posts here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Note: this project is split into several parts because otherwise it would turn into a kilometer post; I need to document my progress carefully (many photos etc) since it's a school project.

Let the final quest commence!

Adding black worbla to a horn.

So yeah, last time I ended the post with the coloring and weathering/shadowing of the Hunting Horn and what was left to do was to finish painting the head, horns and ears and to attach them. Before worrying about the whole "how the hell do I attach the protruding parts?" issue I decided to first do the worbla episode out of the way.
I had bought two rolls of black worbla for more than a year ago and now I got some use for it; I've barely worked with worbla before this (only done really small and/or easy details) so yeah, I'm a beginner when it comes to worbla. ^^" Frozen Angel helped me by providing an extra pair of hands when I applied the worbla onto the horns on 13th November. I noticed early on that the worbla, when heated, had a tendency to sink into the hollow spots of the chicken wire base under – this was not really a surprise in the sense that I knew that worbla is thin/flimsy by itself, but somehow I had counted on it to not sink in that much; it was as if the aluminium foil wrapping wasn't even there because the worbla just revealed the hexagon shapes of the wire net under, which created a bumpy-appearing texture on the horns. I must admit that I didn't like the bumpy and wrinkly look that it gave at first (I originally expected a smoother application) and was terribly disappointed with both the result and myself for not having had enough time and knowledge to make the base smoother.
I was looking at the horns with this disappointed face as I went on, thinking that I'm wasting expensive worbla as it's not turning out how I had hoped. But as I continued I remembered that the main body of the Hunting Horn is not smooth either and yeah, the imperfect horns would probably look alright on it – after they get painted and attached. After all, I went for a more realistic approach with a more battle-worn look and thankfully, because it's a Monster Hunter prop and not a perfectly sleek anime prop, it only makes sense that the thing looks like it has seen better days since it has been used to beat larger than life dragons into a pulp...

I finished covering both horns in worbla, which meant cutting out a lot of 5 cm wide strips and wrapping them so that they overlap each other. I worked myself from the tip down to the base of each horn. I also feel like mentioning that I got the impression that black worbla tears easier than the ordinary worbla (the brown one) when heat-shaped as I several times got it to rip when pressing seams to get them to disappear etc.

Next up was to cover the ears. Now I couldn't do the same approach and so I did a "pattern test" on a paper towel as that was what I had at hand in the garage. The pattern wasn't anything exact but just to give some kind of idea of what worbla shape I could work with.

Worbla pattern test for the ears.

The ears of course got wrinkly too (they had the same base under as the horns) but the wire net's hexagons didn't shine through as much as on the horns but, then again, the ears had a bit more foil to them and I didn't press in the worbla as carefully as on the horns (to avoid gaps in the overlapping "ridges"). At this point I didn't even care about the wrinkles and uneveness as much as I had started thinking that it just looked more natural or realistic somehow or at least that's what I tried to tell myself.

Worbla-covered ears.

Now with all the parts covered in worbla I came to the hard part, namely figuring out how exactly to attach them. At times I wondered why I did not do it much earlier but then I remembered that if the horns had been on already it would have been much harder to rotate the whole build for the painting process...

My stepdad came over to brainstorm and we ended up agreeing on that the safest, and probably only reasonable approach, was to cut out holes to sink the horns and ears into. It felt a bit barbarian to go in with a knife and cut up all that hard work but oh well, gotta do it to get the horns to stay on safely. Besides, now that the horns were wrapped in worbla they were also notably heavier and thus we had to make sure that the holes that got carved out were deep enough to lodge them securely in place.

Marked horn placement on the head.

It was important that the hole was carved at an angle (towards the face) and not just carved out straight downwards, if that makes sense. It's a bit hard to explain but the way the hole was carved would directly affect in what position the horns would stay up when sunk into the hole; I didn't want the horns to stand straight up but be curved backwards and thus the tilted angle was really important to achieve the proper placement.
While test-fitting the horns we noticed that we'd need to slim down the base of the horns (since the head itself is quite narrow) and so I reshaped the base by using a heat gun and pressing it together to be more of a wedge, with downward curved sides, instead of the original round-ish shape. I reshaped the base of the ears as well but only made them a bit smaller in diameter, while keeping the round shape.

Hole for the horns carved out and test-fitting.

Once I saw the horns test-fitted onto the whole thing I started to warm up to them, somewhat – their rugged, worn, irregular appearance started to look pretty cool in their own unique way.

I carved holes for the ears as well, although these I didn't have to angle as much as the horns and pretty much just carved straight downwards. I had to pay attention so that I didn't end up carving out the ear holes too close to the horns; there would need to be some mass between the horn and ear holes for support.

Hole for one ear carved out.

Test-fitting horns and ears together.

The placement of the horns and ears seemed fine (thank God, it would have been horrible to make a mistake at this point!) and so I continued by spray priming the separate parts. Because it's basically winter here by now it's not really good, nor recommended, to spray outside because of the cold – this of course is a bit of a problem since I can't control the weather and I needed to spray paint. :'D The solution was to keep the garage door open and spray in the big open area (where the cars usually are, but during the time of day when I sprayed both mom and stepdad were at work) and pray that I don't accidentally spray something around me...

Priming in progress.
Ignore the random chainsaw in the background. XD

I primed all the parts and left them to dry in the garage. The drying time took longer than usual since it's cold indoors but oh well, I'm happy that I can even spray paint right now since the temperature has been dropping to -10 °C the past days while I was painting (16th November). I have this unsuccesful experience from trying to spray paint a prop sword in the middle of winter several years ago and the paint kind of "froze" and made this cracky, frosty surface on the sword; it ended up looking pretty ugly and I had to sand it out and repaint it. Don't want to risk the same thing happening again...
Oh and yeah, as a disclaimer I want to state it, in case someone is wondering, that I did indeed skip sanding and smoothing the worbla before painting. This was intentional because at this point I don't have the time for it (this prop needs to be done before school ends before Christmas) and I'm going for a worn and imperfect look anyway. One good thing with black worbla though is that its surface is smoother than regular worbla and thus it's pretty okay as-is and requires less work to look decent.

Once the primed parts had dried (I left them overnight) I did two coatings of silver spray paint on them. I left them to dry overnight again and on the following morning I went with stepdad to attach them; we had brainstormed through all possible adhesive candidates from wood glue to 2-component glues but settled on using PU-foam. The reason for this was that "it sticks like a disease" (stepdad's way of putting it :D) and because the majority of the Hunting Horn itself is foam as well it only felt natural that it would stick to itself. Also, because the foam expands it would also help in, at least partly, reseal whatever gaps or excess we carved out that was left around the horns/ears after being inserted. 

What we did was to take a can of PU-foam, spray a gentle click into each hole (one at a time) and some onto a piece of cardboard. We then took one horn/ear at a time, dipped it carefully into the expanding foam on the cardboard and then stuck it into the carved hole. If it didn't stick properly we took a tool (in our case a screwdriver because it was close at hand) and used it to spread around and even out the foam inside the hole, so that it would cover most surfaces. It was important that there wasn't too much foam in the holes because otherwise, once it started expanding, it might push out the inserted parts – but, on the opposite end, if there wasn't enough it might not get a strong enough hold and come off.

Horns and ears freshly attached. Notice the foam leaking out.

We made sure to angle both ears slightly upwards when inserting them and check so that the horns had approximately the same placement and curve to them; of course it was hard with the horns because they weren't symmetrical to start with (we even noticed after lodging them in that one horn is a bit longer than the other! Ceadeus laughs somewhere) but as long as it was "close enough" it was good.
Upon inserting each piece some foam would naturally seep out, which was pretty much a good thing because at least it would be sure to stick. I didn't try to clean up any of the excess foam as it would create a mess and be much harder to get rid off when it's fresh – it's wiser to wait until it has completely dried and then just cut it off. To play it safe we moved the whole build close to a wall (so that at least the longer horn wouldn't get pushed out) but, thankfully, because the fitting of the horns was snug they stayed up on their own and didn't need to be taped down, nor did they need any supporting structures to be placed under them.

 The last progress was done around 19th November and it took until 8th December before I got an opportunity to continue on this project. When I returned to check how the horns and ears had stuck I noticed that my stepdad had already cleaned up some of the " foam spillage" while I was away. I took a knife and cut off the small remains that I saw.

Excess foam remains cleaned up with a knife.

Now, to smoothen and seal the attachment points and whatever remaining gaps there were, I used some acrylic sealant again. I felt so fucking dumb (yes, I had a bad day) because I didn't notice that the cap was on when I started and so, when I took it out, the acrylic just went everywhere like an angry snake because of the built-up pressure. It was a mess and I wanted to die or something – stepdad had shown me just before how to use it and of course, as soon as he left, my dumbass self fucks things up. :)) #accomplished 
The only thing I could think at that point was my new-found motto "ois kiva jos onnistuis enemmän niin vituttais vähemmän".

Acrylic sealant.

I applied acrylic sealant around all the "seams" and smoothened it down with fingers dipped in water. This was a bit tedious to do as I needed to be careful because if my fingers weren't moist enough then the acrylic would stick to my skin but, on the contrary, if my fingers were too watery then the acrylic would turn runny. Hard to keep that perfect balance that was the best to work with.
It was also really hard to get to the gap behind/under the back of the horns – it took some rotating and cursing and some really precise application to get there. I used a piece of this kind of thick bendable plastic rope(?) that I used as an extension of my hand to get to otherwise impossible-to-reach spots.

Acrylic sealant added.

I left it to dry overnight. Once it had dried some days later I noticed that the front had sunken in a bit and the transition point was thus showing from under the acrylic. I applied some more acrylic and left it to dry again.

Christmas stress happened and I didn't get to continue on this project past my school's due date for it. Luckily I was basically about 90% done and could use my progress up to this point in the oral presentation that I had to do for my teacher a few days before school ended. With the deadline out of the way I could now do the remaining work without having to worry about time constraints, which meant that on the very last days of December I took up the work again.

Acrylic seams painted over.

On the photo above I had hidden the acrylic seams by spraying them silver. As soon as they had dried properly I could finally start to paint the head! I did the red parts first, just like the previous time, and used my 4U game as a reference to check how the face markings approximately went. I also put some red on the ears and the upper half of the horns.

Head painted red.

Once the head was painted I turned it around and painted the backside of the horns and, while at it, I decided to fix one detail on the body of the Hunting Horn that had been bothering me since I made it. You see, earlier on the painting process I ran into an issue of the body patterns not lining up and decided on a whim to add a "cross section" on the top part of the body to try and make the distances appear smaller. It's really hard to explain what I mean but in the previous post I mentioned that it was impossible to get the details to be symmetrical because of its size – and because I could never see the whole thing at once while painting it (because I had to constantly rotate it). So yeah, while the crosses lined up okay on the front the backside messed up. And I'm not gonna lie – ever since I did that one additional cross it had been bothering me extremely much and now, when I was painting the head anyway, I decided to cover it up.

Cover-up. Great example of how much difference the darkening
with black acrylic did to the original color.

Once the red paint had dried I went over it with black acrylic to darken/weather it. I used the same technique as last time, which basically meant applying paint and then quickly wiping most of it off with a paper towel. When I had gone through all the areas with black paint I took the green acrylic (which I had borrowed from art class) and painted the base color of the eyes with it. I left it to dry after that.

It stayed untouched for the remainder of December and a majority of January (I wanted to complete it earlier but school happened). I finished painting the details of the eyes on 28th January. Sadly the green base paint had cracked a bit and it partly peeled off when I was drybrushing the black onto the edges of the eyes. Good thing I managed to hide it by painting over it and now the tiny cracks are hardly visible, success!

Eyes painted.

Now I just had to add a couple or so coatings of clear varnish to seal the whole thing and then it was done! The varnish protects the paint and it's thus always worthwhile to finish a project by sealing it with clear varnish, especially if you want the paint job to stay on longer. My varnish was glossy so it also gave the surface this nice shine to it.

Below are photos of the finished Eldaora's Taus. *basks in the glory*

Not gonna lie, I feel like I've surpassed myself with this project and I'm extremely proud that I even managed to make such a big and challenging cosplay prop (it's very different from anything I've done before!) but, at the same time, I know I could have done it even better if I would have had more time, money and patience. Improvements would have been stuff like making the horn/ear bases smoother, adding worbla to make layer differences and raised details on the shaft, mixing in some brown paint for even more color details and such – maybe one day I'll go back to this project and upgrade it or not. Whatever the case, I love this massive beast of a prop and I'm happy that I gathered the courage to even attempt to make it in the first place. Gotta believe in yourself!

But hey, my Hunting Horn (aka my first Monster Hunter cosplay part) build process is over with this post and I'm more than happy with how it turned out in the end; it took a crapload of work, sweat and tears to make but now it's done and ready to swing into action! I can't wait to make an armor set and wear it out to a con, it's gonna be gargwawesome!
Next part: come up with a way to add the sound effects.. although I think I'll have to provide the toots myself, for now. xD *enter Hunting Horn sounds here*

Thank you for reading and do leave a comment if you found this project of interest! Would like to see more Monster Hunter builds from me in the future? Hunt safe and don't let the Kut-Ku bite you!

~ Shiro Samurai

[Sponsored] CosplaySky review: Resident Evil 4 Leon Kennedy cosplay jacket!

Good day everyone!

As I said in the Leon costest previously I would review his jacket and here it now is! You see, I got contacted by CosplaySky last year and they asked if I wanted to do a little collaboration with them – my answer was of course positive as I know people who have dealt with them before and been happy with the products and besides, their store is one of the better known online cosplay stores out there anyway. I love to review stuff and help the cosplay community out and that's what I'll do today!

For those unaware of CosplaySky it's a big and well-known online cosplay shop that has been around for years. They mainly sell cosplay costumes but also accessories, wigs and the like. Prices are generally affordable and the costumes tend to be accurate to what is shown on the site's stock images.

My reviews are always 100% my genuine opinion, no matter if the items were sponsored or bought with my own money. I never compromise my honesty and true thoughts to my readers. 

With all of that said I want to welcome you to a detailed, full and honest review of a product by CosplaySky! I hope you will find this review helpful and hey, feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions after you're done reading. :)

~ "Forewords" ~ 

It should be mentioned that I am quite picky when I browse online cosplay costume stores; I have a habit of always scrutinizing even the smallest details (I'm a perfectionist) and comparing them with official reference photos to see how accurate they really are. I do often try to find the most accurately made costume possible but I also keep realistic expectations in mind – you can't get something that's 100% accurate, well-made and with high-end quality fabrics for cheap. "You get what you pay for" is something that I always keep in mind when I shop around.

Most cosplayers do agree on that quality generally goes before price, meaning that they are willing to pay more for a nicer costume – I roll by that too. I do believe though that CosplaySky has a fair price versus quality standard, meaning that considering the price you pay you do get a decent costume. There might be a few small flaws but it's normally nothing that detracts from the cosplay as a whole. 

~ Contact, packaging and shipping ~

CosplaySky contacted me somewhere during the later half of last year. I'm sorry but I can't remember the details exactly as this was during a really stressful period of my life. ^^" As I've mentioned above I ended up choosing Leon Kennedy's jacket from the game series Resident Evil. There were two different versions of his jacket available and, after a lot of thinking I picked the darker version. 

The processing of the jacket (or costume, if you may) took anywhere between 1-3 weeks I think, I'm not sure as I don't have exact dates mentioned in my contact emails to go by. Shipping took a little over a month, which is pretty normal considering it came from China. I have no complaints as I wasn't in a hurry.

The costume arrived in this green plastic bag. Nothing fancy but it did what it was supposed to do, namely get the product safe to my door. I guess that if the costume had any breakable parts it would have been protected better but yeah, since in my case it's just a pleather jacket it can't really get ruined easily. Inside the plastic bag was the costume bag itself, which is this convenient bag with a plastic zipper for secure closing. With the costume also came a costume information paper sheet (in Chinese) that had a stock photo of the chosen costume and your measurements on it. I got mine custom-sized as I don't fit into any generic sizes.

Green shipping bag.

Costume bag.

I'm sorry for the poor light conditions but all photos were taken during the winter and thus we who live so high in the north have this wonderful (not) natural phenomenon called polar night, which means severely limited sunlight hours for many months. In other words the sun barely rises above the horizon line and a majority of the day is spent in complete darkness. It makes it really hard to photograph.

~ Costume thoughts, fabrics and sewing quality ~

I remember my first impression being positive. I took the jacket out of the bag and it is indeed pleather – a light to mid-weight type I think. I'm not too experienced with leather/pleather and so I can't say so much about the quality of the fabric itself (because I can't really compare it with much), but it has some weight to it and seems pretty good. It's of a really dark brown shade and is a tiny bit stiff to move in, which is pretty usual with (p)leather jackets.

It fits me and I can even close the zipper without a problem. It's actually pretty nice to wear, although it feels a bit "boxy" and I must admit that this is a summer or autumn costume – I wore it out on a winter day and the cold goes right through it in no time! 

Oh and yeah, regarding the zipper I should mention that it's your usual plastic zipper. If I'm honest I would have wished for a more sturdy zipper (metallic) as a plastic zipper feels a bit flimsy and out of place on a leather jacket, even if it's a cosplay jacket. But I can't really complain about it since on the stock photos it indeed showed a white plastic zipper and that's exactly what I got – the little difference though is that on my received jacket the zipper is much more visible than what it is on the stock images, as on those it's sewn on so that only the "teeth" of the zipper are showing, while as on mine almost the whole zipper is visible. But hey, it's a minor thing and I can live with it. I guess I'm just nitpicking at this point, lol. It would also have looked better if the zipper matched the color of the jacket because yeah, white really stands out and makes it look costume-y.

Sewing quality is good and consistent. Every seam is straight and professional-looking and there were only a few loose threads that I had to cut off (mainly from the lining). The jacket's inside is lined with this shiny brown fabric that feels really smooth to the touch and it's pleasant to have against your body. 

The pockets are fully functional (always a big plus!) and all the belt strap thingy details are there. The details are pretty accurate to the character and thus makes the jacket recognizable. Also, as I mentioned earlier there were two different versions of this same jacket available and I picked the single-color darker one in the end, mainly because I felt like on the other version the colors were perhaps a bit too bright – although it boils down to personal preference. I remember thinking though that, if I wanted, I could just paint the details (pocket openings etc) with a lighter brown to make them stand out more against the dark main color and thus the darker jacket would be more easily customized.

If there's anything that doesn't quite match the stock photos it's the fur. Don't get me wrong here, the fur I got is not bad but I was really hoping to get that creamy, almost luxury-looking smooth fur that was pictured on the site – it was actually the main reason that made me lean over and pick this darker jacket, haha. I'm not sure how to describe the actual fur that I got, except that it reminds me of cartoon sheep fur. It still works for the look but it's notably whiter than the pictured cream-colored fur with a completely different texture. I was neutral to it at first but now I have already started to grown to like it – it's not the end of the world, in other words. :D

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

Detail photos ahead!
All photos taken by Frozen Angel.

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Upper back details.

The pockets are fully functional!

One of many belt strap thingy decorations.

Shoulder close-up.

Lining. The inside of the collar is furred.

Sleeve close-up.

This particular costume is about 85% accurate to the stock photos on the site, which is pretty good. Make sure to study the stock photos closely as you are likely to get something really similar to it if you buy from CosplaySky. I can recommend them as an online costume store.

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Please note that this review is for the JACKET ONLY.
Photos taken by Frozen Angel.
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Front view.

Side view.

Back view.

Want to get your own Leon Kennedy cosplay jacket? Check links below!

Link to CosplaySky main page: CosplaySky Online Cosplay Store

Jacket link: CosplaySky Resident Evil 4 Leon Kennedy Cosplay Jacket

Jacket link (alternative version): CosplaySky Resident Evil 4 Leon Kennedy Cosplay Jacket (Version B)

CosplaySky store & Leon Kennedy jacket rundown – Pros and cons:

+ Decent pleather fabric
 + Custom size actually fits me
+ Mostly accurate to store's stock photos
+ Attention to detail
+ Sewing quality
+ Fully functional pockets
+ The costume came in a convenient clothing bag

- The fur fabric is different from what was shown on the photos
- The zipper is more visible and not as "hidden" as on the photos

~ Sizing ~

I got my jacket custom sized and thus I can't speak for the pre-made sizes as I never fit into any of those, lmao. But the custom size fits me and it's easy to move around in. Of course it's a bit "boxy" and stiff as (p)leather behaves differently than, say cotton, but it's still comfortable to wear. It doesn't pull at any weird places and the sleeves look long when my arms are relaxed at my sides, but as soon as I move around they are the perfect length! 

If you are willing to pay extra to have it custom made I would recommend it, that's what I always do and so far I haven't gotten anything that didn't fit me.

Leon S. Kennedy reference image.

~ Conclusion and final thoughts ~

Okay, so to wrap up this review I want to make it clear that, contrary to what it perhaps might sound like, I am indeed overall greatly pleased with the costume jacket that I received and with CosplaySky's service. ♡ I'm truly sorry that this review is so so late but I really enjoyed this collaboration with them and I'd look at their store for cosplay shopping in the future.

Overall I'd feel safe recommending CosplaySky to all cosplayers –both beginners and more seasoned peeps– who are looking for a reputable online costume store with a huge costume selection and decent quality. They are also pretty fast with the turn-around times, but as with any online purchases from overseas you should plan in advance and order at least a couple months prior to the event you need the costume for; it's always better to be too early than too late!

Final Grade (from A-F): B

Recommend to others: Yes

I think that's about all that I had to say. I hope you found this review helpful and hey, do hit that "follower" button if you aren't reading my blog yet, there's a lot more content coming up soon ~

Also, don't forget to check out CosplaySky if you want to buy a costume or know someone else who does. ^_^ They constantly expand their repertoire with new costumes from the current popular shows!

A huge thank you goes out to CosplaySky for making this possible and to you for reading this post! ♡
~  Shiro Samurai says sayonara.

Leon Kennedy cosplay makeup test

Hello folks!

Since the later half of last year I've been silently collecting the gear needed for cosplaying Leon S. Kennedy from Resident Evil 4. I'm not sure if I've mentioned too much about cosplaying him on this blog but he's been in progress for a while.

Leon is not a character I would typically cosplay as I really can't stand to play any kind of horror games myself (I get too easily scared...) but watching my friend Sacchan play through the whole thing was a different deal and, quite honestly, a lot of fun! I ended up liking the storyline, the characters and the overall feel of the game – despite it being just the kind of game that I'd normally have very limited interest in as I'm not a fan of shooting nor horror games in general. ^^" I liked playing all the shooting target minigames though, lol. I must admit that I've been enjoying playing the later Resident Evil installments in the co-op mode with friends though, although I am aware that RE4 is considered one of the best ones and I can totally see why – but the newer ones I played with friends were easier on me as there wasn't that tension of a horror game and instead it was just a mash-buttons-to-kill-as-many-zombies-you-can-before-the-time-runs-out type of thing. xD

But yeah, Leon clicked with me and so I decided that "hey, why not do something different and go out of my comfort zone?". Said and done.

I think I started gathering materials for this cosplay around August something last year. About everything is purchased from various eBay sellers, except for the jacket which I got from CosplaySky (I will review it soon!) and the pants that I already had. At this point in life I didn't have the time nor energy to make the costume myself and, frankly, making all those gun holsters etc would have been really annoying and pointless seeing how cheap I could get them online. I'm lazy sometimes... and out of cash all the time.

I did a makeup test for Leon yesterday and I must say that it was a bit of a different experience. You see, I'm so used to doing the heavier "anime makeup" that when I did Leon I had to do the makeup more subtle and realistic, which proved to be a challenge! I'm so used to the black liquid eyeliners that when I had to do a more natural approach –since Leon is a video game character– it felt weird. I had to avoid covering up "too much" (Leon wouldn't have perfect 2D anime skin) and for the eyes I just went with dark brown pencil eyeliner.

I'm not wearing any contact lenses for Leon on the costest photos above, although I do have gray lenses especially bought for him. I want to save those for a later time as I kind of want to make a rocket launcher prop before I have any kind of proper photoshoot.

Also, I'm still not too sure if I really suit this character but oh well, who cares? :) I want to cosplay him and so I do. Fight me bro. I might still experiment further with the makeup (especially the eyes, as it feels like just pencil eyeliner doesn't stand out enough) and I have some ideas on trying to "grease it down" or what-to-call-it – like doing this kind of look that you've been out blowing zombies up for a while and there's dust and dirt all over...

Regarding the wig it was a bitch to find a suitable one, not gonna lie. The only character wig on eBay didn't look like I wanted mine to look and so I had to resort to searching for generic fashion wigs instead.. and pray for decent quality. Thankfully eBay is full of those but oh fucking boy, how hard it was to find one with a parting that is not a middle-part. >_> I eventually found a base wig that would work, although I had to compromise on color a bit as Leon's hair tends to generally be portrayed as this kind of dark brownish-blonde shade, although it is really inconsistent (I've seen cosplayers doing everything from blonde to brown and even black) and so I deemed that the wig's color wouldn't be that big of a deal. I went with blonde.

Leon's wig before cutting it...

... and after cutting.

Sacchan did the cutting while I had the wig on my head. I have a larger head than average and so it was safer that I wore the wig during the cutting process so that we'd get it to be the right length. It was really important that we didn't end up cutting it too short, as that would have looked really unflattering on me. I might eventually trim it a bit more but yeah, I can't say for sure until I've straightened it and wore the wig to a photoshoot or such, to see how it behaves.

I think that's about all I had to say for this round. The review for Leon's jacket will come up soon so stay tuned for that!

Shiro Samurai out.

Year of Cosplay 2017

Good day folks!

Once again we're nearing the end of yet another year and every time it feels just as sudden. I don't know where the days go but I know that time can't be stopped from running its course. I can say already now that in terms of cosplay the year 2017 has been very... underwhelming. I'm just not feeling it and trust me, I'm not happy about it either.

As per blog tradition, I'll start by listing all the conventions that I attended during 2017:

Matsucon - Oulu, Finland

Euran Mangapäivä - Eura, Finland

Mushucon - Rovaniemi, Finland

Närcon - Linköping, Sweden

Chibicon - Oulu, Finland

Skecon - Skellefteå, Sweden

Well, that list is not very impressive. I tick in at 6 cons for this year and I think that's a "personal worst" if we don't count my first cosplay years in like 2010-2011 something (aka before I even had this blog). One might notice as well that out of all these cons Närcon is the only big one – the rest are all what could be considered as local small cons, save for the one in Eura as that's totally not local for me. xD I just haven't been feeling the con hype this whole year and there's been a lot of other shit getting in the way, like school and mental health.

2017 is pretty similar to 2016, except probably even worse. I've literally only had 3 photoshoots during the whole year, of which only 1 can be considered a proper one. Needless to say the lack of new, updated cosplay photos is huuuuuuge. It's like I know I've improved but I have nothing to show for it and it makes me feel shit, lol. I'm not getting my hopes up about 2018 being much better in the cosplay department since I'll probably be very busy with my new school and other real-life matters. Yep, I'm starting new studies in January and I'm finally gonna get myself a profession!

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Aaaaaand what about the... the other traditional thing, you wonder?
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I think this has turned into a meme of its own by now. x) Every year I wear fewer costumes, which of course naturally results in fewer photos and thus nothing to really show the world. This year it's the same curse – out of all four cosplays (wow, what a number) that I wore to cons I only have non-selfie photos of two of them, and that's like two photos of Itachi and one photo of Prussia. Urrrgh. Wake me up inside.

Here's a little list of what I wore at the cons I attended this year:

Matsucon: I wore my kimono!Itachi (Naruto) cosplay on Saturday and went casual on Sunday.
Euran Mangapäivä: Rewore Itachi again.
Mushucon: Because it was really spontaneous I went causal.
Närcon: I borrowed Firith's Teutonic Knight Prussia (Hetalia) cosplay on Thursday and wore swordboy Yasusada (Touken Ranbu) on Friday. On Saturday I wore a Rilakkuma kigurumi and on Sunday I wasn't even at the con.
Chibicon: Filthy casual.
Skecon: No cosplay on Friday, Gin Ichimaru (Bleach) for a few hours on Saturday and no cosplay on Sunday.

Yeah. I haven't done a lot of cosplaying this year, what more can I say?
I guess my favorite con of the year would be Närcon, but even that is with mixed feelings. I got a lot of joy from being with my big sister for the last time before she moved to Germany – I'm happy she came with me to visit Närcon on one day as well! It's gonna feel weird to not be able to sleep at her place during the con weekend anymore but oh well, there's the Närcon camping. It was fun to hang with Firith as well, although I'm still sorry about some of the things that didn't quite go as planned and I hope it didn't screw up the experience too much for my friend. :'( 
Otherwise Mushucon deserves a mention because, despite our trip being super sudden and spontaneous it was surprisingly fun! Although I guess all the derping with friends in the camper accounted for the positive memories of the con. xD

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I'm sorry about this whole post being kinda low in tone but, honestly, that's what this year has been like for me – lowkey shit. Of course it has had its great moments but I feel like for most of the time I've been my own anxiety's victim, combined with stress and whatnot. I just haven't been able to enjoy cosplaying and going to cons the same way as before and I miss the magic, honestly. I'm hoping that the future will reignite the fire that I've been searching for the past couple years. I'm also hoping to get at least one big cosplay project done next year (Monster Hunter anyone?) and that I'll have more time, money and inspiration to go farther to explore new conventions!

But before I end this post I want to thank all my friends, readers and everyone else who stumbles upon this blog of mine – I hope you all will continue to come back to read about my cosplay life and support me! Thank you so much for staying with me, like really.

Bye bye & Happy New Year 2018!

Lens review: GEO Xtra Morning Glory Brown

Hello sweeties!

Here comes my last circle lens review for this year, which is nearing its closure. It feels really weird to think that 2017 is soon over. I've had this pair in my possession for years but only now got around to actually open them, oops. Without further ado I'll say that today's review will be about the GEO Xtra Morning Glory Brown (WFL-A34) lenses, let's a-go!

Base curve: 8.7 mm
Diameter: 15 mm

Water content: 42%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

As with any legitimate GEO lenses these also came with authenticity stickers that could be checked online, to prove that the lenses are genuine of course. It's always worth it to be careful and only buy circle lenses from online shops that are trustable.

The Morning Glory lenses have a beautiful, intricate print and lovely color. Brown lenses are usually not my first pick but these I just felt like I had to try! *_* I am often drawn to lenses with unique artsy prints and these are no exception, hehe.

One lens in. Notice enlargement.

As you can see my natural eye color is a light blue-gray and these lenses turn into this lovely soft brown on my eyes. My real eye color does show through in the middle, because of the large pupil hole, but it doesn't clash with the brown and actually looks pretty nice. I like this kind of caramel-colored brown lenses anyway because they make my eyes look gentle somehow? That probably sounds kind of dumb but light brown eyes I tend to interpret as warm and kind. ^^

I guess the pattern itself is supposed to mimic a flower or something (it's from the Flower series after all) but it's so artistic that I don't instantly see it, lmao. I do like the thick limbal ring as it frames and brings focus to the eyes! The enlargement effect is obviously there too but it's not eating up my eyes, just making them look a bit more doll-like and cute.

All photos taken by me during a December morning with a sun that barely rises above the horizon line so yeah, no can do about the shitty light conditions because we're experiencing a phenomenon called polar night right now.
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. Sun side.

Facing window. Not sun side.

Bathroom light.

Natural apartment room light. (only window light)

Flash photo.

Outdoors, back against sun.

Outdoors, facing sun.

This is a fancy fashion lens for the fabulous earth-walkers but it could just as well serve as a cosplay lens, if wanted. The design is lovely, the size increase is there and the blending into my blue eyes is just right. The fabulous print draws in the watcher's gaze and gives this kind of mesmerizing, almost dreamy look to your eyes. I would recommend this pair if you like brown lenses – especially artsy ones with thick limbal rings.

Comfort is surprisingly good. I rarely find lenses exceedingly comfortable, seeing how dry my eyes are naturally, but these are definitely on the better side of average. These lenses are thin and I don't feel them in my eyes, which is always a plus because no one likes the obvious feel of "plastic in the eye" that some lenses give. I experience no vision blur or stinginess with these lenses and I can easily wear them past 3 hours without any dry bouts or hints of dryness/irritation. I would estimate wearing time on dry eyes for about 3-5 hours, at least for me. Definitely better than average in my books.

Distance photos!

Want to see Morning Glory lenses reviewed in another color? 

Check this out: Blue

Short summary:

Color: 7/10
Soft caramel-like brown color that goes nicely together with my light blue-gray eyes.

Design: 9/10

Gorgeous flower design with black details and a thick limbal ring for definition.

Opacity: 7/10

These do make my eyes appear brown but yeah, the large pupil hole lets through my real eye color in the middle so it doesn't look mega brown from a distance, lol. Still pretty though!

Enlargement: 7/10

Big and doll-like.

Comfort: 7/10

Thin and comfortable. No dry bouts or stinginess. Wearing time anywhere between 3-5 hours on my super-dry eyes. Definitely good!

Naturalness: 3/10

The thick dark rim, artsy design and size give them away. Looks too artificial and dolly to pass.

Thanks for reading and I hope you found this review useful!
Shiro Samurai out ~